is not meant the weekly Sabbath for then say some what will you understand by new moons which are conjoyned with them yet these two things are evident 1. That Sabbaths and new moons were set times of worshipping God under the old Testament 2. That it is usuall with the Prophets to vaile and not alway to type out the worship and so the times of worship which were to be under the new Testament under the Ordinances of God observed in the old as may appeare Isa. 19.19 Mal. 1.11 as also by Ezekiels Temple and such like hence then it followes that although this place should not evict a seventh dayes Sabbath yet it demonstrates at least thus much that some let times and dayes shadowed out under the name of new moons and Sabbaths are to be observed under the new Testament and this is sufficient to prove the point in hand That all daies are not equall under the Gospell Thesis 78. The Kindome of heaven indeed doth not consist in meat and drink as the Apostle saith Rom. 14.17 i. in the use of externall indifferent things as those meats and drinks and some kind of dayes were or if in some sense it did yet not chiefely in them as if almost all religion did chiefely consist in them but doth it from hence follow that it consists not in things commanded nor in any set dayes of worship which are commanded If because the kingdom of God consists in internall peace and righteousnesse and joy of the holy Ghost that therefore all externall observances of times and duties of worship are not necessary to be attended by Gospel-worshippers as some secretly imagine then farewel all externall Preaching Sacraments Profession and Confession of the Name of Christ as well as Sabbaths and let such artists of licentiousnesse bring in all prophanesse into the world again by a law from heaven not condemning the acts of the outward man though never so abominable in abstinence from which by this rule the kingdome of heaven doth not consist Is it no honour to the King of glory as it is to earthly Princes to be served sometimes upon speciall Festivals in speciall state with speciall and glorious attendance by his people as well as after a common and usuall manner every day We have seen some who have at first held community of dayes onely to fall at last through the righteous judgment of God blinding their hearts to maintaine community of wives and that because the kingdome of God hath as they have thought consisted no more in outward relations as that is between Husbands and Wives than in the observation of externall circumstances and dayes Thesis 79. But this is not the ordinary principle by which many are led to maintaine an equality of dayes under the Gospel but this chiefely viz. that the morall law is not to bee a Christians rule of life for we aknowledge it to be no Covenant of life to a Beleever that either by the keeping of it he should be justified or that for the breach of it he should be condemned but they say that when a Believer hath life by the Covenant of grace the law is now not so much as a rule of life to such a one and then 't is no wonder if they who blow out the light of the whole morall law from being a light to their feet and a lamp to their paths if they hereby utterly extinguish this part of it viz. the Commandment of the Sabbath This dashing against the whole law is the very mystery of this iniquity why some doe cashier this law of the Sabbath and they doe but hide themselves behinde a thread when they oppose it by their weapons who therefore abandon it because it alone is ceremoniall above any other law Thesis 80. The Sabbath saith one is perpetuall and morall but not the Sabbath day the Sabbath which some make continuall and inward onely is perpetually to be observed but not the Sabbath day a Sabbath is by Divine ordination but a Sabbath day is to be observed onely as a humane constitution But they should doe well to consider whether that which they call an inward continuall Sabbath be inconsistent with a speciall day for I am sure that they under the old Testament were bound equally with us to observe a continuall Sabbath in resting from all sinne and resting in God by Iesus Christ Heb. 4.1 2. yet this did not exempt them from observing a speciall day A speciall day is a most powerfull meanes to Sabbatize every day Why then may not a Sabbath and a Sabbath day consist together An every day Sabbath is equally opposite to a time occasionally set as to a set day which the Commandment enjoyns and therefore if it exempts a Christian from observing a set day it sets him free also from all observation of any such set time for if because a Christian Sabbath ought to bee continuall and that therefore there ought to bee no set dayes then there should not bee any occasionally set times for the worship of God because these neither can be continuall and if there ought to be no such set times we may then bid good night to all the publick worship and glory of God in the world like the men with one eye to him who put his other eye quite out And if any here reply that there is not the like reason because holy time and days are not necessary but holy duties are necessary and therefore require some occasionall set time for them I answer That let the difference be granted yet that which I now dispute on is this ground and supposition onely viz. That if all set dayes are to bee abandoned because a Christians Sabbath ought to bee continuall and inward then all occasionall set times also are to bee abandoned upon the same ground because these cannot bee continuall and inward no more than the other as for them who think no holy day necessary but holy duties lawfull every day we have already and shall hereafter cleare up more fully in its proper place Mean while it is yet doubtfull to me whether those who follow Master Saltmarsh and some others will acknowledge the lawfulnesse of any occasionall set times for publick worship of hearing the word and prayer c. For he makes the bosome of the Father to bee the Christian Sabbath typified in the seventh day of the first Creation and he makes the six dayes of worke to be a type not onely of the Lord Iesus in his active and fulfilling administrations while he was in the flesh but also to be a figure of the Christian in bondage or to use his own words of a Christian under active and working administrations as those of the law and Gospel are as all formes of worship Duties Graces Prayer Ordinances c. From whence it will follow from his principles for I know not his practice that all formes of worship Duties Graces Prayer Ordinances are then to cease as types
a sinner as a sinner had need consider what they say for is it to a sinner as possest with Christ and receiving of him or as dispossest of Christ not having of him but rather refusing and rejecting of him If they say the first they then speak the truth but then they raze down their own pernicious principle that Christ and Gods love belongs to them As sinners If they affirm the latter then they do injuriously destroy Gods free grace and the glory of Christ who think to possesse promises without possessing Christ or to have promises of grace without having Christ the foundation of them all For though the common love of God as the bare offer of grace is may be manifested without having Christ yet speciall actuall love cannot be actually our own without having and first receiving of him And if the Spirit of God convince the world of sin and consequently of condemnation while they do not beleeve Ioh. 16.9 I wonder how it can then convince them of pardon of sin and reconciliation before they do beleeve unlesse we will imagine it to be a lying spirit which is blasphemous These things not considered of have and do occasion much errour at this day in the point of evidencing and hath been an inlet of deep delusion and open gaps have been made hereby to the loose waies and depths of Familism and grosse Arminianism and therefore being well considered of are sufficient to clear up the waies of those faithfull servants of the Lord who dare not sow pillows nor cry peace to the wicked much lesse to sinners as sinners both from the slanderous imputation of legall ministrations after an old Testament manner as also of making works the ground of faith or the causes of assurance of faith the free offer being the ground of the one and the free promise the cause and ground of the other Briefly therefore 1. The free offer of grace is the first evidence to a poor lost sinner that he may be beloved 2. The receiving of this offer by faith relatively considered in respect of Christs spotlesse righteousnesse is the first evidence shewing why he is beloved or what hath moved God actually to love him 3. The worke of sanctification which is the fruit of our receiving this offer is the first evidence shewing that he is beloved If therefore a condemned sinner be asked whether God may love him and why he thinks so he may answer Because Jesus Christ is held forth and offered to such a one If he be further asked why or what he thinks should move God to love him he may answer Because I have received Christs righteousnesse offered for which righteousnesse sake only I know I am beloved now I have received it If he be asked lastly how he knows certainly that he is beloved he may answer safely and confidently Because I am sanctified I am poor in spirit therefore mine is the kingdom of heaven I do mourn and therefore I shall be comforted I do hunger and thirst and therefore I shall be satisfied c. We need in time of distresse and temptation all these evidences and therefore it is greatest wisdom to pray for that spirit which may clear them all up unto us rather then to contend which should be the first And thus we see that the whole morall law is our rule of life and consequently the law of the Sabbath which is a branch of this rule We now proceed to shew the third branch of things generally and primarily morall Thesis 120. Thirdly Not only a day nor only a rest day but the rest day or Sabbath day which is expressed and expressely interpreted in the Commandment to be the seventh day or a seventh day of Gods determining and therefore called The Sabbath of the Lord our God is here also enjoined and commanded as generally morall For if a day be morall what day must it be If it be said that any day which humane wisdom shall determine whether one day in a hundred or a thousand or one day in many years if this only be generally morall then the rule of morality may be broken because the rule of equality may be thus broken by humane determination For it may be very unequall and unjust to give God one day in a hundred or a thousand for his worship and to assume so many beside to our selves for our own use There is therefore something else more particularly yet primarily morall in this