not gatlicr manna on the sabbath ; and but for parj)osing to gather it, God was very angrv, Exod. xvi. 27, 28., " There went out some of tlie people on the seventli day to gatlier, and they found none : and the Lord said, ' How h)ng refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws ?' " Sure- ly the anointing Christ when he was dead, was a commendable work ; but Mary Mag- dalene, and Mary the mother of James, though they had prepared sweet ointments to anoint the dead body of Christ, yet they came not to the sepulchre to embalm him, till the sabbath was past, Luke xxiii. 56., " They rested on the sabbath-day accord- ing to the commandment." The hand can- not be busied on the Lord's day, but the heart will be defiled. The very heathens, by the light of nature, would not do any secular work, in that time which they had sot apart for the worship of their false gods. Clemens Alexandriuus reports of one of the emperors of Rome, that on the day of set worshij) for his gods, he did forbear war- like affairs, and did spend that time in his de^'otion. To do scr\'ile work on the sab- bath, shews an irreligious heart, and high- ly affronts God ; to work servile work on this day, is to follow the devil's plough, it is to debase the soul. God hath made this day on purpose to raise the heart up to hea- ven, to converse with God, to do angel's work ; and to be emj)loyed in earthly work, is to degrade the soul of its honour. God will not have his day intrenched upon, or defiled in the least thing; tlie man that gathered sticks on the sabbath, God would have him stoned, Numb. xv. One would think it a small thing to pick up a ^c\v sticks to make a fire, but (u>d would not have this day violated in the smallest mat- ters. Nay, that work which had a refer- ence to a religious use, might not be done on the sabbath, as the hewing of stones for the building of the sanctuary : Bezaleel, who was to cut the stones, and carve the timber out for the sanctuary, yet he must forbear it on the sabbath, Exod. xxxi. 15. A temple is the place of God's worship, but it were a sin to build a temple on the Lord's day. This is keeping the sabbath- day holy negatively, in doing no servile work. Yet caution : not but that works
] of necessity and charity may be done on this day, — God, in these cases, will have mercy and not sacrifice. L 'Tis lawful to take the necessary recruits of nature ; food is to the body, as oil to the lamj). 2. 'Tis lawful to do works of mercy, as helping our neighbour when either life or estate arc in danger. Herein the Jews were too nice and precise, they would not suffer works ol charity to be done on the sabbath ; if a man were sick, they thought on this day they might not use means for his recovery. Christ chargeth them with tliis, that they were angry that he had wrought a cure on the sabbath, John vii. 23. If an house were on fire, the Jews thought they might not bring water to quench it ; if a vessel did run, they thought that on this day tliey might not stop it. These were ' righteous overmuch ;' here was seeming zeal, but it wanted discretion to guide it. But unless in these two cases of necessity and charity, all secular work is to be suspended and laid aside on the Lord's day : " In it thou shalt do no manner of work." Which just- ly doth arraign and condemn many among us who do too much foul their fingers with work on that day, — some dressing great feasts, — others in opening their shop-doors, and selling meat on the sabbath, which I have seen. The mariner will not set to sea but on the sabbath, and so runs lull-sail into the breach of this commandment. O- thers work on this day though ])i irately ; they put up their shop-windows, but fol- low their trade within doors ; but though they think to hide their sin under a cano- py, God sees it, Ps. cxxxix. 7., " Whither shall I flee from thy presence ?" ver. 12., " The darkness hideth not from lliec." These persons do ju'ofane this day, and God will have an action of trespass against them.
A. 2. Positively. We keep the sabbath-day holy, by " consecrating and (Icdicating" this day to the " service ot the high (iod." 'Tis good to rest on the sabhalh-day iVom the works of our calling ; but if we rest from la- bour and do no more, the ox and the ass keep the sabbath as well as we, for they rest from labour. We must dedicate the day to (i«id ; we must not only " keep a sab))ath," but " sancliry" a sabbatn. Tiiis sabbath-sane-
OF THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.
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tification consists in two things: l^^. The [ at the approach of it? That day on wliich
Koleinn [)reparation for it. 2d. The sacred observation of it.