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turbs God's holy rest with his unholy sports. God's holy day calls for holy delight: Isa. lviii. 3. "Not doing thy pleasure on my holy day." Thou art a poor man, and stealest time from thy family for unnecessary recreations on the week-day, it is theft; but to steal time from thy Maker and Redeemer on this day, is sacrilege: Of the two, it is better to plough than to play, to dig than to dance, upon the Lord's Day.

CHAP. VII.

Of glorifying God in our Religious Duties.

Aleigh in our religious duties, than in all the

Lmighty God being more honoured or dishonour

actions of our lives besides, it concerns us to be exactly careful how we manage our deportment in his presence, when we worship at his footstool, and bow before his mercy-seat. If it be a sin not to aim at the glory of God when eating and drinking at our own table, much more so when eating and drinking at his table, when we are performing the most solemn acts and exercises of our religion. How superstitiously devout were the old heathens in the service of their dumb idols! They thought nothing too good for their false god, for whom the worst was not bad enough: the worshipper being better than the god he worshipped. When they were going to offer their sacrifices, their priest cried out in the audience of the people, Procul, O proculest profani: " Depart all you that are impure and profane from the holy sacrifices of the gods." And if they were so strict and devout in the service of their false gods, shall we not exercise a

more extraordinary care and caution in the religious service of the living and true God? Therefore to prevent sinful miscarriages in holy duties, the following advices may be necessary.

1. Labour to entertain in thy mind awful apprehensions, and suitable conceptions of the majesty of that God thou art addressing thyself unto: Conceive of him in thy mind as a God of such incomprehensiblę greatness and majesty, of such transcendant holiness and purity, of such sanctity and severity, that he cannot behold iniquity in any of his worshippers, without the greatest abhorrence and detestation; and for that reason approach thou to him with a holy fear, with an humble reverence, and not without a trembling veneration.

2. Set not about religious duties without previous preparation. In every work, whether natural or artificial, some preparation is necessary to bring it to perfection. In works of nature the ground must be digged and dressed, ploughed and prepared, before the seed be cast into it. In works of art, the musician must string and tune his instrument, before he can play his lesson melodiously. Surely then in holy and religious duties (towards which our hearts are naturally so backward and averse) it concerns us how to exercise a preparatory care to bring our hearts into, and keep them in such a holy, humble, joyful, thankful frame and posture, that God may have the glory, and we the comfort of all our religious addresses to him, and atendance upon him in the way of his ordinances.

3. Keep a watchful eye upon thy heart when thou art engaged in any religious duty: never are our hearts so apt to wander as at such a time, and therefore they require a strong guard. How very backward is the heart to duty! How naturally dead and

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dull in duty! How soon weary of duty! How many pretences will our hearts make to cause us to omit holy performances, or to render us heedless and lifeless in them? Therefore as good Nehemiah, when building, did work and watch, watch and work, so we must in duty pray and watch, watch and pray.

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4. Make conscience of glorifying God in all religious duties, one as well as another; partiality is hateful to God in the duties of religion, which have all a divine stamp upon them. Many complain of their deadness in prayer, and dulness under the word, who never came to the sacrament: Wonder not at it. God will not meet thee in one ordinance if thou neglectest him in another. We must not limit and bind the holy spirit to this or that duty, but wait upon him in all. Almighty God is pleased to communicate himself with great variety to his children, at one time in this ordinance, at another time in that, on purpose to keep the esteem of all in our hearts, and to engage us to attend upon all conscientiously in the whole course of our lives.

5. Look that in all thy religious duties thou servest God with an holy alacrity, with a spiritual delight and joy. Joy suits no person so well as a christian, and at no season so well as when waiting upon God in religious duties: We have a promise of it, Isa. xii.

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"With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And we have also a promise made unto it, Isa. lxiv. 5. "Thou meetest him that re joiceth, and worketh righteousness;" that is, thou acceptest him.

6. Look that thy end in attending upon religious duties, be the same with God's end in appointing them; namely, First, that by them we should pay our homage to him as our sovereign Lord: And,

Secondly, that through them he may communicate his spiritual blessings into his people's bosoms.

7. Above all, take care that thou dost not blot thy holy and religious duties, by a wicked and unholy life. A little seeming zeal at thy devotion in the church, will not gild over the week's miscarriages in thy shop, nor atone for thy pride and passion, for thy deceit and fraud, for thy riot and excess.

CHAP. VIII.

Of glorifying God in Public Worship.

T is confessed by all persons who have any sense

of God and religion upon their minds, that they were made to serve and glorify their great creator, by a constant acknowledgment of his sovereignty over them, and their continual dependence upon him. Now much of the honour of God, and the credit of religion, depends upon the due performance of his public worship; this glorifies God much more than any private addresses from the family or the closet, both as it creates a greater veneration and esteem of God in the minds of men, and also because public and solemn adoration are the most illustrious testimonies we can render to God of our homage to him. Besides, how reasonable is it that we should own the God whom we serve, in the face of the world!

Not but that a christian honours God highly, and serves him acceptably, by his Family Duties and Closet Devotions; but we do much more glorify him

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by our public addresses. Then we honour God eminently, when we let others see conspicuously the high esteem we have of his excellencies, and cause the voice of praise to be heard among men. The honour that is done to persons among men, is not done in secret, but is always a public thing, "Honour me before the elders of my people," said Saul to Samuel; in like manner, we give unto the Lord the honour due unto his name, when others are witnesses of the esteem we have of his divine perfections, by our reverent acknowledgment of him in his public worship. To excite you therefore to a diligent and daily attendance upon God in public worship, as you have opportunity, consider, 1. That public worship glorifies God most. 2. He accepts it best.

1. Public worship glorifies God most, because thereby a sense of God and religion is best kept up and preserved in the world, which otherwise would be in danger of being lost. If the public assemblies fall, religion cannot long stand; the worship of God in our closets will not do this, because it is unseen. What we do alone no body sees, nor is it intended that they should; and therefore that cannot induce others to the same way of glorifying God: But when men see a body of christians assembled together in an humble manner, with pious devotion and submissive reverence, with bended knees and eyes lifted up to heaven, paying their solemn acknowledgments to the author of their being, this strikes men with a certain awe, and supports the belief both of God's existence and beneficence also in the minds of men: As for instance, when we see a great multitude of poor people constantly waiting at the gates of a house, we presently conclude that some great and good man dwells there, whom the poor wait upon: Thus doth the public worship of pious christians spread the fame

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