be a day whereas it is not so proper to say morning with the evening as evening now added to its morning compleateth the first day and evening now being past as the morning before God did put a period by and with the evening to the First day it being the evening that compleateth the day and divideth it from the following day and not the morning as one would say the afternoon with the forenoon maketh a compleat day and the afternoon or evening is first named because 1. the day is not compleat without it seeing it compleateth it 2. because the day cannot be extended beyond it now the first day is closed because the evening of it is come Arg. 2. What time of the day God began his rest we must begin ours but he began his in the morning of the Seventh day the Artificial night having intervened betwixt that and the Sixth which is clear for 1. Gods resting this day is more then his resting in the other nights of the Six dayes it being granted by all that he made nothing in the night 2. There had not otherwise been any intermission betwixt his labour and his rest which is yet supposed by distinguishing the dayes Again if by vertue of the command of a day to be sanctified we should begin the night or the evening before then these two or three absurdities would follow 1. Then we would confound the preparation by the word remember and the day together 2. Then we Christians might also by vertue of the concession of Six dayes for work begin to work the night before Monday as the Jews on this supposition might have begun their work the night before Sunday 3. Then we were almost no sooner to begin the sanctifying of the day then to break it off for rest and when its sanctification is closed as soon to fall to our ordinary Callings Arg. â— If by this command a whole Natural day is to be employed for duties of Worship as another day is employed in our ordinary Callings then is it to begin in the morning the antecedent will not be denied the consequent is thus made good if men account all the labour of their working time from one nights rest to another to belong to one day then must they begin in the morning or else they must account vvhat they vvork after the first evening to belong to another day but that vvay of reckoning vvas never heard of the tvvelth hour belonging to that same day vvith the first hour Again if by this command a vvhole Artificial day together that is our vvaking and vvorking time betvvixt tvvo nights â—e to be employed for Gods vvorship then its beginning must be in the morning for if the latter or follovving evening belong to this Natural day before sleeping time come on then the even before cannot belong to it for it cannot have both but by this command a vvhole vvaking day or an Artificial day is to be sanctified together and the even after it before vvaking time end as vvell as the morning Therefore it must begin in the morning and not on the evening before Further if by vertue of the concession of Six vvorking dayes vve m â—y not vvork the evening after then the day beginneth in the morning for the vveek day follovving must begin as the Sabbath did but the former is true Ergo c. These things vvill make out the minor 1. It can hardly be thought consistent vvith this command to vvork immediately when it groweth dark before folks rest 2. It 's said Luke 23. v. 56. and 24. v. 1. of the women that stayed from the grave till the first day of the week that they rested according to the commandement on the Sabbath day and early in the morning came to the Sepulchre 3. Because Christ accounteth a whole Natural day that which lasteth till men cannot work 4. Gods working dayes to say so were such he made not any thing in the evening before the First day 5. The ordinary phrase To morrow is the holy Sabbath Exod. 16.23 c. sheweth that the day present will last till to morrow come and to morrow is ever by an intervening night So if on the forbidden day men may not work till to morrow then that evening belongeth to it by this command and if on the Sixth day the Seventh be not come till to morrow that is after the night intervene then it doth not begin at even but so it is in these places and phrases Yet again it 's clear that in all the examples of ordinary Sabbaths keeping and sanctifying in Scripture they began in the morning For instance it is said Exod. 16.27 Some of the people went out to gather on the Seventh day no doubt in the morning for they knew well there was none of it to be found any day after the Suns waxing hot they might have dressed of it the night before and not been quarrelled with they being forbidden gathering of the Sabbath the proofs of the former Argument give light to this also There are yet two Arguments to be added which do especially belong to us Christians for clearing the beginning of our Lords day to be in the morning the first is taken from Christs Resurrection thus That day and that time of the day ought to be our Sabbath and the beginning of it when the Lord began to rest after finishing the work of Redemption and arose but that was the First day in the week in the morning Ergo c. This bindeth us strongly who take that day on which he arose to be our Christian Sabbath The second is taken from the History of Christs Passion and Resurrection together wherein these things to this purpose are observable 1. That he was laid in the Grave on Frydayes night being the preparation to the great Sabbath which followed 2. That the Women who rested and came not to the grave till Sunday Morning to use our known names are said to rest according to the Commandement as if coming sooner had not been resting according to it 3. That his lying in the Grave must be accounted to be some time before the Fryday ended otherwaies he could not have been three dayes in the Grave and therefore a part of Frydays night is reckoned to the first day then the whole Sabbath or Saturday is the second and lastly a part of the night to wit from twelve a clock at night belonging to the First day or Sunday standeth for the third and so he arose that morning while it was yet dark at which time or thereabouts the Women came to the Grave as soon as they could for the Sabbath and therefore their Sabbath Seventh day ended then and the first day Sabbath began We now come to the third general question concerning the change to wit the change of the Seventh day into the First day of the Week where first we shall sum up what is moral in this command and then secondly by some Propositions clear
be no material or Typical Temple because of the Moral things there being expressed and Prophesied of under the names of the Old-Levitical-Services yet could not a Warrant be inferr'd from them for these and that Jure Divino if the things were not Morally to bind which were so signified Hence I argue if the Sanctifying of a Sabbath as a piece of worship to God be Prophesied of to belong to the New-Testament then are we bound to the Sanctification of a Sabbath as a necessary Duty but the continuance of Sanctifying a Sabbath unto God is specially Prophesied of and foretold as a piece of worship under the New-Testament Ergo c. The third place is Matth. 24. v. 20. Pray that your flight be not in the Winter neither on the Sabbath-day where the Lord insinuateth that as Travelling is troublesome to the Body in Winter so would it be to the minds of the Godly for he is now speaking to his Disciples alone to Travel on that Day specially and solemnly set apart for God's worship now if there were no Sabbath to continue after Christs Ascension or if it were not to be Sanctified there would be no occasion of this grief and trouble that they behoved to Travel on the Sabbath and durst not tarry till that Day were by-past and so no cause to put up this Prayer which yet by our Lords Exhortation seemeth to infer that the Sabbath was to be as certain in its time as the Winter And doubtless this cannot be meaned of the Jewish-Sabbath For 1 ◠That was to be abolished shortly 2. Travelling on the Jewish-Sabbath was to be no cause of Grief unto them if indeed all dayes were alike neither would it be scrupled in such a case by the Apostles to whom he now speaketh 3. Besides if no Sabbath were to be it had been better and clearer to say Stand not and griev not to Travel any day but his words imply the just contrary that there was to be a solemn Sabbath 4. He mentioneth the Sabbath-day only and not the other Festivals of the Jews which were to be kept holy also and by this he distinguisheth the ordinary Sabbath from those other dayes and opposeth it to many as being now the only Holy day on which they should eschew if possible to Travel and would therefore pray to have it prevented for in the New-Testament the Sabbath spoken of as the solemn time for worship is ever meaned of the Weekly Sabbath and other Holy dayes are called the first or last day of the Feast and therefore if the Lords meaning were that they should pray that their flight might not be on any of the Jewish Holy dayes to mention the Weekly Sabbath only would not be sufficient for that end To say that it was for fear of scandal that they should pray not to be put to flye will not remove the former reasons besides at that time the Apostles and other Christians had given up with the Jews and stood not on scandal in such things in reference to them on whom as the Apostle faith 1 Thes. 2.16 Wrath had come to the uttermost and who were not infirm but malicious and so in respect of offence to be dealt with as the Lord did with the Pharisees and therefore all things being considered it appeareth from our Lords words that a Sabbath among Christians was to be Sanctified 40. years or there-about after his death which proveth that the Scripture mentioneth a Sabbath to be Sanctified under the New-Testament We come unto the second way of making out the Morality of this Command to wit by shewing how the Scripture speaketh of the whole Decalogue and thus we reason 1. If all the Commandments of the Decalogue be Moral then must this be so also for it is one of them and if it were not Moral and binding there would not now be Ten words as they are called by the Lord Deut. 10.4 but Nine only which at first blush will and cannot but seem strange and absurd to those who have from Gods word drunk-in that number But all these are Moral and binding as is granted by all except the Papists who deny the second and therefore score it out of their Catechisms And that they must be all alike Moral and binding may be made out these two wayes 1. All of them in the Old-Testament had alike Authority Priviledges and Prerogatives which neither the Judicial nor Ceremonial Law had as 1. To be distinctly pronounced by God himself without adding more Deut 5.22 2. To be written by His own finger in Tables of Stone Exod. 29.18 3. To be laid up and kept in the Ark Exod. 25.1 ◠And if these and other Prerogatives did put a difference and shew a difference to be put betwixt the other Nine Commands and all Judicial or Ceremonial Laws Why not betwixt them and this also 2. In the New-Testament they are all alike confirmed when the Law in general is spoken of none of them is excepted and therefore this Command is necessarily included For which we should look first to that place Matth. 5.17 Where our Lord in a special manner intendeth to vindicate the Moral Law and to press holiness in Moral Duties upon His Hearers even in another sort than the Pharisies did Think no ◠saith He That I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill Verily he that breaketh one of the least of these Commands and teacheth Men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of God c Where by Law must necessarily be understood the Moral law for he was thought to be a Transgressor of that and especially of this Command in it for that Sermon in Mathew cometh in in order after His being challenged for breach of Sabbath Joh. 5.10 c. And His scope is to wipe off that Imputation and how by shewing that He still presseth the Moral law even beyond what the Pharisies did 2. It was the Moral law especially which the Pharisie s corrupted and whereof he undertaketh the Vindication and it is Holiness in Obedience to that which he presseth as necessary beyond what the Scribes and Pharisies did and indeed it was in that law they failed mainly and not in the Ceremonial law 3. The offence and mistake that Christ is to praeoccupie and rectifie amongst His Hearers requireth this for many of them sancied that by the Messiah there should be a Relaxation from the Duties of Holiness called for in the Moral law and therefore saith He think not so now a Relaxation from some other laws might have been thought of warrantably 4. It is such a law whereof to teach the Abrogation at any time is sinful and pernicious therefore it is certainly the Moral law Secondly We reason thus when He speaketh of the law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by way of eminency meaning no doubt the Decalogue He speaketh alike of all its Commandements even of the least of them and so
