the world till the ten Commandments were given upon Mount Sinai Answ Yea from the very beginning of the world but yet not before the ten Commandments were given for there could be none without them Quest But how doth it appear that the ten Commandments were given to Adam and all his Posterity Answ The Law could not stop every mouth and bring the whole world under guilt if Adam the Father of the whole world were not under it Rom. 3.19 Quest Do you read of any other command to him then to forbear the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil Answ Yea we do or may do if through carelesness and inconsideration we over look them not For can it be reasonably thought that God sanctified the Sabbath for no use which absurdity cannot be avâ—ided if it were not for Adam to keep or that Cain sinned in killing his Brother if there had been no Law against Murther or indeed that either Godliness or Righteousness was like to flourish in the world if any of the ten Commandments had been wanting But further it is clear that the ten Commands are called the First Covepant o◠〈…〉 the Old Covenant Heb. 8. And in the 9th chap. 15. ver there you have the Cause of Christ's Death rendered to be for the sins committed against that first Covenant So that it is evident beyond contradiction that if Abel Enoch and the godly Patriarchs of the first Ages of the world had the benifit of the Redeemers blood for otherwise they could not be righteous by Faith then the New Covenant must needs be in force in Adams dayes And I am sure no man in his right mind will say that the New Covenant is older than the old Covenant is Again can it be any other than that holy Law which is so well known in the Old Testament that Paul doth mean when he maketh the work of Redemption to lie in delivering us from the curse of the Law Gal. 3.13 4.4.5 Therefore they do not want ignorance that have so confidently affirmed that the Sabbath which is one of the ten Words was never given to the Gentiles neither by the Law of Moses nor by the Law of Nature nor yet by the Law of Christ Seeing it is so evident in reason to believe that what was given to the first Fathers of the world was given to the World And the curse of that Law that did necessitate the Death of Christ for the World must needs be the Worlds duty otherwise it could not curse them but they shew themselves what skilful builders they be Quest Seeing you charge these men so home speak one word more for the further clearing of this point Answ First Then it is evident to all men that as many as were bound to be circumcised were bound to keep the whole Law The reason is full in Pauls words beyond any reasonable mans doubt Gal. 5.3 for if he was bound to keep the whole Law who was circumcised albeit there might be some circumcised who at that day when Paul wrote this it was not their duty but their ignorance so to be How much more must they needs be bound to keep the Law who were bound to be circumcised whether they were circumcised or no except the neglect of one duty discharged a man of all other due from him to his God which I presume no man will say So that here remains nothing to do but only this namely to prove That all men before the coming of Christ in the flesh were bound to be circumcised and if it had not been the Worlds duty as well as Israels wherefore should be Lord threaten to punish them for the neglect of it as he doth Jerem. 9.25 26. Sure God will not punish them for that which is no sin and it can be no sin to neglect that which is no duty Again Paul in drawing up his Charge against the Colossians estate 2.13 before their conversion chargeth them with the uncircumcision of their flesh which sure he would not have done if he had not known their neglect of it before Christ was made known to them had been their sin Again no man can be ignorant of this that strangers that were not of Israel might partake with them in all the Priviledges of Religion acceptably that ever read Exod. 12.48 49. with other-like places and can any man be so brutish as to think it was not all the Gentiles duty as well as some of them or to think that any of them could have been accepted if it had been voluntary religion or will-worship so plainly condemneds Col. 2.18 23. Besides it is manifest that the very Congregation to whom God proclaimed this Law in Sinai consisted of a mixed multitude of other People as well as of Jews Exod. 12.38 Numb 11.4 Now that these ten Commandments are the foundation of all Religion is no way hard to conceive for because this Law was transgressed and therefore could not save man therefore there was a necessity of our Lords Death to redeem man as may by comparing these with other-like Texts together be seen Rom. 8.3 4. 