manner.

making their Servants and their Cattle WORK; efpecially, the Trading and LABOURING Part of Mankind, who have little Leisure at any other Time, to fee their Friends, or for any other Amusement? I dare not fay fo.But this I dare fay, That the lefs frequent, and the fhorter our Vifits are, (unless, they be charitable Vifits to the Sick) and the lefs Pleasure Men take on Sundays, the better; that our Thoughts may not be too long interrupted, or indifpofed, for thofe ferious Subjects which ought to employ us at that Time. An Attention to Things foreign to the Business of the Day, will not only interrupt it, but render the Mind less capable of doing it in a proper An Attention to pleafurable Objects, or Converfation, will more indifpofe us for Religion than any boneft Calling would do. Light Mirth, or any agreeable Amusement, diffipates Thought; and begets a Levity of Mind that is utterly inconfiftent with That Compofure and Gravity which every Part of the Duty of the Day requires. The Rich are the most inexcufable if they trifle away the Sunday in impertinent Amusements, because they have the whole Week at their Command, and are always at Leifure to take more Pleasure than is confiftent with the Temper, and Duties, of a good Chriftian. As to the poor, and bufy Part of the World, that I may not be Thought rigid, I chufe not to give you my own Sentiments, but I will give you the Opinion of a moft eminent Prelate, fo remarkable for his Candour,

that

that his Enemies accufed him of being too loofe in his Notions; I mean, the Great, and Good Archbishop Tillotfon; his Words are thefe, "Not that we are excufed from minding Religion at other Times; but that those who are ftraitened at other Times by the neceffary Cares of this Life, may be fure to mind "it then; and may have no Colour of Excufe "for the Neglect of it at that Time, which "God hath allotted for that very Purpose, "and which it is unlawful to employ about,

our worldly Affairs. God expects that we "fhould ferve Him at other Times, that we "fhould live in an habitual Senfe of Him; but

This He peremptorily challengeth to Himfelf, and expects that we should employ it in "bis Service, and dedicate it to Religion, to the Contemplation of God, and heavenlyThings, "with the fame Serioufnefs and Diligence,

as we do upon other Days employ our La"bour for the Meat that perisheth; and the less "Leifure (mind This) we have upon other

Days for this Purpose, the more entirely "fhould we devote and confecrate this Day, to "the Purposes and Duties of Religion."

And, now, upon the Whole, I appeal to any one of you, whether one Day in feven fpent in fuch a Manner, as I have defcribed, would not make you pleafed with yourselves, beget a Tranquillity and Self-complacency of Mind at Night, and have a very great Influence upon your Thoughts and Actions during the whole Week? This is a very rational, but

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not

1

not the only Motive for a due Obfervation of the Sunday. For we have Reason to expect the Displeasure and Vengeance of God, if we profane it; and, confequently, a particular Reward, if we conscientiously obferve it. You have heard, in the Scripture History of the Sabbath, that the Inftitution was guarded with the most folemn Sanction.If any one violates it, He fhall furely be put to Death.That Soul fhall be cut off. If we look into the Prophets, they will tell us, how feverely God has threatened, and how feverely he has punished, the Breach of it. I fhall cite two of them, which are very fufficient to awaken your Apprehenfions. "Neh. xiii. 16, 17, 18. "There dwelt Men of Tyre also therein, "which brought Fish, and all Manner of Ware, and fold on the Sabbath unto the "Children of Judah, and in Jerufalem. Then "I contended with the Nobles of Judah, and "faid unto them, What evil Thing is This "that ye do, and profane the Sabbath Day? "Did not your Fathers thus, and did not our "God bring all this Evil upon us, and upon this City? Yet ye bring more Wrath upon

Ifrael by profaning the Sabbath." Ifaiah, Chap. lviii. 13. promiseth a particular Blessing to those that did NOT go after their own Doings; i. e. follow the Bufinefs of this Life; nor take their Pleajure on the Sabbath Day, &c. At the xviith Chapter Jeremiah tells the Jews, that if they carried any Burdens out of their Houfes, and through the Gates of Jerufalem, that

if

if they did not hallow the Sabbath Day, but did bear Burdens on the Sabbath Day; even entering in at the Gates of ferufalem on the Sabbath Day; then, God would kindle a Fire in the Gates thereof, that should devour the Palaces of Jerufalem, and that it should not be quenched, Ver. 27. And at Ver. And at Ver. 24, 25. there is as great a Bleffing promifed to the Obfervance of the Sabbath," If "If you diligently hearken unto

me, faith the Lord, to Bring in no Burden through the Gates of this City on the Sab"bath Day; but hallow the Sabbath Day, "to do no Work therein: then fhall there "enter into the Gates of this City, Kings and "Princes fitting upon the Throne of David, riding in Chariots, and on Horses, &c. and "this City fhall remain for ever."

My Brethren, Do ye really believe the Bible to be the Word of God, or do ye not? If ye look upon these strong Declarations of Anger and Approbation as invented Stories, I have cited them to no Purpose; but if they be real Facts, they are of great Moment, forafmuch as we have all imaginable Reason to believe that the Breach of the Sunday is as offenfive, and the due Obfervance of it as acceptable, to God, now, as the Breach or Obfervance of the Sabbath was under the Jewish Dispensation. Nay, much more fo, the Sunday, our Christian Sabbath, being appointed in Honour of Chrift, our Redeemer. If God punished the Jews fo feverely for carrying Burdens, for kindling a Fire, for doing the leaft Work, or

taking their Pleasure, on their Sabbath, and not delighting, rather to fpend it in religious Exercifes; will he not take Vengeance on us Chriftians, if we follow our ordinary Concerns and Recreations on the Sunday, which is, in Obedience to the Original Inftitution of a Sabbath, and the Fourth Commandment, to be observed in Memory of the Creation, as much as the Jewish Sabbath was, and in Memory of a much greater Deliverance than That of the Jews from Egypt? It is intended as a Day of Reft, that we may be at Leifure to frequent Affemblies where Ordinances are adminiftered, that are of a much higher, and more beneficial Nature, than any of the Jewif Inftitutions; where more fublime Doctrines, more important Truths, and more perfect Precepts, are taught, and explained. It is intended, that on this Day we should privately improve ourselves in the Knowledge and Practice of a more excellent Religion; fit ourfelves for a State of greater Happiness, and avoid a greater Mifery, than was threatened, or promised, under the Mofaical Difpenfation. All these Circumftances confidered, the Guilt of profaning the Sunday must be proportionably greater than the Profanation of the Jewish Sabbath; and can we believe that where the Sin is greater, the Punishment will be lefs? It may not be fo vifible; Judgment may not be executed speedily. The First Covenant was established upon temporal Sanctions; the fecond, upon invifible, and eternal Ones; but

this