they murmured for Bread and also count unto the day of their gathering Manna we cannot rationally allow so little as seven days time and yet it was the seventh-day after all this which was their first Sabbath in the Wilderness in which time from their coming from the Red Sea they might have had at least two seventh-day Sabbaths and therefore I see no Reason to believe that their gathering Manna six days before their Sabbath was designed of God as a sixing six working days before their first Sabbath seeing neither the Scripture does so assign it nor that the Lord did appoint either the first seventh-day after their first Passover or after their Deliverance from the Red Sea to be their Sabbath but suffered them to break such an Order by having more than six working days unto their first Sabbath after their Deliverance 2. If the Lord had designed to make the Sabbath next after the first six days of Israels gathering Manna a Pattern for all Nations to have answered the Moral Law in keeping the same seventh-day Sabbath precisely and successively from that Original Point of Time he would not have absolutely limited the beginning and ending of it to be observed from Evening to Evening but would have lest the beginning and ending thereof to other Times of the Day and Night as would suit with every Nation and render them capable to answer the Moral End and Equity of the Law Object 6. The Lord on Mount Sinai made known unto Isratl his Holy Sabbath Nehem. 9.13 14. and therefore his Sabbath was not altered Answer The Word his Holy Sabbath no more consirmeth the Sabbath made known to Israel to be the precise successive seventh-day Sabbath from the Creation than Gods giving those people at the same Place as it is there expressed right Judgments and good Statutes c. called in Psalm 147.19 a shewing his Word unto Jacob his Statutis and his Judgments unto Israel Must be taken in a limited Sence of the Will of God implanted in our first Parents Nature or delivered to them or â—o Noah or Abraham by Revelation in Distinction to and Exclusion of the Ceremonial Precepts of the Law And therefore as we have no Reason so to limit his Statutes and his Judgments so there is no Reason to understand his Sabbaths in a limited sence of the precise successive seventh-day from the Creation but of his Sabbath instituted in the Wilderness as well as his Word Statutes and Judgments or whole Will there appointed which was not so made known before to any Nation Object 7. The Sabbath was instituted and sixed to Israel in the Wilderness before the Law was given on Mount Sinai and therefore it did not pertain unto it as a Molaical new day but as it was sanctified from the Creation it was then restored and soon after repeated and consirmed again in the fourth Commandment Answer 1. I have already shewed that Adams Sabbath and the days afterwards began with the Morning day-light And that after Israels departure out of Egypt the account of their days for their Sabbaths and Holy things were changed from what they were reckoned before in Adams Lots Jacobs and Labans time So that by that account of the beginning and ending of their days the Jewish Sabbath could not be the precise successive seventh-day rest from the Creation And considering it was never assigned in Scripture to be the same but rather another day to draw the Israelites from the Idolatry of the Heathens who worshipped the Sun on our first-day called therefore Sunday which is believed to be most likely the old seventh-day from the Creation And also seeing the Lord himself interrupted the orderly Course of Nature and consequently the precise Succession of the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath There is therefore no Reason to think that the Sabbath fixed to Israel in the Wilderness was the precise successive seventh-day from the Creation 2. Thô the Sabbath was given to Israel before the Law was promulgated on Mount Sinai yet it follows not that therefore it was that old precise seventh-day for if this should pass for sufficient proof thereof then we may say the Month of Abib Exod. 12.2 14 c. Ver. 49. Chap. 13.2 4. c. which was commanded to be the first Month of the Year to Israel was counted the first Month of the Year before And that the Institutions for the Passover and the Feast of unleavened Bread That one Law should be to him that is home-born and to the Stranger that sojourned among them That Israel should sanctifie all their first-born of Man and unclean Beasts as well as of clean Beasts that these as well as their Sabbath-day by the same rule were all of an ancienter date than their Deliverance out of Egypt because they were commanded before the Law was given on Mount Sinai 3. From those Words Exod. 16.27 28. which were spoken upon the going out of some of the People to gather Manna on their first Sabbath Saying How long resuse ye to keep my Commandments and my Laws We have no Reason to believe that the same duy was known to them for the Sabbath-day before that present time of their gathering 〈◊〉 for the Laws and Comuâ—â—ments of God are there expressed in the Plural Number and therefore the Lords compâ—â—â—â—ing of Israâ—â— former disobedience must have respect to some other Laws and Commandments made before Chap. 15.25 26. and 18.15 16. or to their Murmurings Chap. 14.11 12. Chap. 15.24 and 16.3 8 and to the breach of his Law in leaving some of the Maunâ— till the Morning vo 19 20. all which were before the Lord compleined in the Text of the â—â—ople for going forth on the first Sabbâ—th And therefore this Scripture hath nothing in it to prove that Israâ—ls Sabbath in the Wilderness was the old preâ—ise successive Sabbath known to them and broken by them before Nor doth the Cantion given in the fourth Commandment to Remember the Sabbath day to keep it Holy shew the same for so it s said Exod. 13.3 Remâ—mber this day in which ye came out from Egypt Besides 't is said Exod. 16.29 See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath called a Sabbath ver 25. therefore he giveth you on the sixth-day the Bread of two days Exod. 13.22 So that by the Rulers coming before to tell Moses of the Peoples gathering the Bread of two days as if they knew not of the Sabbath to be the Reason of it till Moses told them of it in his Answer to them wherein he first made mention of their Sabbath and also because 't is there said to be given to them as a day they had not known for a day of Rest before it appears therefore to be a new day but newly given and not the old preeise successive seventh-day from the Creation Object 8. The Reason for the Sabbath in the fourth Command sheweth us and also because 't is there called The Sabbath of the Lord thy
