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SECT. 10.] OF THE LORD’S DAY. 447
or divert our affections from them. And those whose minds are fixed in a spirit of liberty to glorify God in and by this day of rest, seeking after communion with him in the ways of his worship, will be unto themselves a better rule for their words and actions than those who may aim to reckon over all they do or say; which may be done in such a manner as to become the Judaical Sabbath much more than the Lord’s day.
10. IL]. Be sure to bring good and right principles unto the per- formance of the duty of keeping a day of rest holy unto the Lord. Some of these I shall name, as confirmed expressly in, or drawn evidently from, the preceding discourses :—
1.) Remember that there is a weekly rest, or a holy rest of one day im the week, due to the solemn work of glorifying God as G'od. “ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” We have had a week unto our own occasions, or we have a prospect of a week in the pati- ence of God for them. Let us remember that God puts in for some time with us. Allis not ourown. Weare not our own lords. Some time God will have to himself, from all that own him in the world; and this is that time, season, or day. He esteems not himself ac- knowledged, nor his sovereignty owned in the world, withoutit. And therefore this day of rest he required the first day as it were that the world stood upon its legs, hath done so all along, and will do so to the last day of its duration. When he had made all things, and saw that they were good, and was refreshed in them, he required that we should own and acknowledge his goodness and power therein. This duty we owe to God as God.
(2.) Remember that God appointed this day to teach us that as he rested therein, so we should seek after rest in him here, and look on this day as a pledge of eternal rest with him hereafter. So was it from the beginning. This was the end of the appointment of this day. Now, our rest in God in general consists in two things :—[1.] In our approbation of the works of God and the law of our obedience, with the covenant of God thereon. These things are expressive of and do represent unto us the goodness, righteousness, holiness, faith- fulness, and power of God. For these, and with respect unto them, are we to give glory to him. What God rests in, he requires that through it we should seek for our rest in him. As this was the duty of man in innocency, and under the law, so it is ours now much more; for God hath now more eminently and gloriously unveiled and dis- played the excellencies of his nature and the counsels of his wisdom, in and by Jesus Christ, than he had done under the first covenant. And this should work us to a greater and more holy admiration of - them; for if we are to acknowledge that “the law is holy, just, and good,” as our apostle speaks, although it is now useless as to the
448 PRACTICAL OBSERVANCE [ EXERC. VI.
bringing of us to rest in God, how much more ought we to own and subscribe to the gospel, and the declaration that God hath made of himself therein, that so it is? [2.] In an actual solemn compliance with his will, expressed in his works, law, and covenant. This brings us unto present satisfaction in him, and leads us to the full enjoy- ment of him. This is a day of rest, but we cannot rest in a day, nor in any thing that a day can afford; only it is a help and means of bringing us to rest in God. Without this design, all our observa- tion of a Sabbath is of no use or advantage. Nothing will thence redound to the glory of God nor to the benefit of our own souls. And this they may do well to consider who plead for the observa- tion of the seventh day precisely; for they do profess thereby that they seek for rest in God according to the tenor of the first covenant. That they approve of, and that they look (by that profession) to be brought to rest by; though really, and on other principles, they do otherwise. Whatever, then, be the covenant wherein we walk with God, the great principle which is to guide us in the holy observation of this day is, that we celebrate the rest of God in that covenant, approve of it, rejoice in it, and labour to be partakers of it, whereof the day itself is given us as a pledge. We must therefore,—
(3.) Remember that we have lost our original rest in God by sin. God made us upright in his own image, meet to take our rest, satis- faction, and reward in himself, according to the tenor of the law of our creation, and the covenant of works established thereon. Hereof the seventh day was a token and pledge. All this we must consider that we have lost by sin. God might justly have left us in a wandering condition, without either rest or any pledge of it. Our reparation, indeed, is excellent and glorious; yet so as to mind us that on our part the loss of our former estate was shameful, and in - the remembrance whereof we ought to be humbled. And hence we may know that it is in vain for us to lay hold of the seventh day again, which is but an attempt to return into the garden after we are shut out and kept out by a flaming sword; for although it was made use of as a type and shadow under the law, yet to us who must live on the substance of things, or not at all, it cannot be possessed without robbery, and it is of no use when attained. For we are to remem- ber,—