Heaven; who reft for ever from their labours, yet are for ever employed in the work of thanksgiving and praise.

I fhall here add his judgment of the neceffity of obferving the Lord's-day, and keeping it strictly holy.

The Lord bleffed the feventh day, to the purposes of piety and fpiritual benefit of his fervants; yea, and it fhall be bleffed. This is not a branch of the ceremonial law; 'for from the beginning of the world, the • Lord hath established a blessing upon the ⚫ feventh day, making it a mark and cha ⚫racteristic of his fervants from the reft of the world, who take no notice of a feventh day; an outward fign of his everlasting covenant with them from the beginning to the end of the world. He hath fanctified a feventh part of our time to himself, and as he heretofore fanctified the temple, as a type of our Emmanuel, of our Saviour's 'manhood; and gave great privileges to the prayers that were offered up to him in it, or towards it; fo hath he fanctified every feventh day of our time, as a type of that • eternal day of holiness, and of reft, which " we fhall enjoy in the prefence and company of our Lord in Heaven. Fear not then, my foul, the day is bleffed; whatever thou offereft up to thy God on this day, fhall have a double acceptance; and whatever good thing thou defireft on this day, fhall have a speedy anfwer. This is the accept

• able

able time, in which God will hear thee; this is the Lord's own day which he hath • bleffed, and in which he will bless thee. "Only take heed, that thou keep Ifa. Ivi. 6. the covenant of the Lord, and fanctify this his day." (For most wife reafons he hath appointed it, as effential and neceffary to the improvement of our fouls. For whofo looks into the world, and fees how men are apt to be engaged to ' it, and forget their eternal home; will foon think, that one day in feven is as little as can be, to revive and maintain in their fouls, a true fenfe of things.) "Then will thy God bring thee to his holy mountain, and make thee joyful in his house of prayer; thy burnt-offerings and thy facrifices fhall be accepted on his holy altar." Thy devotions, and thy fervices fhall be accepted that day (more efpecially) in his fight, through the mediator of the covenant, the Lord Jefus. Amen." In another place he speaks to the fame purpose.

Verfe 7.

The Chriftian church affumed the feftivals of the Jews, as rightly belonging to them for the things which they were kept in remembrance of, were fulfilled in our Saviour; and therefore the fame feftivals < were to be kept by Chriftians, in remem• brance of this fulfilling. Thus the Paffover " was the type of our Saviour's fuffering, and. transferred to our Eafter: the Feast of • Tabernacles,.

* Tabernacles, to Christmas, in remembrance of God's having pitched his tabernacle · among men. And fo the fabbath transferred from an outward to a fpiritual reft, in • remembrance of Chrift's having perfected the work of our redemption, and our reft from fin procured thereby fo that we are not to look upon it as a Jewith, but a • Chriftian festival; for to do otherwife, is blamed by the apoftle, and paralleled with fetting up of circumcifion.

6

The Jews obferved the fabbath for a long time, only as a day of rest, and not of holy exercifes. The Chriftians at firft, did meet in the night of the Lord's-day because of privacy; and feveral of them were flaves, who could get no other time; in the morning, thofe that could went to their repofe, the other to their labours.

The laws of our church and land, are not fo ftrict in forbidding work, as requiring affembling to the worship of God. And for the rest of the day, we are particularly directed to acts of charity; and no doubt • fuch innocent relaxation is lawful, as does not take us off from that ferious temper of mind we ought to maintain.

It feems impoffible for men to be faved, without fanctifying one day in feven; I mean in the ordinary courfe of living. Lefs than this, will not keep their minds above fin and the world. And then all vifits and idle chat is to be avoided, and we ought to

• be

be altogether alone, or in company and converfation that may edify, and we are to • confider, that the Lord's-day is not only a • remembrance of what is paft, but a type of the eternal fabbath in Heaven; and therefore ought to be fpent in fuch exercises (bating acts of charity and the neceffities of our • mortal state) as we hope to be employed in 'there.'

He obferv.

the church.

St. Mat

And as he kept the Lord's-day ed the feasts most ftri&tly holy, fo he was a and fafts of religious obferver of the feafts and fafts of the church, giving them up to devotions proper to them, as much as his engagements in the world would allow; to humiliation and repentance, if days of forrow; to praifes, if days of joy. And what he thought of our feftivals, and how he obferved. them, the two following meditations will fhew. • Solibus æftivis non confule comthew's- putat annum, was the character of day, 1685. the happy man of old. But our happiness is of another fort, and our com putation different. O happy foul! when the offices of religion do measure out to thee the time and the year; and devotion in its decent dress, is thy kalendar; when as • thou doft receive with pleasure the fruits of each season, which the bounty of thy God caufeth the earth to bring forth to thee; the fun and heaven yielding fucceffively • their grateful changes, fo thou mayeft meafure out thy time with fuitable variety of

• praise

praise and devotion; afpiring in each season after fome new grace in return, till thou haft run the circle of them all with the year, and fummed up thy gain at last in a happy eternity. Happy foul! to whom each new week is welcome, and known not by the almanack, or the outward face of the year, but by the grace it propofes to thy meditation and practice in its collect, while thou doft join with the whole church, in making this theme thy ftudy and thy care: when each month is known to thee, not by the old heathen name it bears, but the bleffed faints it commemorates, welcoming with joy their holy feftivals. O happy fouls who unite in this bleffed ftudy! May my foul enter into your fecrets, and dwell with you in this facred exercife! May I 6 ever rejoice in this orderly revolution of time, ever be with you, the children of the kingdom, the favourites of Heaven, the delights of my foul, and heirs of eternity, in all the happy periods of this revolution; and thus employed, through the mercies of our good God, may we roll infenfibly on from grace to glory, from time to eternity, and from commemorating the faints here, to enjoying our Lord and them for ever hereafter Amen.'

The other meditation I fhall infert, is upon the feftival of our Saviour's nativity, and thofe holy days which attend it,

• Lord,