among Christians Neither is it a small evil amongst us that the Disputes of some against the Divine Warranty of one Day in seven to be separated unto Sacred Uses and the Pretence of others to an equal regard unto all Dayes from their Christian Liberty together with an open visible neglect in the most of any conscientious Care in the Observance of it have cast not a few unwary and unadvised Persons to take up with the Judaical Sabbath both as to its Institution and manner of its Observation Now whereas the solemn Worship of God is the Spring Rule and Measure of all our Obedience unto him it may justly be thought that the neglect thereof so brought about as hath been declared hath been a great if not a principal Occasion of that sad Degeneracy from the Power Purity and Glory of Christian Religion which all men may see and many do complain of at this Day in the World The Truth is most of the Different Apprehensions recounted have been entertained and contended for by Persons Learned and Godly all equally pretending to a Love unto Truth and Care for the Preservation and Promotion of Holiness and Godliness amongst men And it were to be wished that this were the only Instance whereby we might evince that the best of men in this World do know but in part and Prophesie but in part But they are too many to be recounted although most men act in themselves and towards others as if they were themselves lyable to no mistakes and that it is an inexpiable crime in others to be in any thing mistaken But as this should make us jealous over our selves and our own Apprehensions in this matter so ought the Consideration of it to affect us with Tenderness and Forbearance towards those who dissent from us and whom we therefore judge to err and be mistaken But that which principally we are to learn from this Consideration is with what care and Diligence we ought to inquire into the certain Rule of Truth in this matter For whatever we do determine we shall be sure to find men Learned and Godly otherwise minded And yet in our Determinations are the Consciences of the Disciples of Christ greatly concerned which ought not by us to be causelesly burthened nor yet countenanced in the neglect of any Duty that God doth require Slight and Perfunctory Disquisitions will be of little use in this matter nor are men to think that their Opinions are firme and established when they have obtained a seeming countenance unto-them from two or three doubtful Texts of Scripture The Principles and Foundations of Truth in this matter lye deep and require a diligent Investigation And this is the Design wherein we are now engaged Whether we shall contribute any thing to the Declaration or Vindication of the Truth depends wholly on the Assistance which God is pleased to give or withhold Our part it is to use what Diligence we are able neither ought we to avoid any thing more than the assuming or ascribing of any thing unto our selves It is enough for us if in any thing or by any means God will use us not as Lords over the Faith of men but as Helpers of their Joy Now for the Particular Controversies before mentioned I shall not insist upon them all for that were endless but shall reduce them unto those general Heads under which they may be comprehended and by the right stating whereof they will be determined Nor shall I enter into any especial contest unless it be occasionally only with any particular Persons who of old or of late have eristically handled this subject Some of them have I confess given great provocations thereunto especially of the Belgick Divines whose late Writings are full of Reflections on the Learned Writers of this Nation Our only design is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And herein I shall lay down the general regulating Principles of the Doctrine of the Scriptures in this matter confirming them with such Arguments as occurr to my mind and vindicating them from such Exceptions as they either seem liable unto or have met withal All with respect unto the Declaration given of the Doctrine and Practice of the Sabbath in the different Ages of the Church by our Apostle Chap. 4. of the Epistle to the Hebrews § 8 The Principles that I shall proceed upon or the Rules that I shall proceed by are 1. Express Testimonies of Scripture which are not wanting in this Cause Where this Light doth not go before us our best course is to sit still and where the Word of God doth not speak in the things of God it is our Wisdom to be silent Nothing I confess is more nauseous to me than Magisterial Dictates in Sacred things without an evident deduction and Confirmation of Assertions from Scripture Testimonies Some men write as if they were inspired or dreamed that they had obtained to themselves a Pythagorean Reverence Their Writings are full of strong Authoritative Assertions arguing the good Opinion they have of themselves which I wish did not include an equal contempt of others But any thing may be easily affirmed and as easily rejected 2. The Analogie of Faith in the Interpretation Exposition and Application of such Testimonies as are pleadable in this Cause Hic labor hoc opus Herein the Writers Diligence and the Readers Judgement are principally to be exercised I have of late been much surprised with the Plea of some for the Use of Reason in Religion and Sacred things not at all that such a Plea is insisted on but that it is by them built expresly on a supposition that it is by others whom they reflect upon denyed whereas some probably intended in