commonly called Sabbaths So Maimonides Tract de Sabb. cap. 29. speaking of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good Dayes or Feasts sayes expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are all Sabbaths to the Lord. And from this usage some think to expound that vexed Expression of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 6. 1. which we render the second Sabbath after the first So Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was the second day of the Passeover and the first of unleavened bread And wonder not that it is called a Sabbath for they called every Feast Day a Sabbath Theophylact gives us another Day but on the same Reason Saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Jews call every Feast a Sabbath For Sabbath is as much as Rest. Oft-times therefore there fell out a Feast on the day before the Weekly Sabbath and they called it a Sabbath because it was a Feast And therefore that which was the proper Sabbath at that Time was called the second Sabbath after the first being the second from that which went before Chrysostome allows of the same Reason Hom. in Matth. 39. Isidore Pelusiota fixeth on another Day but still for the same reason Epist. 110. lib. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is called the Deuteroproton because it was the second day from the sacrificing of the Passeover and the first day of unleavened bread which he shews was called a Sabbath upon the general account of all the Jewish Feasts being so called For so he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the way this is expresly contrary to the Scripture which makes the Day spoken of to be the proper Weekly Sabbath as it is called without any Addition Matth. 12. 11. whereon depended the Questions that ensued about its Observation But we are beholding to Scaliger for the true meaning of this Expression which so puzled the Antients and concerning which Gregory Nazianzen turned of Hierome with a scoff scarce becoming his Gravity when he enquired of him what might be the meaning of it Scaliger therefore conjectures that it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it was the first Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the second Day of unleavened bread For on that Day they offered the handful or sheaf of new fruits and from that day they counted seven Weeks unto Pentecost And the Sabbaths of those Weeks were reckoned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the first that followed was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So he both in his Emendat Tempor lib. 6. and Isagog Canon p. 218. And this is subscribed unto by his Mortal Adversary Dyonisius Petavius Animad in Epiphar N. 31. p. 64. who will not allow him ever to have spoken tightly but in what the Wit of man can find no tolerable Objection against But this calling of their Feasts Sabbaths with the Reason of it is given us by all their principal Authors So Lib. Tzeror Hammor on Levit. p. 102. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because all solemn Dayes are called holy Convocations they are all called so from the Sabbath which is called holy wherefore the Sabbath is the Head of all solemn Feasts and they are all of them called by the Name thereof Sabbaths of Rest whereof he gives Instances § 13 Some of the Antient Christians dealing with the Heathens called that Day which the Christians then observed in the Room of the Jewish seventh Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or diem folis Sunday As those who treat and deal with others must express things by the Names that are currant amongst them unless they intend to be Barbarians unto them So speaks Justine Martyr Apol. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We meet for the Worship of God in common on Sunday Had he said on the Sabbath the Gentiles would have concluded it to have been the Judaical Sabbath To have called it to them the Lords Day had been to design no determinate Day they would not have known what day he meant And the Name of the first Day of the Week taken up signally by Christians upon the Resurrection of Christ was not in use amongst them Wherefore he called the Day he intended to determine as was necessary for him by the Name in use amongst them to whom he spake Sunday In like manner Tertullian treating with the same sort of men calls it Diem solis Apol. cap. 16. And Eusebius reporting the Edicts of Constantine for the Observation of the Lords Day as it is termed in them adds that it is the Day which we call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sunday But yet among Christians themselves this Name was not in common use but by some was rejected as were also all the rest of the Names of the Dayes used among the Pagans So speaks August in Psal. 93. Quarta Sabbatorum quarta feria que Mercurii dies dicitur à Paganis à multis Christianis Sed noluimus ut dicant utinam corrigantur ut non dicant And Hicrome Epist. ad Algas Vna Sabbati dies dominica intelligenda est quia Hebdomada in Sabbatum ut in primam secundam tertiam quartam quintam sextam Sabbati dividitur guam Ethnici Idolorum Planetarum nominibus appellant He rejects the use of the ordinary Names unto the Heathens And Philastrius makes the usage of them amongst Christians almost Heretical Num. 3. All the Eastern Nations also amongst whom the Planetary Denomination of the Dayes of the Week first began have since their casting off that kind of Idolatry rejected the use of those Names being therein more Religious or more Superstitious than the most of Christians So is it done by the. Arabians and Persians and those that are joyned unto them in Religious Observances The Day of their Worship which is our Friday the Arabians call Giuma the Persians Adina The Rest of the Dayes of the Week they discriminate by their natural Order within their Hebdomadal Revolution the first the second the third only some of them in some places have some special Name occasionally imposed on them The Church of Rome from a Decree as they suppose or pretend of Pope Sylvester reckons all the Dayes of the Week by Feria prima secunda and so onwards only their Writers for the most part retain the Name of Sabbatum and use Dies Dominica for the first Day And the Rhemists on Revel 1. 10. condemn the name of Sunday as Heathenish And Polydore Virgil before them sayes Profccio pudendum est simulque dolendum quod non antebac data sunt istis diebus Christiana nomina ne dii Gentium tam memorabile inter nos monumentum haberent de Invent. Rer. lib. 6. c. 5. And indeed among sundry of the Antients there do many severe Expressions occurr against the use of the common Planetary Names And at the first Relinquishment of Gentilisme it had no doubt been well if those Names of Baalim had been taken away out of the mouths of men especially considering that the retaining of them hath
upon the Desires of many now published by it self is but a Part of our remaining Exercitations on that Epistle Nor am I without all hopes but that what shall be declared and proved on this subject may be blessed to an Usefulness unto them who would willingly learn or be established in the Truth An Attempt also will be made herein for the conviction of others who have been seduced into Paths inconsistent with the Communion of Saints the Peace of the Churches of Christ or Opinions hurtful to the Practice of Godliness and left unto the Blessing of him who when he hath supplyed seed to the Sower doth himself also give the encrease And these Considerations have prevailed with me to cast my Mite into this Sanctuary and to endeavour the right stating and confirmation of that Doctrine whereon so important a part of our Duty towards God doth depend as is generally confessed and will be found by Experience that there doth on this concerning a Day of Sacred Rest. § 4 The Controversies about the Sabbath as we call it at present for Distinction sake and to determine a subject of our Discourse which have been publickly agitated are Universal as unto all its concerns Neither Name nor Thing is by all agreed on For whereas most Christians acknowledge we may say all for those by whom it is denyed are of no weight nor scarce of any number that a day on one account or other in an Hebdomadal Revolution of Time is to be set apart to the publick Worship of God yet how that Day is to be called is not agreed amongst them Neither is it granted that it hath any Name affixed unto it by any such means that should cause it justly to be preferred unto any other that men should arbitrarily consent to call it by The Names which have been and amongst some are still in use for its Denotation and Distinction are the seventh Day the Sabbath the Lords Day the first Day of the Week Sunday So was the Day now commonly observed called of Old by the Graecians and Romans before the Introduction of Religion into its Observation And this Name some still retain as a thing indifferent others suppose it were better left unto utter disuse § 5 Those about the Thing it self are various and respect all the concerns of the Day enquired after Nothing that relates unto it no part of its respect to the Worship of God is admitted by all uncontended about For it is debated amongst all sorts of persons 1. Whether any part of Time be naturally and morally to be separated and set apart to the solemn Worship of God or which is the same whether it be a natural and moral Duty to separate any part of time in any Revolution of it unto Divine Service I mean so as it should be stated and fixed in a periodical Revolution otherwise to say that God is solemnly to be worshipped and yet that no time is required thereunto is an open contradiction 2. Whether such a Time supposed be absolutely and originally moral or made so by Positive Command suited unto General Principles and Intimations of Nature And under this consideration also a part of Time is called Moral Metonymically from the Duty of its Observance 3 Whether on supposition of some part of Time so designed the Space or Quantity of it have its Determination or Limitation morally or meerly