181.]
3. The increase of them on the Sabbath-day —
[This is particularly noticed in the text : the lambs, and the meat and drink-offerings, were doubled on that day. What a reverence for the Sabbath was this calculated to inspire ! It shewed to all, that though that day is a day of rest from worldly business, it ought to be a day of peculiar exertion in the things of God. Then should all the faculties of the soul be summoned to the service, or, I should rather say, to the enjoyment, of God. We should keep a holy feast unto him, and seek a more abundant measure of communion with him. In the closet, in the family, in the public assembly, we should be endeavouring to advance his glory : in a word, we should labour to spend the whole day, as it were, in " fellowship with him, and with his Son, Jesus Christ." Not that we need to be all the day in acts of devotion ; it is the habit, which we should particularly attend to ; and we may vary our services, so as to render them
all more easy and delightful Shall it be thought that
under the Gospel this strictness is not necessary ? We answer, that, though the ceremonial part of the Sabbath is superseded, the moral part remains ; and, on that, as well as every other day, our sacrifices, instead of being diminished, should be in- creased. It is of the times of the Gospel that Ezekiel speaks, though in terms taken from the law : and the attentive reader will see, that more is required of us than of the Jews ; and that both our services and enjoyments should be augmented in proportion to our superior advantages'1. Let not us be sparing of our services, and God will not be sparing of his communications r.]
i Ezek. xlvi. 14. on common days ; and Ezek. xlvi. 4, 5. on the Sabbath-day. r Isai. lxiv. 5.