Command and that is The Sabbath day or such a day wherein there appears an equal division and a fit proportion between time for rest and time for work a time for God and a time for man and that is a â—â—venth day which God determines A fit proportion of time for God is morall because equal man cannot determine nor set out this proportion God therefore only can and must A day therefore that he shall determine is morall and if he declares his determination to a seventh A seventh day is therefore morall Gomarus confesseth that by the Analogy of this Commandment not one day in a thousand or when man pleaseth but that one day in seven is morall at least equal fit and congruous to observe the same and if the Analogy he speaks of ariseth virtute mandati divini or by vertue of Gods Commandment the cause is in effect yielded but if this Analogy be made virtute libertatis humanae so that humane liberty may do well to give God one in seven because the Jews did so and why should Christians be more scant then I see not but humane liberty may assume power to it self to impose monthly and annuall holy daies as well because the Jews had their new moons and yearly festivals and by Analogy thereof why may not Christians who have more grace poured out upon them and more love shewn unto them under the Gospel hold some meet proportion with them therein also as well as in Sabbaths But it can never be proved that God hath left any humane wisdom at liberty to make holy daies by the rule of Jewish proportions Beside if humane wisdom see it meet and congruous to give God at least one day in seven this wisdom and reason is either regulated by some law and then 't is by vertue of the law of God that he should have one day in seven or 't is not regulated by a law and then we are left to a loose end again for man to appoint what day he sees meet in a shorter or a longer time his own reason being his only law and this neither Gomaras nor the words of the Commandment will allow which sets and fixeth the day which we see is one day in seven which not man but God shall determine and therefore called The Sabbath of the Lord our God Thesis 121. The hardest knot herein to unloose lies in this to know whether a seventh day in generall which God shall determine or that particular Seventh day from the creation be
servile work or maintenance of any unnecessary work which the fame learned and acute writer imputes to our Saviour which I had almost said is almost blasphemous Thesis 202. It 's no argument that the Sabbath is not morall because it 's said Mark 2.27 that man is not made for it but it for man for saith Mr Ironside man is made for morall duties not they for man For let the Sabbath be taken for the bare rest of the Sabbath as the Pharisees did who placed so much Religion in the bare rest as that they thought it unlawfull to heal the sick on that day or feed the hungry so man is not made as lastly for the bâ—re rest but rather it for man and for his good but if by Sabbath be meant the Sanctification of that rest so man is made for it by Mr Primrose own confession Nor our Saviour speaks of the Sabbath in the first respect for the rest of it is but a means to a further and a better end viz. The true sanctification of it which the Pharisees little lookt unto and therefore he might well say that the Sabbath was made for man the rest of it being no further good then as it was helpfull to man in duties of piety or mercy required of man in the sanctification thereof M. Primrose confessing that man is made for the sanctification of the Sabbath would therefore winde out from this by making this sanctification on the Sabbath to be no more then what is equally required of man all the week beside but he is herein also much mistaken for though works of piety and mercy are required every day yet they are required with a certain eminency and specialty upon the Sabbath day and thence 't is that God cals mens to rest from all worldly occasions which he doth not on the weeke daies that they might honour God in speciall upon the Sabbath as shall hereafter appear Thesis 203. It 's a monkish speculation of M. Broad to distinguish so of the Sabbath in sensu mystico and sensu literali as that the mysticall sense like the lean and ill-favoured kine in Pharoah's dream shall eat up the literal sense and devour Gods blessed and sweet Sabbath for the Lord never meant by the Sabbath such a mysticall thing as the resting from the works of the old man only every day no more then when he commands us to labour six daies he permits us to labour in the works of the old man all the six daies Thesis 204. For though it be true that we are to rest every day from sin yet it will not hence follow that every day is to be a Christians Sabbath and that no one day in seven is to be set apart for it For 1. Upon the same ground Adam should have had no Sabbath because he was to rest from sin every day 2. The Jews also before Christ should have rejected all Sabbaths because they were then bound to rest from sin as well as Christians now 3. Upon the same ground there must be no daies of fasting or feasting under the Gospel because we are to fast from sinne every day and to be joyfull and thankfull every day I know some Libertines of late say so but upon the same ground there should have been none under the law neither for they were then bound as well as we to fast from sin 4. Hence neither should any man pay his debts because he is bound to be paying his debt of love to God and all men every day 5. Hence also no man should pray at any time in his family nor alone by himself solemnly because a Christian is bound to pray continually And indeed I did not think that any forehead could be so bold and brazen as to make such a conclusion but while I was writing this came to my hearing concerning a sea-man who came to these coasts from London miserably deluded with principles of Familisme who when an honest New-English man his Cabbin-mate invited him to go along and pray together considering their necessities he would professedly refuse to doe it upon this ground viz. Dost not pray continually Why then should we pray together now 6. The Commandment of the Sabbath doth not therefore presse us to rest only from such works as are in themselves evil which God allows at no tiâ—â— but from the works of our callings and weekly imployments which are in themselves lawfull and of necessity to be attended on at some time It is therefore a loose and groundlesse assertion to make every day under the Gospel to be a Christians Sabbath day Thesis 205. To think that the Sabbath was proper to the Jews because they only were able to keep and exactly observe the time of it being shut up as M. Primrose saith within a little corner of the earth and that the Gentiles therefore are not bound to it because they cannot exactly observe the time of it in severall quarters of the earth so far distant is a very feeble argument For why might not all nations exactly observe the rising and the setting of the sun according to severall climates by which the naturall day and so this of a Sabbath is exactly measured and which God hath appointed without limitation to any hour to be the bounds of the Sabbath as it sooner or later rises or sets were not the mariners of the men of Iudah bound to observe the Seventh day in all the severall coasts where they made their voyages did God limit them to the rising or setting sun of Iudaea only what colour is there to think thus of them indeed it 's true that in some habitable Northern coasts the Sun is not out of sight some moneths together but yet this is certain if they know how the year spends into moneths they can exactly reckon the weeks of those moneths and therefore can exactly tell you the daies of which those weeks consist and therefore they have their exact rules and measures to know East and West the place of the sun-rising and sun-setting and consequently to know the Sabbath daies and yet if they should not exactly know it their will to do it is herein as in other things accepted of God Thesis 206. If this truth concerning the morality of the Sabbath did depend upon the testimony of ancient writers it were easie to bring them up here in the rear notwithstanding the flourishes of the great Historian but this hath been done sufficiently by others nor doth it sute our scope who aim at only the clearing up of the meaning of the fourth command which must stand firm the heaven and earth shall fall asunder the Lord will rather waste kingdomes and the whole Christian world with fire and sword then let one tittle of his Law perish the land must rest when Gods Sabbaths cannot Lev. 26.34 and although I wish the Ministry of Christ Jesus a comely and comfortable maintenance as may richly testifie his peoples abundant thankfullnesse for the feet of
observe it in respect of the Churches Custome and constitution as some pretend why may not the Chuâ—ches Commandment be a rule of obedience in a thousand things else as well as in this and so introduce Will-Worship and to serve God after the tradition of men which God abhors Thesis 4. The observation of the first day of the weeke for the Christian Sabbath ariseth from the force of the fourth Commandment as strongly as the observation of the media cultus or means of worship now under the New Testament doth from the force of the second Commandment only let this be supposed that the day is now changed as we shall hereafter prove as also that the worship it self is changed by divine institution for Gospel-institutions when they be appointed by divine and soveraign Authority yet they may then be observed and practised by vertue of some morall Law The Gospel appointed new Sacraments but we are to use them by vertue of the second Commandment so here the Gospel appoints a new seventh day for the Sabbath but it stands by vertue of the fourth Commandment and therefore the observation of it is not an Act of Christian Liberty but of Christian duty imposed by divine Authâ—rity and by vertue of the moral Law Thesis 5. For the morality of the fourth Commandment as hath been proved being preserved in observing not that Sabbath only nor yet a Sabbath meerly when man sees meet but in observing the Sabbath i. e. such a Sabbath as is determined and appointed of God which may therefore be either the first or last of the seven dayes Hence it is that the first of the seven if it be determined and instituted of God under the New Testament ariseth equally from the fourth Commandment as the last seventh day did under the old Testament and therefore it is no such piaculum nor delusion of the common People as Mr. Brabourne would make it to put the Title of the Lords Sabbath upon the Lords day and to call it the Sabbath day for if it be borne out of the same wombe the