of Tyre brought all manner of Ware and sold on the Sabbath to Judah in Jerusalem so here was a notorious general Violation of that Law whereupon he contends with the Nobles of Judah What Evil is this that ye do and prophane the Sabbath day Did not your Fathers thus it seems keeping Markets upon the Sabbath day was before his time and did not our God bring all this Evil upon us and upon this City Yet ye bring more Wrath upon Israel by prophaning the Sabbath And then he commanded to shut the Gates as it began to be dark till after the Sabbath and set his own Servants at the Gates that no Burthens might be brought in on the Sabbath Neh. 13. 15 to 22. Q. 2. If it be prophesied by any of the Prophets that the Sabbath should be changed in times of the Gospel and by whom Ans That other which should rise and be diverse from the first Dan. 7. 24 I find many Expositors think agrees best with Antichrist And who should wear out the See the Dutch Annotaâ— on Dan. 7. 24. Saints of the Most High and think to change Times and Laws and that they should be given into his Hand until a time and times and the dividing of times Dan. 7. 25. Divers learned men understand his wearing out the Saints to prophesie his Prosperity for a Season and his changing of Times and Laws to be of changing the Sabbath which would be given into his Hand and a time and times and half a time to be the Three years and an half elsewhere spoken of Rev. 12. 14. 11. 11 with Dan. 7. 24 25. Compare also Isa 24. 1 5. Hos 2. 11. But when those Three years and an half will end I know not And it seems to be somewhat observable That Ludovicus the Name of a great Prince now in the World has in the numerical Letters of it the exact number of 666 Rev. 13. 18 which Note as I am now of late credibly informed since the writing of these Sheets has been taken notice of 3 or 4 years since by a learned Doctor and Prelate of the Church of England and it may be since by some others And if this be the Meaning of the Holy Spirit in that Place and Context it has many Consequences which much concern the Churches of Christ at home and abroad to consider But that in truth this Change of the Seventh day was introduced by the Bishop of Rome let any man who peruses those few Collections before about that matter judge And if the observation of the First day no where commanded in the Word by the Lord that I could ever find or read or hear of be an Error as I conceive it is Jehovah the Messiah who is Head of the Church who loves it and gave himself for it can by his Word and Holy Spirit cleanse it from this and all other Mistakes which yet remain and will present it a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle that it may be holy and without blemish Eph. 5. 23 25 26 27. Charnock's Attributes f. 755 756 757 758 782 783 414. That no man ought to alter God's Laws and that Disputes against them are intolerable and that it is a controuling of the Divine Wisdom to make any Alteration in his Precepts Charn Attrib f. 400 402 403 404. The wise in Heart will receive the Commands Prov. 10. 8. I have heard Mr. Charnook's Practice was to preach upon the First day but what his Judgment was in the main point I do not remember to have read in those Writings of his which are in my Hand Mr. Pool of whom mention is made before I think might be in Opinion and Practice for ought I know for the First day and of the same Opinion have been and are many other worthy men as has been acknowledged Yet still Sin is the Transgression of the Law 1 John 3. 4. And this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments which are not grievous 1 John 5. 3 nor have any thing in them which Men should be unwilling to keep The Wisdom of God appears in his Laws Charn Att. f. 412. Submit to his Wisdom in this Case f. 413. The Moral Law cannot be abolished or altered in the whole or any part of it without Reflection upon the Wisdom and Righteousness of Christ the Law-giver Charn Att. f. 549. Man's Glory in the World lies in his Conformity to Christ and our Conformity to him lies in our keeping his Commands His Law is holy Rom. 7. 11. Pure Psal 19. 8. Holy and pure as it is a Ray of the pure nature of Christ the Law-giver f. 559. though they be never so many and great who are of another Opinion The Law to alter the Seventh day to the First you may see before in the Collections out of the Centuries was by the Bishops of Rome who though they pretended to dispense with the Laws of the Church could not alter or dispense with the Laws of God because no Law can be dispensed with or altered in any point by any Authority but that which is equal to that which enacted it Now no Pope or other men on Earth can pretend to an Authority equal to the Authority of God so as if there be no Divine Precept for any other than the Seventh day then it is certain that no Decrees of Popes or Councils or any Tradition can be of any force to alter that Law God hath declared to be his Law The Apostles have made no new Laws about this as before but left it as they found it And that neither the Pope nor any other Power can dispense with the Law of God I think has been agreed by all the great Protestant Writers and the Reason is evident The Laws of God are above them and no Church or Man or Men can dispense with them in any Case It may be some may secretly wish that this Fourth Command for the keeping holy the Seventh day were not so plain or that it were expressed or that they could somewhere find it altered in the Scriptures because so plain a Command not repealed nor altered there and so confirmed by Christ faces their Consciences answers all the Books and throws down all the Batteries raised against it Fain they would find out some colourable Objections to shelter themselves in a continual Violation of it but still that Law rises up and overthrows all Opposition They pray to God to encline their Hearts to keep that Law and yet keep it down what they can but all will not do GOD who has reserved a Tenth of our Substance has reserved but a Seventh of our Time which we should neither alter nor begrudge And indeed it seems to me marvellous that the observation of the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath should be so long laid aside here in a Land of Light notwithstanding so direct and plain a Command and that the First day should so far obtain for which we have so very
