Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	day_n	moral_a	sabbath_n	1,390	5	9.7943	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41789	The seventh day-Sabbath ceased as ceremonial and yet the morality of the fourth command remaineth, or, Seven reasons tending to prove that the fourth command in the Decalogue is of a different nature from the other nine ... also certain answers to some of the said reasons proved insufficient : whereunto is added a postscript, shewing the judgement of the Jews and antient Christians, touching the Sabbath-day / by Tho. Grantham.	Grantham, Thomas, 1634-1692.	1667 (1667)	Wing G1547; ESTC R18492	18,115	24

set apart to serve and worship the Lord his Creatour and for the repose of his Servants and Cattle The Answer will be according to the Letter of the fourth Precept only the Seventh day of every week but in the Moral consideration it will be so much time as is sufficient to answer these ends which as things may often do fall out may require more than seven daies time toge●her notwithstanding the Letter of the fourth Precept which saith six daies shalt thou labour or six daies may work be done And this is the sense wherein I take the fourth Command in the Decalogue to be Moral and under this consideration I say it obligeth universally I mean it bindeth all men in all times and places to set sufficient time apart to worship their Creatour and to give their Servants and Cattle convenient rest and this the light of Reason or Law of Nature doth clearly teach and hence our Apostle might well say the Gentiles having not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law sith all Nations so far as I ever yet Rom. 2. heard do reserve a competent time for his Worship whom they acknowledge for their God But whereas the fourth Command doth precisely limit a certain point of time viz. the seventh day of every week not requiring more or less In this respect I say the fourth Command in the Decalogue is Ceremonial and done away by Christ Done away I say as it was part of the yoke of bondage as also other things of like nature were for example the place of worship which in many respects was only the Temple at Jerusalem neither of which are so done away as to destroy either time or place for serving the Lord but rather so as that all times and all places are so far sanctified unto us by Christ as that we may in every place and at all times serve him with as great acceptation as if we were in the Temple of Jerusalem on the SABBATH DAY Be it farther considered that the relief of the poor and the maintenance of such as are Ministers of Gods Word do appertain to Moral duty being grounded upon the Law of right reason Do to others as you would be done to Thou shalt not muzzle Mat. 7. 12. 1 Cor. 9. 9 10 the mouth of the Oxe which treadeth out the Corn c. Now saith Paul for our sakes no doubt this is written that is for the sake or in the behalf of the Ministers of Christ But now if the Question be What is the portion of the poor and such as Minister the Word The Answer will be according to Moses's Law The tenth part of the increase of thy Land must be set apart for that purpose yea before Moses it is evident that Tythes were paid but before Moses no man can be assigned that ever kept the Sabbath But in Moral consideration the Answer to the Question will be this So much as is necessary ought to be set apart for the poor and for such as Minister the Word So then it is clear that some part of our time some part of our substance and some place must be set apart for the Worship of God c. And what part that must be either Christ and right reason or the Law of Moses must inform us If Moses's Law then the Seventh day of every week the Temple at Jerusalem and Tythes must be assigned But if Christ and right reason then the time is whensoever you can the place is wheresoever you can and for substance what you can or what is necessary The two last I suppose will not be denyed and for the first it m●y thus appear The Lords Supper is ordained as a standing Ordinance in the Church of Christ as the Passeover was in the Church under Moses but yet there is no set time assigned by Christ for its Celebration as we know there was for the Celebration of the Passeover Again the Church under Moses were commanded to offer many Sacrifices to the Lord and had their their respective times limited wherein to do it Christians are bound to offer to the Lord spiritual Sacrifices even the fruits of Heb. their lips giving thanks to his name but this without the limitation of time having rather this general rule in that case namely to do it continually that is as often as we can Furthermore the work of exhortation is a standing Ordinance in Christs Church but not limited to any set time but rather to be performed daily that it to say as frequently as we can And hence we may perceive a very great difference as to the liberty of time He● in things pertaining to God between the Law of bondage and the Gospel of Christ for certainly the work of Christian exhortation praising the Lord and the