first seventh was if it arise I mean from the same Commandment Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day why may it not bear the name of the Sabbath nâ—w as the first-born did in former times Thesis 6. If the Lord would have man to worke six dayes together according to his own example and the morality of the fourth Commandement that so a seventh day determined by himselfe might be observed Hence it is that neither two Sabbaths in a week can stand with the morality of the fourth Commandement nor yet could the former Sabbath be justly changed into any other day then into the first day of the week the first day could not belong to the week before for then there should be eight days in a week and if it did belong to the week following then if we suppose that the second day had been the Sabbath there must be one working day viz. the first day to go before it and five working dayes after it and so there should not nor could not be six working dayes continued together that the seventh might be the Lords according to the morality of the fourth Commandement And hence it is that no Humane or Ecclesiasticall power can change the Sabbath to what day of the week they please from the first which now is Thesis 7. It should not seem an uncouth Phrase or a hard saying to call the first day of the weeke a seventh or the seventh day for though it be the first absolutely in order of existence from the Creation yet relatively in way of relation and in respect of the number of seven in a week it may be invested with the name and title of a seventh even of such a seventh as may lawfully be câ—owned and annointed to be the Sabbath day for look as Noah though he was the first in order of yeares and dignity of entrance into the Ark yet he is called the eight 2 Pet. 2.5 in that he was one of them as the learned observe qui octonarium numerum perficiebant or who made up the number of eight so it is in respect of the first day which in divers respects may be called the first and yet the seventh also Mr. Brabournes Argument therefore is of no solidity who goes about to prove the Christian Sabbath to be no Sabbath Because That Sabbath which the fourth Commandement injoynes is called the seventh day but all the Evangelists cal the Lords day the first day of the week not the seventh day For he should remember that the same day in divers respects may be called the first day and yet the seventh day for in respect of its naturall existence and being it may be and is called the first day and yet in respect of divine use and application it may be and is called the seventh day even by vertue of the fourth Commandement which is the Lords day which is confessed to be the first day Thesis 8. For although in numero numerante as they call it i. e. in number numâ—â—ing there can be but one seventh which immediately follows the number six yet in numero numerato i. e. in number numbred or things which are numbred as are the dayes of the week any of the seven may be so in way of relation and proportion As suppose seven men stand together take the last man in order from the other six who stand about him and he is the seventh so againe take the first in order and set him apart from the six who stand below him and if the number of them who are taken from him make up the number of six he then may and must necessarily be called the seventh Just thus it is in the dayes of the week the first Sabbath from the Creation might be called the seventh day in respect of the six dayes before it and this first day of the week may be called the seventh day also in respect of the six working dayes together after it That may be called the last seventh this the first seventh without any absurdity of account which some would imagine and if this first day of the week is called the eight day according to Ezekiels Prophesie of Evangelicall times and his reckoning onward from the Creation Ezek. 43.27 why may it not then in other respects put on the name of a seventh day also Thesis 9. The reason why the Lord should depose the last seventh and exalt and crowne the first of seven to be the day of the Christian Sabbath is not so well considered and therefore to be here narrowly examined For as for those Easterne Christians who in the primitive times observed two Sabbaths in a week the Jewish and the Christian doubtlesse their milke sod over and their zeale went beyond the Rule The number of Jewes who were beleevers and yet too too zealous of their old customes we know did fill those places in their dispersion and before more then
with 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 as it were upon Mount Zion and proclaime by word or writing in so many expresse words That the Iewish Sabbath is abrogated and the first day of the week instituted in its roome to be observed of all Christians to the end of the world For t is not the Lords manner so to speak in many other things which concerne his Kingdome but as it were occasionally or in way of History or Epistle to some particular Church or people and thus he doth concerning the Sabbath and yet Wisdomes mind is plain enough to them that understand Nor do I doubt but that those Scriptures which are sometimes alledged for the Change of the Sabbath although at first blush they may not seeme to heare up the weâ—ght of this cause yet being throughly considered they are not onely sufficent to stablish modest minds but are also such as may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or stop the mouths even of wranglers themselves Thesis 25. I doe not thinke that the exercise of holy duties on a Day argues that such a Day is the Christian Sabbath Day for the Apostles preached commonly upon the Jewish Sabbath sometime upon the first day of the week also and therefore the bare exercise of holy duâ—ies on a day is no sufficient Argument that either the one or the other is the Christian Sabbath for then there might be two Sabbaths yea many Sabbaths in a week because there may be many holy duties in severall dayes of the week which we know is against the Morality of the fourth Commandment Thesis 26. Yet notwithstanding although holy duties on a Day doe not argue such a Day to be our Sabbath yet that Day which is set apart for Sabbath services rather then any other Day and is honoured above any other Day for that end surely such a day is the Christian Sabbath Now if it may appear that the first Day of the week was thus honoured then certainly it is to be accounted the Christian Sabbath Thesis 27. The Primitive patterne Churches thus honoured the fiâ—st Day of the weeke and what they practised without reproof that the Apostles who planted those Churches enjoyned and preached unto them so to do at least in such weighty matters as the Change of Dayes of preferring one before that other which the Lord had honoured before and what the Apostles preached that the Lord Jesus commanded Matth. 28.20 Go teach all Nations that which I Command you unlesse any shall think that the Apostles sometime went beyond their Commission to teach that to others which Christ never commanded which is blasphemous to imagine for though they might erre in practise as men and as Peter did at Antioch and Paul and Barnabas in their contention yet in in their publike ministry they were infallibly and extraordinarily assisted especially in such things which they hold forth as patterns for after times if therefore the Primitive Churches thus honoured the first day of the week above any other day for Sabbath services then certainly they were instituted and taught thus to do by the Apostles approving of them herein and what the Apostles taught the Churches that the Lord Iesus commanded to the Apostles So that the approved practise of the churches herein shewes what was the Doctrine of the Apostles and the Doctrine of the Apostles shewes what was the command of Christ so that the sanctification of this Fiâ—st Day of the week is no humane tradition but a Divine institution from Christ himselfe Thesis 28. That the Churches honoured this Day above any other shall appeare in its place as also that the Apostles commanded them so to doe Yet Mr. Primrose saith that this latter is doubtful and Mr. Ironside not questioning the matter fals off with another evasion viz. That they acted herein not as Apostles but as ordinary Pastours and consequently as fallible men not only in commanding this Change of the Sabbaâ—h but in all other matters of Church government among which he reckons this of the Sabbath to be one which he thinks were imposed according to their private wisdome as most fit for those times but not by any Apostolicall Commission as concerning all times But to imagine that matters of Church-government in the Apostles dayes wete coats for the Moon in respect of after-times and that the form of it is mutable as he would have it I suppose will be digested by few honest and sober minds in these times unlesse they be byassed for a season by politick ends and therefore herein I will not now contend oneâ—y it may be considered whether any private spirit could abolish that Day which from the beginning of the world God so highly honoured and then honour and advance another Day above it and sanctifie it too as shall be proved for religious services Could any do this justly but by immediate dispensation from the Lord Christ Jesus and if the Apostles did thus receive it immediately from Christ and so teach the observation of it they could not then teach it as fallible men and as private Pastors as he would have it a pernicious conceit enough to undermine the faith of Gods elect in many matters more weighty then this of the Sabbath Thesis 29. To know when and where the Lord Christ instructed his Desciples concerning this Change is needlesse to enquire It is sufficient to beleeve this that what the Primitive Churches exemplarily practised that was taught them by the Apostles who planted them and that whatsoever the Apostles preached the Lord Christ commanded as hath been shewen Yet if the Change of the Sabbath be a matter appertaining to the Kingdome of God why should we doubt but that within the space of his forty dayes abode with them after his Resurrection he then taught it them for 't is expressely said that He then taught them such things Acts 13. Thesis 30. When the Apostles came among the Jewes they preached usually upon the Jewish Sabbaths but this was not because they did thinke or appoint it herein to be the Christian Sabbath but that they might take the fittest opportunity and season of meeting with and so of preaching the Gospel to the Jewes in those times For what power had they to call them together when they saw meet or if they had yet was it meet for them thus to do before they were sufficiently instructed about Gods mind for setting apart some other time and how could they be sufficiently and seasonably instructed herein without watching the advantage of those times which the Jewes yet thought were the only Sabbaths The dayes of Pentecost Passeover and houres of prayer in the Temple are to be observed still as well as the Iewish Sabbath if the Apostles preaching on their Sabbaths argues the continuance of them as Mr. Brabourne argues for we know that they preached also and went up purposely to Ierusalem at such times to preach among them as well as upon the Sabbath dayes look therefore as they laid hold upon the
