hath so done those Priests are blameless because those works though servile in their nature yet were sacred in their end and application Such a work was the infirm mans carrying his bed on the Sabbath when Christ had healed him The bearing of burthens on that day for worldly lucre is one of the things that Nehemiah here contends against but that mans carrying his bed became a religious action by being an appurtenance of the Miracle and an open declaration to all men who on that day did more flock together of the grace and power of God by which he was cured under this head may be comprehended those bodily provisions that are truly needful and helpful for our more able and vigorous performance of religious duties or for the glory of God some other way 2. Works of necessity to wit real not feigned and present and apparent not possible only and which may be or not be To this we may refer the Disciples plucking and eating the ears of corn whom Christ excuseth because at that time they as David needed sustenance And add thereto the other plain instance of a Sheeps falling into a pit Matth. 12.11 which they that so quarrel'd with our Saviour made no scruple to pull out on the Sabbath day 3. Works of mercy as the healing of the woman bound by Satan Lo eighten years Luk. 13.15 16. A Saviour so merciful would not stand upon healing on the Sabbath day in a case so pitiful for The Sabbath is made for man Mar. 2.27 that is the rest of the Sabbath is to give place to mans relief And though God propound to us his example of rest on the seventh day for our resting yet we have his example of working also for mans benefit for saith Christ my Father worketh hitherto no Sabbath day excepted to wit in the preservation government and for the good of his Creatures Thus of the first thing belonging to a Sabbath to wit rest Secondly The thing further and chiefly required and which is intended in this rest is holiness Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy wherein is contained 1. A reverent opinion of it to wit as the Lords holy and honourable day There will never be a good observation of it in our practise without an estimation of it in our judgement Men will not leave the world with which nature closeth nor close with God in those holy things which nature is opposite to and in the best too averse from I say they will not do this on a day and that every week which they care not for on which they see no divine character and in the service whereof they expect no divine blessing 2. A dear affection to it calling it a delight and loving to be in the spirit on that day Revel 1.10 No delight is the companion of contempt but Delight is so far from despising service that it doubleth it 3. An holy imploying of the rest and bestowing of our selves in the duties belonging to such a day This is well express'd in those considerable Articles of Ireland thus The first day of the week which is the Lords day is wholly to be dedicated to the service of God and therefore we are bound therein to rest from our common and daily business and mark what followeth to bestow that leisure upon holy exercises both publike and private Publike exercises are the principal In reference to which publike worship especially the Sabbath is as I conceive said to be a Sign that is an open deâ—laration Whose we are and whom we serve Jona 1.9 Act. 27.23 For it doth not follow from the word Sign that the weekly Sabbath is a typical Ceremony If it were so then it should be a sin to observe a Sabbath now since all Ceremonies end in Christ in whom notwithstanding the Christian Sabbath begins as to the day and by whom it is confirmed as it is a weekly day which the fourth Commandement requireth because he declareth that he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it It is not therefore a ceremonial sign any more then the signs in the Sacraments are ceremonial but rather a moral and real sign and demonstration how things stand between God and his people which will further appear by looking more narrowly into that place of Ezekiel where it is called a Sign for thus the Prophet expresseth it I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifie them which words are also mentioned and applyed to the weekly Sabbath Exod. 31.13 15 16 17. When the Sabbath is said to be a sign the meaning is as some do most probably expound it that it is a document or an instructing Sign and that between God and his people me and you saith the Lord it teacheth and sheweth that which is common to us both to wit on my part that I am your Creator and Sanctifier on your part that you are a people by Me created and sanctified And that it is thus an instructing sign appears by the words following that ye may know as if the Lord had said Look on the Sabbath as a monument of the relation between me and you I would have you know and observe it so to be Upon a nearer view of the words it will be found a teaching sign of these three lessons 1. That God is the Lord that is that Lord who is the only true God Jer. 10.10 and that because he hath made the Heaven and the Earth v. 11 12. Which the observation of a Sabbath that is resting a seventh day every week in relation to six dayes work clearly holdeth forth for it is in imitation of that God who in six dayes made Heaven and Earth and rested the seventh who can be no other then the true God and Lord of all The second lesson is that this great Lord is the God of his Church or a God in Covenant with them for thus the Lord speaks I am the Lord your God Hallow my Sabbaths and they shall be a sign between me and you that ye may know and learn this lesson that I am your God for Why do they wait upon him a whole day every week but to shew that they own him as their God and that they believe he owns them as his people Hence the Scripture saith They sit before thee as my people and hear thy words The third lesson is that he is the Lord that sanctifieth them which may be understood two wayes 1. Of a sanctification to himself by a separation from the world so as to enjoy the priviledg of his Covenant and so the Scripture speaks Ye shall be holy to me for I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine Lev. 20.26 Exod. 33.16 2. And also of an internal renovation and sanctification in spirit and
