to let them know, that if they continue in these things, what has been faid here againft them, feeing they were obliged to have come and heard our meffage from the Lord, fhall witness against them at the great day as well as against those who have heard the fame, if they continue in fuch courfes. I fhall close this with that word, Deut. xxviii. 58. 59. "If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law, that are written in this book, that thou mayeft fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy feed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and fore fickneffes, and of long continuance.' And O that all oaths, grofs or minced, all profaning of the name of God, and irreverent ufe of it, and all curfing of whatever kind, might end with these fermons against it!

4. Let us all fee ourselves in the glass of this command and threatning, and learn to know our guilt with respect to it, and our danger thereby. God will let us know, fooner or later, that he thinks much of what we think very little of And let us be humbled under, and wash in Christ's blood for our fins in taking God's name in vain *.

* Advices to common fwearers may be seen, and read with profit, in the author's Caveat against profane fwearing, in his diflinguishing characters of true believers, p. 202. &c.

OF THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.

EXOD. XX. 8, 9, 10, 11.-Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days fhalt thou labour and do all thy work. But the feventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou fhalt not do any work, thou, nor thy fon, nor thy daughter, thy man-fervant, nor thy maid-fervant, nor thy cattle, nor the Stranger that is within thy gates. For in fix days the Lord made heaven and earth, the fea, and all that in them is, and refted the feventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day,

and hallowed it.

THIS command repable, HIS command refpects the time of worship, and is the laft of the first table, fet to join both together, the Sabbath being the bond of all religion. In the words we have,

1.' The command. It is delivered two ways.

t

1ft, Pofitively, Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Sabbath fignifies reft or ceffation from labour. There is a threefold rest or Sabbath spoken of in fcripture. (1.) Temporal. (2.) Spiritual, which is an internal foul-reft, in ceafing from fin, Heb. iv. 3. (3.) Eternal, Heb. iv. 9. 11. celebrated in heaven, where the faints reft from their labours. It is the first of these, the weekly Sabbath, that is here meant. Obferve here,

(1.) Our duty with respect to the Sabbath. It is to keep it holy. God has made it holy, fet it apart for holy exercifes, and we must keep it holy, spending it in holy exercifes.

Y

(2.) The quantity of time to be observed as a Sabbath of reft, a day, a whole day of twenty-four hours; and the one day in feven. They muft obferve a feventh day after fix days labour, wherein all our work must be done, put by hand, fo as nothing of it may remain to be done on the Sabbath.

(3.) A note of remembrance put upon it; which imports, that this precept should be diligently obferved, fpecial regard paid to it, and due honour put upon this facred day.

2dly, Negatively. Where obferve, (1.) What is forbidden here; the doing of any work that may hinder the

fanctifying of this day. (2.) To whom the command is directed, and who muft obferve it; magiftrates, to whom belong the gates of the city; and masters of families, to whom belong the gates of the house. They muft obferve it themfelves, and cause others to observe it.

2. The reafons annexed to this command. None of the commands are thus delivered, both pofitively, and negatively, as this is. And that imports,

1ft, God is in a fpecial manner concerned for the keeping of the Sabbath, it being that on which all religion depends. Accordingly, as it is obferved or difregarded, fo it readily goes with the other parts of religion.

2dly, People are most ready to halve the fervice of this day, either to look on refting from labour as fufficient, or to look on the work of the day as over when the public work is over.

3dly, There is lefs light of nature for this command than the rest: for though it is naturally moral that there fhould be a Sabbath; yet it is but pofitively moral that this fhould be one day in feven, depending entirely on the will of God.

In difcourfing further from this fubject, I fhall fhew. I. What is required in the fourth commandment.

II. Which day of the seven God hath appointed to be the weekly Sabbath.

III. How the Sabbath is to be fanctified.

IV. What is forbidden in this command.
V. The reafons annexed to it,

VI. Make improvement,

I. I am to fhew what is required in the fourth commandment. This command, according to our Catechifm, requireth "the keeping holy to God fuch fet times as he hath appointed in his word; exprefsly one whole day in feven, to be a holy Sabbath to himself."

