converted worldling; and wherever it is slighted, or unimproved, there is neither grace in the heart, nor desire of it.

In order to your understanding more clearly what I have to say to you upon this subject, and that you may go along with me in every part of my discourse;

I. I shall consider the time when the law of the Sabbath was first given.

II. The place where it was given.

III. The time and manner of its being renewed.

IV. I shall set before you the end and reason of the Sabbath's being appointed.

I. We may observe, that the law of the Sabbath is the first mentioned in Scripture, and therefore probably God's first command, given to Adam as a standing memorial of his resting from the work of creation, to be conveyed through him to all his posterity, and as it began with the creation of the world, to endure to the end of it. I say, this command has a peculiar claim to our attention, as being the first which came from the mouth of God. We may be sure that, for this very reason, it contains matter of high regard, and is of the utmost consequence to the glory of God, and the well-being of man. Hear the solemn words of institution, as they stand recorded, Gen. ii. 2, 3. " And on the seventh day God" (had)" ended his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Vainly do some pretend that this was delivered only by way of anticipation, as a declaration of what God intended to do afterwards, and to give the greater weight and authority to the command of the Sabbath, when it should be published by his servant

Moses in the decalogue, at the end of more than two thousand four hundred years. Here is nothing said or implied to countenance such a notion; and I could as soon believe that the world was not created, according to the relation which is given of it in the first chapter of the Bible, or that the sun did not shine from the beginning, as that the seventh day was not then immediately blessed and sanctified to the use of man. From the moment there was a man upon earth, and as soon as time was, it was the will of God that a seventh part of it should be more immediately consecrated to his service, that he might be solemnly owned as the Creator, Governor, and Preserver of the world, to fix us in subjection to him, and dependence on him, to keep his image alive in us, to remind us perpetually that our rest is not here, and increase our thirst after those eternal pleasures at his right hand, for which he gave us our beings. It is true, this original institution of the Sabbath is not delivered in the form of a command. But to what end can we suppose it was blessed and sanctified then, if it was not to take place immediately, given to the first man as a law, and bound upon him by an express injunction, as a perpetual and most sacred ordinance, to him and all succeeding generations? And, therefore, when it is said that God blessed and sanctified the seventh day, the words can have no other meaning than that it was intended for a general blessing to mankind at all times, and should be blessed to them in the sanctified use and observation of it. And, accordingly, the great design, sacredness, and necessity of it, is thus explained by the prophet Ezekiel, xx. 12. "I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." When God separated the family of Abraham as a holy nation, to revive the knowledge of himself, and to prepare them and

all others for the last discovery he was to make of himself, and the full display of his mercy, truth, and purity, in the religion of Christ, what did he do to put them perpetually in mind of their duty and privilege? what was their badge of distinction? what were the chosen means for continuing and preserving them a holy people? The prophet says, he gave them the Sabbath. Not that it was first given and appointed to the Jews at the delivery of the law on Mount Sinai - for it appears, from Scripture history, that it was in use before, and no doubt in virtue of the primitive institution - but renewed and confirmed to them, with a particular charge for the strict observation of it; as if, without it, their sanctification, or fitness for heaven, was not to be hoped for, and they would have been in continual danger of relapsing into ignorance and forgetfulness of God. This means, therefore, of holy living, and spiritual improvement, was never withheld from mankind. It was given in aid of our weakness from the beginning. The importance of it appears more especially from the time of its appointment; and the prophet, you see, declares the use of it in such a manner as to recommend it to our most serious regard. If it was a sign to the Jews that it was the Lord that sanctified them-that they must be sanctified, could be sanctified only by him, and certainly would be sanctified in this way of his appointing- let all who are in pursuit of holiness consider how this end can be attained without drawing nigh to God, and seeking for a blessing upon their souls, in the devout observation of his Sabbath.

II. Let it be observed, that the Sabbath was given to Adam in Paradise, when he stood before God in the glory of his new creation, and the full vigour and perfection of his nature. Nevertheless, as a creature, he was in a state of dependence and trust in God for the continuance and

increase of his graces, and could no more preserve his innocence, or secure his happiness, without the divine co-operation, than he could make himself at the first. To him, therefore, was this law given, before sin and death entered into the world, to prevent his fall, to keep him close to the Fountain of all good, to qualify him to live in communion with his Maker, to remind him of his impotence, and that he, too, holy and happy as he was, "might know that it was the Lord that sanctified him." The rest he was made for, he was not to attain in this life, but to be trained up for it by a proper discipline. Of which the Sabbath was an excellent part, as being a type of that rest instituted on purpose to confirm his belief of it, to inflame his desires after it, and keep him in a state of preparation for it. The inspired penman says, "God rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." Now, observe; as the work of creation was no labour, so the ending of it, strictly speaking, could be no rest to him. But, having been represented as employing himself in the six days' work of creation, his ceasing from it is likewise spoken of as a resting, or returning into himself, or into that rest which he is eternally to himself; and therefore the day on which he thus rested was blessed and sanctified. Certainly not for himself, but to convey life and blessing to man in the observation of it; to reveal, and, as it were, open heaven; and to be a perpetual lesson of instruction to him to turn the eye of his soul from all created objects to that rest into which God is said to have entered, as the end for which he was made, and the great blessing he was warranted to expect from him. Now, if the divine wisdom saw it fit that the first man, in his state of integrity, should be bound to the law of the Sabbath, and have a considerable portion of his time set apart for

sacred recollection, and the devout contemplation of his future rest, how much more expedient and necessary is such an ordinance for mankind in their present degenerate condition of weakness, sensuality, attachment to the world, and alienation from God! Whatever reasons may be assigned for the appointment of it at first, when "God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good," are surely of double force now, when "all flesh have corrupted their way before him ;" and the more indisposed we are for our proper happiness, the more we are fallen from God, the more need we have of every help, and especially of this great one, to turn our affections to him, and put us in a way of recovery. And accordingly you will perceive, that as we now want the Sabbath for these ends more than ever, so we are still under the discipline of it, and indispensably obliged to keep it holy. For, besides the original universal establishment and enacting of it, as the first law to the first man in Paradise, which would, of course, be conveyed down to his posterity, and as it appears, both from sacred and profane history, was always remembered, God has moreover solemnly confirmed and renewed it.

III. Let us, therefore, consider what account the Scripture gives of its renewal and establishment. If nothing more had been said of it than what is told us in the second chapter of Genesis, and it had never been mentioned again throughout the whole Bible, yet we could not help observing that it must be a matter of the greatest moment to the sons of men, considering the time and place of its delivery; and we should find ourselves very hard put to it to give a reason why it should not be always in force. But God remembers his Sabbath, though we are so apt to slight and forget it. He knows of what importance it is to our happiness, and