and not abusing both of your self and others with a vain shew easily have perceived by the Text cited by me out of Ezekiel for the Proof thereof that I meant it in relation to Gods People under the Old Covenant and not under the New Pag. 14. You deny that ever the Sabbath did stoop to any Law either Ceremonial or Moral because say you this and other Moral Laws have evermore submitted to the Will and Pleasure of the Royal Law-giver How doth this disprove my Argument unless you do withal shew that the Law-giver never willed the Precept of the Sabbath to be broken that other Precepts might be kept The contrary whereof is very evident from the Texts of Scripture that I have alledged in my third Reason also from Numb 28.9 where certain Sacrifices are enjoyned by God to be Offered on the Sabbath day which could not be done without the breach of the Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue where all manner of Work is forbidden on that day Accordingly the Priests on the sabbath-Sabbath-day did in the Temple Profane the Sabbath and were blameless as Christ speaketh Mat. 12.5 Here you see plainly that the Law of the Sabbath is broken and that by the Will of God that the Law of Sacrifices might be kept But you shall never find in the Scripture that the Law concerning Mercy Righteousness Faith or any other undoubted Moral Duty is ever Profaned that the Sabbath might be kept For when you alledge on the contrary that the Moral Law which saith Thou shalt not steal or Covet doth stoop as low as that of the Sabbath and for Proof thereof cite Exod. 11.2 you are mistaken for the Israelites are there Commanded by God neither to Steal nor to Covet but only as I am told the inspection of the Hebrew words will inform you to ask of the Egyptians Vessels of Silver and Vessels of Gold But to ask something of another was never yet counted to be a breach of either the Eighth or Tenth Commandment of the Decalogue Neither is that Moral Law Thou shalt not kill violated or as you term it prostituted by that Command of God Gen. 22.12 For as much as the killing forbidden in the sixth Commandment is by God himself Exod. 21.12 14. explained to be coming upon a man presumptuously and slaying him with guile neither of which can be said of Abraham's attempt to slay his Son he having received an express Commandment from God to do it Neither was that Moral sentence of acquitting the Innocent and condemning the Wicked subjected and as it were subverted so you are pleased to speak in the Death of Christ for the Jews that Condemned and killed Christ are by God in the Scripture pronounced to have done it by Wicked hands Acts 2.23 and they accordingly exhorted to Repent that they might receive the Remission of their sins ver 38. Which Justification is not contrary to those words of the Law I will not Justifie the Wicked Exod. 23.7 Which are meant of such a Justification whereby the Wicked Person is Approved and Vindicated and not whereby he is Forgiven upon his Repentance and turning from his Wickedness You should have done rightly to prove and not barely assert that Natures Law never allowed a man to have more Wives than one For though I freely grant that the Law of Nature doth dictate it to be better for a man to content himself with one Wife yet doth it not suggest that the contrary is sinful howbeit the Law of Christ hath now made it so And a wonder it is to see what pains many men take but without success to prove that Polygamy is contrary to the Law of Nature You should likewise have proved that the Act of Hosea the Prophet in Marrying one that had been an Harlot was against the Law either of God or Nature and not have taken it for granted Pag. 16. When the Disciples of Christ did pull the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath-day and eat them rubing them with their Hands they did as the Pharisees objected to them what was not Lawful to do on the Sabbath For though the Law allowed a man to pull Ears of Corn in another mans Field Deut. 23.25 yet might not this be done on the Sabbath as being a breach of the Fourth Commandment This that I have said is further confirmed by our Saviours Answer to the Pharisees wherein are so many notable Considerations clearly evincing the Ceremoniality of the Sabbath that this one History is abundantly sufficient to determine the Question in Debate between us For first our Saviour defendeth the breach of the Sabbath in his Disciples by the Act of David who being hungry brake the Ceremonial Law of God in eating the Shew-bread which none but the Priests were allowed to eat But should our Saviour have defended the breach of a Moral Law by the breach of a Ceremonial one who would not presently have discerned the disparity Secondly he Justifieth it by the deed of the Priests who Offering Sacrifices in the Temple on the Sabbath did Profane the same and yet were blameless Where he intimateth that the Temple was more Sacred than the Sabbath because in that place the Sabbath was Profaned without blame