by Law Positive or Arbitrary For the Observation of some part of Time may be Moral and the quota pars arbitrary 4 Whether every Law Positive of the Old Testament were absolutely Ceremonial or whether there may not be a Law Moral Positive as given to and obligatory of all mankind though not absolutely written in the Heart of man by Nature that is whether there be no morality in any Law but what is a part of the Law of Creation 5 Whether the Institution of the seventh Day Sabbath was from the Beginning of the World and before the Fall of man or whether it were first appointed when the Israelites came into the Wilderness This in itself is only a matter of Fact yet such as whereon the Determination of the Point of Right as to the Universal Obligation unto the Observation of such a Day doth much depend and therefore hath the Investigation and true stating of it been much laboured in and after by Learned men 6 Upon a supposition of the Institution of the Sabbath from the Beginning Whether the Additions made and Observances annexed unto it at the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai with the Ends whereunto it was then designed and the Uses whereunto it was employed gave unto the seventh Day a new State distinct from what it had before although naturally the same day was continued as before For if they did so that new State of the Day seems only to be taken away under the New Testament if not the Day it self seemes to be abolished for that some change is made therein from what was fixed under the Judaical Oeconomy cannot modestly be denyed 7 Whether in the fourth Commandment there be a Foundation of a Distinction between a seventh Day in General or one Day in seven and that seventh Day which was the same numerically and precisely from the Foundation of the World For whereas an Obligation unto the strict Observation of that Day precisely is as we shall prove plainly taken away in the Gospel if the Distinction intimated be not allowed there can be nothing remaining obligatory unto us in that command whilst it is supposed that that Day is at all required therein Hence 8 It is especially enquired whether a seventh Day or one Day in seven or in the Hebdomadal Cycle be to be observed Holy unto the Lord on the Account of the fourth Commandment 9 Whether under the New Testament all Religious Observation of Dayes be so taken away as that there is no Divine Obligation remaining for the Observance of any one Day at all but that as all Dayes are alike in themselves so are they equally free to be disposed of and used by us as Occasion shall require For if the Observation of one Day in seven be not founded in the Law of Nature expressed in the Original Positive Command concerning it and if it be not seated Morally in the fourth Commandment it is certain that the necessary Observance of it is now taken away 10 On the other extream whether the seventh Day from the Creation of the world or the last Day of the Week be to be observed precisely under the New Testament by vertue of the Fourth Commandment and no other The Assertion hereof supposeth that our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath hath neither changed nor reformed any thing in or about the Religious Observation of an Holy Day of Rest unto the Lord whence it follows that such an Observation can be no Part or Act of Evangelical Worship properly so called but only a Moral Duty of the Law 11 Whether on the
exegetical of the other He blessed it by sanctifying of it as Numb 7. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he annointed them and sanctified them that is he sanctified them by annointing them or by their Unction set them apart unto an Holy Use which is the Instance of Abarbinel on this place This then is that which is affirmed by Moses On the seventh Day after he had finished his work God rested or ceased from working and thereon blessed and sanctified the seventh Day or set it apart unto holy uses for their Observance by whom he was to be worshipped in this world and whom he had newly made for that Purpose God then sanctified this Day Not that he kept it holy himself which in no sense the Divine Nature is capable of nor that he purified it and made it inherently holy which the nature of the Day is incapable of nor that he celebrated that which in it self was holy as we sanctifie his name which is the act of an inferior towards a superior but that he set it apart to sacred use authoritatively requiring us to sanctifie it in that use obedientially And if you allow not this original sanctification of the seventh Day the first Instance of its solemn joint National Observation is introduced with a strange abruptness It is said Exod. 16. where this Instance is given that on the sixth day the people gathered twice as much bread as on any other day namely two Omers for one man which the Rulers taking notice of acquainted Moses with it v. 22. And Moses in answer to the Rulers of the Congregation who had made the Information gives the Reason of it To morrow saith he is the Rest of the holy Sabbath to the Lord. v. 23. Many of the Jews can give some colour to this manner of Expression for they assign as we have shewed the Revelation and Institution of the Sabbath unto the Station in Mara Exod. 15. which was almost a Month before So they think that no more is here intended but a direction for the solemn Observance of that Day which was before instituted with particular respect unto the gathering of Manna which the people being commanded in General before to gather every day according to their eating and not to keep any of it until the next day the Rulers might well doubt whether they ought not to have gathered it on the Sabbath also not being able to reconcile a seeming contradiction between those two commands of gathering Manna every day and of resting on the seventh But those by whom the Fancy about the Station in Mara is rejected as it is rejected by most Christians and who will not admit of its Original Institution from the Beginning can scarce give a tolerable Account of this manner of Expression Without the least intimation of Institution and Command it is only said to morrow is the Sabbath holy to the Lord that is for you to keep holy But on the supposition contended for the discourse in that place with the Reason of it is plain and evident For there being a previous Institution of the seventh Dayes Rest the Observation whereof was partly gone into disuse and the Day it self being then to receive a new peculiar Application to the Church State of that people the Reason both of the peoples fact and the Rulers doubt and Moses's Resolution is plain and obvious § 9 Wherefore granting the sense of the Words contended for there is yet another Exception put in to invalidate this Testimony as to the original of a seventh Dayes Sabbatical Rest from the Foundation of the World And this is taken not from the signification of the words but the connexion and disposition of them in the Discourse of Moses For suppose that by Gods Blessing and sanctifying the seventh Day the separation of it unto sacred Uses is intended yet this doth not prove that it was so sanctified immediately upon the finishing of the Work of Creation For say some Learned men those words of v. 3. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his Work which God created and made are inserted occasionally into the Discourse of Moses from what afterwards came to pass They are not therefore as they suppose a continued part of the Historical Narration there insisted on but are inserted into it by way of Prolepsis or Anticipation and are to be read as it were in a Parenthesis For supposing that Moses wrote not the Book of Genesis until after the giving of the Law which I will not contend about though it be assumed gratis in this Discourse there being a Respect had unto the Rest of God when his Works were finished in the Institution of the Sabbath upon the Historical Relation of that Rest Mises interserts what so long after was done and appointed on the Account thereof And so the sense of the Words must be that God rested on the seventh day from all his works that he had made that is the next Day after the finishing of the Works of Creation wherefore two thousand four hundred years after God blessed and sanctified the seventh day not that seventh Day whereon he rested with them that succeeded in the like Revolution of Time but a seventh Day that fell out so long after which was not blessed nor sanctified before I know not well how men Learned and Sober can offer more hardship unto a Text then is put upon this before us by this Interpretation The connexion of the Words is plain and equal And the Heavens and the Earth and all the Host of them were finished And God had finished on the seventh day all his work that he had made and he rested the seventh day from all his work that he had made And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it God rested from all his work which he had created and made You may as well break off the order and continuation of the Words and Discourse in any other place as in that pretended And it may be as well faigned that God finished his work on the seventh day and afterwards rested another seventh day as that he rested the seventh day and afterwards blessed and sanctified another It is true there may be sundry Instances given out of the Scripture of sundry things inserted in Historical Narrations by way of Anticipation which fell not out until after the time wherein mention is made of them But they are mostly such as fell out in the same Age or Generation the matter of the whole Narration being entire within the memory of men But of so monstrous and uncouth a Prolepsis as this would be which is supposed no Instance can be given in the Scripture or any sober Author especially without the least notice given that such it is And such Schemes of Writing are not to be imagined unless necessity from the things themselves spoken of compell us to admit them much less where the matter treated