confirmed â—hat the vulgar Opinion for the First day is a vulgar Error which wants nothing to remove it as I humbly apprehend â—ut only the time when Christ will by his Spirit give an efficaâ—y to his plain Command and Word which First day has this Evidence of its weak Foundation that while some of the most â—earned do what they can by Writing and Practice to support â— they often beget new and confirm old Doubts about it and â— discover the Dust they raise to darken the Question to be â—ut Dust and shew the Sandiness of the Ground upon which â—hey build that Change And one sure way to convince an impartial enquiring Mind who has leisure enough is to read Mr. Hughes and Mr. Shepherd's Treatises about it wherein a plain Mind may discern so large Concessions about the Obligation of the Moral Law as seem to me to answer all Objections besides the great Contrariety there is amongst the Writers for the First day wherein he that will observe the Order of Time wherein their Books are written may find especially now of late that the last Book printed for the First day is ordinarily a tacite Answer to that which was last printed before it for the First day as two eminent Writers for the First day as it seems to me in answer to Mr. Hughes without naming him and to one another do shew whereof somewhat before by which 't is evident they think some hurt the Cause they write for and no two that I know of the many that have written have yet agreed upon the Grounds of its Observation And now at last it is openly avowed by one of the greatest of all the Writers for the First day that it is not instituted by the Scriptures By which words I think he gives up this Cause for if it be not instituted by the Scriptures and consequently not by Christ or by his Apostles or by the Holy Spirit there by whom when and where was it instituted Who but Christ has Power to institute a Sabbath day or to alter his Institution To whom has Christ given any Authority to alter one Iota or Tittle of the Moral Law Who are they that are bound to observe a weekly day not instituted by Christ in the Scriptures or are bound to lay aside what he has there instituted because of Private Mens Sayings and Writings And how this Law for the First day being an Universal Law and endeavoured to be imposed on the Universal Church can be excused from an high Usurpation of the Divine Authority and from an accusing Christ as if he had not sufficiently done his Work I know not And whatsoever some write for Obedience to their Inventions I cannot imagine they think any shaâ— be condemned or blamed by Christ at last for not doing whaâ— he has not required in his Word or that they would have uâ— live by the Rule of Tradition when they know and acknowledgâ— we must be judged by another Rule viz. by the Word Anâ— that the Word of God which we have is the Rule by which aâ— Worship Doctrines Conversation Discipline and all Mankindâ— are to be tryed in this World and shall be finally judged at laâ—â— I take to be the great Christian Principle as to this and thâ—â— which as far as I can recollect is generally avowed by all the sound Protestants that I have read or known in the World And I shall not wonder if some men under the colours of Tradition usurp the Divine Authority against the First Command and if such write and plead for what I think I can shew is forbidden in the Second Command and if they break in upon all the Commands for all which Men may easily plead Tradition all Ages more or less having brought forth some Transgressors of all the Commands which to such Arguers are Historical Evidences for such Practices But follow no man farther than he follows Christ And there is no Principle more evident and universally confessed by all the Reformed Christians than that whatever God commands us in his Worship or otherwise that we are to do be the things themselves in our Eye great or small And when Men can bind God's Promises of Assistance and Acceptance to their Inventions whether they be days or any thing else in his Worship or other Duty of Man then and not before they may appoint a new day of Rest Obj. And whereas one learned Writer for the First day thinks we cannot make good any one single Verse of the Scripture without Traditions Ans I had thought to have shewn in a Sheet or two that the sound Protestant Divines do generally agree that a Christian may be infallibly certain of his Faith by the Scriptures the Certainty whereof the Lord by his Spirit seals upon the Hearts of his Converts John 16. 7 8 13. And I had thought to give Instances of those converted by Christ and by his Apostles and since by his Ministers by his Word and Holy Spirit as never â—ent nor going to Tradition to assure them of the Divine Auâ—hority of that Word which did convert them which Word â—veth and abideth for ever And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto us 1 Pet. 23. 25 and is settled in Heaven Psal 119. 89 and will stand for ever Isa 40. 