Thirdly he Argueth that the Disciples did well in breaking the Sabbath upon so urgent an Occasion because God desired Mercy and not Sacrifice Where by Mercy he meaneth all Moral Duties among which Mercy is eminent as by Sacrifices he understandeth all Ceremonial and positive Duties in as much as Sacrifice is chief among such performances That this is the right meaning of the words and not that Fancy of yours touching the Sacrifice of the Sabbath appeareth by the use of them to the same purpose Mat. 9.13 For when the Pharisees blamed our Saviour for eating with Publicans and Sinners Christ in defence of himself biddeth them go and learn what that is I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice Thereby intimating that to abstain from such Company was to be reckoned amongst Sacrifice and Ceremonial things but to be Familiar with them of purpose to Convert them was a work of Mercy and so might be upon Occasion observed with the breach of the other This being so perspicuous how is it that you should say That till now you never met with any that charged our Saviour with putting upon the Sabbath the Tittle of Sacrifice since it is apparent by the Discourse and Practice of all Christians in general throughout the whole World that they esteem the Observation of the Seventh-day-Sabbath to be Ceremonial and so fitly comprised by our Saviour under the appellation of Sacrifice Again how is it that to deceive the simple you should cast forth so many empty Expostulations and talk of my censuring Christ himself as Ceremonial To which purpose you alledge though very impertinently these words Heb. 10.12 But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins And whereas it is evident that the word Sacrifice in the fore-cited passage of
Hosea is meant of the Ceremonial Sacrifice of the Law amongst which the Sacrifice of Christ ought not to be reckoned for after God had said I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice he presently addeth and the knowledge of God more than Burnt Offerings By which it appeareth that by Sacrifice he meaneth such Sacrifice as was joyned with Burnt Offerings according to the prescript of the Law to which Jer. Chap. 7.21 alluding saith Put your Burnt Offerings to your Sacrifices and eat Flesh I should take little Comfort in discovering these shameful mistakes of yours were it not that I saw you went about to Rob us of our Christian Liberty and to bring us into Bondage unto the weak and Beggarly Rudiments of the World Fourthly our Saviour Warrants the violation of the Sabbath in his Disciples because the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath and therefore ought to yield to the Necessities of man Which thing also sheweth that the Sabbath is Ceremonial For as for Moral Duties the Scripture testifieth that man was made for them Thus Acts 17.26 27. Paul saith that God made mankind to seek the Lord which all will confess to be a Moral Duty And Ephes 2.10 We are his making so I am told the Greek word signifieth Created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them But the good Works enjoyned in the Gospel are by all confessed to be Moral and not Ceremonial Performances Fifthly It is said that for as much as the Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath Which words imply that the Son of Man could in case of Mans Necessity dispence with the Law of the Sabbath other ways how was he Lord of it For doth not his being Lord of it signifie that he was above it and had Power over it But no where is it said or intimated in the Scripture that the Son of Man yea any other is Lord of Moral Duties they being in their own Nature indispensable in that they agree to Man as he is a Rational and Sociable Creature and so bound to Act Rationably and sociably Neither did you ever Read that such Duties have in Scripture been by Christ dispensed with Wherefore those Expressions of yours which you so often inculcate in your Book That the Sabbath is made for Man and that Christ is Lord of the Sabbath do being rightly understood subvert your Opinion intimating that the Sabbath is Ceremonial and may Lawfully upon an emergent Necessity of Man be dispensed with That the Walls of Jericho were surrounded for seven days together and consequently on the Sabbath is evident But that the seventh day of the surrounding was the Sabbath appeareth not out of the Text. For to evince that you must shew that they began to surround the City on the first day of the Week whereas no such thing is so much as hinted in the Sacred Text. Wherefore that which you infer from thence touching the extraordinary Dignity that was put upon the Sabbath in that the City was taken Miraculously upon that day is altogether groundless Howbeit this is certain from the story as I before hinted that the Sabbath was broken in as much as to Compass a City in a Hostile manner on that day is to Profane it by Working upon it contrary to the Fourth Commandment So that this plainly sheweth the Observation of the