Having laid before you thefe few confiderations for the refreshment of your minds, the confirmation of your faith, and the encouragement of your practice, in the observance of the day of our Lord's refurrection as the holy fabbath, I proceed

Secondly, to confider the manner in which this appropri ated and fanctified time ought to be employed.

Let it be here observed, we are allowed as great a portion of the twenty four hours of the Lord's day for reft by fleep, refreshment by food, taking care of our cattle, &c. as on other days. We are allowed alfo all the works of neceflity, fuch as defending ourfelves against thieves, robbers and enemies, extinguishing fires, failing in the open feas, keeping furnaces in blaft, &c. Befides thefe, the works juftly implied in the term mercy ought to be performed on this day, fuch as vifiting the fick, adminiftering to their comfort, and reliev ing the diftreffes of the poor. All these and more than can be enumerated are works of mercy. It is the duty of Phyficians, Surgeons, and all the train of that line to visit their patients and go when called, but I apprehend they ought not to tarry from public worship more than what evident neceffity requires.

Thefe allowances being made, which could be eafily ef tablished from feripture and reafon, but I prefume they are perfectly obvious to the judgment, confcience, and feelings of every chriftian. Therefore I pafs on to the plain duties. of fanctifying the Lord's day.

St. John was in the Spirit on this day. We fhall understand it at present, a fpiritual and holy frame of mind, in

D

which all chriftians ought to be, fo as in the tempers of their heart, to be prepared for the duties thereof.

A very brief defcription of their frame and duties muft fuffice at prefent.

Remember, was the great intro duction to the fabbath under the law, and no word can be more properly introduced to - awaken our attention to the folemnities of the Lord's day under the gofpel.

In the morning when we awake, the first thought which fhould Arike the foul of the chriftian, is this is the morning my Lord and precious Saviour arofe from the dead and compleated the grand work of the redemption of finners. With the putting on of my cloaths, I wish to put on the immaculate robes of Chrift's righteousness. Now I bow my kace before him to confefs my fins, and praife him for all the wonders and benefits of his redeeming love-I arife to blef his name, to worthip with my family and prepare for the public fervice of the fanctuary.-I have worshipped my God and rny Saviour with my whole heart in the church.-I return to meditate on the inftructions of Lis houfe, to feed upon his word, to examine, chatechife inftruct, and exhort my family, to pray with them, and thus I conclude the day of my Lord.

This is a fummary view of a fabbath day's duty and exercife. This is making it a delight, this is being in the Spirit on the Lord's day. This is the duty of all. It is a frame and practice preparatory for heaven, and for the eternal fabbatifm which remains for the people of God.

A few counfels and directions fhall clofe this difcourfe.

As I have been very concife and fummary on the obfervation of the Lord's day, I hope an indulgence will be grantd me in the adviory part of this fubj.a.

My first advice is, that you blefs God for the inflitution of a Lord's day, It is a happiness to man and beat, to all creation, faints and finners. Therefore all ough; to praife the Lord. Wherefore all thofe who unneceffarily travel ca the fabbath, do any common work, poft their books fecretly in their fhops, look over their bills of laden, all thefe, they are excluded from eternal felicity, without a gofpel repentance, which is fixed by an eternal and irreverfable decree of heaven, mut perifh. And whatever they may think in the tranfitory moment of fatanical delufion, death will immediately ftop their journeys, clofe their ledgers, fettle all their accounts, finith their bafinefs, raise the curtain, and clofe the whole fcene.

A fecond advice to chriftians is, when the Lord's day returns; that they apply to the bufinefs of the facred feafon as reafon informed by revelation directs. This in the chif tian fyftem is of wide extenfion; private meditation, felf-re. flection, felf-confideration, felf-examination of the past life, especially of the past week, this is near to the religion that leads to heaven.

Allow me here to mention the practice of the primitive chriftians, the reformers, and our fathers. Befides perfonal and family devotions, it was ufual with parents to take their children alone, urge them to an attention to the things of religion, dehort them from vice and every thing of that nature, imprefs upon their tender minds the love of God and the duty of prayer, and thus exhort and pray with each of their lambs alone. When this was the cafe, there was order, fo briety and religion in families and focieties.

A third counfel is, to all who acknowledge a Lord's day, carefully to remember, and in this remembrance, it fhall be left to your own judgments, to regulate yourfelves ac

cording to the word of God. From the education and inftruction of this congregation, I fear not to leave this refer ence to your own confciences. If the Lord's day is not properly obferved in this town, is confcience inattentive to its office? Is it neglected, profaned by idlenefs, the omiffion of private, family, and public worship? Have you not always had an abundance of inftruction on this head? Let confcience decide, and God will furely be our judge. Numerous are the doctrines and exhortations you have had on this subject, and it is probable this will be the last from your aged minifter. All things are drawing the curtain, the course of my terreftrial fabbaths are finishing, and thro' the most u merited grace ever conferred upon any finner, I hope foon to enter upon an eternal fabbatifm where there will be no fix day's intervention.

The fubject I leave with you, with your children, with God and your own confciences, in the recollection of that commandment, which you have heard ever fince you were capable of diftinguishing founds, and which you have all learned and believe. "Remember the fabbath day to keep it holy, "fix days fhalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the fe"venth day is the fabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou "fhalt not do any work, thou, nor thy fon, nor thy daughter, "nor thy man-fervant, nor thy maid-fervant, nor thy cattle, "nor the ftranger that is within thy gates; for in fix days "the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in "them is, and refted the seventh day, wherefore the Lord "blessed the fabbath day and hallowed it." O that God might always endue us with his Spirit, that we might ever be in the fame on the Lord's day!

SERMON IL

A General Contemplation on the Nature and Duty of Prayer.

James v. 16. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, availeth much.

PRAYER is a folemn and important duty incumbent upon all the children of men. It is of fuch a nature, that all who neglect it, furely live without God in the world. It is not merely a pofitive institution of heaven, fuch as many of the ceremonial rights of the law, and baptism and the Lord's fupper underthe gofple. But it is perfectly of a moral kind arifing from the eternal nature, reafon and propriety of things. If there be a God and rational creatures, there originates from fuch aftate, a relation of things and duties, which it feems impoffible to be fuperfeded. God forbid, that any conception of poor limited and ignorant finners fhould attempt the circumfcription of the omnipotent, omnificent, and infinitely perfect fupreme. Yet all nature declares there is a God and he must be worshipped. A praying homage, a dependent fpirit, a grateful mind, and a fubmiffive foul is the whole of his adoration, and adding hereto the