Hosea is meant of the Ceremonial Sacrifice of the Law amongst which the Sacrifice of Christ ought not to be reckoned for after God had said I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice he presently addeth and the knowledge of God more than Burnt Offerings By which it appeareth that by Sacrifice he meaneth such Sacrifice as was joyned with Burnt Offerings according to the prescript of the Law to which Jer. Chap. 7.21 alluding saith Put your Burnt Offerings to your Sacrifices and eat Flesh I should take little Comfort in discovering these shameful mistakes of yours were it not that I saw you went about to Rob us of our Christian Liberty and to bring us into Bondage unto the weak and Beggarly Rudiments of the World Fourthly our Saviour Warrants the violation of the Sabbath in his Disciples because the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath and therefore ought to yield to the Necessities of man Which thing also sheweth that the Sabbath is Ceremonial For as for Moral Duties the Scripture testifieth that man was made for them Thus Acts 17.26 27. Paul saith that God made mankind to seek the Lord which all will confess to be a Moral Duty And Ephes 2.10 We are his making so I am told the Greek word signifieth Created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them But the good Works enjoyned in the Gospel are by all confessed to be Moral and not Ceremonial Performances Fifthly It is said that for as much as the Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath Which words imply that the Son of Man could in case of Mans Necessity dispence with the Law of the Sabbath other ways how was he Lord of it For doth not his being Lord of it signifie that he was above it and had Power over it But no where is it said or intimated in the Scripture that the Son of Man yea any other is Lord of Moral Duties they being in their own Nature indispensable in that they agree to Man as he is a Rational and Sociable Creature and so bound to Act Rationably and sociably Neither did you ever Read that such Duties have in Scripture been by Christ dispensed with Wherefore those Expressions of yours which you so often inculcate in your Book That the Sabbath is made for Man and that Christ is Lord of the Sabbath do being rightly understood subvert your Opinion intimating that the Sabbath is Ceremonial and may Lawfully upon an emergent Necessity of Man be dispensed with That the Walls of Jericho were surrounded for seven days together and consequently on the Sabbath is evident But that the seventh day of the surrounding was the Sabbath appeareth not out of the Text. For to evince that you must shew that they began to surround the City on the first day of the Week whereas no such thing is so much as hinted in the Sacred Text. Wherefore that which you infer from thence touching the extraordinary Dignity that was put upon the Sabbath in that the City was taken Miraculously upon that day is altogether groundless Howbeit this is certain from the story as I before hinted that the Sabbath was broken in as much as to Compass a City in a Hostile manner on that day is to Profane it by Working upon it contrary to the Fourth Commandment So that this plainly sheweth the Observation of the Sabbath to be no Moral Duty as being dispensed with What you farther say of Jericho's being a Type of Babylon and of the man of sin's changing the Times are more groundless surmises than what you before spake concerning the taking of Jericho on the Sabbath day as would easily appear if you attempted to confirm those Notions of yours by the Scripture rightly and soundly Interpreted Pag. 20. Here you confess as much as I desire namely That the Institution of the Sabbath cometh only from the power and authority of God For this unanswerably proves it to be Ceremonial the difference between a Moral and Ceremonial Law lying in this that the one is Naturally written in the Heart of Man and so ought to be Observed though God had not Commanded it whence the Heathens to whom God had not made known himself nor given any Commandments and Judgments are nevertheless grievously Reprehended by the Prophets for not Observing Moral Duties See pag. 7. fore-going Whereas Ceremonial Laws depend meerly upon the Will and Authority of God Commanding them Where I admire that you should Reprove me for suggesting That the Sabbath receives Being and takes Rise from a Reason without us For is not the Power Will and Authority of God upon which only you your self ground the Observation of the Sabbath something without us Pag. 21. How irrational therefore are your words where contradicting your self you say 'T is unseemly to assert that the Ceremonial Laws did ever rise from any Reason without us for even their spring-head was Originally from the Pleasure and Providence of God For is not the Pleasure of God a Reason without us And are not such Laws as flow from the Pleasure of the Law-giver meer Placits and so Positive and Ceremonial things