Sabbath to be no Moral Duty as being dispensed with What you farther say of Jericho's being a Type of Babylon and of the man of sin's changing the Times are more groundless surmises than what you before spake concerning the taking of Jericho on the Sabbath day as would easily appear if you attempted to confirm those Notions of yours by the Scripture rightly and soundly Interpreted Pag. 20. Here you confess as much as I desire namely That the Institution of the Sabbath cometh only from the power and authority of God For this unanswerably proves it to be Ceremonial the difference between a Moral and Ceremonial Law lying in this that the one is Naturally written in the Heart of Man and so ought to be Observed though God had not Commanded it whence the Heathens to whom God had not made known himself nor given any Commandments and Judgments are nevertheless grievously Reprehended by the Prophets for not Observing Moral Duties See pag. 7. fore-going Whereas Ceremonial Laws depend meerly upon the Will and Authority of God Commanding them Where I admire that you should Reprove me for suggesting That the Sabbath receives Being and takes Rise from a Reason without us For is not the Power Will and Authority of God upon which only you your self ground the Observation of the Sabbath something without us Pag. 21. How irrational therefore are your words where contradicting your self you say 'T is unseemly to assert that the Ceremonial Laws did ever rise from any Reason without us for even their spring-head was Originally from the Pleasure and Providence of God For is not the Pleasure of God a Reason without us And are not such Laws as flow from the Pleasure of the Law-giver meer Placits and so Positive and Ceremonial things For instance the sacrificing of Beasts was it not a thing that sprang from the Pleasure of God And is it not therefore Ceremonial there being no other Obligation upon Men to perform it but the Command of God so that the injunction of God about that matter now ceasing we are no longer bound thereunto 'T is true that Moral Precepts are sometimes in the Law inforced by reason from without as Obedience to God from deliverance out of Egypt but then these Precepts do not Originally spring from such Reasons but from the Law of Nature to which those other Considerations are added and consequently Men have a new Obligation to such Duties which they were before bound by Nature to perform Pag. 24. To prove that the sabbath is not Moral I alledged that it is called a Sign and a Covenent The Adversary wanting a solid Answer hereunto and intending here as he doth pag. 16. to make a Flourish saith that I may as well prove our Saviour himself to be a Ceremony for as much as the same Titles are given to him though the Passages that he citeth reach not home to his purpose as will easily appear to him that shall confer them with those concerning the Sabbath Yet I willing joyn Issue with him and affirm that in as much as Christ is called a Sign and a Covenant it doth unavoidably follow that the Mystery of Christ is such a thing as dependeth not on the Law and light of Nature but only on the good pleasure of God as Christ himself intimateth John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that whosoever beholdeth the Son and believed on him should have Eternal Life And Paul Eph. 1.5 saith plainly Having predetinated us unto the
upon words seeing it is apparent from the 4th Verse of this 23d of Levit. that by Feasts are not meant times of Belly-cheer but Holy Convocations wherein men ceased from their ordinary Labour and were employed in Religious Duties whether they made Mirth or Afflicted their Souls In the third place to return to the fore-cited Text Col. 2.16 17. Where the Apostle super-addeth which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ This hath relation to rhe five things mentioned in the 16th Verse at least to that which is immediately fore-going the Sabbath So that the Sabbath distinguished from Feasts and New Moons and so according to the perpetual usage of the Scriptures signifying no other than the Seventh-day-Sabbath is by the Apostle Paul called a shadow the Body whereof is exhibited to us in Christ namely in the Everlasting Sabbath of the Kingdom of Heaven Wherefore to bring us back to shadows after that the Body is come is not only Preposterous but tendeth to the enslaving us under the Rudiments of the World and instead of Sons to make us Servants Pag. 57. For as much as the Adversary not only here but elsewhere in his Book saith that Christ delivered the Law to Israel at Mount Sinai I would fain hear from him why the Scriptures Heb. 8.6 and 12.24 calleth Jesus the Mediator of a New and better Covenant For certainly this implyeth that some other Person was the Mediator of the Old and wose Covenant Again why doth the Apostle John prefer Christ before Moses in this regard namely that whereas the Law was given by Moses Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Chap. 1.17 Undoubtedly this