10.5 Gal. 3.10 12 13. Heb. 8.7 8 9. and 9.15 And because Christ hath redeemed us therefore the Gospel is necessary to open to the Sons of men the benefits of his Death For the raising of Faith in the soul and the working of us to repentance and for the carrying on of the work of Sanctification the Ordinances of the Lord's Supper Baptism and the rest of his Appointments are necessary as Preaching Praying and all other duties of Plety and Godliness the whole body of Religion hath so natural a dependance one part of Truth upon another and the whole of it upon that Law as is clear and easie to every considering man to understand Quest But is not this Doctrine legal and an exalting the Law above the Gospel in saying it is the foundation of Religion Answ No by no means no such thing will follow no more than it will follow that the first Adam is greater than the second Adam or the darkness more excellent than the light although that was first created Quest Explain this point as brief as you can Answ Understand it thus I call this Law the Foundation of Religion because if it be made void all Religion of necessity must be made void with it As for Example if it continue not to be a rule of holy and just living then he that neglecteth to observe it sinneth not and he that offendeth not this Law cannot be cuised by it and he that is not cursed by it cannot stand in need of redemption by our Lord Jesus to redeem him from the curse thereof and he that needs no Redemption needs no Redeemer and he that needs not a Redeemer needs not the blessings that come by him nor yet a Gospeâ— nor Ordinances to convey them to him So that if you mind it well you will see that all the parts and prancies of
sin against that Covenant and thy self confessest in the 23 page That there is but two a first and a second and that is the only Truth almost asserted by thee for such a piece of ignorance and folly I think never saw the light ever under the curse of it it is a poor priviledge the Jew had above the Gentile Mr. Jves will not consent to this I believe for it takes away the main Piller of all his building but your skill in the study of Divinity is well seen when this distinction is too nice for you You are like to make good sence of the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians and the Scriptures in general therefore for shame retract thy work and buy a Catechism and place thy self under the Ministry of some guide that is able to instrust thee in the main Points of Religion at least that thou be not a shame to thy self and to all that are in communion with thee Compare these words with what is exprest in the 20 page namely That under this Law no believing Gentile can be because it was given to none but Jews and Proselyted Gentiles Well if this be all true then the rest of the world were under no Covenant at all Oh rare Divinity But secondly Take notice of your skill in distinguishing between Proselyted Gentiles and believing Gentiles as if the Proselytes must needs be unbelievers if they believed not what made them joyn themselves to the Lord and his People You Sabbath-Breakers are excellent Logicians but very silly in the use of Reason Oh lay by that vain deceit that makes you swell with folly and pride and in humility search the holy Scriptures and be not so absurd as to believe that nothing is New Covenant but what is writ since the Death of Christ and given to the Gentiles and that all given forth before and that hath been committed to the Jews must needs be Old Covenant these and such-like Doctrines you would perswade us against the Sabbath withal the Lord send you all more wit I have striven by writing and reasoning all I could to put a stop to those swarms of Errors you have run into to avoid Sabbath-keeping and I intended my Book to see if you would consider it and intended to exercise Patience with you yet being exceedingly unwilling the world should know your folly but your selves proclaim your own shame and if I should still be silent the world would think that we were all alike therefore I can do no less than bear a Testimony against your folly although I have something else to do than to follow you in your Wild-goose chase Observe one note more out of the 24 page where he confesseth That all Adams unbelieving Children are bound to observe the first Covenant and shall be charged if they break it And here you may note by the way how directly contrary he is to himself in the 12 page and 20 page But secondly he saith That now since he believed he is none of Adams stock To this I answer That if he had good store of Land some body would soon be with the King to beg him But secondly I say Abel was a true believer yet if he 〈…〉 honest man ◠and yet I believe William Russel is as truly descended from Adam as he was And in the 20 page he denieth that the second Table of the Law was written in the heart of Adam for this reason because he had no Neighbour Now I say no man need to wonder that the Sabbath is denied to be naturally moral if not any of the six last Commands be and sure I believe they were never written fairer in any mans heart than in Adams in innocency Christ alone excepted but it seems he doth not