1. There must be a Cessation from worldly Business, or a Rest from Labour, as the Word Sabbath[] signifies. Six Days thou shalt do all thy Work, but the Seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy GOD (not thy Day but his) in which neither thou, nor any belonging to thee, shall do any Work. In which Injunction it is observable, how express and particular this Commandment is, more than others, in ordering all Sorts of Persons to cease from Work.
2. We must remember to keep the Day holy. Which Remembrance is another Thing also in this, more than in the other Commandments, and implies,
1st, That there is great Danger of our forgetting, neglecting, or being hindred from keeping the Day holy, either by the Infirmity and Carnality of our own Nature, or from the Avocations of the World.
2ly, That the keeping it holy, is a Duty of more than ordinary Consequence and Necessity. And of greatest Consequence this is,
First, To perpetuate the Remembrance of those grand Works of GOD commemorated on that Day; in the first Ages of the World, the Creation; in the middle Ages, the Creation and Delivery from Ægypt; and under Christianity, the Creation and Redemption by Christ. Which Mercies, without such frequent Occasions, would be ready to be forgotten, or disregarded, in so long a Tract of Time, as the World hath already stood, and may, by God’s Mercy still stand.
Secondly, To keep up a spiritual Temper of Mind, by those frequent weekly Exercises of Religion, as hath been already mention’d.
Thirdly, To procure GOD’s Blessing upon the Labours and Business of our six Days, which we can never expect should be prosperous, if we are negligent of GOD’s Time. For how can we expect GOD’s Blessing upon a Week so ill begun, with a Neglect, or Abuse of GOD’s first Day? And therefore if we become unprosperous in the World; if Losses, Troubles or Dangers befall us, let us reflect how we have spent the Lord’s Day; whether we have not wholly neglected it, or abused it in Riot, or made it a Day for taking Journeys, for more private Business, and less scandalous Labour, as the Custom of too many is.
Thus having shewn what Reason there is to remember to keep holy the Day dedicated to GOD, I shall consider how we are to keep it holy, and so conclude. Now the Way to keep it holy, is not by bare resting from Work; for that, as a Father saith, is Sabbatum Boum & Asinorum, a Sabbath of Beasts: But holy Acts are the proper Business for a holy Day, celebrated by rational Beings. Among all which, the grand, principal, and most universally practis’d, is the Publick Worship of GOD, the assembling at the publick Place of his Worship, to pay (with our Fellow-Creatures) our Homages, Thanks, and Praises to the infinite Creator and Redeemer of the World. This as it is the most reasonable Service, and proper Business for this Day, so is what hath been the Practice of all Ages. It was as early as Cain and Abel’s Days, Gen. iv. 3. what was practis’d by religious Persons in the following Ages, till the giving of the Law; and at the giving of that, God was pleas’d to order Places, and his particular Worship, as well as the seventh Day. The Tabernacle and Temple were appointed by God’s express Command; besides which, there were Synagogues all over the Nation; so that in our Saviour’s Time, every great Town or Village had one, or more in it, and Jerusalem 460, or more[c].