8. But thus much â—ay be a sufficient Answer to that Objection The late great and learned Assembly in their Confession of Faith â— 1. par 9 10 say The infallible Rule of Interpretation of â— Scripture is the Scripture it self and therefore when there is â— Question about the true and full sence of any Scripture it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly And parag 10. The supreme Judge of all Controversies in Religion can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures And the Elders and Messengers of the Congregational Churches c. that met at the Savoy Ann. 1658 in their Declaration of their Faith and Order Ch. 1. Art 4 say The Authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be believed and obeyed dependeth not upon the Testimony of any Man or Church but wholly upon God who is Truth it self the Author thereof and therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God See also Art 5 6. And Art 9 't is said The infallible Rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture it self c. As in the Assemblys Confession above cited and Artic. 10. to the same effect with the Assemblys Confession also And the Confession of Faith of the Antopaedobaptists Chap. 1 speaks the same things and in the same words or at least with very little variation of the words As to Traditions for the First day called Sunday the observation thereof amongst some I acknowledge is Traditions for and against Sunday ancient and that the Heathen Nations did oâ— old long before the Birth of our Lord offer Sacrifice to the Sun and worship
which then comprehended both East and West they should â—rbear to Labour or do any Work upon the Dominical â—y Eusebius in The Life of Constantine fol. 59 60 He sends â— Edict to all Governours of Provinces that they should forthâ—ith observe the Dominical day that they should honour Hoâ— days consecrated to the Memory of Martyrs and so settles â—oly-days and the First day by the same Edict Calvis Chro. Fol. 513. â—hich Edict was made about An. Christi 321. â—d Constantine died about An. Dom. 348 saith â—crates in the Margin so that this keeping the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath by all the Christian Churches except the Romans and Alexandrians must be some years after Constantines Death Which Testimony of so substantial a Witness besides the former and after Testimonies I do somewhat relye upon as an humane Authority and Tradition against that Affirmation of neither Trace nor Footstep for any other than the First day and this without the dissent of any single person as they remember dissenting in 1600 years whereas if this and divers Facts before and after remembred be true which by an Historical Faith no man can well doubt then all the Christians in the World between three and four hundred years after Christ except the Romans and Alexandrians in their Assemblies as every week came about celebrated the Mysteries upon the Sabbath day whilst the Romans and Alexandrians celebrated the First day which they called the Dominical day which I take to be a very great Evidence that the change of Times and Laws prophesied Dan. 7. 25 was brought about by Rome Cent. 7. Caranza's Councils fol. 311 312 339 340 the sixth General Council held at Constantinople the Emperor Constantinâ— Pogonatus President and Legates sent from Pope Agatho were present in the year of our Lord 673 Can. 52 the Fathers oâ— that Council enacted That no new Consecration should be all the Lent unless upon the Sabbath and Dominical The Sabbath is yet named by a General Council before the Dominical day and that in the seventh Century for we command that those days be kept Festivals and not to mourn oâ— fast upon them so that 673 years after Christ the Sabbath bâ— a General Council is established a Festival even in Lent And Fol. 340 Can. 55 the Fathers being informed that iâ— Rome they fasted in Lent upon the Sabbath against thâ— Tradition and Custom of the Church here â— Tradition affirmed by a General Council for oâ— Tradition for the Seventh-day Sabbath Ann. Dom. 673. serving the Sabbath as a Festival and that in Lâ—â— it seemed good to the holy Synod that in â—â— Church of Rome the Canon should forthwith oâ— tain or be put in execution if any Clerk be found in tâ— holy Dominical or Sabbath fasting besides one and one onlâ— let him be deposed but if he be a Laick let him be excoâ—municated So severe was this Eastern General Council â— continue the Sabbath a Festival and that against Rome it self 'T is true the First day of the week in some few places where Popery much prevailed at that time might be observed under the name of the Dominical day as a Festival and from the Contention which had been and then was between the Eastern and Western Churches about observing the Passover yearly and the weekly Festival upon the Dominical day it came to pass as I think that so many Popes Abbots Bishops Canons c. assumed the name of Dominicus As before whilst the Disputes between the Popes and the ancient Churches lasted about what day to keep the Passover upon divers of the Popes and Antipopes assumed the name of Paschalis And when this Controversie about the Sabbath was by the Popes somewhat quieted in these Western parts which was about the Thirteenth Century whereof more afterward then arises Dominicus the Hermit and then St. Dominic about 1243 i. e. about 447 years since and erects the Order of Dominicans which is continued amongst the Romanists to this day Cardinal Baronius's Annals An. Christi 603 sect 2 tom 8. Moguntiae sect 17. This year at Rome St. Gregory the Pope corrected that Error which some preached by Jewish Superstition or the Grecian Custom That it was a Duty to worship upon the Sabbath in like wise as upon the