celebration of his divine Supper doth as it were comprize the whole body of Christian Worship as it consists in Practicals and answers to that which comprized the body of Legal worship but with this remarkable difference the one is left free as to the circumstance of time while the other was tyed to their strict points of time under which consideration we have cause to say as the Apostle said of some who went from Christ to Moses yee observe dayes and moneths and times and yeares I am afraid of you c. Among which days I have no doubt the Jews Sabbath-day was included and that because it was of a ceremonial consideration and so done away by Christ and that it was of such a consideration I shall endeavour to demonstrate by the grounds which here ensueth The first Reason Because nothing which is really moral is impossible but upon due consideration it will be found impossible for the whole Universe i e. all mankind with their Cattel to observe one certain point of time to rest from labour c. because the bounds of their habitations hath made the time so far various as the time of mid-night is the time of mid-day in their respective Regions where they live so that unavoidably one part of the world will be found in the dead of the night asleep on their beds when the other in the heat of the day are in devotion to the Lord. But that which makes this matter the more considerable is the great diversity of time which happens to those who live in the * I speak not here of the utmost South and North but the most remote habitable parts of the World far Southern and Northern parts of the world a day in these places being as long as many of ours so that to enjoin a Sabbath-so emnity in those places would prove a strange undert●king and would not answer the Morality of the fourth Comm●nd which undoubredly requires a sufficient time of rest for man and beast and that his Name may be sanctisied by all men in the celebration of his Ordinances The substance of S. J. his Answer to this Reason is this If

the Inhabitants of these remote places do observe the seaventh-day consisting of Evening and Morning it will answer the intent of God in the fourth Precept as to the letter of it To which I reply Then it is clear that it was not Gods intent to bind all men to one point of time in Sabbath-solemnities which I desire may be well observed and how the precise point of time the seventh-day can then be Moral I cannot conceive Secondly Let it be observed that it will follow from S. J. his Answer that these remote Inhabitants may lawfully work for many of our Sabbath-day-evening for six dayes of theirs counting from Evening to Morning will contain a good part of six of our weeks all which time they keeping no Sabbath will badly answer the intent of God in the fourth Precept and their Servants and Cattel would soon complain against them The second Reason Precepts which are purely Moral give not place to Precepts Ceremonial but when two such Laws come in Competition that which is Ceremonial gives place to that which is Moral Go ye and learn what this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice But it is evident that the Seaventh-days-sabbath frequently gave place to Ceremonial Laws John 7. 22 23. Ye on the Sabbath-day circumcise a man c. that the Law of Moses should not be broken Here the Law of Circumcision takes place in point of observation before the Sabbath for Circumcision did not only prevent the Circumcisers from resting but the circumcised were especially in capacitated to sabbathize and thus the Law of the Sabbath was broken if I may so speak as doubtless I may by the interposition of a Ceremonial Law To this instance we will join another Mat. 12. 5. 6 7. where it is plainly said that the Sabbath was profaned or broken and that in the Temple at Jerusalem and yet the profaners thereof were blameless because their prophanation lay in the observation of certain ceremonies of Moses Law as killing and dressing of beasts and sheep too be offered for sacrifices on that day and not only for the Sabbath-day which was done continually but also for the yearly Sabbaths or Festivities if they fell on the Sabbath day as they often did in which cases there was as I take it seaven times as much labour in killing and dressing beasts for sacrifices on such solemnities as on the weekly Sabbath See Num. 28. 