A TRACT ON THE Sabbath-Day Wherein the keeping of the First-day of the Week a Sabbath is justified BY A Divine COMMAND AND A Double EXAMPLE CONTAINED In the Old and New TESTAMENT With Answers to the Chiefest Objections made by the Jewish seventh-day Sabbatharians and others By ISAAC MARLOW London Printed by J. A. and are to be Sold by H. Barnard at the Bible in the Poultrey and by Hannah Smith at the Bible in Aldersgate-street 1693 4. THE Authors EPISTLE Christian Reader WHEN first my Thoughts were exercised in drawing up some Reasons to justifie our keeping the first day of the Week a Sabbath they were only designed for Private Use and to serve a particular Occasion that called for them But since the Providence of God has lead my Meditations farther into this Subject from other Considerations and by means of a Book lately Published by Mr. Tho. Bampfield for pressing the seventh day or Saturday Sabbath as the Duty of all Christians to keep Holy in Obedience to Gods command I have Thought it needful to present this Treatise for the eâ—â—ablishing of those that are unsettled in their Minds about it and for their Advantage who through the tolderness of their Consciences are exposed to divers difficulties because they cannot see that Liberty to be lawful which others take in making the Jewish Sabbath a working day To help therefore those sincere Christians tho but few in number that are intangled with this Yoak of Bondage I have considered diver Authors on their seventh-day Sabbath as besides the two Books of Mr. Edw. Stennets Mr. H. Soursby and Mr. M. Smiths Mr. VVill. Sellers Mr. Theophilus Brabourn and the aforesaid Mr. Tho. Bampfields two late Treatises which tho I have not directed the following Discourse in Answer to any one of them except in some particulars yet the Ingenious Reader may find I have taken Notice of the Chiefest Grounds and Arguments for their Sabbath contained in them all And if the Lord will graciously bless my well-meant endeavours for their right Information and hereby remove that bar between them and others or if any Benefit shall be received from this Improvement of my Talent I desire He may have the Praise to whom alone it is due However thô we or others may differ in some particulars thrô the various Sence we have of the Mind of God revealed in his Word yet as through the Grace of Christ we abhorr that which is Evil and cleave to that which is good with a Holy Detesta â—n of all apparent Transgressions of the Law consistent with Love and Pity to mens Persons and as we are Children of one Father and Co-heirs of Eternal Life through Faith in Christ that worketh by Love we ought to be united in kind Affections to one another And were our differences managed more in Brotherly Charity and by the gracious Conduct of the Holy Spirit controversial Discourses would be more acceptable the Reputation of Religion and our mutual Peace and Love would be better preserved which as I speak this more in general than desighing any particular Reflection on my aforesaid Brethren so I desire always my self to watch and labour to abound in this Grace of Love which is the Bond of Perfection To Conclude I have in the following Tract not only made the best Improvement I can of several things that others have wrote before me but as the Lord hath inlightned my Understanding I have added such Matters which I believe may be useful to clear the Case in hand hoping he will graciously Bless my Labour to your Advantage I. M. THE CONTENTS Sect. I. OF the use of the Word Moral Page 1. Sect. II. Of Gods revealing the first Sabbath to Adam Gen. 2. 2 3. which was then sanctified for Man before Israel observed their seuenth-day Sabbath in the Wilderness and was no Anticipation of the Order of Moses History Page 3. Sect. III. Treateth of the Law 1. Shewing wherein the House of Israel were more concerned in Sinai's Covenant than other Nations Page 5. 2. That the Israelites were not absolutely tyed to stand or fall Eternally by that Covenant without relief in Christ for the Elect Page 6. 3. Of the Ten Commandments and of their binding quality to the Gentiles Page 7. Sect. IV. Cleareth a Proposition 1. Shewing that the Gentiles were not absolutely required to keep the whole Ceremonial Law Page 9. 2. That there is Reason to believe the Gentiles before the Law had some Divine Revelation of the Will of God how they should worship him and that they were required to Sacrifice slain Beasts Page 10 11 12. Sect. V. In four Paragraphs proveth the Ten Commandments to be morally binding to all Nations Page 12 c. Sect. VI. Treateth of the Morality of the fourth Commandment Page 16. And of the Reasons why the Sabbath was first sanctified in the Name of the Seventh-day and not of the first-day Sabbath which it may be so called respecting its proper Nature immediate end and principal use first to Man Page 17. Sect. VII Sheweth that the Jewish Sabbath is Ceremonial and not morally binding to all Nations 1. Because it was a Couenant Memorial of Israels Deliverance out of Egypt Page 19. 2. Because it is abolished Colos 2.16 17. Page 19. 3. From the Order and Necessity of Nature wherein is shewed the Alterations of the accounts of Years Page 21. And of Days Page 23. As also the Interruption of the orderly Course of the Day Page 29. And the impossibility of all Nations observing the Sabbath after the Jewish Pattern because in some Places and Parts of the Year there is no Sun-settings nor Sun-rising for several Days and Weeks Time together Page 31 32 c. Sect. VIII Sheweth that Israels first Sabbath in the Wilderness was not a fixed Pattern that all men should originally have six working days before their Sabbath and not their Sabbath before their six working days Page 34. Sect. IX Containeth some Instances of particular Cases in the New Testament in which we are referred to the Pattern in our first Parents which serveth to justifie our doing the like to justifie our Observation of the first-day Sabbath Page 36. Sect. X. Explaineth the Pattern of Adams Sabbath Page 38. Sect. XI Treateth of the Types and Shadows that were of the Gospel first-day Sabbath under the Law Page 40. Sect. XII Sheweth that Christ arose from the Dead on the first-day of the Jewish Week Page 42. 2. That he appeared to his Disciples on the first-day of the Week Page 45. 3. The Apostle ordered the Churches to make Collections for the Saints on the first day of the Week Ibid. And 4. He broke Bread with the Church of Troas on the first day of the Week who on that day came together for that end Page 46. Whereto is added a brief Historical account that soon after St. Johns writing the first-day of the Week was called the Lords day in Distinction to the Jewish Sabbath Page 47. Sect.
