* What will ye do in the Solemn Day, and in the Day of the Feast of the Lord? It is a Day of Gladness, and Feasting, and a good Day; a Day of Joy, and of fending Portions one to another, and Gifts to the Poor. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old Leaven, neither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness, but with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth. This is the Day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. When thou makest a Feast, call the Poor, the Maimed, the Lame, the Blind, and thou shalt be blessed: For they cannot recompence thee; but thou shalt be recompensed at the Refurrection of the Just. * Let there be no Spots in your Feasts of Charity. Let us humble our Souls with Fasting, Fafts. and afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right Way for us. m The Day of the Lord is very terrible. Therefore now faith the Lord, Turn ye to me with all your Heart, and with Fasting, and with Weeping, and with Mourning. * When ye faft, be not as the Hypocrites, of a fad Countenance; for they disfigure their Faces, that they may appear unto Men to faft: But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy Head, and wash thy Face, that thou appear not unto Men to fast, but 14 unto unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which feeth in secret shall reward thee openly. • Is this such a Fast as I have chosen, (faith the Lord) for a Man to bow down his Head as a Pulrush, and to spread Sackcloth and Ashes under h'm? Wilt thou call this a Faft, and an acceptable Day to the Lord? Is not this the Fast that I have chosen, to loose the Bands of Wickedness, to undo the heavy Burdens, and to let the Oppressed go free, and that ye break every Yoke? Is it not to deal thy Bread to the Hungry, and that thou bring the Poor that are caft out to thy House? When thou seest the Naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own Flesh? Then shalt thou call, and the Lord will answer. P Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES for DIVINE WORSHIP. When Jesus was taken up into Heaven, the Apostles taught the People publickly, thewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Chrift. They frequently affembled themselves with the Church, and taught much People: They were bold to speak the Word without Fear; and they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ, speaking unto Men to Edification, and Exhortation, and Comfort. * And at first all that believed were together, continuing daily with one accord in the Temple. Mat. 6. 18. • Ifa. 58. 5, 6, 7, 9. 1. 11. P Mat. 5. 4. 9 Acts Acts 4. 2. Acts 20. 20. Acts 18. 28. Acts 11. 26. Phil. 1. 14. Acts 5. 42. 1 Cor. 14. 3. Acts 2. 44, 46. Many Many of them afterwards were gathered together in the Houses of Some Disciples, and they often reforted to fuch Places where Prayer was wont to be made. And when they were present before God, to hear all Things commanded them of God; then did the Apostles speak unto them, and tell them what they ought to do. $ And they continued stedfaftly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship, and in breaking of Bread, and in Prayers. Having therefore, Brethren, Boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a new and living Way, which he hath confecrated for us, through the Veil, that is to say, his Flesh; and having an High Priest over the House of God; let us draw near with a true Heart, in full Afsurance of Faith, having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Confcience, and our Bodies washed with pure Water. And let us confider one another, to provoke unto Love and good Works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the Manner of some is. ■ God is greatly to be feared in the Affembly of the Saints, and to be had in Reverence of all them that are about him; unto his Habitation shall ye seek, and thither shall ye come, ye and your Housholds. w Gather the People together, Men, and Women, and Children, that they may hear, and that they may learn and fear the Lord, and observe to do all the Words of his Law; and that their Children, which have not known any Thing, Acts 12. 12. Acts 10. 6. 8 u Pfal. 89. 7. Acts 16. 13. Acts 10. 33, 34- Αεῖς 16. 13. may hear and learn to fear the Lord their God as long as they live. * How thall Men call on him, in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a Preacher? Wherefore, my beloved Brethren, let every Man be swift to hear; but let us not, after our own Lufts, heap to ourselves Teachers, having itching Ears. ▼Let the Epiftles of Paul, as also the other Scriptures, be read unto all the Brethren. 2 Let us go up to the House of God, and he will teach us of his Ways. * I will go to the House of God, with the Voice of Joy and Praise, with a Multitude that keep Holiday. I will give thee Thanks, O Lord, in the great Congregation; I will praise thee among much People. • Ye shall bring the Sacrifice of Praise into the House of the Lord; and there shall ye rehearse the righteous Acts of the Lord. In his Temple let every one speak of his Glory. Thus faith the Lord, My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all People. • And they that have sinned against God, shall confess his Name, and pray, and make Supplicátion before him in his House. * I will pay my Vows unto the Lord, in the Prefence of all his People; in the Courts of the Lord's Houfe: & In the Day when ye shall keep a Feast to the Lord, ye shall have an holy Convocation; and ye fhall do no fervile Work therein. h And on the Day when ye proclaim a Fast to afflict your Souls, ye shall have an holy Convocation; and ye shall do no Work in that fame Day. The Words of the Lord shall be read in the Ears of the People, in the Lord's House, upon the Fafting Day. * When the whole Church is come together into one Place, let all Things be done decently and in Order; and let all Things be done to edifying: For God is not the Author of Confufion, but of Peace, in all Churches of the Saints. Wherefore let us walk unto the House of God in Company; and seek him after the due Order. When ye come together into one Place to eat the Lord's Supper, tarry one for another; and if any Man hunger, let him eat at Home, that ye come not together to Condemnation. What! have ye not Houses to eat and drink in? Or despise ye the Church of God? * Keep thy Foot when thou goest to the House of God; and be more ready to hear than to give the Sacrifice of Fools: For they confider not that they do Evil. |