ments fhould humble him, and keep him in mind how he came to need them: Was it not fin that stript man of his glory, covered him with shame, and put him to feek clothes for to hide it? Would it not be diftraction in a malefactor to pride himself in a stigma which he had got for a foul crime? Confider also the gar ments you are proud of, what they are: Theft beafts have the fame naturally to cover them, and will you be proud of a beaft's covering? It was the faying of a heathen to a vain gallant, "Why art thou proud of that which a sheep wore before thee?" Or, what though they be finer than wool? yet their original is no better, but rather worse: What are velvets, filks and fattins, but the excrements of a vile worm? and is that a matter to be vain of? Remember, that ere long God will cause thee to wear another fuit thou wilt have small reafon to be proud of; he will even clothe thee with worms and putrefaction. May not the thoughts hereof keep you humble, and teach you to come to the church gravely and decently apparelled? efpecially fince you come into the presence of that God who refifts the proud, but gives grace to the humble. a sho

3. The inflitution of holy days is an incroachment upon the fourth command, and oppofite to the fanctification of the Sabbath, which is the only day now appointed to be kept holy to God. What is it, but an ufurping of Chrift's legiflative power, and a vilifying of the Lord's day, to fet faints days, or days of human inftitution, on a level with it, by obliging people to abstain from labour thereupon. The church hath no power to confecrate fuch days: nay, the apoftles did it not: There is no word of their confecrating a day to Stephen the proto-martyr, nor to James whom Herod killed with the fword. Yea, it may be reckoned an idolatrous practice to confecrate days to faints and angels, and keep them to their honour for publishing their praife, and commemorating their acts, fince this is a piece of worship that belongs only to God.

Lafly, Not a few in fome parts of the country do profane this holy day, by their fet cabals and drinking.

meetings

meetings upon it, by reading profane books, and telling profane flories, by fcoffing at religion and religious perfons, and by many other acts of wickednefs. Alas! what hellish madnefs is this, that fome are given up to! It is even a riding poft to hell, a dedicating God's holy day to the honour and fervice of the devil, a hanging out a flag of defiance against heaven, and declaring war against your Maker. It is the faying of one," To keep the Sabbath in an idle manner, is to keep the Sabbath of oxen or affes; to keep the Sabbath in diverĥons and pleasures, is to keep the Sabbath of the golden calf. But to keep the Sabbath in drunkenness and lewdnef is the Sabbath of fatan, or the devil's holy day!” ́O profane finners, what a dreadful mark of wickedness is it, to dedicate God's day to the devil! You cannot poffibly offer a greater affront and indignity to the God of heaven, than to serve the devil in the works of darknefs, upon that very day which is folemnly confecrated to the honour and fervice of the great God. And, can you think that a jealous God will pass such an invia? dignity, and take no notice of it? Do ye thus provoke the Lord to jealoufy? are ye ftronger than he?” Will you fight against him that made heaven and earth with a word, and by a word can unhinge them again; yea, by the breath of his mouth can crumble you to doft? What are you in his fight, but as a handful of filly worms? and do you think to be able to wage war against the Almighty; No, no; be the combination never fo ftrong, the rebels never fo ftout, the enemies never for numerous, he is fully able to mafter them. and will certainly do it, Prov. xi. 21.0" Though hand join in hand, yet the wicked shall not be unpunished. Owhat cause have we to pity and pray for fuch heaven daring finners, and weep in fecret places for their fouls, who wilfully destroy themleves, and pour contempt on their Maker; who live as if either there were no hell, or were afraid it should be full ere they got thither; and who feem to long to be companions of devils, and damned fpirits! The God of infinite mercy open the eyes and stop the career of fuch, before they be be yond the reach of mercy.