improve the day no better then the beasts that perish Thesis 2. And as the rest of the Day is for the holinesse of it so is all the labour of the Week for this holy rest that as the end of all the labour of our lives is for our rest with Christ in Heaven so also of the six daies of every weeke for the holy Rest of the Sabbath the twilight and dawning of Heaven For the eighth Commandement which would not have us steale commands us therefore to labour for our Families and comforts in all the seasons of labour This fourth command therefore which not onely permits but commands us to labour six daies must have another respect in commanding us to labour and a higher end which cannot be any thing else but with respect to the Sabbath that as we are to watch unto prayer so we are to worke unto the Sabbath or so worke all the Weeke day that we may meet with God and sanctifie the Sabbath day Thesis 3. As therefore the holinesse of the Sabbath is morall because it is the end of the day so is the Rest of the Sabbath the immediate means to that end morall also Looke therefore what ever holy duties the Lord required of the Iewes which were not ceremoniall the same duties he requires of us upon this day so what every Rest he required of them for this end he exacts of all Christians also Thesis 4. Those that make the Sabbath ceremoniall imagine a stricter Rest imposed upon the Iewes then Christians are now bound unto because they place the ceremonialnesse of the Sabbath in the strict Rest of it but we are bound to the same Rest for substance of it and the ground for a stricter rest then we are bound unto will be found too light if well pondered Thesis 5. For though it be sayd that the Iewes might not bake nor seeth meat upon this day Exod. 16.23 no nor make a fire upon it Ex. 35.3 no nor gather sticks upon it without Death Numb 6.15.30 all which things Christians now may lawfully do yet none of these places will evince that for which they are alledged Thesis 6. For first it is not said Exod. 16.23 bake and seeth that to day which may serve you next day but that which remains viz. which is not sod nor baked lay it up untill the Morning and consequently for the morrow of the next day which being thus laid up I doe not finde that they are forbidden to bake or seeth that which remaines upon the next day but rather if they must use it the next day they might then bake it or seeth it that day also as they did that of the sixt day and without which they could not have the comfortable use of it upon the Sabbath day indeed it was as unlawfull to grind and beate the Manna in Mills and Morters mentioned Numb 11 8. upon this day as now to thrash and grind Corne this day the meale therefore which did remaine is not forbidden to be baked or sod upon this day nor would Gods speciall and miraculous providence appeare in preserving it from wormes and stinking if there had been any bâ—king of it the day before and not rather upon the Sabbath Day Thesis 7. Although also they were forbidden to kindle fire upon this lay Exod. 35.3 in respect of some use yet they are not forbidden so to do in respect of any use whatsoever For there was fire kindled for the Sabbath sacrifices and it would have bin a breach of the rule of mercy not to kindle a fire for the sick and weake in the wildernesse Nehemiah also a man most strict and zealous for the Sabbath yet had such provision made every day as could not be drest nor eaten without some fire upon the Sabbath day Neh. 5.18 and the Sabbath not being a fast but a feast in those times as well as those hence it s not unsutable to the time to have comfortable provisions made ready provided that the dressing of meaâ— be not an ordinary hindrance to publike or private duties of holinesse upon this day Exod. 12.16 this kindling of the fire here forbidden must therefore be understood in respect of the scope of the place viz. not to kindle a fire for any servile work no not in respect of this particular use of it viz. to further the building of the Sanctuary and Tabernacle made mention of in this Chapter for it s said whosoever shall do any worke therein 1. any servile worke which is more proper for the weeke time shall be put to death verse 2. there is therefore either no dependance of these words in the third verse with those in the second or else we must understand it of kindling fires restrictively for any servile worke which is there forbidden not only the Iewes but us Christians also Thesis 8. The man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath Numb 15.30 was put to death what for gathering of sticks onely why then did not the just God put them to death who were the first offenders and therefore most fit to be made examples who went out to gather Manna upon this day Exod. 1â— This gathering of sticks therefore though little in it selfe yet seemes to be aggravated by presumption and that the man did presumptuously breake the Sabbath and therefore it s generally observed that this very example followes the Law of punishing a presumptuous transgressor with death in this very Chapter and though it be said that they found a man gathering sticks as if it were done secretly and not presumptuously yet we know that presumptuous sins may be committed secretly as well as openly though they are not in so high a degree presumptuous as when they are done more openly the feare of the Law against Sabbath breakers might restrain the man from doing that openly which before God was done proudly and presumptuously and though Moses doubted what to do with the man who had that capitall Law given him before against Sabbath breakers yet they might be ignorant for a time of the full and true meaning of it which the Lord here seemes to expound viz. that a Sabbath breaker sinning presumptuously is to be put to death and although it be doubted whether such a Law is not too rigorous in these Times yet we do see that where the Magistrate neglects to restraine from this sinne the Lord takes the Magistrates work into his own hand and many times cuts them off suddenly who prophane his Sabbath presumptuously and t is worth enquiring into whether presumptuous Sabbath breakers are not still to be put to Death which I doubt not but that the Lord will either one day cleare up or else discover some specialty in the application of this judiciall Law to that Polity of the Iewes as most fit for them and not so universally fit for all others in Christian Common-vvealths but this latter I yet see no proofe for nor doe I expect the clearing up of the other while
THESES SABBATICAE OR THE DOCTRINE OF THE Sabbath WHEREIN The Sabbaths I. Morality II. Change III. Beginning IV. Sanctification are clearly discussed Which were first handled more largely in sundry SERMONS in Cambridg in New-England in opening of the fourth COMMANDMENT In unfolding whereof many Scriptures are cleared divers Cases of Conscience resolved and the Morall Law as a rule of life to a Believer occasionally and distinctly handled By THOMAS SHEPARD Pastor of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New England What evill thing is this that ye do and prophane the Sabbath day did not your fathers thus and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this City yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by prophaning the Sabbath Nehem. 13 17 18. If ye hallow the Sabbath to do no work therein then shall there enter into the gates of this City Kings and Princes Jer. 17.24.25 London Printed by T. R. and E. M. for Iohn Rothwell Sun and Fountain in Pauls Church-yard 1650. THE Preface OF THE AUTHOR To the READER THat a seventh part of time hath been religiously and universally observed both under the Law and under the Gospel is without all controversie the great doubt and difficulty which now remaines concerning this Time is the Morality of it whether it was thus universally observed in the Christian Churches by unwritten Tradition or by Divine Commission Whether from the Churches Custome or Christs Command Whether as a Moral Duty or as a Humane Law for although some would make â—he observation of such a portion of time the soure fruit of the Ebionites superstitious Doctrines yet all the Ancient and best Writers in the purest times do give such honour to it that whoever doubts of it must either be utterly ignorant or wilfully blinded in the knowledge of the Histories and Doctrines of those times and must desire a Candle to shew him the Sunne at noone day Clemens onely seemes to cast some staine upon it by making all dayes equall and every day a Sabbath but upon narrow search his meaning may appeare not to deny the observation of the day but onely to blame the froth and vanity of sundry Christians who if they externally observed the day they cared not how they lived every day after nor is it to be wondred at if Origen turne this day sometime into an Allegory and a continuall spirituall Rest-day who miserably transformes many times the plainest Scriptures into such shapes and turnes their substance into such shadowes and beating out the best of the Kernels feeds his guests with such chaffe and husks and although many other Festivals were observed by those times which may make the Sabbath suspected to be borne out of the same womb of humane custome with the rest yet we shall finde the seventh dayes Rest to have another Crowne of glory set upon the had of it by the holy meÌ„n of God in those times then upon those which superstition so soone hatcht and brought forth so that they that reade the Histories of those times in observing two Sabbaths in some places Easter Whitsunday yea divers Ethnick and Heathenish dayes will need no other comment on those texts of Paul wherein he condemnes the observation of Dayes which beginning to flie abroad in the day light of the Apostles might well out-face the succeeding ages and multiply with more authority in darker times yet so as that the seventh dayes rest call it what you will still kept its place and ancient glory as in the sequell shall appear When therefore the good will of him who dwelt in the burning bush of the afflicted Primitive Churches gave Princes and Emperours to be their nursing fathers pious Constantine among other Christian