as, also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the Sacraments instituted by Christ; are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God: w besides religious oaths, and vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon special occasions; a which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner.b VI. Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now, under the gospel, either tied unto, or made more acceptable by, any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed: c but God is to be worshiped every whered in spirit and in truth; e as in private

w Matt. xxviii. 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Acts ii. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers See 1 Cor. xi. 23-29.

ren,

* Deut. vi. 13. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Neh. x. 29. They clave to their breththeir nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.

Eccl. v. 4, 5. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

Joel ii. 12. Therefore also now, saith the LORD, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. Matt. ix. 15. Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. See Matt. vi. 17, 18.

a See Psa. cvii.; Neh. xii. 31-43.

'Heb. xii. 28. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

VI. John iv. 21. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

d Mal. i. 11. From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. 1 Tim. ii. 8. I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up hol hands, without wrath and doubting.

• John iv. 23, 24. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true

SO

families daily,9 and in secret each one by himself; more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly or willfully to be neglected or forsaken, when God, by his Word or providence, calleth thereunto.i

VII. As it is of the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the

worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Jer. x. 25. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name. Job i. 5. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. 2 Sam. vi. 18, 20. And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings, and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.-Then David returned to bless his household. Deut. vi. 6, 7. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Matt. vi. 11. Give us this day our daily bread. See Dan. vi. 10. Matt. vi. 6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. See Neh. i. 4-11.

Isa. lvi. 7. Mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. Heb. x. 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Prov. viii. 34. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. Acts ii. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

VII. Ex. xx. 8-11. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For

world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week,' which in Scripture is called the Lord's Day,m and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath."

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 beforehand, do not only ɔbserve an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts, about their worldly employments and recreations; but also are taken up the whole time

in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. See Isa. lvi. 2, 4, 6.

'Gen. ii. 3. 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. 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. Acts xx. 7. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

Rev. i. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.

" Matt. v. 17, 18. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. See Ex. xx. 8, 10.

VIII. • Ex. xvi. 23, 25, 26, 29, 30. And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.-And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is the sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.-See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. Ex. xxxi. 15, 16. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath

in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.P

CHAPTER XXII.

OF LAWFUL OATHS AND VOWS.

I. A LAWFUL oath is a part of religious worship,a wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing, solemnly calieth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth; and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth.b

II. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence; therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful and to be abhorred.d Yet as, in

throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. See Isa. lviii. 13; Neh. xiii. 15-22.

? Isa. lviii. 13. 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, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. See Matt. xii. 1-13.

I. a Deut. x. 20. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

Ex. xx. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Lev. xix. 12. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. 2 Cor. i. 23. Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. 2 Chron. vi. 22, 23. If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness. II. Deut. vi. 13. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

a Jer. v. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. Matt. v. 34, 37. But

matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the New Testament, as well as under the Old; e so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters, ought to be taken.

III. Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth.9 Neither may any man bind himself by oath to any thing but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform. h

IV. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words, without equivocation or mental reservation. It cannot oblige to sin; but in any thing not sin

I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. James v. 12. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. See Ex. xx. 7.

Heb. vi. 16. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Isa. lxv. 16. That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth. See 2 Cor. i. 23.

1 Kings viii. 31. If any man trespass against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house. Ezra x. 5. Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.

III. Jer. iv. 2. And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth. in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. See Ex. xx. 7.

Gen. xxiv. 2, 3, 9. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

Neh. v. 12. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. See Ex. xxii. 7-11. IV. Psa. xxiv. 4. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;