of the Sabbath by the Patriarchs before the giving of the Law Instances hereof collected by Manasse Ben Israel Farther confirmation of it 12 Tradition among the Gentiles concerning it Sacredness of the septenary Number 13 Testimonies of the Heathen collected by Aristobulus Clemens Eusebius 14 Importance of these Testimonies examined and vindicated 15 Ground of the Hebdomadal Revolution of time It s Observation Catholick 16 Planetary Denominations of the Dayes of the Week whence 17 The contrary Opinion of the Original of the Sabbath in the Wilderness proposed and examined 18 First Argument against the Original of the Sabbath Answered c. The Second Exercitation Of the Original of the Sabbath § 1 HAving fixed the Name the Thing it self falls nextly under Consideration And the Order of our Investigation shall be to enquire first into its Original and then into its Causes And the true stating of the former will give great light into the latter as also into its Duration For if it began with the World probably it had a cause cognate to the Existence of the World and the Ends of it and so must in Duration be commensurate unto it If it ows its Rise to succeeding Generations amongst some peculiar sort of men its Cause was arbitrary and occasional and its continuance uncertain For every thing which had such a Beginning in the Worship of God was limited to some seasons only and had a Time determined for its Expiration This therefore is first to be stated And indeed no Concern of this Day hath fallen under more diligent severe and Learned Dissertations Very Learned men have here engaged into contrary Opinions and defended them with much Learning and Variety of Reading Summa sequar Vestigia rerum and shall briefly call the different Apprehensions both of Jews and Christians in this matter unto a just Examination Neither shall I omit the consideration of any Opinion whose Antiquity or the Authority of its Defenders did ever give it Reputation though now generally exploded as not knowing in that Revolution of Opinions which we are under how soon it may have a Revival § 2 The Jews that we may begin with them with whom some think the Sabbath began are divided among themselves about the Original of the Sabbath no less than Christians yea to speak the Truth their Divisions and different Apprehensions about this matter of Fact have been the occasion of ours and their Authority is pleaded to countenance the mistakes of others Many therefore of them assign the Original or first Revelation of the Sabbath unto the Wilderness Station of the people in Mara others of them make it Coaeval with the World The first Opinion hath countenance given unto it in the Talmud Gemar Babylon Tit. Sab. cap. 9. and Tit. Sanedr cap. 7. And the Tradition of it is embraced by so many of their Masters and Commentators that our Learned Selden de Jur. Gen. apud Heb. lib. 3. cap. 12 13 14. contends for it as the common and prevailing Opinion amongst them and indeavours an Answer unto all Instances or Testimonies that are or may be urged to the contrary And indeed there is searce any thing of moment to be observed in all Antiquity as to matter of Fact about the Sabbath whether it be Jewish Christian or Heathen but what he hath heaped together or rather treasured up in the Learned Discourses of that third Book of his Jus Gentium apud Hebraeos Whether the Questions of Right belonging thereunto have been duly determined by him is yet left unto further enquiry That which at present we are in the consideration of is the Opinion of the Jews about the Original of the Sabbath at the Station of Marah which he so largely confirms with Testimonies out of all sorts of their Authors and those duly alledged according to their own Sense and Conceptions § 3 Mara was the first Station that the Children of Israel fixed in in the Wilderness of Shur five Dayes after their coming up out of the Red Sea Before their coming hither they had wandred three dayes in the Wilderness without finding any Water until they were ready to faint The Report of this their thirst and wandring was famous amongst the Heathen and mixed by them with vain and monstrous Fables One of the Wisest amongst them puts as many Lies together about it as so few words can well contain Effigiem saith he Animalis quo monstrante errorem sitimque depulerant penetrali sacravere Tacit. Histor. lib. 5. He feigns that by following some Wild Asses they were led to Waters and so made an End of their Thirst and wandring on the Account whereof they afterwards consecrated in their Temple the Image of an Ass. Others of them besides him say that they wandred six dayes and finding Water on the seventh that was the Occasion and Reason of their perpetual Observation of the seventh Dayes Rest. In their Journey from the Red Sea to Mara they were particularly pressed with Wandring and Thirst Exod. 15. 22. But this was only for three dayes not seven They went three Dayes in the Wilderness and found no Water The Story of the Asses Image or Head consecrated amongst them was taken from what fell out afterwards about the Golden Calf This made them vile among the Nations and exposed them to their Obloquy and Reproaches Upon the third Day therefore after their coming from the Red Sea they came to Mara that is the place so called afterwards from what there befell them For the Waters which there they found being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter they called the Name of the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bitterness Hither they came on the third Day For although it is said that they went three Dayes in the Wilderness and found no Water Exod. 15. 