they were not so assembled together again till then After eight days saith he again the Disciples were within clearly concluding that they were not so on the days that were between no not on the old Seventh day Now why should the Holy Ghost thus precisely speak of their assembling together upon the first day if not to confirm us in this that the Lord had chosen that day for the new Sabbath of his Church Surely the Apostles knew what they did in their meeting together upon that day yea and the Lord Jesus also for that he used SO to visit them when SO assembled made his practice a Law unto them For Practice is enough for us New Testament Saints specially when the Lord Jesus himself is in the head of that practice and that after he rose from the dead Perhaps some may stumble at the word after after eight days but the meaning is at the conclusion of the eighth day or when they had spent in a manner the whole of their Sabbath in waiting upon their Lord then in comes their Lord and finisheth that their days service to him with confirming of Thomas's faith and by letting drop other most heavenly treasure among them Christ said he must lie three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth yet 't is evident that he rose the third day 1 Cor. 15. 4. We must take then a part for the whole and conclude that from the time that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead to the time that he shewed his Hands and his Side to Thomas eight days were almost expired that is he had sanctified unto them two first days and had accepted that service they had performed to him therein as he testified by giving of them so blessed a farewel at the conclusion of both those days Hence now we conclude that this was the custom of the Church at this day to wit upon the first day of the week to meet together and to wait upon their Lord therein For the Holy Ghost counts it needless to make a continued repetition of things 't is enough therefore if we have now and then mention made thereof Obj. But Christ shewed himself alive to them at other times also as in Joh. 21 c. Answ. The names of all those days in which he so did are obliterate and blotted out that they might not be idolized for Christ did not set them apart for worship but this day the first day of the Week by its name is kept alive in the Church the Holy Ghost surely signifying thus much that how hidden soever other days were Christ would have his day the first day had in everlasting remembrance among Saints Churches also meet together now on the Week-days and have the presence of Christ with them too in their employments but that takes not off from them the sanction of the first day of the Week no more than it would take away the sanction of the old Seventh day had it still continued holy to them wherefore this is no let or objection to hinder our sanctifying of the first day of the Week to our God But Thirdly Adde to this that upon Pentecost which was the first day of the Week mention is made of their being together again For Pentecost was always the morrow after the Sabbath the old Seventh-day-sabbath Upon this day I say the Holy Ghost saith they were again with one accord together in one place But oh the glory that then attended them by the presence of the Holy Ghost among them Never was such a thing done as was done on that first day till then We will read the Text And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire And it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 1 2 3 4. Here 's a first day glorified Here 's a countenance given to the day of their Christian assembling But we will note a few things upon it First The Church was now as on other first days all with one accord in one place We read not that they came together by vertue of any precedent Revelation nor by Accident but contrarywise by Agreement they was to gather with one accord or by appointment in pursuance of their duty setting apart that day as they had done the first days afore to the holy service of their blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Secondly We read that this meeting of theirs was not begun on the old Sabbath but when Pentecost was fully come the Holy Ghost intimating that they had left now and begun to leave the Seventh-day-sabbath to the unbelieving Jews Thirdly Nor did the Holy Ghost come down upon them till every moment of the old Sabbath was past Pentecost as was said was FULLY come first And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and then c. And why was not this done on the Seventh-day-sabbath but possibly to shew that the Ministration of Death and Condemnation was not that by or thorough which Christ the Lord would communicate so good a gift unto his Churches Gal. 3. 