It may be objected But God rested the Seventh day Answ. Gods rest is not principally proposed as the reason of that Seventh day but that he rested one day after six imployed in the works of Creation It 's to inferr the number not the order otherwaies it would not concern us 2. The Seventh relateth not to the order of the dayes of the week one two three c. but it 's called the Seventh with respect to the former Six of work Thus much for the quoties and quamdiu how osten the Sabbath recurreth and what is the day It remaineth here to be inquired what is the beginning of the sancti â—ication of this day which belongeth to the quando or wherefrom we are to reckon it seeing it 's granted by all to be a natural day Now it is questioned mainly whether its beginning is to be reckoned from evening about Sun-setting or darkness to Sun-setting the next day or if it be to be reckoned from morning that is as we fix it when the Sun beginneth to ascend towards us after midnight which is morning largely taken as it 's evening largely taken when the Sun beginneth to decline after mid-day In this debate then we take morning and evening largely as they divide the whole natural day so the morning is from twelve at night to twelve in the day and the evening from twelve in the day to twelve at night And it must be so here for 1. Moses Gen. 1. divideth the natural day in morning and evening which two put together make up the whole day and these Six days made up each of them of morning and evening are natural dayes the whole week being divided in Seven of them and that reckoning from Gods example is no doubt proposed for our Imitation in this Hence the morning watch was before day and the morning Sacrifice about nine of the clock so the evening sacrifice was about three in the afternoon and the evening watch about nine at night 2. It is granted by all and is clear from this command that as we account the Six working dayes of the week so must we account the Seventh for one must begin where another endeth and if one of them begin at the evening or morning all the rest must do so likewise 3. We suppose the sanctifying of the ordinary Sabbath was from morning to evening I say of the ordinary Sabbath because for extraordinary Sabbaths as of the Passover Exod. 12. and of the Atonement Levit. 23. there were special reasons and though otherwayes they were to be sanctified as Sabbaths yet that they were to begin in the evening before was added as a special solemnity of these solemn times and therefore the example or instance of these will not be concludent here to the prejudice of what we assert but rather to the contrary seeing there is a particular excepting of them from the ordinary rule and the particular intimation of their beginning in the evening will rather confirm our assertion that the ordinary Sabbaths did begin in the morning 4. It 's not questioned if on the evening before people should be preparing for the Sabbath following we said that this is included in the word remember but if we speak of the Sabbath to begin at the evening before then it will be comprehended as a part of the very day and so it will conclude the work or observation of the day to close at the next evening We conceive especially to us Christians the day is to begin in the morning as is said and to continue till the next morning for which we reason thus Arg. 1. As other dayes begin or as dayes began at the first so must this but dayes ordinarily begin in the morning Ergo c. If the first Six of Moses's reckoning begin so then this beginneth so also but they do begin so which may be cleared from Gen. 1. where the evening and the morning make the First day after the Creation 1. If there the morning and the evening do fully divide the natural day then the morning must go before the evening every morning being for its own evening But they do divide the natural day all being comprehended under Six days Ergo c. the consequence is clear to natural sense for the forenoon which is the morning must be before the afternoon which is the evening the ascending of the Sun is sure before its declining and seeing the morning natural to speak so of the natural day is from the twelfth hour at night this must be the beginning of the day Again the question then being only whether to reckon the evening or the morning first it would seem necessary to reckon the morning first for if the evening be first that evening must either be 1. the evening of a day preceding morning seeing every evening supposeth a morning to go before it in proper speech and I suppose the History of the Creation Gen. 1. is not set down in metaphorical termes or 2. it must be an evening without a morning and that in proper speech here used is absurd and seems also to be as impossible i â— nature to wit that there should be a consequent and posterior evening or afternoon without a preceding morning or forenoon as that there should be an effect without a cause or 3. it must be the evening following its own morning and so that morning must be last preceding the first evening recorded Gen. 1. the evening and the morning were the first day which to affirm would not only be absurd but would also manifestly fasten the loss of a dayes time on the Scriptures calculation and it seemeth hard in all speech and Scripture-phrase to put the evening before its own morning seeing there must be both morning and evening in each day neither doth the Scripture speak any way of evening but when it 's drawing towards night which still supposeth the morning of that same day to be passed or else we must divide the day in the middle of the Artificial day and make the Natural day begin at twelve of the noon day which will be as much against the Scripture phrase that reckoneth still the whole Artificial day as belonging to one Natural day the Artificial day and night being the two parts of one whole natural day All the force of the opposite reason is this the evening is first named Ergo it is first Answ. Moses his scope is not to shew what part of one day is before another but to divide one day from another and to shew what goeth to make a whole day to wit an evening and a morning not a morning alone but an evening added to the morning which preceded that made the first second third day c. as one would reckon thus there is a whole day because there is both evening and morning In this account it 's most sutable to begin with the evening because it presupposeth the morning and being added to it cannot but
from this command If supposing still a change by the morality of this command the Seventh can be changed into no day but the first day of the week then is the change into the first day of divine institution for so that must necessarily be which is by vertue of a command but by this command no other day can be admitted for each week is divided in six working days and these together to us and one of rest and that to God now by changing it to the First God getteth one and we six and that together but if the day were the second third fourth c. it would not be so for the six working days would be interrupted which is contrary to that morality of the Command whereby our days are distinguished from his that ours for one week being fully by we may with the greater freedom give God his The third way we take to prove the change of the day to be by divine Institution is this â— If by the practise of the Apostles who were guided and inspired by the Spirit in things belonging to their Office infallible this day was observed as different from other days then there is a divine institution of and warrant for this day but by the practise of the Apos â—les this day is celebrated as different from and preferred to other days or as divine therefore it 's of divine Institution If the divine practise and example of the Apostles in things moral and common to all do not either suppose a divine antecedent institution or infer a subsequent then their practise and example which in these things is infallible and unerring will have no more force then the example of others which were absurd their examples being especially pressed on us and if in any thing their example be divine it must be in this so particularly and so well circumstantiated and where their meeting is not recorded to have been on any other second third c. day certainly their practise must be not only more then nothing but very significant and indeed in positive worship the Lord hath been pleased to be more sparing to say so and to leave us more to gather from Examples then in negatives as in the positive part of swearing admitting of Church members in government baptism and admission to the Supper yet none can say that there is no Scripture-institution in these where there may be such grounds or examples 4. The divine Institution of the chang may be argued from the title thus if that which is called the Lords be his by divine institution and separation from other things not so called then this first day must be his by divine institution and separation from other days but all that is called the Lords is his after this manner Ergo Let the minor be confirmed these three ways 1. By looking to what is called the Lords generally in the Old Testament as his house his Altar his Priests his Tithes c. are they not still his because by him separate for distinct uses in his worship 2. By looking more particularly how the Seventh day was called his day or the Sabbath his is not this the reason because it was appointed by him for his worship beside other days And can can any reason agree better to this 3. By looking how any thing is called the Lords in the New Testament there is no other or better phrase or designation to try by then that 1 Cor. 11.20 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as this First day called the Lords day is opposed to our dayes or common days and that is called the Lords Supper because instituted by him for such and such spiritual ends and uses And therefore there can be no better ground gotten for shewing why this is called the Lords day beside others th â—n by comparing it with other Scriptures and if in other things that phrase import a divine institution why not in this I do not mean that this is an institution or that it will prove that there must be a clear and express institution shewn but I mean this that it will inferr there is one and that it is divine seeing God is to choose and not we We might here again produce the four Witnesses already attested for the morality of this fourth Command to wit 1. the general practise of primitive Christians 2. their general opinion and judgment 3. mens consciences 4. the dispensations of God which will also all clearly depone in this about the change of the day Propos. 6. Although we know not the peremptory and precise time when this day was instituted and the very first day sanctified nor whether it was immediately by Christ or mediately from him by the Apostles instituted which is of no great concernment to the main of its institution yet we think it most probable that our Lord did from the very day of his Resurrection either himself institute it while as Acts i. v. 3. he taught them what concerned the Kingdom of God or did inspire his Apostles to observe it from that time forth Because 1. If it was not then instituted the Church had for some time wanted a Sabbath the Seventh-day-Sabbath being expired by the Resurrection 2. The reason moving the change and preferring the First day before others as in a nearer capacity of sanctification for that end was from that time forth 3. The Apostles practise of meeting and Christs keeping with them hath been from the first change even on the first two first dayes of the week John 20.19 26. 4. All the practises and other grounds whereby the change is evidenced suppose still the institution to precede which maketh i â— appear to be very ancient And so we resume and close these six propositions 1. The day may be changed from the last to the first 2. It 's meet it should be so and there is good reason for it 3. It can only be to the First 4. It 's so changed actually 5. It 's change is not by Human but by Divine institution 6. It s institution seemeth to be from the rise of the Gospel Church and the very day of Christs Resurrection Hence vve infer 1. Good vvarrant even Gods vvarrant for imploying the Seventh day to our selves seeing God seeketh but one day in Seven and novv has chosen and claimeth the First 2. Gods vvarrant for sanctifying the first-day-First-day-Sabbath or the Lords day as his institution 3. That the Lords day is to be sanctified by us Christians and that by vertue of this command as the Seventh day vvas by the Jevvs on its grounds We come novv to speak of the sanctification of this day vvhich is the main thing and for vvhich all the rest is intended vve shall first consider the precept and then 2. the reasons vvhereby it is inforced The precept is sanctifie it or keep it holy sanctifying of it is twice mentioned in this command 1. In the end it 's said God