strongly Argueth that the Law was not given by Christ wherefore you deal ridiculously in desiring me to take heed of perswading others to transgress any one word that Christ immediately Commanded at Mount Sinai To what purpose do you bestow such Elegies upon the Law of God Pag. 61. Is it not to insinuate into the Minds of the unwary Readers that I am a Contemner yea an Opposet thereof Whereas I think very Honourably of it as being Holy Just and Good Only I believe what you your self dare not disavow that all the Ceremonial and Shadowy things thereof are now done away in Christ And that the Sabbath is one of those Ceremonial and Shadowy things I have undenyably evinced as from other passages of the Scripture so especially from that Text of Paul Col. 2.16 17. which plainly signifieth that as the difference of Meats and Drinks and the Celebration of Feasts and New Moons so also the keeping of the Sabbath was a shadow of things to come the Body whereof is now held forth unto us in Christ Pag. 68. As for that passage Mat. 24.21 where our Saviour Christ bids his Disciples pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath day the words plainly intimate that it would be Lawful to flee on that day and consequently that the Law concerning the Sabbath would cease whereby it was enjoyned that no man should remove out of his place on the seventh day Exod. 16.29 The words I say plainly intimate that it would be Lawful to flee upon that day otherways why should they pray that their flight might not be then Nevertheless it would not be expedient in that the unbelieving Jews thinking the Sabbath still to remain would be ready to offer Violence to such as should attempt to fly on that day Yea perhaps the believing Jews themselves not understanding their own Liberty in Christ but thinking the Sabbath still in force would be exceedingly grieved if they should be reduced to a Necessity either of Perishing or of Flying on the Sabbath day Of which thing I will speak more anon If you Reply that Christ calleth it the Sabbath in relation to the time that should be long after his death whereas I believe that by his death the difference of times in point of Holiness and consequently the Observation of the Sabbath was abolished according to the Doctrine of Paul Col. 2.14 I Answer that the Scripture calls the times of the Jewish Feasts after the death of Christ by the same names they had formerly See Acts 12.3 and Chap. 20.16 when notwithstanding you your self will not deny that the Obligation to observe those Feasts had then ceased Pag. 69. What needed the mention of the first day of the Week commonly called Sunday when I never affirmed that Christ hath left us any Precept for the Observation of the same Howbeit we have the Practice of all believing Gentiles down from the Apostles unto our time who have unanimously and constantly observed the same as being that day which is in Rev. 1. called the Lords day which perpetual Custom of Christians is sufficient to Warrant our keeping of the Lords day Whereas no such thing can be alledged to justifie the observing of the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath And therefore when you say that Christ hath established in his House all the Moral Duties of Moses House it is nothing to the purpose unless you first prove that the keeping of the Sabbath is a Moral Duty the contrary whereof my comparison taken out of the Scripture doth evince For Christ being as Faithful in the House of God as Moses If it had been his Will that his Disciples should have observed the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath he would have expresly enjoyned it and not have left them to gather it by I know not what uncertain Consequences such as you and others of your Opinion make use of For Moses openly and frequently Commanded to the Israelites that they should keep the Seventh-day-Sabbath So that your proceeding herein is just like the dealing of the Papist about the Popes pretended Supremacy For when it is Questioned whether he be the Judge of all emergent Controvercys amongst Christians the Papist having no such Precept from Christ in the Scripture where Christ Ordaineth the Pope or Bishop of Rome to such Judicature bring instead thereof certain far-fetch'd probabilities and consequences to prove it In like manner you when you are urged by me and other Christians to shew where Christ who was as faithful in the House of God as Moses hath Commanded his followers to keep the Sabbath alledge Ordinances for other things and similitudes and strains of your own Poetry and other like impertinences without producing so much as one undoubted Precept for the same But whereas you say that Christ hath confirmed all the Moral Precepts of Moses Who denies it You should have done well not to have begged the thing in Question but to have proved that the Celebration of the Sabbath is a Moral Duty But this you have not yet been nor ever shall be able to perform Pag. 79. That Paul excluded the Law touching the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath out of the Counsel of God towards believing Gentiles is evident both from his perpetual silence in his Writings touching such matters the contrary whereof you being unable to prove do here as well as