1 2 3 4. This Gift must be referred to the Lords day the first day of the week to fulfil the Scripture and to sanctifie yet further this holy day unto the use of all New Testament Churches of the Saints For since on the first day of the week our Lord did rise from the dead and by his special presence I mean his personal did accompany his Church therein and SO preach as he did his holy truths unto them it was most meet that they on the same day also should receive the first-fruits of their eternal Life most gloriously And I say again since from the resurrection of Christ to this day the Church then did receive upon the first day but as we read upon no other such glorious things as we have mentioned it is enough to beget in the hearts of them that love the Son of God a high esteem of the first day of the week But how much more when there shall be joyned to these proof that it was the custom of the first Gospel-Church the Church of Christ at Jerusalem after our Lord was risen to assemble together to wait upon God on the first day of the Week with their Lord as leader To say little more to this head but onely to repeat what is written of this day of old to wit that it should be proclaimed the self same day to wit the morrow after the Sabbath which is the first day of the Week that it may be an holy convocation unto you you shall do no servile work therein it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings Levit. 23. 16 17 18
though he limits Paul preaching to that Church with whom he at present personally was Upon the first day of the week when the Disciples were come together to break bread Paul being at that time at Troas preached to them on that day Thus then you see how the Gentile-Churches did use to break bread not on the old Sabbath but on the first day of the week And I say they had it from the Church of Jerusalem where the Apostles were first seated and beheld the way of their Lord with their eyes Now I say since we have so ample an example not onely of the Church at Jerusalem but also of the Churches of the Gentiles for the keeping of the first day to the Lord and that as countenanced by Christ and his Apostles we should not be afraid to tread in their steps for their practice is the same with Law and Commandment But Fifthly We will adde to this another Text Now saith Paul concerning the collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him as God has prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. This Text some have greatly sought to evade counting the duty here on this day to be done a duty too inferiour for the sanction of an old seventh-day-Seventh-day-sabbath when yet to shew mercy to an Ass on the old Sabbath was a work which our Lord no ways condemns Luke 13. 15. ch 14. 15. But to pursue our design we have a Duty enjoyned and that of no inferiour sort If charity be indeed as it is the very bond of perfectness and if without it ALL our doings yea and sufferings too are not worth so much as a rush 1 Cor. 13. Coloss. 3. 14. We have here a Duty I say that a seventh-day-Seventh-day-sabbath when enforce was not too big for it to be performed in The work now to be done was as you see to bestow their charity upon the Poor yea to provide for time to come And I say it must be collected upon the first day of the week Upon THE first day not A first day as signifying one or two but upon THE first day even every first day for so your ancient Bibles have it also our later must be so understood or else Paul had left them to whom he did write utterly at a loss For if he intended not every first day and yet did not specifie a particular one it could hardly even a been understood which first day he meant But we need not stand upon this This work was a work for A first day for EVERY first day of the week Note again that we have this duty here commanded and enforced by an Apostolical Order I have given order saith Paul for this and his Orders as he saith in another place are the commandments of the Lord you have it in the same Epistle chap. 14. vers 37. Whence it follows that there was given even by the Apostles themselves a holy respect to the first day of the week above all the days of the week yea or of the Year besides Further I find also by this Text that this Order is universal I have saith he given this order not onely to you but to the Churches in Galatia Consequently to all other that were concerned in this Collection 2 Cor. 8. and 9. chap. c. Now this whatever others may think puts yet more glory upon the first day of the week For in that all the Churches are commanded as to make their Collections so to make them on THIS day what is it but that this day by reason of the Sanction that Christ put upon it was of vertue to sanctifie the Offering thorough and by Christ Jesus as the Altar and Temple afore did sanctifie the Gift and Gold that was and was offered on them The Proverb is The better Day the better Deed. And I believe that things done on the Lords day are better done than on other days of the week in his Worship Obj. But yet say some here are no Orders to keep this first day holy to the Lord. Answ. 1. That is supplied for that by this very Text this day is appointed above all the days of the week to do this holy duty in 2. You must understand that this Order is but additional