22. after which mention is made of their coming to Mara v. 23. Yet it was in the Evening of the third Day for they pitched that night in Mara Numb 33. 8. Here after their murmuring for the bitterness of the Waters and the Miraculous Cure of them it is added in the Story There the Lord made for them a Statute and an Ordinance and there he proved them And said If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God and wilt do that which is right in his sight and wilt give ear to all his Commandments and keep all his Statutes I will put none of those diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Aegyptians for I am the Lord that healeth thee v. 26. It is said that he gave them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Words whereby Sacred Ordinances and Institutions are expressed What this Statute and Judgement were in particular is not declared These therefore are suggested by the Talmudical Masters One of them they say was the Ordinance concerning the Sabbath About the other they are not so well agreed Some refer it to the fifth Commandment of honouring Father and Mother others to the Ceremonies of
in his Apologie cap. 16. tells the Gentiles of their Sabbaths or Feasts on Saturday But yet as was intimated I shall grant that the Observation of a Weekly Sacred Feast is not proved by the Testimonies produced which is all that those who oppose them do labour to disprove But I desire to know from what Original these Traditions were derived and whether any can be assigned unto them but that of the Original Institution of the Sabbatical Rest. It is known that this was common amongst them that when they had a general Notion or Tradition of any thing whose true Cause Reason and Beginning they knew not they would faign a Reason or occasion of it accommodate to their present Apprehensions and Practices as I have elsewhere evinced and cleared Having therefore amongst them the Tradition of a seventh Days Sacred Rest which was originally Catholick and having long lost the Practice and Observance of it as well as its Cause and Reason they laid hold on any thing to affix it unto which might have any Resemblance unto what was vulgarly received amongst them or what they could divine in their more curious speculations § 15 The Hebdomadal Revolution of Time generally admitted in the world is also a great Testimony unto the Original Institution of the Sabbath Of old it was Catholick and is at present received among those Nations whose converse was not begun until of late with any of those parts of the world where there is a light gone forth in these things from the Scripture All Nations I say in all Ages have from Time immemorial made the Revolution of seven Dayes to be the first stated Period of Time And this Observation is still continued throughout the world unless amongst them who in other things are openly degenerated from the Law of Nature as those barbarous Indians who have no computation of times but by Sleeps Moons and Winters The measure of time by a Day and Night is directed unto sense by the diurnal course of the Sun Lunar Months and Solar years are of an unavoidable Observation unto all Rational Creatures Whence therefore all men have reckoned Time by Dayes Months and Years is obvious unto all But whence the Hebdomadal Revolution or Weekly Period of Time should make its Entrance and obtain a Catholick Admittance no man can give an Account but with respect to some Impressions on the minds of men from the Constitution and Law of our Natures with the Tradition of a Sabbatical Rest instituted from the Foundation of the world Other Original whether Artificial and Arbitrary or Occasional it could not have Nothing of any such thing hath left the least footsteps of its ever being in any of the Memorials of Times past Neither could any thing of so low an Original or Spring be elevated to such an Height as to diffuse it self through the whole world A derivation of this Observation from the Chaldaeans and Aegyptians who retained the deepest tincture of Original Traditions hath been manifested by others And so fixed was this computation of time on their minds who knew not the Reason of it that when they made a disposition of the Dayes of the year into any other Period on accounts Civil or Sacred yet they still retained this also So the Romans as appears by the Fragments of their old Kalendars had their Nundinae which were dayes of Vacation from Labour on the eighth or as some think the ninth Dayes recurring but yet still made use of the stated Weekly period It is of some consideration in this cause and is usually urged to this purpose that Noah observed the septenary Revolution of Dayes in sending forth the Dove out of the Ark Gen. 8. 10 12. That this was done casually is not to be imagined Nor can any Reason be given why notwithstanding the disappointment he met with the first and second time he should still abide seven dayes before he sent again if you consider only the natural condition of the Flood or the Waters in their abatement A Revolution of Dayes and that upon a sacred account was doubtless attended unto by him And I should suppose that he still sent out the Dove the next day after the Sabbath to see as it were whether God had returned again to Rest in the works of his hands And Gen. 29. 27. a Week is spoken of as a known account of Dayes or Time Fulfill her Week that is not a Week of years as he had done for Rachel but fulfill a Week of Dayes in the Festivals of his marriage with Leah For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can have no other sense seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Feminine Gender relates unto Leah whose Nuptials were to be celebrated and not to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Week which is of the Masculine And it was the custom in those antient times of the world to continue the celebration of a Marriage Feast for seven Dayes or a Week as Judg. 14. 