done though God had not Instituted and enjoyned the same which if you can make good concerning the Observation of the Seventh-day-Sabbath then will I readily assent to you that it is Moral Page 7. Where did you learn that the work of the Law written in mens Natural hearts is the Old Covenant For doth not the Scripture oppose the New Covenant to that Covenant which God made with the Children of Israel when he brought them out of Egypt Heb. 8.8 9 10. And doth not the Author of that Epistle in the 13th Verse affirm That in as much as he saith a new Covenant he hath made the first old So that it undeniably follows That the first Covenant which God made with the Israelites when he brought them out of Egypt is the Old Covenant It is also as evident that the words of the Law is that Old Covenant there being no other Old Covenant but the Law delivered in Writing by Moses Again where did you learn That the words of the Law written in the Christians hearts is the new Covenant 'T is true indeed that the Scriptures saith the New Covenant consisteth in this That God will write his Laws in his peoples hearts but doth not affirm that he will write the words of the Law whereby Moses Law is usually alone understood in the Scripture on their Hearts So that by the laws which God promiseth to write on the Hearts of his People must needs be understood not the laws which he had formerly delivered by Moses the Mediator of the Old Covenant but those which he would afterwards deliver by Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant Whereby you may perceive that the New Covenant differs from the Old in the very laws that were written as well as in the Tables whereon they were written these being Tables of the Heart the other Tables of stone and also in the Instrument of writing them these being written by the Spirit of the Living God the other with Ink 2 Cor. 3.3 So that your Error in distingushing as you did the Old Covenant from the New is conspicuous As for those words then Rom. 2.15 by the works of the law is meant the works of Moses Law for of that it is treated in the fore-going words and consequently the word or matter or things for these Expressions amount to the same of Moses Law written in the Hearts of the Gentiles not the things that are therein meerly of Institution and so Ceremonial or Positive for none can know such things unless they be told him but only those that be Natural and Moral For that such things of the Law were written in the Hearts of the Gentiles appeareth every where by their writings and for the breach of them they are reproved in the Scripture as the Tyrrians are blamed for not keeping Covenant Amos 1.9 The Edomites for Cruelty ibid. ver 11. The Ammorites for insulting over other mens Calamities Ezek. 25.3 But no where shall you find that the Heathens are Rebuked in Scripture for not keeping the Sabbath neither is there any hint in their Writings that they thought themselves bound to such a Duty Wherefore it is manifest that the keeping of the Sabbath is no Moral Duty which the Light of Nature doth dictate unto men that they ought to perform But you will perhaps demand of me how the Condition of Christians excelleth that of Heathens and Jews if the work of the Law was written in the Hearts of the one as Paul testifieth and the word of the Law was in the Heart of the other as Moses saith Deut. 30.14 The word is nigh thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that thou mayest do it I Answer that the difference lyeth chiefly in two things First the things of the law are not said to be written in the Hearts either of Jews or Heathens by the Spirit of the living God and so not so plainly and so easily Legible to them the contrary whereof is affirmed of Christians Secondly their Hearts are not said to be Hearts of Flesh but on the contrary the Jews hearts are called hearts of stone Ezek. 11.19 which may be as truly affirmed of the Heathens hearts whereas the hearts of Christians are by Paul termed Hearts of Flesh 2 Cor. 3.3 Page 9. You are here as well as in other passages of your Book somewhat injurious to me in imposing that upon me which I neither said nor meant For did I give this as a ground for us to forget the Seventh-day-Sabbath because God hath Commanded us to remember it Yea do I not again and again tell you that God hath no where Commanded us Christians to remember any such Sabbath What can I with Reason conclude from hence but that you had a mind to render me Contemptible in the eyes of the Brethren by ascribing so Ridiculous a kind of Reasoning to me As little ingenious is your Reprehension of me a little after saying that I am mistaken in denying that to be Naturally Moral which depends upon Memory where you leave out the words