hallowed or sanctified it that is by separation destination and appointment for holy uses and as a part of worship so he sanctified the Temple Altar c. not by infusing any holiness in them but by appointing them for holy uses Thus only God can sanctifie a day or any other thing so as to make it a part of worship and no man or power on earth what somever can do that 2 In the precept it self we are commanded to sanctifie it that is by the application of it unto the uses wherefore he hath set it apart thus we sanctifie what he hath sanctified when we use it and imploy it according to his appointment And so we are to consider the sanctifying of this day in these duties called for from us on it This sanctification is two wayes set down 1. In its cessation and rest separating it from other uses and so keeping it from the common uses to which other dayes may and use to be applied 2. In its special application to and imployment in holy uses For clearness we shall consider this sanctification 1. In respect of its rest what we are to abstain from 2. Comparatively with that strictness cal â—ed for from the Jevvs 3. Eminently vvhat is required more as to holiness this day then on other daies vvherein also the Lords people should be holy and vvherein this go â—â—â— beyond these 4. Positively â—n vvhat duties it should be taken up 5. Complexly in respect of vvhat is called for to the right sanctifying of that day before it come on in the time of it and after it is past and that in publick and private and by all relations Master Servant c. and throughout the vvhole man thoughts vvords and deeds and throughout the vvhole day 6. Oppositively or negatively vvhat are the breaches of this command and the aggravations of these sins vvhich break it First then vve consider it in its rest vvhich is required and because there are extreams some giving it too little as the Jevvs did before the captivity some too much even to being superstitious as the Jevvs after the Captivity and the Scribes and Pharisees particularly in Christs time did stretching this rest too farr We must therefore consider it more narrovvly and particularly for quieting of our Consciences for the Jews are by the Prophets Ezek. 20. Jer. 17. and by Christ Matth. 12. reproved for both extremes respectively We do then in this matter assert first That there is a rest required here which is extensive to a mans words thoughts and actions whereby many things lawful on other dayes become unlawful on this day Yet 2. we assert That by this rest all sort of actions are not condemned but only such as are inconsistent with the end and scope of this command as by other Scriptures and the practice of Christ and the Saints is clear we conceive therefore these to be permitted 1. All duties of Piety as was sacrificing under the Old Testament or preaching hearing or going about the Sacraments under the New Testament In which sense Matth. 12. our Lord saith the Priests prophaned the Sabbath and were blameless not that formally they prophaned the Sabbath or did indeed break that command but materially they wrought in killing beasts c. which had been unlawful had it not been in the exercises of piety 2. All things that have a tendencie as necessary helps and means to the performance of the former works of piety are lawful as going to the Congregation to hear the Law calling the Assembly for worship by Trumpets or Bells or by a Voice Journeying going or riding to Church c. because the duties of the Sabbath cannot well be done without some of these nor at all without others of them If it should be asked here What that which is called a Sabbaths day Journey Acts 1.12 was among the Jews and whence it came and what way may it be stinted or limited among Christians Answ. It was to them 2000 Cubits which according to the different measuring of that distance of ground consisting of these 2000 Cubits by a lesser or longer Cubi â— is reckoned to be more or less by learned Men but all agree saies Goodwin in his Moses and Aaron in this that these 2000 Cubits was a Sabbath daies Journey It arose to be reckoned so from these grounds 1. From their expounding Exod. 16.29 Let none go out of his place thus Let none go without the bounds of the City which with its Suburbs was 2000 Cubits or a mile about 2. That the Tabernacle of the Congregation was so far from the Tents of these who pitched about it in the Wilderness Numb 2. as they supposed and that the Priests kept that distance from the people in entering with the Ark into Jordan Jos. 3.4 whence they gathered that a man might still go to the Ark or place of worship as it was then in these cases at a distance from them and no further on the Sabbath day But we say whatever superstitiously or on custome they took up for that is but their Tradition we cannot stint a Sabbath daies journey to so many miles fewer or more but it must be as the man is in providence cast to reside further from or nearer to the place where the Ordinances are dispensed for one may go many miles and not prophane the Sabbath if he cannot have the publick Ordinances nearer whereas another may break the Sabbath by going but to his Neighbours door yea by walking in his own house or to his door if either it be done idly or with respect to another civil or worldly end which agreeth not to that day it is not here remoteness or nearness but what sweyeth us and what is our end that we are to try by 3. All works of mercy are lawful on that day as laying beside us something to the poor 1 Cor. 16.1 sending or dealing something to those who are in want Isa. 58.7 visiting others to comfort strengthen or otherwaies to edifie them christianly though idle and carnal visits albeit alass â— too rise are not permitted 4. Good Works as Christ saith Matth. 12.12 it 's lawful to do good or well on the Sabbath such are giving of Physick when it is necessary bringing of Physiti â—ns saving a mans life and taking p â—ins for it c. Luke 13. these good Works may be classed either with Works of mercy before or with Works of necessity that follow both being good Works as they are Works of mercy or of necessity 5. Works of necessity such as feeding Beasts leading them to the water pulling them out of Ditches when they are fallen into them on that day and much more preparing honestly sober allowance for the susteining of the body as the Disciples pluck't the ears of Corn Matth. 12. and the Jews Exod. 16.23 dressed the Manna on the Sabbath though they were not to gather it yet on the Sixth day to bake and seethe a part and to keep a part
of the breach thereof and therefore ye should consider that it is broken 1. In Doctrine or doctrinally 2. In practice 3. In both when the Doctrines vented and published against truth have external practices following on them as that doctrine of Image-worship hath which we have spoken to already and is the gross breach of this Command and the Lord instanceth it as being the greatest because where this is all sorts of Idolatry are for it supposeth Idolatry against the first Command and that some esteem and weight is laid upon that Creature we worship beyond what is its due as if there were in it some divinity or ability to help whereby it is thought worthy of such honour whereupon followeth that external worship which is given to it upon that account and so because Saints are thought able to hear and help men pray to them and because the Cross is thought holy men worship it c. and as this Idolatry is manifold among the Papists so it is palpable when Prayer is made to Saints Reliques Bread the Cross Images c. Now that we may further explain this consider that this Command is three ways broken doctrinally all which have a great influence upon mens breaking of it in their practice or the Service and Worship of God is three ways wronged by the doctrines of men 1. When some thing is added to his Service which he hath not commanded and this is superstition and will-worship largely so taken Of this kind are 1. The 5 Popish Sacraments added to those two the Lord appointed 2. Other and more Mediators than the One Mediator Christ. 3. More meritorious causes of Pardon and Justification than the blood and merits of Christ. 4. More Officers in his house than he hath appointed such as Bishops Cardinals c. 5. More Ceremonies in worship as Salt Spittle and Cream added in Baptism to VVater and Kneeling c. to the Lords Supper 6. More Holy-days then God hath instituted 7. Other things to be acknowledged for the Word of God than the Scripture as Traditions Apocrypha c. and many such things whereof for the most part Popery is made up 2ly It is broken when his Ordinances are diminished and any thing which he hath commanded is taken away from them as is clear from Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought there from and thus they break this Command by taking away the Cup from Laicks as they call them in the Lords Supper and the use of the Bible from the People in their own Language also it is broken by taking away Baptism from Infants and Discipline or Excommunication from the Church and by taking away the Sabbath day and publick singing of Psalms or such like not to speak of that Blasphemous and some-way Pagan-Her â—sie of Qunquerisme over-turning most if not all the Ordinances of God destructive to all true Religion and Christianity and introducing at least having a native tendency to introduce old Paganism and Barbarity 3dly This Command is broken by corrupting of Gods worship as when the Word is mis-interpreted and mis-applyed Prayers are used in a strange Tongue the Word is mixed with Errours and the Church both left without Discipline and abused in civil things which tendeth to the corrupting of Gods Service unqualified-men put into the Ministry and kept in i â— when Sacraments are rested on and worshipped even as the Brazen Serpent was abused and the Temple though appointed by God at first for good ends was afterward rested on and Idolized Again this Command is practically broken four ways First by gross prophanity and neglect of the practice of known duties of worship this way are guilty all prophane Contemners of Sacraments Word Discipline c. All Neglecters of them when they may have them and all these that set not themselves to go rightly about them in secret in Families or in Publick and wh â—re many opportunities of Gospel Ordinances are this sin is the more frequent and so all Atheists that contemne Religion and these that would only serve God with a good heart and intention as they pretend without any outward worship are