blessing and sanctification was at first fixed on the seventh from the Creation because that was the day set a part to be the Lords Sabbath for that first age of the world I grant also that Gods resting is brought in as a reason of the Commandement But then the question is Wherein the force of that reason lyeth To which I say that it is not brought in as a reason of resting on that individual and precise day wherein God rested save only under this notion and consideration that it was the day at that time and for that first world appointed of God to be his Sabbath For it is not a cogent or inforcing argument We must rest one day in every week and never work more then six because God rested the last day of the week but this is a strong and convincing reasoning We must rest one day in seven perpetually and work but six because God our great Lord and Maker did only work six dayes and make the remaining day which was then the seventh in order a Sabbath holding forth that his example for our imitation I shall say this over again in some other words more fully to open my mind and the matter in hand and therefore express it thus The argument drawn from Gods Example is not for the same day that is for that very seventh wherein He rested determinately as if it reached and extended it self to no other day in the week but it is for a seventh or for the day wherein God rested as a seventh comparatively that is in relation to his six working dayes and therefore they are compared together both in the body of the Commandement where it is said Six dayes shalt thou labour but the seventh is the Sabbath and in the conclusion wherein it is not barely said God rested the seventh day but it is brought in with this In six dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth that is ended his work and rested the seventh Sanctifying that day as his Sabbath for those times and therein any other seventh which Himself should appoint for his Sabbath in after-times for any other day of the week may be called the seventh day as it is set against six working dayes To conclude the reason is not for that peculiar portion of time wherein God rested as if God meant no more but to reason men into the observation of that seventh day for then the fourth Commandement is gone or else the Saturday-Sabbath is to be observed still but it is for the proportion of time that is for a weekly day or one day in a week and for the portion and particular day only according to Gods appointment which appointed time to the Jews was Saturday to us now it is the Lords day Of the Christian Sabbath-day or the Lords-day HAving spoken thus far of the Sabbath in general and in its common nature or of the Christian Sabbath as a Sabbath I come now to speak of that particular day which we call the Christian Sabbath that is the first day of the week about which this great Question ariseth Why should this day be so much stood upon when we find not in Scripture when we find not in all the New-Testament any divine Institution of it In answer unto this I shall be brief both because I have been so large already and because others have written so largely and so convincingly concerning the Lords-day and the divine Institution thereof with a full answer to the Objections made to the contrary yet it being needful to say something and other Books not coming to the hands of all I shall endeavour to give some satisfaction to Christians as to the former Proposal in the ensuing particulars Answ. 1. It hath been declared before that the proportion of time that is the observing of a Sabbath weekly or one day in seven is required of God in the fourth Commandement wherein also hath been shewed the manner how it is to be observed and that we are not to spend it as we do the six working-days in our ordinary and earthly imployments but in religious Exercises as a day of holy rest to the Lord. I mention this though it be not so proper to the question yet as pertinent to it for if it be once granted that by the Commandement of God himself one day in a week must be kept as a Sabbath it will quickly be found that the Lords-day will make the best plea for that priviledge But I go on Answ. 2. As to the portion of time and the particular day about which the question is moved to that I answer That a thing may be said to be commanded of God two wayes 1. In express words as if it should be said I require all men to observe in the time of the New-Testament the first day of the week for my Sabbath We do not say that the Lords-day is thus commanded to be observed as a Sabbath 2. By necessary collection or collation and comparing one Scripture with another and so a divine Command and Institution is divers wayes gathered and by strong arguments and consequences concluded as our Saviour proves the Resurrection and as it is proved that there was a Precept for Sacrifices before the Law and before any such Precept is found because God accepted the Sacrifice offered by Abel which shews it was not Will-worship but Word-worship that is guided by a word known to them though not revealed to us After this manner and by sound reasoning from things revealed in Scripture the divine Institution of the first day of the week for the Christian Sabbath sundry wayes appeareth Namely by these ensuing Evidences 1. A divine ground and foundation of setting apart that day in special and above all other dayes for that use and that is the divine work of raiâ—ing up the Lord Jesus from the dead As the first Sabbath had its rise from the work of Creation and Gods resting on that day as the fourth Commandement declareth so hath the New-Testament-Sabbath its rise from the work of Redemption and our Saviours rising and resting when that work was finished wherein we may be the more confirmed because the Scripture so highly extolleth our Saviours Resurrection that being the great thing which the Apostles in their Preaching were to stand upon Act. 1.22 and did stand upon and stand for Act 3 4 as that without which all Preaching and Faith is vain and the Apostles would be found false Witnesses who made it their business to publish and testifie it Declaring the promise to the Fathers to be fulfill'd in raising up Jesus again as it is written in the second Psalm Thou aâ—t my Son this day have I begotten thee that is That was the great day like the day when the Crown was set on David's head wherein notwithstanding all his humiliation in his life and death He that was made of the seed of David before was declared to be the Son
of worship on that day 2. It is more attended because a Sabbath is a day of rest and receding from worldly works that we may better apply our selves to divine Worship And though there be a necessary use of natural supports yet the fear of God wâ—ites Holiness to the Lord upon them and takes care they be so used that the Service of God may be better attended 3. It is more intended or performed with more power and vigour because our minds are or should be discharged of all those creature-cares and cogitations wherewith on other dayes on which though we leave the world a little yet we do not so take leave of it as on the Lords day our hearts use to be and that in the Worship of God encumbred and weakened yea besides this the private religious Exercises of that day both before and after the publike Service namely Meditation and Prayer make us come with better affections to it lay an ingagement upon us to stir up the grace of God in us when we are about it draw from God vertue in it and a blessing of Heaven upon it Of the third Commandement Because the Sabbath is a day appointed for the honour of God and the greatning of his Name in the publike Ordinances God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are about him Hence it is that on the day of publik and solemn Assemblies that is on the Sabbath now the Lords day the Name of God 〈◊〉 most set up because by most and among most In the multitude of people is the Kings honour and then the multitude go to the House of God to the Temple to the Congregation wherein every one speaks of his glory Thus doth the fourth Commandement assist for the performance of the first Table 2. Of the