purpose, are here inserted, together with a declaration of God's judgments on the profanation of the Sabbath, and a promise of His blessing on its conscientious observance. From all which it will most plainly appear, That the religious observance of the Sabbath has ever been most highly regarded by Almighty God; p. 273. That it is our indispensable duty to be constant in our attendance on the public worship of God in His own house; p. 275. That God is in a peculiar manner present in places duly appointed and set apart for religious worship having promised that the prayers which are put up to Him there, shall always meet with a more gracious and ready acceptance; and be rewarded with larger communications of His grace and bounty; p. 279. That our frequenting the public ordinances of religion will by no means atone for viciousness or immorality of life; inasmuch as all the prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord; and those made by them in His house, being only a more solemn mockery, will bring down a curse rather than a blessing; p. 283. That besides the qualifications necessary to entitle our prayers generally to the favour and acceptance of God, (as set forth in the Office of Daily Devotions page 1,) the particular qualifications to render our public devotions acceptable, are a gravity and decency of behaviour suitable to the sacredness of the place, and an attentive, religious frame of mind, as becomes the tremendous Presence we are in, and the important business we are about; p. 286. Religious observance &c. YE shall keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord". I am the Lord your God: walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them. And hallow My Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against Me; they walked not in My statutes, neither kept My Judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted My Sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them '. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn; and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat? 1 Lev. xxvi. 2. r Ezek. xx. 19-21. T • Amos viii. 4, 5. The Lord hath sworn by the Excellency of Jacob, surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this; and every one mourn that dwelleth therein "? I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentations: and I will bring up sack-cloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head: And I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea; and from the north even to the east: they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst *. Thus saith the Lord, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My Covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people '. " Amos 7. 8. * Ibid. viii. 10-13. y Isa. lvi. 6, 7. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing evil". If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing any pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it". Our duty to attend Public Worship &c. TAKE heed to thyself, that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest". But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come o. 2 Isa. lvi. 2. Deut. xii. 13. a Ibid. lviii. 13, 14. And when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which He shall choose; thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men, women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law And that their children which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye lived. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths *. And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into Heaven. And they worshipped Him, and re turned to Jerusalem with great joy. And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God'. Deut. xxxi. 11-13. e Isa. ii. 2, 3. 1 Luk. xxiv. 51-53. |