not by the primitive Church, called the Sabbath; but the first day of the week, and the Lord's day. V. The same writer says, that the observation of the Sabbath was not one of the articles, enjoined by the Apostles, in Acts XV. upon the Christian Gentiles. I answer; Neither was abstinence from theft, murder, lying, coveting, profaneness, or idolatry. VI. Dr. Paley asserts that the observation of the Sabbath is not expressly enjoined in the New Testament. To this I answer, first, that the text is in my own view an explicit injunction of this duty. But as this opinion has been contested; as the paragraph, in which it is contained, is confessedly obscure; it would require one whole discourse of this nature to consider it sufficiently; and as the text was written many years after the Christian Sabbath was effectually established; I ob serve, Secondly; That the Christian Sabbath was originally introduced into the Church much more successfully, and happily, than it could have been done by an express injunction. In order to judge of this subject, it is necessary to bring up to our view the situation of those, to whom the Gospel was first preached. These were all Jews; intensely bigoted to every part of their religion, and peculiarly to their Sabbath. The day had been appointed by God himself; and was acknowledged to be divinely appointed, by Christ and his Apostles. The experi ment of interfering with the feelings of the Jews concerning the Sabbath, even in the most lawful manner, had been sufficiently tried by Christ to discourage the Apostles from every unnecessary attempt of this nature. Accordingly, the Apostles pursued a peaceful and unobjectionable, method. They celebrated, at times, and probably always, the Jewish Sabbath, when they were among Jews. The Jews at the same time, without any objection, yielded to their example, and authority, in celebrating the Christian worship on the day of Christ's resurrection. They were circumcised; but they were also willingly baptized. They celebrated the Passover; but willingly added to it the Lord's Supper. They prayed in the temple; but they willingly united, also, in the prayers and praises of Christian assemblies, holden in private houses, or in the fields. While the Jewish service was neither attacked, nor neglected, they made not the least objection to that of the Christian Church. In this manner, all these ordinances grew into use, veneration, and habit; and, in the end, gained such a possession of the mind, and such a strength of authority, as could neither be overthrown, nor weakened. When the Apostles came to declare in form, that the Jewish worship was to cease; the minds of the Church were so well prepared to receive this declaration, that it was carried into a general execution. Difficulties, and divisions, arose, indeed, about this subject in several Churches; particularly about circumcision: and produced a course of serious contention. What would have been the case, had this part of the system been begun at an earlier period? About the Christian Sabbath no dispute appears to have existed, during the three first centuries. All the Churches appear to have adopted it, and to have neglected the Jewish Sabbath, without any difficulty. Was not this method of introducing so important a change dictated by true wisdom; and a better method than any other? The example of the Apostles is an example to all Christians. Were we, then, to give up the point, contested in the objection; we have still such a law in this Example; and so efficacious that probably no doctrine has been more generally received, than that of the Christian Sabbath, and no duty more generally performed, than the observation of it, down to the present time. The absolute necessity of establishing the doctrines and duties of Christianity among the Jews, in the infancy of the Church, has been shown in a former discourse. I shall only add, that it seems impossible to have introduced among that people the Christian Sabbath in any other manner, than that which was adopted by the Apostles, unless their whole character had been miraculously changed. SERMON CVIII. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE SABBATH IS TO BE OBSERVED. FOURTH COMMANDMENT. ISAIAH lviii. 13, 14.-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 shall 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; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy Father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. ing IN the first of the discourses, which I have delivered concernthe fourth Command, I proposed, 1. To consider the Perpetual Establishment of the Sabbath; and, II. The Manner, in which it is to be observed. The former of these doctrines, together with the objections against it, has been made the subject of the three preceding sermons. The latter shall be the theme of the present discourse. The text is the most minute, and perfect summary of the duties, incumbent on mankind with respect to this holy day, which is contained in the Scriptures. It is a prediction to the Jews, announcing, that if they will perform these duties, God will greatly prosper them with spiritual and temporal blessings, in the land of their fathers. In my own opinion, it especially respects a period, yet to come. In examining this subject, I shall endeavour, I. To point out the Nature, and Extent, of these duties; and, I. I shall endeavour to point out the Nature, and Extent, of these duties. In examining this subject, I shall adopt the scheme of the text; and mention, 1. The things, from which we are to abstain; and, 2. The things which we are to perform. 