Dominical days and he calls such Preachers The Preachers of Antichrist By which it is evident that some then held themselves and others obliged to keep holy the Sabbath and preached it up and probably in Rome though the Pope calls it an Error This was in the seventh Century So as notwithstanding all the great contrary Affirmations and Boastings there are in the ancient Histories many Evidences of Tradition for the Seventh-day Sabbath Cent. 9. Baronius Ann. Chr. 828 sect 25 26 27 mentions a Story of a Maid possessed with a Daemon who being examined by a Romish Priest said He was an Officer and Disciple of Satan sent with Eleven more to destroy the Kingdom of the Franks because inter alia they did not keep the Dominical days as that Daemon calls them and other Holy-days So it seems it did not then obtain in France To which the Case of Abbot Eustachius in Scotland has some resemblance Cent. 10. Augustine on the 6th Chapter of John Tract 26. saith That in some places they communicate upon the Saturday and Sunday only which is quoted in Galvin's fol. English Institutions fol. 701 Quaere when and where that was Binius Cent. 13 Tomi tertii part altera fol. 1448. We have the initiating or first bringing in the Dominical day by a Council into Scotland which is there said to be An. Dom. 1203 that is in the 13th Century which is a famous Instance and as to that Kingdom will strike off Twelve hundred years of the pretended Sixteen hundred years Tradition It was in Scotland which Kingdom had divers early Plantations of the Gospel in some parts of it but generally received the Christian Religion about the year 435. Heylin's Geog. fol. 332. but if my Authorities be good had no observation of the First day until the year 1201 or 1202 or 1203. which Binius says was 1203 near Eight hundred years after Christianity was planted and professed in that Church and Kingdom and but about 490 years since Binius's Councils Tomi tertii Pars altera fol. 1448. A Council was celebrated in Scotland about the initiating or first bringing in then surely it was not there before of the Dominical i. e. of the First day which some now call the Lord's day or Sunday which he calls the Dominical which Council he says was held An. Dom. 1203 in the time of Pope Innocent III. See Roger Heveden whom Binius quotes An. 1202 and Matt. Paru's old Impression f. 192 193 and Lucius's Ecclesiastical History which he gathered out of the oldest and best Writers printed at Basil 1624. Lucius Cent. 13 fol. 264 Lucius says of the Dominical day In a certain Council in Scotland it was enacted That it should be
Ans After the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ Emmanuel i. e. God with us Mat. 1. 18. 23. we find in that famous Sermon of his in the Mountain Mat. 5. 17 18 19. which was about the beginning of his publick Ministry Christ does prevent an Objection of his Hearers who in regard his manner of preaching was different from their Teachers might suspect that he intended to abrogate the Moral Law or to alter it or some part thereof and to bring in another Law and warns them not to imagine that he came to destroy dissolve or loosen the Law but to fulfill it viz. by his perfect Obedience exactly to observe it and by his Word to establish it a standing Rule of Obedience to his Churches and People to the end of the World Till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law Mat. 5. 17 18 19. So that all the Commands have the same Character of the same Divine Authority and do all without excepting one jot or tittle equally bind man Mat. 5. 19. And that this place in Matthew referrs to the Ten Commands I take to be generally agreed by Expositors and by Writers for the First day the first Table whereof contains the method prescribed by Christ how to express our Love to God a part of which first Table is to keep holy the seventh day And the second Table contains our Love to Man Mat. 22. 37 38 39. And agreeable to Mat. 5. 17 18 19. is that of Luke It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail Luke 16. 14 17. where our Saviour shews the scoffing Pharisees that he taught no new Doctrine contrary to the Law but that Heaven and Earth should pass away before one tittle of the Law should pass The Interpretations of the Law by the Jews were mistaken but the Law shall remain as a sound and certain Rule to his People until the World should have an end Where I take it also as agreed that Christ spake of the Ten Commands As he does also when the Lawyer asked him which was the Great Commandment in the Law Christ answers Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart And the second is like unto it Love thy Neighbour as thy self Upon which two hang all the Law and the Prophets Mat. 22. 35 to 40. And Mark 12. 28 29 30 31. where Christ confirms the Ten Commands and both Tables thereof whereof the Law for the seventh day is a part which seventh day those who set up and substitute the first day so far lay aside The Romanists leave out the second Command against Images and a late learned Protestant Writer excepts against a word or two in the second Command and what he meant thereby I cannot say certainly but if he think it lawful to make such Pictures as of a Glorious Light from which occasion may be taken of good Thoughts of God he seems to me under the specious colour of that good Intention to break in directly upon those words in the second Command Lo tagneseh leka temunati asher bashamajim Thou shalt not make to thee any likeness that is in Heaven above and to go very near the borders of Idolatry that God is Light 1 John 1. 