[1.] First, There is the eye of observatioii and ijisjjectmi. God seeth Avhat uprightness and seriousness, what integrity, ingenuity, and fervency you have in his services. ' Mine eyes are upon all their ways,' Jer. xvi. 17. Ps. xvi. 8, ' I have set the Lord always before me.' Ps. cxix. 1G8, 'I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.' Job xxxi. 4, ' Doth not he see all my ways, and count all my steps ?' 0 sirs, whether you are praying, or hearing, or reading, or meditating, or singing, or receiving the Lord's su})per, or conferring one with another, the eye of the Lord is still upon you, Mai. iii. 17. But,
[2.] Secondly, There is an eye of favour and benediction: Amos ix. 4, 'I will set mine eyes upon them for good.' 2 Chron. vii. 16, * Mine eye and my heart shall be there ;' that is, in my house. God's eye is here to approve, and to bless, and to increase the graces, the comforts, the communions, and the enjoyments of his people. But,
[3.] Thirdly, There is the eye of furij and indignation. God's looks can speak his anger, as well as his blows. His fury is visible by his frowns. ' Mine eyes shall be upon them for evil.' God's sight can wound as deeply as his sword. ' He sharpeneth his eyes upon me,' saith Job, chap. xvi. 9. Wild beasts, when they fight, whet their eyes as well as their teeth. ' He sharpeneth his eyes upon me,' as if he would stab me to the heart with a glance of his eye. He that waits on Gotl irreverently, or worships him carelessly, or that profaneth his day, cither by corporal labour or spiritual idleness, may well expect an eye of fury to be fixed upon him, Jer. xvii. 27; Ezek. xxii. 26, 31. But,
7. Seventhly, You must sanctify the Sabbath, by pressiiig after immediate communion toiih God and Christ in all the duties of the day, Ps. xxvii. 4, xlii. 1, 2, xliii. 4, Ixiii. 1, 2, and Ixxxiv. 1, 2. Oh do not take up in duties, or ordinances, or privileges, or enlargements, or meltings, but ])ress hard after intimate communion with God in all you do. Let no duty satisfy thy soul without communion with God in it: Cant. vii. 5, ' The king is held in the galleries,' that is, in his ordinances. The galleries, tlie ordinances, without King Jesus be enjoyed in them, will never satisfy the spouse of Christ, Cant. iii.
' .\mlirosc Offic, lib. i. cap. 14. ' Query, ' master's'? -Ed.
IsA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 295
1-4. What is a purse without money, or a table without meat, or a ship without a pilot, or a fountain without water, or the body without the soul, or the sun without light, or the cabinet without the jewels? no more are all ordinances and duties to a gracious soul without the enjoyment of God in them,i 2 Kings ii. 13, 14. Moses had choice com- munion with Grod in the mount, and that satisfied him. The disciples had been with Jesus, and this was a spring of joy and life unto them : John. XX. 20, ' Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.' ' Here is the mantle of Elijah, but where is the God of Elijah ?' said Elisha. So saith a gracious soul, here is this ordinance and that or- dinance, but where is the God of the ordinance? Ps. ci. 2, ' Oh when wilt thou come unto me ?' 0 Lord, I come to one ordinance and another ordinance, but when wilt thou come to me in the ordinance ? when shall I be so happy as to enjoy thyself in the ordinances that I enjoy ? The waggons that Joseph sent to fetch his father were the means of bringing Joseph and his father together. All the ordinances should be as so many waggons, to bring Christ and our souls nearer together. Man's summum honum stands in his communion with God, as Scrip- ture and experience evidences.
8. Eighthly, You must sanctify the Sabbath, by labouring after the highest pitches of grace a7id holiness on this day. Every Christian should labour after an angelical holiness on this day ; on this day every saint should walk like an earthly angel, Isa. Iviii. 13. Mark, the Sabbath is not only called holy, but holiness to the Lord : Exod. xxxi, 15, ' Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord'— or as the Hebrew runs, ' holiness to the Lord ; ' which shews that the day is exceeding holy, and ought to be kept accordingly. The sacrifices on this day was to be double : Num. xxviii. 9, "' And on the sabbath-day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat-offering, mingled with oil, and the drink-offering thereof.' The sacrifices here appointed for every Sabbath-day are full double to those appointed for every day, ver. 3 ; and yet the daily sacrifices, the continual burnt- ofiering, ver. 10, was not omitted on the Sabbath-day neither. So that every Sabbath, in the morning, there was offered one lamb for the daily sacrifice, and then two lambs more for the Sabbath : and this was appointed,
[1.] To shew the holiness of that day above other days; and that God required more service from them on that day than he did on any other day.
[2.] Secondly, To testify their thankfulness for the world's creation, Exod. XX. 11.
[3.] Thirdly, To put them in remembrance of God's bringing them out of Egypt by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, Deut. V. 15.
[4.] Fourthly, For a sign of their sanctification by the Lord, Ezek. XX. 12 ; Heb. iv.
[5.] Fifthly and lastly, For to be a figure of grace, and a sign of
' The sea ebbs and flows, the moon increases and decreases; so it is with saints in their communion with God in ordinances. Sometimes they rise, and sometimes they fall ; sometimes they have more, and sometimes less communion with God.
296 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
that rest in heaven that Christ hatli purchased for his people with his dearest bhiod. Now mark, as this day was a sign of more than ordinary favours from the Lord, so he required greater testimonies of their thaukfuhiess and holiness on this day than he did on any other day. Every d;iy should be a Sabbath to the saints, in regard of their ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well, but on the seventh-day-Sabbath, our duties anil services should be doubled. In Ps. xcii., which psalm is titled a Psalm for the Sabbath, there is mention made of morning and evening i)erformances. The variety of duties that are to be per- formed on this day may very well take up the whole day with delight and pleasure. On this day, in a more especial manner, we should labour to do the will of God on earth, as the angels and spirits of just men made perfect do it now in heaven, Heb. xii. 22, 23 — viz., wisely, freely, readily, cheerfully, faithfully, seriously, universally, and un- weariedly. If we are not wanting to ourselves, God on this day will give out nuich of himself, and much of his Christ, and much of his S})irit, and much of his grace into our souls. But,