For instance the sacrificing of Beasts was it not a thing that sprang from the Pleasure of God And is it not therefore Ceremonial there being no other Obligation upon Men to perform it but the Command of God so that the injunction of God about that matter now ceasing we are no longer bound thereunto 'T is true that Moral Precepts are sometimes in the Law inforced by reason from without as Obedience to God from deliverance out of Egypt but then these Precepts do not Originally spring from such Reasons but from the Law of Nature to which those other Considerations are added and consequently Men have a new Obligation to such Duties which they were before bound by Nature to perform Pag. 24. To prove that the sabbath is not Moral I alledged that it is called a Sign and a Covenent The Adversary wanting a solid Answer hereunto and intending here as he doth pag. 16. to make a Flourish saith that I may as well prove our Saviour himself to be a Ceremony for as much as the same Titles are given to him though the Passages that he citeth reach not home to his purpose as will easily appear to him that shall confer them with those concerning the Sabbath Yet I willing joyn Issue with him and affirm that in as much as Christ is called a Sign and a Covenant it doth unavoidably follow that the Mystery of Christ is such a thing as dependeth not on the Law and light of Nature but only on the good pleasure of God as Christ himself intimateth John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that whosoever beholdeth the Son and believed on him should have Eternal Life And Paul Eph. 1.5 saith plainly Having predetinated us unto the
THE MORALITY OF THE Seventh-day-Sabbath Disproved IN ANSWER To C. T. Tillam's Book Entituled A Present from Prison Dedicated to L. C. Hobson WHEREIN The most Material Points in another Book Entituled A Discourse of the Sabbath lately Published by Henry Sowrsby and Mehetabel Smith are succinctly discuss'd Written by the Learned J. B. Master of Arts at the Request of the said L. C. Hobson Col. 2.16 17. Let no man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in Respect of an Holy-day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbaths which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ LONDON Printed by Francis Clark for L. Curtis 1683. The Morality of the Seventh-day-Sabbath Disproved c. Page 1. THE word Moral according to the Common usage is all one as to say Natural and is opposed to that which is Ceremonial or Positive or of meer Institution This being so as you cannot be ignorant of I wonder you should talk of removing the Veil of Obscurity lying upon the word Moral unless it were that wanting a solid Answer you had a Mind to Quibble upon words for you know that Aristotle and other Philosophers have written Books concerning Moral Duties by which I believe you your self will confess can be understood no other than those Duties that Natural Reason exacteth of all Men as they are Men. Page 2. In that you here barely say that the main thing in Question is undeniable namely That the Seventh day Sabbath is as Naturally Holy as the six days are Naturally Common This to me seemeth plainly to Argue that you had nothing material to alledge to prove your Assertion Otherways you know well enough that I and almost all other Christians whatsoever deny it Yea I for my part had brought many as I believe convincing Reasons to shew that I have good ground for the denyal thereof Neither doth it follow that because God in the production of Natural things did not act unnaturally neither was the Institution of the Seventh-day-Sabbath contrary to his Natural intention therefore the Law of Nature doth require of all Men to observe the Sabbath For to omit your own affirmation that God instituted the Sabbath which plainly sheweth it not to be Natural and so Moral but Positive I might by the same Reason Argue that for as much as God did not act unnaturally in producing the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil neither was it contrary to his Natural inclination to forbid the eating of the same therefore it was a Moral and Natural Duty to abstain from it which I think you your self will deny If you do not certain I am that as you will scarce find any man that will Second you so will it be altogether impossible for you to shew that Natural Reason setting aside the Commandments of God did dictate unto Adam that he ought to forbear the eating of that Tree above all the other Trees of the Garden Or why if it be a Natural and Moral Duty the same Tree is not set forth to us by God that we may shew our Obedience by abstaining from it These Expressions of yours that God did Celebrate and Observe the Seventh day Sabbath are unsound there being no such thing affirmed of God in the Scripture but only of Men see Levit. 