5. is true but we may make no Image or Picture thereof for any such purpose Light is as I take it one of the words opening the Essence of God and to make any Likeness of his Essence seems to be of the Likeness of God which I think is forbidden in the second Command To say nothing of the word As in the Parenthesis which seems something a kin to an c. nor can this be excused by the good intention before of taking up thence good Thoughts of God which surely must be from making and looking upon that pictured Light to the end above so dangerous it is to sit loose in Principles from the Obligation of the Moral Law or any part thereof And to this looseness from the Commands and to the not observing of them I think I may assign the great Transgressions of this Age against all the rest of the Commands but I forbear And how much farther such Great Learned and Worthy men may go unless God convince them or restrain them I know not who by his Word and therein by Promises of his Holy Spirit hath furnished all Believers with sufficient matter for Good Thoughts of God And those take away these words out of the fourth Command the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God which has not only many Iotaes and Tittles i. e. Letters and Vowels but Words and is a whole Paragraph but I think will not so pass away Conformity to which Commands is the Perfection of the Nature of Man Consider also how very much is said in the New Testament against Anomie that is Lowlesness Acts 2. 22 23. Mat. 13. 40 41. Mat. 23. 28. Mat. 24. 12. Rom. 6. 19. The Mystery of Anomie did work in the Apostle's time 2 Thes 2. 7. Until he that letteth be taken out of the way and then that lawless one that anomous one shall be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth v. 8. Looking for our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Anomie Tit. 2. 11 to 14. which Anomie the Lord Jesus Christ hates Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Anomie Heb. 1. 8 9 10. One great Article of the new Covenant is I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts which includes the whole Moral Law And another Article is Their Anomies I will remember no more Heb. 8. 10 12. Heb. 10. 16 17. And of old the Lord commanded That whatsoever he commanded his People they should observe to do it Thou shalt not add thereto nor dimish from it Deut. 12. 29 30 31 32. This Law is framed for the good of all and if all the Laws of all the Kingdoms of the World were lost the Ten Commands rightly understood in their true Extent and Latitude as explained in the Old and New Testament would revive and preserve the Duties men owe to God and due Bounds between Kings and their Subjects Ministers and People Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants Parents and Children and all Superiors Infeâ—iors and Equals whatsoever Which Law the Lord will magnifie â—nd make honourable Isa 42. 21. And the Ten Commands as â—hey are opened in the Scriptures do in general or particular Rules with great Justice and Equality resolve Cases as far beyond â—he Laws of Men as the Treasures of Wisdom in Christ are beâ—ond the depraved Wit of fallen Man And here I had thought to have inserted That See Charnock's Attrib fol. 612. â—he true Law of Nature in Adam is the Ten Comâ—andments A Preface to which Ten Commands commemorating and celeâ—rating the wonderful and famous Deliverance of the
should be proceeded against by Magistrates and by Ministers for there we find many Directions for the Discipline of transgressing Subjects by their Princes and Judges and of Members of the Church by their then Pastors But to return to those who defend the Change of the Seventh day and teach it to others let such have a care of that Threatning Mat. 5. 19 20. for if the Exceptions they make against the Law in that point be not good they are certainly dangerous to those that make them Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5. 19. And how far that least Extends think well of These Ten Commands many call the Moral Law and not to quarrel with Terms Moral signifieth pertaining to Moral Law Manners which being applied to Divine Laws may be said to be a Rule prescribed by the Lord to direct our Thoughts Words and Actions and so does include whatsoever is commanded or forbidden in Thought Word or Deed which our Lord comprehends in the love of God and of our Neighbor Mat. 22. 38 39. a part of which Moral Law all agree was in the time of Christ the Command for the Seventh day And he that will enter into Life must keep the Commandments Mat. 19. 17. Which he that keepeth loveth Christ and Christ will love him and manifest himself unto him John 14. 21. And it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail Luke 16. 17. And surely Christ does not there exclude the Law of the Ten Commands whereof one tittle cannot pass away And let any man shew us what other Law it is that Christ there means And if it be easier for Heaven and Earth than for one tittle of the ten Commands to pass away it will be impossible to take away the Seventh day positively said to be the Sabbath of the Lord And if the Commands and therein the Seventh day stand as long as Heaven and Earth they surely stand now for the Heaven and Earth yet stand And our Lord farther confirms the Moral Law by shewing what Sins they are which defile a man Mat. 15. 3 11 18 19. Evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witness Blasphemies Now Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts and False-witnessing are Sins against the Second Table Blasphemies Sins against the First Table and Evil Thoughts Sins against every Command in both Tables The Scribes and Pharisees there transgressed the Commandments of God by their Traditions v. 3. The Commands Christ there affirms are the Fifth Command v. 4 and the Second Command v. 8 9. which Moral Law they unlorded v. 6. The Command Christ charges them with as making it of no effect or of unlording it Exod. 20. 