and now enjoyned to fill up that which was begun as to holy Exercise of religious Worship by the Churches long before 3. The universality of the duty being enjoyned to this day supposes that this day was universally kept by the Churches as holy already 4. And let him that scrupleth this shew me if he can that God by the mouth of his Apostles did ever command that all the Churches should be confined to this or that duty on such a day and yet put no Sanction upon that day or that he has commanded that this work should be done on the first day of the week and yet has reserved other Church-Ordinances as a publick solemnization of Worship to him to be done of another day as of a day more fit more holy 5. If Charity if a general Collection for the Saints in the Churches is commanded on this day and on no other day but this day for Church-collection is commanded on no other there must be a reason for it And if that reason had not respect to the sanction of the day I know not why the duty should be so strictly confined to it 6. But for the Apostle now to give with this a particular command to the Churches to sanctifie that day as holy unto the Lord had been utterly superfluous for that they already and that by the countenance of their Lord and his Church at Jerusalem had done Before now I say it was become a custom as by what hath been said already is manifest wherefore what need that their so solemn a practice be imposed again upon the Brethren An intimation now of a continued respect thereto by the very naming of the day is enough to keep the Sanctity thereof on foot in the Churches How much more then when the Lord is still adding holy duty to holy duty to be performed upon that day So then in that the Apostle writes to the Churches to do this holy duty on the first day of the week he puts them in mind of the Sanction of the day and insinuates that he would still have them have a due respect thereto Quest. But is there yet another reason why this holy duty should in special as it is be commanded to be performed on the first day of the week Answ. Yes For that now the Churches were come together in their respective places the better to agree about Collections and to gather them You know Church-worship is a duty so long as we are in the world and so long also is this of making Collections for the Saints And for as much as
the Apostle speaks here as I have hinted afore of a Church-collection When is it more fit to be done than when the Church is come together upon the first day of the Week to worship God 2. This part of Worship is most comely to be done upon the first day of the week and that at the close of that days work For thereby the Church shews not onely her thankfulness to God for a Sabbath-days mercy but also returneth him by giving to the Poor that Sacrifice for their benefit that is most behoveful to make manifest their professed subjection to Christ Prov. 19. 17. 2 Cor. 9. 12 13 14 15. It is therefore necessary that this work be done on the first day of the week for a comely close of the worship that we perform to the Lord our God on that day 3. On the first day of the week when the Church is performing of holy worship unto God then that of Collection for the Saints is most meet to be performed because then in all likelihood our hearts will be most warm with the divine Presence consequently most open and free to contribute to the necessity of the Saints You know that a man when his heart is open is taken with some excellent thing then if at all it is most free to do something for the promoting thereof Why waiting upon God in the way of his appointments opens and makes freâ— the heart to the Poor And because the first day of the week was it in which now such solemn Service to him was done therefore also the Apostle commanded that upon the same day also as on a day most fit this duty of collecting for the Poor should be done For the Lord loves a cheerful giver 2 Cor. 9. 6 7. Wherefore the Apostle by this takes the Churches as it were at the advantage and as we say while the Iron is hot to the intent he might what in him lay make their Gollections not sparing nor of a grudging mind but to flow from cheerfulness And the first day of the week though its institution was set aside doth most naturally tend to this because it is the day the onely day in which we received such blessings from God Acts 3. 