Q. 26. Is rest as necessary now as under Moses' law? A. It was then commanded, both as a means to the holy work of the day, and also as a ceremony which was made a duty in itself, as a shadow of the christian rest. In the first respect, we are as much (or more) obliged to forbear labour, even so far as it hindereth holy work, as they were then; but not in the second respect. Q. 27. When doth the Lord's day begin and end? A. It is safest to judge of that according to the common estimation of your country, of the measure of all other days: remembering that it is not now as the Jewish Sabbath, to be kept as a ceremony, but as the season of holy works. As therefore you allow on other days a stated proportion of twenty-four hours for labour, and the rest for sleep or rest, do so by the Lord's day, and you need not be further scrupulous as to the time. But remember, 1. That you avoid scandal. 2. That even the Sabbath (and so the Lord's day) was made for man, and Christ is the Lord of it, who will have the greatest works preferred. Q. 28. Doth not Paul tell us that all days are alike, and we must not judge one another for days? Why then should Christians make a difference, and not serve God equally every day? A. Paul tells you that Christ hath taken away the Jewish ceremonial difference of days; for neglect of which none is to be judged but it followeth not that Christ hath made no difference himself, and hath not stated a day for christian work in communion above the rest. One hour of the day doth not in itself now differ from another. And yet every wise master of a family will keep the order of stated hours, for dinner and for prayer. And so will a congregation for lectures, and other ordinary occasions. I told you in the beginning, that the light and law of nature tells us, that God's public worship should have a stated day; in which, as free from diversions and distractions, we should wholly apply ourselves thereto. And that all the Christians in the world assemble for the same work on the same day, hath much of laudable concord, harmony, and mutual help. And therefore it concerned him who only is the King and Lawgiver to the universal church, to make them a law for the determination of the day, which he hath done. f Exod. xxxi. 15, and xxxv. 3; Num. xv. 32; Neh. xiii. 16, 17; Jer. xvii. 21, 22, 24, 27. Q. 29. But is it not more spiritual to make every day a Sabbath? A. It is most Christian-like to obey Christ our King. Thus the same men pretend to make every meal a sacrament, that they may break the law of Christ, who instituted the sacrament. Satan's way of drawing men from Christ's laws, is sometimes by pretending to do more and better. But to keep every day a Sabbath, is to keep none. It is not lawful to cast off our outward labour all the six days: nor can mind or body bear it to do nothing but religious worship. These men mean no more but to follow their earthly business with a spiritual mind, and at some seasons of the day to worship God solemnly: and this is but what every good Christian should do every day. But who knoweth not that the mind may, with far more advantage, attend God's instructions, and be raised to him in holy worship, when all worldly diverting businesses are laid by, and the whole man employed towards God alone? If men will regard, 1. The experience of their own souls. 2. And of all others in the world, they might soon be resolved how mischievous a thing the neglect of the Lord's day is, and how necessary its holy observation. 1. That man never knew what it is to attend God's worship seriously, and therein to receive his special blessing, who hath not found the great advantage of our separation from all common business, to attend holy work only on the Lord's day. He that feeleth no miss, or loss of it, sure never knew what communion with God is. 2. And servants would be left remediless under such masters, as would both oppress them with labour, and restrain them from God's service. It is therefore the great mercy of the universal King to secure the liberties of the servants, and to bind all men to the means of their own felicity. 3. And common reason will tell us, that a law, obliging all men to spend one day of seven in learning God's word, and offering him holy worship, must needs tend abundantly more to the increase of knowledge and holiness, than if all men were left to their own or to their rulers' wills herein. 4. And common experience puts the matter of fact out of doubt, that where the Lord's day is most conscionably spent in holy exercises, there knowledge, piety, charity, and all virtue, do most notably prosper: and where the sanctifying of the Lord's day is neglected, ignorance, sensuality, and worldliness abound. O how many millions of souls hath grace converted, and com VOL. XIX. forted, and edified on the Lord's days! When men are obliged to hear, read, pray, and praise God, and to catechise their children and servants, as that which God requireth, is it not liker to be done, than if they be left to their own erroneous, backward, sluggish minds, or to the will of rulers perhaps worse than they? Q. 30. How is it that the Lord's day must be spent and sanctified? A. Not in diverting worldly thoughts, words, or deeds; much less in idleness, or vain pastimes; and, least of all, in such sinful pleasures as corrupt the mind, and unfit a man for holy work, such as gluttony, drunkenness, lasciviousnesss, stage plays, romances, gaming, &c. But the Lord's day is specially separated to God's public worship in church communion; and the rest to private and secret holy exercises. The primitive Christians spent most of the