Hopkins - HP BR75 .H65 1710

.dn Expojition upon the And as this requires us to honour the Majcfty of God in our Gefturcs ; fa the Third requires us to glorifie the Holy and Reverend Name of God in all our Speeches and Difcourfes, never to make mention of it but with that Preporremon of Holy Awe and Dread that might compofc us into all poffible Gravity and Sedonfnefs. And becaufe every thing is beautiful in its Se~fon, therefore we have fi.1hjoincd to an thcfe a particular Command, concerning the 'time wherein ,God prefcribes alJ thefe to be more cfpecially tendred unto him. And this is that Precept which we have now under Confidcration; Remember the Sabbath Day to keep ir Holy, &c. In the Words we have a Command, and the Inforcement of it. The Command is to fanB:ific the Sabbath. · And this is juftly obfervable, in that whereas all the r eil: arc fimply either Pofi. tive, or Negative, this is both. Remember to keep it Holy : and, in it thou fhtlt not do any ~Vork. As if God took an efpecial care to fence us in on all fides to the Obfervation of this Precept. The lnforcement alfo is more particular, and with greater Care and Infranee, than we find in any other Command. For God hath here condefcended to ufe Three cogent Arguments to prefs the Obfervation of this Law upon us. The Firft is taken from his own Example~ whom, certainly, it is our Glory, as well as onr Duty, to imitate in all Things, in which he bath propounded himfelf to be our Pattern. The Lord r~{fed .the Seventh Day, and therefore reil: ye alfo. The Second, From that bountiful and liberal Portion of Time that he bath allowed us for the Affi.irs and Bufinefs of this prefent Life, Six days jl1alt thou l.1bour, and do ell thy Work; and therefore it is but fit and equitable, that the SevCnth fuould be ?:iven to God, who hath fo freely ghren the reft to thee. The Third, From tbe Dedication ·of this Day to his own immediate Worthip and Service; The Lord blcffid the Sabbath DP.y, and hallowed it. So that it is no lefs a Sin than a Sacrilege, and fl:eal ing of that wh ich is Holy, to purloin any "{>::trt of that time which God hath thus confecratcd to himfelf, and to imploy it about either finful or fecular Actions. I fhall begin with the Command, Remember the Sabbath Day,· to lucp it Holy. The word Sabbath , fignifi.es Reft, and Ce1fation from La·bour; an<l it is applied unto fevcral Things. - 1. Fir{l, It fignifics the Temporal Sabbath, or the recurring Seventh Day or Year, which we are now Treating of. And becaufe this was the moll: principal Day ofthe Week, therefore we find that the whole \Veek is denominated from it, a Sabbath, Luke 10. 12. Matth . 28. I. Secondly, It fign ifies a Spiritual Reft, a reft from the Slavery and Drudgery of Sin, 2 • and thole fordid Labours which the Devil, our grievous Task-mafter, exaCl:s of us. And of this Spiritual Sabbath, the Temporal one is a Sign and Type. So Exod. 31. I 3· .J& S:tbbaths ye Jhall keep : for it i; a fign between me and you,- that ;•e may know that I am the Lord, that ekth [anClifte you. Thirdly, It is ufed .likewife, to iignifie the eternal Re~ of the Ble_.lfed in Heave~, where they reil: from all their Labours, and from ap rh_eir Sorrows, m the full FrUItion of the ever-bleffed God, and ofall Blcffedncfs m hi!D· So the A poftle, Hebr. 4: 9· There remaiueth a reft unto the People of God; the word IS rrttCCa..TitrfJ.~(, there remameth a Sabbath, or the Celehl"ltio!l of a Sabbath unto the People of God. . lt is only of the firft of thefe; the Temporal Sabbath, that I am now fpeak.ing. And here, neither fhalll fpcak of the Sabbath ofYcars, when the Land was every Seventh Year to reft from the Labour of Tillage and Husbandry, as we find it Levit.15 · 4· The Seventh Year jiJailbeaSabbathofreft un~o _rhe Land: Nor yet_ of the greater Sabbath of the jubilee, obferved every F1ft1eth Year, at the Penod of feven Sabbatical Years, wherein all Poffeffions and Inheritances which had been Sold or Mortgaged, were again to return to the firft Owners; which Sabbath you have defcribed, U.it. 25. 8. &c. But I fhall only treat of the Sabbath of Days, which

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