his regal, and imperial throne, and the ignoble peasant, that sleeps within his sordid house of thatch, are both alike to God: an ivory temple, and a church of clay, are prized alike by him the flesh of bulls, and the perfumes of myrrh and cassia smoke his altars with an equal pleasure; and does he make such difference of days? Is he that was so weary of the new moons, so taken with the sun, to tie his Sabbath to that only day? The tenth in tithes, is any one in ten; and why the seventh day not any one in seven? We sanctify the day, the day not us. But are we Jews? Are we still bound to keep a legal Sabbath, in the strictness of the letter? Have the Gentiles no privilege, by virtue of Messiah's coming, or has the Evangelical Sabbath no immunities? The service done, the day's discharged, my liberty restored; and if I meet my profits, or my pleasures then, I will give them entertainment. If business call me to account, I dare afford a careful ear. Or, if my sports invite me, I will entertain them with a cheerful

heart: I will go to matins with as much devotion as my neighbour; I will make as low obeisance, and as just responds, as any; but soon as the evensong's ended, my Church-devotion and my Psalter shall sanctify my pew till the next Sabbath call. Were it no more for an old custom sake, than for the good I find in Sabbaths, that ceremony might as well be spared. It is a day of rest; and what's a rest? a relaxation from the toil of labour. And what is labour, but a painful exercise of the frail body? But when the exercise admits no toil, their relaxation makes no rest. What labour is it for the worldly man to compass sea and land to accomplish his desires? What labour is it for the impatient lover to measure Hellespont with his widened arms to hasten his delight? What labour for the youth to number music with their sprightly paces? Where pleasure is reconciled to labour, labour is but an active rest: why should the Sabbath, then, a day of rest, divorce thee from those delights that make thy rest? Afflict their souls that

please, my rest shall be what most conduces to my heart's delight. Two hours will vent more prayers than I shall need, the rest remains for pleasure,

"CONSCIENCE, why startest thou? A judgment strikes me from the mouth of Heaven, and saith,

Whosoever doth any work on my Sabbath, his soul shall be cut off. Exod. xxxi. 14. Exod. xx.

Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day; six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do, but the seventh day, &c. Exod. xxxi. 14.

Ye shall keep my Sabbath, for it is holy unto you.

Exod. xxxi. 13.

Verily my Sabbaths thou shalt keep, for this is a sign betwixt me and you, throughout your generations.

Luke xxiii. 56.

And they returned and prepared spices, and ointments, and rested on the Sabbath day, according to the Commandment.

His Soliloquy.

"My soul, how hast thou profaned that day thy God hath sanctified! How hast thou encroached on that which Heaven hath set apart! If thy impatience cannot act a Sabbath twelve hours, what happiness canst thou expect in a perpetual Sabbath? Is six days too little for thyself, and two hours too much for thy God? O, my soul, how dost thou prize temporals beyond eternals! Is it equal, that God, who gave thee a body, and six days to provide for it, should demand one day of thee, and be denied it? How liberal a receiver art thou, and how miserable a requiter! But know, my soul, his Sabbaths are the apple of his eye: he that hath power to vindicate the breach of it, hath threatened judgments to the breaker of it. The God of mercy, that hath mitigated the rigour of it for charity sake, will not diminish the honour of it for profaneness' sake: forget not, then, my soul, to remember his Sabbaths, and

remember not to forget his judgments, lest he forget to remember thee in mercy. What thou hast neglected, bewail with contrition; and what thou hast repented, forsake with resolution; and what thou hast resolved, strengthen with devotion,

His Prayer,

"O ETERNAL, just, and all-discerning Judge; in thyself, glorious; in thy Son, gracious; who triest without a witness, and condemnest without a jury. O! I confess my very actions have betrayed me; thy word hath brought in evidence against me; my own conscience hath witnessed against me, and thy judgment hath passed sentence against me. And what have I now to plead but my own misery, and whither should that misery flee, but to the God of mercy? And since, O Lord, the way to mercy is to leave myself, I here disclaim all interest in myself, and utterly renounce myself, I, that was created for thy glory, have dishonoured thy name; I, that was made for thy service, have profaned thy Sabbaths; I have