26. This is the day on which at first it rained Manna all day long from Heaven upon the New Testament-Church and so continues to do this day Oh! the resurrection of Christ which was on this day and the riches that we receive thereby Though it should be and is I hope thought on every day yet when the First of the week is fully come Then To day This day This is the day to be warmed this day he was begotten from the dead The thought of this will do much with an honest mind This is the day I say that the first Saints DID find and that after-Saints DO find the blessings of God come down upon them and therefore this is the day here commanded to be set apart for holy Duties And although what I have said may be but little set by of some yet for a closing word as to this I do think could but half so much be produced from the day Christ rose from the dead quite down for the sanction of a seventh-day-Seventh-day-sabbath in the Churches of the Gentiles it would much sway with me But the truth is neither doth the Apostle Paul nor any of his fellows so much as once speak one word to the Churches that shews the least regard as to conscience to God of a Seventh-day-sabbath more No the first day the first day the first day is now all the cry in the Churches by the Apostles for the performing Church-worship in to God Christ began it on THAT day Then the Holy Ghost seconded it on THAT day Then the Churches practised it on THAT day And to conclude the Apostle by the command now under consideration continues the sanction of THAT day to the Churches to the end of the world But as to the old Seventh-day-sabbath as hath been said afore in this Treatise Paul who is the Apostle of the Gentiles has so taken away that whole Ministration in the bowels of which it is yea and has so stript it of its Old Testament-grandeur both by Terms and Arguments that it is strange to me it should by any be still kept up in the Churches specially since the same Apostle and that at the same time has put a better Ministration in its place 2 Cor. 3. But when the Consciences of good men are captivated with an errour none can stop them from a prosecution thereof as if it were it self of the best of truths Obj. But Paul preached frequently on the old Sabbath and that after the Resurrection of Christ. Answ. To the unbelieving Jews and their Proselytes I grant he did But we read not that he did it to any New Testament-Church on that day nor did he celebrate the instituted worship of Christ in the Churches on that day For Paul who had before cast out the Ministration of death as that which had no glory would not now take thereof any part for New Testament instituted worship for he knew that that would veil the Heart and blind the Mind from that which yet instituted Worship was ordained to discover He preached then on the Seventh-day-sabbath of a divine and crafty love to the salvation of the unbelieving Jews I say he preached now on that day to them and their Proselytes because that day was theirs by their estimation He did it I say of great love to their Souls that if possible he might save some of them Wherefore it you observe you shall still find that where 't is said that he preached on that day it was to that people not to the Churches of Christ. See Acts 9. 20. ch 13. 14 15 16. ch 16. 13. ch 17. 1 2 3. ch 18. 4. Thus though he had put away â—e sanction of that day as to himself and had left the Christians that were weak to their liberty as to conscience to it yet he takes occasion upon it to preach to the Jews that still were wedded to it the Faith that they might be saved by Grace Paul did also many other things that were Jewish and Ceremonial for which he had as then no conscience at all as to any Sanction that he believed was in them As his Circumcising of Timothy His Shaving of his Head His submitting to Jewish Purifications His acknowledging of himself a Pharisee His implicite owning of Ananias for High Priest after Christ was risen from the dead Acts 16. 1 2 3. chap. 18. 18. chap. 21. 24 25 26. chap. 23. 6. chap. 23. 1 2 3 4 5. He tells us also that to the Jew he became as a Jew that he might save the Jew And without Law to them that were without Law that also he might gain them Yea he became as he saith all things to all men that he might gain the more as it is 1 Cor. 9. 19 20 21
Wilderness Now in the Law as moral we conclude a time propounded but no Seventh-day-sabbath enjoyned But in that Law as thus ministred which Ministration is already out of doors we find a seventh day that seventh day on which God rested on which God rested from all his works enjoyned What is it then why the whole Ministration as written and engraven in stones being removed the Seventh-day-sabbath must also be removed for that the time nor yet the day was as to our holy Sabbath or rest moral but imposed with that whole Ministration as such upon the Church until the time of Reformation Which time being come this Ministration as I said as such ceaseth and the whole Law as to the morality of it is delivered into the hand of Christ who imposes it now also but not as a Law of Works nor as that Ministration written and engraven in Stones but as a Rule of life to those that have believed in him 1 Cor. 9. 