TO THE LORD'S DAY. 245 tical sacrifice we bless the Maker of all things, through his Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit; and upon the day called Sunday,* all that live either in city or country meet together at the same place, where the writings of the apostles and prophets are read, as much as time will give leave; when the reader has done, the bishop makes a sermon, wherein he instructs the people, and animates them to the practice of such lovely precepts; at the conclusion of this discourse, we all rise up together and pray: and prayers being over, as I now said, there is bread, and wine, and water offered, and the bishop, as before, sends up prayers, and thanksgivings, with all the fervency he is able, and the people conclude all with the joyful acclamation of Amen: then the consecrated elements are distributed to, and partaken of, by all that are present, and sent to the absent by the hands of the deacons. "But the wealthy and the willing, for every one is at liberty, contribute as they think fitting; and this collection is deposited with the bishop, and out of this he relieves the orphan and the widow, and such as are reduced to want by sickness or any other cause, and such as are in bonds, and strangers that come from far; and in a word, he is the guardian and almoner to all the indigent. Upon Sunday we all assemble, that being the first day in which God set himself to work upon the dark void, in order to make the world, and in which Jesus Christ our Saviour rose again from the dead; for the day before Saturday he was crucified, and the day after, which is Sunday, he appeared to his apostles and disciples, and taught them what I have now proposed to your consideration." § 4. With respect to the way of observing the sabbath, observe it is to be set apart for God. It is the Lord's day, not yours. The day is the Lord's, not merely the morning, or the afternoon, or the evening, but the day. The command is not, Remember the sabbath morning to keep it holy, or the sabbath afternoon: but the sabbath day. And so we * On the name Sunday the translator of Justin observes, "It was called Sunday by Justin and Tertullian, because it happened upon that day of the week, which by the heathens was dedicated to the sun, and therefore as being best known to them by that name, the fathers commonly made use of it in their apologies to the heathen emperors; but the more proper and prevailing name was Kupiaкn, or the Lord's day, as it is called by St. John himself, Rev, i. 10." -Reeve's Apol. vol. i. p. 115, 118. 246 PROFANATIONS OF THE SABBATH. are informed of the early Christians, that they spent a great part of the day together engaged in those solemn exercises, which were ripening them for a sabbath above. The day should be begun with God, be carried on with God, and be ended with God. Private prayer, family devotion, self-examination, and meditation; reading the Scriptures, visiting the sick, public worship, and the religious instruction of the young, and, if a parent, of your own children, are the engagements that should occupy the sabbath. If at the head of a family, you are commanded by God to let your servants and your cattle rest; and if you are employing these, you as much profane the sabbath as if employed yourself. The ways in which this sacred day is profaned are innumerable. Some profane it by buying, selling, travelling, or amusements. To such the words apply, "What evil thing is this ye do, "Your journeys, sports, and pleasures vain? "Your souls to sin, the world, and hell." The sabbath is profaned in numberless instances by attending to household business, that should be done on Saturday or left till Monday. The sabbath is profaned by bakers busy at their ovens, by farmers employing their servants in work not absolutely essential to the well-being of their cattle. The sabbath is profaned by reading improper books, not only books of a profligate tendency, but books not calculated to promote the power of vital piety, as works in science, in history, or on mere speculative subjects in theology. In this county, and some other parts of England, the sabbath is profaned to a dreadful extent, by the wives, daughters, or servants of farmers, employed in making cheese. This is not a work of mercy, nor of necessity. All the arguments that can be offered for the practice, will resolve themselves into one gain. And if this reason were sufficient for violating the sabbath in this case, it would in a thousand others. The sabbath is profaned in an awful degree by the indulgence of improper thoughts, and by conversation of a description unsuitable to the day. What has the Christian, who should be improving the sabbath, as a means of meetening the soul for heaven, to do on the Lord's day with politics? PROFANATIONS OF THE SABBATH. 247 with the state of the nation? with tittle-tattling about the affairs of families? with the state of trade? with fashions, with diversions? Are these subjects for such a day, and for creatures who have a heaven to gain, a hell to escape, a God to glorify, an eternity before them, and but a few sabbaths to improve? Yet what more common! What else do many professors of religion on the Lord's day converse about? Many hearers of the gospel scarcely leave the house of prayer, before they begin discoursing on these or other mere worldly subjects. A short and expressive account of the mode in which the sabbath should be spent, is furnished in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah; and an important promise connected with it: "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."" Nothing merely of a ceremonial nature appears in this description, and though the latter part of the passage contained a promise more immediately