as to know as you do in sundry other Passages afterwards which expression quite varieth the Case For certainly that which a man cannot know but by means of his memory is such a thing as is not Naturally written in his heart but suggested to him from without Neither doth the greatness and goodness of God depend upon memory as to know which words you again leave out dealing as unfaithfully as before For it is Naturally imprinted in the Heart of every man that God is good and great but not that we ought to keep the Seventh-day-Sabbath as will appear to any man that is acquainted with the Writings of such as are meerly Naturalists The Gospel as to the principle Mysteries therefore transcendeth the Natural Understanding of man to find out For so the Apostle intimateth when he saith We preach the things that neither Eye hath seen nor Ear hath heard neither hath it come up into the Heart of man Wherefore no man was bound to know or publish these things without Divine Revelation and Command And consequently they are not Naturally Moral that being Naturally Moral which is taught by the Light of Nature Page 12. 'T is true a Child can of himself no more know who are his Parents than he can which is the Seventh day But prove that it is as much written in the Nature and Heart of man that he should Celebrate the Seventh day when he is told which day of the Week is it as that he should honour his Parents when he hath once learned who are they Were this so the Heathen who are very studious of the Law of Nature and have left us Excellent Treatises concerning the same would as well have delivered Precepts about the Observation of the Sabbath as they do about Honouring our Parents Pag. 13. When I affirm that the Sabbath was a sign of Gods Sanctifying his own People you would had you intended the finding out of the Truth
adoption of Children through Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his will Neither will it be possible to prove that by the light of Nature setting aside the Commandment of God we are directed to believe in Christ and expect Salvation from him So that I retort the Adversaires similitude upon him and conclude firmly from thence that as the Mystery of Christ is not Moral but dependeth on the good Pleasure of God so neither is the observation of the Sabbath which he compareth therewith Pag. 25. In this Page the Adversary speaketh out and sheweth that though he often mentions the Name of Christ and Christians yet his design is by this Doctrine of the Seventh-day-Sabbath to bring us from Christ unto Moses for he expresly saith I know no newer Covenant than the Covenant of Life and Peace which was made with Levi Mal. 2.5 For is not Gods Covenant with Christ Jesus newer than his Covenant with Levi Or is not his Covenant with Levi that which he made by the hand of Moses the Levite when Israel came out of Egypt Why is Christ called the Mediator of a better Covenant and thereby opposed to the Levitical Priests Heb. 11.21 22. If there be no newer Covenant of Life and Peace than that which of Old was made with Levi Behold therefore O ye Brethren that love the Lord Jesus and his Gospel how the Adversary here doth cast off his Vizard acknowledging no new Covenant to be made with Christ but that the old Covenant with Levi is still in force For if this be so why do we not presently renounce the Gospel and take upon us the Observance of the Law which was received under the Levitical Priesthood Why do we not trun Jews For you see this is the Mark at which the Adversary notwithstanding his specious Pretences to the contrary doth indeed aim Pag. 27. That none before Moses time was under Reproof either from their own Conscience or from God that we Read of for breaking the Sabbath is an evident Proof that the Sabbath is not Moral else why should they not have been Reproved for the breach of that as well as of other Duties which are confessedly Moral Neither is it to the matter to say as you do that the Sabbath was in force before Moses unless you prove it to be therefore in force because the Law of Nature did suggest it unto Men which you have not yet nor ever shall be able to evince If you thereupon demand how it could be that God should have Commanded it from the beginning and yet the Patriarchs not be blamed for neglecting it I Answer because it was grown out of knowledge as that passage Neh. 9.14 sheweth where it is said Thou madest known unto them thy Holy Sabbath But none can be justly reproved for not observing a Ceremonial and Positive Law when it is once grown out of knowledge and forgotten and this is the Reason why the word Remember is prefixed to this and to no other of the Ten Commandments implying that the Sabbath being of Institution and no part of the Law of Nature as the other Nine Commandments are might in after Ages as well as it had formerly be utterly forgotten Page 34. Though the word Sabbath be not mentioned Exod. 16.4 5. yet is the thing it self there plainly intimated when God saith On the sixth day