12 15 17. The seven dayes of the Feast is spoken of as a thing commonly known and in vulgar use § 16 Let us therefore consider what is offered to weaken the Force of this Observation It is pretended that the Antient Heathen or the contemplative Persons amongst them observing the unfixed various Motions of the seven Planetary Luminaries as they used and abused it to other Ends so they applyed their Number and Names unto so many dayes which were thereby as it were dedicated unto them which shut them up in that septenary Number But that the Observation of the Weekly Revolution of Time was from the Philosophers and not the common consent of the people doth not appear For those observed also the twelve Signs of the Zodiack and yet made that no Rule to reckon Time or Dayes by Besides the Observation of the Site and Positure of the seven Planets as to their Height or Elevation with Respect unto one another is as antient as the Observation of their peculiar and various motions And upon the first discovery thereof all granted this to be their Order Saturne Jupiter Mars Sol Venus Mercury Luna What Alteration is made herein by the late Hypothesis fixing the Sun as in the Center of the World built on fallible Phaenomena and advanced by many arbitrary Presumptions against evident Testimonies of Scripture and Reasons as probable as any are produced in its confirmation is here of no consideration For it is certain that all the world in former Ages was otherwise minded And our Argument is not taken in this matter from what really was true but from what was universally apprehended so to be Now whence should it be that if this limiting the first Revolution of Time unto seven Dayes proceeded from the Planetary Denominations fixed to the Dayes of the year arbitrarily the Order among the Planets should be so changed as every one sees it to be For in the Assignation of the Names of the Planets to the Dayes of the Week the midst is taken out first
and so the fourth in order inclusive falls to be next until the whole Cycle be finished Some would take the Reason hereof from the proportion of Harmony some from the Diurnal Ascension of the Planets which is ridiculous So Dio Cassius in the thirty seventh Book of his Histories the third of them that remain treating of the taking of Jerusalem by Pompey on the seventh Day of the Week when the people out of their superstition made not their wonted Resistance enquires on that occasion of the Reason of the Assignation of the Planetary Names to the Dayes of the Week which he affirms to have had its Original from the Aegyptians And two Reasons he tells us that he had heard of the especial Assignation of their several Names unto the several Dayes in the order wherein they are commonly used The first is that it was taken from the Harmony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Musical Note of Diatessaron For beginning saith he with Saturne in the highest Sphere and so passing unto the fourth in order it is the Sun and so throughout in the whole Revolution His other Reason is that taking the day and night beginning with the first hour and assigning the Name of a Planet to each hour beginning with Saturn for the Reason before mentioned and the succeeding hours to the other Planets in their Order so renewing the numerations to the end of the four and twenty hours the first hour of the next day falls to the Sun and so of the day following to the Moon and the remainder to the other Planets in the order commonly ascribed unto them What there is in these conjectures I know not But both of them give the precedency of the first dayes as they are fixed unto that which in the true and natural order of the Dayes is the last There is a good account given us of this matter by Johannes Philoponus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or de Creation Mund. lib. 7. cap. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This saith he is consented unto amongst all men that there are only seven dayes which by a Revolution into themselves compose the whole of Time whereof we can assign no other Reason but that only which is given by Moses the Grecians indeed ascribe the seven dayes to the seven Planets the first to the Sun the second to the Moon the third to Mars the fourth to Mercury the fifth to Jupiter the sixth to Venus the seventh to Saturne and hereby they first acknowledge that there are but seven dayes whereof all time consisteth but farther they can give no Reason why the Dayes are so disposed of unto the Planets For why did they not rather constitute twelve dayes from the twelve parts of the Zodiack through which the Sun passing perfecteth the year Nor can any Reason be assigned from the Motions of the Planets why any one of the Dayes is inscribed to any of them It is most likely therefore that the Gentiles as they without just Reason or Cause dedicate the Planets by the Names of Daemons and Heroe's so when they observed that there were seven dayes acknowledged by all and that the Planets were so many in number they did according to their pleasure in the two equal Numbers assign one day to one Planet another to another to which he adds truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Only the great Moses being divinely inspired hath delivered unto men the true Reason of the septenary Number of the dayes So far he There