of Hegesippus calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Masbothai whom he reckons as a Sect of the Jews Histor. lib. 4. 21. The Jews call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Sabbatarians which must be from some observation of the Sabbath in a distinct manner or for different Reasons from themselves Buxtorfe and our late learned Lexicographer render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Sabbatarii adding this explanation Qui secundum Christi Doctrinam Sabbatum observabant by a mistake For as they are reckoned unto the Jews by Hegesippus so those who followed the Doctrine of Christ did not Sabbatize with the Jews nor were ever called Sabbatarians by them There was indeed a sort of persons among the Samaritans who are called Sabuaei whom Epiphanius makes the third sect of them But these were so called without any respect unto a Sabbatical observation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Jews call them that is Septenarii from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless we shall think with Drusius that they were so denominated from Sebaia who came along with Dosthai to settle the new Inhabitants of Samaria Epiphanius sayes no more of them but that they observed the Feast of Pentecost in Autumn and the Feast of Tabernacles in the Spring at the time of the Jews Passeover But this gives no account why they should be so called But they got this appellation from their observation of every Day in the Week between the Passeover and the Pentecost that is for seven weeks which was the same with the second Day in the Week of unleavened bread whereon the Omer or Sheaf of first fruits was to be offered But to return After this many of them coalesced and we hear no more of them In the mean time as there were great disputes and heats between the differing parties whilest the occasion of their difference continued so the Gentile Believers did in many things either condescend unto those of the Circumcision or fell themselves in liking with their observances and received them into practice Hence it was that they embraced the Paschal solemnity with some other Festivals and also in many places admitted the sacredness of the seventh Day Sabbath though still observing according to the institution of Christ and his Apostles the Lords Day also And it is not improbable that they might be induced the rather to continue these observations that they might thereby give a publick testimony of their faith against the Marcionites who began early to blaspheme the Old Testament and the God thereof which blasphemy they thought to condemn by this practice And hence in those Writings which are falsly ascribed to the Apostles but suited to those times Can. 66. and Constitut. lib. 7. cap. 24. the observation both of the Saturday and the Lords Day are enjoyned Others of these Jews about the same season constituted a sect by themselves compounding a Religion out of the Law and Gospel with additions and interpretations of their own These the Ancients call Ebionites Circumcision with all the Sabbaths Feasts and Rites of Moses they retained from the Law That the Messiah was come and that Jesus Christ was he they admitted from the Gospel that he was only a meer man not God and man in one person they added of their own yet in compliance with the sense and expectation of the corrupt and carnal part of the Church of the Jews whereof originally they were And this sect is that which in a long tract of time hath brought forth Mahumetanisme in the East For the Religion of the Mahumetans is nothing but that of the Ebionites with a super-addition of the interests and fanatical brain-sick notions of the Impostor himself And yet so it is that some begin now to plead that these Ebionites were the only true and genuine Believers of the Circumcision in those dayes These they say and these alone retained the Doctrine preached by the Apostles to the Jews for they were the same and no other with those which were also called Nazarenes Thus do the Socinians plead expresly and have contended for it in sundry Treatises published to that purpose This they do hoping to obtain from thence some countenance unto their impious Doctrine about the person of Christ wherein they agree with the Ebionites But as to their Sabbatizing with the Jews and the rest of their ceremonial observances they will have nothing to do with them as not finding those things suited unto their interest and design But herein do they now begin to be followed by some among our selves who apparently fall in with them in sundry things condemned by our Apostle and on the account whereof they declined him and rejected his Authority as others seem almost prepared to do on other Reasons not here to be mentioned In particular some begin to Sabbatize with them yea to outgo them For Ebion and his followers although they observed the seventh Day Sabbath with the Jews yet they observed also the Lords Day with the Christians in honour of Jesus Christ as both Eusebius and Epiphanius testifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They in like manner with us observe the Lords Day in remembrance of the saving Resurrection How great a scandal these things are to Christian Religion how evidently tending to harden the Jews in their infidelity is apparent unto all For the introduction of any part of the old Mosaical systeme of Ordinances is a tacite denial of Christs being come in the flesh at least of his being the King Lord and Law-giver of his Church And to lay the foundation of all Religious solemn Gospel-worship in the observation of a Day which as such as the seventh Day precisely hath no relation unto any natural or moral precept not instituted not approved by Jesus Christ cannot but be unpleasing to them who desire to have their consciences immediately influenced by his Authority in all their approaches unto God But Christ is herein supposed to have built the whole fabrick of his worship on the foundation of Moses and to have graffed all his institutions into a stock that was not of his own planting § 33 Moreover it is evident that this opinion concerning the necessary observation of the seventh Day Sabbath tends to the increasing and perpetuating of schismes and differences amongst the Disciples of Christ things in their own nature evil and to be avoided by all lawfull wayes and means It is known how many different opinions and practices there are amongst professors of the Gospel That they should all be perfectly healed or taken away perhaps in this world is not to be expected For the best know but in part and prophesie but in part That every good man and genuine Disciple of Christ ought to endeavour his utmost for their removal none will deny For if it be our duty so far as it is possible and as much as in us lyeth to live peaceably with all men in that peace which is the life of civil society doubtless it is so much more to live so
John Owen D.D. Exercitations Concerning the Name Original Nature Use and Continuance of a DAY OF Sacred Rest. Wherein The Original of the SABBATH from the Foundation of the World the Morality of the Fourth Commandment with the Change of the Seventh Day are enquired into Together with an Assertion of the Divine Institution of the LORD'S DAY and Practical Directions for its due Observation By John Owen D D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6. 8. John 5. 39. Search the Scripture LONDON Printed by R. W. for Nath. Ponder at the Peacock in Chancery Lane near Fleetstreet 1671. TO THE READER Christian Reader THERE are Two great Concerns of that Religion whose Name thou bearest the Profession of its Truth and the Practice or Exercise of its Power And these are mutually assistant unto each other Without the Profession of Faith in its Truth no man can express its Power in Obedience And without Obedience Profession is little worth Whatever therefore doth contribute Help and Assistance unto us in either of these according to the mind of God is highly to be prized and valued Especially it is so in such a season wherein the Former of them is greatly questioned and the Later greatly neglected if not despised But if there be any thing which doth equally confirm and strengthen them both it is certainly of great Necessity in and unto Religion and will be so esteemed by 〈◊〉 who place their principal concerns in these things Now such is the Solenm Observation of a Sacred Weekly Day of Rest unto God For amongst all the outward Means of conveying to the present Generation that Religion which was at first taught and delivered unto men by Jesus Christ and his Apostles there hath been none more effectual than the Catholick uninterrupted Observation of such a Day for the Celebration of the Religious Worship appointed in the Gospel And many material parts of it were unquestionably preserved by the successively continued Agreement of Christians in this Practice So far then the Profession of our Christian Religion in the World at this Day doth depend upon it How much it tends to the Exercise and Expression of the Power of Religion cannot but be evident unto all unless they be such as hate it who are not a few With others it will quickly appear unto a sober and unprejudicated Consideration For no small part hereof doth consist in the constant payment of that Homage of Spiritual Worship which we owe unto God in Jesus Christ. And the Duties designed thereunto are the Means which he hath appointed for the Communication of Grace and Spiritual Strength unto the due performance of the Remainders of our Obedience In these things consist the Services of this Day and the End of its Observation is their due performance unto the Glory of God and the Advantage of our own souls Whereas therefore Christian Religion may be considered two wayes First As it is Publickly and Solemnly professed in the World whereon the Glory of God and the Honor of Jesus Christ do greatly depend And Secondly As it prevails and rules in the Minds and Lives of Private Men neither of them can be maintained without a due Observance of a Stated Day of Sacred Rest. Take this away Neglect and Confusion will quickly cast out all Regard unto