those Reflections have pleaded for it against the Papists to speak within the bounds of sobriety with as much Reason and no less effectually than any amongst themselves I cannot but suppose their mistake to arise from what they have heard but not well considered that some do teach about the darkness of the mind of man by Nature with respect unto spiritual things with his disability by the utmost use of his rational faculties as corrupted or unrenewed spiritually and savingly to apprehend the things of God without the especial assistance of the Holy Ghost Now as no Truth is more plainly or evidently confirmed in the Scripture than this so to suppose that those by whom it is believed and asserted do therefore deny the use of Reason in Religion is a most fond imagination No doubt but whatever we do or have to do towards God or in the things of God we do it all as rational creatures that is in and by the use of our Reason And not to make use of it in its utmost improvement in all that we have to do in Religion or the Worship of God is to reject it as to the principal End for which it is bestowed upon us In particular in the pursuit of the Rule now laid down is the utmost exercise
Observation of it was renewed amongst them Not that this Evidence is of it self a sufficient Testimony unto its Original Institution nor that going before but that the Piety of the Patriarchs and Traditions of the Apostate Gentiles do confirm the Time of that Institution which is so expresly recorded § 17 It remaineth that we take a view of the Opinion advanced by many Learned men in Opposition unto what we have been pleading for And this is that the Command concerning the Sabbath was peculiar to the Jews alone and that it was given unto them in the Wilderness and not at all before Many of the Jews as was declared are of this Judgement and thence call the Sabbath the Bride of their Nation that which God gave to them as he did Eve to Adam and to no other Abulensis contends for this Opinion in his Comment on Exod. 16. who is followed by some Expositors of the Roman Church and opposed by others as Cornelius à Lapide c. The same Difference in Judgement is found amongst the Protestant Divines The Dissertations of Rivet and Gomarus on this subject are well known The Controversie being of late renewed especially among some of the Belgick Divines I shall take under consideration the Arguments of one of them who hath last of all defended this cause and weigh of what importance they are separating as much as we can between the matter of our present Dispute which is the Original of the Sabbath and that of the Causes of it which we shall nextly enquire into § 18 The Design is to prove that the Sabbath was first given to the Jews and that in the Wilderness And to this purpose first having repeated the words of the fourth Commandment he adds Quis vero dicere audebit verba haec convenire in hominem ab initio Creationis sicut hic statuitur that is by his Adversary an illi incumbebat opus quidem servile idque per sex dies an ipsi erant servi ancillae an jumenta requietis indigentia an peregrini inter portas ejus quis non videt ad solum Israelitarum statum in toto illo praecepto respici Ita Calvinus in Gen. 2. Postea in lege novum de Sabbato praeceptum datum est quod Judaeis quidem ad tempus peculiare foret fuit enim legalis ceremonia spiritualem quietem adumbrans cujus in Christo apparuit veritas Quo nihil efficacius dici poterat Hanc vero praecepti mentem esse patet ex aliis Testimoniis Scripturae apertissime in quibus Judaeis tantum datum esse Sabbatum constanter docetur Exod. 16. 29. Videte quod Jehovah dedit vobis illud Sabbatum idcirco dat vobis cibum bidui Et Ezek. 20. 12. Sabbata dedi eis ut essent signum inter me ipsos ad sciendum me Jehovam sanctificare ipsos Denique Neh. 9. 14. Sabbatum quoque sanctum notum fecisti eis quum praecepta statutaque leges praeciperes eis per Mosem servum tuum In quibus locis uniformiter docetur tanta cum emphasi per Mosem deum dedisse Judaeis Sabbatum non ergo aliis gentibus datum fuit aut ipsis etiam per Majores ipsorum ante illud tempus ab origine Mundi Disquisit cap. 2. p. 50. An. It is by all confessed that the Command of the Sabbath in the Renewal of it in the Wilderness was accommodated unto the Paedagogical State of the Church of the Israelites There were also such Additions made unto it in the manner of its Observance and the sanction of it as might adapt its Observation unto their Civil and Political Estate or that Theocratical Government which was then erected amongst them So was it to bear a part in that Ceremonial Instruction which God in all his dealings with them intended To this End also the manner of the Delivery of the whole Law and the Reservation of its Tables in the Ark were designed And divers Expressions in the Explicatory part of the Decalogue have the same Reason and Foundation For there is mention of Fathers and Children to the third and fourth Generation and of their sins of the Land given to the people of God in the fifth of Servants and Handmaids in the tenth Shall we therefore say that the Moral Law was not before given unto mankind because it had a peculiar Delivery for special Ends and Purposes unto the Jews It is no Argument therefore that this Command was not for the substance of it given before to mankind in general because it hath some Modifications added in the Decalogue to accommodate it to the present Church and Civil State of the Hebrews as likewise had the fift command in particular 2. For those Expressions infisted on of Work servile work work for six Dayes of servants and handmaids of the stranger within the Gates they were necessary Explications of the Command in its Application unto that people and yet such as had a just proportion unto what was enjoyned at the first giving of this command occasioned from the outward change of the state of things amongst men from what it was in Innocency For in that state God designed man to work and that in the tilling of the Ground whilst he abode in it Gen. 2. 