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ly 8, and in secret each one by himself"; fo more fo lemnly in the publick Affemblies, which are not care lefly or wilfully to be neglected or forfaken, whe God by his Word or Providence calleth thereunto VII. A

Praying always, with all prayer an fupplication in the Spirit,and ward ing thereunto with all perfeveran and fupplication for all faints.

And thefe words which I commanded thee this day, fhall be in thine heart. v. 7. And thou fhalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and fhalt talk of them when thou i Ifai. 56, 6. Alfo the fons of fitteft in thine house, and when ftranger, that join themselves: thou walkeft by the way, and when the Lord, to ferve him, and thou lyeft down, and when thou love the name of the Lord, to b rifeft up. Job 1. 5. And it was fo, his fervants, every one that keepe when the days of their feafting were the fabbath from polluting it, an gone about, that Job fent and fan- taketh hold of my covenant; v.1 ctified them, and rofe up early in Even them will I bring to my hol the morning, and offered burnt-of- mountain, and make them joyf ferings, according to the number of in my house of prayer: their burn them all: for Job faid, It may be offerings and their facrifices fall that my fons have finned, and accepted upon mine altar; fe curfed God in their hearts. Thus mine houfe fhall be called an hou did Job continually. 2 Sam. 6. 18. of prayer for all people. Heb. 1 And affoon as David had made an 25. Not forfaking the affembling end of offering burnt-offerings, and of our felves together, as the mar peace-offerings, he bleffed the peo- ner of fome is but exhorting ple in the name of the Lord of another and fo much the mor hofts. v. 20. Then David return- as ye fee the day approaching. Pre ed to bless his houfhold. 1 Peter 1. 20. Wifdom crieth without, f 3. 7. Likewife ye husbands, dwell uttereth her voice in the ftreets with them according to knowledge, v. 21. She crieth in the chief plad giving honour unto the wife as unto the weaker veffel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindred. Acts 19. 2. A devout man, and one that feared God with all his houfe, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.

8 Mat. 6. 11. Give us this day our daily bread.

h Mat. 6. 6. But thou, when thou prayeff, enter into thy closet, and when thou haft fhut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in fecret, and thy Father which feeth in fecret, fhall reward thee openly. Eph. 6.18.

and

of concourfe, in the openings
the gates: in the city, the uttere
her words, faying, v. 24. Becau
I have called, and ye refufed,
have ftretched out my hand,
no man regarded. Prov. 8. 34. Ble
fed is the man that heareth me
watching daily at my gates, waiti
at the pofts of my doors. Ads?}
42. And when the Jews were go
out of the fynagogue, the Gentilo
befought that thefe words might
preached to them the next fabbath
Luke 4: 16. And he came to Nazi
reth, where he had been broug

up

VII. As it is of the Law of Nature, that in general, a due Proportion of Time be fet apart for the Worfhip of God; fo in his Word, by a pofitive, moral,and perpetual Commandment binding all Men in all Ages, he hath particularly appointed one Day in feven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him* which from the Beginning of the World to the Refurrection of Chrift, was the laft Day of the Week; and from the Refurrection of Chrift, was changed into the firft Day of the Week', which in Scripture is called the Lord's Day", and is to be continued to the End of the World as the Chriftian Sabbath ". VIII. This

up and, as his custom was, he 1 Gen. 2. 2. And on the feventh went into the fynagogue on the fab- day, God ended his work which he bath day, and ftood up for to read. had made: and he refted on the feAts 2. 42. And they continued venth day from all his work which ftedfaftly in the apoftles doctrine he had made. v. 3. And God blefand fellowship, and in breaking of fed the feventh day, and fanctified bread, and in prayers.

it: because that in it he had refted VII. Exod. 20. 8. Remember from all his work, which God creathe fabbath day, to keep it holy. ted and made. I Cor. 16. 1. Now

10. But the feventh day is the fab- concerning the collection for the bath of the Lord thy God: in it thou faints, as I have given order to the fhalt not do any work, thou, nor thy churches of Galatia, even fo do ye. fon, nor thy daughter, thy man- v. 2. Upon the first day of the week, fervant, northy maid-fervant, nor let every one of you lay by him in thy cattel, nor thy ftranger which is ftore, as God hath profpered him, within thy gates. v. 11. For infix that there be no gatherings when I days the Lord made heaven and come, Acts 20. 7. And upon the earth, the fea, and all that in them first day of the week, when the disciis,and refted the feventh day: wherefore the Lord bleffed the fabbath day, and hallowed it. Ifai. 56, 2. Bleffed is the man that doth this, and the fon of man that layeth hold on it: that keepeth the fabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. v. 4. For thus Exod. 20. 8,10. [ See letter.] With faith the Lord unto the eunuchs Mat. 5.17. Think not that I am come that keep my fabbaths, and choose to deftroy the law or the prophets: I the things that please me, and take am not come to deftroy,but to fulfil. hold of my covenant, v. 6, 7. [ See v. 18. For verily I fay unto you, till

in letter.]

ples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his fpeech until midnight.

m Rev. I. 1o. I was in the Spirit on the Lords day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.

n

I 2

hea

heaven and earth pafs, one jot or one tittle, fhall in no wife pafs from the law, till all be fulfilled.