being short of a day in four Years loseth near a day in one hundred Years and we know not which way or that any one Method of keeping the Account of the Age of the World has been constantly and successively used from the Creation thereof to this present day nor how much time we have lost the Knowledge of for want of the exact Account of the Ages of the first Patriarks c. unto Months and Days which are omitted in the Scriptures so that we cannot tell so much as the precise Year of the Creation of the World as our Astronomers tell us that according to Verity is 0000 viz. it is not known Collected in the 〈…〉 Eusâ—â—tus 〈◊〉 â—â—nicon 〈◊〉 552. 〈◊〉 in 1619. And in Eusebius we have divers Authors mentioned that in their Account of the Year of the World when Christ was born they differ many hundred Years from each other Yet the precise Succession of Weeks of seven Days and seven Nights bounded with as many Risings and Settings of the Sun are more eastly preserved and from Gods Example of six working days with a Sabbath were observed by Adam who at first had no other measure to mete out his Age and Time and by Noah Gen 8.10 12. and were successively handed down by Tradition to Laban who said to Jacob sulfil her Week and so forwards unto Posterity Gen. 29.27 〈◊〉 28. and this way the precise Succession of the Sabbath might possibly have been handed down to us from the Creation But seeing there hath been an Interruption of the orderly course of Nature and that the Sacred Scriptures do not any ways confirm it to us nor six the Jewish Sabbath as that precise successive seventh-day but rather gives us ground to believe that if the precise Succession of the first seventh-day Sabbath was preserved among the Gentiles in Worship to their Idols or to the Sun before Israels Deliverance out of Egypt that seeing God to keep those People from the Idolatry of Egypt and other Nations did appoint them a new beginning of their Year and to begin their days at Evening which before began in the Morning I say this rather gives us ground to think that God did appoint their Sâ—bbath to be kept on a different day also to what it was before therefore we may from hence perceive that thâ— neither the Jews nor do I believe the Châ—istians can justifie their seventh or first day Sabbath on this Foundation as being the precise successive seventh-day from the Creation yet our first-day Sabbath standeth fairest for it SECT XIV I Shall here make some Comparisons of the Gospel first-day Sabbath with the Pattern of Adams Sabbath and shew the disparity of the Jewish seventh-day and also treat of the first day Sabbaths beginning in the Morning with some other Matters and then proceed to Answer the chiefest Objections I find against our keeping the first or Lords-day a Sabbath And 1. Our first-day Sabbath better answered the Pattern of our first Parents keeping their Sabbath than the Jewish Sabbath did Gen. 1.27 28. for that after Eve was compleatly formed about the end of the sixth Creation day as Adam first entred upon his Subordinate Lordship which God had given him over the Creatures which he had made and on his first day in the Earthly Paradice on his first-day Sabbath So our Lord Jesus thô his Soul was in the Paradise of Heaven John 20.17 when his Body was in the Grave yet he was not compleatly there in Soul and Body too till he was raised on the first-day of his Ascension in our Nature far above all Principalities and Powers to take Possession of his purchased Inheritance and Kingdom to be increased without end So that herein our first-day Sabbath did Originally answer Adams first Sabbath better than the Jewish seventh-day did in the Wilderness 2. As Adam and Eves Sabbath was Originally their first-day Sabbath and after their six working days their seventh-day Sabbath too So our Gospel Sabbath is the Image or Likeness of it more than the Jewish Sabbath is for thô their seventh-day may be called their first-day Sabbath respecting their Original keeping it in the Wilderness yet the Scripture does not shew that it was their first-day Sabbath from so precise an Epocha of Time or notable Event of their Deliverance out of Egypt as our Gospel Sabbath is from the precise Epocha of the Purchase of our Spiritual and Eternal Salvation from whence it is a more proper first-day Sabbath and bears a greater likeness to Adams Pattern which had its precise Epocha of Time than the Jewish Sabbath does from its Original For thô the Jewish Sabbath was appointed to bare the Memorial of Israels Deliverance out of Egypt yet the Scripture does not shew that it took its Original from the Epocha of the Passover or from the Red Sea but contrariwise I find that Israel came unto the Wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second Month after their departing out of the Land of Egypt and the following Words are Exod. 10.1 2 3 11 12. â—er 5 22 23. And the whole Congregation of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron for Bread And the Lord spake unto Moses saying at Even ye shall cat Flesh and in the Morning ye shall be filled with Bread Now their first Sabbath in the Wilderness was not till the day after their sixth day of gathering Manna and from this account See Mr. Weemse Christian Synagogue Page 9â— if we reckon as the Jews did their Lunar Year according to Mr. Weemse â—rogromma of the Hebrew Kalender that the first Month Nisan or Abib hath thirty days and then reckoning the fifteenth day of this Month on which they departed out of Egypt unto the fifteenth day of their second Month and add this day to their six days of gathering Manna with their first Sabbath it makes together thirty eight days and so their first Sabbath fell on the third day after five Weeks time from their departing out of Egypt and took not its Original from that Epocha nor any other precise Epocha as a first-day Sabbath for if any should insist on their gathering Manna six days as an Epocha which I have shewed was not so for sixing their six working days Precisely and Originally before their Sabbath it would only render it a seventh-day Sabbath Originally in the Wilderness and so it could not answer Adams Pattern of his first-day Sabbath nor be like it in its Epocha from the perfecting of the first Adam as our first-day Sabbath was from its Epocha of the perfecting the second Adam 3. If it should be yet thought thô there is no Reason for it that the Jewish Sabbath was originally sixed to the Israelites in the Wilderness as following their six working days I have this to say that if so then Israel kept their Sabbath therein after a Ceremonial Precept contrary to Adams Pattern in keeping his first-day Sabbath