23.32 From Even to Even shall you Celebrate your Sabbath And Exod. 31.16 The Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their Generations For to Celebrate and Observe such or such a time argueth that it hath been Commanded by some other Moreover when God is said to have Sanctified or Hallowed the Sabbath it was not that he himself but that Men should observe and keep it holy as appeareth by the Fourth Commandment Page 3. Your Comparison between a Wife in Relation to her Husband and the Sabbath in Relation to a Christian doth not hold For Marriage though in the beginning instituted of God is yet not of institution but of Nature the difference of Sects Naturally requiring it without such an Institution And this as I am told is acknowledged by Aristotle the best Naturallist that ever was who saith Eth. 8. Chap. 12. That there is naturally Friendship betwixt Man and Woman and that Man was Naturally made rather for Marriage than for Civil Society But no such thing as this can I believe be alledged out of Aristole concerning the Observation of the Sabbath Page 4. That other Similitude of yours between the Sun and the Sabbath being wholly of your own making without any hint of the Scripture is altogether frivolous and proveth nothing And whereas you Advise me to cease Polluting of the Sabbath in as much as I have say you acknowledged the Seventh-day-Sabbath to be Holy by Divine Institution I wonder you should so boldly impose on me when you know sufficiently even by this very writing of mine which you endeavour to answer that I deny the Seventh-day-Sabbath now to be Holy believing it as being a shaddow to be done away by Christ Neither doth that Passage Heb. 4.9 intimate the contrary For when that Divine Author saith there remaineth therefore a rest so I am told the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rightly rendred as will appear by two passages of the Septuagint Exod. 16.30 Lev. 23.32 where the word is so used to the People of God he meaneth not the rest of the Seventh-day-Sabbath but the rest of the Kingdom of Heaven or as the Author stileth it Verse the 10. the rest of God into which whosoever is entred he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his But to cease from our own works as God did from his is to cease from them as never to return again to them not to cease for one day and then to Labour again as before Again this rest is inferred from those words verse 6. and so are meant of such a rest into which the Israelites did not enter because of Unbelief But Moses testifieth that they kept the Rest of the Seventh-day-Sabbath Exod. 16.30 Moreover this is a Rest into which we should labour to enter but there needeth no labouring to rest on the Seventh-day-Sabbath Finally when it is here said there remaineth a Rest this plainly implyed that the Rest here spoken of is something that is reserved for the People of God and so not enjoyed at present and therefore not the Rest of the Seventh-day-Sabbath Thus much appeareth from the same word thus used in the 6th Verse foregoing Page 6. Your saying That the Seventh day is every way Moral both by Natural Production and by Primitive Institution sheweth plainly that you are mistaken in the true Notion of Moral and my use of the same For I as appeareth by my words which you cite page 1. distinguish that which is Moral from that which is of Institution esteeming that to be Moral which the light of Nature dictateth that it ought to be or at least may laudably be
done though God had not Instituted and enjoyned the same which if you can make good concerning the Observation of the Seventh-day-Sabbath then will I readily assent to you that it is Moral Page 7. Where did you learn that the work of the Law written in mens Natural hearts is the Old Covenant For doth not the Scripture oppose the New Covenant to that Covenant which God made with the Children of Israel when he brought them out of Egypt Heb. 8.8 9 10. And doth not the Author of that Epistle in the 13th Verse affirm That in as much as he saith a new Covenant he hath made the first old So that it undeniably follows That the first Covenant which God made with the Israelites when he brought them out of Egypt is the Old Covenant It is also as evident that the words of the Law is that Old Covenant there being no other Old Covenant but the Law delivered in Writing by Moses Again where did you learn That the words of the Law written in the Christians hearts is the new Covenant 'T is true indeed that the Scriptures saith the New Covenant consisteth in this That God will write his Laws in his peoples hearts but doth not affirm that he will write the words of the Law whereby Moses Law is usually alone understood in the Scripture on their Hearts So that by the laws which God promiseth to write on the Hearts of his People must needs be understood not the laws which he had formerly delivered by Moses the Mediator of the Old Covenant but those which he would afterwards deliver by Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant Whereby you may perceive that the New Covenant differs from the Old in the very laws that were