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ivals of fo early a to the Law; nor why the Apostle and beggarly Things. Apostle, termed

ppertaining to that ad beggarly in Com

CHRIST was the 'd from the Jewish into his own Wor1 as appertaining to ppertaining to the the Obfervance of ood as a returning is observed not as w of Chrift. I fay, Dugh Chrift directly as there is in them I the Faith and Piety are observed not as able Customs; they bat general Maxim Maxim of common se to Edification. Inft the Observation : of Scripture AuthoReason, confider'd elves useful and prog to those good Efought in Reason to those bad ones of the Occafion, great ft them. That our n'd into Seasons of orious and a shamede, which those who ment, never fail to bjection reft, where Appointments themsilty of fuch Abuses.

The

The Cafe was not better among the Jews, who, as the Prophet complains, rose up early in the Morning, that they might follow ftrong Drink, and continued until Night, till Wine enflamed them; and the Harp and the Viol, the Tabret and Pipe, and Wine were in their Feafts, but they regarded not the Work of the Lord, nor confider'd the Operations of his Hands*. No doubt the Wisdom of God foresaw these Abuses; and yet, these Abuses notwithstanding, he appointed them Feftivals; which should have been a little better confidered by those who have insisted upon the like Abuses among ourselves as a Reason against the Expediency or Lawfulness of our Festivals. They were not, you fee, of that Weight with God; and why should they have more Weight with Men? Or what will there be left for us to do, if nothing is to be ordered which may be perverted to a wrong End? If we confider what Ufe Multitudes make of the Rest of the Sabbath, it must be acknowledged that they would be much better employed, if they were fent to work in the Field. Will you therefore plead that the Lord's Day ought to be abolished, and prescribe that all Men should be kept constantly to Labour, in order to keep them fober? Absurd! Vacations from Labour you must have, whether you had Festivals, or whether you had none. If Religion had not ministred such Opportunities, Civil Policy muft; for Men are not to be used worse than Beasts. Let any reasonable Man judge then which are most proper, Vacations from Labour appointed for Idleness, and Pleasure; or Vacations from Labour, appointed for the Worship of God. Whatever be the Abuses which our more folemn Festivals are subject to, no one will say that those Abuses arise from their being religious Festivals; or that the People are not put into a much better Way, by being called upon on such Seasons to the Exercises of Piety, than if, without any fuch Opportunities vouchsafed, they had been left to dispose of their Time (to say the least) in an unprofitable Manner. * Ifaiab v. 32.

In a few Words; as there are many who employ these Seafons ill, so there are many who spend them well; and why must good Men be deprived of any Means which tend to their Improvement in Piety and a good Life, because bad ones will make that bad Use of them which they generally make of every Thing

else ?

There is but one good Use (so far as I know) that can be made of this Objection; and that is, to shew Christians how much it concerns them to avoid those Irregularities which give so great and so just an Offence, and to improve to the utmost, the Advantages which are set before them. The Appointment of Feftivals in the Christian Church is a very wife Provifion, if we will make a wise Use of it; and if we will not, the Blame lies at our Doors. A Fault there will be, when Festivals are multiplied beyond Reason and Discretion; in which Respect the Church of Rome is much to be blamed, which by taking in such Numbers of modern Saints (many of whom were chiefly remarkable by their Zeal for the Corruptions of that Communion) have made their Festivals burdensome. Our Reformation hath lopt off these Superfluities, and left us nothing to commemorate, but what is well worth our Remembrance; some great and rema kable Occurrences, I mean, relating to the Oeconomy of Chrift in the Flesh, and the Examples of Apostles or Apoftolical Men, famous for the Perity of their Faith, as well as for the Constancy of their Virtue. Whether this was not to observe the golden Mean, or those are rather to be commended, who, together with the Superßition of Popery, have thrown out the Piety of the ancient Church, I shall leave all serious Christians to consider.

As the Appointment of Festivals in the of the DAIL Christian Church was a Custom borrow. SERVICE. ed from the Jewish Festivals; fo the Appointment of our daily Service was taken from their daily Sacrifice. And a great Advantage, no doubt, it is, to have the Opportunity

Opportunity of worshipping God daily administred to us. For daily Worship is a duly Improvement, if we perform it with due Seriousness. I do not apprehend that in fettling the daily Service, it was expected that every Christian should attend daily. For we have Bodies to be taken Care of, as well as Souls, to which fuch a Degree of Care and Application is frequently necessary, as is inconsistent with a daily Attendance. In this Case we should remember what the Scripture faith, I will have Mercy, and not Sacrifice, Matt. ix. 13. - And If any provide not for bis own, and specially those of his own House, he bath denied the Faith, and is worse than an Infidel, I Tim. v. 8. But if many are born to earn their Bread by their daily Labour, there are others to whom Providence has been so indulgent as to have left them little more to do than to enjoy what the Labour of others has provided for them: And can such as these give so proper a Testimony of their Thankfulness to God, as by devoting a Share of their Time dary to his Service? I do by no Means confider Rich Men, as Men of no Business. For Wealth was never intended as a Support for Idleness, tho' that Ufe is too often made of it by many. The Rich Man may ferve his Country as a Magiftrate; his Neighbour as a Patron and Friend; and, fetting these aside, there are a Variety of Avocations which attend upon large Fortunes, which may afford just and reasonable Excuses. But I confess I have no Notion, but that all, whose Condicions fet them free from great Hardships, might frequently find Leifure to attend upon the daily Service, if they were not over-borne by evil Customs, and had not gotten a Habit of excusing themselves, by every little Pretence which offers itself as a Handle to lay hold of: As if God was never to be worshipped but when we can find nothing else to do! In the Concerns of this World, we act by another Spirit. In buying and in selling; in eating and in drinking; in working and in playing; in every Thing in which our Profit or our Pleasure is concerned; we are wont to use much Forecast, Forecast, and to take Care, so far as is possible, that each may have its proper Season, and that great Concerns may not interfere with little ones. Let us but once shew the fame Discretion in the Business of our Souls, and I am greatly deceived, if in most Parishes the daily Service might not be perform'd with so much Decency at least, that when the Mister comes to do his Office, he shall not want those who will say AMEN to his Prayers, or giving of Thanks; nor feem as if he were speaking to the Walls.

I do not so much wonder at this Neglect in many Country Parishes, which consist chiefly of labouring People, from whom a daily Attendance upon the publick Worship, (as I hinted before) is not to be expected. But in large and populous Places, where Opportunities daily offer themselves, and where there are Multitudes who are forced to be at a good deal of Expence and Contrivance to find out Ways of spending their Time, it seems to be entirely without Excuse : And one cannot without Grief observe, that when all Places of Refort for Diversion and Pleasure are thronged, the Houses of God are left defolate. As this is the Effect of a great and general Corruption of Manners, so it portends the utter Ruin and Downfal of Chriftianity, if the good Providence of God does nor fignally interpose to awaken us into a more sober Sense of ourselves. It is the Business of Infidelity to nurse the Vices and the Follies of Men, as it is the End of the Gospel to root up and destroy them; fo that in Proportion as our Taste for Virtue and Goodness declines, we shall always be prepared to receive bad Impressions from those who are not wanting every where to infinuate irreligious Principles, which will have so much the more certain and speedy Effect, as we must be supposed, under such a State of Mind as this, to be less fortified by that Grace from above which is necessary to our Continuance in well-doing. The less Reverence we have for God; the leis we are awed by the Dread of his Majesty, (which Principles will naturally rife or fall, as we are more diligent or

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