day together: and the public worship should not be only preferred, but also take up as much of the day as we can well spend therein. Q. 31. What are the parts of church service to be used on the Lord's day? A. 1. The reading of the sacred Scriptures, by the teachers, and expounding them to the people: their preaching the doctrine of the gospel, and their applying it to the case and consciences of the hearers. Their guiding them in the solemn exercise of God's praise, special worship, celebrating the sacraments, especially that of communion of the body and blood of Christ, and that with such conjunction of praises to God, as that it may be fitly called the eucharist, speaking and singing joyfully of God's perfections, and his mercies to man; but specially of the wonderful work of our redemption, and therein chiefly of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For the day is to be spent as a day of thanksgiving, in joyful and praising commemoration of Christ's resurrection. Q. 32. On days of thanksgiving men use to feast: may we labour on the Lord's day in providing feasts? A. Needless cost and labour, and sensual excess, must be avoided, as unsuitable to spiritual work and rejoicing. But such provision as is suitable to a festival, for sober, holy persons, is no more to be scrupled, than the labour of going to the church, or the minister's preaching. And it is a laudable use for men to wear their best apparel on that day. Isa. lviii. 13-15; Luke iv. 16, 18; vi. 1, 6, and xiii. 10; Acts xiii. 27, 42, 44; xv. 21; xvi. 13, and xx. 7; 1 Cor. xiv., and xvi. 1; Psalm c. 1-3, &c. Q. 33. What are the private duties on the Lord's day? A. Principally speaking and singing God's praises for our redemption in our families, and calling to mind what we were publicly taught, and catechising children and servants, and praying to God, and meditating on God's word, and works of nature, grace, and glory.h Q. 34. Seeing the Lord's Day is for the commemoration of Christ's resurrection, must we cease the commemoration of the works of creation, for which the seventh day Sabbath was appointed? A. No: the appointing of the Lord's day is accumulative, and not diminutive, as to what we were to do on the Sabbath. God did not cease to be our Creator and the God of nature, by becoming our Redeemer and the God of grace; we owe more praise to our Creator, and not less. The greater and the subsequent and more perfect work comprehendeth the lesser, antecedent, and imperfect. The Lord's Day is to be spent in praising God, both as our Creator and Redeemer; the creation itself being now delivered into the hands of Christ. Q. 35. But is it not then safest to keep two days; the seventh to honour the Creator, and the first to commemorate our redemption? A. No; for when the world was made all very good, God delighted in man, and man in God, as his only rest. But upon the sin of man God is become a condemning judge, and displeased with man, and the earth is cursed; so that God is so far now from being man's rest, that he is his greatest terror, till he be reconciled by Christ. No man cometh to the Father but by the Son. So that now the work of Creation must be commemorated with the work of redemption, which restoreth it to its proper use.* Q. 36. But what if a man cannot be satisfied that the seventh day is repealed, is it not safest for him to keep both? A. God hath laid no such task on man, as to dedicate to religious duties two days in seven; and he that thinketh otherwise, it is his culpable error. But if he do it conscionably, without contentious opposing the truth, and dividing the church for it, good Christians will not despise him, but own him as a brother. Paul hath decided that case, Romans xiv. and xv. Q. 37. Why is mention here made of all within our gates? Psalm xcii.; xcv. ; xcvi., and exviii. 21-24; Col. iii. 16. Col. ii. 16. A. To show that this commandment is not only directed to private persons, but to magistrates, and masters of families as such, who, though they cannot compel men to believe, they may restrain them from violating the rest of the Sabbath, and compel them to such external worship of God as all men are immediately obliged to; even all within the gates of their cities or houses. Q. 38. What if one live where are no church meetings, or none that he can lawfully join with? A. He must take it as his great loss and suffering, and with the more diligence improve his time in private.' Q. 39. What preparation is necessary for the keeping holy that day? A. 1. The chief part of our preparation is the habitual holiness of the soul, a love to God, and his word, and grace, and a sense of our necessities, and heart full of thankfulness to Christ, which relisheth sweetness in his Gospel, and in God's praise, and the communion of saints. 2. And the other part is our endeavour to prevent all distracting hinderances, and the greatest helps that we can in the most sensible means; and to meditate before of the great mercy of our redemption, of Christ's resurrection, the giving of the Holy Ghost, and the everlasting, heavenly rest which this prepareth for; and to pray for God's assistance and blessing. CHAP. XXXVIII. Of the Fifth Commandment. Q. 1. WHAT are the words of the fifth commandment? A. "Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Q. 2. Doth this commandment belong to the first table, or the second? A. No man knoweth which of the two tables of stone it was written in by God: but if we may judge by the subject, it seemeth to be the hinge of both, or belong partly to each. As rulers are God's officers, and we obey God in them, it belongs 1 Rev. i. 10. |