I fhall go on with the reft of the Things as I have Opportunity.

The Text I have chofen is the Beginning of the Fourth Commandment, which all we of this Church muft needs own to be a Law that obligeth us, because at the Repetition of it by the Minifter, which is done every Sunday and Holiday, we do all make this Refponfe: Lord, have Mercy upon us, and incline our Hearts to keep this

Law.

Now, if there be any Thing obliging in that Commandment, it is this, Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy; for that is the Sum and Subftance of the Commandment : All the other Things there mentioned are but either an Account of the Reason why the Seventh Day is thus to be kept holy, or else an Account of the Manner how it was to be kept holy.

My Argument then is the Sabbath Day, and in treating of it, I fhall divide my Difcourse into four Parts.

The First shall be about our Obligation to obferve the Sabbath in general.

The Second fhall be about the Tranflation of the Sabbath from the Seventh Day of the Week to the First.

The Third fhall be about the great Neceffities and Advantages of strictly observing the Lord's Day, which is our Sabbath.

The

The Fourth fhall be about the Manner of obferving it.

I begin with the First Head, concerning our Obligation to obferve the Sabbath in general, and this will be more than enough to entertain our Meditations at this Time. And here I am fenfible I am entering into a Field of Controverfy, where my Business will not fo much be to warm your Affections, as to dispute and argue; but tho' my Argument lead me to talk dryly, yet I shall endeavour to talk as plainly as I can.

For the preventing and avoiding Difputes, as much as can be, I defire to premise these three Things.

First of all, When we talk of our Obligation to obferve the Sabbath, we own that we use the Word Sabbath in a very improper Sense: For the Sabbath, as it is always ufed, both in Scripture and Ecclesiastical Writers, is conftantly appropriated to the Jewish Sabbath, or Saturday; and therefore it is with fome Abfurdity that a great many among us do call our Lord's Day by the Name of the Sabbath Day. If any Foreigner heard us exprefs ourselves fo, they would verily believe we meant Saturday, and not Sunday: But however, fince it is cuftomary among us to call our Lord's Day by the Name of the Sabbath Day, I do not refrain the Ufe of it, especially at this

Time,

Time, when I am not treating of the particular Day we are to observe, but of a Day of Reft in general, which may properly enough be called a Sabbath, on what Day foever it fall; for Sabbath fignifies no more than a Day of Reft.

There are Two things to be diftinguished, in the Sabbath, as it is ufed in Scripture. First, That Portion of Time in general that is to be fet apart for the more folemn Worfhip of GOD; and that is one Day in the weekly Revolution, or one Day in Seven. Secondly, That precife particular Day in the Seven, that was thus to be fet apart. Now under the Jewish Difpenfation, that was the Laft Day of the Week; but under the Chriftian Difpenfation, it is the First Day of the Week: So that we may properly enough, when we speak in general, of a Day of Reft in a weekly Revolution, call it a Sabbath; tho' the particular Day on which we Christians reft, is not fo properly the Sabbath as the LORD's Day.

Secondly, Whatever Weight I lay upon the Obfervation of the Sabbath, yet I do not fetch it from any Obligation that is upon us, from any of Mofes's Laws in this Matter. The Laws that GOD gave upon Mount Sinai by Mofes, did never concern any but the Children of Ifrael, and those that dwelt among them: Nor were they ever defigned or intended to be Laws to any other Nation, VOL IV. S

and

and therefore the Ten Commandments themselves, as they were delivered by Moses, tho' we confess they do oblige us, yet they do not oblige us at all, by virtue of that Promulgation, but upon other Accounts; namely, either the Reasonableness and Goodnefs of the Matter of them, or fome new Authority that is ftamped upon them. Whatever therefore is wholly Jewish in the Sabbath, though it be never fo plainly required by God's Law, doth no way concern us: And there are feveral Laws relating to the Sabbath, in the Old Teftament, that are of that Nature; nay, and fome even in the Fourth Commandment (which, as I faid, our Church owns in the general to be a Law to us); namely, not only the fixing the Sabbath to the Seventh Day of the Week, but also the ftrict Reft both of Man and Beast on that Day, which is there injoined. But these things, as I fhall fhew hereafter, were no Part of the Law of the Sabbath, as it is a Law to us; and therefore we have no Reafon to concern ourselves about them.

The Third and last Thing I have to premife is this. When I talk of fhewing the Obligation that is upon all Chriftians to obferve the Sabbath, I would not have you expect other Sort of Proof for it than the Thing affords. I will not be fo pofitive as fome have been, to affirm that the Obfervance of the Sabbath is bound upon us by

the

the Law of Nature. No, nor dare I affirm that we have any direct exprefs Law of our Lord Jefus to oblige us to it. But it is abundantly enough for our Purpose, if we can fhew that there are Evidences enough of its being a Law to all of us that believe in Scripture; and that it is our Duty to obferve it; and that we fin if we do not, unless there be urgent Neceffity in the Cafe to excufe us.

Having premised these Three things, I come to the Point; and here I have Two things to offer to you.

And, First of all, if we take the lowest Hypothefis that is laid down in this Matter, I do not fee, but that it fufficiently infers our Obligation to obferve the Sabbath. Thofe that give themselves the greatest Latitude and Liberty in talking on this Argument, yet do own fo much, as that it is impoffible, even according to their Principles, to excufe a Man from Sin (if he be a Chriftian), that lives in a conftant Neglect of the LORD's Day. For thus we reafon.

It is for ever a Law to all Mankind, and it is owned by all to be fo (because it is a Branch of the Law of Nature), that fome Portion of that Time that God hath given us, fome Days of those many that he affords us, fhould be folemnly confecrated to his more immediate Worship and Service; and there ought to be a very frequent Return of thofe Days. For the Honour of GOD is S 2

con