12. Deut. 5. 16. is the Fifth Command one of the Second Table And that about their vain Worship v. 8 9 was against the Second Command in the First Table and so Christ by those instances affirms both Tables When the young man asked Christ what good thing he should do that he might have Eternal Life Mat. 19. 16 17 18 19 20. Christ answers If thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commands and names some of them as Thou shalt do no Murder and Thou shalt not commit Adultery so that Christ in his Answer referrs him to the Moral Law Charnock's Attributes pag. 612. And so Christ there affirms the Moral Law which I think does fully prove that by the general word of Commands Christ meant the Ten Commands and if Christ meant the Ten Commands and have confirmed and established them by One and much more by so many plain Scriptures what Power on Earth can alter any one of them The great Commission which the Lord gives his Ministers is to teach all Nations to observe all things Christ doth not except the Seventh day whatsoever I have commanded you Mat. 28. 19 20. A very learned Writer in his Annotations on that Text saith It implyeth that his Commands are the Universal Laws of his Catholick Church and no Man or Men have Authoâ—ity to make Laws for the Universal Church on Earth but He and to undertake it is to undertake the Prerogative of Christ and be Vice-Christ by Usurpation be it Pope or Councils Which I think are words of much strength consequence and truth and I may say as Cornelius to Peter We are here present to hear all things that are commanded thee of God Acts 10. 33. But if any speak not according to this Rule we are not to follow Paul further than he follows Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. And as any person is brought to love Christ he takes present care to keep his Commands John 14 15. and Christ shews mercy to those who love him and keep his Commands Exod. 20. 6. And what other way is there to declare our selves the Friends of Christ and good Subjects to him but by doing whatever he commands us John 15. 14. 14. 21 here is no exception of the Seventh day nor elsewhere that I can find in all the Scriptures 't is by this Law of the Decalogue that we have the knowledge of Sin Rom. 3. 20. 7. 7. And we find the Apostle did not make void the Law through Faith but established it Rom. 3. 31. And the Law of Works mentioned in Rom. 3. 27 shews the Law which Faith doth not make void Rom. 3. 31 to be the Ten Commands and speaking of the same Law resolves it to be holy and the Commandment holy just and good and spiritual to which he consented as good and delighted in it after the Inner man Rom. 7. 1 12 14 16 22 25. To which the carnal mind cannot be subject Rom. 8. 7. What Law do Opposers understand by these Scriptures if not the Ten Commands And if these Scriptures mean the Ten Commands as they plainly do how comes one to be changed and mangled and the Seventh day to be excepted Which Ten Commands are called a Royal Law to be fulfilled and a Law by which all Believers shall be judged Jam. 2. 8 12. which Law in the new Covenant is promised to be given into their Minds and to be writ upon their Hearts and that by Jehovah Christ Heb. 8. 18 10 compared with Jer. 31. 33 which is farther Proof that Christ is Jehovah and this without any exception of the Seventh day But if any man sin i. e. break the Sabbath or any of the Ten Commands we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous he is the Propitiation for our sins And hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commands John 2. 1 23. And it is as it seems to me very strange how the World should be so long misled in so discernible a case And this is the love of God that we keep his Commands 1 John 5. 3. And what can that mean if not the Ten Commands And whatsoever we ask we receive
deliberately to do and may with like reason deny almost any thing for which we have full Authority from the Word That a very contrary Custom was afterwards introduced into many Churches I think we may say is evident a Custom of observing another day viz. the First day instead of the Seventh day which has been as it is maintained with great Authority and doth prove a Plant impossible for Man to pluck up without a full Testimony of the Word and Holy Spirit especially being supported as it is by such mighty men dead and alive as have written for it who are opposed only by a few weak persons 'T is plain that Paul preached in the Synagogue every Sabbath i. e. every seventh-day Sabbath for all Writers agree that the Sabbath which the Jews observed was the seventh day and that he perswaded Jews and Gentiles So that we have here Scripture-Instances of Ministers and of Believers in Christ after his Resurrection and Ascension and after the pouring out the Holy Spirit by deliberate choice keeping the seventh-day Sabbath in the Synagogue or Church where they came together for their publick Worship and the Ministers there preaching Christ to Jews and Gentiles And who can considerately think that the Holy Spirit misnamed the Sabbath and calls the Seventh day the Sabbath if it were changed to the First day And if I had offered no more than those few Lines in answer to the Tenth Question in my weak Judgment this were sufficient to answer all that I know is written for the First day and I have read much about it and this consisting of Matters of Fact has no need of being argued search the Scriptures as the Bereans did Acts 17. 