they shall prepare what they bring in and it shall be twice as much as they gathered daily For why should that which they brought in on the sixth day be prepared and be double to what they gathered daily but because they might not prepare or gather any Manna on the Seventh day but ought to keep it for a Sabbath of Rest So that it is truly affirmed by Moses ver 23. that the Lord had said to morrow is the Rest of the Holy Sabbath in that he had before Commanded them to gather on the sixth day twice as much as they did upon any other day and also to prepare it Wherefore it is undeniable that God Commanded the Sabbath in the fourth and fifth Verse of the sixteeth Chapter of Exodus Pag. 40. That Text Col. 2.16 17. is so directly opposite to the Adversaries Opinion and shineth with so full a Light that it is no marvel that he should strive might and main to raise up a whole Cloud of Dust to obscure it but all in vain seeing he may sooner darken the Sun it self For first when the Apostle here saith Let no man judge you in meat or drink doth he not thereby signifie that the difference of meats and drinks formerly enjoyned by God doth now cease Secondly when he addeth or in respect so I am told ought the words to be rendred as will appear by comparing 2 Cor. 3.10 and Chap. 9.3 where the same expression is so used of an Holy-day or Feast or New Moon or Sabbath Doth not this in like manner shew that neither the Feasts or New Moons formerly Commanded to the People of God do more bind Christians than the difference of meats and drinks aforesaid But if they be not obliged to observe them they are by the same Reason as little bound to keep the Sabbath which is here put in the same Rank with Feasts and New Moons Neither can it be denyed that by the Sabbath is here meant the Seventh-day-Sabbath For there is no place in all the New Testament where the word Sabbath in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie any other than the Seventh-day-Sabbath Yea being simply put so that it is not said such or such a time shall be to you a Sabbath or to the Land it doth always in the Old Testament denote the Seventh-day-Sabbath Again the Sabbath is here distinguished from Feasts and New Moons and therefore can be understood of no other than the Seventh-day-Sabbath For though as you Object the word Feasts when put by it self may comprehend the Seventh-day-Sabbath as perhaps it doth Lev. 23.23 yet when it is joyned with Sabbaths it cannot do so for then the same thing would be twice expressed and this is manifest from that Text Lev. 23.37 38. These are the Feasts of the Lord which you shall Proclaim to be Holy Convocations besides the Sabbaths of the Lord. As for other Sabbaths besides the Seventh-day-Sabbath they are comprehended under the word Feasts So that in the foresaid passage Col. 2.16 by Sabbath joyned with Feasts and New Moons can no other Sabbath be possibly meant but the Seventh-day-Sabbath as those instances which in my former Discourse I alledged out of the Old Testament do clearly prove neither shall so much as one instance be alledged out of the New to the contrary And whereas you further Object though as little to the purpose as before that we shall find one Sabbath so far from being a Feast that it is the day of severe Affliction Have I not here just cause again to tax you for Quibbling
THE MORALITY OF THE Seventh-day-Sabbath Disproved IN ANSWER To C. T. Tillam's Book Entituled A Present from Prison Dedicated to L. C. Hobson WHEREIN The most Material Points in another Book Entituled A Discourse of the Sabbath lately Published by Henry Sowrsby and Mehetabel Smith are succinctly discuss'd Written by the Learned J. B. Master of Arts at the Request of the said L. C. Hobson Col. 2.16 17. Let no man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in Respect of an Holy-day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbaths which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ LONDON Printed by Francis Clark for L. Curtis 1683. The Morality of the Seventh-day-Sabbath Disproved c. Page 1. THE word Moral according to the Common usage is all one as to say Natural and is opposed to that which is Ceremonial or Positive or of meer Institution This being so as you cannot be ignorant of I wonder you should talk of removing the Veil of Obscurity lying upon the word Moral unless it were that wanting a solid Answer you had a Mind to Quibble upon words for you know that Aristotle and other Philosophers have written Books concerning Moral Duties by which I believe you your self will confess can be understood no other than those Duties that Natural Reason exacteth of all Men as they are Men. Page 2. In that you here barely say that the main thing in Question is undeniable namely That the Seventh day Sabbath is as Naturally Holy as the six days are Naturally Common This to me seemeth plainly to Argue that you had nothing material to alledge to prove your Assertion Otherways you know well enough that I and almost all other