And,

And, before I clofe, let me afk the breakers of the Sabbath, What they will answer to the Author of the Sabbath, for defpifing and abufing fuch a rare privilege as the Sabbath is? When the Lord calls you poor finful creatures, who deferve to be banished eternally from his prefence, to come and enter into his reft, and refresh your fouls with the views of his redeeming love, and enrich them with the treasures of his grace fet open before you; O what a fin muft it be for you to turn your back upon them, and go about to weary the Lord by your fins, when he offers fweet reft to you! O believe it, firs, Sabhath breaking is not such a light fin as many imagine; furely the day is very near when you shall be brought to think on thefe days you now mif-fpend and make light off. O how will you then mourn for the lofs of thefe precious Sabbaths which God gave you to find peace and reft to your fouls in, when you fhall have no reft night nor day, but the smoke of your burning and torment fhall afcend for ever and ever! How will you mourn then to fee Abraham's bofom afar off, and thoufands at reft in it whom you hated, and where you might have been at reft as well as they, if you had not defpifed the reft of the Sabbath here below! It is faid, Lam. i. 7." Jerufalem remembered, in the days of her miferies, all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old; then the adverfaries faw her, and did mock at her Sabbaths." So the days of your miseries approach, O Sabbath-breakers, when with fad hearts ye fhall remember the pleasant ordinances and feafons of grace you had of old; and then the devils and heathens will mock at you for the lofs of your Sabbaths! Why then fhould you go to add to the fins and miferies of your eternal ftate, the henious guilt of abufing fuch a great number of precious Sabbaths as God in his mercy now affords you for the faving of your fouls!

1

And Jeremiah, by God's appointment, calls upon the princes to fee that the Sabbath be not profaned, and that upon their highest peril, Jer. xvii. 19. 25. 27. and?? hence it is, that our kings and parliaments have made fo many excellent laws against the profanation of the Sabbath. May God put it into the hearts of thofe, who ought to be prefervers and executors of laws, to put? them in execution! This would tend much to the glory. of God, and the welfare of nations, cities, and families. But, lafly, Let me exhort all in inferior stations, both young and old, to obferve the fourth command, as they regard the falvation of their precious and immortal fouls! in the eternal world, and the peace of their confciences when they come to lie on a death bed, which they fhould be looking out for every day. Let me address both young and old upon this head.

I. As for you that are young, I entreat you to "re-s member the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." Improve this day with all care and earnestnefs; for it is the day wherein poor finners ufually begin their acquaintancer? with God, and converfion to him: And the proper fea fon for this work is the time of youth; for now the heart is most tender and pliable, and fooner melted for fin, than afterwards, when you come to greater age:." For, the longer you go on in fin, the heart will turn the harder, and the confcience more feared. The longer you forget God, the more eftranged you will grow, and unwilling to return to him. The branches of a tree while young, may be bowed and trained up any way; but when they are old they will not ply.

Again, confider, that the fooner you begin to fancti- y fy the Sabbath, and be ferious about your fouls, God will love you the better. See how he remembers the kindness of youth, Jer. ii. 2. " Thus faith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindnefs of thy youth, the love of thine efpoufals, when thou wentelt after me in the wildernefs," &c. He loves those who come in at the first found of the gospel, far more than rebels, who ftand out till the laft, that they can do no more.. The fewer alls and invitations you refift, the more kindly will you be accepted of God: He loved a young Abijah, a young VOL. IV.

Jofiah,

Jofiah, a young Timothy; and John is called the " difciple whom Jefus loved," John xiii. 23. because he was youngest and earlieft converted. See how affectionately Paul falutes Epenetus, by the title of his "well-beloved," because of his being "Chrift's first fruits in Achaia," Rom. xvi. 5. And if Paul loved him so much, to be fure Chrift loved him far more.

Moreover, do not think that juftice will fpare you, if it find you in fin, and out of Chrift, because you are young. Prefume not upon mercy upon this account; remember that threatening, Pfal. lxviii. 21. “ God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy fcalp of him that goeth on ftill in his trefpaffes." You have no ground to think that he will spare you till you be old and bald-headed: No, he may even take you by the hairy fcalp while you are in your youthful vigour and frefhnefs, and punish you, as he hath done many others before you.

O young folk, if you would mind your fouls, and fanctify the Sabbath in the days of youth, take these few directions:

1. Look always on death as near, and within a few fteps of you. Alas! many young folk think it as improper for them to be thinking on their graves, as to think of going to bed at noon their fun is high, and it is a long time to night; they look on death at forty or fifty years diftance. O what folly is this! Do you not fee graves of your length, and fkulls of your fize, in the church-yard? Yea, do you not fee twenty die young, to one that lives to old age? Let death and eternity be then the frequent fubjects of your meditation on the Lord's day.

2. Think much this day upon your vilenefs and mifery by nature; that you are "children of wrath, heirs of hell, enemies to God, and ftrangers to Chrift and the covenant of grace; yea, fervants to fin, and bond-flaves to the devil:" For the prodigal never thought of turning to his father, till he faw himself in a loft and undone condition.

3. Think much on Chrift's fitnefs, fulness, and fuitableness for all your wants and maladies. In him you

may