Edicts injoynes the observation of the Lords Day wherein if he was bound by his place to be a nourishing father he went not beyond his Commission in swadling and cherishing this truth and appointment of Christ and not suffering it to dye and perish through the wickednesse of men the power of Princes extending to see Christs Lawes observed though not to impose any humane inventions and Church constitutions of their own It s true indeed that this Princely Edict was mixed with some imperfection and corruption it following too short in some things and extending too far in others but there is no just cause for any to stumble much at this that knowes the sick head and heart by the weak and feeble pulse and crasie temper of those clouted though otherwise triumphing times The Successours of this man-child borne out of the long and weary throwes of the poore travelling Church were inlarged generally in their care and conscience to preserve the religious honour due to this day untill the time of Charles the Great who in the latter end of his reign observing how greatly the Sabbath was profaned especially by the continuance and leaudnesse of Church-men did therefore call five Nationall Councels which I need not here mention in all which the Sabbath is advanced to as strict observation to the full as hath been of late yeers condemned by some in the Sabbatarian Reformers that it is a wonder how any man should cast off all shame and so far forget himselfe as to make the Sabbath a device of Fulco or Peter Bruis Eustachius or the Book at Golgotha and put the Visor of Novelty upon the aged face of it as if it were scarce known to any of the Martyrs in Queen Maries time but receiving strength and growth from Master Perkins was first hatcht and received life from under the wings of a few late Disciplinarian Zelots And it cannot be denied but that the Sabbath like many other precious appointments and truths of God did shake off her dust and put on her comely and beautifull garments and hath been much honoured and magnified since the times of the Reformation the doctrine and darknesse of Popery like that of the Pharisees not only obscuring the Doctrine of Faith but also of the Law and obedience of Faith and so hath obscured this of the Sabbath only herein they did excell their forefathers the Scribes and Pharisees for these added their own superstitious resting from things needfull and lawfull to their meerly externall observation of the day but they unto their eternall observation of the name of the Day added their abominable prophanations to it in May-games and May-poles in sports and pastimes in dancing and revellings and so laid it level and made it equall in a manner to the rest of their Holy dayes that as they came to shuffle out the second Commandment almost out of the Decalogue so in time they came to be blinded with that horrour of darknesse as to translate the words of the Commandment into some of their Catechismes Remember to keep the Holy Festivals and therefore those Worthies of the Reformation who have contended for all that honour which is due to this day are unjustly aspersed for pleading for a jewish and superstitious strictnesse when
the cause they handle is no other in truth then to vindicate the Sabbath both in the Doctrine and observation of it from Papists prophanesse and therefore all the world may see that under pretence of opposing in others a kinde of Iudaizing upon this day the adversaries of it do nothing else but maintain a grosse point of practicall Popery who are by Law most ignorant and grosse prophaners of this day and therefore when many of Christs servants are branded and condemned for placing so much of Religion in the observation of this day and yet Bishop White and some others of them shall acknowledge as much as they plead for if other Festivals be taken in with it ordained by the Church as that they are the Nursery of Religion and all vertue a meanes of planting Faith and saving knowledge of heavenly and temporall blessings and the prophanation of them hatefull to God and all good men that feare God and to be punished in those which shall offend they do hereby plainly hold forth what market they drive to and what spirit acts them in setting up mans posts by Gods Pillars and in giving equall honour to other Festivals and Holy dayes which those whom they oppose do maintaine as due to the Sabbath alone upon better grounds The Day star from on high visiting the first Reformers in Germany enabled them to see many things and so to scatter much yea most of the Popish and horrible darknesse which generally overspread the face of all Europe at that day but diverse of them did not as well they might not see all things with the like clearnesse whereof this of the Sabbath hath seemed to be one their chiefe difficulty lay here they saw a Morall command for a seventh day and yet withall a Change of that first seventh day and hence thought that something in it was Morall in respect of the Command and yet something Ceremoniall because of the Change and therefore they issued their thoughts here that 〈◊〉 was partly Morall and partly Ceremoniall and hence their observation of the day hath been answerable to their judgments more lax and loose whose arguments to prove the day partly Ceremonial have upon narrow examination made it wholly Ceremoniall it being the usuall unhappinesse of such arguments as are produced in defence of a lesser Errour to grow big with some man-child in them which in time growes up and so serve onely to maintaine a farre greater and hence by that part of the controversie they have laid foundations of much loosnesse upon that day among themselves and have unawares laid the corner stones of some grosse points of Familisme and strengthned hereby the hands of Arminians Malignants and Prelates as to prophane the Sabbath so to make use of their Principles for the introduction of all humane inventions under the name and shadow of the Church which if it hath power to authorize and establish such a day of worship let any man living then name what invention he can but that it may much more easily be ushered in upon the same ground and therefore though posterity hath cause for ever to admire Gods goodnesse for that abundance of light and life poured out by those vessels of glory in the first beginnings of Reformation yet in this narrow of the Sabbath it is no wonder if they stept a littele beside the truth and it is to be charitably hoped and beleeved that had they then foreseen what ill use some in after ages would make of their Principles they would have been no otherwise minded then some of their followers and friends especially in the Churches of Scotland and England who might well see alittle farther as they use to speake when they stood upon such tall mens shoulders It s easie to demonstrate by Scripture and argument as well as by experience that Religion is just as the Sabbath is and decays and growes as the Sabbath is esteemed the immediate honour and worship of God which is brought forth and swadled in the three first Commandments is nurst up and suckled in the bosome of the Sabbath if Popery will have grosse ignorance blind devotion continued among its miserable captives let it then be made like the other Festivals a merry and a sporting Sabbath if any State would reduce the people under it to the Romish Faith and blinde obedience againe let them erect for lawfull pastimes and sports a dancing Sabbath if the God of this world would have all Professours enjoy a totall immunity from the Law of God and all manner of Licentiousnesse allowed them without check of Conscience let him then make an every-day Sabbath if there hath been more of the power of godlinesse appearing in that small inclosure of the British Nation then in those vast continents elsewhere where Reformation and more exact Church-Discipline have taken place it cannot well be imputed to any outward meanes more then their excelling care and conscience of honouring the Sabbath and although Master Rogers in his Preface to the 39. Articles injuriously and wretchedly makes the strict observation of the Sabbath the last refuge of lies by which stratagem the godly Ministers in former times being drivē out of al their other strong holds did hope in time to drive out the Prelacy and bring in againe their Discipline yet thus much may be gathered from the mouth of such an accuser that the worship and government of the Kingdome and Church of Christ Iesus is accordingly set forward as the Sabbath is honoured Prelacy Popery Prophanesse must down and shall down in time if the Sabbath be exactly kept But why the Lord Christ should keep his servants in England and Scotland to cleare up and vindicate this point of the Sabbath and welcome it with more Love then some precious ones in forraigne Churches no man can imagine any other cause then Gods own Free Grace and tender Love whose wind blowes where and when it will Deus nobis haec otia fecit and the times are coming wherein Gods work will better declare the reason of this and some other discoveries by the British Nation which modesty and humility would forbid all sober minds to make mention of now That a seventh dayes rest hath therefore beene of universall observation is without controversie the Morality of it as hath been said is now the controversie in the Primitive times when the Question was propounded Servasti Dominicum hast thou kept the Lords Day their answer was generally this Christianus sum intermittere non possum i. I am a Christian I cannot neglect it the observation of this day was the badge of their Christianity This was their practise but what their judgment was about the Morality of it is not safe to enquire from the tractates of some of our late Writers in this controversie for it is no wonder if they that thrust the Sabbath out of Paradise and banish it out of the world untill Moses time and then make it a meere ceremony all