Christians whatsoever deny it Yea I for my part had brought many as I believe convincing Reasons to shew that I have good ground for the denyal thereof Neither doth it follow that because God in the production of Natural things did not act unnaturally neither was the Institution of the Seventh-day-Sabbath contrary to his Natural intention therefore the Law of Nature doth require of all Men to observe the Sabbath For to omit your own affirmation that God instituted the Sabbath which plainly sheweth it not to be Natural and so Moral but Positive I might by the same Reason Argue that for as much as God did not act unnaturally in producing the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil neither was it contrary to his Natural inclination to forbid the eating of the same therefore it was a Moral and Natural Duty to abstain from it which I think you your self will deny If you do not certain I am that as you will scarce find any man that will Second you so will it be altogether impossible for you to shew that Natural Reason setting aside the Commandments of God did dictate unto Adam that he ought to forbear the eating of that Tree above all the other Trees of the Garden Or why if it be a Natural and Moral Duty the same Tree is not set forth to us by God that we may shew our Obedience by abstaining from it These Expressions of yours that God did Celebrate and Observe the Seventh day Sabbath are unsound there being no such thing affirmed of God in the Scripture but only of Men see Levit. 23.32 From Even to Even shall you Celebrate your Sabbath And Exod. 31.16 The Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their Generations For to Celebrate and Observe such or such a time argueth that it hath been Commanded by some other Moreover when God is said to have Sanctified or Hallowed the Sabbath it was not that he himself but that Men should observe and keep it holy as appeareth by the Fourth Commandment Page 3. Your Comparison between a Wife in Relation to her Husband and the Sabbath in Relation to a Christian doth not hold For Marriage though in the beginning instituted of God is yet not of institution but of Nature the difference of Sects Naturally requiring it without such an Institution And this as I am told is acknowledged by Aristotle the best Naturallist that ever was who saith Eth. 8. Chap. 12. That there is naturally Friendship betwixt Man and Woman and that Man was Naturally made rather for Marriage than for Civil Society But no such thing as this can I believe be alledged out of Aristole concerning the Observation of the Sabbath Page 4. That other Similitude of yours between the Sun and the Sabbath being wholly of your own making without any hint of the Scripture is altogether frivolous and proveth nothing And whereas you Advise me to cease Polluting of the Sabbath in as much as I have say you acknowledged the Seventh-day-Sabbath to be Holy by Divine Institution I wonder you should so boldly impose on me when you know sufficiently even by this very writing of mine which you endeavour to answer that I deny the Seventh-day-Sabbath now to be Holy believing it as being a shaddow to be done away by Christ Neither doth that Passage Heb. 4.9 intimate the contrary For when that Divine Author saith there remaineth therefore a rest so I am told the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rightly rendred as will appear by two passages of the Septuagint Exod. 16.30 Lev. 23.32 where the word is so used to the People of God he meaneth not the rest of the Seventh-day-Sabbath but the rest of the Kingdom of Heaven or as the Author stileth it Verse the 10. the rest of God into which whosoever is entred he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his But to cease from our own works as God did from his is to cease from them as never to return again to them not to cease for one day and then to Labour again as before Again this rest is inferred from those words verse 6. and so are meant of such a rest into which the Israelites did not enter because of Unbelief But Moses testifieth that they kept the Rest of the Seventh-day-Sabbath Exod. 16.30 Moreover this is a Rest into which we should labour to enter but there needeth no labouring to rest on the Seventh-day-Sabbath Finally when it is here said there remaineth a Rest this plainly implyed that the Rest here spoken of is something that is reserved for the People of God and so not enjoyed at present and therefore not the Rest of the Seventh-day-Sabbath Thus much appeareth from the same word thus used in the 6th Verse foregoing Page 6. Your saying That the Seventh day is every way Moral both by Natural Production and by Primitive Institution sheweth plainly that you are mistaken in the true Notion of Moral and my use of the same For I as appeareth by my words which you cite page 1. distinguish that which is Moral from that which is of Institution esteeming that to be Moral which the light of Nature dictateth that it ought to be or at least may laudably be