think the Lord wise enough to make a Law at once for ever to bind all Ages and Conditions of men but that upon every change of condition he must give him a new Law or the old in a new form at least And in the 37 page He denieth Christ's Mediatorship to be of force till since his Death And in the 35 and 36 pages he affirmeth that When the ten Words were given at Sinai as a Rule of Life they were also given to do for Life and the breakers cursed without Mercy The very naming of these things is enough to reprove the folly of them Sure the Judgement of God is upon this mans right eye What is become of Abraham Moses and all the Patriachs and Prophets doth he think Or is there any other way to Salvation than through New-Covenant-Mercy But now you see the mans heart so willing he is to be rid of the Sabbath that rather than he will keep that he will pack the Gospel and it out of doors together yea his own received Principle the Redemption of all mankind by Jesus Christ And this is his reason in the 38 page wherefore he doth not keep Sabbath namely Because Christ as Mediator of the New Testament hath not commanded it and he saith nothing but what he hath so commanded is his duty Now observe the true consequence of these opinions if nothing be W. R. his duty but what Christ as Mediator hath commanded What necessity could W. stand in of his Death at all for if Christ had not come to bring him a Law to sin against he had none it seems to sin against before and so could stand in no need of blood to cleanse him Again if nothing be his duty but what Christ hath so commanded then you must know that no part of the Old Testament nor much of the New is any part of Williams Bible and what need he have put himself to so much trouble to frame so many quibling arguments to help himself against Mat. 5. he might have only said it was given forth before the Death of Christ and it had been as good as all those arguments and a thousand more but W. had forgot that answer or else he trusted more to his Logick than to that answer for those that have good skill in that art can prove that a Fox hath eight legs to him that never 〈…〉 he may not know which is best to deny the major or the minor yet can you never perswade him that a Fox hath more than four legs And for that Text Mat. 5. and James 2 hath more strength to prove the perpetuity of the Sabbath than all the Logicians in Bucks can take off and that Mr. Ives well knew when to rid himself of those Texts he told his Antagonists Those Books did not belong to us Gentiles but were written to the Jews and belonged only to them And I cannot but observe one passage more in the 54 page of his Book where he affirmeth that Our Saviours Doctrine and Practice taught to do servile work on the Sabbath repugnant to the Letter of the Law of God This passage would make one think that the man either knows not or cares not what he saith for if
this were indeed true we might well give over writing Books about Religion for there could be no possibility of Salvation neither for Jew nor Gentile For if Christ were a sinner his blood could take away no sin and a sinner he must needs be if he broke Sabbath and taught others so to do in a very high degree although the Sabbath had been but ceremonial for there was no shadow of the Law could be neglected the smallest of all the Ceremonies without sin till by Christs Death they were abolished But if William had had so much charity for his Saviour as to have judged him a better expounder of the Law than the Pharisees he had not fallen into this blasphemy Is it not enough for the Pharisees to lay that sin to his charge but you must second it to the hardening of the poor Jews and the destroying of the Faith of the Gentiles as much as in you lieth Therefore if the Sabbath-keepers be ignorant of Christ's Mediation as you tell your Reader they be if they come to you for knowledge they are like to be well helpt up As for your discourse about what is naturally moral and positively moral it is not worth a dispute there is so little between them the one as truly binding the Conscience as the other but for the Sabbath I have some reason to believe that it is naturally moral First There was never any people professing a God but kept one day in seven for his Worship And there is no Precept of the first Table that men do come nearer to ordinarily that have not the express Letter of the Law for their Rule Secondly The time is yet to come that ever I heard or saw any man dispute or write or preach against the Sabbath but he at that very time and in that very work asserted some thing that did plainly manifest that it was fairely written in his heart or else run himself upon this Rock that he shamefully broke the fifth Commandment to dispute down the fourth as I could give instance if need were But answer The first is Wherefore I am so sharp in my Answer to W. Russel To this I say I am taught of Solomon so to do in such a case as this Prov. 