ever as hee would have that law preserved for ever which these safeguard but on the other side these judicialls which did safeguard ceremoniall laws which wee know were not perpetuall but proper to that Nation hence those judicials which compasse these about are not perpetuall nor universall the ceremonialls being pluckt up by their roots to what purpose then should their fences and hedges stand As on the contrary the morals abiding why should not their judicials and fences remaine The learned generally doubt not to affirme that Moses judicials binde all nations so farre forth as they containe any morall equity in them which morall equity doth appeare not onely in respect of the end of the law when it is ordered for common and universall good but chiefely in respect of the law which they safeguard and fence which if it bee morall it 's most just and equall that either the same or like judiciall fence according to some fit proportion should preserve it still because 't is but just and equall that a morall and universall law should bee universally preserved from whence by the way the weaknesse of their reasonings may bee observed who that they may take away the power of the civill Magistrate in matters of the first Table which once he had in the Jewish common-wealth affirm that such civill power then did arise from the judiciall and not from any morall law when as it 's manifest that this his power in preserving Gods worship pure from Idolatrous and prophane mixtures according to the judiciall lawes was no more but a fence and safeguard set about morall Commandments which fences and preservatives are therfore for substance to continue in as much power and authority now as they did in those dayes as long as such lawes continue in their morality which these preserve the duties of the first Table being also as much morall as those of the second to the preserving of which later from hurt and spoil in respect of their morality no wise man questions the extent of his power Thesis 43. If therefore the question be now made whether the law of the fourth Commandment be morall or no we must then remember that the true state of the question is not in this to wit Whether the law of the Sabbath be a principle of the light of nature knowne and evident of it selfe or at least such as every man that hath the use of reason may readily finde out without some externall revelation as Mr. Ironside injuriously states it wrastling herein with his own shadow with many others of his fellowship in this controversie For morality as hath been declared is of larger extent then such naturality But the question is whether it is one of those lawes which is therefore commanded because it is holy just and good in it selfe whether man see it by any previous light of corrupt nature I or no and being thus commanded as such a law whether it be not therefore of perpetuall and universall obligation binding all Nations and persons in all ages in their hearts lives manners to the observance thereof as a part of that holinesse we owe to God and which God requires of all men according to rules of morall equity or on the contrary whether it be not rather a typicall ceremoniall figurative and temporary precept binding onely some persons or that one Nation of the Jews for some time from the obedience of which law Christians in respect of any law of God are now exempted Thesis 44. For clearing up whereof it may not be amisse to take notice of the agreement at least in words herein on all hands even by those who oppose that morality of the Sabbath which we plead for All sides agree in this viz. That the law of this fourth Commandment concerning the Sabbath is morall But as the differences about the meaning of Tu es Petrus are many so here the difficulty lies to know how and in what sense and respect it may bee called morall for Master Ironside expressely consents in this viz. That all the Commandments of the Decalogue are morall but every one in his proportion and degree and so saith he is that of the Sabbath it is morall for substance but not for circumstance Master Primrose also when he is awake expressely confesseth thus much viz. That the Sabbath is morall in its foundation end marrow and principall substance and that a stinted time is morall and grounded on the principles of nature and therefore the Gentiles saith he had their set dayes of religion and this he tels us is ratified by the Gospel which commendeth to the faithfull the Assembling of themselves together for Word and Sacraments and consequently that they have appointed times to attend upon them wherein the word of God be read and preached as under the old Testament every Sabbath day nay he yields yet more viz. That not onely stinted times but that also there should be a convenient proportion and suitable frequency of time for Gods service now under the Gospell as under the Law and therefore affirmes that the Jewish annuall Feasts and new Moons being but once a yeare or once a moneth and so being rare and seldome could not teach us the convenient and most suitable frequency of Gods publick service as the Sabbath did which returned weekly and therefore he saith that the Commandment runs not thus viz. Remember to keep the new Moons but Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day So that by Mr. Primrose concession not onely a time but a stinted time not onely a stinted but also such a convenient proportion and suitable frequency of time as is once in seven dayes is morally holy by vertue of the fourth Commandment Gomarus also concludes that the publick worship of God required in the fourth Commandment cals for observation not onely of certain but also of sufficient dayes for worship and what these sufficient dayes bee is to bee gathered from the fourth Commandment viz. that they bee not more rare and lesse frequent then the weekly Sabbaths of the Israelites because if God as he shewes challenged a weekly Sabbath of a stiffe-necked people laden with the burden of many other Festivals and Ceremonies how then should Christians freed from their yoaks and burdens have them lesse frequent Master Breerwood also to the like purpose professeth That Christians should noâ— bee lesse devout and religious in celebrating the Lords day then the Jews were in celebrating their Sabbath and his reason labouring with some spice of a contradiction is this viz. because the obligation of our thankfulnesse to God is more then theirs although the obligation of his Commandment to us in that behalfe is lesse for I confesse it s beyond my shallownesse to conceive how the thankfulnesse should bee more and the Commandment lesse unlesse he will imagine some such popish work as exceeds the command Wallaeus comes almost quite over the threshold unto us and maintains upon solid arguments
which Master Primrose contends for but rather directly to the second and reductively and indirectly as appendices to the fourth which appendices as they may be put to so they may be taken off againe the morall Commandment remaining entire even as we know Calvin referres many ceremoniall duties as appendices to such Commands concerning the morality of which Master Primrose doubts not and therefore for him to thinke that the Sabbath comprehends all Iewish Festivall dayes upon this ground viz. because the Sabbath is joyned with and put in among the reckoning of such Festivals Leviticus 23. Isaiah 1.13 14. hath no more force in it than by retorting the argument and upon the like ground prove it to be morall because it is joyned with Morall Commandments as honouring of Parents Leviticus 19.3 and prayer Isaiah 1.19 and by his owne confession with the other nine which are all of them morall also Thesis 65. Secondly not onely a solemne time but more particularly a solemne day a whole day of worship is here also required by vertue of this fouâ—th Command and the Lord gives us good reason for it that if he gives us many whole dayes for our owne work then not some part of a day but a day a whole day according to the reason and expresse words of the Commandment should bee marked out and set apart for his work and service if that place Isaiah 56.6 7. will not demonstrate a seventh dayes Sabbath under the new Testament yet â—â—sufficiently and fully clears the point in hand viz. that a Sabbath day is to be observed by the sonnes of the stranger or Gentiles who are called strangers to the Common-wealth of Irsael Ephesians 2.12 and indeed Wallaeus freely confesseth and proveth that a whole day is here required and if a whole day I hope none will think that the time out of publick Assemblies is common and prophane if a whole day be holy and therefore Mr. Primrose tels us that the Gentiles having no other law but the light of nature have appointed set dayes for the exercise of their religion and that as the Jews had their set days which we know were whole dayes so should Christians have theirs for their publick Assemblies under the Gospel which I hope must be therefore whole dayes also it is also considerable that if the three first Commandments requiring Gods worship do consequently require some time for that worship as being a necessary adjunct to all actions whether morall or civill and without which they cannot be performed then the fourth Command must require somewhat more particularly than a time of worship and therefore they that place the morality of the fourth Command in requiring onely a time of worship because say they a time of worship is necessary may upon this ground wholly and perfectly abolish the fourth Command as superfluous and needlesse because such a time of worship is required in all other Commandments necessarily They may also imagine as great a morality in the command of building the Temple the place of worship because a place of worship is necessary as well as a time it is not therefore a time but such a time as is preserved in a day even in a whole day for worship which is here commanded Thesis 66. The wise God could have appointed some part of every day to be kept holy rather than a whole day together but his wisdome saw this proportion of time every day to be more unmeet in respect of mans daily cumbers which doe so easily intangle mans thoughts and affections so as within some smal piece of a day he cannot ordinarily nor so easily recover and unloose himselfe to find the end of a Sabbath service which is most sweet and full rest in the bosome of his God as he may within the compasse of a whole day set a part for that end or suppose he could so doe in a piece and part of a day yet Gods Name should lose by it if he should not have the hoâ—â—ur of some solemne day which wee see doe serve to advâ—â—ce the names of idoll gods and men on earth it 's meet and just that Gods Name should be magnified by us commonly every day by setting a part some time which we may well spare as whet to the sithe out of our callings for God and this doth honour him but a day much more Thesis 67. They therefore who maintaine that a seventh day is not morall because it is but a circumstance of time may as well abolish time to be morall or any day to be morall because a day let it fall out when it will is but a circumstance of time which notwithstanding they account to be morall in this command but we know that much morality lyes in circumstances and why a day sanctified may not bee as much morall as a duty I yet see not Thesis 68. The Familists and Antinomians of late like the Manichees of old do make All dayes equally holy under the Gospel and none to bee observed more than another by vertue of any command of God unlesse it be from some command of man to which the outward