Second Table To speak to every Commandement thereof would be too long It may suffice to say what all men may see and hear That is that on the weekly Lords day all sorts of persons are acquainted with their duty towards men by the instructions then especially delivered and are also stirred up thereunto by the Exhortations added And are or may be much furthered therein by the Repetition of Meditation and Prayer for a blessing upon such Instructions and Exhortation The fourth Commandement standeth in the middle as it were between the two Tables to be a Bond of Perfection and to link together Piety towards God and Charity towards men What is said of the Magistrate may be truly also said of the Sabbath He is and It is the Keeper of both the Tables Thus of the Commodity of the Christian Sabbath 3. The Commendation The Sabbath hath a preheminence above other dayes in regard of Gods Institution of it for each Sabbath is the Sabbath of the Lord our God and that makes it glorious in it self and hath the blessing of God annexed and assured to the observers of it And that as it maketh also for the advancement of it in it self so it giveth a reason why it should be precious to us yea the very largeness of the Law of the Sabbath and the Lords using so many words about it may shew as our weakness who need it so the weight of that Law and worth of that Day in asmuch as in a Law of Ten Words so much is said of this one Word and particular Precept It is observed out of the Hebrew Doctors That the Sabbath and the Precept against Idolatry each of these two is as weighty as all other the Commandements of the Law for confirmation whereof they add this The Sabbath is a sign between God and us for ever and that other place of Isaiah Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it Aynsworth Exod. 31.13 And sure that weekly day of our solemn appearing before our God ought to be honourable in our account That is a sign and assurance that we are Gods Covenant-people and peculiar treasure for therein lies our safety our glory and our felicity Who is it that desires not to be known by his attendants that he is Kings the Servant Well may we say also that 's a blessed and glorious day that makes the observers thereof blessed yea if by keeping the Sabbath from polluting it be insinuated or described a respect to all Religion even that also makes greatly for the honour of the Sabbath that godliness in the generaâ—ity is thereby set forth because thereby so much set forward It 's very observable that Gods people reckoning up in their miseries Gods mercies do mention as the chief thereof Gods Commandements and among those Laws and Commandements single out the Sabbath speaking thus honourably of it in reference to their Fathers And madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath as if there were an eminency in that above other Laws as indeed there is in this regard because as on Fairs and Markets men are furnished with commodities of all sorts so on this day principally all spiritual good things are offered with an invitation to the buying and for the enjoying of them and that good knowledge of God is more aboundantly dispensed whereby all other Commandements are better performed O How little is God known to them to whom no Sabbath is made known or that will not be made to know any Sabbath The reason whereof is because on that day of Rest and Religion there is an opportunity offered of the freest fullest and highest Communion with God without those interruptions that we have on other days by the crowding in of our earthly occasions yea and that into the inner chamber and closet of our hearts which is the retiring room wherein God is pleased to communicate himself abundantly to the faithful soul when all worldly things and thoughts are had out and dismissed for that day yea charged and as it were conjured not to disturb the intimate society of the Lord Jesus with the soul that hath found him and fastened on him Thus of the Sabbath in general As to the Christian Sabbath a great glory is put upon it in the Scripture-title it being called the Lords day and that name and title being continued and applyed unto it to this day The Lord Jesus hath put his own Name and stamp upon it It is the day of that Lord who is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Rev. 1.5 Of the Jews Sabbath and of our Lords day there is as St. Austin speaks one and the same Lord but now is the Lords-day prefer'd before that Sabbath as the same Father speaks by the faith of the Resurrection Unto this Resurrection day is that honour given to have this said of it Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Act. 13.33 For by his Resurrection on that day he was manifestly and mightily declared to be the only-begotten Son of God
soul and body 1 Thess. 5 23. by the Word preached on that day through the operation of the Spirit 1 Pet. 1.2 Act. 20.32 26.18 So that God hath not only made the Sabbath an holy day but also makeeth men holy by his Ordinances on that day principally dispensed I have been the longer in this because hereby it appeareth what a necessity there is of a weekly Sabbath as being a most signal Declaration and Representation of what God is in himself that is the maker of Heaven and Earth his distinguishing character and what he is to his Church that is a God in Covenant with them and every way a Sanctifier of them and that 's their distinguishing character Exod. 33.16 Isa. 63.19 Now to return to the thing in hand since the Sabbath becomes of this use especially by the general and solemn meeting of Gods people together to Publike Service as Prayer Reading the Scripture Preaching administration of the Sacraments c. therefore the rest and leisure we have on that day is principally to be bestowed in and sanctified by such duties And therefore the Sacrifices appointed for the Sabbath day were full double to those appointed for every day for the Sabbath being a sign of more then ordinary favour from the Lord he required greater testimonies of their thankefulness and sanctification And the Prophet Ezekiel speaking of the state of the Church in the time of the Messiah under the figure of legal Ordinances mentioneth a yet greater oblation to be offered on the Sabbath day signifying that in the time of the Gospel the spiritual service should exceed the legal the grace of the New Testament being greater then that of the Old Now if we bring this greater service to the great day of service that is the Lords day it will fairly follow that the rest of that day should be fill'd up with holy duties especially in publique for in those duties the Sabbath is most a sign of the relations betwen God and us Private duties also are necessary because the whole day cannot be spent in publike service conveniently and yet it is to be spent holily Before we come to the Congregation therefore considering how holy a God that is before whom we come and how serious a service that is about which we come there is great need to spend some time in repentance especially of the sins committed the week before for how can we stand before God in our sin Ezra 9.15 And since God requires the heart How much need is there to purge it for he endures not a filthy