fufed to receive Correction. They have made their Faces harder than a Rock; they have refused to return.

Q. And are you not here forbidden to difhoour God, by living contrary to your Profeffion?

A. Yes. Rom. ii. 23. Thou that makest thy Boaft of the Law, through breaking the Law, dishonoureft thou God?

Q: Shall they who break this Commandment, efcape God's righteous Judgment?

A. No. Deut. xxviii. 58, 59. If thou wilt not observe, to do all the Words of the Law, that thou mayft fear this glorious and fearful Name, the Lord thy God, then the Lord will make thy Plagues wonderful.

Q. To come to the Affirmative Part of this What is Commandment, What Duty doth this require?

A. It requires that we should reverence the Name of God; or acknowledge and honour him, in all thofe things, whereby he is pleased to be made known unto us.

here re

quired,

In generals

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Q. But more particularly, are you not here In particurequired 1. To glorify and honour God in his Names, Titles, and Attributes, or to make mention of them in a reverent and holy Manner? A. Yes. Rev. xv. 3,4 Lord God Almighty, thou King of Saints, who fhall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name?

To ufe his Ordinances with a fuitable Re-
Spect and Reverences A. Yes. Eccl. v. 1.
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Keep thy Foot when thou goeft into the House of God,and be more ready to hear than to give the Sacrifice of Fools.

3. To acknowledge God in his Works, and Providence in the World? A. Yes. Feb.xxxvi. 24. Remember that thou magnify his Work, which Men behold.

4. And must we honour him, by living suitably to our Profeffion? A. Yes. Mat. v. 16. Let your Light fo fhine before Men, that others feeing your good Works, may glorify your Father which is in Heaven.

Catechift. And now what Shame and Sorrow do's justly belong unto us, for the Breach of this Commandment by ourselves and others? The holy Name of God,which is cal led upon by us, is dishonoured and polluted by us in our Lives and Converfations; yea even in our folemn Meetings. When Men appear before God, and worship him in fuch

Manner, as if he loved not Righteousness, and hated not Iniquity, or as if he were an Idol that feeth not what is offer'd him, what do they else but turn his Glory into Shame, and affront his Holy Majefty by fuch unwor thy Sacrifices? But efpecially is his Name difhonoured and taken in vain amongst us, not only by a Prevalency of hideous Oaths and Curfings, (and that fo publickly, and in the Face of the Sun, as if open Defiance had been proclaimed againft Heaven) but also by foTemn Perjuries, or falfe Oaths of very many (Ifay not of moft) Perfons in fome Cafes; as it is more than probable. Our Land is like to mourn, and even now already mourns

for

for thefe Tranfgreffions of this Commandment: So that with deep Repentance and Humiliation for them, we fhould earnestly pray to God, as our Church directs us, fay ing, Lord have Mercy upon us, and incline our Hearts to keep this Law.

Se&t. 4. Of the fourth Commandment: And therein of the Special Time for God's Worship.

"Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-Day

Catechift. The Purpose of God in this fourth Commandment, is to specify the fpecial Time of his own appointed Worship, efpecially his publick Worship. And as this Commandment is the Clofe of the firft Table, fo it fummarily contains in it the whole Worship of God, whilft it commands a certain Day for all the Exercises thereof.

And becaufe of the great Importance of our obferving this Commandment, and our Backwardness fo to do, it is prefaced and ufher'd in with this hortatory Word, Memento; Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-Day. And it is also observed concerning this Commandment, that it is fenced and enforced with more large Expreffions, and more Reasons annexed to it, than any other of the Commandments; and that it is delivered, both Affirmatively, and Negatively.

1. Affir

1. Affirmatively we are here commanded, with thofe under our Charge, to fanctify and keep holy fuch Time to God, as he hath confecrated and fet apart for his own immediate Service; exprefly one whole Day in feven, to be a Sabbath to him: Which is partly a Positive, and partly a Moral Duty.

That we fhould worship and ferve God, in a publick and folemn Manner, and that a Time be stated for it, is of Natural and Moral Right. But the Quantity and precife Measure of our Time for this Purpose, whether a whole Day, or only fome Parts of it; or whether a fixth, a feventh, an eighth, or a ninth Day, is of pofitive Institution: And God hath here determin'd it to be the feventh Day; that as in fix Days he made Heaven and Earth, and refted the feventh Day; fo according to his Example, having laboured fix Days, we should then leave off, and rest on the next that follows them, whether it be juft the feventh from the Creation, or not: It being the certain Measure, and Proportion of our Time, not the Order or Courfe of Days, that is prescribed in this Commandment. And yet it is certain, that in regard to this Proportion, the Sabbath Day at firft was the feventh from the World's Beginning, by the Courfe of Nature. For when in fix Days God created the whole World, and refted the feventh Day, this Proportion of the feventh Part must be the following seventh Day. And fo on fucceffively. By which Rule, the Ifraelites must have obferved juft this feventh Day in order, till their Egyp tian Slavery. But then, for the Space of 400

Years

Years together, they were every Day employed in continual and hard Labour. So that during that Time, it was utterly abolished among them, and they feem'd to have almost lost the very Remembrance of it. But when it pleafed Almighty God to put an End to this their Slavery; and bring them forth out of Egypt, he then minds them of, and commands them to keep his Sabbath.

Now that this very Day, wherein they were fet at Liberty, was that Day of the Week which had been formerly their Sabbath-Day, or the feventh Day in order from the Date of the World's Creation, we have no Proof or Evidence. And Mr. Newcome fuppofeth that the Contrary may be demonftrated from Exod. xvi. For as he there obferves, they had a wearifome and long March into the Wilderness this Day,and that therein alfo they gathered Quails in their Camp. And this fhews, that this was not their Sabbath-day, or at least that it was not regarded by them as fuch, or neceffary fo to be. And con fequently alfo, that it is not neceflary for us.

Now it seems by this Chapter, that this is the fame Day in Course, which is now obferved by them, even their Seventh-DaySabbath. For feven Days after this, they were prohibited to gather Manna, because it was their Sabbath. And fo reckoning from this Day, wherein this Heavenly Manna was first afforded them in the Wilderness, every feventh Day forward, by the Appointment of God himself, was their Rest or Sabbath. There was fome thingMoral, and fome thing Ceremonial in it.

That