1. We are bound to abstain from sin, in thought, conversation, and conduct. All, who read the Gospel, know, or may know, perfectly, that sin may be as easily, and as extensively, committed in thought, as in word, or action; and that the real seat of sin is in the heart. With the reformation of our hearts, then, we are always to begin our duty. We may as easily, and grossly, profane the Sabbath, so far as ourselves only are concerned, by thoughts, which are unsuited to its nature, as we can by any actions whatever. If our minds are intent on our business, or our pleasures; if our affec tions wander after them; if we are cold, or lukewarm, with respect to our religious duties; if we are negligent of a serious and cordial attention to them; if we regard with impatience the interruption, occasioned to our secular concerns; if we wish the institution had not been appointed, or the time, in which it is to be kept, lessened; then, plainly, we do not esteem the Sabbath a Delight, nor abstain from finding our own pleasure. So long as this is the state of our thoughts; all our outward conformity to this precept; (for such is really the nature of the text) will be merely hypocritical. Every oblation from such a mind will be vain; and all its incense an abomination. The Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, among persons who act in this manner, will be such, as God cannot away with; and their solemn meeting will be iniquity. The heart gives birth to all the movements of the tongue. We profane the Sabbath, whenever we employ the time in Worldly Conversation. Such conversation is, in the text, denoted by the phrase, speaking thine own words: thine own being supplied by the translators. I think this supplement rational; since in the two preceding clauses we find doing THINE OWN ways, and finding thine own pleasure. Bishop Lowth, from similar phraseology in the ninth verse, supposes it should be vain words. The meaning, however, will differ immaterially. Such conversation is, like our thoughts, directed indifferently to subjects of business, and of pleasure; and in both cases the Šabbath is subverted, and so far as this conversation extends, is changed from a holy, into a secular, day. God is robbed of his rights, and of his service: and we are prevented from attaining, and from a disposition to attain, the holiness, which is indispensable to sal vation. There is no way, in which the Sabbath is more easily, more insensibly, more frequently, and more fatally violated, than this. Temptations to it are always at hand. The transgression always seems a small one; usually a dubious one at the worst; and, often, no transgression at all. Multitudes of persons, of sober and wellmeaning dispositions, nay, multitudes, as there is but too much reason to fear, of professing Christians, beginning with religious subjects, slide imperceptibly towards those, which are considered as moral in such a degree, as scarcely to differ from religious ones; thence to secular themes, bordering upon these; and thence to mere matters of business, or amusement. Such persons, before they are aware, find themselves occupied in conversing about the affairs of the neighbourhood; the strangers, who are at Church; the new dresses; fashions; business; diversions; news, and pol itics. To these they are led by mere worldly conversation concerning the prayers; the psalmody; or the sermon; as having been well or ill devised, written, spoken, or performed; by a history, merely secular, of the sickness and deaths in the neighbourhood, or elsewhere, or of the dangerous or fatal accidents, which have lately happened; the state of the weather; the season; the crops; the prospects; the affairs of the family; and by innumerable other things of a similar nature. The next step is, ordinarily, an habitual employment of this holy day in open, cool, and selfsatisfied, conversation about business; schemes of worldly pursuits; bargains; gains, and losses. It is not to be understood, that Christians go all these lengths. It is my real belief, however, that they go much farther, than they can justify; and fail, in this manner, of their duty; their improvement in the Christian life; their proper exemplariness of character; the evidence of their piety, which would spring from these sources; the hope, which it would inspire; the peace, which would accompany them; and the joy, in which they would delightfully terminate. Many sober men, however, who but for this very conduct might probably become Christians, go all these lengths; and thus lose, insensibly, their tenderness of conscience; their soberness of mind; and their desire, as well as their hope, of eternal life. Men less well-principled start, originally, at the end of this career; and thus annihilate the Sabbath at once: bidding, without anxiety, a final adieu to the Sabbath itself, and to its rich, exalted, and immortal blessings. The profanation of the Sabbath by Actions is seen, and acknowledged, by all decent men, who acknowledge it as a day, consecrated by God to himself. Actions are so open to the view of mankind; are so definitive a proof of the disposition; and, when violations of a known rule of duty, constitute so gross a proof of impiety; that all doubts concerning the true construction, to be given of them, vanish whenever they appear. The common and favourite modes of profaning the Sabbath, in this way, are spending our time in dress; in ministering to a luxurious appetite; in walking, or riding, for amusement; in writing letters of friendship; in visiting; and in reading books, which are not of a religious, but merely of a decent, character; and, ultimately, those which are formed to be the means of amusement and sport. The end of this progress, generally esteemed more gross, though perhaps in many instances not more, and in others less, sinful; is the devotion of this sacred day to downright business. Persons, who go this length, occupy the time in writing letters of business; posting their accounts; visiting post-offices; making bargains; transmitting money to their correspondents; going or sending to markets; making journeys, at first with, and afterwards without, pretences of necessity; and, ultimately labouring openly in the ordinary employments of life. This is what is called in the text doing our own ways. A man's way, in scriptural language, is the customary course of his life. All these things, whether existing in thought, word, or action, are called our own, in contradistinction to those which are God's: that is, to those, which are required of us by God: and every one of them is prohibited in the text. |