21. So then that Law is still moral and still supposes since it teaches that there is a God that time must be set apart for his Church to worship him in according to that will of his that he hath revealed in his Word But though by that Law time is required yet by that as moral the time never was prefixed The time then of old was appointed by such a ministration of that Law as we have been now discoursing of and when that Ministration ceased that time did also vanish with it And now by our new Law-giver the Son of God he being Lord also of the Sabbath-day we have a time prefixed as the Law of Nature requireth a new day by him who is the Lord of it I say appointed wherein we may worship not in the oldness of that Letter written and engraven in Stones but according to and most agreeing with his new and holy Testament And this I confirm further by those reasons that now shall follow First Because we find not from the resurrection of Christ to the end of the Bible any thing written by which is imposed that Seventh-day-Sabbath upon the Churches Time as I said the Law as moral requires but that time we find no longer imposed And in all duties pertaining to God and his true Worship in his Churches we must be guided by his Laws and Testaments By his old Laws when his old Worship was in force and by his new Laws when his new Worship is in force And he hath verily now said Behold I make all things new Secondly I find as I have shewed that this Seventh-day-sabbath is confined not to the Law of Nature as such but to that ministration of it which was given on Sinai which Ministration as it is come to an end as such so it is rejected by Paul as a Ministration no ways capable of abiding in the Church now since the ministration of the Spirit also hath taken its place 2 Cor. 3. Wherefore instead of propounding it to the Churches with Arguments tending to its reception he seeks by degrading it of its old lustre and glory to wean the Churches from any likement thereof 1. By calling of it the ministration of Death of the Letter and of Condemnation a term most frightful but no ways alluring to the godly 2. By calling it a Ministration that now has NO glory by reason of the exceeding glory of that Ministration under which by the holy Spirit the New Testament-Churches are And these are weaning Considerations 2 Cor. 3. 3. By telling of them it is a Ministration that tendeth to blind the Mind and to veil the Heart as to the knowledge of their Christ So that they cannot while under that behold his beauteous face but as their heart shall turn from it to him 2 Cor. 3. 4. And that they might not be left in the dark but perfectly know what Ministration it is that he means he saith expresly it is that written and engraven in stonès See again 2 Cor. 3. And in that Ministration it is that this Seventh-day-sabbath is found But shall we think that the Apostles speaks any thing of all here said to wean Saints off from the Law of Nature as such No verily that he retains in the Church as being managed there by Christ But THIS Ministration is dangerous now because it cannot be maintained in the Church but in a way of contempt to the Ministration of the Spirit and is derogatory to the glory of that Now these as I said are weaning Considerations No man I do think that knows himself or the glory of a Gospel-ministration can if he understands what Paul says here desire that such a Ministration should be retained in the Churches Fourthly This Seventh-day-sabbath has lost its ceremonies those unto which before you are cited by the Texts which was with it imposed upon the old Church for her due performance of Worship to God thereon How then can this Sabbath now he kept Kept I say according to Law For it the Church on which it was at first imposed was not to keep it yea could not keep it legally without the practising of those Ceremonies And if those Ceremonies are long ago dead and gone how will those that pretend to a belief of a continuation of the Sanction thereof keep it I say according as it is written If they say they retain the day but change their manner of observation thereof I ask Who has commanded them so to do This is one of the Laws of this Sabbath Thou shalt take fine flour and bake twelve cakes thereof two tenth deals shall be in one cake And thou shalt set them in two rows six on a row upon the pure Table before the Lord. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row that it may be on the bread for a memorial even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant Levit. 24. 5 6 7 8 9. You may see also other places as Numb 28. 9 10. Neh. 13. 22. and Ezek. 46. 4. Now if these be the Laws of the Sabbath this Seventh-day-sabbath And if God did never command that this Sabbath should by his Church be sanctified without them And as was said before if these Ceremonies have been long since dead and buried how must this Sabbath be kept Let men take heed lest while they plead for Law and pretend themselves to be the onely doers of Gods will they be not found the biggest transgressors thereof And why can they not as well keep the other Sabbaths as the Sabbaths of Months of Years and the Jubilee For this as I have shewed is no moral Precept 't is onely a branch of the ministration of Death and Condemnation Fifthly The Seventh-day-sabbath as such was a sign and shadow of things to come and a sign cannot be the thing signified and substance too Wherefore when the thing signified or