man they think should not stick to conforme or unlesse it be pro re nata or upon severall occasions which speciall occasions are onely to give the Alarums for Church meetings and publick Christian Assemblies an audacious assertion crosse to the very light of nature among the blind heathens who have universally allowed the deity whom they ignorantly worshipped the honour of some solemn dayes crosse to the verdict of popish Schoolmen and Prelatists whose stomacks never stood much toward any Sabbath at all crosse to the scope of the Law of the Sabbath which if it hath any generall morality not denyed scarce to any of Moses Judicials surely one would think it should lie in the observation of some day or days though not in a seventh day for which now we do not contend Crosse also to the appointment of the Gospel foretold by Isaiah and Ezekiel Isa. 56.4 6. Ezek. 43.27 made mention of by our Saviour to continue long after the abolishing of all ceremonies by his death Mat. 24.20 who therefore bids them pray that their flight may not be in the winter nor on the Sabbath day which whether it be the Jewish or Christian Sabbath I dispute not only this is evident that he hath an eye to some speciall set day and which was lastly ordained by Christ and observed in the Primitive Churches commonly called the Lords day as shall be shewn in due place and which notion under pretence of more spiritualnes in making every day a Sabbath which is utterly unlawfull and impossible unlesse it be lawfull to neglect our own work all the week long and without which there can be no true Sabbath doth really undermine the true Sabbath in speciall set days and look as to make every man a King Judge in a Christian Common-wealth would be the introduction of confusion and consequently
and shadowes and figures when once the substance is come to wit when they come in this life to the highest attainment which is the bosome of the Father which bosome is the true Sabbath of a Christian man Now I confesse that the bosome of God in Christ is our rest and our All in All in heaven and our sweet consolation and rest on earth and that we are not to rest in any meanes Ordinances Graces Duties but to look beyond them all and to be carried by them above them all to him that is better than all to God in Christ Jesus but to make this bosome of God a kinde of canker-worme to fret and eat out the heart and being not only of all Sabbaths and Ordinances of worship but also of all duties and graces of Gods Spirit nay of Christ Jesus himself as he is manifested in the flesh and is an externall Mediator whom some lately have also cast into same box with the rest Being sent onely as they think to reveale but not to procure the Fathers love of delight and therefore is little else than a meere forme and so to cease when the Father comes in the room of all formes and so is All in All This I dare say is such a high affront to the precious bloud of Christ and his glorious Name and blessed Spirit of grace that he who hath his Furnace in Zion and his fire in Ierusalem will not beare it long without making their judgements and plagues at least spirituall exemplary and wonderfull and leading them forth in such crooked wayes with the workers of iniquity when peace shall be upon Israel Are these abstracted notions of a Deity into the vision and contemplation of whose amazing glory without seeing him as he is in Christ a Christian they say must be plunged lost and swallowed up and up to which hee must ascend even to the unaproachable light the true and onely Sabbath Are these I say the new and glorious light breaking out in these dayes which this age must wait for which are nothing else upon narrow search than Monkish imaginations the goodly cob-webs of the brain-imagery of those idolatrous and superstitious hypocrites the Anchorites Monks and Fryers who to make the blinde and simple world admire and gaze upon them gave it out hereby like Simon Magus that they were some great ones even the very power and familiars of God Surely in these times of distraction warre and bloud if ever the Lord called for sackcloth humiliation repentance faith graces holinesse precious esteem of Gods Ordinances and of that Gospel which hath been the power of God to the salvation of thousands now is the time and must Gods people reject these things as their A. B. C and must the new light of these times be the dreames and visions and slaverings of doting and deluded old Monks Shall the simplicity of Gospel-ministery bee rejected as a common thing and shall Harphius his Theologia Mystica Augustinus Elutherius Iacob Behmen Cusanus Raimundus Sebund Theologia Germanica and such like Monk-admirers be set up as the new lights and beacons on the mountaine of these elevated times Surely if so God hath his time and wayes of putting a better relish to his precious Gospel and the crosse of Christ which was wont in Pauls time to be plainly preached without such popish paintings and wherein Gods people knew how to reconcile their sweâ—â— rest in the bosome of the Father and their Sabbath day Thesis 81. If sinne which is the transgression of the law bee the greatest evill then holines which is our conformity to the law is our greatest good If sin be mans greatest misery then holinesse is mans greatest happinesse It is therefore no bondage for a Christian to be bound to the observance of the law as his rule because it onely binds him fast to his greatest happinesse and thereby directs and keeps him safe from falling into the greatest misery and woe and if the great designe of Christ in comming into the world was not so much as to save man from affliction and sorrow which are lesser evils but chiefely from sinne which is the greatest evill then the chiefe end of his comming was not as some imagine to lift his people up into the love and abstracted speculation of the Father above the law of God but into his owne bosome onely where only wee have fellowship with the Father above the Law of sinne Thesis 82. The bloud of Christ was never shed to destroy all sense of sin and sight of sinne in Beleevers and consequently all attendance to any rule of the law by which means chiefely sinne comes to be seen but he dyed rather to make them sensible of sinne for if he dyed to save men from sin as is evident 1 Iohn 3.5 Tit. 3.14 then hee dyed to make his people sensible of sinne because hereby his peoples hearts are chiefely weaned and sever'd from it and saved out of it as by hardnesse and unsensiblenesse of heart under it they chiefely cleave to it and it to them and therefore we know that godly sorrow workes repentance never to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 And that Pharaoh's hardnesse of heart strengthened him in his sin against God unto the last gasp and hence it is also that the deepest and greatest spirit of mourning for sin is poured out upon Beleevers after God hath poured out upon them the spirit of grace as is evident Zach. 12.10 11. because the bloud of Christ which was shed for the killing of their sinne now makes them sensible of their sinne because it 's now sprinkled and applyed to them which it was not before for they now see all their sins aggravated being now not onely sinnes against the law of God but against the bloud and love of the Son of God It is therefore a most accursed doctrine of some Libertines who imagining that through the bloudshed and righteousnes of Christ in their free justification God sees no sinne in his justified people that therefore themselves are to see no sinne because now they are justified and washed with Christs bloud and therefore lest they should be found out to bee grosse liars they mince the matteâ— they confesse that they may see sinne by the eye of sense and reason but faith being crosse to reason they are therefore to see the quite contrary and so to see no sinne in themselves by the eye of faith from whence it followes that Christ shed his bloud to destroy all sight and sense of sin to the eye of faith though not to the eye of reason and thus as by the eye of faith they should see no sin so it will follow that by the same bloud they are bound to see no law no not so much as their rule which as a rule is index sui obliqui and in revealing mans duty declares his sinne I know that in beholding our free justification by the bloud of Christ we are to exclude all law
the Westerne and more remote parts and therefore they might more powerfully infect those in the East and they to gaine or keep them might more readily comply with them Let us therfore see into the reasonâ— of this change from one seventh unto another Thesis 10. The good will of him who is Lord of the Sabbath is the first efficient and primary cause of the institution of a new Sabbath but the Resurrection of Christ being upon the first day of the week Mark 16.9 is the secondary morall or moving cause hereof the day of Christs resurrection being Christs joyfull day for his Peoples deliverance and the worlds restitution and new Creation it is no wonder if the Lord Christ appoint it and the Apostles preach and publish it and the primitive Christians observe it as their holy and joyfull day of rest and consolation For some notable work of God upon a day being ever the morall cause of sanctifying the day hence the work of redemption being finished upon the day of Christs Resurrection and it being the most glorious work that ever was and wherein Christ was fiâ—st most gloriously manifested to have rested from it Rom. 1.4 hence thâ— Lord Christ might have good cause to honour this day above all others and what other cause there should be of the publike solemne Assemblies in the primitive Churches upâ—n the first day of the week then this glorious work of Christs Resurrection upon the same day which began their great joy for the rising of the Sun of righteousness is scarce imaginable Thesis 11. No action of Christ doth of it selfe sanctifie any time for if it did why should we not then keepe as many Holy dayes every year as we find holy actions of Christ recorded in Scripture as the superstitious Crew of blind Papists do at this day But if God who is the Lord of time shall sanctifie any such day or time wherein any such action is done such a day then is to be kept holy and therefore if the will of God hath sanctified the day of Christs Resurrection we may lawfully sanctify the same day and therefore Mr. Brabourne doth us wrong as if we made the Resurrection of Christ meerly to be the cause of the change of this day Thesis 12. Why the Will of God should honour the day of Christs Resurrection as holy rather then any other day of his Incarnation Birth Passion Ascension It is this because Christs rising day was his resting or Sabbath day wherein he first entred into his rest and whereon his rest began