heart but cryes out upon it Mat. 23.25 nor will the seed of the Word prosper in it How much need also to adorn it with humility faith fear of God holy desires and affections for God likes not an empty heart but requires to be greatly feared in the Assembly of his Saints to come with hungring thirsting and the desire of new-born-babes and especially with faith without which neither Gods Word to us nor our words in Prayer to him can ever profit Heb. 4.2 James 1.6 7. O how empty do we go away from Ordinances either because full of that which we ought to lay aside or void of that which we ought to provide when we come into Gods presence what need therefore of preparation And After we have been before God in Publike Exercises we are not left at liberty to do and speak as we please for it is the Sabbath of the Lord our God still and therefore must have continued in it that rest which is the body of it and that holiness which is the soul of it As therefore before the Publike Service we are to get a stomack and then feed on the heavenly Manna at it so we are to ruminate and chew the cud after it that is we are to consider what God hath said to us meditate and ponder upon it We should be in the spirit on the Lords day that is taken up with spiritual Meditations Rev. 1.10 or spiritual Conference such as our Saviour used with the men of Emmaus on the day of his Resurrection sutable to what he did before on the Jews Sabbath when going into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread he teacheth one good lesson to the guests that were bidden another to him that bade him them he teacheth Humility and him Charity And a third that sate at meat with him and in him all other men Piety and providence that no worldly encumbrances hinder from spiritual Ordinances It 's true that Christ spake of good things every day but we being taken up with other things on our ordinary dayes have the more need to follow his holy example in speaking of things godly on the Sabbath day Wherein we are not so free to talk of what we list as some may imagine for if there be a liberty for working-day words and any every-dayes discourse how will the rest of that day be holy If two or three hours be spent in worldly talk or tales and not in Christian Colloquies and Communications such as Paul so persisted in on the Lords day Where will the holiness of those hours be found and What distinction will there be for that time between that and the working dayes Unto these godly Meditations and Conferences are to be added holy Actions As 1. Works of Piety Reading Praying Admonishing Singing Psalms Catechising childâ—en and servants And in special repeating the Sermons preached for the good of the Family or of other Christians who finding how frail their memories are will be glad of such an assistance 2. Works of Charity as laying up or laying out for the use of the poor as God prospereth us visiting and helping the sick spiritually and outwardly as our Saviour used to heal on the Sabbath day yet not so as to make more work then we need but doing any good to poor creatures which will not be so much for God's glory and the winning of others to Religion who are at leisure to look out that day or for their comfort that are in distress if it be not on the Lords day done and dispatch'd Hitherto of the Rest and Holiness of the Sabbath Thirdly There remaineth to be considered the extent of this rest and holiness which is for a whole day for the Commandement saith Remember the day of rest to keep it holy There is some question when the Christian Sabbath begins some will have it to begin in the evening and so the night shall be first and the day after Others I conceive more probably hold that it beginneth in the morning because then and that very early when it was yet dark Joh. 20.1 our Saviour was risen and in his Resurrection that work which gave occasion of the institution of the day was finished and so the Lords day is reckoned from morning to morning or as some account it from
godly meditations which is more easily done that night because of the help we have had for better thoughts the day before Yea I shall not fear to say further that in them that have observed the day as they ought there will be such an holy habit and frame of heart left behind as that though they sleep and take their rest yet even the dreams of that night I do not say alwayes will but divers times will be like to relish of the holiness of the day which though some are willing to make sport with and to count worthy of derision yet herein they call in question not only their Piety but their Reason for Nature it self and common Experience teacheth that things acted and most affected in the day leave such impressions as that they are ordinarily represented by the phansie in the dreams of the night I have thus far enlarged in describing the Sabbath out of a desire to establish the holy observation of the Lords day which will best be discerned by that respect reverence and observance that is due to the weekly Sabbath according to the fourth Commandement Now when we know what is meant by Sabbath and by the observation of it it 's easie to know what is meant by the profanation thereof mentioned before which is the applying of it to common use as we do the other six dayes when God hath set it a part for holy and heavenly imployments see Act. 10.15 This profanation must needs be as I have said an evil thing because it is a transgression of the moral Law of God which Law though it be short yet the Precept concerning the Sabbath is full and large If that law be holy and just and good then the profanation opposite to it must needs be evil Hence the Lord himself said of old when that which was commanded on the Sabbath was not obeyed How long refuse ye to keep my Commandements and my Laws Exod. 16.28 Ezek. 22.18 Thou hast profaned my Sabbath is in the catalogue of their sins But because there are two things about the Christian Sabbath much disputed one the divine institution and appointment of a Sabbath day in every week for all ages by vertue of the fourth Commandement the other the divine constitution or Gods ordaining of that weekly day for a Sabbath which we now observe that is the first day of the week commonly called the Lords day I shall therefore endeavour as I am able to speak something in way of resolution to these two proposals that so Sabbath-doubts may not hinder Sabbath-duties For the former of these I propound this question Quest. How doth it appear that the Law of the Sabbath contained in the fourth Commandement continueth and is in force in Gospel times for the observing of one day in seven as a Sabbath or day of holy rest Answ. If it be not of any force then we have not now a Decalogue that is there are not now in the time of the Gospel Ten Commandements but nine only If it be said That doth not follow because something of that Commandement remains and is in force for ever to wit that some time should be set a part for the publike worship of God To this I answer That it is manifest to him that reads the fourth Commandement that the thing required in it is not a time at large which the second Commandement that prescribeth the Worship of God supposeth because nothing