†Or within a very small time of it viz. of their seventh or second-day in the Land of Canaan And therefore seeing the Sabbath cannot be begun universally both at the precise Point of Time and Time of day as it should begin in the Land of Canaan to contemporize with them there And considering that Adams Sabbath was not only designed for the Moral end of Mans abâ—inence from Work for a time of solemn Worship to God but that it had its Memorial of the Creation and that the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath afterwards bearing that Memorial was also appointed for â—loral Ends and for a Ceremonial Memorial that rendred it uncapable of being a universal Pattern and that the Memorial of Christs Purchase of our Spiritual and Eternal Salvation should be preferred before that of Israels Deliverance out of Egypt then we ought to observe our Christan Sabbath as much as can be to Answer thereunto the end of its chinge which may be done by all Nations including those Northern People keeping their first-day Sabbath in Distinction to and from the Jewish seventh day And as for its beginning early in the Morning or at the dawning of the Day the Scriptures shew that so it began in Judea Matth. 28.1 In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn or as John 20.1 While it was yet dark i. e. not light day towards the first-day of the Week came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary to see the Sepulchre c. And in Mark 16.2 It 's said they came unto the Sepulchre at the rising of the Sun and ver 9. Now when Jesus was risen early the first-day of the Week he appeared first to Mary Magdalen and said unto her John 20 1â— Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father but go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God And therefore seeing the Evangelists have Recorded the Time of the dawning and Sun rising of the Day to the History and Circumstances of Christs Resurrection and that we find he was then but newly riten because he had not yet ascended unto the Father when Mary first saw him We have then greater Reason to six the beginning of our first-day Sabbath in all Nations where we can at the dawning of the day expressed in the Scripture to bare the fuller Memortal of the Resurrection of our Lord than at any other time of the day And this we may strengthen from the Example of the Jews beginning their Sabbath in the Evening here in England and in other Nations tho our Evenings here differ and in other Nations are farther from the precise Time of the Evening in the Land of Canaan and their Reason for it is taken from the Precept of Moses which bindeth them to celebrate their Sabbaths from Evening to Evening Lev. 23.32 Exod. 12 18 19. And therefore seeing God was pleased under the Type of the Gospel Salvation Church and Sabbath to require the Memorial of that Deliverance by beginning their Sabbath in the Evening as the most proper time to bear its lively remembrance and that from thence they conclude it best answereth the express command of God and his End and Design in sixing the Jewish Sabbath to begin at Evening in the Land of Canaan for them to begin it so in other Countries also rather than to begin it at the precise Point of time of its beginning in Canaan and differ in the Time of day then we have Reason from the Type and their Example to begin our first-day Sabbath rather at the dawning of the day in all the World where we can than at the precise Point of Time at a different time of day to contemporize in all places And whatever the Jewish Sabbatharians may invent to say from the Necessity of the Course of Nature in those Northern or Southern Parts against the beginning of our first-days Sabbath early in the Morning or at the dawning of the day in all other Parts of the World the same Arguments will equally serve against the beginning of their Sabbath in the Evening where it can be so observed so that they cannot gain the least Advantage by opposing us in beginning our Christian Sabbath early in the Morning unless they can first invalid and disprove the Authority we bring for our keeping the first-day it self that it does not answer the Pattern of Adams Sabbath the Moral Law in the fourth Commandment and the Example of Christs Disciples and the Primitive Churches with all the ends of a Sabbath which is a task too hard for them And seeing the Scriptures sheweth by the Resurrection of our Lord that our Sabbath should begin at the dawning of the first-day of the Week it must consequently not end till the dawning of the second-day Mark 15.42 Luke 23.54 See Mr. Heemse Christ Synagogue Page 74. Who tells us the Jews had three Preparations to their Sabbaâ—h Succeeding each other And from the Custom of the Jews to make Preparations for their Sabbath the preceding Time from twelve a Clock on Saturday Night vulgarly so called till the dawning of the first-day it that time be not spent in our Nights rest it should be employed to prepare our Minds for the Worship and Service of God on the approaching Sabbath day But to proceed That I may remove any doubts that may yet arise about the usefulness of the Pattern of Adams Sabbath to us under the Gospel I shall add something to demonstrate how far it is of a Moral Nature for seeing I have forborn to call it a Moral Pattern because no one Pattern respecting the beginning and ending of the Sabbath can be wholly alike universally so to all Nations I think it 's therefore needful to explain the Moral use that is to be made of Adams Sabbath that so whatever different