96 THE LORD'S-DAY, OR CHRISTIAN SABBATH. [SERI. V!. exercises ? Let us enquire, my friends; how it stands with us in this respect. Are we glad of a day ofrest and release from the business of this life, that we maybe more at leisure for God ? Or could we be well enough pleased if there were no sabbaths ? Are the ordinances of worship our delight ? Do we take pleasure in devotion and practical godliness ? Do the things of inward reli- gion relish well with us ? Are they our pleasure and our joy? What shall we do in hei.ven if are not possessed of this temper, if our spirits are neither suited to the bless- edness nor business of it; and if this world with the cares and pleasures of it be our chief delight ? And how can weexpect to be ever fit for heaven, which is a state of everlasting separation from the businesses of this world, and the perpetual enjoyment of God, and Jesus the Sa- viour, if we do not make some advances towards this temper on every Lord's-day that returns, which separates us from the world, and is designed to bring us toward God ? In the last place, I would add, " Let every Lord's-day, every christian sabbath, lead your meditations, your faith and hope onward to the eternal rest in heaven, and the glorious worship of that world:" Amidst all the fatigues and cares of this life, amidst all the interruptions you feel in your devotions here, and the inroads that are made uponyour religious employments and joys, even on God's own day, yet still rejoice in the view and hope of that state whereyeti shall find everlasting rest, a sabbath which never ends, and be for ever employed in divine exercises without the weariness offlesh and spirit. Alas ! how soon are our souls tired here, or rather our animal natures, with spiritual exercises ? How dull and drowsy is this flesh of ours ? How do we feel our hearts ever wandering from our God and his Worship ? But there you shall behold the great Cod with a steady fixation of soul on him, even that God who created all things in six days, and shall give him the honour of that creation in an immortal sabbath. There you shall see the blessed Jesus who rose from the dead on the first christian sabbath who fulfilled his work of redeeming you fromworse than Egyptian bondage, and laid the foundation of the new creation, even of new heavens and of a newearth. There
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