bondage"-did that constitute the truth, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me?" It would have been just as true without that. His delivering out of the land of Egypt, did not make that true that was not true before. Why is is placed among the ten commandments? Why is it the Lord wrote them out on tables of stone? Why did he himself speak them to Moses? They were laid up in the ark, and nothing was laid up in the ark but these ten commandments, and these are but an extract out of the Law. It would have been just as true if there had been no Moses, no Mount Sinai, no house of bondage: true, because it has its truth in God himself, not at all connected with any circumstances of any kind; but true, because God had declared it from the beginning; because, though there is something positive in the setting apart of one day, yet there is something moral ini, because we are led by that law to give up ourelves to the Living God, to meditate on, and to delight in, his perfections, to give up ourselves to his glory. Though the appointing one day out of seven was a moral command, yet it was also positive: it was arranged in the garden of Eden before Satan tempted man to fall. Therefore it had its truth, not in Mount Sinai, not because Moses gave it, but from the Living God himself. And there it stands at an amazing distance from all ceremonies and all shadows. It sets forth a great truth, I allow-our rest in Jesus: but the setting apart a day of rest was no shadow; it was God's claim on his people. Your bodies are mine, your souls are mine, and you shall give what you owe to me.

Isaiah, i. 13, 14, "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting." Colossians, ii. 16, 17, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Those Sabbath-days, or feasts, or fasts, week-days, or month-days, or year-days, were called Sabbaths; and are spoken of repeatedly in the old dispensation. And the great jealousy of the Apostle was, their bringing in these things when Christ was the substance. Now, remember the previous observation, that the fourth commandment was but an extract out of what God gave to Adam; it has no more to do, as it regards its substance, than Moses has to do with your or my salvation: it has no more to do with the legal dispensation, as deriving its existence from the legal dispensation, than "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me," stands on the foundation of the old dispensation. In Isaiah, lviii. 13, 14, we see the nature, as I consider, of the Christian Sabbath: "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:" not the mere drudgery, as you have done it not the mere legal observance, as you have done it: but as honouring the Lord. It is remarkable that in Isaiah, lvi. 6, where the Prophet is speaking of the calling of the Gentiles, "The sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servant, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it," there is a continuation of the direction to look forward to the Sabbath of rest. In Matthew, xxiv., where our Lord desires his disciples to pray that their flight

might not be on the Sabbath-day, I think it would be forced did we say they were to keep the Jewish Sabbath. That would be establishing a thing destroyed -bringing them back to, and establishing the old dispensation on the ruins of the new. I cannot but think, that when Jesus told them their flight should not be on the Sabbath, that it had an especial allusion to the non-profanation of that day.

Acts, xx. 7, " And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them," &c. 1 Cor. xvi. 1, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order unto the Churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him." What right had Paul to give any order he had not received from his Master? He had no right to do it any more than you or I have. It would have been an act of usurpation in him. We know no legislator called Paul the Apostle: we have no lawgiver in Zion but the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we have to observe, that it was commanded and appointed by the Holy Ghost; and that it was meant to be observed by all the saints of God to the end of time. We find the Church was in the habit of meeting together, and, as I believe, they met together every first day to break bread, and to make collection for the saints, and that by command of the Apostles, who acted under the command of the Lord, and the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I consider that the Lord Jesus Christ was dead on the Sabbath-day, as if to write death upon it, I consider it as a day of rejoicing: and consequently, the Jews' Sabbath could not be a day of rejoicing. It was the day of his resurrection, and that was a day of rejoicing. John, xx. 19, "The same day, at evening, being the first day of the week, &c. came Jesus and stood in the midst." There was a special honour put by him on that day, as if to write "dead" on the Jewish Sabbath; as if to point his disciples still to one day in seven; but on new principles, on rejoicing principles, on triumphant free-grace principles, on principles of liberty-holy, and yet most constraining liberty.

Acts, ii. 1, 2, " And when the day of Pentecost was fully come," &c. In Leviticus, xxiii. 15, 16, you will find that this was the first day of the week also. Therefore then was the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and the commencement of the new world, a new kingdom, a new day of rest established on better principles-no more the legal observation, but the joyous delight and constraint of the love of Christ, which we know, and are persuaded, and rest assured, and die upon it, is the only principle that ever did or can teach a man to love God, and to walk in his ways in that principle of child-like obedience, which is in his sight of great price-principle and motive being every thing with the Lord.