29. Chapters It is in any wise to be seriously considered how clearly our Saviour doth rank the Sabbath with Laws ceremonial seeing all the instances which he brings to vindicate his Disciples are instances out of the Ceremonial Law For when his Disciples were found fault with for rubbing the eares of Corn c. on the Sabbath-day Christ defends them by alledging David who in a like hungty condition broke the Ceremonial Law of Shewbread and the argument seems to conclude thus If David being hungry might without blame do contrary to the ceremonial Law of Shew-bread then my Disciples being also hungry may without blame do contrary to the ceremonial Law of the Sabbath And certainly if the argument lye not here a worse thing will follow for then our Saviour brought an instance very unsuitable and such as will be dangerous as will be discerned if it be considered that it is no reasoning from Gods dispensing with a ceremonial Law to his dispensing with a moral Law for then one may reason thus God dispensed with David breaking his Law concerning Shew-bread in a case of necessity therefore he will dispence with another in worshipping a false God if he be necessitated which God forbid So then it is plain that our Saviour compared the Sabbath with the law Ceremonial which is yet more evident by the next instance of the Priests prophaning the Sabbath to which I have spoken as also from the conclusion he makes upon the whole matter in these words Go ye and learn what this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice where it is evident the word Mercy hath relation to Moral duty and is apply'd to the Disciples preservation from hunger and the word Sacrifice hath relation to the Ceremonial Law and is applyed to the Sabbath-day The substance of S. J. his answer to this Reason is this That the sixth Precept which is Moral gave place to a Command of God which was Typical and a Figure in it self to Abraham in offering up his son Isaac To which I reply It is very strange that men do not consider before they speak against evident truth Can S. J. believe that all manner of killing is forbidden in these words Thou shalt not kill if so what will become of the penal part of his Sabbath-Principle which tells us that such as break the Sabbath wilfully must be put to Death It hath hitherto been the received Exposition of this Precept that Homicide and Murther whether in desire or fact is the killing which in this Command is prohibited It doth not then nor never did prohibit man for killing any man in that way and upon that account for which God commands him so to do viz. either in executing justice or in offering to God a sacrifice and therefore no man well advised will say that the sixt Command was broken for such a giving place the Reason intendeth when Abraham offered his son Isaac but I have shewed that what was done on the Sabbath by the Priests was a breach or prophanation of the Sabbath and yet the prophaners blameless only because they kept the Ceremonial Law unbroken I do offer this further in this place that our Saviour did not justifie the fact of his Disciples to be a lawful fact in it self but rather seems to grant it to be unlawful as to the law of the Sabbath as indeed it was for it was not lawful to prepare meat or dress it for eating on that day as appears Exod. 16. 23. Now their plucking the ears of Corn and rubbing them in their hands was a preparing or dressing of it for their eating it Wherefore when the Pharisees told our Saviour his Disciples did that which was not lawful to be done he did not I say vindicate the fact to be lawful but rather grants it to be unlawful by alledging a fact for its defence as unlawful as it self From whence I further infer the ceremonial nature of the sabbath-Sabbath-day because I see not how any Moral Precept could be broken by such a fact nay the fact is defended by the consideration of Moral Duty The third Reason All Commands purely Moral are indispensible in cases of Necessity it is better to dye for hunger than to deny the true God to obtain meat to preserve Life yea he that should so save his life should lose it Nor may I commit Murther Adultery or bear false witnesse against my Neighbour to preserve my own life for I know no necessity that can make my so doing in any wise dispensible But behold the Sabbath-day is such

in its observation as it hath been frequently dispensed with in very low cases of Necessity insomuch that the saving the life of a beast is preferred before its observation as to the point of time the seaventh-day and then much more in cases of necessity which concern the life of a man insomuch that I conceive there was never yet a Sabbath-day but it was broken and that by lawful cases of necessity I say Lawful cases considering the cases still by the Moral Law notwithstanding the Law of the Sabbath in the ceremony thereof to the contrary No man that reads the Scriptures can lightly be ignorant how much our Saviour insisteth upon cases of Necessity as sufficient Answers to those whoever carped at his doings on the Sabbath-day whose conclusion was that he was not of God because he kept not the Sabbath And certainly if we consider the fourth Precept according to the letter of that Law our Saviour both did and commanded to be done some things utterly inconsistent with the sabbathical observation of the seaventh-day as appears by comparing Jer. 17. 22. with John 5. 8. 9 10 11 12. John 9. 