can be done unless there be a time set apart for the doing of it but that which is enjoyned is a day Nor is it a day at large but a day in every week for it is opposed to six working dayes Nor is it a day in a week at large but such a day as may challenge this title The Sabbath of the Lord thy God that is it must be a day of Gods appointment When a Master saith to his servant wait on me every week in the day I appoint you and lay before him great reason for it If the servant should say My Master looks for no more but that I should wait on him one time or other it would be but a poor account 2. If any of the ten Commandements be taken away it must be taken away by Christ that is by his order or by some declaration from him But he saith he came not to take away but to fulfil the Law And to prove that he instanceth in divers Precepts of the Moral Law which he presseth in the greatest height of spiritual observation Why should the fourth Commandement be taken away any more then the fifth which yet the Apostle urgeth strongly upon children and that from the moral and perpetual reason thereof which though it be delivered in a Jewish phrase relating to the land of Canaan yet for the substance of it it concerns all men that live on the earth Ephes. 6.1 2 3. Object There is this difference between the fourth and fifth Commandement That Nature teacheth men to obey their Parents but to observe a Sabbath one day in seven it teacheth not Answ. In regard of a day of holy Rest in general Nature is not silent for it granteth a God and that that God is to be worshipped and therefore that a time must of necessity be set a part for it and that a convenient time and in such a distance that we may neither neglect our God nor our affairs And taking it for granted that the Creation is known that is that God did make the world in six dayes and rest the seventh Nature hath a fair copy to write by and a glorious example before it to work upon and to take a light from to work and to rest in such a proportion of time I say to rest for Nature speaks out this fully that the time consecrated to God must be a time of rest because we cannot serve God in holiness and be about profane and common imployment both at once 2. If we take in to the light and principles of Nature the assistance of divine Revelation then Nature will say all that needs to be said for a Sabbath to wit that it is fit God should appoint his own time for his own service and therefore he in his Word having appointed a weekly time such a time ought to be observed 3. Setting aside all the natural morality that may be pleaded for a weekly Sabbath it sufficeth that the spending of one day in seven in holy Rest is enjoyned by the positive Law of God for why shall not the Law of the God of Nature revealed from Gods mouth or written in the Word bind as well and as much as the Law of Nature written in the heart especially considering that what is spoken or written by God especially by his own finger as the Ten Commandements were is pure and incorrupt as that is not which is written in mans heart though it were so when it was first written
Yea Why may we not say in some respect that it is worse to disobey a positive law then a law of Nature and that because where Nature saith nothing but God saith all there 's a greater tryal whether Gods Word his naked Will and Prerogative Royal is of any weight with us or no and in the despising of such a command a greater indignity is offered to the Supream Law-giver as if a Law of his mouth were not worth the marking unless Nature and Reason open their mouths also unto which we may add that he who disobeyeth a positive law alwayes disobeyteh a natural to wit this that it is meet and necessary that God should have his will and retain his soveraignty which by transgressing a plain precept wherein Nature can say nothing is more violated Hence that first sin in eating the forbidden fruit for the forbearing whereof being considered in it self Nature had not what to say did undo us all there being thereupon this charge drawn up against all mankind in the first man Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat The like whereof we find in the business of the Sabbath but I instance in the former because of the weight that lay upon it and because of the resemblance there is between forbidden work and forbidden fruit by which the disobedience receives a great aggravation namely thus Was there liberty for all the Trees of the Garden and couldst thou not foâ—bear one upon my precise command so Have I given thee six dayes to work for thy self and canst thou not rest with me one day Object But if the fourth precept stand still established yet all it commands is the observing of the seventh day from the Creation Answ. 1. If it be supposed that the fourth Commandement enjoyneth the seventh day from the Creation which I grant not save only in that sense which I shall afterward express yet that hindereth not but that it remaineth also firm and in force for one day in seven as well as the reason of the fifth Commandement is a moral and perpetual reason though it be delivered in a Jewish phrase and concern in the first place and in the form of words the Jewish people and therefore the Apostle to extend the force of the reason to all places and persons thus explaineth it That it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the Earth as was touch'd before 2. I answer That the fourth Commandement layes down and prescribes how God would have his Sabbath observed but it doth not command or institute any particular or individual day save only in the generality that is as it falls under the general notion of being a day of Gods appointment which day of Gods appointment was well known to the Jews otherwhere and before the fourth Commandement was delivered and therefore it is spoken of in the sixteenth of Exodus as a known law and the people on the sixth day gathered twice so much bread two Omers for one man when on other dayes they gathered but one as being accustomed to observe the Sabbath at least as knowing that God required it should be observed that day being set a part for a Sabbath ever since and by reason of the Creation of the world Gen. 2.3 Heb. 4.3 And as the day the Jews observed and spent in holy rest was known otherwise and needed not to be expressed in the fourth Commandement so also the day that we Christians observe though it be not mentioned in that Commandement yet is otherwise sufficiently made known to be the day that God hath ordained for his weekly Sabbath in Gospel-times as shall appear hereafter 3. This being premised I shall grant as others do who have with much diligence and satisfaction searched into this argument that the seventh day Sabbath was to be observed by vertue of the fourth Commandement yet not as instituted there directly but as belonging to it reductively that is by way of argument and consequent namely thus One day in seven of Gods appointment is directly and for ever required to be observed as a Sabbath by the fourth Commandement Now the seventh-day-Sabbath that is the seventh from the Creation is that one of seven that God appointed from the foundation of the world till our Saviours coming suffering