condemned here and also those who for fear or advantage give not testimony to the Truth and Ordinances of Christ when such a testimony is called for 2. Men sin against this Command when they practise will-worship and superstition in servin â— God by duties he never required â—â— whether â— It be Will-worship in respect of the Service it self as when that is gone about as duty which is not in it s â—lf lawful as when such and such Pilgrimages and Penances are appointed by men to be done as Service to God Or 2. When worship or Service under the Gospel is astricted to such a place as if it were Holier to pray in one place than in another and that therefore God did hear Prayer there more willingly and easily than in another place Or 3. In respect of bodily posture as if there were more Religion in one posture than in another as in receiving the Lords-Supper Kneeling or Praying in such and such a posture except in so far as it is decent and otherwise rightly regulate by â—ules of Prudence and Natures light 4. When it is without a Divine Warrant tyed to such a time only as Christmass commonly called Yool Easter Pasche c. which is an Observing of times that God hath not appointed 5. When it is tyed to such an occasion or accident as to Pray when the Clock striketh or when on â— Neeseth which Plinius marked of Tiberius who was no Religious man yet could not abide one who lifted not his Hat when he Neesed and said not God bless and he observeth it among these things he can give no reason for the Prayer is good but the timing of it so and astricting it to that thing is superstitious so your lightwakes and Diriges as ye call them are upon this account to be condemned either as superstitious or as prophane or at the best as the reliques and causes or occasions of both For 1. Once in times of Popish darkness they were so used or rather abused 2. Why are your Visits stinted to such a time more than another It profiteth not the defunct and it hurteth the person you come unto a multitude not being â—it for comforting or instructing and yet it cannot be called a meer civil visit being trusted with such an occasion but certainly it suteth not nor is it a Christian carriage toward the Dead and after the Burial of the Dead to spend time together in such a way as is commonly used Beside it is superstitious when a thing without reason is astricted to such a time or occasion as giving and receiving of gifts on new-years-New-years-day too too common amongst Christians though a Heathenish custome which day as Gratian observes was dedicated to their Devil-god Janus He asserts likewise that such Christians as in his
first Gen. 2. beginneth â— with the very first seventh after the Creation then it is spoken of Exod. 16. before the Law was given then Ezod 20. it is contained expresly in the Law and that by a particular and special Command in the first Table thereof and is often after repeated Exod. 31. and Levit. 23. v. 3. where it is set down as the first Feast before all the extraordinary ones which preference can be for no other reason but because of its perpetuity yea it is made a rule or pattern by which the extraordinary Sabbaths or Feasts in their sanctification are to be regulate again it is repeated Deut. 5. with the rest of the Commands and in the Historical part of Scripture as Nehemiah 9.13 it is also mentioned in the Psalms the 92. Psal. being peculiarly intituled a Psalm or Song for the Sabbath day The Prophets again do not forget it see Isa. 56.58 Jer. 17. and Ezek 20.22 In the New-Testament the sanctifying of a day or Sabbath is mentioned in the Evangelists Math. 24.20 Luk. 23.56 Act. 13.14 15 21. 20.7 in the Epistles as 1 Cor. 16. and in the Revel chap. 1. v. 10. As if all had purposely concurred for making out the concernment and perpetuity of this duty 2. Consider how weightily seriously and pressingly the Scripture speaketh of it first it is spoken of Gen. 2. as backed with a reason 2. Through the Law the sanctification of it in particular is described 3. It is spoken of as a mercy and singular priviledge that God gave to his people Exod. 16.29 Neh. 9.14 Ezek. 20.12.4 Many promises containing many blessings are made to the conscientious and right keepers of it Isa. 56.58.5 The breach of it is severely threatned and plagued Numb 15. Neh. 13. Jer. 17. Ezek. 20.6 Many examples of the Godly their care in keeping it are set down see Nehem. 13. Luk. 23.56 Act. 20.7 Revel 1.10 7 The duties of it are particularly set down as Hearing Praying Reading delighting in God works of mercy c. 8. It is in the Old Testament claimed by God as his own day not ours My Holy day Isa. 58.13 and Nehem. 9.14 it is acknowledged knowledged by the People to be His whole they say Thine holy Sabbath which property is asserted of that Holy day as being Gods besides other dayes Rev. 1.10 And this is asserted also in this same Command where it is called the Sabbath of the Lord in opposition to or contradistinction from the other six dayes all which seemeth to speak out something more than Temporary in this Duty of setting a Seventh day apart for God for we speak not yet of the particular day 3. Look to it in all times and states of the Church and ye will find it remarkably Characterized with a special Observation As 1. In innocency it 's instituted set apart from others and blessed and Heb. 4. It is called the rest from the beginning of the World 2. Before the Law was given the Sanctification of it was intimated as necess â—ry 3. In the giving of the Law it is remembred and a Command given to us for remembring it 4. After the Law it is urged by the Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah and kept by the Godly Psal. 92. 5. In the time or after the time of the Captivity the breach of it is reproved Ezek. 20. And its Observation restored by Godly Nehemiah Hitherto there is no difficulty the pinch will lye in this If the Scriptures speak of it as belonging to the days of the Gospel In which for making of it out 1. We have these hints Acts 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 Where Christians going about the Moral Duties of the Sabbath is especially observed to be upon one day peculiarly 2. That Title of the direct appropriating of a Day to the Lord Rev. 1.10 Which places will fall in to be considered particularly when we come to the last question Besides these we may produce three places to prove a Sabbath as belonging to the New Testament though not the very Day used or observed for the Sabbath in the Old and this will be enough to make out the Assertion two of them are Prophesies the third of them is in the Gospel The first Prophesie is in the 66. Chap. of Esaiah v. 23. The second is in Ezekiel's Description of the New Temple Chap. 43.44 45 46 c. Where 1. It is clear that these places relate to the Dayes of the Gospel as none can deny but they do so eminently 2. It is clear that though they Prophesie of the Services of the Gospel under the names of Sacrifices c. proper to the Old-Testament-Administration and of the Sanctified and set-apart time of the Gospel under the Name of Sabbath which then was determined and whereto men were then bound by the fourth Command as they were to Sacrifices by the second yet these Prophesies infer not by vertue of the fourth Command the very same Day to be under the Gospel which was under the Law more than the same Services by vertue of the second which none will deny to be in force notwithstanding of the change of Services and there is as little reason to deny the fourth to be still in force as to its substance notwithstanding of the change of the particular Day Yet Thirdly it is clear that from the mentioning of these Services this will follow that there should be set and fixed Ordinances and a way of Worship in the New-Testament as well as in the Old and that there should be a solemn chief set-time for the Sabbath which men ought to sanctifie and that they should no more admit any other times nor so set apart into a parity with it than they were to admit any Service or Worship not allowed by God or that was contrary to the second Command for if any thing be clear in them this is clear that they speak first of Services then of solemn times and Sabbaths and of the one after the other which must certainly infer that both external Services and a solemn chief time for them do belong to the New-Testament Hence it is that many Divines from that Prophesie of Ezekiel do draw conclusions for fundry things out of those places as 1. Concerning the necessity and continuance of a standing Ministry and though Ministers now be neither Priests nor Levites yet â— say they it followeth clearly that there will be a Mini â—try because such are spoken of there 2. Concerning the necessity of and a Warrant for Church Discipline and separating not only Doctrinally but Disciplinarily the Precious from the Vile and debarring of those who are Morally unclean from the Ordinances because these things say they are Typified in the substance by the Porters being set to keep the Doors and by the charge given to the Priests 3. Anent the continuance of a Church and of the Ordinances of Word Sacraments c. And the Congregating of Christians to attend these though there shall
see a reason why there is no new Command for this in the New-Testament because this standeth in the Law neither are Thou shalt not Swear Kill c. mentioned as new Commands more than this so â—hat had they not been mentioned in the New-Testament as some are not yet had they still obliged It is just so as to this and the reason why they are mentioned may be supposed to be because the main fault about them was defect and short coming but in this it was excess which our Lord also regulateth by holding forth the right observance of it and clearing what was wrong and so is supposed to confirm what he repealeth not 4. Arg. If it be not free for men to carve out God's solemn chief time of worship at their pleasure then is this Command moral for that liberty is restrained by this Command and no other But it is not free for them to choose what time they please or to carve it out This seemeth to be only questionable which is therefore thus confirmed If it be free to men to carve out what solemn and chief time is to be given to and set a part for God's worship then either it is free to them to choose no time at all or it is free for them to choose a longer or a shorter than this But neither of these can be said not the first as is clear not the second because it will not so quadrat â— with the end for if the time be shorter it incroacheth on God's due if it be longer it incroacheth on God's concession of six days to work in If it be shorter it incroacheth on God's due as is said and our souls good if longer it incroacheth on our temporal Calling and Can any restrain man when God giveth him liberty Again If it be free to men so to cut and carve at pleasure on the solemn and chief time for God's worship it s either free for all men together to agree on a day even one and the same or its free for each Country or each man to choose what day they please but neither of these are either possible or practicable to edification therefore must the day be determined to them and if so then sure by this Command And so it s still binding and cannot in that respect be altered without sin which was the thing to be proved 5. Arg. That there is a morality in a Seventh day we may argue from four famous and main Witnesses The 1. whereof is the general practise of all Christians I say nothing of Heathens Apostles and generally all in the Primitive times have ever thought that one day of seven is to be observed and have in less or more accordingly observed it 2. As the Pra â—tise of all so the Judgment and opinion which is often more sound than m â—ns practises of all doth confirm it Was there ever any Churches that did not in all their Catechisms and Canons take in this fourth Command with the rest do not all Writers who comment on the Decalogue comment on this Command and urge the sanctifying of the Lor â—â— day from it 3. Take men â— Consciences for a third Witness and it will be found that for no sin do they more frequently and more sharply challenge