Here I fhall fhew,

1. That this command requireth the keeping holy to God fuch fet times as he hath appointed in his word.

2. That it requires one day in feven to be kept as a holy Sabbath to the Lord.

3. That the day to be kept holy is one whole day.

First, I am to fhew, that this command requireth the keeping holy to God fuch fet times as he hath appointed in his word.

The Jews under the Old Testament had feveral days befide the weekly Sabbath, that by divine appointment were to be kept as holy days, and by virtue of this command they were to obferve them, even as by virtue of the fecond they were to obferve the facrifices and other parts of the Old Testament inftituted worship. But thefe days are taken away under the gospel by the coming of Christ.

But that which this command in the firft place requires, is the keeping holy of a Sabbath to God; whatever be the day God determines for it; whether the feventh in order from the creation, as under the Old Teftament, or the first, as under the New. And fo the command is, Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy; not, Remember the feventh day. Thus the keeping of a Sabbath is moral duty binding all perfons in all places of the world.

For it is moral duty, and by the natural law required, that as God is to be worshipped, not only internally, but externally, not only privately, but publicly; fo there must be fome fpecial time defigned and fet apart for this, without which it cannot be done. And fo the very Pagans had their fabbaths and holidays. This is the first thing imported here, That a Sabbath is to be kept.

Another thing imported here is, That it belongs to God to determine the Sabbath, or what day or days he will have to be kept holy. He fays not, Remember to keep holy a Sabbath-day, or a day of rest, leaving it to men what days shall be holy, and what not; but, Remember the Sabbath day, &c. fuppofing the day to be already determined by himfelf. So that we are bound to the fet time appointed in his word.

And this condemns men's taking on themselves, whether churches or ftates, to appoint holidays to be kept, which God has not appointed in his word. Confider,

1. This command puts a peculiar honour on the Sabbath above all other days Remember the Sabbath-day, &c. But when men make holidays of their own to be kept holy, the day appointed of God is fpoiled of its peculiar honour, and there is no peculiar honour left to it, Ezek. xliii. 8. Yea, in

practice they go before it; for men's holidays, where they are regarded, are more regarded than God's day.

2. This command fays, Six days fhalt thou labour. Formalifts fay, There are many of these fix days thou shalt not labour, for they are holy days. If thefe words contain a command, who can countermand it? if but a permiffion, who can take away that liberty which God has left us? As for faft-days or thanksgiving-days occafionally appointed, they are not holy days; the worship is not made to wait on the days, as on Sabbaths and holidays, but the days on the worship which God by his providence requires; and confequently there must be a time for performing these exercises.

3. It belongs only to God to make a holy day; for who can fanctify a creature but the Creator, or time but the Lord of time? He only can give the bleffing: why fhould they then fanctify a day that cannot blefs it? The Lord abhors holy days devifed out of men's own hearts, 2 Kings. xii. 33.

4. Lastly, What reason is there to think that when God has taken away from the church's neck a great many holy days appointed by himself, he has left the gofpel-church to be burdened with as many, nay, and more of men's invention, than he himself had appointed?

Secondly, This command requires one day in feven to be kept as a holy Sabbath unto the Lord: Six days fhalt thou labour and do all thy work: but the feventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Thus the Lord determines the quanti ty of time that is to be his own, in a peculiar manner, that is, the feventh part of our time. After fix days working, a feventh is to be a Sabbath. This is moral, binding all perfons in all ages, and not a ceremony abrogated by Chrift.

1. This command of appointing one day in feven for a Sabbath is one of the commands of that law, confifting of ten commands, which cannot be made out without this; was written on tables of stone, to fhew the perpetuity of it; and of which Christ says, Matth. v. 17. 18. 19. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to deftroy, but to fulfil. For verily I fay unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title fhall in no wife pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whofoever therefore fhall break one of these least commandments, and fhall teach men fo, he shall be leaft in the kingdom of hea