Wesley Corpus

(I speak of those who acknowledge the obligation.) Do we call “the Sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord, honourable; not doing our own ways, not finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words?” Do our “man-servant and maid-servant” rest thereon, and “the stranger that is within our gates?” Is no business, but what is really neces sary, done within our house? You know in your own conscience, and God knoweth, that the very reverse of this is true. But setting aside these things, which are done, as it were, by stealth, whether by mean or honourable men; how many are they, in every city, as well as in this, who profane the Sabbath with a high hand? How many in this, that openly defy both God and the King, that break the laws, both divine and human, by working at their trade, delivering their goods, receiving their pay, or following their ordinary business, in one branch or another, and “wiping their mouths and saying, I do no evil.” How many buy and sell on the day of the Lord, even in the open streets of this city ? How many open or (with some modesty) half open their shops? even when they have not the pretence of perishable goods; without any pretence at all; money is their god, and gain their godliness. But what are all these droves in the skirts of the town, that well-nigh cover the face of the earth? till they drop one after another into the numerous receptacles prepared for them in every corner. What are these to gain by profaning the day of the Lord? Nothing at all. They “drink in iniquity like water.” Nay, many of them pay for their sin; perhaps great part of what should sustain their family the ensuing week. I know not what is “finding our own pleasure, or doing our own ways,” if this is not. What then shall we plead in your excuse? that “many others do it as well as you?” Nay, number is so far from extenuating your fault, that it aggravates it above measure. For this is open war against God. And a whole army of you joins together, and with one consent, in the face of the sun, “runs upon the thick bosses of his buckler.” 16.