then for Prophaning of the Lord's day The Conscience directly making use of this Command and of the M â—mento and other reasons in it for aggravating of that sin when yet it will say nothing for the Seventh day but this first-first-day of seven it presseth most exactly neither will any reason all â—aged against its morality quiet it and the more te â—der that Christians be the more will they find a pressure of Conscience for obedience to this Command and the more easily will they be convinced of and sadly challenged for the least breach of this Command 4. God's Dispensations of Blessings or Plagues especially in spiritual things bear witness to this Truth Doth not experience tell us that those who make mo â—t Conscience of keeping this Command are often yea ever the most thriving Christians as to universal holiness and tenderness and most near and intimate Communion with God and will not the unsutable sanctification of but one Sabbath or the interruption of their wonted seriousness therein give them a sore back-set and on the contrary doth it not appear that those who are gross and untender in this are often gross and untender in all manner of Conversation and are followed with spiritual plagues of hardness deadness and Hypocrisie at the best or else fall into gross outward acts of prophanity or into errours in judgment which are the bad and sad effects of prophaning this day on them who pr â—judg themselves of the bl â—ssing of it and if the blessing of this Law continue must not the Law it self be moral and perpetually binding the obedience whereof hath this blessing perpetually more or less annexed to it as the prophanation thereof hath usually Plagues at least spiritual There are some Objections that are moved against the morality of this Command I shall speak to three of them which are most insi â—â—d on 1. Obj. This Law is not mentioned as being renewed or confirmed in the New-Testament Answ. 1. It 's Authority dependeth not on the mentioning of it so in the New-Testament the Law is God's Word and hath its Authority as well as the New-Testament 2. What if some other clearly mo â—al and binding Law had been omitted or not mentioned in the New-Testament as there seemeth to be no palpable and expre â—s Command again â—t Images though there be against will worship sure it is enough that it is not repealed in it so it is here as is said 3. Sundry other positive Laws are binding which are not mentioned in the New-Testament such as these For a man not to Marry his Sister or his Aunt c. 4. It will be â—ound on the matter to be confirmed when we shall see what warrant there is for the Lord's day which is one of seven and yet is clearly holden forth in the New-Testament But this Command as also that relating to Idolatry are so little mentioned because the I â—w â— after the Captivity were not so much in the defect of obedience to these Commands but were rather disposed to a superstitious excess which maketh Christ often rectifie that abuse of the fourth Command but never to annul it The third Command also anent Swearing might be said to be abrogated because it is not so positively asserted in the New Testament 2. Obj The Apostle Rom. 14.5 6. Gal. 4.10 Col. 2.16 seemeth to cast away difference of times especially of Sabbath-days which could not be if this Command were moral Answ. The Apostle cannot be understood simply to cast away the observation of all days as a bondage so to make all times alike For 1. That would contradict his own practise and the practise of the other Apostles for it is clear
see that these families where religious Worship is are generally more civil at least than other families where it is not and that the children and servants of such families readily profit most are most countenanced by Gods blessing and are in greatest capacity to get good of the publick Ordinances 6. The Lord loveth to have a distinction betwixt these that serve him and these that serve him not Now as to a family relation what difference is there betwixt a professing Christian fam â—ly where the joynt worship of God is not and a Heathenish family Heathens live and eat and work together and when no more is seen they look very like the one to the other Even as in a Nation where no publick Worship is though private persons privately seek God yet there seemeth to be no publick National difference betwixt that Nation and a Heathen Nation so in the former case a Family-difference will hardly be found if any should inquire of what sort of families these are Add that it will be hard to say that a man should take care of the outward Estate of his family and neglect the spiritual and keep Communion with his family in temporal things and none in spiritual Duties yea doubtless he should be much more in these as being both more necessary and more excellent Having first shewed that this fourth command holdeth forth a family Worship and having secondly confirmed it more largely from other scriptures and grounds of reason it followeth now according to the method proposed that we shew in the third place how particularly the Scripture describeth wherein it doth consist whereby it will further appear to be of God The Scripture describeth it four wayes 1. In general it is called in Abraham and Josua's Case keeping the way of the Lord serving the Lord very comprehensive expressions taking in much and here it 's sanctifying of the Sabbath that is performing of the duties which are to be discharged for the right sanctifying of that day we conceive it to be in short to do these things in a joynt family-way which a Servant of God may and ought to do alone that is to pray read sing Psalms c. or to do in a domestick way what Christians in providence cast together may do as to pray read further one anothers edification by repeating of Sermons spiritual conference instruction exhortation admonition c. for they have their tye of Christianity and this of a family-relation beside which doth not abrogate the former nor derogate from it but doth further corroborate and add more strength to it as to make it more necessary and less elective more frequent and less occasional and to be now by domestick rules authoritatively regular for edification which cannot so be by the simple tye of Christian Communion 2. It speaketh of particular duties wherein they should joyn as 1. Here of sanctifying the Sabbath in all the duties of it adding more to our family-worship that day than other dayes as well as to our secret worship for the Sabbath was to have its double offering 2. Of praying Jer. 10. ult which is necessarily included in that mourning mentioned Zech. 12. a fruit of the poured out spirit of Grace and Supplications so 2 Sam. 6. Davids blessing his family is to be understood of his going before them in prayer to God for a blessing on them not in common as a publick Prophet which he did with the People but as a peculiar duty discharged by him to his family whereof he was head 3. Of Family fasting or setting of time apart in the family extraordinarily for Fasting and Prayer as in Zech. 12. in that solemn mourning and in Esther 4. where it is recorded that she and her Maids who were her family and all the Jews at Shusan who yet could not have in that place a publick fast did go about that duty 4. Of Instruction a most necessary duty to instruct and teach the family the knowledg of God the command goeth expresly on this Deut. 6.7 8 and 11.19 20. where we are commanded to talk of the Law within the house to teach it our Children diligently or as the word is to whet it on them by catechising and to write on the posts of our doors and on the walls of the house for what end I pray Sure for this very end that the house might have the means of knowledg in it and that the knowledg of Gods Law might be taught and learned in it and will any think that the walls should teach and the Master be silent Especially seeing it is for the families behoof that these things were written What if some in the Family could not read Which on several accounts might be then it would follow that they were lost if there were no more nor other teaching then what was by writing on the walls when Abraham commanded his house to keep the way of the Lord and to serve him will any think he did not teach them who he was and how he should be served By proportion other things fit for edification and as Worship to God come in here particularly praise as appeareth by the 30 Psal. intitled a Psalm or Song at the Dedication of Davids house 3. The Scripture speaketh of and holdeth out the duty of the particular members of the family and that in reference to the stations they are in and the relations they sustain and stand under as of Husband and Wife that they live together as the Heirs of the grace of life and so as their prayers may not be hindred of parents that they do not only provide for their children temporal things but that they also bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and 1 Tim. 3.4 and 12. both children and servants are put in together 4. The Scripture speaketh of ordering of families by a special Family-Discipline and Authority therefore it is called in Abraham commanding or charging his Servants to keep the way of the Lord and 1 Tim. 3. a ruling of their own house well with some resemblance unto ruling in the Church by Ecclesiastical Discipline with which it is some way compared as having a fitness or as being an evidence of fitness for that This Discipline consisteth especially in these three 1. in making good domestick Laws for children and servants in ordering every thing aright that concerneth the promoting of Godliness and edification amongst them and in timing of things rightly so as every duty that is to be done in the family may be done in the beautiful season of it 2. In putt â—ng forth a paternal or parental and masterly authority in carrying on these ends commanding or charging as Abraham did ruling so as children and servants may be kept in subjection it is very insutable and no wayes allowable that Masters should command in their own business and o â—ly intreat in the things of God 3. In exacting an accou â—t of Obedience and censuring Disobedience Job and
of mercy and necessity which Christ allowed on the Sabbath which was made for man and not man for the Sabbath 3. Yet care would be had lest under pretext of these we exceed and apply too much of what is the Lords unnecessarily for our selves and on our lusts and if we will wake for ordinary business and keep upon such and such a Dyet other Dayes yea if we might do it or others no more strong then we do it the pretence of infirmity will not excuse u â— especially seeing hardly it can be often instanced that timeousness at Gods Work in that day or earnestness and continuance in it hath proved hurtful which we may account as a part of Gods blessing on the seventh day that less meat and sleep may be as refreshful as more at another time thus much for the quamdiu or the Continuance of the day Secondly it may be inquired how often by vertue of this command that day doth recur if it be one of seven or if it be the very seventh And so if this day be to be taken definitely for the very seventh day after the Creation or indefinitely for one day of seven as the Lord should other wayes determine or had elsewhere determined astricting then to a day but not any particular day by vertue of this command but to such a day as was formerly described or prescribed from the beginning during the Jewish State and to such another day as God should after Christs coming reveal unto them and pitch upon for his service for taking it for granted that a Seventh day as moral is commanded it followeth to be inquired whether it be the Seventh in number that is one of seven or the seventh in order that is the Seventh day For answering this we would premit 1. That there is a great difference betwixt these two the one to wit that there be a Seventh doth concern the matter and substance of piety the other to wit which of these Seven it be is more circumstantial and is alike if it be appointed by God and have the blessing 2. That it is usual for God in his commands concerning worship not at first to express a particular