15. He put the Man in the Garden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to work in it the same word whereby Work is enjoyned in the Decalogue And whereas God had sanctified the seventh Day to be a Day of Rest and thereon put man into the Garden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to till it by work and labour He did virtually say unto him as in the Command 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work Neither was this in the least inconsistent with the condition wherein he was created For man being constituted and composed partly of an Immortal soul of a Divine Extract and Heavenly Original and partly of a Body made out of the Earth he was a middle creature between those which were purely Spiritual as the Angels and those which were purely Terrestrial as the Beasts of the Field Hence when God had made man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of dust from out of the Earth as all the Beasts of the Field were made and had given him distinctly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a breath of life in a distinct substance answerable to that of the Angels above whose creation was not out of any pre-existing matter but they were the product of an immediate Emanation of Divine Power as was the soul of man there was no meet help to be associated unto him in the whole Creation of God For the Angels were not meet for his help and individual converse on the account of what was terrene and mortal in him And the Beasts were much more unsuited unto him as having nothing in them to answer his Divine and more noble part And as his Nature was thus constituted that he should converse as it were amphibiously
and Worship was embraced by the Apostles who were to be as the chief corner-stones the foundation of the Christian Church For immediately hereon they assembled themselves on that Day and were confirmed in their Obedience by the Grace of our Lord in meeting with them thereon Joh. 20. 19 26. And it seems that on this Day only he appeared unto them when they were assembled together although occasionally he shewed himself to sundry of them at other seasons Hence he left Thomas under his doubts an whole Week before he gave him his gracious conviction that he might do it in the Assembly of his Disciples on the first day of the week From which time forward this Day was never without its solemn Assemblies as shall further be cleared afterwards § 11 Now because I am perswaded that the substance of all that we have laid down and pleaded for in all the preceding Discourses especially in what we have proposed concerning the foundation and causes of the Lords-day is taught by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews chap. 4. I shall present unto the Reader the sum of his design and scope in that place from vers 3. to vers 11. with an Application of it unto our present purpose referring him yet for farther satisfaction unto our full Exposition of the Chapter it self For this place is touched on by all who have contended about the original and duration of the Sabbatical Rest but not yet that I know of diligently examined by any I shall not fear to lay much of the weight of the cause wherein I am engaged upon it and therefore shall take a view of the whole Context and the Design of the Apostle therein § 12 The words of the Apostle are For we which have believed do enter into Rest as he said As I have sworn in my wrath if they shall enter into my Rest although the works were finished from the foundation of the world For he spake in a certain place of the seventh Day on this wise And God did Rest the seventh Day from all his works And in this place again If they shall enter into my Rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth taht some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entred not in because of unbelief Again he limiteth a certain Day saying in David To day after so long a time as it is said To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts For if Jesus had given them Rest then wonld he not afterwards have spoken of another Day There remaineth therefore a Rest to the people of God For he that is entred into his Rest he hath also ceased from his own works as God did from his Heb. 4. v. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. § 13 The design of the Apostle in this Discourse is to confirm what he had laid down and positively asserted in the beginning of the Chapter Now this is That there is yet under the Gospel a promise of entring into the Rest of God left or remaining unto Believers and that they do enter into that Rest by mixing the promise of it with Faith This he declares and the declaration of it was usefull unto and necessary for the Hebrews For he lets them know that notwithstanding their present and antient enjoyment of the Land of Canaan with the Worship and Rest of God therein which their Forefathers fell short of by their unbelief they were under a new Tryal a new Rest being proposed unto them in the promise This he proves by a Testimony out of the 95th Psalm the words whereof he had insisted on at large Chap. 3. and doth so again in this But the Application of that Testimony unto his purpose is obnoxious to a great Objection For the Rest mentioned in that Psalm seems to be a Rest long since past and enjoyed either by themselves or others They therefore could have no new or fresh concernment in it nor be in danger of coming short of it And if this were so all the Arguments and Exhortations of the Apostle in this place must needs be weak and incogent as drawn from a mistaken and misapplyed Testimony § 14 To remove this Objection and thereby confirm his former Assertions and Exhortations thereon is the Design of the Apostle in this Discourse To this End he proceeds unto the Exposition and Vindication of the Testimony it self which he had cited out of the Psalms And herein he shews from the proper signification of the words from the Time when they were spoken and the Persons to whom that no other Rest was intended in them but what was now by him proposed unto them as the Rest of God and his people in the Gospel The general Argument which to this purpose he insists upon consists in an enumeration of all the several Rests of God and his people which are mentioned in the Scriptures For from the consideration of them all he proves that no other Rest could be intended in the words of David but only the Rest of the Gospel whereinto they enter who do believe Moreover from that Respect which the â—â—â—ds of the Psalmist have unto the other foregoing Rests of God and his people he manifests that they 〈◊〉 were appointed of God to be Representations of that spiritual Rest which was now brought in and established This is the general Design of this Discourse In pursuit hereof he declares in particular 1 That the Rest mentioned in the Psalm is not that which ensued immediately on the Creation of all things This he evinceth because it was spoken of afterwards a long time after and that to another purpose v. 4 5. 2 That it was not the Rest of the Land of Canaan because that was not entred into by them unto whom it was first proposed and promised for they came short of it by their unbelief and perished in the Wilderness but this Rest which is now afresh proposed is such as the people of God must and will enter into v. 6 7. 3 Whereas it may be objected that although the Wilderness Generation entred not in yet their posterity did so under the conduct of Joshua v. 8. he answers that this Rest in the Psalm being proposed and promised in David so long a time above 400 years after the people had quietly possessed the Land whereinto they were conducted by Joshua it must needs be that another Rest then yet to come was intended in those words of the Psalmist v. 9. And 4 to conclude his Argument he declareth that this new Rest had a new peculiar foundation which the other had no interest or concernment in namely his ceasing from his works and entring into his Rest who is the Author of it verse 10. This is his way and manner of arguing for the proof of what he had before laid down and which he issueth in that Conclusion verse 9. There remaineth therefore a Rest for the people of God § 15 But we must yet further consider
the nature of the several Rests here discoursed of by the Apostle which will give light and confirmation unto what we have before discoursed To this purpose will the ensuing Propositions taken from the words conduce As 1. The Rest of God is the foundation and principal cause of our Rest. Hence in general it is still called Gods Rest if they shall enter into my Rest It is on some account or other Gods Rest before it is ours not the Rest only which he hath appointed commanded and promised unto us but the Rest wherewith himself rested as is plainly declared on every head of the Rests here treated of And this confirms that foundation and reason of a Sabbatical Rest which we have laid down in our third Exercitation Gods Rest is not spoken of absolutely with respect unto himself only but with reference unto an appointed Rest that ensued thereon for the Church to rest with him in Hence it follows that the Rests here mentioned are as it were double namely the Rest of God himself and the Rest that ensued thereon for us to enter into For instance at the finishing of the works of Creation which is first proposed God ceased from his works and rested This was his own Rest the nature whereof hath been before declared He rested on the seventh day But this was not all he blessed it for the Rest of man a Rest for us ensuing on his Rest an expressive representation of it and a pledge of our entring into or being taken into a participation of the Rest of God 3. The Apostle proposeth the three-fold state of the Church unto consideration 1 The state of it under the Law of Nature or Creation 2 The state of it under the Law of Institutions and carnal Ordinances 3 That then introducing under the Gospel Accordingly have we distinguished our Discourses concerning a Sabbatical Rest in our third and fourth and this present Exercitation To each of these he assigns a distinct Rest of God a Rest of the Church entring into Gods Rest and a Day of Rest as the means and pledge thereof And withall he manifests that the two former were ordered to be previous Representations of the latter though not equally nor on the same account First He considers the Church and the state of it under the Law of nature before the entrance of sin and herein he shews first that there was a Rest of God in it for saith he the works were finished from the foundation of the world and God did rest from all his works verse 3 4. As the foundation of all he layeth down first the works of God For the Church and every peculiar state of the Church is founded in the work some especial work of God and not meerly in a Law or Command The works saith he were finished from the foundation of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work that is of God the effect of his creating power was finished or compleated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the foundation of the world a Periphrasis of the six original Dayes wherein time and all things measured by it and existent with it had their beginning This work of God as hath been proved Exercit. 