and rising again It therefore followeth that that seventh was for all that time to be observed as the Lords Sabbath and that by necessary collection from the fourth Commandement As in like manner our first-day-Sabbath is grounded on the fourth Commandement because it is that one of seven which God hath appointed to be observed since Christs Resurrection The sum is The genus or general name of Sabbath is common to each Sabbath day of Gods institution and so comprehends both the Jews Sabbath and ours 4. I answer as before that otherwise then thus the fourth Commandement requireth not any particular day but that which it commandeth is to come more closely to the question one day in seven in relation to six working dayes as the Commandement it self expresseth saying Six days shalt thou labour but the seventh is the Sabbath as if it had been said Divide the week and there being seven dayes in it take thou the sixth and give me the seventh and namely that seventh which I appoint and give order for And that the Commandement is thus to be interpreted may appear both by the first words thereof Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy he saith not the seventh day but the Sabbath day as also by the last words wherein it is said the Lord blessed and hallowed not the seventh day but the Sabbath day which sheweth that the main drift and intent of the Commandement was not the institution of the Jews seventh or any other particular day but of a weekly Sabbath or of one day in every week such as then was or afterward was to be specified and declared of God to be his day of rest yet such as may be called the seventh day because it must be the seventh part of the weekly time Object But it is said in the latter part of the Commandement and brought in also as a reason to observe it that God rested the seventh day whence it is thus argued That day is meant in the body of the Commandement as the day enjoyned to be the Sabbath or day of Rest wherein God himself rested But that was the seventh in order from the Creation Therefore that 's meant by seventh day in the body of the Commandement yea in the whole Commandement for God blessed and sanctified that day for the Sabbath whereon himself rested Answ. I grant that God rested that seventh day and that he blessed and sanctified it but How Not meerly as that particular seventh but as a Sabbath for so as it was but now said the Commandement expresseth it only the
the end of the world a weekly Sabbath If any ask and would know further What need there is of it The answer may be 1. That the Lord hath need of it that the work of Creation and Redemption may be remembred and our Creator and Redeemer publiquely and solemnly served and glorified 2. That man hath need of it for the Sabbath was made for man that is both for his spiritual and corporal good It was not without need that God made the Sabbath either for himself or for us Indeed but one thing is needful and that is to sit at Christs feet and hear his Word as it ought to be heard Which though it may be done other dayes yet not so fully and hopefully as on that day when all other things are laid aside to apply our selves wholly to the concernments of our Souls On other dayes there is more of Martha that is the world is mixt and is a partner but on this day with Mary we choose if we have Maries grace the good part and provide to attend upon the Lord without distraction On other dayes our hearts like the Jews garments hang loose on this day if we mind our duty we gird up the loins of our mind and so may run as Elijah before Ahab when he had girded up his loins the way of Gods Commandements 1 King 18.46 Psal. 119.32 On other dayes the Moon is between us and the Sun I mean earthly and sublunary things stand between us and the Sun of Righteousness whereby there is an Eclipse that we can not so fully enjoy him but now on the Lords day if we be Christians we should if wise we will if good and faithful we shall tread the Moon under our feet and as in Solomon's Royal and Incomparable Throne the footstool was of gold so being taken up on that Ascension-day to Mount Tabor we shall make the most golden world our foot-stool and the necessary supports thereof like Zacheus his Sycomore-tree helps being under us to see Jesus the better that having a full view of him and fellowship with him of his fulness we may receive grace for grace Some men talk of an every-dayes Sabbath but as to make every man a Magistrate is to take away Magistracy and to let every man be a Minister is to take away the Ministry so to make every day a Sabbath is to say No day shall be a Sabbath They may call every day a Sabbath because we are to rest and abstain from sin every day but herein they deceive themselves in that they do not consider that on the Sabbath day we must not only abstain from sinful things albeit then we should abhor them most but from those things that are not sinful on other dayes but lawful and needful and which it is a sin not to look after as the works of our ordinary Callings for look how a Subject that is called to wait on his Prince is not only to leave his good Fellows and that loose and vain company which he ought alwayes to separate himself from but also his Wife Children whole Family and all his domestick affairs which out of this case and when there is no such Call it is his sin to be unnecessarily absent from and his duty to abide with and take care of and so when our Lord calls us to wait on him a whole day together as he doth on the Lords day all other things are for that time to be laid aside save only those which our Lord alloweth us though at other times lawful and necessary When two good things are to be done and both cannot be done our reason will tell us that it is necessary for that time to leave the less and apply our selves to the greater which being well considered will amount to this that it is necessary that these earthly things should be for a convenient time with-drawn from that is that there should be a weekly Sabbath for that 's the most convenient time to give up our selves intirely to those things that ought to be highest in our account to wit the honour and service of our God and the salvation of our souls It 's a poor plea to say I must needs go see my Ground when God calls to his Supper but it 's a good pleading of necessity to say I must needs goe see my God Psal. 63.2 Now whereas on working dayes the world doth as it were cover our faces with a vail and cast dust on the divine Glass on the Lords day by laying aside earthly things and thoughts the covering is put away from our face as from Moses face when he left all to appear before the Lord that we may see the King in his glory yea so see him as to become glorious our selves with that sight For we all to wit who by admirable grace have received the Spirit of God with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of God are transformed into the same Image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 2. The Commodity of the Christian Sabbath What is said of Godliness may be said of the Day of God which is the Nurse of Godliness that it is profitable to all things I mean being spiritually observed for otherwise the bodily exercise