Solemn Worship Neither did it ever thrive or flourish in the World from the Foundation of it nor will do so unto its End without a due Religious Attendance unto such a Day Any man may easily foresee the Disorder and Prophaness which would ensue upon the taking away of that whereby our Solemn Assemblies are guided and preserved Wherefore by Gods own Appointment it had its Beginning and will have its End with his Publick Worship in this World And take this off from the Basis whereon God hath fixed it and all Humane Substitutions of any thing in the like kind to the same purposes will quickly discover their own Vanity Nor without advantage which it affords as it is the Sacred Repository of all sanctifying Ordinances will Religion long prevail in the Minds and Lives of private Men. For it would be just with God to leave them to their own Weaknesse and Decayes which are sufficient to ruine them who despise the Assistance which he hath provided for them and which he tenders unto them Thus also we have known it to have fallen out with many in our Dayes whose Apostasies from God have hence taken their Rise and Occasion This being the case of a Weekly Sacred Day of Rest unto the Lord it must needs be our Duty to enquire and discern aright both what Warrant we have for the Religious Observance of such a Day as also what Day it is in the Hebdomadal Revolution that ought so to be observed About these things there is an Enquiry made in the ensuing Discourses and some Determinations on that Enquiry My Design in them was to discover the Fundamental Principles of this Duty and what Ground Conscience hath to stand upon in its Attendance thereunto For what is from God in these things is assuredly accepted with him The Discovery hereof I have endeavoured to make and therewithall a safe Rule for Christians to walk by in this matter so that for want thereof they may not lose the Things which they have wrought What I have attained unto of Light and Truth herein is submitted to the Judgement of Men Learned and Judicious The Censures of Persons heady ignorant and proud who speak evil of those things which they know not and in what they naturally know corrupt themselves I neither fear nor value If any Discourses seem somewhat dark or obscure unto Ordinary Readers I desire they would consider that the Foundations of the things discoursed of lye deep and no Expression will render them more familiar and obvious unto all Understandings than their Nature will allow Nor must we in any Case quit the Strengths of Truth because the Minds of some cannot easily possess themselves of them However I hope nothing will occurr but what an Attentive Redder though otherwise but of an Ordinary Capacity may receive and digest And they to whom the Argument seems hard may find those Directions which will make the Practice of the Duty insisted on easie and beneficial The especial Occasion of my present handling this Subject is declared afterwards I shall only add that here is no Design of contending with Any of opposing or contradicting any of censuring or reflecting on those whose Thoughts and Judgements in these things differ from ours begun or carried on Even those by whom an Holy Day of Rest under the Gospel and its Services are laughed to scorn are by me left unto God and themselves My whole endeavour is to find out what is agreeable unto Truth about the Observance of such a Day unto the Lord what is the Mind and Will of God concerning it on what Foundation we may attend unto the Services of it as that God may be
glorified in us and by us and the Interest of Religion in Purity Holiness and Righteousness be promoted amongst Men. J. O. Jan. 11. 1670. Exercitations Concerning the Name Original Nature Use and Continuance of a Day of Sacred Rest. Exercitatio Prima HEBR. Chap. IV. Ver. IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Trouble and Confusion from mens Inventions 2 Instanced in Doctrines and Practices of a Sabbatical Rest. 3 Reason of their present Consideration 4 Extent of the Controversies about such a Rest. 5 A particular Enumeration of them 6 Special Instances of Particular Differences upon an Agreement in more general Principles 7 Evil Consequences of these Controversies in Christian Practice 8 Principles and Rules proposed for the right Investigation of the Truth in this matter 9 Names of a Sacred Day of Rest. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 3. Heb. 4. 4. 10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 3. Exodus 16. 23. Chap. 35. 2. Lam. 1. 7. Saturn called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Jews and why The Word doubled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason of it 11 Translation of this Word into the Greek and Latin Languages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 12 All Judaical Feasts called Sabbata by the Heathen Suetonius Horace Juvenal cited to that purpose 13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sunday Used by Justine Martyr Tertullian Eusebius Blamed by Austin Hierom and Philastrius 14 Use of the Names of the Dayes of the Week derived from the Heathen of old Custom of the Roman Church 15 First day of the Week Lords Day Lords Day Sabbath The First Exercitation § 1 SOLOMON tells us that in his Disquisition after the Nature and State of things in the world this alone he had found out that is absolutely and unto his satisfaction namely that God made man upright but they have sought out many Inventions Eccles. 7. 29. And the Truth hereof we also find by woful experience not only in sundry particular Instances but in the whole course of men in this world and in all their concerns with respect unto God and themselves There is not any thing wherein and whereabout they have not found out many Inventions to the Disturbance and perverting of that state of peace and quietness wherein all things were made of God Yea with the fruits and effects of this perverse Apostasie and Relinquishment of that universally Harmonious state of things wherein we were created not only is the whole world as it lyes in evil filled and as it were overwhelmed but we have the Reliques of it to conflict withal in that Reparation of our condition which in this life by Grace we are made partakers of In all our Wayes Actions and Duties some of these Inventions are ready to immix themselves unto our own disturbance and the perverting of the right wayes of God § 2 An evident Instance we have hereof in the business of a Day of Sacred Rest and the Worship of God therein required God originally out of his Infinite Goodness when suitably thereunto by his own Eternal Wisdom and Power he had made all things Good gave unto men a day of Rest as to express unto them his own Rest Satisfaction and Complacency in the Works of his Hands so to be a day of Rest and composure to themselves and a Means of their Entrance into and Enjoyment of that Rest with himself here and for ever which he had ordained for them Hence it became unto them a Principle and Pledge a Cause and Means of Quietness and Rest and that in and with God himself So might it be still unto the Sons of men but that they are in all things continually finding out new Inventions or immixing themselves in various Questions and Accounts for so saith the Wise man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 themselves have sought out many Computations And hence it is that whereas there are two general concernments of such a Day the Doctrine and the Practice of it or the Duties to be performed unto God thereon they are both of them solicited by such various Questions through the many Inventions which men have found out as have rendred this Day of Rest a matter of endless strife disquietment and contention And whereas all Doctrines of Truth do tend unto practice as their immediate Use and End the whole Scripture being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 1. 1. the Truth which is according unto Godliness the contentions which have been raised about the Doctrine of the Holy Day of Rest have greatly influenced the minds of men and weakned them in that practice of Godliness which all men confess to be necessary in the Observation of such a Day of Rest unto the Lord if such a Day of Rest there be on what foundation soever it is to be observed For Christians in general under one notion or other do agree that a Day of Rest should be observed in and for the Celebration of the Worship of God But whereas many Controversies have been raised about the grounds of this Observance and the Nature of the Obligation thereunto advantage hath been taken thereby to introduce a great neglect of the Duties themselves for whose sakes the Day is to be observed whilst one questions the Reasons and Grounds of another for its Observation and finds his own by others despised And this hath been no small nor ineffectual means of promoting that general Prophaneness and Apostasie from strict and holy walking before God which at this day are every where so justly complained of § 3 It is far from my thoughts and hopes that I should be able to contribute much unto the composing of these Differences and Controversies as agitated amongst men of all sorts The known pertinacy of inveterate Opinions the many prejudices that the minds of most in this matter are already possessed withal and the particular Engagements that not a few are under to defend the Pretensions and Perswasions which they have published and contended for will not allow any great Expectation of a change in the minds of many from what I have to offer Besides there are almost innumerable eristical Discourses on this subject in the hands of many to whom perhaps the Report of our Endeavours will not arrive But yet these and the like considerations of the Darkness Prejudices and Interests of many ought not to discourage any man from the discharge of that Duty which he owes to the Truths of God nor cause him to cry with the Sluggard There is a Lyon in the Streets I shall be slain in the Way Should they do so no Truth should ever more be taught or contended for for the Declaration of them all is attended with the same Difficulties and lyable to the same kind of Opposition Wherefore an Enquiry into this matter being unavoidably cast upon me from the Work wherein I am engaged in the Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews I could not on any such accounts wave the pursuit of it For this Discourse though
