[;").] Fifthly, TIds hath been tlie judgment of most Judiciom divines in all ages. In the C'ouncil of Mexiconi there was an assembly of ministers out of all nations in Christendom, and they ordained a canon concerning the Lord's day. The canon runs thus: ' We ordain that people keep the whole Lord's day holy, and that they set themselves the whole day to pray to God, and delight in God, and hear his word; and if a country man's servant break this day, his punishment shall be to be beaten with severe blows,' [ictubus gravioribus, are the veiy "words of the council;] ' and if a lawyer offer to plead this day, he shall not have the benefit of his pleading or case ; and if a minister break this day, he shall be excommunicated half a year, and thrown out of the church, and shall not be received into the church again but upon great humiliation.' It is a good observation of Musculus upon Exod. XX. 8 : God doth not say, saith he, ' remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy ;' for he that keeps it an hour or two keeps it holy ; but ' re- member the sabbath-day to keej) it holy : ' he will have not a part of a day only, but a whole day kept holy. And Calvin, upon thes^ words, ' Remember the sabbath-day to keep it holy,' saith, we are to keep this day holy, and not a part of it, but all of it. I might produce a cloud of witnesses in the case ; but let these suffice. But,
[6.J Sixthly and lastly, Consider that the very heathen have hept the lohole day to their idol-gods, and not a part. And shall we then put off God with a part of a day ? Shall we be worse than the heathens ? Shall we act below heathens ? Shall nature, shall blind devotion do more than grace ? The Lord forbid ! But,
13. Thirteenthly, You must sanctify the Sabbath, by sueh an abstinence or moderate tise of all your lawful comforts, contentments, and enjoyments, as may render you most apt and ft for the sand if ca- tion of tJie Sabbath. ' Let your moderation be known among all men' always, Phil. iv. 5 ; but especially on the Lord's day, be moderate in your eating, drinking, entertainments, <fcc. Oh how do many by their immoderate use of lawful comforts on this day, indispose and unfit themselves for the duties of the day ! It is a Christian's duty every day to eat and drink soberly: Titus ii. 11, 12, 'The grace of God which bringcth salvation, hatrh a])peared to us, teaching us to live soberly in this j)resent world.' It is both the duty and the glory of a Christian to be temperate in his diet, A little will satisfy nature, less will satisfy grace, though nothing will satisfy men's lusts,2 Sobriety is a gift of God, whereby we keep a holy moderation in the use of onr diet : Prov. xxiii. 1,2,' When thou sittest to eat,' &c., ' consider diligently what is before thee, and put the knife to thy throat;' tliat is, be very careful and circumspect in taking thy food, bridle thine appetite, take heed thou dost not exceed measure. He may endanger
' .^i>: hut query ' Matiscon in France'? See before, Index sub voce. — G. * The Greeks call sobriety the keeper and guard of wisdom.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 301
his health, his life, his soul, that gives way to his greedy appetite. Some read the words thus : ' For thou puttest a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.' Thou shortenest thy life, and diggest as it were thine own grave with thine own teeth. Meat kills as many as the musket ; the board as the sword, [Chrysostom.] I know that the bodies, stomachs, callings, constitutions, and climates wherein men live, differ ; and therefore no such particular rules, as to eating and drinking, can be laid down as shall be binding to every one: yet this is certain, that a man that eats or drinks so much on the Lord's day as oppresses nature, and as unfits him for praying, work- ing,! or hearing work, or reading work, or closet work, that man is guilty of intemperance. 2 Such who feed till they unfit themselves for service are belly-gods. Paul wept over such in his day, and so should we in ours, Phil. iii. 18, 19. Thou shouldst use thy food, 0 Christian, as a help, and not as a hindrance to thee in thy Christian course. A full belly never studies well, nor never prays well, nor never hears well, nor never reads well, nor never repeats well, nor never doth any- thing well, either on the Lord's day or any other day. What a shame is it to see a Christian a slave to his palate on any day, but especially on the Lord's day. I may use the creatures so as to suj^port sheer nature, but not so as to clog it, and weaken it, and debase it. I may use the creatures as my servants, but I must never suffer them to be my lord. Daniel was very temperate in his diet, Dan. i. 8. Though there was not a greater born of a woman than John the Baptist, yet his fare was but locusts and wild honey. Mat. xi. 11. A little bread was Basil's provision. Hilarion did seldom eat anything till the sun went down, and then that which he did eat was very mean. Jerome lived with cold water and a few dried figs ; and Augustine hath this expression concerning himself,^ Hoc me docuisti, Domine, dtc, Thou Lord hast taught me this, that I should go to my meat as to a medicine. His meaning was, that he went to his meat, not to satisfy his appetite, but to repair nature. And Luther made many a meal with bread and a herring. Socrates, Anacharsis, Cyrus, Cassar, Herodicus, Augustus, and many other heathens were very temperate in their diet. The old Gauls were very sparing in their diet, and used to fine them that out- grew their girdles. These heathens will one day rise in judgment against those nominal Christians who are intemperate, both upon the Lord's day, and other days also. But,
14. Fourteenthly and lastly, You must sanctify the Sabbath, hj ah- staining from speaking your own loords. The spouse's lips are like a thread of scarlet, Cant. iv. 3. They are red like a thread of scarlet in dis- coursing of a crucified Christ, and they are thin like a thread of scarlet, and not swelled with frothy, empty, worldly discourses, on the Lord's days or on other days. Such words as will neither profit a man's own soul, nor better others, are not to be spoken on the Lord's day. It is God's express pleasure that we should not speak our own words on liis day : Isa. Iviii. 13, ' Nor speaking thine own words.' Caesar * passing
^ Query, 'praying work'? — Ed.
* In the hot Eastern countries men have lived long with parched corn and a cake, but their example is no rule for us. ' Lib. x. Coiifessionum.
•• Plutarch in the life of Pericles.
302 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.