26.3 4.5 2. I was in fear he would greatly dishonour the Gospel when he was going to print and desired to see his Copy and to reason with him first but he would not and 't is just to lash him that is past Counsel The second Question I expect is Wherefore I do not as well answer Mr. Ives as he To this I say For his Book Mr. Braborn hath answered it but for his dispute I have in part and shall in a few words more give some little account of it the naming whereof is answer enough When he began he denied the Seventh-day-Sabbath upon this account That it was never given to the Gentiles neither by the Law of Nature nor by the Law of Moses nor yet by the Law of Christ and his whole discourse was to this effect so that the Appendix of his dispute is in those words which to answer is enough and truly the answer to them is needless if we lived in an Age where Wisdom is to be found For what man of any reasonable understanding but must needs see that this Arrow is shot at the heart of the Scriptures as well as the Sabbath the whole Old Testament being as well denied to be a Rule of Life to the Gentiles as the fourth Commandment for all men know that as many as ever the Old Testament was given to the Sabbath was given to and he all along throughout the whole dispute made it his business to deny the Sabbath was ever given to any People or the observation thereof required at their hands save the Stock of Israel and those that Proselyted themselves and came and lived in the Confines of Palestina and it was no slip of the tongue nor an Arrow shot at a venture but his mind and intention to exclude all the Scriptures that ever were written to the Jews from being any Law or Rule of Life to us Gentiles is manifest in that he denied the Gospel of Matthew the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Epistle of James only for that reason because they were written to the Jews and so concerned not us Gentiles And his exception against the Sabbath was not that which is common to some others namely that it was of a differing nature from the other nine but because it was Moses's Law and therefore never given to the Gentiles I need give no answer to this having said enough to this point before in the former part of my Book neither when I began to write did I intend to meddle with disputes but did think this Errour so sordid that it would die of it self and I had no pleasure to give it a resurrection but finding the contrary that it is as a spreading Leproâ—â— spanâ— there be yet some no wiser than to build upon this man as an Orâ—â—â—â— therefore I have given thee good Reader a true account of that Dispute so much magnified Now for to follow these men with any further reply than barely to discover their Errours I cannot see it reasonably to be expected until first themselves have declared what Books or parts of Books of the New Testament they do own as a Rule of Life to bind the Consciences of believing Gentiles that we may know by what Texts of holy Scripture the controversy shall be decided for if we should prove the Sabbath a duty from Matthew the Acts or James and they or any of them that deny the ten Commandments should answer These Books were given to the Jews and concern not the Gentiles all our labour is lost but when you have called a Council and agreed this among your selves then shall you have a fuller Answer if it be needful and required if I live to see it THE END
of Twenty Cubites long where it was by the Ministers of the Temple Christ's deadly enemies kept safe enough from any hand of earthly man none but a Messenger from Heaven could rent it again the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent which could not be but by an omnipotent Power all which made the Centurion and his Company though in all probability they were Heathens being Souldiers in Caesars Army cry out and say Truly this was the Son of God and if Souldiers who are commonly rude persons especially when they have such Masters as they had if they could not chuse but see this how much more should all men consider and take notice of God's Testimony so gloriously born on his behalf Thirdly The Resurrection of Christ proves it beyond exception Quest Yea but how shall that be proved clearly Answ There be three evident proofs of it 1. The witnesses of it are a considerable number not less than Five hundred at once 1 Cor. 15.6 7 8. and some of these died for this Testimony and what their holy Doctrine and Life was is to be seen in the New Testament and neither credit nor profit was to be gained by this Testimony besides two of these witnesses were such as had they not been extraordinarily convinced of the truth of it would not have believed it themselves Thomas proclaiming his unbelief till he felt and saw the print of the nailes and thrust his hand into his side which the Spear had made John 20.24 25. And as for Paul he persecuted this Testimony unto the death and had his hand in the blood of Stephen for it