of the Sabbath by the Patriarchs before the giving of the Law Instances hereof collected by Manasse Ben Israel Farther confirmation of it 12 Tradition among the Gentiles concerning it Sacredness of the septenary Number 13 Testimonies of the Heathen collected by Aristobulus Clemens Eusebius 14 Importance of these Testimonies examined and vindicated 15 Ground of the Hebdomadal Revolution of time It s Observation Catholick 16 Planetary Denominations of the Dayes of the Week whence 17 The contrary Opinion of the Original of the Sabbath in the Wilderness proposed and examined 18 First Argument against the Original of the Sabbath Answered c. The Second Exercitation Of the Original of the Sabbath § 1 HAving fixed the Name the Thing it self falls nextly under Consideration And the Order of our Investigation shall be to enquire first into its Original and then into its Causes And the true stating of the former will give great light into the latter as also into its Duration For if it began with the World probably it had a cause cognate to the Existence of the World and the Ends of it and so must in Duration be commensurate unto it If it ows its Rise to succeeding Generations amongst some peculiar sort of men its Cause was arbitrary and occasional and its continuance uncertain For every thing which had such a Beginning in the Worship of God was limited to some seasons only and had a Time determined for its Expiration This therefore is first to be stated And indeed no Concern of this Day hath fallen under more diligent severe and Learned Dissertations Very Learned men have here engaged into contrary Opinions and defended them with much Learning and Variety of Reading Summa sequar Vestigia rerum and shall briefly call the different Apprehensions both of Jews and Christians in this matter unto a just Examination Neither shall I omit the consideration of any Opinion whose Antiquity or the Authority of its Defenders did ever give it Reputation though now generally exploded as not knowing in that Revolution of Opinions which we are under how soon it may have a Revival § 2 The Jews that we may begin with them with whom some think the Sabbath began are divided among themselves about the Original of the Sabbath no less than Christians yea to speak the Truth their Divisions and different Apprehensions about this matter of Fact have been the occasion of ours and their Authority is pleaded to countenance the mistakes of others Many therefore of them assign the Original or first Revelation of the Sabbath unto the Wilderness Station of the people in Mara others of them make it Coaeval with the World The first Opinion hath countenance given unto it in the Talmud Gemar Babylon Tit. Sab. cap. 9. and Tit. Sanedr cap. 7. And the Tradition of it is embraced by so many of their Masters and Commentators that our Learned Selden de Jur. Gen. apud Heb. lib. 3. cap. 12 13 14. contends for it as the common and prevailing Opinion amongst them and indeavours an Answer unto all Instances or Testimonies that are or may be urged to the contrary And indeed there is searce any thing of moment to be observed in all Antiquity as to matter of Fact about the Sabbath whether it be Jewish Christian or Heathen but what he hath heaped together or rather treasured up in the Learned Discourses of that third Book of his Jus Gentium apud Hebraeos Whether the Questions of Right belonging thereunto have been duly determined by him is yet left unto further enquiry That which at present we are in the consideration of is the Opinion of the Jews about the Original of the Sabbath at the Station of Marah which he so largely confirms with Testimonies out of all sorts of their Authors and those duly alledged according to their own Sense and Conceptions § 3 Mara was the first Station that the Children of Israel fixed in in the Wilderness of Shur five Dayes after their coming up out of the Red Sea Before their coming hither they had wandred three dayes in the Wilderness without finding any Water until they were ready to faint The Report of this their thirst and wandring was famous amongst the Heathen and mixed by them with vain and monstrous Fables One of the Wisest amongst them puts as many Lies together about it as so few words can well contain Effigiem saith he Animalis quo monstrante errorem sitimque depulerant penetrali sacravere Tacit. Histor. lib. 5. He feigns that by following some Wild Asses they were led to Waters and so made an End of their Thirst and wandring on the Account whereof they afterwards consecrated in their Temple the Image of an Ass. Others of them besides him say that they wandred six dayes and finding Water on the seventh that was the Occasion and Reason of their perpetual Observation of the seventh Dayes Rest. In their Journey from the Red Sea to Mara they were particularly pressed with Wandring and Thirst Exod. 15. 22. But this was only for three dayes not seven They went three Dayes in the Wilderness and found no Water The Story of the Asses Image or Head consecrated amongst them was taken from what fell out afterwards about the Golden Calf This made them vile among the Nations and exposed them to their Obloquy and Reproaches Upon the third Day therefore after their coming from the Red Sea they came to Mara that is the place so called afterwards from what there befell them For the Waters which there they found being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter they called the Name of the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bitterness Hither they came on the third Day For although it is said that they went three Dayes in the Wilderness and found no Water Exod. 15. 22. after which mention is made of their coming to Mara v. 23. Yet it was in the Evening of the third Day for they pitched that night in Mara Numb 33. 8. Here after their murmuring for the bitterness of the Waters and the Miraculous Cure of them it is added in the Story There the Lord made for them a Statute and an Ordinance and there he proved them And said If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God and wilt do that which is right in his sight and wilt give ear to all his Commandments and keep all his Statutes I will put none of those diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Aegyptians for I am the Lord that healeth thee v. 26. It is said that he gave them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Words whereby Sacred Ordinances and Institutions are expressed What this Statute and Judgement were in particular is not declared These therefore are suggested by the Talmudical Masters One of them they say was the Ordinance concerning the Sabbath About the other they are not so well agreed Some refer it to the fifth Commandment of honouring Father and Mother others to the Ceremonies of
Apprehension if besides sundry other invincible Reasons that lye against it I did not find that God had alwayes before in all States of the Church from the foundation of the world invariably required the Observation of one Day in seven and I know no Reason why what had been observed all along so far upon his own Authority he would have observed still but no longer on his Command but on the Invention and Consent of men Had the Religious Observance of one Day in seven been utterly laid aside and abolished it would and ought to to have been concluded that the Law of it was expired in the Cross of Christ as were those of Circumcision the Sacrifices and the whole Temple-Worship But to have this Observance continued by the whole Church in and under the Approbation of God whereof none ever doubted by a Reassumption of it through the Authority of the Church after God had taken off his own from it is a most vain Imagination § 39 I dispute not of what the Church may appoint for good Orders sake to be observed in Religious Assemblies But this I dare say confidently that no Church nor Churches not all the Churches in the World have Power by common Consent to ordain any thing in the Worship of God as a Part of it which God had once ordained commanded and required but now under the Gospel ceaseth so to do as Circumcision and Saorifices But this is the State of the Religious Observance of one Day in seven None can deny but that formerly it was ordained and appointed of God And it should seem according to this Opinion that he took off the Authority of his own Command that the same Observance might be continued upon the Authority of the Church Credat Apella Neither do the Footsteps of the Occasion of any such Ecclesiastical Institution appear any where on Record in the Scripture where all things of an absolute new and Arbitrary Institution whether occasional or durable are taken notice of There is indeed mention made and that frequently of the first day of the Week to be set apart for the Assembling of Believers for the Worship of God and a solid Reason is insinuated why that especial day in particular ought so to be But why one Day in seven should be constantly observed to the purpose mentioned no Reason no Account is given in the New Testament other than why men should not lie or stea ' Nor hath any man a Ground to imagine that there was an Intercision of a Sabbatical Observance by the interposition of any time between the Observation of the seventh Day and of the first of the Week for the same Ends and Purposes though not absolutely in the same manner If there be any Indications Proofs Evidences that the first Churches continued without the Observation of one Day in seven after they desisted from having a Religious Respect unto the seventh Day before they had the same regard to the first of the Week unto this purpose I wish they might be produced for they would be of good weight in this matter but as yet no such thing is made to appear For if the