14. Hence it is plain that our Saviour went further then cases of necessity in the non-observation of the Sabbath sith there was no necessity for the Lame to carry his bed on the sabbath-day nor yet for our Saviour to make Clay on the Sabbath sith he frequently wrought Cures by the words of his lips and could have done it on the Sabbath as well as at other times I conceive therfore it was his pleasure to do thus on the Sabbath-days that he might hereby give some intimation of the abrogation of the Sabbath as he did the like concerning other ceremonial observations for Example his eating with Publicans and sinners as also his taking persons off from their esteem of the sanctity of one place above another thereby fore-shewing that he would take John 4. away that sanctity which had been ascribed to the Jewish Nation above the Gentiles and to Jorusalem above Samaria and then why not the same kind of sanctity ascribed to one day above another I say the same kind of sanctity for certainly the seaventh-day hath no real sanctity in it above any other day no more than the Jewish Nation had above any other Nations or the City Jerusalem above Samaria the holinesse in all these being only Ceremonial Of this Reason S. J. takes no notice therefore I proceed to the next The fourth Reason Thus saith the Lord to the Christian Church Let no man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy-day or the new Col. 2. 16. Moons or of the Sabbath-dayes which are a shadow of good things to come but the body is of Christ From these words it appears that not only the holy dayes yeatly to be observed by the Jews which are confest on all hands to be Ceremonial but also the Sabbath dayes * It is a poor shift to except against the supplement days in Col. 2. 16. Sith in other Texts the like supplements are allowed but if the supplement were omitted yet the word Sabbath is comprehensive enough themselves were with the rest to pass away as a shadow when Christ the Body was come which will yet more fully appear by Hebr. 4. from the 3d. verse to the 12. where it is evident that the seaventh-day-sabbath is reckoned among other legal Types for here Israels Rest in Canaan and the seaventh-dayes Rest are both made Typical of our entring into rest by faith in Christ wherefore let all that are entred into rest by faith in him take heed how they stand upon this sabbathical shadow least they know not how to avoid other things which though Legal shadows will claim a place with it The substance of S. J. his Answer to this Reason is this If the Seaventh-day which is the pillar of the fourth Precept be one of these shadows mentioned Col. 2. 16. how can the fourth Command be Moral as is granted by the Author of the Reasons I Reply First it is worth observing how the circumstance of time is made the Pillar of the Precept which may so many ways be dispensed with as hath been shewed But must wee think the pillar of a Moral Precept must give place to the the preservation of an Oxe or an Asse Not so for I shewed before that other moral Laws admit not of such Dispensations in nocase of Necessity for a mans own preservation And how this Precept may be held meral notwithstanding the abrogation of the Circumstance of time I have already shewed Nor is this the only precept which may thus be distinguished upon for certainly it is Moral duty to relieve the poor and the stranger yet this may be done without letting the corners of our fields be unmown our Grapes ungleaned or the paying of Tythes all which was once assigned by the Law of God as the portion of the poor and stranger Add hereunto as before observed the maintenance of such as minister the Word which is moral duty yet the set portion of Tythes or the tenth part of every mans increase once due by the law of God are not necessarily to be paid for which I am of opinion as much may be said as for the observation of the Seventh-day for the tenth part of our Substance seems to be as equal a proportion as the seventh part of our time the ends for both are equally remaining the law for both equally obliging but I will not insist further being well satisfied Christians are made free from these impositions and yet stand engaged to do their duties both towards God the Poor and his Ministers The fifth Reason The seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath was a sign of their Sanctification to whom it was given therefore of a Ceremonial nature and not given to all men Exod. 31. 13. Ezek. 20. 12. Thus saith the Lord speak thou also to the Children of Israel saying verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord that do sanctifie you Hence it appears that as other holy or if I may so speak Sacramental constitutions are peculiar to the Church and not delivered to all men even so the Sabbath was peculiar to the Church of the Jews as for the stranger among them c. their resting was no more a Sabbathizing than the resting of the Cattle and so not to be accounted a divine solemnization of the Sabbath for how could it be a sign that the Lord did sanctifie the world in general who had no part in such priviledges they being without God without hope and strangers and aliens from the Covenants of Promises Ephes 2. 12. Again from this form of speech It shall be a sign or it is a sign It appears that the Sabbath is Ceremonial because such Laws as are Moral and imprinted in the heart of man are no where called signs