of the Sabbath's drawing on, and of that Preparation which was requisite for it.

Among the primitive Christians the LORD'S Day was always usher'd in with a Pernoctation or Vigil. They assembled in the House of GOD, and sung Psalms and Praises to him a great Part of the Night, that they might be better prepared to serve him on his own Day following.

In the Year of our LORD 1203, William King of Scotland* called a Council of the chief Men of his Kingdom, at which also was present the Pope's Legate; and it was then deter min'd, that Saturday after the twelfth Hour should be kept holy; that no one should follow their Business nor Callings, but desist as on other Holy Days: That they should be put in Mind of it by the Tolling of the Bell, and then mind the Business of Religion as on Holy Days, be present at the Sermon, and hear

* In Scotia anno salutis 1203, Gulielmus Rex primorum Regni sui concilium cogit, cui etiam interfuit Pontificius Legatus, in quo decretum est, ut Saturni Dies abrhora 12 Meridiei sacer esset, neque quisquam res profanas exerceret, quemadmodum aliis quoque festis diebus vetitum id erat. Idque campanæ pulsu populo indicaretur, ac postea sacris rebus, ut diebus festis operam darint, concionibus interessent, vesperas audirent, idque in diem lunæ facerent, constituta transgressoribus gravi pæna. Boet. Lib. 13. de Scot. ex Hospin. P. 176.

Vespers; that this should be the Practice till Munday Morning, and whoever acted otherwise should be severely punished.

And this, as is said before, was also the Custom of our own Country, long before this order'd in Scotland. For in the Year 958, when King Edgar made his Ecclesiastical Laws, we find one made to this very Purpose: In which it is order'd, That the Sabbath or Sunday shall be observed from Saturday at + Noon, till the Light appear on Munday Morning.

* Dies sabbati ab ipsa diei saturni hora pomeridiana tertia, usque in luminarii diei diluculum festus agitator, &c. Seld. Analect. Angl. Lib. 2. Cap. 6.

† Mr. Johnson upon this Larv says, That the Noon-Tide sigifies Three in the Afternoon, according to our present Account : And this Practice, I conceive, continued down to the Reformation In King Winfred's Time, the LORD's Day did not begin till Sun-set on the Saturday. See 654. Numb. 10. Three in the Afternoon was hora nona in the Latin Account, and therefore called Noon. How it came afterwards to signifie Mid-day, I can but guess. The Monks by their Rules, could not eat their Dinner, till they had said their Noon Song, which was a Service regularly to be said at Three a Clock; but they probably an ticipated their Devotions and their Dinner, by saying their Noon Song immediately after their Mid-day Song, and presently falling on. I wish they had never been guilty of a worse Fraud than this. But it may fairly be supposed, that when Mid-day became the Time of Dining and saying Noon Song, it was for this Reason called Noon by the Monks, who were the Masters of the Language during the dark Ages. In the Shepherds Almanack, Noon is Midday, High-noon Three a Clock. Johnson, Cons. Part 1. Ann. 958.

Now hence hath come the present Custom, of spending a Part of Saturday Afternoon without servile Labour. And that our Fore-fathers, when the Bell was heard, attended the Evening Prayer, not fearing the Loss of Time, nor the Necessities of Poverty. Happy would it be for us, would we so banish the Care of the Body for the Care of the Soul! Would we leave to converse about secular Business, and mind then the Business of Religion; would we remember that it is * the Preparation, and that the Sabbath draws on.

When Jacob was going to worship GoD at Bethel, he order'd his Family to put away the strange Gods that were among them, and be clean, and change their Garments, and arise and go to Bethel. He knew that the GOD of Purity and Holiness was to be approached with the utmost Purity they could possibly cloth themselves with. And would we, before we enter into the Presence of GOD on his own Day, endeavour to purifie ourselves from the Filth of the World we have contracted in the Days before; would we disperse these busy Swarms of Things, which so attract our Minds, and prepare ourselves for the follow

*Luke xxiii. 54.
M 3

+ Gen. xxxv. 2.

ing

ing Day; we should appear before God, less earthly and more heavenly, less sinful and more holy; Our Prayers would be set forth in his Sight as the Incense, and the lifting up of our Hands be an Evening Sacrifice; and like the Smell of Jacob's Garment in the Nostrils of his Father, the Smell of our Prayers would be like the Smell of a Field which the the LORD hath blessed.

And now what is this Preparation, but the Trimming of our Lamps against we meet the LORD on the next Day? Our Bodies should be refreshed by ceasing early from their Labour, that they may be active and vigorous; and our Souls washed with Sobriety and Temperance, and the private or public Prayer of the Evening. Thus should we meet the LORD at Bethel, and obtain those Mercies we sought of him there.

Art thou then blessed with an affluence of Things, and hath Providence placed Thee above the careful Stations of Life? What Reason then can be sufficient for thy Neglect of this Custom? For neither canst thou plead the want of Time, neither dost thou dread the straits of Poverty.

* Psalm cxliv. 2,

+ Gen, xxvii. 27.

Or

Or art thou involv'd in the Cares of Business? Dost thou earn thy Bread by the Sweat of thy Face, and the Labours of thy Hands? O well is Thee! And happy mayst thou be. Wouldst thou dedicate this small Time to the Service of GOD, it would be like the Widow's Mite, which was more than all that was thrown into the Treasury: But perhaps, thou wilt say thou art under the Yoke, subject to Servitude, and obliged to work even to the latter End of the Day. It may be so, but yet, as GOD is every where present, so wouldst thou Remember that it is the Preparation, and put up an Ejaculation at thy Work, GOD would accept it, and it would prove to thee,, an equal Good with the other Preparation. Cassian* tells us, That the antient Monks whilst they were working in the private Cells, repeated their religious Offices: And St. Jerom, when he is commending the pleasing Retirement of the Village of Bethlehem, † says, That in the Village of CHRIST, there is a secure Rusti

* Hæc officia―per totum dici spatium jugiter cum operis adjectione, spontanea celebrantur. Cassian, Instit. Lib. 3. Cap. 2. + In Christi villa tuta rusticitas est. Extra psalmos, silentium est. Quocunque te verteris, arator stiuam retinens alleluia decantatur, sudans messor psalmis se advocat, &c. Hierom, Ep. 18, ad Marcel.