Obligation of the Precept for Observing one Day in seven as a Sacred Rest to God may be suspended in any change of the outward State and Condition of the Church it cannot be esteemed to be Moral I speak not of the actual Observance of the thing commanded which for many causes may occasionally and temporarily be superseded but of the obliging force and power in the Command it self which if it be Moral is perpetual and not capable of Interruption Now Testimonies we have that sundry persons not sufficiently instructed in the Liberty of the Gospel and the Law of its Obedience observed both the Dayes the seventh and the first yea it may be that for a while some observed the one day and some the other but that any Christians of old thought themselves de facto set at liberty from the Religious Observation of one day in seven this neither is nor can be proved This Practice then was Universal and that approved of God as we shall see afterwards and farther in another Discourse now more than once directed unto Now what can any man conceive to be the ground of this unvariableness in the commanded and approved Observation of one day in seven in all states conditions and alterations in and of the Church but that the Command for it is part of the Moral unchangeable Law Hereby therefore it is confirmed unto us so to be And indeed if every State of the Church be founded in an especial Work of God and his Rest thereon and complacency therein as a Pledge or Testimony of giving his Church Rest in himself as elsewhere shall be fully confirmed a Sabbatical Rest must be necessary unto the Church in every state and condition And although absolutely another Day might have been fixed on under the New Testament and not one in an Hebdomadal Revolution because its peculiar works were not precisely finished in six Dayes yet that season being before fixed and determined by the Law of Creation no Innovation nor Alteration would be allowed therein § 40 There is yet remaining that which is principally to be pleaded in this cause and which of it self is sufficient to bear the weight of the whole Now this is the Place which the command for the Observation of a Sabbath unto God holds in the Decalogue Concerning this we have no more to enquire but whether it have obtained a station therein in its own Right or were on some other occasion advanced to that Priviledge For if it be free of that Society in its own Right or on the Account of its Origine and Birth the Morality of it can never be impeached if it had only an Occasional Interest therein and held it by a lease of time it may ere this be long since disseized of it Now we do not yet dispute whether the seventh Day precisely be ordained in the fourth Commandment and do take up the whole nature of it as the only subject of it and alone required in it Only I take it for granted that the Observation of one Day in seven is required in the Command which is so because the seventh Day or a seventh Day in a septenary Revolution is expresly commanded § 41 It is indeed by many pretended that the Command firstly and directly respecteth the seventh Day precisely and one Day in seven no otherwise than as it necessarily follows thereon For where the seventh Day is required one in seven is so consequentially And they who thus pretend have a double Design the one absolutely contradictory to the other For those do so who from thence conclude that the seventh Day precisely comprizing the whole Nature of the Sabbath that day is indispensibly and everlastingly to be observed And those do so who with equal confidence draw their conclusion to the utter Abolition of the whole Sabbath and
there can be no tolerable Reason assigned why he should mention the works of God from the foundation of the World with his Rest that ensued thereon and referr us to the seventh Day which without respect unto another Day to be introduced doth greatly involve his whole Discourse Again his use of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sabbatism which is framed and as it were coyned on purpose that it might both comprise the Spiritual Rest aimed at and also a Sabbath-keeping or Observation of a Sabbath Rest manifests his purpose When he speaks of our Rest in general he still doth it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adding that there was an especial Day for its enjoyment Here he introduceth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sabbatism which his way of arguing would not have allowed had he not designed to express the Christian Sabbath Adde hereunto that he subjoynes the especial Reason of such a Days observation in the next Verse as we have declared And here do we fix the Foundation and Reason of the Lords-Day or the Holy observation of the first Day of the Week the Obligation of the fourth Commandment unto a weekly Sacred Rest being put off from the seventh Day to the first on the same Grounds and Reasons whereon the state of the Church is altered from what it was under the Law unto what it is now under the Gospel And the Covenant it self also is changed whence the seventh Day is now of no more force than the old Covenant and the old Law of Institutions contained in Ordinances because the Lord Christ hath ceased from his works and entred into his Rest on the first Day § 26 Here we have fixed the foundation of the observation of the Lords-Day on the supposition of what hath been proved concerning our Duty in the Holy observance of one Day in seven from the Law of our Creation as renewed in the Decalogue The remaining Arguments evincing the change of the Day from the seventh unto the first by Divine Authority shall be but briefly touched on by me because they have been lately copiously handled and fully vindicated by others Wherefore 1 when the Lord Christ intended conspicuously to build his Church upon the foundation of his Works and Rest by sending the Holy Ghost with his miraculous Gifts upon the Apostles he did it on this Day which was then among the Jews the Feast of Pentecost or of Weeks Then were the Disciples gathered together with one accord in the observance of the Day signalized to them by his Resurrection Acts 2. 1. And by this doth their obedience receive a blessed confirmation as well as their persons a glorious endowment with abilities for the work which they were immediately to apply themselves unto And hereon did they set out unto the whole work of building the Church on that foundation and promoting the worship of it which on that Day was especially to be celebrated § 27 The Practice of the Apostles and the Apostolical Churches owned the Authority of Christ in this change of the Day of sacred Rest. For hence forward whatever apprehensions any of them might have of the continuance of the Judaical Sabbath as some of them judged that the whole service of it was still to be continued yet they observed this Day of the Lord as the time of their Assemblies and solemn worship One or two instances hereof may be called over Acts 20. 6 7. We came to Troas in five dayes where we abode seven dayes And upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech untill midnight I doubt not but in the seven dayes that the Apostle abode there he taught and preached as he had occasion in the houses of the Believers but it was the first Day of the Week when they used according to their duty to assemble the whole body of them for the celebration of the solemn Ordinances of the Church synecdochically expressed by breaking of Bread This they did without any extraordinary warning or calling together for in answer to their duty they were accustomed so to do Such is the account that Justin Martyr gives of the practice of all Churches in the next Age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the Day called Sunday there is an assembly of all Christians whether living in City or the Countrey and because of their constant breaking of bread on this day it was called Dies Panis August Epist 118. And Athanasius proved that he brake not a Chalice at such a time because it was not the first Day of the Week when it was to be used Socrat. lib. 5. cap. 22 And whosoever reads this passage without prejudice will grant that it is a marvellous abrupt and uncouth expression if it do not signifie that which was in common observance amongst all the Disciples of Christ which could have no other foundation but only that before laid down of the Authority of the Lord Christ requiring it of them And I doubt not but that Paul preached his farewel Sermon unto them which continued untill midnight after all the ordinary service of the Church was performed And all the Objections which I have met withall against this instance amount to no more but this that although the Scripture sayes that the Disciples met for their worship on the first Day of the Week yet indeed they did not so do 1 Cor. 16. 2. the same practice is exemplified Upon the first Day of the Week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come The constant Day of the Churches solemn Assemblies being fixed he here takes it for granted and directs them unto the observance of an especial duty on that Day What some except that here is no mention of any such Assembly but only that every one on that Day should lay by himself what he would give which every one might do at home or where they pleased is exceeding weak and unsuitable unto the mind of the Apostle For to what end should they be limited unto a Day and that the first Day of the Week for the doing of that which might be as well to as good purpose and advantage performed at any other time on any other Day of the Week whatever Besides it was to be such a laying aside such a treasuring of it in a common stock as that there should be no need of any Collection when the Apostle came But if this was done only privately it would not of its self come together at his Advent but must be collected But all exceptions against these Testimonies have been so lately removed by others that I shall not insist farther on them § 28 That from these Times downwards the first Day of the Week had a solemn observation in all the Churches of Christ whereby they owned its substitution in the room of the seventh Day