3. was the foundation of the Church in the state of Nature and gave unto it the entire Law of its obedience On this work and the compleating of it ensued the Rest of God himself verse 4. God rested the seventh day from all his works This Rest of God and his Refreshment he took in his works as comprizing the Law and Covenant of our obedience have been explained already But this alone doth not confirm nor indeed come near the purpose or Argument of the Apostle For he is to speak of such a Rest of God as men might enter into as was a foundation of Rest unto them or otherwise his Discourse was not concerned in it whereupon by â—â—citation of the words of Moses from Gen. 2. 2. he tells us that this Rest of God was on the seventh day which God accordingly blessed and sanâ—tified to be a Day of Rest unto man So that in this state of the Church there were three things considerable 1 The Rest of God himself on his works wherein the foundation of the Church was laid 2 A Rest proposed unto man to enter into with God wherein lay the Duty of the Church And 3 a Day of Rest the seventh day as a remembrance of the one and a means and pledge of the other And herewith we principally confirm our judgement in the Sabbaths beginning with the World For without this supposition the mentioning of Gods work and his Rest no way belonged to the purpose of our Apostle For he discourseth only of such Rests as men might enter into and have a pledge of And there was no such thing from the foundation of the world unless the Sabbath were then revealed Nor is it absolutely the Work and Rest of God but the Obedience of men and their duty with respect unto them which he considers And this could not be unless the Rest of God was proposed unto men to enter into from the foundation of the world § 17 Secondly the Apostle considers the Church under the Law of Institutions and herein he representeth the Rest of the Land of Canaan wherein also the three distinct Rests before-mentioned do occurre 1. There was in it a Rest of God This gives denomination to the whole He still calls it his Rest if they shall enter into my Rest. And the prayer about it was Arise O Lord into thy Rest thou and the Ark of thy strength or the pledge of his presence and Rest. And this Rest also ensued upon his work for God wrought about it works great and mighty and ceased from them when they were finished And this work of his answered in its greatness unto the work of Creation whereunto it is compared by himself Isa. 51. 15 16. I am the Lord thy God that divided the Sea whose waves roared the Lord of Hosts is his Name and have put my words in thy mouth and have covered thee in the shadow of my hand that I may plant the Heavens and lay the foundation of the Earth and say unto Zion thou art my people The dividing of the Sea whose waves roared is put by a Synecdoche for the whole work of God preparing a way for the Church-state of that people in the Land of Canaan And this he compares to the work of Creation in planting the Heavens and laying the foundation of the Earth For although those words are but a Metaphorical expression of the Political and Church-state of that people yet there is an evident Allusion in them unto the original Creation of all things This was the work of God upon the finishing whereof he entred into his Rest in the satisfaction and complacency that he had therein For after the Erection of his Worship in the Land of Canaan he sayes of
this matter with the Blessing that attended it was that which multitudes now at Rest do bless God for and many that are yet alive do greatly rejoyce in Let these things be despised by those who are otherwise minded to me they are of great weight and importance § 32 Let us now a sittle consider the Day that by some is set up not only in competition with this but to its utter exclusion This is the seventh Day of the week or the old Judaical Sabbath which some contend that we are perpetually obliged to the observation of by vertue of the Fourth Commandment The Grounds whereon they proceed in their Affertion have been already disproved so far as the Nature of our present undertaking will admit and such evidences given unto the change of the Day as will not easily be everted nor removed The consequences of the observation of the seventh Day should the practice of it be re-assumed amongst Christians is that which at present I shall a little enquire into when we have summed up somewhat of what hath been spoken 1 It was not directly nor absolutely required in the Decalogue but consequentially only by way of Appropriation to the Mosaical Oeconomy whereunto it was then annexed The command is to observe the Sabbath-day and the blessing is upon the Sabbath-day God blessed the Sabbath-day