Apprehensions there may be about the use of the Word Mortal â—o Adams Pattern the thing it self may be understood and the Controversie may not be fomented about Words which some have made the Subject of much Discourse when they have not been able to Confute the thing that was plainly intended by them 1. Therefore as I shewed Page 2. that from Gods sanctifying the seventh-day for Man the Light of Adams Nature taught him that it was most meet to divide his time like his Creator and so it became the Moral Duty of Men as Men to have no more nor less than six working days to one Sabbath 2. See Page 24. I have also shewed the Reason we have from Scripture to believe that after Adams first sleep in the Night when the Hamane Nature was compleatly formed and Eve was brought to him at the end of the sixth Creation day their Sabbath began with the Morning day light of the seventh-day and the first day after the finishing of the Creation which seeing the Order of Gods Working and Rest and the Original Moral Duty of Man
God therefore it was the precise successive seventh-day from the Creation Answer 1. The Reason for the Sabbath in the fourth Command is For in six days the Lord made Heavon and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the sâ—â—enth-day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and ballowed it Now tho this resers us to the Pattern in the beginning yet it followeth not that therefore this Precept sixed the old precise successive seventh-day to Israel For 1. It is not assigned to be the same nor doth it appear that the reference was made to the first Pattern for that end But that as God had six Creation days together and then his Sabbath so after his Example they should also have six working days and no more together to one Sabbath or Lords day For it is not ours for common use but to rest and refresh our selves to worship and serve the Lord Isa 58.13 and therefore 't is called his Holy day as other things are called his that were set a-part from common use to his Service yea tho' they were not the very same from the Original Ezra 6.16 17. Zach. 6.14 and 7.2 3. Exod. 13.2 12 13 15. Chap. 12.29 30. â—evit 27.8 as 1. The new Temple builded in Ezra's time was called the House of God and Temple of the Lord tho it was not the same which Solomon builded 2. The first-born among the Children of Israel both of Men and of Beasts were sanctified and set a-part to the Lord and are said to be his and yet the same in kind was not always required of them for his Service for tho' they were to Sacrifice all the first-born to the Lord being Males except the first-born of Man which they redeemed yet they were also allowed to redeem an unclean Beast according to the Estimation of the Priest and to be at Liberty either to redeem an Ass with a Lamb or break his Neck And so we sind in the Case of the seventh-day Sabbath given to Israel in the Wilderness Exod. 20.10 Josh 10.13 Isa 38.8 Chap. 58.13 that tho' after our English Translation 't is said in the sourth Command to be the Sabbath of the Lord thy God yet nevertheless after the Interruption of the orderly course of the Night and Day and consequently of the Sabbath-day too it was called Gods Holy Day and therefore we cannot say that because the Sabbath given to Israel in the Wilderness is called the Sabbath of the Lord therefore there is ground to believe it was the same precise successive seventh-day from the Creation 2. Mr. Ainsworth Translateth the Hebrew Text Exod. 16.23 To Morrow is the Sabbatism the Sabbath of Holiness to Jehovah And ver 25. It is the Sabbath to day unto Jehovâ—th And Lâ—vit 23.3 But in the seventh shall be a Sabbath of Sabbatism And Deut. Mr. Rebertsons Gate to the Holy Tongue Page 110. See Mr. Hughes in his Analitical Exposition 5.13 But the seventh-day is a Sabbath to Jehovah thy God And Exod. 20.10 But the seventh-day is a Sabbath to Jehovah thy God Which two last places Ari. Montanus reads Et die septimo Sabbathum Domino Deo â—uo And Mr. Will. Robertson translateth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laihovah Elobecha to the Lord thy God and Mr. Hughet on Exod. 16.23 reads it To Morrow is the Sabbatism the Sabbath of Holinesâ— to Jehovah ver 25. For the Sabbath to Jehovah is to day and Chap. 20.10 But the seventh-day is a Sabbath to Jehovah thy God And Mr. Pools Annotations reads the last place Exod. 20.10 Or to the Lord i. e. Conscerated to his Vse Honour and Service And therefore seeing that whith our English Tranâ—lations read in the fourth Commandment the Sabbath of the Lord is a Sabbath to Jehovah there is nothing that hath the least Appearance of Demonstration that the Sabbath day instituted in the Wilderness was the same precise successive seventh-day from the Creation Object 9. It does not appear that the Sabbath as to its first Original was Typical or instituted to prefigure any thing that was Future for the Law of it was before the sirst Promise of Christ in the state of Innocency wherein there was no respect unto the Mediation of Christ And therefore the Sabbath could not be abolished in the New Testament as a shadow of things to come Answer Gen. 2.9 Prov. 3.18 Luke 23.43 Rev. 2.7 Chap. 22.2 14. The Tree of Life in the midst of the earthly Paradice was also before the fall of Man and the first Promise of Christ and yet both of them were Types of the Spiritual Tree of Life in the Heavenly Paradice So that tho' the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden and the Sabbath Originally before the fall were not known to Adam as Figures of Future Things in Christ yet from the Counsel and Fore-knowledge of God they were designed as Shadows of things to come For in the Covenant with his Eternal Son before the Foundation of the World Ephel 1.4 11 having Chosen and Predestinated a Select number of Mankind to inherit an Heavenly Paradise he also disposed and ordered all things to accommodate the Declaration of his Counsel to fallen Man with Shadows of those Heavenly Things that were to come And therefore there is no Reason to deny the day of Gods rest from the Work of his Creation to be more than for a Memorial of it but to believe it was also designed of God before the fall to be of Typical Use to Man as appeareth Heb. 4. 