written as well as in the Tables whereon they were written these being Tables of the Heart the other Tables of stone and also in the Instrument of writing them these being written by the Spirit of the Living God the other with Ink 2 Cor. 3.3 So that your Error in distingushing as you did the Old Covenant from the New is conspicuous As for those words then Rom. 2.15 by the works of the law is meant the works of Moses Law for of that it is treated in the fore-going words and consequently the word or matter or things for these Expressions amount to the same of Moses Law written in the Hearts of the Gentiles not the things that are therein meerly of Institution and so Ceremonial or Positive for none can know such things unless they be told him but only those that be Natural and Moral For that such things of the Law were written in the Hearts of the Gentiles appeareth every where by their writings and for the breach of them they are reproved in the Scripture as the Tyrrians are blamed for not keeping Covenant Amos 1.9 The Edomites for Cruelty ibid. ver 11. The Ammorites for insulting over other mens Calamities Ezek. 25.3 But no where shall you find that the Heathens are Rebuked in Scripture for not keeping the Sabbath neither is there any hint in their Writings that they thought themselves bound to such a Duty Wherefore it is manifest that the keeping of the Sabbath is no Moral Duty which the Light of Nature doth dictate unto men that they ought to perform But you will perhaps demand of me how the Condition of Christians excelleth that of Heathens and Jews if the work of the Law was written in the Hearts of the one as Paul testifieth and the word of the Law was in the Heart of the other as Moses saith Deut. 30.14 The word is nigh thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that thou mayest do it I Answer that the difference lyeth chiefly in two things First the things of the law are not said to be written in the Hearts either of Jews or Heathens by the Spirit of the living God and so not so plainly and so easily Legible to them the contrary whereof is affirmed of Christians Secondly their Hearts are not said to be Hearts of Flesh but on the contrary the Jews hearts are called hearts of stone Ezek. 11.19 which may be as truly affirmed of the Heathens hearts whereas the hearts of Christians are by Paul termed Hearts of Flesh 2 Cor. 3.3 Page 9. You are here as well as in other passages of your Book somewhat injurious to me in imposing that upon me which I neither said nor meant For did I give this as a ground for us to forget the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath because God hath Commanded us to remember it Yea do I not again and again tell you that God hath no where Commanded us Christians to remember any such Sabbath What can I with Reason conclude from hence but that you had a mind to render me Contemptible in the eyes of the Brethren by ascribing so Ridiculous a kind of Reasoning to me As little ingenious is your Reprehension of me a little after saying that I am mistaken in denying that to be Naturally Moral which depends upon Memory where you leave out the words as to know as you do in sundry other Passages afterwards which expression quite varieth the Case For certainly that which a man cannot know but by means of his memory is such a thing as is not Naturally written in his heart but suggested to him from without Neither doth the greatness and goodness of God depend upon memory as to know which words you again leave out dealing as unfaithfully as before For it is Naturally imprinted in the Heart of every man that God is good and great but not that we ought to keep the Seventh-day-Sabbath as will appear to any man that is acquainted with the Writings of such as are meerly Naturalists The Gospel as to the principle Mysteries therefore transcendeth the Natural Understanding of man to find out For so the Apostle intimateth when he saith We preach the things that neither Eye hath seen nor Ear hath heard neither hath it come up into the Heart of man Wherefore no man was bound to know or publish these things without Divine Revelation and Command And consequently they are not Naturally Moral that being Naturally Moral which is taught by the Light of Nature Page 12. 'T is true a Child can of himself no more know who are his Parents than he can which is the Seventh day But prove that it is as much written in the Nature and Heart of man that he should Celebrate the Seventh day when he is told which day of the Week is it as that he should honour his Parents when he hath once learned who are they Were this so the Heathen who are very studious of the Law of Nature and have left us Excellent Treatises concerning the same would as well have delivered Precepts about the Observation of the Sabbath as they do about Honouring our Parents Pag. 13. When I affirm that the Sabbath was a sign of Gods Sanctifying his own People you would had you intended the finding out of the Truth