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4th and last particular which I mentioned, is mutual conference upon divine things. This is of great ufe to make the truths of religion plain and familiar to us. It ftirs up our affections, and makes our knowledge more lively and more operative, both on our hearts and lives. It confirms and ftrengthens our faith, and brings much joy and comfort to our fouls, by fhowing us, that as face anfwereth to face in water, fo doth the heart of one true Chriftian to that of another. In this exercise holy men of old have employed themselves, and met with fingular tokens of divine favour and acceptance.

At

no time furely can fuch conference be more feasonable than on the Chriftian Sabbath: and it is owing probably to the neglect of this, that the preaching of the word, and other parts of public religious fervice, are fo generally fruitlefs and unfuccefsful. I have thus given you a general account of the manner in which the Sabbath ought to be fanctified. In the next discourse, I fhall confider the prohibitory part of the commandment, and endeavour to enforce the obfervance of it by fome motives and arguments. SER

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192

SERMON IX.

I

EXODUS XX. 8.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

[The 2d Sermon on this Text.]

HAVE already endeavoured to prove, that we are strictly bound by this divine precept to keep one day in feven holy to the Lord; and that the change of the Sabbath, from the feventh to the first day of the week, on which our Lord rofe from the dead, bears fuch evident fignatures of divine authority, as are fufficient to justify the uniform opinion, and uninterrupted practice, of all the Chriftian churches in this matter. I have alfo endeavoured to explain the commandment itself, and to give you an account of the manner in which the Sabbath ought to be fanctified.I now proceed to confider the prohibitory part of the commandment,

commandment, and to enforce the obfer vance of it, by fome motives and argu

ments.

The prohibition chiefly refpects bodily labour. "The Sabbath-day is the Sabbath "of the Lord thy God," faith the Supreme Lawgiver;" in it thou fhalt not do any "work." It is expreffed, you fee, in very strong and abfolute terms, and was for a long time understood by the Jews in a very rigid fenfe, in fo much that they thought it even unlawful to defend their lives when they were attacked by their enemies on that day. So univerfally did this opinion prevail among them in the beginning of the wars of the Maccabees, that, in fome inftances, it proved, fatal to many of them. But this was afterward, by the univerfal consent of the learned in their law, declared to be a mistake: and indeed, from the defign of the precept, from other paffages of Scripture, and efpecially from our Saviour's instruction and example, it appears, that fome kinds of work are perfectly confiftent with the rest which is here enjoined. Of this nature are works of neceffity, i. e. works

which

which cannot be done the day before, nor delayed till the day following. Thus, for inftance, fhould a fire break out on the Sabbath, we may and ought to use every mean to extinguifh it. Should our enemies attack us, it is lawful to refift them: if we are at a distance from church, we may travel as far as is neceffary, in order to hear the word of God, and to join with others in public worship. For, as our Saviour tells "the Sabbath was made for man, and us, "not man for the Sabbath;" and the means are never to be fet above the end ; nor is refting on the Sabbath to be interpreted fo as to exclude the religious employment of it.

In like manner, works of charity and compaffion are lawful on this day. Our Lord wrought many miracles of mercy on the Sabbath, and vindicated his conduct against thofe who found fault with him, by fuch maxims as plainly fhow, that offices of charity are not only allowable but praife-worthy, and are perfectly confiftent with the reft which is here enjoined.

But then it is abfolutely unlawful to pur

fue

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fue our worldly business on this day; because this thwarts the great end and defign of the commandment, which ordains the feventh part of our time to be ftatedly employed in the immediate fervice of God, that we may thereby become better acquainted with him, and may become more fit for an eternal communion with him in heaven. The very intention of the law is to set apart a certain proportion of our time for the care of our fouls; which, amidst the hurry of our fecular affairs, we are too apt to neglect.

To apply ourselves therefore to our ordinary business on the Sabbath, to talk of it, or even to spend our thoughts on it, is doing what we can to fruftrate the gracious defigns of the Lawgiver, and muft neceffarily be of infinite hurt and prejudice to our fouls. And if our worldly employments, which are not only lawful, but even neceffary on other days of the week, are criminal on this day, you will eafily perceive, that sports and recreations must certainly be confidered as included in the prohibition: for these are still more oppofite to the proper business of the

Sabbath,

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