seems to be some Reason for assigning the conduct of time to the Sun or calling the first day by his name as also of adjoyning the Moon unto him in the next place For the succession of the Sun though created the fourth day in point of Use unto that diffused Light which was created the first Day with its being the Instrumental Cause and Measure of every day with the Tradition of the Appointment of Sun and Moon to rule and distinguish times and seasons with the sensible Effects and Operations of them might easily give them the Preheminence by common consent in giving Names unto the Dayes of the Week The other Names were added and applyed according to some prevailing Fictions concerning the Planets and their Respect unto Men and their Actions But the Hebdomadal Period of Time was fixed long before the imposition of those Names prevailed among the Grecians and the Romans which perhaps is not very antiently as Dio thinks though they derived them from the Chaldaeans and Aegyptians And that the acknowledgement of seven Dayes gave occasion to fix unto them the Names of the seven Planets and not that the Observation of the seven Planets gave occasion to compute the Dayes of the World by sevens is manifest from hence in that many Nations admitting of the Hebdomadal Revolution of Time gave the dayes in it quite other Names as various Reasons or Occasions did suggest them unto them In the antient Celtick or German Tongue and all Languages thence deriving the Sun and Moon only on the Reasons before mentioned giving name to the leading Dayes of the Week the rest of the dayes are distinguished and signalized with the Names of the Conductors of their first great Colonies in the North-Western Parts of the World For to fancy that Tuisco is the same with Mars Wooden with Mercury Thor with Jupiter and Frea with Venus is to fancy what we please without the least ground of probability Nor did the Celtae ever call the Planets by those Names so that if there be any Allusion in those Names unto those of the Grecians and Romans it was not taken from their natural speculation about the Planets but from the pleasing Fictions about Deified Heroes wherein they were imitated by most Nations of the world The English and Dutch have taken in Saturday from Saturn other Nations of the same extract retain their own occasional Names The observation therefore of the seven Planets gave neither Rise Reason Cause nor Occasion to this Original Period of Time in an Hebdomadal Revolution of Dayes And hence Theophilus Antiochenus lib. 2. ad Antolychum affirms that all mortal men agreed in the Appellation of the seventh Day whose Testimony is of good force though himself mistake the Original of that Appellation For he tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an Error common to many of the Antients who could not distinguish between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is also to this purpose observed by Rivet and Selden from Salmasius out of Georgius Syncallus in his Chronologie that the Patriarchs reckoned the times or distinguished them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Weeks only This therefore is to me no small Evidence of the Institution and Observation of the Sabbath from the Foundation of the world For hence did this Periodical Revolution of Time prevail amongst the Nations even those who had not the least converse with or knowledge of the Jews or their customs after the Command and
Gentiles shall keep the Sabbath one day in seven in Hell 6. For the Distinction which they have invented that a Proselyte of the Gate might work for himself but not for his Master it is one of the many whereby they make void the Law of God through their Traditions Those who of old amongst them feared God knowing their Duty to instruct their Housholds or Families that is their Children and Servants in the Wayes and Worship of God walked by another Rule § 21 It is farther pleaded by the same Author p. 53. That the Gentiles knew nothing of this Sabbatical Feast but that when it came to their knowledge they derided and exploded it as a particular Superstition of the Jews To this purpose many Instances out of the Historians and Poets who wrote in the time of the first Roman Emperors are collected by Selden which we are again directed unto Now it could not be but that if it had been originally appointed unto all mankind that they should have been such strangers unto it But this matter hath been discoursed before And we have shewed that sundry of the first Writers of the Christian Church were otherwise minded for they judged and proved that there was a Notion at least of the seventh Dayes Sacred Rest diffused throughout the world And they lived nearer the times of the Gentiles Practice than those by whom their Judgement and Testimony are so peremptorily rejected It is not unlikely but that they might be mistaken in some of the Testimonies whereby they confirm their Observation yet this hinders not but that the Observation it self may be true and sufficiently confirmed by other Instances which they make use of For my part as I have said I will not nor for the security of the Principle laid down need I to contend that the seventh Day was observed as a sacred feast amongst them It is enough that there were such Notices of it in the World as could proceed from no other Original but that pleaded for which was common unto all The Roman Writers Poets and others do speak of and contemn the Judaical Sabbaths under which Name they comprehended all their Sacred Feasts and Solemn Abstinencies Hence they reproached them with their Sabbatical Fasts of which number the seventh day