definitely but to deliver it in the bosome of a general indefinitely mediately and by clear consequence as it were several Species under one Genus As for instance 1. when Deut. 12.5 he commandeth his people to offer their Sacrifices in the place which he should choose here there is a stinting or astricting of them to the place which God should reveal unto them this before the Temple was built tyed them to the Ark and sometimes to one place and sometimes to another as it was removed and placed till it was brought to Jerusalem but after the Temple was built and chosen for the place it astricted men to that yea when the Temple is destroyed and Christ come it astricteth men to no place by another but it obligeth men to worship God every where in spirit and truth It 's true this is a Ceremonial precept and will not hold in all things especially as to its abolition yet while it stood by a positive Authority or Precept it sheweth that God may command a particular as one day of seven and yet not instantly so determine but that one and the same command may inforce to diverse dayes at diverse times upon supposition o â— God 's manifesting his mind even as by one command men were astricted successively to diverse places 2. See it instanced in the second Command wherein God requireth such a worship as he himself should prescribe which is the moral affirmative part of it and dischargeth all worship by Images that is its moral negative part thereof by vertue whereof Believers were then tyed to offer Sacrifices to Circumcise to keep the Passover c. but now Believers are tyed to Baptize to celebrate the Lords Supper c. yet by vertue of one and the same command so here that command which requires the Seventh day from the Jews may require the First day from us Christians for the Sabbath because these particulars are not expresly directly and immediately called for by these commands but indirectly and by consequence yet this second command tyed the Jews to abstain from blood and to circumcise before the ceremonial Law was added to them because these commands were formerly revealed to them but it tyed them to these accidentally to say so and by consequence only even so we say of the fourth command as to the Seventh day it being instituted before consider for this Exod. 16.26 where six dayes for gathering of Manna and a seventh for rest are spoken of A third Instance is in Tithes which was the Lords requiring a part of their Means or Substance as this was a part of their time he there required the tenth part of their increase as here he doth the seventh part of their time yet God in proportioning their estates did not particularly limit to any exact and precise order but as to this proportion of their estates whatever they were so we say here had not the day been determined otherwayes then by this command it would not have implyed any particular definite day of the Seven 3. We premit that though the Seventh day be called moral as is expressed in the command or understood yet it is but moral-positive and so alterable at the will of the Law-giver and therefore the question would not be much different if acknowledging the Seventh day to be commanded to the Jews as well as one of seven we yet asserted the seventh to be discharged and one of seven to be still retained for so one of seven would be binding now and not the Seventh 4. Yet lest we should seem to admit somewhat changeable in the very command it self precisely considered we would put difference betwixt the commanding part of the Law and its explicatory part the command may be moral and indefinite although some things in reasons and motives were not so as in the preface which inforceth all the commands and in the promise annexed to the fifth there was somthing peculiar to that people yet cannot we cast off all because of that suppose there had no more been in this fourth command but remember the day of rest to keep it holy that would not have inferred the Seventh day though we think the Jews because of its former sanctification would have been obliged to keep that day by vertue of this command And suppose that in the explications or reasons there may be something added peculiar to that people which cannot be a Seventh day but at the most if any thing the Seventh day yet that which is in the commanding part will still stand moral to wit that the day of rest should be remembred and if it can be made out that it was determined to the Jews to sanctifie the Seventh day though it were in the reasons added and to us afterward to sanctifie the First day
the change and its consistency with this command To the first then this command doth morally and perpetually oblige to these â— That there be a solemn time set apart and observed for Worship 2. That this should be one day of Seven 3. That it should be such a day the very day which God commandeth the Sabbath of his appointment whatever day it should be 4. That it be a whole natural day of twenty four hours yet having an Artificial day together undivided 5. That six and no more but six working dayes intervene and that these be together in a Week and therefore 6. That the Sabbath be a bounding day dividing one working Week from another if then six working days must be in one week and go together this will follow also that the Sabbath must be the first or last day of the Seven As for the Propositions clearing the change and consistency of it with this command the first shall be this The Sabbath may be changed from the last or Seventh day to the First day of the week without any derogation to this command or inconsistency with it for all that is moral in it to wit a day and one day of Seven and a bounding Seventh day leaving six for work together remaining untouched by the change beside the Seventh day not having its Institution from this command expresly and directly but only accidentally the particular day whether the Jews Seventh day or the Christians First day of the week being supposed by the fourth Commandement as instituted or to be instituted elsewhere as is said and it 's first Institution Gen. 2. being only a positive and temporary Law may be therefore changed and yet the fourth Commandement keept intire we need not insist in further prosecution of this Proposition much being spoken to it on the matter already 2. Propos. Not only may the Seventh be altered from what it was under the Law to another Seventh day under the Gospel but it is meet and convenient from good reasons even in the Command that it should be so For 1. If these two ages before Christ and after him be looked on as diverse worlds and if the Redemption by Christ at his coming be accounted the making of the one as Gods Creation was of the other then it 's meet that when the world is renued by Redemption the Sabbath day should be changed for memory of that as well as it was instituted at first for the memory of the former there being the same reason for both But they are looked on as two distinct worlds and called so in the Plural number Heb. 11.2 and this last world distinguished from the former Heb. 2.5 and the redeeming of the one is looked upon as the making of the other therefore from that day forth the day of rest is to be such as may relate to both now the day being changed to the first it remembreth us of Gods rest at the Creation by distinguishing Six days from the Seventh and it remembreth us of the new Creation by putting Christs Resurrection in the room of the former Arg. 2. If the new world be a work as much for the Glory of God and as comfortable to men vvhen it s begun and closed or finished by the vvork of Redemption as the making of the old World vvas then the day of rest of the new World is to be made to relate to that much more if the Redemption of the World be more for the Glory of God and for the comfort of men then by the ground on which the Seventh day was at first instituted it 's also again to be changed to vvit the memory of Gods great vvork but both the former are true Ergo or thus if the ground that made the Seventh to be chosen for the Sabbath in the old World be changed in the new and that ground agree better to another then to it then it is to be changed But the ground whereupon the old Seventh day vvas preferred is now changed and there are grounds to prefer another day to it for the same ends therefore it is meet the day be changed also Or thus if the perfecting of the vvork of Redemption and the rest of the Mediator after it be as much to be remembred as the vvork of Creation and Gods resting after it then the day is to be changed but so it is Ergo. Arg. 3. If by Christ in the new World all the Levitical Services be changed and the Ceremonial Worship of that day then it is meet that the day also should be changed 1. For shewing the expiration of that Worship and Law it being hard to keep that day and to distinguish it from the Jewish former Worship 2. To keep Christians more from Judaizing and to abstract them even from former Services of the Sabbath now abolished just as now no particular family hath the Priesthood as Levi had it before nor no particular Nation hath the Church confined in it as that of the Jews had though these vvere not typical properly yea it vvould be such a day as vvould point out the evanishing of former Ceremonies vvhich the in-bringing of the first day abundantly doth Arg. 4. If the Worship and Ordinances of the new Gospel-world be eminently to hold their Institution of Christ the Mediator and to be made some vvay relative to his Redemption past then it is meet for that end that the Sabbath day be changed so as it may be dependant on him as all other worship is that is moral-positive or positive moral and that cannot be done vvell if the former day be kept unchanged at least not so vvell as vvhen it is changed but the former is true all Gospel-worship holdeth of him Sacraments Prayers Praises Ministry c. now Sacraments as they â—eal are not ceremonial for the tree of life vvas instituted to be a seal of the Covenant of vvorks in the state of Innocency before the fall vvhile there vvere no typical Institutions of a Saviour to come and so Sacraments as they are Seals may be continued as perpetual pieces of Worship vvithout hazard of typifying a Saviour to come therefore he instituted new ones and that with relation to his work of Redemption considered as past Hence also his Prayer or Pattern is called the Lords Prayer and his Sacrament of the Supper is called the Lords Supper because instituted by him and relating to him in this Sence it is peculiarly said Heb. 2.5 That God put in subjection to him the vvorld to come different from vvhat vvas before and he is put as the Son in the Nevv Testament in the place of Moses vvho vvas the Lavv-giver and faithful Servant in the Old Heb. 3. upon this ground vve think that day is called Heb. 1.10 the Lords day to bring it in a dependance on Jesus Christ and to make it respect vvhat is past of the vvork of Redemption Arg. 5. If the day of solemn publick Worship be a piece of Gods Worship