For the Sabbath or Rest-day of the Lord our God only can be our Rest-day according to the fourth Commandement Hence the day of Gods rest from the work of Gods Rest from the work of Creation and the day of Christs Rest from the work of Redemption are only fit and capable of being our Sabbaths Now the Lord Christ in the day of his incarnation and birth did not enter into his rest but rather made entrance into his labour and sorrow who then began the woâ—k of Humiliation Gal. 4.4 5. and in the day of his passion he was then under the soâ—est part and feeling of his labour â—n bitter Agonies upon the Crosse and in the Garden And hence it is that none of those days were consecrated to be ouâ— Sabbath or rest-dayes which were days of Christs labour and sorrow nor could the day of his Ascension be fit to be made out Sabbath because although Christ then and thereby entred into his place of Rest the third Heavens yet he did not then make his first entrance into his estate of rest which was in the day of his Resurrection the wisedome and will of God did therefore choose this day above any other to be the Sabbath day Thesis 13. Those that goe about as some of late have done to make Christs Ascension-day the ground of our Sabbath-day had need be fearefull left they lose the truth and goe beyond it while they affect some new discoveries of it which seems to be the case here For through Christ at his Ascension entred into his place of Rest yet the place is but an Accidental thing to Christs Rest it selfe the State of which was begun in the day of his Resurrection and therefore there is no reason to prefer that which is but accidental above that which is most substantiall or the day of entrance into the place of his Rest in his Ascension before the day of Rest in his Resurrection beside it s very uncertain whether Christ ascended upon the first day of the week we are certain that he arose then and why we should build such a vast change upon an uncertainty I know not And yet suppose that by deduction and strength of wit â—t might be found out yet wee see not the Holy Ghost expressely setting it down viz. That Christ ascended upon the first day of the week which if he had intended to have made the ground of our Christian Sabbath he would surely have done the first day in the week being ever accounted the Lords day in Holy Scriptures and no other first day do we find mentioned on which he ascended but only on that day wherein he arose from the dead Thesis 14. And looke as Christ was a Lambe slaine from the foundation of the World meritoriously but not actually So he was also risen againe in the like manner from the foundation of the world meritoriously but not actually Hence it is that look as God the father actually instituted no Sabbath day untill he had actually finished his work of Creation so neither was it meet that this day should be changed untill Christ Jesus had actually finished and not meritoriously only the work of Redemption or Restoration And hence it is that the Church before Christs coming might have good reason to sanctifie that day which was instituted upon the actuall finishing of the work of Creation and yet might have no reason to observe our Christian Sabbath the work of Restoration and new Creation and rest from it not being then so much as actually begun Thesis 15. Whether our Saviour appointed that first individuall day of his resurrection to be the first Christian Sabbath is somewhat difficult to determine and I would not tie knots and leave them for others to unloose This only I aime at that although the first individuall day of Christs Resurrection should not possibly be the first individuall Sabbath yet still the Resurrection of Christ is the ground of the institution of the Sabbath which one consideration dasheth all those devices of some mens Heads who puzzle their Readers with many intricacies and difficulties in shewing that the first day of Christs Resurrection could not be the first Sabbath and thence would inferre that the day of his Resurrection was not the ground of the institution of the Sabbath which inferâ—nce is most false for it was easie with Christ to make that great worke on this day to be the ground
unworthy to come into it cannot but infinitely and excessively prize that love of Jesus Christ this day to come and enter into his rest and lie in his very bosome all the day long and as a most loving friend loth to part with them till needs must and that the day is done Thesis 18. The fourth is This holinesse ought not onely to be immediate speciall and constant but all these holy duties are thus to be performed of us as that hereby we may enter into Rest so as that our soules may finde and feele the sweet of the true Rest of the Sabbath and therefore it must be a sweete and quieting holinesse also for the Sabbath is not only called a Sabbath of Rest in respect of our exemption from bodily labour but because it is so to be sanctified as that on this day we enter into Rest or such a fruition of God as gives rest to our soules otherwise we never sanctifie a Sabbath aright because we then fall short of this which is the maine end thereof untill we come so to seeke God as that we finde him and so finde him as that we feele Rest in him in drawing neare to him and standing before him that as God after his six daies labour did Rest and was refreshed in the fruition of himselfe so should we after our six daies labour also be refreshed in the presence of the Lord That in case we want meanes upon the Sabbath yet he may be in lieu of them unto us and in case we have them and finde but little by them conveyed to us yet that by that little we may be carried on the wings of faith beyond all meanes unto that Rest which upon this day we may find in his bosome that as Christ after his labours entred into his Rest Heb 4. so we ought to labour after the same Sabbatisme begun here on earth but perfected in Heaven that after all the weary steps we tread and sinnes and sorrowes we finde all the weeke yet when the Sabbath comes we may say returne unto thy Rest oh my soule The end of all labour is rest so the end of all our bodily and spirituall labour whether on the weeke-daies of Sabbath day it should be this Rest and we should never think that we have reached the end of the day untill we Taste the Rest of the Day nor is this Rest a Meteor in the Ayre and a thing onely to be wisht for but can never be found but assuredly those who are wearied with their sinnes in the weeke and wants on the Sabbath and feele a neede of rest and refreshing shall certainly have the blessing viz. the Rest of these seasons of refreshing and rest and the comforts of the Holy Ghost filling their hearts this day Isa. 10.2 3 4. Isa. 56.5 6 7 8. Isa. 58.13 14. Psal. 36.7 8. Not because of our holinesse which is spotted at the best but because of our great high Priests holinesse who hath it written upon his forehead to take away the iniquity of all our holy Offerings Ex. 28.36.38 and who hath garments of grace and bloud to cover us and to present us spotlesse before the face of that God whom we seeke and serve with much weakenesse and whom at last we shall finde when our short daies worke here is done and our long looked for Sabbath of glory shall begin to dawn Thesis 19. Now when the Lord hath inclined us thus to Rest and sanctifie his Sabbath what should the last act of our holinesse be bvt diffusive and communicative viz. in doing our utmost that others under us or that have relation to us that they sanctifie the Sabbath also according to the Lords expresse particular charg in the Commandement Thou thy Sonne thy Daughter thy Servants the Stranger within thy Gates the excellency of Christs holinesse consists in making us like himsele in holinesse the excellency and glory of a Christians holinesse is to endeavour to be like to the Lord Christ therein our Children Servants Strangers who are within our Gates are apt to prophane the Sabbath we are therefore to improve our power over them for God in restraining them from sinne and in constraining them as farre as we can to the holy observance of the Rest of the Sabbath least God impute their sinnes to us who had power as Eli in the like case to restrain them and did not and so our Families and Consciences be stained with their guilt and bloud Thesis 20. And if superiours in Families are to see their Gates preserved unspotted from such provoking evils can any thinke but that the same bond lies upon Superiours in Common Wealths who are the Fathers of those great Families whose subjects also are within their Gates and the power of their Jurisdictions the Civill Magistrate though he hath no power to impose new Lawes upon the Consciences of his subjects yet he is bound to see that the Lawes of God be kept by all his Subjects provided alwaies that herein he walke according to the Law and Rule of God viz. that 1. Ignorant Consciences in cleare and momentous matters be first instructed 2. Doubting Consciences have sufficient means of being resolved 3. Bold and audacious Consciences be first forewarned hence it is that though he hath no power to make Holy daies and to impose the observation of them upon the Consciences of his subjects because these are his own Lawes yet he may and should see that the Sabbath Day the Lords holy Day that this he observed because he doth but see to the execution of Gods Commandement herein By what Rule did Nehemiah not onely forbid the breach of the Sabbath but did also threaten bodily punishment upon the men of Tyre although they were Heathens yet were they at this time within the Gates and compasse of his Jurisdiction Nehem. 13.21 certainly he thought himselfe bound in conscience to see that the Sabbath should not be prophaned by any that were within his Gates according to this fourth Commandement If Kings and Princes and civill Magistrates have nothing to do in matters of the first Table and consequently must give any man liberty to Prophane the Sabbath that pretends Conscience why then doth Ieremy call upon Princes to see that it be not prophaned with promise of having their Crownes and Kingdomes preserved from wrath if thus they do and with threatning the burning up and consuming of City and Kingdome if this they do not Ieremy 17.19.25.27 If civill Magistrates have nothing to do herein they then have nothing to do to preserve their Crownes Kingdomes Sceptets Subjects from fire and Bloud and utter ruine Nehemiah was no Type of Christ nor were the Kings of Israel bound to see the Sabbath kept as Types of Christ but as nursing Fathers of the Common-Wealth and because their own subjects were within their Gates and under their power and therefore according to this morall Rule of the Commandement they were bound not onely to keepe it themselves but