Page:Earnest persuasive to the serious observance of the Lord's day.pdf/5

 Profaneſs will flow in upon us, to the diſhonour of God, the Contempt of Religion, and the pulling down of Plagues and Calamities upon us, which all Men are concerned to do their utmoſt to prevent.

As our good God therefore has ſeparated this Bleſſed Day to his peculiar Service, for his own Glory, and the good of Men, both in this world and the next ; let us not diſappoint theſe gracious ends, by Idleneſs or Formality, nor by worldly Buſineſs or carnal Diverſions. Let no common thing keep us from the publick Worſhip of God, either in the Fore or Afternoon; and let as much of the reſt of the day as we can be ſpent in Devotions of the Cloſet and Family: in Catechizing of our Children and Servants, in repeating what we heard, in reading good Books, in Prayer, finging of Pralms and good Diſcourſe. And if theſe ſweet and bleſſed Exerciſes are too tedious and irkſome to us, 'tis enough to affright us to think how unfit we are for Heaven, where the Love and Praiſes of God make a great part of the glorious Entertainment; of which the due keeping of a Chriſtian Sabbath is the happieſt Reſemblance that we have upon the Earth.

But here, alas! too many among us grow uneaſie at theſe holy Reſtraints; and being unaccuſtomed to deny themſelves any thing