Here, then, we see a clear, unbroken chain of proof, from Genesis, ii. through the legal dispensation, through the prophetic declaration, in the Word of our Lord himself, and in the conduct of his Apostles: his own seal on the day, giving glory to the day; and himself sanctifying it to a better use than ever the first could be applied to. In all this, I think I see a clear and manifest proof of the continuation of the Sabbath-day-of the day of rest to the people of God.

Thirdly, Consider THE GREAT END AND OBJECT OF THE SABBATH If I am asked where I am to find the true nature of the Christian Sabbath, I should

say,

I find it in Hebrews, iv. 11: "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest," &c. There is a great deal of involved argument in that chapter; it is hard to see the line of proof; it is hard to see the conclusion standing out of the premises; yet there seems to be this manifestly unfolded-there seems to be a rest in the fourth verse: that I think was the Sabbath immediately after the creation. And the Apostle declares that was not the rest. In verse 5, he speaks of the rest of Canaan: "If they shall enter into my rest." That was not the rest. Then he speaks of another; "Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein," &c. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God"-as you find in the margin, "A keeping of the Sabbath to the people of God." Now, that points out the true nature of the Christian Sabbath. It points out the great propriety of what we call the Christian Sabbath. This was that Sabbatism, or keeping of the Sabbath, that remained to the people of God. It was not the Sabbath immediately after the creation; it was not the land of Canaan; but it is in the Gospel dispensation. This was the great argument the Apostle had in view; and I think he runs a parallel between God as the Creator, and God as the Saviour. And as, in the first, we find God resting in his work, having finished his work, and then setting apart a day, that all his creatures might enter into his rest—that is, the rest into which he entered, and find their rest in himself, having finished all his work; so, I think, he, as the Saviour, having finished his greater work, we, by faith, are called upon to enter into his rest. The argument is not, as I think many understand it, ceasing from our own works as he ceased from his works. Verse 10; many understand by "he that has entered into his rest has ceased from his works," that he has ceased from his own sins, transgressions, imperfections, and vileness, as God ceased from his works. But that cannot be the reason of it. God did not so rest from his works, for he rested in complacency: he looked back on them, and pronounced them to be good. He that is entered into his rest is Jesus, having finished his work, having gone up on high, having gloriously put the last stone, as it were, to the great work of redemption, he now ceases from his own works as the Creator ceased from his. He looks back on the work, on the great redemption work, and ceases from his work just as he did after he had finished the great work of creation; and looks on it with complacency. And just as in the old Sabbath, they were called on to rest in the work of creation, or rather in God that created, giving them up to his service-setting them apart for his use especially; so is there now an entering into that work into which the people of God are exhorted to enter by faith, in resting in the work of liberty in which he rested.

Now that there is a strong parallel between the two, you will see in Isaiah, lxv. 17, Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth," &c. Here is a new creation; ("If any man be in Christ he is a new creature")—a new dispensation, a new world, a new heaven, a new earth, a new creation accomplished. And in Isaiah, liii. 11," He shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied"—there was his complacency in his work. He had finished it, he had accomplished it, he had laid the last stone to the work, and he was satisfied with it. And he calls on his people to be satisfied with that with which he was satisfied, and to find their rest in that in which he rested. This is to my apprehension the single, simple, and prevailing object of the Christian Sabbath.

This seems to include every thing. Just as the Creator did rest from his work, and did command his creatures to rest as he rested, giving themselves up to the contemplation of himself; so in the Christian Sabbath we are led by the Eternal Spirit to seek our rest, and to find our rest, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fourthly, WHAT is the Nature of that Obedience which ouGHT TO BE GIVEN TO IT BY CHRISTIANS. Let him beware of Jewish legality, of the spirit of bondage—of that principle which, while it seemeth as if it honoured God in strictness, strains at a gnat and swallows a camel. You and 1, to obey one single principle aright, must have a right principle. It is in vain the command comes to us: it can work on us by authority and by terror; but we must have a higher principle to influence the inner man. The nature of the obedience is at once unfolded in the nature of the institution. Whatever has a tendency to promote my entering into that rest, to promote my spiritual acquaintance with that rest, enters of necessity into the consideration of the Christian Sabbath. Whatever has a tendency to hinder it, whatever has a tendency to prevent it, whatever has a tendency to chain me down to this earth, is to be avoided by a Christian man. We enter into it by faith. If we place our obedience first, and our faith afterwards, we might as well expect light without the sun, or any effect without its cause. The first Christian observance of the Sabbath is by faith-contemplation of the work of the Lord Jesus by faith. If a man has no real, inward, vital acquaintance with the Lord Jesus, he may get up in the morning at two-go to his prayers till twelve-he may fast, chasten his body, and kneel till his knees are worn, and he shall no more keep the Sabbath than if there were no such Sabbath. It is impossible for water to rise above its level by any power in itself; it is impossible for a Christian to keep the Christian Sabbath but as he has Christ in his heart the hope of glory. Till he becomes vitally acquainted with Christ-till there is a right apprehension of Christ by faith, there can be no rest in him.