And the mention of the seventh day in the Body of the command fixeth the number of the Dayes in whose Revolution a Sabbatical Rest returns but determines not an everlasting Order in them seeing the Order relating to the Old Creation is inconsistent with the Law Reason and Worship of the New And if the seventh day and the Sabbath as some pretend are the same the sense of the command in the enforcing part of it is but the seventh day is the seventh day of the Lord thy God which is none at all 2 The state of the Church and the Administration of the Covenant whereunto the observation of this day was annexed are removed so that it cannot continue no more than an House can stand without a Foundation 3 The Lord Christ who was the Lord of the Sabbath and by assuming that Iitle to himself manifested his Authority as to the disposal of the Day whereon a Sabbatical Rest was to be observed hath in his own Rest from his works limited unto us another day of Sacred Rest called from his appointment of it the Lords-day his Day who is the Lord of the Sabbath 4 The Day so introduced by his Authority hath from the Day of his Rest been observed without interruption or any such difference about it as fell out among the Churches of God about other Feast dayes whose observation was introduced among them they knew not well how as of the Pascha and the like And whereas the due observation of it hath been enjoyned by Councils Edicts of Emperors Kings and Princes Laws of all sorts advised and pressed by the antient Writers amongst Christians and the practice of its observance taken notice of by all who from the beginning have committed the Affairs of Christianity unto posterity yet none of any sort pretend to give it any original but all mediately or immediately referr it unto Christ himself The observation then of this Day First is an evident Judaizing and a returnal unto those Rudiments of the World which the Apostle so severely cautioneth us against I know not how it is come to pass but so it is faln out that the nearer Judaism is unto an absolute Abolition and Disappearance the more some seem inclinable to its revival and continuance or at least to fall back themselves into its antiquated observances An end it had put to it morally and legally long ago in the coming Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we may say of it what the Apostle said of Idols when the World was full of Idolatry we know that Judaism is nothing in the world no such thing as by some it is esteemed The actual Abolition of it in the profession of the present Jews by the removing of the Veyle from their Hearts and Eyes and their turning unto God we hope is in its approach And yet as was said there seems in many an inclination unto their Rites and servile observances It is apparent in the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles especially that to the Hebrews that at the first preaching of the Gospel there were very many Jews who came over to the faith and profession of it Many of these continued zealous of the Law and would bring along with them all their Mosaical Institutions which they thought were to abide in force for ever In this weakness and mis-apprehension they were forborn in the patience of God and wisdome of the Holy Ghost guiding the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ. In this state things continued unto the destruction of Hierusalem and the Temple when the chiefest cause of their contests was taken away In the mean time they carried themselves very variously according to the various tempers of their minds For it is apparent that some of them were not content themselves to be indulged in their opinions and practices but they endeavoured by all means to impose the observance of the whole Mosaical Law on the Churches of the Gentiles Their Circumcision their Sabbaths their Feasts and Fasts their Abstinences from this or that kind of meats they were contending about and thereby perverting the minds of the Disciples Some stop was put to the evil consequences hereof in the Synod at Hierusalem Acts 15. which yet determined nothing concerning the Jews own practice but only concerning the liberty of the Gentile-Believers After the destruction of Hierusalem City and Temple these professing Jews fell into several distinct wayes Some of them who as is probable had despised the heavenly warning of leaving the place took up their lot amongst their unbelieving Brethren relinquishing the profession of the Gospel which they had made not it may be with any express renuntiation of Christ but with a dis-regard of the Gospel which brought them not those good things they looked for of which mind Josephus the Historian seems to be one These in time became a part of that Apostate brood which have since continued in their enmity to the Gospel and into whose new and old superstitions they introduced sundry customes which they had learned among the Christians Some absolutely relinquished their old Judaism and compleatly incorporated with the new Gentile Churches unto whom the promise and Covenant of Abraham was transferred and made over These were the genuine Disciples of our great Apostle Others continued their profession of the Gospel but yet still thought themselves obliged unto the observation of the Law of Moses and all its institutions Hereupon they continued in a distinct and separate state from the Believers and Churches of the Gentiles and that for some Ages as some say to the dayes of Adrian These it may be were they whom Eusebius out