Hebdomadal Sabbath was not But they never endeavoured to come to any real Acquaintance with their Religious Rites but took up vulgar Reports concerning them as did their Historians also who in the Affairs of other Natitions are supposed to have been curious and diligent § 22 Indeed after the Conquest of Jerusalem by Pompey when the People of the Jews began to be known among the Romans and to disperse themselves throughout their Provinces they began every day more and more to hate them and to cast all manner of reproaches on them without regard to Truth or Honesty And it may not be amiss here a little by the way to enquire into the Reasons of it The principal cause hereof no doubt was from the God they worshipped and the manner of his Worship observed amongst them For finding them to acknowledge and adore one only the true God and that without the use of any kind of Images they perceived their own Idolatry and Superstition to be condemned thereby And this had been the condition of that people under the former Empires of the Chaldaeáns Persians and Grecians God had appointed them to be his Witnesses in the world that he was God and that there was none other Isa. 44. 8 9 10. Ye are my Witnesses is there a God besides me there is no God I know not any As also Chap. 43. 10 11 12. Ye are my Witnesses that before me there was no God formed neither shall there be any after me I even I am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour therefore ye are my Witnesses saith the Lord that I am God This greatly provoked as other Nations of old so at length the Romans as bidding defiance to all their Gods and their Worship of them wherein they greatly boasted For they thought that it was meerly by the Help of their Gods and on the account of their Religion that they conquered all other Nations So Ciccro Orat. de Respon Harusp Quam volumus ipsi nos amemus tamen nec numero Hispanos nec robore Gallos nec calliditate Poenos nec artibus Graecos sed pietate religione atque hac una sapientia quod deorum immortalium numine omnia regi gubernarique prospeximus omnes gentes nationesque superavimus Let us love and please ourselves as we think meet yet we outgo neither the Spaniards in number nor the Gaules in strength nor the Africans in craft nor the Grecians in Arts but it is by our Piety and Religion and this only Wisdom that we refer all to the Government of the immortal Gods that we have overcome all Countreys and Nations And Dionysius Halicarnassaeus Antiquit. Rom. lib. 2. having given an account of their Sacred Rites and Worship adds that he did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That those who knew not before the Piety or Religion of the Romans might not now think it strange that they should have such success in all their Wars To be judged and condemned in those things by the contrary witness of the Jews they could not bear This made them reflect on God himself as the God which they worshipped They called him incertum and ignotum affirming the Rites of his Worship to be absurd and contrary to the common consent of mankind as Tacitus expresly Hist. lib. 5. The best they could afford when they spake of him was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who ever he be And Tully will not allow that it was any respect to their God or their Religion which caused Pompey to forbear spoiling the Temple when he took it by force Non credo saith he religionem impedimento praestantissimo Imperatori fuisse quod victor ex illo fano nihil attigerit Orat. pro Flacc. whereunto he adds as high a Reproach of them and their Religion as he could devise Stantibus Hierosolymis pacatisque Judaeis tamen istorum religio sacrorum à splendore hujus imperii gravitate nominis nostri majorum institutis abhorrebat nunc vero hoc magis quod illa gens quid de nostro imperio sentiret ostendit armis quam cara diis immortalibus esset docuit quod victa est quod clocata quod servata Whilst Jerusalem stood that is in its own Power and the Jews were peaceable yet their Religion was unworthy the splendor of this Empire the gravity of our Name and abhorrent from the Ordinances of our Ancestors how much more now when that Nation hath shewed what esteem it hath of our Empire by its Arms and how dear it is to the immortal Gods that it is conquered and set out under Tribute The like Reflections yea worse may be seen in Trogus Tacitus Plutarcb Strabo and Democritus in Suidas with others §
is now earnestly pleaded that it consisted in meer Bodily Rest which is scarcely to be reckoned as any part of Divine Service at all What is farther in it is said to be only a meer Circumstance of Time not in any thing better than that of Place which had an Arbitrary Determination also for a season It cannot therefore be thus exalted and preferred above all other Ordinances of Worship upon the account of its service seeing it is apprehended to be only a meer Adjunct of other services which were therefore more worthy than it as every thing which is for it self is more worthy than that which is only for another And take it absolutely Place is a more Noble Circumstance than Time in this Case considering that Place being determined by an Arbitrary Institution in the building of the Temple became the most glorious and significant part of Divine Worship yet had it no place in the Decalogue but only in the Samaritan Corruption added unto it It must therefore be upon the account of its signification that it was thus peculiarly exalted and honoured For the Dignity Worth and Use of all Ceremonial Institutions depended on their significancy or their fitness and aptness to represent the things whereof they