is such a Determination of this Time unto one Day in seven as it must needs be the highest Impudence in any Person Persons or Churches to attempt any alteration herein And notwithstanding the pretences of some about their liberty none yet have been so hardy from the foundation of the World as practically to determine a Day for the Worship of God in any other Revolution of Dayes or Times to the neglect and exclusion of one Day in seven Yea the Light hereof is such and the use of it so great that those who have taken up with the worst of Superstitions instead of Religion as the Mahumetans yet complying in general with the performance of a solemn Worship to God have found it necessary to fix on one certain Day in the Hebdomadal Revolution for that purpose And indeed partly from the Appointment of God partly from the Nature of the Thing it self the Religious observation of such a Day is the great preservative of all solemn Profession of Religion in the World This the Law of Nature this the written Word directs unto and this Experience makes manifest unto all Take away from amongst men a conscience of observing a fixed stated Day of Sacred Rest to God and for the celebration of his Worship in Assemblies and all Religion will quickly decay if not come to nothing in this World And it may be observed though it be not evident whether be the Cause or the Effect that where and amongst whom Religion flourisheth in its power there and amongst them is conscience the most exercised and the most diligence used in the observation of such a Day I will not say absolutely that it is Religion or other Principles that teacheth men exactness in the observation of this Day nor on the other hand that a conscience made of this observation doth procure an universal strictness in other Duties of Religion But this is evident that they are mutually helpfull unto one another And therefore though some have laboured to divest this Observation of any immediate Divine Authority yet they are forced to supply such a Constitution for the Observation of one Day in seven as that they affirm that none can omit its Observation without Sin in ordinary cases whether they have done well to remove from it the command of God and to substitute their own in the room of it they may do well to consider § 31 Let then the state of things in reference unto the first day of the week with the presence of God in and his blessing upon the Worship of the Church therein be considered And this is a consideration as I think by no means to be despised It is manifest to all unprejudiced persons that the Apostles and Apostolical Churches did religiously observe this Day And no man can with any modesty question the celebration of the Worship of God therein in the next succeeding Generations In the possession of this practise are all the Disciples of Christ at this day in the World some very few only excepted who Sabbatize with the Jews or please themselves with a vain pretence that every Day is unto them a Sabbath Nor is it simply the Catholicism of this practise which I insist upon though that be such and hath such weight in things of this nature as that for my part I shall not dissent from any practise that is so attested But it is the blessing of God upon it and the Worship on this Day performed which is pleaded as that which ought to be of an high esteem with all humble Christians On this Day throughout all Ages hath the Edification of the Churches been carried on and that publick revenue of Glory been rendred unto God which is his due On this Day hath God given his presence unto all his solemn Ordinances for all the Ends for which he hath appointed them Nor hath he by any means given the least intimation of his displeasure against his Churches for their continuance in the observation of it On the other side not only have the wisest and holiest men who have complained of the Sins of their several times and Ages wherein they lived which procured the pouring out of the Judgements of God upon them constantly reckoned the neglect and prophanation of the Lords-day among them but such instances have been given of particular severities against them who have openly prophaned this Day and that upon unquestionable Testimonies as may well affect the minds and consciences of those who profess a Reverence of God in the holy dispensations of his Providence Nor can any of these things be pleaded to give countenance unto any other Day that should be set up in competition with the Lords-day or the first day of the week What of this nature can be spoken concerning the seventh Day now by some contended for and that which is grievous by some persons Holy and Learned Of what use hath it ever been to the Church of God setting aside the occasional Advantages taken from it by the Apostles of preaching the Gospel in the Synagogues of the Jews What Testimonies have we of the presence of God with any Churches in the Administration of Gospel-Ordinances and Worship on that Day And if any lesser Assemblies do at present pretend to give such a Testimony wherein is it to be compared with that of all the holy Churches of Christ throughout the World in all Ages especially in those last past Let men in whose hearts are the wayes of God seriously consider the use that hath been made under the blessing of God of the conscientious observation of the Lords-day in the past and present age unto the promotion of Holiness Righteousness and Religion universally in the power of it and if they are not under invincible prejudices it will be very difficult for them to judge that it is a Plant which our Heavenly Father hath not planted For my part I must not only say but plead whilst I live in this World and leave this Testimony to the present and future ages if these Papers see the light and do survive that if I have ever seen any thing in the wayes and worship of God wherein the power of Religion or Godliness hath been expressed any thing that hath represented the Holiness of the Gospel and the Author of it any thing that hath looked like a Proeludium unto the everlasting Sabbath and Rest with God which we aim through Grace to come unto it hath been there and with them where and amongst whom the Lords-day hath been had in highest esteem and a strict observation of it attended unto as an Ordinance of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Remembrance of their Ministry their Walking and Conversation their Faith and Love who in this Nation have most zealously pleaded for and have been in their persons Families and Churches or Parishes the most strict observers of this Day will be precious with them that fear the Lord whilst the Sun and Moon endure Their Doctrine also in
this matter with the Blessing that attended it was that which multitudes now at Rest do bless God for and many that are yet alive do greatly rejoyce in Let these things be despised by those who are otherwise minded to me they are of great weight and importance § 32 Let us now a sittle consider the Day that by some is set up not only in competition with this but to its utter exclusion This is the seventh Day of the week or the old Judaical Sabbath which some contend that we are perpetually obliged to the observation of by vertue of the Fourth Commandment The Grounds whereon they proceed in their Affertion have been already disproved so far as the Nature of our present undertaking will admit and such evidences given unto the change of the Day as will not easily be everted nor removed The consequences of the observation of the seventh Day should the practice of it be re-assumed amongst Christians is that which at present I shall a little enquire into when we have summed up somewhat of what hath been spoken 1 It was not directly nor absolutely required in the Decalogue but consequentially only by way of Appropriation to the Mosaical Oeconomy whereunto it was then annexed The command is to observe the Sabbath-day and the blessing is upon the Sabbath-day God blessed the Sabbath-day And the mention of the seventh day in the Body of the command fixeth the number of the Dayes in whose Revolution a Sabbatical Rest returns but determines not an everlasting Order in them seeing the Order relating to the Old Creation is inconsistent with the Law Reason and Worship of the New And if the seventh day and the Sabbath as some pretend are the same the sense of the command in the enforcing part of it is but the seventh day is the seventh day of the Lord thy God which is none at all 2 The state of the Church and the Administration of the Covenant whereunto the observation of this day was annexed are removed so that it cannot continue no more than an House can stand without a Foundation 3 The Lord Christ who was the Lord of the Sabbath and by assuming that Iitle to himself manifested his Authority as to the disposal of the Day whereon a Sabbatical Rest was to be observed hath in his own Rest from his works limited unto us another day of Sacred Rest called from his appointment of it the Lords-day his Day who is the Lord of the Sabbath 4 The Day so introduced by his Authority hath from the Day of his Rest been observed without interruption or any such difference about it as fell out among the Churches of God about other Feast dayes whose observation was introduced among them they knew not well how as of the Pascha and the like And whereas the due observation of it hath been enjoyned by Councils Edicts of Emperors Kings and Princes Laws of all sorts advised and pressed by the antient Writers amongst Christians and the practice of its observance taken notice of by all who from the beginning have committed the Affairs of Christianity unto posterity yet none of any sort pretend to give it any original but all mediately or immediately referr it unto Christ himself The observation then of this Day First is an evident Judaizing and a returnal unto those Rudiments of the World which the Apostle so severely cautioneth us against I know not how it is come to pass but so it is faln out that