profiteth little The weekly Sabbath like the Vine whose Wine cheareth God and Man yeeldeth much assistance for the performance of the duties of the first and second Table 1. Of the First Table Of the first Commandement for therein is an acknowledgement of God our Creator as the only true God maker of Heaven and Earth in the proportion of time that is in observing a Sabbath every seventh day after our six dayes work And an acknowledgement also of God our Saviour in our particular Sabbath-day in these Gospel times That of the Prophet is very observable They have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths that is they slight them as Hos. 8.12 And what followeth And I am profaned among them that is dishonoured accounted as nought among them as if I were not a God Dutch Annot. Of the Second Commandement Because the Worship of God required in that Commandement is on that day most improved and heightened As being 1. More extended because all both Superiours and those under them and within their Gates are then to wait on God in the way of his Worship Hence it is conceiv'd that whereas these two Ye shall fear every Man his Mother and his Father and shall keep my Sabbaths are joyned together the reason thereof may be this because Fathers and Mothers and Governours to whom the fourth Commandement is directed not only but eminently are to see that their Children and Servants keep the Lords Sabbaths and Children and Servants should so far fear and reverence them as herein to be ruled by them and so there will be a general appearing to do homage to God which is one improvement
Rom. 1.3 Unto this may be added that this day hath been ever of high account in the Christian Church Let every one saith Ignatius that holy Martyr that loveth Christ keep the Lords day holy the Queen and Supreme of all dayes Hierom saith Among all dayes this day hath the primacy or holds the preheminence This is the day saith he that the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it If we celebrate our birth-dayes saith Chrysostom How much more is this day to be observed which if any shall call the Birth-day of all mankind he shall not erre therein for we were lost and are found were dead and are alive were Enemies and are reconciled But it is with spiritual honour that this day is to be honoured not with feasting profuse drinking of Wine much less with drunkenness and dancing c. Chrysost. Serm. de Eleemosyna I shall close up this with a later witness of the worth of the Sabbath yet not to be contemned it being the testimony of a very learned man and Martyr of Jesus Christ His words are these The Sabbath is the School-day wherein we are to come to the Lords School to be acquainted with the Lords law and will When therefore the Sabbath is so much commended in the Old Testament the Lords School is especially commended The Vniversity not of Plato or Aristotle but of the Omnipotent God is commended The knowledge of the Law and the understanding of the Covenant of God with Man is commended What was spoken therefore of the City of God we may apply to his Sabbath Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou day of God Nor is there any thing on Earth liker Heaven then the enjoyment and we may say the beat fiâ—al Vision of God on that day in those publike Ordinances and private Spiritual Exercises and Addresses unto which devout Christians devote themselves which may be confirmed unto us by this That the heavenly State and the weekly day of publique and private Worship go under one and the same name that is both are said to be a keeping of a Sabbath Heaven being in this here as that shall be in Heaven hereafter There followeth 4. The Judgements of God threatned against and inflicted upon Sabbath-profaners Here I shall make use of the Text in hand and Nehemiahs relation v. 18. which sheweth that their Sabbath-profanation was not only evil in them but was and they might fear it would be very evil to them The judgement described in this Scripture hath four sad things in it 1. It is hereditary As when a disease is hereditary and passeth from Father to child the pain of that disease is hereditary also so is it in this case Did nâ—t your Fathers do thus And where the sin is continued the judgement is entailed yea it is said further Did not God bring this evil upon us When there is a generation of Sabbath-breakers they pay for their Fathers sin and their own both together as it was in this long captivity And now they had cause to fear further judgement They being risen up in thâ—ir Fathers stead an increase of sinful men to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel Numb 3â— 14 2. It is very harmful It is not only said this evill but all this evil for God chastiseth his people as their Congregation hath heard And they had heard besides what they heard at other times a little before these utmost miseries that the Lord for not hallowing the Sabbath would kindle a fire in the palaces of Jerusalem whâ—ch should burn seventy years together and not be quenched We find in former times how severe the sentence of God himself was upon him that did but gather sticks on the Sabbath day And about the same time when they greatly polluted the Lords Sabbaths he said He would pâ—wr forth his fury upon them to destroy them in the Wildernesse wherein there were mighty slaughters made of them but all that evill was little to all this evill Neh. 9.32.36 37. for the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people saith the Prophet is greater then the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown in a moment And again Behold and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow Godly Magistrates make laws for the holy observation of Gods holy day and ungodly Officers leave them unexecuted but the Supream Power will look to it and the highest God will animate his Laws by Executions which should make all of us fear and tremble and say If we rebell to day and Sabbath-breaking is Rebellion Ezek. 20.13 Exod. 16.28 God will be wroth to morrow Yea and that with the whole Congregation For 3. It is diffusive It spreads far Here is wrath Upon Israel Woe to him that commits Folly in Israel For that 's a people near to God and therefore should not be defiled So woe to him that brings trouble on Israel which Achan found for Israel is a people dear to God and therefore he would not have them to be wasted and consumed by those sins that send for general judgments An Ague is one thing the Pestilence another he that brings the Plague into a City may be an instrument of much mortality and misery Now Sabbath-pollutions are pestilential that is they destroy many and make havock in Israel They that set a City on fire are most mischievous persons to be an Incendiary is a name of infamy but Sabbath-breakers set the whole Nation on fire and for their sakes amongst other notorious and Israel-ruining sinners Zion is plowed as a field and Jerusalem becomes heaps for by reason of this sin God threatens such fury as shall consume his people and that he will accomplish his anger against them Ezek. 20.13 21. 4. It is cumulative that is profaning the Sabbath layes on more weight on those who are heavy laden with the bâ—râ—hen of judgement already For here it is said by them that had been very long in a very sad condition Ye bring mâ—re wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath-day There 's never so much affliction but God can send more and being further provoked by this sin he will send more seven times more They that be in a prosperous estate should keep the Sabbath that they may keep well when it is well and they that be in an evil case should keep it to prevent their being in a worse The wrath of the King of Heaven is as the râ—aring of a Lyon and more wrath is as a more dreadful roaring the fore-runner of renting Judg. 14.5 with Hos. 13.8 In all this it is to be remembred that the fourth Commandement still continuing as there is now also a weekly Sabbath-day so there is a like Sabbath-danger we may not therefore shift or shake off the former threats and judgements as not belonging to these times
