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SERMON V.

Preached at Court.

MARK ii. 27, 28.

And he faid unto them, The Sabbath was made for Man, and not Man for the Sabbath.

Therefore the Son of Man is Lord alfo of the Sabbath.

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HEN the Son of God, by whom the Worlds were made, (Heb. i. 2.) created the Heavens and the Earth by the Word of his Power, it pleased him to difplay that Power, not only in one instantaneous Exertion of it, but in feveral fucceffive Acts. It pleased him, I fay, to fuffer fix feveral Succeffions of Night and Day to intervene, before he finished the Work of the Creation. And that perhaps for this, among other wife and gracious Reasons to us unsearchable, that he might teach his Creature Man, the Lord of this lower World, a proper Method of dividing his Time between civil and

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facred

facred things, by his own Example.- He forefaw how neceffary it would be for us to fet apart fome Portions of our Time for the more folemn Discharge of Religious Duties; to draw off our Minds from the Cares, Anxieties, and Allurements of this World, and fix them on the Hopes and Expectations of a better; and he was pleased to fhew us, by the Manner of his firft Proceedings with us, that this Portion of our Time should be a Seventh. -At least we know, that in fix Days the Heavens and the Earth were finished, and all the Hoft of them; and that God blessed and fanctified the feventh; or, in other Words, commanded the first Man and Woman, and all their Defcendants, to fet apart that Day for holy and religious Ufes, Because that in it he had refted from all his Work which God created and made (Gen. ii. 1, 2, 3.)—Such was the Institution of the Sabbath-Day, as soon as Man appeared in the World; and both the Time, and the Reasons of the Inftitution, evidently fhew, that its Obligation extends to the whole Race of Mankind. And accordingly we find ftill evident Traces of this Inftitution in fome very ancient Heathen Writers, in fuch Divifions of Time among the several Nations of the World, as did not appear to them to be founded in any Reafon; and can no otherwife be fo rationally accounted for, as by fuppofing them derived from Noah and his Defcendants, and continued in Practice from a

Regard

Regard to Antiquity and Tradition, after the Knowledge of their true Defign was either greatly darkened by Fable, or totally loft.

And when it pleafed the fame God to refcue the Jews out of the Hands of the Egyp tians by many Signs and Wonders, and to take them under his immediate Government and Guidance, he then revived this Inftitution among them, and with this peculiar Reason, That as before all People were obliged to observe his Sabbaths as Men, in Memory of the Creation, and in Obedience to the Law founded upon it; fo they, the Jews, fhould now and for ever after keep them, as they were Jews. The bare Memory of this primitive Precept being then in a manner loft in the World, God commanded the Jews to revive the Practice of it, as a Testimony to the Nations about them, that they were the Worshippers of the true God, the peculiar People of him who created the Heavens and the Earth, and inftituted these Sabbaths as foon as he had created them.-Verily, fays he, my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is A SIGN between me and you throughout your Generations; that ye may know that I AM THE LORD THAT DOTH SANCTIFY YOU, (Exod. xxxi. 13.) The Children of Ifrael fhall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their Generations FOR A PERPETUAL COVENANT. It is A SIGN between me and the Children of Ifrael for ever: for in fix Days the Lord made Heaven and

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Earth,

Earth, and on the feventh Day he refted and was refreshed, v. 16, 17.-That is, you shall keep this Day holy, in Proof of your being devoted to me, who fanctified it from the Beginning; and this you fhall continue to do as long as you continue a People, because I the Lord will require it of you and your Pofterity, to diftinguish you from the Heathen, who have forfaken me and my Laws, as well as for the Reasons given for this Inftitution immediately after the Creation.

And as there were peculiar Reasons for the Revival of this Duty among the Jews, fo the Obfervance required of them was very strict, and the Penalty threaten'd very severe.—Ye fhall not even kindle a Fire throughout your Habitations on the Sabbath-Day, (Exod. xxxv. 3.) Whofoever doth any Work therein, that Soul fhall be cut off from amongst his People, (Exod. xxxi. 14.)

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But nevertheless, the Pharifees in our bleffed Lord's Time, who pretended to greater Holiness than other Men, extended that Strictness beyond the Meaning and Design of the Law and condemned thofe as guilty of breaking the Sabbath, who in the Sight of God were guilty of no Breach of it.--Thus when our Lord and his Apostles were paffing through the CornFields on a Sabbath-Day, probably in their Way to or from the publick Worship of God in the Temple, the Pharifees charged the Dif ciples with doing that which it was not lawful

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