the nearer Judaism is unto an absolute Abolition and Disappearance the more some seem inclinable to its revival and continuance or at least to fall back themselves into its antiquated observances An end it had put to it morally and legally long ago in the coming Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we may say of it what the Apostle said of Idols when the World was full of Idolatry we know that Judaism is nothing in the world no such thing as by some it is esteemed The actual Abolition of it in the profession of the present Jews by the removing of the Veyle from their Hearts and Eyes and their turning unto God we hope is in its approach And yet as was said there seems in many an inclination unto their Rites and servile observances It is apparent in the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles especially that to the Hebrews that at the first preaching of the Gospel there were very many Jews who came over to the faith and profession of it Many of these continued zealous of the Law and would bring along with them all their Mosaical Institutions which they thought were to abide in force for ever In this weakness and mis-apprehension they were forborn in the patience of God and wisdome of the Holy Ghost guiding the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ. In this state things continued unto the destruction of Hierusalem and the Temple when the chiefest cause of their contests was taken away In the mean time they carried themselves very variously according to the various tempers of their minds For it is apparent that some of them were not content themselves to be indulged in their opinions and practices but they endeavoured by all means to impose the observance of the whole Mosaical Law on the Churches of the Gentiles Their Circumcision their Sabbaths their Feasts and Fasts their Abstinences from this or that kind of meats they were contending about and thereby perverting the minds of the Disciples Some stop was put to the evil consequences hereof in the Synod at Hierusalem Acts 15. which yet determined nothing concerning the Jews own practice but only concerning the liberty of the Gentile-Believers After the destruction of Hierusalem City and Temple these professing Jews fell into several distinct wayes Some of them who as is probable had despised the heavenly warning of leaving the place took up their lot amongst their unbelieving Brethren relinquishing the profession of the Gospel which they had made not it may be with any express renuntiation of Christ but with a dis-regard of the Gospel which brought them not those good things they looked for of which mind Josephus the Historian seems to be one These in time became a part of that Apostate brood which have since continued in their enmity to the Gospel and into whose new and old superstitions they introduced sundry customes which they had learned among the Christians Some absolutely relinquished their old Judaism and compleatly incorporated with the new Gentile Churches unto whom the promise and Covenant of Abraham was transferred and made over These were the genuine Disciples of our great Apostle Others continued their profession of the Gospel but yet still thought themselves obliged unto the observation of the Law of Moses and all its institutions Hereupon they continued in a distinct and separate state from the Believers and Churches of the Gentiles and that for some Ages as some say to the dayes of Adrian These it may be were they whom Eusebius out
Holy Rest which either for the matter of them or the manner prescribed have had no sufficient warrant or foundation in the Scripture For whereas some have made no distinction between the Sabbath as Moral and as Mosaical unless it be meerly in the change of the Day they have endeavoured to introduce the whole practice required on the latter into the Lords Day But we have already shewed that there were sundry additions made unto the command as to the manner of its observance in its accommodation unto the Mosaical Pedagogie besides that the whole required a frame of spirit suited thereunto Others again have collected whatever they could think of that is good pious and usefull in the practice of Religion and prescribed it all in a multitude of instances as necessary to the sanctification of this Day so that a man can scarcely in six Dayes read over all the duties that are proposed to be observed on the seventh And it hath been also no small mistake that men have laboured more to multiply Directions about external duties giving them out as it were by number or tale than to direct the mind or inward man in and unto a due performance of the whole duty of the sanctification of the Day according to the spirit and genius of Gospel Obedience And lastly it cannot be denied but that some it may be measuring others by themselves and their own abilities have been apt to tye them up unto such long tiresome duties and rigid abstinences from refreshments as have clogged their minds and turned the whole service of the Day into a wearisome bodily exercise that profiteth little § 7 It is not in my design to insist upon any thing that is in controversie amongst Persons learned and sober Nor will I now extend this Discourse unto a particular consideration of the especial duties required in the sanctification or services of this Day But whereas all sorts of men who wish well to the furtherance and promotion of Piety and Religion in the World on what Reasons or foundations soever they judge that this Day ought to be observed an holy Rest to the Lord do agree that there is a great sinfull neglect of the due observation of it as may be seen in the Writings of some of the principal of those who cannot grant unto it an immediate divine Institution I shall give such Rules and general Directions about it as a due application whereof will give sufficient guidance in the whole of our duty therein § 8 It may seem to some necessary that something should be premised concerning the measure or continuance of the Day to be set apart unto an Holy Rest unto the Lord. But it being a matter of controversie and to me on the Reasons to be mentioned afterwards of no great importance I shall not insist upon the examination of it but only give my judgement in a word concerning it Some contend that it is a natural Day consisting of 24 hours beginning with the evening of the preceding Day and ending with the same of its own And accordingly so was the Church of Israel directed Lev. 23. 32. From even unto even shall you celebrate your Sabbath although that doth not seem to be a general Direction for the observation of the Weekly Sabbath but to regard only that particular extraordinary Sabbath which was thus instituted namely the Day of Atonement on the tenth Day of the seventh moneth vers 27. However suppose it to belong also unto the weekly Sabbath it is evidently an addition unto the command particularly suited unto the Mosaical Pedagogie that the Day might comprize the Sacrifice of the preceding evening in the services of it from an obedience whereunto we are freed by the Gospel Neither can I subscribe unto this opinion and that because 1 In the description and limitation of the first original seven Dayes it is said of each of the six that it was constituted of an evening and a morning but of the Day of Rest there is no such description it is only called the seventh Day without any assignation of the preceding evening unto it 2 A Day of Rest according to Rules of natural equity ought to be proportioned unto a Day of work or labour which God hath granted unto us for our own use Now this is to be reckoned from morning to evening Psal. 104. 20 21 22 23. Thou makest darkness and it is night wherein all the Beasts of the forest do creep from whose yelling the Night hath its name in the Hebrew Tongue The young Lions rear after their prey and seek their meat from God The Sun riseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens Man goeth forth to his work and his labour untill the evening The Day of labour is from the removeal of darkness and the night by the light of the Sun untill the return of them again which allowing for the alterations of the Day in the several seasons of the year seems to be the just measure of our Day of Rest. 3 Our Lord Jesus Christ who in his Resurrection gave beginning and being to the especial Day of Holy Rest under the Gospel rose not untill the morning of the first Day of the Week when the beamings of the light of the Sun began to dispel the darkness of the night or when it dawned towards day as it is variously expressed by the Evangelists This with me determines this whole matter 4 Meer Cessation from labour in the night seems to have no place in the spiritual Rest of the Gospel to be expressed on this Day nor to be by any thing distinguished from the night of other Dayes of the Week 5 Supposing Christians under the obligation of the Direction given by Moses before-mentioned and it may entangle them in the anxious scrupulous intrigues which the Jews are subject unto about the beginning of the evening it self about which their greatest Masters are at variance which things belong not to the Oeconomy of the Gospel Upon the whole matter I am inclinable to judge and do so that the observation of the Day is to be commensurate unto the use of our natural strength on any other Day from morning to night And nothing is hereby lost that is needfull unto the due sanctification of it For what is by some required as a part of its sanctification is necessary and required as a due preparation thereunto This therefore is our first Rule or Direction The first Day of the Week or the Lords-Day is to be set apart unto the ends of an Holy Rest unto God by every one according as his natural strength will enable him to employ himself in his lawfull occasions any other Day of the Week There is no such certain standard or measure for the observance of the duties of this Day as that every one who exceeds it should by it be cut short or that those who on important Reasons come short of it should be stretched out thereunto As