know and serve the Lord.
[Gen. xviii. 19.; Prov. iii. 33.] And the neglect of this is one reason,
why many families live uncomfortably. They live without prayer, and
therefore without peace.

Having thus endeavoured to impress your minds with serious thoughts, in
secret or at home; attend constantly upon the public worship, and there
pay a close attention to every part of the service. Remember that the
eye of God is particularly upon you there. He has promised to be with
two or three that meet together to call upon his name [Matt. xviii. 20.;
John iv. 24]. He is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth; and whether
they assemble in a church, or in the open air, he can give them cause to
say with Jacob, This place is surely the house of God, and the gate of
Heaven [Gen. xxviii. 17.]. Attend the public worship again in the
afternoon, with your hearts lifted up to God, that you may not hear in
vain; and accustom yourself in the evening to recollect what you have
heard, concerning the miseries which sin has brought into the world, the
love of God in sending his own Son to redeem sinners from those miseries;
the sufferings, life, death, and resurrection of the Saviour; and that
eternal rest, which remaineth for the people of God--FOR YOU, and FOR ME,
if we are believers in Christ.

If, by the blessing of God, I can happily persuade you thus to observe
and improve the Lord's day, I am sure it will promote both your
pleasure and your profit. Can it be a question with you, whether the
God who made heaven and earth, or Satan, the god of this world, is the
best master? Indeed I too well know the indisposition and averseness of
the carnal mind to God and his ways. Hence the thought of many is, What
a weariness is it? And, When will the sabbath be ended? Hence that open
contempt and scorn, which is cast upon the sabbath, and upon
public worship by many, both high and low, rich and poor, bond and
free, old and young, men and women. To them the worship of God is
tedious and disagreeable. They neither find pleasure in it, nor
expect benefit from it. And therefore their attendance is not from
choice, but from constraint.

But the thoughts and the conduct of true Christians are very different.
No day is so welcome to them as the Lord's day; not merely considered
as a day of rest from labour; but because, having their heads and
hearts freed from the cares and incumbrances of the world, it affords
them opportunities of waiting upon God.