11 and see if these things be so or no. Q. 11. Whether the Holy Spirit calls the Seventh day the Sabbath and no other day of the week both in the Old and in the New Testament throughout Answ I answer affirmatively as appears in the Answer to the former Questions and in particular That the Seventh day has the name of the Sabbath and was kept as the Sabbath after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit appears in the Answer to the Tenth Question And the Advocates for the First day do not pretend that the First day is any where in the Scriptures called the Sabbath as Mr. Baxter a very learned Writer for the First day doth acknowledge in Print Nor has any man yet shewn any Word or Command from God to observe it Nor are there two weekly days set apart by God for holy Worship and so I think this Eleventh Question needs no farther Labour Objections which are made in this Case although they seem to me to arise mostly from Conjectures at the meaning of some Expressions in the Word which seem Objections and Answers to others to have no such sence now come to be considered it being reasonable that the Evidence of the other side be heard also that the Reader may make a right Judgment thereon Object 1. The first Objection which I consider is that raised from the Resurrection of Christ which Resurrection some think convenient should be celebrated by a particular weekly day and the rather as one says because it is possible the Seventh day was changed Others more frankly say it was changed but they are not sure whether by Christ during his Life or by him after his Resurrection or whether by his Apostles or any of them after his Ascension or when or where or by whom any of these Uncertainties they do not yet resolve us and I think we are sure and some of the other side do acknowledge that no such Change is recorded in the Scriptures But however they suppose it for the Honour of Christ that one day in a week be set apart to commemorate his Resurrection Answ They do suppose this Our Law and all Mankind do admit that there is as much reason for those things that have no Existence i. e. which are not as there is for those things which do not appear If once Suppositions be allowed instead of Evidence and Proof any man of Parts and Credit may introduce great Absurdities When it can be truly said that the Lord has no where in his Word enjoyn'd the observation of the First day that they can shew or after the strictest search that we can find What Colour has any man to observe it And when it can be truly said that the Lord has no where in his Word repealed the Fourth Command nor altered the Seventh day or any way blotted it out of his Law by which Law we are to walk and by which we are to be judged that they can shew or we can find how can we presume to alter it Or if the Lord had any where in his Word transferred Power to any Man or Men to invent a new way of honouring Christ and to set apart a new day to commemorate his Resurrection this were something but where is there any such Power recorded in the Scriptures to be given to any Man or Men whatsoever And if there be no such new Command given by Christ to keep the First day and no such Authority given by him to any persons whatsoever to alter the Seventh day who then shall set Bounds to such as once undertake of their own Heads without any Commission from Christ to vary from and to add to the Commands of Christ However specious and plausible the Pretences be can any think it is for the Honour of Christ or the Resurrection that Men of their own minds should take the liberty and boldness to add to or to alter any of his Commands Why may not others command us to kneel to the consecrated Bread and pretend as many do that it is for the Honour of Christ And why may not one as well maintain the yearly Observation of Christmas in memory of his Birth and of Good-Friday in memory of his Passion and of Easter in memory of his Resurrection and of Whitsuntide in memory of his Ascension and of Altars and Adoration towards the East and that standing and not kneeling in expectation of his second Coming which some pretend to guess may be from the East as well as a new weekly Sabbath All which Conceits and many other such-like do pretend to be for the Honour of Christ and are ancient Traditions and seem to intend and mean very well When any persons whatsoever shall with pretended good Intentions assume an Authority of their own heads to add to the Word of God or any way to alter it in a tittle in comes therewith not only the common Tides of Christmas c. as they call them but the whole Romish Kalendar of Saints and all their Mass and Monkery which have specious Pretences and cannot be resisted if the Churches corrupted or the purest Churches be once admitted to have such a Power for if the Church or any part thereof may invent and
years together had walked contrary to the Commands of God yet the Commands are the same and oblige us now just as they did the Apostles and others in Christ's time and after his Death and the contrary Practise of all the World if it were so will not impeach any one of Christ's Commands nor make those Hereticks that observe them 3dly For the clearing up of this Matter of Fact I shall offer some broken Collections which I have made out of the Centuries for the observation of the Seventh-day Sabbath and against it for the First day which I think will answer these two last Objections The Ecclesiastical History printed at Basil 1560. Magdeburgenses cent 1. lib. 1. written by those of Maidenburg in Germany who were Protestants cent 1. lib. 1. cap. 4. fol. 44. they say It is only the Work of God to institute and to abolish a Sabbath which is true and sound Cent. 1. lib. 2. cap. 6. fol. 503 They