applicable to Israel, yet the promise, "Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord," is so naturally connected with the solemn improvement of the Lord's day, that it may justly be viewed as made to all who pursue the practice previously required. « Το § 5. Now allow me affectionately to urge upon you a devout, a strict improvement of this holy day. All that is dear to you as an immortal being, all that you are anxious to promote, if indeed a Christian, enforce such observance. this institution we owe far the greater part of the spiritual blessings which we enjoy; and, in a high sense, we owe them all. But for this day, we should neither have sought, nor secured, eternal life: for where no sabbath is, there is no religion. But for this day, earthly things would have engrossed all our thoughts. But for this day, the world, as a canker, would rust, corrupt, and consume all the disposition to piety, and all the hopes of heaven. The soul would be benumbed. Religion would die. God would be forgotten. (n) Isa. lviii. 13, 14. 243 IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING The death of Christ would be vain. Mankind would cease to be saved and heaven would fail of her destined inhabitants. How desolate the prospect! How strongly would this world resemble the regions of final despair! where no sabbath dawns; where no prayers nor praises ascend; no sermons proclaim pardon and peace to sinners; the voice of mercy never sounds; and the smiles of forgiving, redeeming, and sanctifying love never illumine the dreary valley of the shadow of death!"* § 6. A strictly religious improvement of the sabbath will be fraught with incalculable blessings to yourself. It will counteract the influence of the world; it will strengthen every grace; it will nourish the flame of holy love, and mature your soul for all the enjoyments of the heavenly world. Judge Hale observes, “I have found by a strict and diligent observation, that the due observing the duties of this day hath ever had joined to it a blessing upon the rest of my time, and the week that hath been so begun, hath been blessed and prosperous to me. And on the other hand, when I have been negligent of the duties of this day, the rest of the week hath been unsuccessful and unhappy to my secular employments. So that I could easily make an estimate of my successes, in my own secular employments, the week following, by the manner of passing this day: and this I do not write lightly or inconsiderately, but upon a long and sound observation and experience." § 7. To strengthen and deepen your impressions of the immense importance of the strict observance of the Lord's day, look at what passes around you, think of your obligations to God, and contemplate the scenes before you. Look at what passes around you. Some will tell you that a strict observance of the sabbath is superstitious; but observe their character. Can you point to one of this description, that displays any eminence in piety? Do their affections seem heavenly? their hopes bright? their souls devout? Are they zealous and devout followers of the Lord? Rather, are they not those, whose profession of religion is a cold, barren, heartless, worthless thing? Are these they with whom you would wish to die? and when they quit this transient world, would you wish your soul in their soul's place? * Dwight. THE SABBATH HOLY. 249 Look at others, whose piety is elevated, whose zeal is warm, whose faith is strong, whose hopes are bright, who live as strangers here, and as travellers to glory, and whose souls are ripening apace for heaven; to whom religion is their meat and drink, their pleasure and their all-these are they that reverence the Lord's day, and strictly improve its holy hours. Would you not wish to die their death? and to have your soul gathered with theirs? Then imitate their example. The rule of the Lord Jesus, By their fruits ye shall know them, may be applied here. Eminent piety is uniformly connected with the devout and strict observation of the Lord's day; and the want of a strict improvement of the holy day is, even where a profession of religion is made, as uniformly connected with lukewarmness or hypocrisy. Think of your obligations to God. Does he, who gives you every day, and from whom you hope for immortality, require too much, when he bids you consecrate to him one day in seven? Had he condescended to ask you what portion of your time you would solemnly set apart for his peculiar service, would you have thought of less? could you have thought of so little? Part of the sabbath is employed in receiving needful support, and were a person from fourteen years of age to sixty, to spend ten hours every sabbath in employments of a strictly religious nature, in a life of sixty years, the time thus employed would by no means amount to three whole years; and is this much, in such a life, to consecrate to such a Friend? Besides, while the Lord thus claims the day, he intends the profit of the day for you. Think of what is before you-a dying day and an eternal world. And when you come to quit this transitory world, will you then repent of having improved the Lord's day with the most strict devotion? Will you then wish to have trifled away in idle conversation, or vain amusement, or worldly science, its sacred hours? Rather, would not the recollection of sabbaths thus passed, fill the hour of death with alarm, and plant with thorns your dying pillow? What way of spending the Lord's day will yield you most pleasure in death and eternity? Only spend it in that way. Spend it as you will wish in your last hours to have done. Spend it as a traveller hasting to eternity. Remember that every sabbath which passes, leaves you one less to improve, and one more to ac |