not altering his bloody purpose till by a Voice and a Light from Heaven he was smitten blind and unto the earth and he made to know that that Jesus whom he persecuted in his People was risien and ascended 2. The miserable excuse that was made to blind the Peoples understandings that they might not believe he was risen proves it evidently for he was laid in a Tomb which had a stone so great on the top of it that the good women were in care to get it removed when they came to anoint him Also there was a strong guard of Souldiers set to watch lest his Disciples should steal him who were so afraid of their own lives that they durst not meet but in the night an unlikely company to steal their Masters dead body from a band of Souldiers But now to make the world believe that these poor frighted men stole him away while they slept is most impossible for who can believe that the whole Guard should be asleep all at once or who can believe his Disciples durst venture to roul off that Stone in the midst of those Armed men to steal his Corps from them they being set there on purpose to prevent them from this act muchless was it possible for them to be able to give a just account whether he were stollen away or risen again if they had been all asleep indeed and it is not at all likely that those armed Souldiers ran from the Sepulchre to the High Priest in such a fear because the Disciples had stole him but indeed because the Angel of the Lord terrified them away from that fruitless work Neither yet can it enter into any mans heart to believe that ever the Priests and Elders of the Jews would ever go about to perswade the Governour to peace and reconciliation with those Souldiers that had so much neglected their duty to suffer him to be stole if indeed he had been stole but they would much rather have perswaded him to take them and hang them up every man of them for their negligence if it had not manifestly appeared that Jesus whom they caused to be crucified was indeed risen again from the dead Thirdly and lastly Besides the wonderful Miracles his Apostles did work in his Name the Gifts bestowed upon them so suddenly after his Ascention according to the Promise made to them the which we read of Acts 2.1 to the 11. proves it clearly for from whence could poor Fisher-men ignorant and unlearned at an instance attain such Gifts of Knowledge Courage Utterance as is there exprest but that it must needs be by the Power of the holy Spirit To all which I only ask this question I desire that the most unbelieving Jews will tell me what they expect from the Messiah they look for or what they can think he should be that Jesus Christ is not When this is soberly answered I will set Pen to Paper again if the Lord please that I live to see it in the mean time as one desiring the Salvation both of Jews and Gentiles I intreat all men to consider the main grounds of Religion and to get such sound Principles for the Foundation thereof as will substantially bear up the whole body of it A brief Answer to William Russel in a Book of his entituled No Seventh-Day-Sabbath in Christ's New Testament ALthough that which I have written already is enough to stop the mouths of all Opposers of God's most holy Law yet because the ignorance and folly of men is so great in this day I shall add a few words to what I have written already upon the occasion of a late Book I have seen intituled The Seventh-Day-Sabbath not Commanded by Jesus Christ in the New Testament but I desire thee good Reader not to expect that I should waste my time or be at the cost to follow William Russel with a Reply to that green-headed Piece of his that consisteth for the most part of it of Debates and Reasonings of other men but I shall apply my self to touch briefly some few passages asserted by William himself And first to that learned Assertion in the 12th page of his Book where he concludeth since his eyes were opened that the Ten Words being abolished as the first Covenant to do for Life they cannot continue as a Rule of Life the distinction is so nice that it is groundless To which I answer It is well you confess them to be the first Covenant and once given for Life the good Lord give thee and others Wisdom to take notice of the time when it was so given for it could never give Life therefore it must be in that day when it would have continued Life to eternity if it had been kept and therefore be not so witless as to think that when God gave his Law at Sinai as a Rule of Life for thy self confessest that so he did to Jews and Proselytes that then he intended it as a Covenant to do for Life for if he did he must intend to condemn them all for nothing is more evident than that they were all sinners and impossible it is that thou canst deny it to be against this Law they sinned For thou affirmest in the 37 page of thy Book That the New Covenant was not in force till after the Death of Christ therefore they could not according to thy judgement