other day can be substituted in place of the old Seventh day reserving intire the morality of this command therefore it must be this that is put in the place of that for this command requireth 1. one day of every Seven allowing Six of every Seven to work and that together Now if the day had gone beyond the Sabbath ensuing it had not been one day of Seven if it had been the second third or fourth day then the Six working dayes had not gone together But now the First being appointed for God next to the Seventh God hath his part or tribute called for and then came Six working dayes together unto us of that same Week and so still they run God hath One and we have Six of the same Week If it be here objected that this way the new World is begun with a Sabbath whereas the Sabbath closed and ended the Creation of the old World Answ. 1. Thus God hath no loss of what he required for this way no Week wanteth its Sabbath 2. It 's most sutable that the old World should end in a Sabbath and the new begin in a Sabbath that so the worship of the new which most distinctly discovereth the change might the more immediately and convincingly preach the change which could not so well have been done if working dayes of both had met together or a working day of the one and the Sabbath of the other 3. Though the old Sabbath was the Seventh in order from the Creation yet it was the First day after mans Creation God beginning as it were and entring him with that even so when men are brought into this new World or change God will begin it with gladness and joy to them Propos. 4. The day of solemn publick worship required to be observed by this command was really changed from the Seventh or last day to the First day of the Week according to the former grounds That it was really changed may be made out by these 1. That the Apostles and primitive Christians after Christs Resurrection and Ascension had their solemn day for meeting to worship God yet neither did they by themselves together in practise keep the Seventh nor by command appointed it to be kept nor gave it the title of the Lords day It 's true that often they kept it in a sort with the Jews as they did Pentecost for the opportunity of the multitude coming together on these dayes or to bury it with honour as they did practice for a time several of the Jewish Rites antiquated for their gaining and till they were fully informed of their abolition but in constituted Churches of the Gentiles we never read that they kept it but another day 2. The Apostles and primitive Christians kept and esteemed the First day for their solemn day beyond and above all dayes yea and it only as the Christian Sabbath For 1. on that day they used to meet ordinarily and that not occasionally but purposely and determinately as John 20. v. 19. and 26. which is clearly the First day 2. They are purposely together and not for fear for fear scattereth but while they are together they do for fear shut the doors being very probably led from the news of the Resurrection to be together and so again v. 26. they meet and Christ with them And though it may possibly be that on other dayes they met yet doubtless this holdeth forth something peculiar to this day and some Lesson to be taken from it That 1. Christs coming to them is especially trusted on that day and that while they are together 2. That when they met at any other time ' ere he came to them it 's never said they were or came together the second third or fourth day of the week but on the First and vvherefore doth the Holy Ghost record that day or their meeting on that day when he omitteth the naming of other days but that that day in its Exercises may be especially taken notice of and though other dayes had been much alike in Exercises to them yet the recording of this day so often and omitting the other intimateth a difference sure they are not alike in this so much for the 20 of John which is the first place of Scripture we make use of The second is Acts 2.1.2 Here they are said to be all with o â—â— accord in one place when Pentecost came where it 's clear 1. That Pentecost was on the first day of the week for it was the fiftieth day after the Feast of unleavened bread Now according to the Jews account their Passover day was on the Sabbath called John 19.3 â— an high Sabbath in which Christ lay all the day in the grave as appeareth for that day is called their preparation for the Feast wherein Christ suffered which is our Fryday reckon now what will be the fiftieth day after or Pentecost and it will be found to be the First day of the week And it 's not only observable for their meeting but for God's sending the Spirit on them as a special blessing of that day and his countenancing of their worshipping him on it according to his promise 2. It is clear that they did meet together on this day 3. That this meeting together was not a daily or ordinary meeting together for John 21 we see they went to Fishing and no question sometimes they went asunder for v. 1. it 's marked as a thing not ordinary to every day that on that day they were altogether in one place 4. It was not a meeting in reference to the Pentecost feast for 1. They only are together distinct from the People 2. It 's not in the Temple but in some other house fit for their meeting together at publick Worship it must be therefore because that day was the time of their solemn meeting even their Christian Sabbath The third place is Acts 20.7 and upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them c. where it is clear 1. That this meeting was for publick Worship as the breaking of Bread and Preaching intimateth 2. That there is some observableness in this Circumstance that it was on the first day of the week and that that day is mentioned rather then any of the former six dayes in which he had been there at Troas though it 's more than probable they had meetings and preaching on them also but this is the only and great difference that their meetings on these days were occasional and it may be but partial to speak so but the solemn chief sixt meeting of all was usually and ordinarily on the First day 3. This coming together on that day for these ends is spoken of as a thing that was not new nor occasional but as their customary constant known Practice they came together purposely to break bread and to wait on other Ordinances 4. It 's clear that by special applying of these Exercises to
that day and by mentioning of the day for that end that that day was their most solemn day and that the Old Seventh day was not so at least necessarily imployed by them 5. Neither is it like That Paul who was ready to depart would have stayed for the first day of the week if there had not been some solemn worship in that or that he would have passed the old seventh day-Sabbath especially to the marring of his other occasions had they been equal if more sanctification had been required in it then in the First day of the week or that he would have so much insisted in religious publick worship on that day if the former Seventh had been imployed in that service but here the Church being constituted of believing Gentiles there is no mention of the old Sabbath but as of another common day of the week yea 6. Pauls spending this whole day in that service and continuing his Sermon till midnight yet accounting it still one day in solemn meeting doth confirm this day to be more than an ordinary day or then other days of the week as being specially dedicated to these Services and Exercises and totally spent in them 7. It 's said that the Disciples c â—me together they were not sent for that day but they came together being called and accustomed so to do on that day and as being put to these duties by the day as the proper Exercises in which it is to be spent Hence we may argue If the Apostles and primitive Christians did observe the First day of the week as their prime and chief time for solemn publick Worship and did pass over the old Seventh day then is the day changed from the Seventh to the First day of the week but the first is cleared by the former Instances Ergo c. And if these meetings on that First day were not such as used to be formerly on the seventh day I desire to know a reason 1. Why their meetings on that day should be particularly recorded rather than their meetings on any other day and then 2. Why the one is so oft mentioned and the other never to vvit that they met the second third day c. of the week Or 3. If their meeting on this First day now after Christs Ascension be not like his going to the Synagogue on the Seventh day-Sabbath and doing such and such things on the Sabbath that day being most frequently mentioned before whereas now there is deep silence of that day and the first day is reco â—ded in its room neither can the Scriptures speaking of the one and silence in the other be for no purpose or for any other purpose And as the practice of the Church holdeth out the change of the day so doth the Title given Rev. 1.10 to the first day of the week to wit the Lords day confirm the same whence we argue If the Title which by the Lord and his people was given to the Seventh day-Sabbath under the old Testament and under which and by vvhich he claimeth a Seventh day in this command If I say that Title in the New Testament be not given unto the Seventh but unto the First day of the week then is the day changed from the Seventh day to the First and the First falleth now under this command as the Seventh formerly did but the former is true the First is styled as the Seventh was and as this command styleth and claimeth the day to the Lord to be observed for him therefore now is the Sabbath changed from the Seventh day to the First day of the Week The Titles whereby the Sabbath is distinguished from other days and peculiarly claimed and marked by God as his and that in this same command must certainly evidence that day which he hath set apart and doth claim as he applyeth them And therefore if these Titles be given and applyed to the first day now it must needs shew a succeeding of that day unto the former Seventh for during the Observation of the Seventh day these Titles were not nay could not be applyed to the First no day being then the Lords but the Seventh Now we find that the Seventh day-Sabbath is in the Old Testament styled by the Lord under these Titles and so claimed by him 1. It 's called here the Sabbath of the Lord or to the Lord that 's the Lord's as contradistinguished from the Six days he hath given unto us a day that he hath right to and not we therefore called the Lords Sabbath 2. Isaiah 58.3 It 's claimed by the Lord as his my Holy Day which is so called 1. to distinguish it from other days 2. To stamp it with the Lords mark in respect of it's use for it is not to be applyed to our use but to his own it being his in a special manner But in the New Testament after Christs Resurrection the Seventh day is not so styled and claimed but the First day of the Week is Rev. 1.10 I vvas saith John in the Spirit on the Lords Day In which place these things are clear 1. That after Christs Ascension there vvas a peculiar day belonging to the Lord beside and beyond other days 2. That it was not the old Sabbath for 1. Johns scope being particularly to clear the time of the Vision by the Circumstance of the day the particular day as distinct from other days to call the Sabbath then used amongst the Jews the Lords day had more obscured it then cleared it yea 2. In that it 's called the Lords according to the phrase of the new Testament it supposeth some relation to Christ the Mediator as being derived from him which cannot be said of the Seventh day Sabbath 3. That it was not any indefinite day of the Lord For 1. there is great odds betwixt the Lords Day and the Day of the Lord the former looketh to a constant special right and peculiar interest that God hath in that day beside other daye â— even as when the Seventh day was called his Day before the Temple his Temple the prescribed Service his Service and the Sacrament of the Supper his Supper c. 2. That day would be still dark to the Church if it were indefinite contrary to Johns scope 4. That it is and must be such a day as was commonly set apart by Christians to God as his and that with respect to Christ the Mediatour and such a day as was known to them And by the former practises it is clear that this day is the first day of the Week being the Lord Christ's day who now having conquered death and gotten the victory He doth therefore claim this day as a tribute to him This being clear that no other day can claim this title and that the First day hath good ground to claim it we may put it out of question that it is the First day or no day or if it were not the First that to no purpose were the