acknowledge the Apostles and others mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles kept the Sabbath which is true also as before Cent. 4. fol. 410. Sozo lib. 7. cap. 19 shews That in many Cities and Villages amongst the Aegyptians they used to convene the Evening of the Sabbath upon which day that there were publick Assemblies Athanasius â—hews in Lib. de Interpretatione Psalmorum where he names these as the days of their Ecclesiastical Assemblies the Sabbath the Dominical day the Second of the Sabbath which I think was Monday Good-Friday Parasc-even and Quartam Sabbati which I think was Wednesday Good Friday could not be weekly but yearly So I guess this was in Lent but where this was I remember not Cent. 4. Concilii Eliberini Can. 23 constituted a Fast upon the Sabbath day so now the Festival of the Sabbath was by some turning into a Fast Cent. 5. fol. 436 Ambrose said When I come to Rome I fast upon the Sabbath when I am here I do not fast Cent. 5. fol. 477 they say The Ecclesiastical Assemblies at Rome were not upon the Sabbath as in the Churches of other Countries Sozomenus lib. 7. cap. 19 Quemadmodum in aliarum terrarum Ecclesiis So that other Churches in other Countries except Rome did assemble on the Sabbath in the Fifth Century after Christ Which may pass for one Authority against the said Writer's Objections Cent. 5. fol. 647 Those who lived at Constantinople had various times of assembling and without doubt in other Neighbour-Churches yet it is certain there was one day of the whole week constituted in which the promiscuous Multitude once assembled to hear Sermons For so says Chrysostom c. Isychius Presbyter of the Church of Jerusalem in the second Book of Commentaries on the Ninth Chapter of Leviticus In some places of Syria and Egypt Men assembled in the Church upon the Sabbath day fol. 648. This was in the Fifth Century Cent. 5 fol. 685 't is said Those who fasted and those who dined upon the Sabbath lived in Concord and that it was frequent in the same Church to have some dining and some fasting upon the Sabbath day In the Eastern Churches they never fast upon the Sabbath one Sabbath of the whole year excepted which is before the Passover the Western Churches by which I think they mean Rome and thereabout observed the contrary And they quote Augustine as speaking of this Diversity how they fasted at Rome on the Sabbath which if they should say were sinful then they should condemn the Roman Church and many places near to it and farther from it And if they should think it sinful not to fast upon the Sabbath then they should blame many Eastern Churches and the far greater part of the Christian World This as I take it is in Chrysostom's Letter to Jerome and in another Letter to Casulanus where he professedly writes of the Fast upon the Sabbath and plainly shews that fasting upon the Sabbath day was peculiar to Rome and a few Western Churches And if any ask why I transcribe Authorities to prove that for so many hundred years after Christ some Dined and some Fasted upon the Sabbath day 1. I answer to shew that all the Christians in the World did agree which was the Sabbath day and which the First day of the week and that they all agreed to call the Seventh day of the week the Sabbath day which some few now pretend to doubt 2. To shew whence the Alteration was from keeping the Sabbath day as a Festival and turning it into a Fast 3. To shew that this Practice by the Church of Rome and some Western Churches was not followed by the Eastern Churches nor by the far greater part of the Christian World for Five hundred years after Christ nor is it as I think by some Christian Churches to this day as I shall shew afterwards Now that publick Fasting-days as this was were kept holy to God as well as Festivals is known to all Christians who upon publick Fasting days where they have liberty do assemble for the Worship of God in Christ When Christians do agree upon a day to assemble for the Publick Worship of God in Christ there does appear no great difference whether they Feast or Fast upon that day only here seems to be the art of it The Popes of Rome were about to change the Sabbath and it seems devis'd amongst others this medium for one To turn the Sabbath into a Fast before Easter and this was under a specious pretence as for the Honour of Christ and in memory of his Passion as the First day was in memory of his Resurrection and therefore they first contended much about observing Easter upon the First day of the week which was to be a yearly Festival whereof more hereafter and the Sabbath before Easter because of our Lord's Body lying in the Grave to be kept as a yearly Fast and so by degrees every Sunday to be a Festival and kept as a weekly Sabbath and every Sabbath to be turn'd into a weekly Fast and by degrees to be totally laid aside and no more observ'd as the instituted Sabbath but for ever after to be kept only as a weekly Fast as it is amongst the Romanists and some others to this day This Legerdemain seems plain to such as are unbiass'd and have look'd a little into Church-History whereof more hereafter Magdeb. 6. Cent. in Synodo Matisconensi where were convenâ— some French Bishops c. I find by a Canon of that Synod a very great Complaint against the Christian People as contemning the Dominical day and as continually working on it â— upon private days for which they order Country-men to be beaten with Cudgels and if he were a Lawyer he must irrecoverably lose his Cause which was very hard for his pooâ— Client when his Cause was good Cent. 7. In the seventh Century we have two Bishops by thâ— name of Dominicus Fol. 322 387. fol. 160 they say The Sabbath was consecrated a Fast