VIII. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord,, when Men, after a due preparing of their Hearts, and ordering of their common Affairs before-hand, do not only observe an holy Reft all the Day, from their own Works, Words and Thoughts, about their wordly Employments and Recreations ; but also are taken up the whole time in the publick and and earth, and on the feventh day he refted, and was refreshed. Ifa. 58, 13. Ifthou turn away thy foot from the fabbath, from doing thy plea fure on my holy day, and call the fabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and fhalt ho nour him,not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. Neh. 13. is. In those days saw I in Judah Some treading wine-preffes on the fabbath, and bringing in fheaves, and lading affes; as alfo wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerufalem on the fabbath-day: and I teftified against them in the day wherein they fold victuals. There dwelt men ofTyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and fold on the fabbath, unto the children of Judah, and in Jerufalem. v. 17. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and faid unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the fabbath day? v. 18. Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Ifrael by profaning the fabbath. v. 19. And it came to país, that when the gates of Jer falem began to be dark before the fabbath, I commanded that the gates fhould be thut, and charged

VIII. Exod. 20. 8. [See letter k.] Exod. 16. 23. And he faid unto them, This is that which the Lord hath faid, To morrow is the reft of the holy fabbath unto the Lord: bake that which you will bake, to day, and feethe that ye will feethe; and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning. v. 25. And Mofes faid, Eat that to day; for to day is a fabbath unto the Lord: to day ye fhall not find it in the field. v. 26. Six days ye fhall gather it, but on the feventh day which is the fabbath, in it there fhall be none. v. 29. See, for that the Lord hath given you the fabbath, therefore he giveth you on the fixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the feventh day. v. 30. So the people refted on the feventh day. Exod. 31. 15. Six days may work be done, but in the feventh is the fabbath of reft, holy to the Lord: whofoever doth any work in the fabbath day, he fhall furely be put to death. v. 16. Wherefore the children of Ifrael shall keep the fabbath, to observe the fabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. v. 17. It is a fign between me, and the children of Ifrael for ever: for in fix days the Lord made heaven

v. 16,

that

and private Exercises of his Worship, and in the Duties of Neceffity and Mercy P.

A

CHA P. XXII.

Of Lawful Oaths and Vows.

Lawful Qath is a Part of Religious Worfhip, wherein, upon juft Occafion, the Perfon fwearing, folemnly calleth God to witness what he afferteth or promifeth; and to judge him according to the Truth or Falfhood of what he fweareth. II. The Name of God only is that by which Men ought to swear, and therein it is used with all holy Fear and Reverence. Therefore to swear vainly or rafhly by that glorious and dreadful Name, or to fwear at all by any other Thing, is finful and

that they fhould not be opened till
after the fabbath; and fome of my
fervants fet I at the gates, that there
fhould no burden be brought in on
the fabbath day.
v, 21. Then I
teftified against them, and faid un-
to them, Why lodge ye about the
wall? if ye
do fo again, I will lay
hands on you. From that time
forth, came they no more on the fab-
bath. v. 22. And I commanded the
Levites, that they fhould cleanfe
themfelves, and that they fhould
come and keep the gates, to fancti-
fy the fabbath day. Remember me,
O my God, concerning this also, and
fpare me according to the greatness
of thy mercy.

PIfa. 58. 13. [ See in letter°. ] Mat. 12. 1. to the 13. verse. ]

1. Deut. 10. 20. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him fhalt thou ferve, and to him fhalt thou cleave, and fwear by his name.

Exod. 20, 7. Thou shalt not take

:

to

I

the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Lev. 19, 12. And ye fhall not fwear by my name falfly,neither fhalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord. 2 Cor. 1. 23. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my foul, that to spare you, came not as yet unto Corinth. Chron. 6. 22. If a man fin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him, to make him fwear, and the oath come before thine altar in this houfe: v. 23. Then hear thou from heaven, and do and judge thy fervants by requiring the wicked, by recompenfing his way upon his own head, and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteoufnefs.

II. Deut. 6. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and fhalt fwear by his name. I 3

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to be abhorred d. Yet, as in Matters of Weight and Moment, an Oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the New Teftament as well as under the Old fo a lawful Oath being impofed by lawful Authority, in fuch Matters, ought to be taken f.

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III. Whofoever taketh an Oath, ought duly to confider the Weightiness of fo folemn an Act, and therein to avouch nothing,but what he is fully per fwaded is the Truth: Neither may any Man bind himself by Oath to any thing, but what is good and juft, and what he believeth fo to be, and what he is able and refolved to perform h. Yet it is a Sin

because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes."

Exod. 20.7. [ See letter] Jer, 5. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this thy children have forfaken me, and fworn by them that are no f 1 Kings 8.31. If any man tref gods: when I fed them to the full, pass against his neighbour, and an they then committed adultery, and oath be laid upon him, to caufe affembled themselves by troops in him to fwear, and the oath come the harlots houfes. Mat. 5. 34. But before thine altar in this house, I fay unto you, fwear not at all, Neh. 13.25. And I contended with neither by heaven, for it is Gods them, and curfed them, and fmote thrope. v. 37. But let your com- certain of them, and pluckt off munication be, Yea, yea; Nay, their hair, and made them fwear nay for whatfoever is more than by God, faying, Ye shall not give thefe, cometh of evil. Jam. s. 12, your daughters unto their fons, But above all things, my brethren, nor take their daughters unto fwear not,neither by heaven,neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your Yea, be yea, and your Nay, nay; left ye fall into condemnation,

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Heb. 6. 16. For men verily fwear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is, to them an end of all strife. 2 Cor. 1. 23. [ See letter b.] Ifa. 65. 16. That he who bleffeth himself in the earth, fhall bless himself in the God of truth, and he that fweareth in the earth, hall fwear by the God of truth ý

your fons, or for your felves. Ezra 10. s. Then arofe Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Ifrael to fwear, that they thould do according to this word and they fware.

III. & Exod. 20, 7. [ See letter".] Jer. 4. 2. And thou fhalt fwear, The Lord liveth, in truth, in judg ment, and in righteoufnefs; and the nations fhall blefs themselves in him, and in him fhall they glory.

Gen. 24, 2. And Abraham faid

unto

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