that men at the close of the week should lay up by them as God had blessed them then to reserve it to the beginning of another week were not the First day more especially to be sanctifyed then the last and the last to be accounted but an ordinary working day The fitness then floweth from this that the first day of the week being the day of their solemn Communion with God and with one another and the day of their partaking most liberally of spiritual blessings from him that therefore they should be most readily warmed in their affections and be most liberal in their Communications to such as wanted especially if we consider the Jews to be parties for whom that Collection or Contribution was It 's the Apostles great Argument whereby he pleadeth for Charity to the poor Jews from the Christian Gentiles Rom. 15.26 27. That the Gentiles were their Debtors in temporals because they had received spiritual things from them now this argument is most fresh and powerful when believers do on the First day of the week record Gods priviledging them with his Ordinances and giving them his day in place of the Ordinances and day â— which the Jews once had and yet deriving these unto them by the Jews I say this Argument will then be most fresh to incite to that duty in particular If any say that it was accidental that the first day was chosen or named rather then another because one behoved to be named and it was alike which But 1. I demand why is it universal If it were from one Church only it might possibly have been thought so but he doth call for this Duty on that day from more Churches 2. Why doth he not recommend it but command it as having more then an indifferency in the very day And 3. Can it be by guess or accident to speak so that so many priviledges are fallen on that day And that so many things are recorded of it and astricted to it by commands which is not done of and to any other days And if one place would not suffice to prove that the First day and not the Seventh day was preferred by the Apostles as the chief day of solemn publick worship yet all these things put together must prove a preference in that day or we must say that the Penmen of Holy Scripture have been very partial who have marked many things and recorded them concerning Gods Worship on that day and have never so much as once for solemn Service named what was done on the second third fourth fifth dayes we must either say that this is inadvertently done which were blasphemy considering by what Spirit they wrote or we must say it 's done to put a preference on that day and to shew that it 's especially to be taken notice of as the most solemn day for God's worship by Christians which is the thing to be confirmed for the day that 's claimed as the Lords kept for him and singularly marked to be priviledged beyond other days must be his day but this First day is such Ergo c. Propos. 5. This change of the day whereby the Seventh is laid aside and the first substituted in its room is of divine authority and institution and not by any meer human or Ecclesiastick Constitution I conceive there is indeed no mids here betwixt a divine Institution which hath Gods warrant and authority stamped on it and for Conscience sake is to be observed as being obligatory thereof and that immediately and human or Ecclesiastick Constitutions which may reach the external m â—n but in the matters of worship cannot bind the Conscience or impose them as necessary Now that this change is not by the last but by the first we prove these ways 1. Thus if it be not human or Ecclesiastick t â—â—n it must be divine but it is not human or Ecclesiastick ergo it's divine That it is not human will appear 1. If it reach the Conscience and that immediately then it 's not human but divine but it doth so 2. If no man or Church on earth have power to alter Gods day now nay nor simply or at all then it 's not human or Ecclesiastick but first none can change it as we might clear from great absurdities that would follow 2. If any Church have this power let them shew it the Old Church had it not neither the new as is cleared in the first question 2. We proceed to evince this change to be by divine institution these four ways 1. From reasons flowing from Scripture or Consequences drawn from it 1. Thus where by genuine and native Consequences drawn from Scripture any thing is so imposed as it cannot without sin be altered or neglected there is a divine institution but in the change of the Seventh day-Sabbath to the First such Consequences may be drawn from Scripture as will upon supposition of the change a strict it to the First day so as that cannot be altered or neglected without sin Ergo it 's of divine institution The question can be only of the minor which is made out from what is said in the third Proposition thus If these very grounds which plead the conveniency of the change simply do plead the conveniency of that change to the First day then by clear and unforced Consequence the first day is chosen and cannot without sin be passed by altered or neglected except we say these reasons have no weight but these very grounds will be found to plead for and to be applicable to the First day of the week a lonely and therefore beside all other days in the new world it m â—y be called the day which God specially made as it is the day of Christs rest from the work of Redemption answerable to Gods rest a â—ter the Cre â—tion c. and therefore as being most conducible to that end the First day cannot be without sin past by neglected or altered 2. Thus if the very day of Christs rest in the new world be to be rested on and sanctified as the Sabbath then the First day is to be rested on and sanctified but by Analogy from the works of Creation we may see that the First day of rest after the finishing of the work of Redemption is to be sanctified Ergo c. and Psal. 118. is very considerable to this purpose wherein there is 1. a Prophecy of Christ. 2. Of a day which God hath singularly made for us to joy in 3. That day is the day wherein the rejected stone is made the head of the corner which day is clear from Rom. 1.4 to be the resurrection day yea suppose that day there doth signifie the time of the Gospel wherein we should joy yet even that way the First day is by proportion that day eminently wherein Christs Victory was manifested and so the day wherein Christians ought especially to rejoyce The second way we may reason for the change to be by divine Institution is
their most unnatural and cursed cutting their hair should every hour fear and tremble lest they bring it on their own heads and amongst us in this Kingdom It is also worthy the noticing that Tertullian hath to this purpose in his Book de cultu mul. cap. 7 where having expostulated with Christian women for their various vain dressings of the hair he bespeaks them thus Drive away this bondage of busking from a free head in vain do you labour to appear thus dressed in vain do ye make use of the most expert frizlers of hair God commands you to be covered and vailed I wish that I most miserable man may be priviledged to lift up my head if it were but amongst the feet of the people of God in that blessed day of Christians exalting gladness then will I see if ye will arise out of your Graves with that varnish and paint of white and red and with such a head-dress and if the Angels will carry you up so adorned and painted to meet Christ in the clouds And again cap. 13. These delights and toyes says he must be shaken off with the softness and loosness whereof the vertue and valour of faith may be weakned moreover I know not if these hands that are accustomed to be surrounded with rings and bracelets or such other ornaments will indure to be benummed and stupified with the hardness of a chain I know not if the legg after the use of such fine hose-garters will suffer it self to be streightned and pinched into fetters or a pair of stocks I am afraid that the neck accustomed to chains of Pearls and Emeralds will hardly admit of the two-handed Sword The â—efore O blessed women saith he let us meditate and dwell on the thoughts of hardship and we shall not feel it let us relinquish and abandon these delicacies and frolicks and we shall not desire them let us stand ready armed to incounter all violent assaults having nothing which we will be afraid to forego and part with These these are the stayes and ropes of the Anchor of our Hope Let your eyes be painted with shamef â—s â—â—ess and quietness of spirit fastning in your ears the Word of God and tying about your necks the yoke of Christ subject your head to your Husbands and so shall you be abundantly adorned and comly Let your hands be exercised with wool let your feet keep at home and be fixed in the house and they wi â—l please much more then if they were all in gold cloath your selves with the silk of goodness and vertue with the fine linning of holiness with the purpure of chastity and being after this fashion painted and adorned ye will have God to be your Lover Which notably agreeth with what the Astles say 1 Tim. 2. v. 9 10. In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefastness and sobriety not with broidered hair or gold or pearls or costly aray But which becometh women professing godliness with good works 1 Pet. 3.1 2 especially 3 4 5. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price For after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands See also Tit. 2. v. 4 5. Next to what hath been said of dressing the body somewhat may not inappositly be spoke to anent dressing and decking of houses and beds and anent houshold furniture or plenishing wherein there may be an evil concupiscence and lust and an inordinate affection our minds being often by a little thing kindled and set on fire See to this purpose Prov. 7.17 where that woman spoken of hath first the attire of an whore then he saith her bed is dressed her tapestry and curtains provided in â—ense and perfumes are in the chambers So also beds of Ivory are reproved Amos 6.4 which are all used for entertaining the great lust of uncleanness which ordinarily hath these alluring extravegancies attending and waiting upon it O! what provision do some make for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof and how careful Caterers are they this way for their corruptions And certainly Christians are not in their houses more then in their persons left to live at random and without bounds and folks no doubt may be unsutable to their stations as much in the one as in the other This excess may be also in the light and wanton manner of adorning houses and buildings with filthy and immodest paintings pictures and statues and such like which with other things is spoken of and condemned Ezek. 23.14 But withal in what we have spoken in these excesses so incident even to professours we would not have folks too rigidly to expone us for we know that there are lawful recreations nor are honesty and comliness in behaviour and apparel blameable but to be commended in their place neither would we have any think that we suppose all such who do the things above censured to be incited to them from this principle of lust but for clearing of the matter further it would be considered 1. That we speak of these things as they are abused and particularly condemned in this Church 2. We would consider the end of the things themselves as they have been at first sinfully introduced whatever may be the innocent intention of a particular user 3. We vvould respect others vvho may be offended and provoked to lust by vvhat an actor is not provoked vvith and also may be sinfully tempted to the like from that example or if not so yet may possibly be induced to judge them vain vvho vvalk so and so in apparel light vvho dance c. vvhich vve vvould prevent and guard against 4. We vvould not only abstain from evil but from all appearance of it novv certainly all these things vve have spoken of look like ill and may breed misconstructions in others even possibly beyond our ovvn mind and intention vve may also consider the mind of very Heathens in reference to these things as also of Fathers Councels and the Divines vvhich are cited by Rivet and Martyr on this Command The Councel Laod. Can. 53. apud Bals. hath these vvords Let Christians when they go to marriages abstain from dancing but dine or sup And another saith Nemo ferè saltat sobrius nisi forte insanit no man almost danceth that is sober unless perchance he be in a fit of distraction or madness Neither doth Davids or Miriams dancing being used by them as a part of vvorship in the occasions of extraordinary exultations say any thing for the dancing that is novv in use as their Songs of praise to God used in these their dancings abundantly shevv And beside