2. In Answer to this Objection I have this farther to say that whatever may be thought of the Original Sabbath from the Creation yet the Sabbath days in Colos 2.16 cannot be denied to be the Jewish Sabbaths and of these the Apostle saith they are a Shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ and therefore the shadows are done away Object 10. Seeing the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath did answer the Moral Law and yet you say it is abrogated under the Gospel Colos 2.16 Then either its Typicahâ—ess or Significative Nature as it is a Shâ—â—ow or was a Memerial of Israâ—h Deliverance out of Egypt is only abolished and not the day it self or else a Branch of the Moral Law it self is reâ—ealed Answer I have shewed before that the seventh-day Sabbath must at least be comprehended in the Prohibition of Sabbaths as a shadow of things to come and have already cleared this Scripture Colos 2.16 from divers Exceptions that may seem to weaken its Authority from abrogating the Jewish Sabbath yet because I sind Mr. Brabourne has laboured with all his might to stifle that which I conceive is the Mind of the Holy Ghost in it I shall therefore clear it from other things that may possibly puzzle the Minds of some weak Christians And 1. It s there said Let no Man therefore judge you in Meat oâ— in Drink or in respect of an Holy Day Gr. of a
that thô the Israelites were under a special Obligation of persect Obedience to Sinai's Covenant of Works yet there was another Covenant before confirmed of God in Christ ministred with it and by it that the Elect by Faith beholding Christ as their perfect High Priest and compleat Propitiation through the Veil and Shadowy Dispensation of the Law might be relieved from its Curse by Reason of its weakness through the Flesh that could not keep it Rom. 8.3 3. The Decalogue or Ten Commandments being declared with a particular Direction unto Israel â—â—â—de thâ— Oâ—â—igation of Obedience to them as so promâ—lgated on Mount Stuâ—i to belong unto them as general Heads not only oâ—tâ—â—e Moâ—d Bâ—anches of the Law in other Precepts given by Moses bâ—t also of the Typical and Ceremonial Bâ—anches thereof which being appropriated and suited only to that prelent State of the Jewish Church did Intitle the Moral Law particularly unto them as a Covenant of Works which to us is only an Everâ—asting Rule as declarative of the Will of God and the substance of the Law of our Creation And therefore is any mean that the Decalogue as given on Mount Sinai is not binding to us as it was as I hinted before directed peculiarly to Israel as a Covenant connexed and related to the Ceremonial Law or as the Foundation of their Obedience to the Typical and Shadowy as well as other Moral Precepts and Commandments tied to it under that Temporary Dispensation then we do agree that it is not so binding to us under the Gospel But as the Law given to Israel on Mount Sinai was the Substance of the Law of Nature in our first Parents or of Creation again renewed in Tables of Stone and committed to Israel as the declarative Will of God so it was for the use of the Gentiles also For seeing our Sin and depravity of Nature through the fall does not weaken the Authority of Gods Law over us Ephes 2.3 Rom. 2.14 15 16. chap. 3.19 and that the Gentiles as well as the Jews before the Law was given to Israel were under its Obligations as written in their Hearts by Nature Gods delivering a fairer Copy of it by Moses than what remained in us since the fall could no ways weaken but strengthen the Obligation of it unto us all as being alike under it by Nature Moreover as the Moral Law written in Tables of Stone was the declarative Will of God strengthning the Obligation of the same Law written in the Heart of Man by Nature so Christ in the Gospel does not any ways dissolve but much strengthneth this Obligation to us all And to this agreeth the Assemblies the Congregational Churches and also the Baptists Confession of Faith recommended by the Messengers of and concerned for upwards of one hundred Baptized Congregations denying Arminianism wherein Chap. 19. are the following Words Rom. 2.14 15. Deut. 10.4 Rom. 13.8 9 10. James 2.8 10 11 12. Matth. 5.17 18 19. Rom. 3.31 Heb. 2.1 1 Cor. 9.8 9 10. The same Law that was first written in the Heart of Man continued to be a perfect Rule of Righteousness after the fall and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in Ten Commandments and written in two Tables the Moral Law doth for ever bind all as well justified Persons as others to the Obedience thereos neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve but much strengthen this Obligation Besides this Law commonly called Moral God was pleased to give to the People of Israel Ceremonial Laws to them also he gave sundry Judicial Laws which expired together with the State of that People not obliging any Now by Virtue of that Institution their general Equity only being of Moral Use So that here is the concurring Testimony of the three aforesaid Confessions of Faith that the Moral Law or Ten Commandments doth for ever bind all Persons to the Obedience thereof 4. Rom. 5.20 Chap. 7.23 Psal 19.7 8. Prov. 6.23 Gal. 3.23 24 25. It appears from the Holy Scripture that one chief end of Gods giving the Law and recording of it by Moses was That the Offence might abound and that Sin by the Commandment might become exceeding Sinful That is the Law being a clearer Light than what remains in our Natures since the fall it worketh the clearer and fuller Conviction of Sin upon our Minds and so it was our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ by sheâ—ing us an absolute necessity of laying hold on the Relief provided for us in him That we might be justisied by Eaith And this being declared in the New Testament as one universal end of Gods giving the Law it was then designed for the use of both Jews and Gentiles And 5. The Decalogue's peculiar Direction to