were Types with the especial worth of what they did peculiarly Typifie And herein the Sabbath even with the Applications it had unto the Judaical Church State came short of many other Divine Services especially the Solemn Sacrifices wherein the Lord Christ with all the Benefits of his Death was as it were evidently set forth crucified before their eyes Neither therefore of these Reasons nor both of them in conjunction can be pleaded as the cause of the manifold preference of the Sabbath above all Ceremonial Institutions It remaineth therefore that it is solely upon the Account of its Morality and the invariable Obligation thence arising unto its Observation that it is so joyned with the Precepts of the same Nature and such we have now as I suppose sufficiently confirmed it to be § 47 I cannot but judge yet farther that in the Caution given by our Saviour unto his Disciples about praying that their flight should not be on the Sabbath Day Matth. 24. 20. He doth declare the continued Obligation of the Law of the Sabbath as a Moral Precept upon all It is answered by some that it is the Judaical Sabbath alone that is intended which he knew that some of his own Disciples would be kept for a season in bondage unto For the Ease therefore of their Consciences in that matter he gives them this Direction But many things on the other side are certain and indubitable which render this conjecture altogether improbable For 1. All real Obligation unto Judaical Institutions was then absolutely taken away and it is not to be supposed that our Lord Jesus Christ would before hand lay in provision for the edification of any of his Disciples in Error 2. Before that time came they were sufficiently instructed doctrinally in the dissolution of all Obligation in Ceremonial Institutions This was done principally by St. Paul in all his Epistles especially in that unto the Hebrews themselves at Jerusalem 3. Those who may be supposed to have continued a conscientious respect unto the Judaical Sabbath could be no otherwise perswaded of it than were the Jews themselves in those Dayes But they all accounted themselves absolved in conscience from the Law of the Sabbath upon eminent danger in time of War so that they might lawfully either fight or fly as their safety did require This is evident from the Decree made by them under the Hasmonaeans And such imminent danger is now supposed by our Saviour for he instructs them to forego all consideration of their Enjoyments and to shift meerly for their lives There was not therefore any danger in point of conscience with respect unto the Judaical Sabbath to be then feared or prevented But in general those in whose hearts are the wayes of God do know what an addition it is to the greatest of their earthly troubles if they befall them in such seasons as to deprive them of the Opportunity of the Sacred Ordinances of Gods Worship and indispensibly engage them in Wayes and Works quite of another Nature than when they stand in most need of them There is therefore another Answer invented namely that our Lord Jesus in these words respected not the Consciences of his Disciples but their trouble and therefore joyns the Sabbath Day and the Winter together in directing them to pray for an Ease and Accommodation of that Flight which was inevitable For as the Winter is unseasonable for such an occasion so the Law concerning the Sabbath was such as that if any one travelled on that Day above a commonly allowed Sabbath dayes journey he was to be put to death But neither is there any more appearance of Truth in this pretence For 1. The Power of Capital Punishments was before this time utterly taken away from the Jews and all their remaining Courts interdicted from proceeding in any Cause wherein the lives of men were concerned 2. The times intended were such as wherein there was no Course of Law Justice or Equity amongst them but all things were filled with Rapine Confusion and Hostility so that it is a vain imagination that any Cognizance was taken about such Cases as journying on the Sabbath 3. The Dangers they were in had made it free to them as to Legal Punishments upon their own Principles as was declared so that these cannot be the Reasons of the Caution here given It is at least therefore most probable that our Saviour speaks to his Disciples upon a supposition of the perpetual Obligation of the Law of the Sabbath that they should pray to be delivered from the necessity of a flight on the Day whereon the Duties of it were to be observed lest it falling out otherwise should prove a great aggravation of their distress § 48 From these particular Instances we may return to the consideration of the Law of the Decalogue in general and the perpetual Power of exacting Obedience wherewith it is accompanied That in the Old Testament it is frequently declared to be universally obligatory and hath the same Efficacy ascribed unto it without putting in any exceptions to any of its Commands or limitations of its number I suppose will be granted The Authority of it is no less fully asserted in the New Testament and that also absolutely without distinction or the least intimation of excepting the fourth Command from what is affirmed concerning the whole It is of the Law of the Decalogue that our Saviour treats Matth. 5. 17 18 19. This he affirms that he came not to dissolve as he did the Ceremonial Law but to fulfill it and then affirms that not one Jot or Tittle of it shall pass away And making thereon a Distribution of the whole into its several Commands he declares his disapprobation of them who shall break
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