God should take away Sabbaths from us I doubt not but that in all good Christians the grief would prove the delight for no man is grieved to lose what he never lov'd nor took any pleasure in I say it is thus in all good and truly godly and especially greatly-godly persons for as the man is so is his delight No marvel if the men of the world say When will the Sabbath be gone No wonder if the holy and strict observation thereof be unto carnal people and persons that savour not the things of God like Saul's Armour to David they cannot tell how to go with or undergo matters of so spiritual a nature for they never prov'd them they were never us'd to such things But on the other side the same spiritual observation of the Lords-day unto a spiritual Christian is like Jonathâ—n's robe and his garments even his Sword his Bow and his Girdle to the same David which no doubt he us'd and wore with much delight they being great testimonies of Jonathan's singular love to him and signs and symbols of the Covenant made with him as also the Lords-Sabbath and the Ordinances thereof are great tokens of his speciâ—l love to us and a sign of his holy Covenant made with us Ezek. 20.12 O why should not the Lords-day be our delight Is there not full joy in fellowship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ in the Preaching and with the Preachers of the Gospel Is not Christ who is observed to appear on that day again and again to his Disciples after his Resurrection and is still in the Assemblies of the Saints and in the Ministry of his Servants I say Is not He the desire and the delight of all Nations And who is it that is the Comforter and solace of Saints but that holy Spirit with whom the Servants of God have much to do on that day in heavenly Meditations So that if the whole Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost can minister any delight unto us then may we call the Sabbath a delight for therein God our Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier doth eminently appear and operate This is a day very useful and subservient to all the necessities of our souls If we be ignorant in any thing or in many things on this day we are all taught of God It 's a Soul-enlightning day If we be as we are Strangers in the Earth on this day we are most taught the way to our Countrey It 's a Soul-guiding day Psal. 73.17 24. If we hunger and thirst after Righteousness the spiritual Manna falls from Heaven and water comes out of that Rock which is Christ principally upon this day It 's a Soul-satisfying day If we languish under spiritual diseases or lie low under outward calamities on this day the Lord offereth Medicines in the Ministry for all our Maladies It 's a Soul-restoring-day Christ heals still on Sabbath-days And that I may once conclude could we be in the Spirit upon the Lords-day as we ought to be or as we might be for I do not mean extraordinarily as John was but having our hearts taken up with and heightned in the pure spiritual observation of it we might have then a fair sight yea a sweet sense of that unspeakably glorious Sabbath which right and real Saints shall shortly celebrate all-together in the heavenly Canaan where there remaineth a rest or the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God Heb 4.9 The Second Part. CHAP. I. Of Family-Duties AFter the four Christian-duties spoken of in the fore-going part I shall now proceed to four other Family-duties the first whereof because Religion is rooted in knowledge may well be Family-Catechising I say Family-Catechising for I shall not here speak of Catechising in its general extent but only apply my self to it as it is a duty belonging to Christians in their several Families which godly Exercise I shall endeavour to assist and perswade unto by Texts of Scripture first and some Arguments and Motives after Texts of Scripture to prove Catechising in Families a duty It is not my purpose here to mention every Text of Scripture that gives strength to this necessary duty but shall content my self with the naming and with the opening of two Texts in the Old-Testament and one in the New The first in the Old Testament is Deut. 6.6 7. These words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up For the opening of this Scripture and the awakening of Conscience to a due consideration of it there comes to be considered in the first place Who it is that speaks in it even the Eternal God by his Servant Moses that was faithful in all his house Remember that it is He that saith Keep these words that I command thee this day But How must Parents keep them For to Parents and every Parent God here speaks and in answer to that question saith These words shall be in thine heaâ—t yet are they not only to be in the hearts of those that have Families but in their houses therefore it is added Thou shalt teach them thy children Nor was this a Ceremonial Pâ—ecept or a Commandement given peculiarly to the Jews for their assistance in the remembrance of the Law of God as their Phylacteries-fringes and fastning the Law to their door-posts but it was and is a moral and perpetual Precept binding us in Gospel-times as well as them and therefore the very same things that we read in this Text we find also in the New-Testament That is 1. That the Word of Christ must dwell in us which is all one with this here Let it be in thine heart And 2. That it must be in our houses also for Parents are required to bring up their children in the nurture and information of the Lord In obedience therefore to this standing Command they to whom God hath given children should say as the Psalmist doth Come ye children hearken to me I will teach you the fear of the Lord And when the children be come together the Spirit of God in the Text we have in hand teacheth in what manner they are to be taught saying Thou shalt teach them diligently and in the margent of our Bibles it is Thou shalt whet or sharpen which is well and plainly expressed in the Text by teaching diligently but yet the word in the Original doth more particularly note out a teaching by way of repetition and going over and over again as men do with Knives when they whet them that so as the Knife by such whetting is more keen and fit to cut so religious Instructions by often turning and returning them on the ears and tongues of children