Israel was no more an Exclusion of the Gentiles from its Moral Use and Instruction than the Promise of the Messias and Gods command that Israel should hearken unto him in all things had no respect unto the Gentiles And therefore as the Gentiles came by the certain Knowledge of the Promises and Prophecies of the Messias Gen. 3.15 Chap. 49.10 Chap. 22.18 Gal. 3.8 14 16. Rom. 4.9 10 11. Deut. 18.15 19. by the House of Abraham and the sacred Record of Moses of the Promise made to our first Parerts of Jacobs Prophecy That unto Shiloh should the gathering of the People be Of the Blessing of the Gentiles through Faith in Christ Abrahams Seed and of the command of God that Israâ—â— should hearken unto him and his threatnings to those that â—â—use to hear him So by the same means viz. by the Books of Moses whereby the Gentiles had the certain Knowledge of the Messias that was to come they had also the Knowledge of the Law And seeing there is no Reason to think that God designed his discovery of the Messias and the Record made of him in the Books of Moses should be only for the Use and Benefit of the House of Israel and that after Noah and the following Ancient Fathers who lived so many uundred Years to hand down the Knowledge they had received were Dead and the World as well as the Church was more increased that the Gentiles should be still left without any other ground of Faith than at best the uncertain Traditions of their short-lived and Idolatrous Fathers but that these also who had an Interest in the Messias respecting the call of the Elect that were among them should also have an Interest in and to the Use and Benefit of all the general Promises and Prophecies of him that were delivered to the Jews So consequently the Law and Matter of Instruction contained in the Legal Covenant relating to the clearer Convictons of Sins against the Moral Law and to the discovery of Christ for their Relief and Salvation from the Penalty of the Curse thereof being recorded together with those Promises and Prophecies of Christ was then for the Use and Benefit of the Gentiles also they being by Nature
2. Thô Adam rested or rather abstained from Work on God's Sabbath before he had passed six working days that he might perform his moral Worship to God before he dressed the Garden or meddled in his own Affairs and praise him for the Lordship he had received over the Creatures which God had made and so with respect to the chief Moral end for which the Sabbath was first made for Man it might have properly been called the first day Sabbath throughout all Generations yet seeing God had also designed the Sabbath to be a figure of a greater rest in the seventh thousand years of the World Heb. 4.3.10 Rev. 20.4 5 7. as it is believed by many Christians it therefore could not have been so glorious a Type if it had been delivered to us under the name of the First day So that the Sabbath-day was appointed in the name of the seventh day not to deny Adam's Moral Obedience in keeping his first day Sabbath before his six working days to be a pattern to his posterity or that Adams first Sabbath could not properly be called afterwards successively Mans first days Sabbath but because the seventh day of God's Rest and so considered as after Mans six working days did better suit the Memorial of God's Creation and Rest and the Typical uses of the Sabbath day 3. The Sabbath was commanded in the Name of the seventh day and not of the first because tho God abstained from Work before the Creation yet it could not be said he Rested Ceased or Abstained from Work a day before a Day was made or there was time measured by a day So that the necessity of Nature placed Gods Sabbath after his Creation days but there was not the like necessity that Adam should have his Sabbath before his six working days and therefore seeing that God sanctified the seventh day on which he ceased from his Works of Creation with respect to Man that Man should abstain from his Work to Worship him Mal. 3.6 Isal 40.28 Heb. 13.8 and not because that God himself had need of rest for he fainteth not nor is weary neither is the most high changeable or subject to accidents in his Nature Then the seventh-day Sabbath bore this Name from the Necessity of Nature in Gods Example of measuring time more than from its proper Nature immediate End and principal Use to Man for in all these respects Adams first Sabbath was his first days Sabbath 4. The Sabbath was expresly sanctified in Gen. 2.2 3. and in the fourth Command in these Words the seventh day and not a seventh day to preserve the constant Order of our six Working days together and that men should not choose any one day in the Week and at their own Pleasures alter the Sabbath to any different day as to the first day in one Week and the second or third c. in the Weeks following so as they keep one or a day in seven in every Week Moreover it is not said a but the seventh-day to prevent Mens Alteration of it to any other day than what we have a Pattern for in the Holy Scriptures that as it was to bind Adam and others after him to the Observation of the seventh-day successively after his first days Sabbath without Alteration so it was to oblige Israel to keep the seventh-day Sabbath successively after their first Sabbath in the Wilderness without a change and to tye us that forasmuch as the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath is abrogated in the New Testament as you may see afterwards in this Treatise and that we have a Pattern left us to observe the first day of the Jewish Week that from thence we should keep our Christian Sabbath successively on the seventh-day after its first taking place by the abolishing of the Jewish Sabbath in the New Testament without Alteration Colos 2.16 17 as Adam and the Israelits did after their first days Sabbath which if the Sabbath in Gen. 2.2 3. and in the fourth Command had been sanctified in the express Words of a seventh-day and not of the seventh-day it might have occasioned Doubts and Confusions about the Observation of the aforesaid several Sabbaths but it being expresly