Do not fall into the principles of the world: do not be calculating, and saying, these principles will lead to carelessness. That is just what the world says about our free grace. We say that the grace which brings salvation, and which comes to the poor sinner that worketh not-that that grace which unfolds salvation to a poor ungodly man, led to believe by the Eternal Spirit in the cross of Christ-that grace teaches him to the inmost heart. It purifies the heart. We say it influences his words, directs his conduct; so that whoever be the man that talks of faith, and his faith influences not the man, it is like sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. We do maintain, the Christian man has principles peculiar to a Christian man. He is not to be urged by the principles that the world is urged by―he is to be urged by the principles of the Gospel. And I say to every natural man, who never prayed, You are an atheist in your heart. A carnal man cannot keep a Christian Sabbath, he knows not the nature of it, and knows not the obligation of it. But a Christian does and will feel a delight in it. In Isaiah, lviii. is pointed out one part of the Christian's obedience: "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath," &c. We have our pleasures: we tell you the Christian has his pleasures, and that one half-hour, one five minutes with his God is pleasure. When the Holy Ghost brings home the truth to his conscience, it is pleasure to him-and when the promises are

rooted on his heart, it is his chief pleasure-and when he can walk the streets and find his God is with him, he can say, such a pleasure is it that nothing can be compared to it. The very first idea a Christian man forms of the Sabbath is, that it is a day of delight and of rejoicing in the Lord, who on that day rose from the dead, and rising triumphantly, finished his great work. And by faith I would desire to have communion with him in it; I would desire to have this blessed union, and communion with him; that as he rests from his work, so would I rest in that in which he resteth.

The great end of the day should be meditation. I would avoid every thing that would lead me to a light and trifling spirit. The principles of the Gospel would teach a man to be more careful of his words, and of lightness of spirit. I would desire to keep this day as a holy day to the Lord, not doing my own pleasure, but his pleasure from my heart. I would account the great end of the day, to be accomplished in whatever leads me to contemplate the finished work of Jesus-public means, private prayer, reading the Word, spiritual communion, every thing that would tend to lead the soul to a contemplation of the work of Jesus. What a blessed opportunity for a man to turn in on himself: how often has the Lord blessed it; how often the Lord shows how he blesses his day after your six days' trouble and turmoil-shall I call it anxiety? You ought to be careful for nothing-the only thing you should be careful for, is, giving yourselves up to God, walking nearer to God.

But, after all the trying and vexatious circumstances that seem to surround you, what an opportunity you have on the Sabbath to turn in on the work of Christ. What a gracious thing it is, the Lord has set apart one day, for, if it were every day, it would be no day. We have one day. And how God has blessed it; how many have been added to the Church in it; how many have been brought to the dust in it; how many poor convicted souls have been raised up from the dust in it! Do not men, that live nearest to God, most value this day? Yes, they do, the constraint of the love of Christ, moving their hearts to a contemplation of what he has done and suffered. On this day, I would be free from every thing that would take me from the Lord Jesus Christ, from all needless occupations of every sort. Wherever necessity compels me I go, and I do the works of mercy; for surely, that great day of mercies, when the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, would lead me out to go and see his distressed saints. And as many of you have but little time in the rest of the week, may you be led to value it, and use it for such good purposes. And while there is a great and increasing profanation of the day, my prayer is, that it may be the peculiar mark of this congregation, of those that love God and his Christ, that they may be strict in the observance of it, but on the free-grace principles of the Gospel: but as it regards the bondage of obedience, may they consider it an enemy to all right obedience; and that, under the constraining love of Christ, they may be able to look forward to that blessed day of rest, that blessed peacefulness, that happy, happy prospect, that state where all the saints of God shall cease for ever from mourning, where they shall look back on the past, to find complacency in their own works.

May the Lord own his word, and apply it with power to the soul, and write what I have delivered on your hearts, as far as it is consistent with his truth; and if I have spoken any thing opposed to it, pardon, for Christ's sake. Amen.