commanded in these Words the seventh-day it does signifie the Mind of God so clearly as both to prevent such Confusions and yet to preserve the Moral Law in the Fourth Commandment unviolated under the change that hath been made of the Sabbath SECT VII HEre I shall prove both from the Holy Scriptures and the Course and Necessity of Nature that the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath is Ceremonial and not Morally binding to all Nations And 1. This appeareth in that it was not only a sign to Israel as our Gospel Sabbath considered as the seventh-day is to us that in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth Exod. 31.13 14 15 16 17. and on the seventh-day he rested but it was also a Sign and a Covenant throughout their Generations that they should remember that Israel was a Servant in the Land of Egypt and that the Lord their God brought them out thence through a Mighty hand and by a stretched out Arm Deut. 5.15 Therefore saith Moses the Lord their God commanded them to keep the Sabbath-day So then as their Sabbath was a Sign of their deliverance out of Egypt with respect to their Beginning and Ending of it from Evening to Evening thereby to suit their other new days Beginning from their first Passover Evening and so to keep that deliverance in fresher Memory it is Ceremonial and ceaseth as other Sabbaths and Memorials of that Deliverance have done by the coming of Jesus Christ 2. The old Jewish seventh-day Sabbath is proved to be Ceremonial by the Apostles Words Col. 2.16 17. Let no Man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in respect of an Holy-day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in part of a Feast or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath-days Which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ For as the Holy-day or Feast-days New Moon and Sabbaths herein mentioned must be taken for those written by Moses and given to Israel because those only and not the Heathen Idolatrous Holy-days were given of God as Types and Shadows of good things to come so the Sabbath-days there distinctly expressed from other Holy-days appointed for the Observation of Israel must be taken for their weekly seventh-days Sabbath and the two Verses plainly comprehends all their Sabbaths and Holy-days to be but Shadows of Things to come But saith the Text the Body is of Christ Object But some do say the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Sabbaths here ought to be rendred Weeks as the same Greek Word is rendred John 20.19 Luke 24.1 Mark 16.2 Matth. 28.1 Answer The Word Sabbath in Greek Sabbaton used in those places is not there translated Week for any other Reason than because it was customary to call the days of the Week the days of the
only Judaical and Ceremonial and also that from the Israelites first observing their Sabbath in the Wilderness we have no certain Pattern for having six working days Originally before our Sabbath And having given some New Testament Instances of divers Cases warranted and reformed by the Pattern in our first Parents to shew that their Example of keeping their first Sabbath is also of Moral use to us I shall here speak something farther to explain the Pattern of Adams Sabbath which I have already largely shewed See Page 24. began with the Morning Day-light as our Christian Sabbath doth And therefore I have only here to add That it cannot be supposed but that seeing God rested on the seventh day and sanctified it for Man that he also rested Gen. 2.3 15 18. Mark 2.27 and was not allowed on that same day to dress the Garden of Eden which was his appointed Work in Innocency For if Adam had liberty to dress the Garden on the Day of God's Rest and was bound to begin his Sabbath after his six working days or days wherein he might dress the Garden precisely after God's Example then he did keep his Sabbath on the sixth day after God's Sabbath and not on that seventh day successively which God had sanctified And if he kept no Sabbath till the next seventh day after God's seventh day of Rest then Adam had seven days in which he might dress the Garden before his Sabbath so that Adam must either have kept another seventh day than that precise successive seventh day which God had sanctified viz. the sixth day from God's Sabbath or have seven working days before his first Sabbath contrary to God's Example or else begin his Sabbath before his working days and then it follows that God's seventh day Sabbath after his six days of Creation was Man's First day Sabbath before his six working days and after them the same successive seventh day next following God's seventh day Sabbath was also Man's seventh day Sabbath too And so the sanctifying of the seventh day in Gen. 2. and accordingly in the Moral Law which was afterwards given forth to Israel was answered under the Name either of the first or seventh day Sabbath And farther to explain this Matter God's seventh day Rest after his six Creation days was not designed for a Pattern to Man that he should also have first six working days before he kept his Sabbath for then God would either have Created Adam with some other things in the beginning of his first days Work and have put him in a Capacity to do some business the six Creation days and then to rest the seventh day on which God rested or else some other way have ordered six working days Originally for Man before his Sabbath but seeing it was otherwise it therefore followeth that God's seventh day Sabbath was only a Pattern for Mans dividing and counting his time and for bounding his six working days that he should not have more working days until a Sabbath nor be at Liberty so often as he pleaseth to make any one day in seven his weekly Sabbath viz. to rest on the seventh day in one week and on the sixth fifth fourth third second or first day in the next week after which would have tended to confusion but that Man should have six working days together and no more bounded before and after with a Sabbath as it was in Adams Pattern And thus our Gospel first-day Sabbath answereth the design of God in sanctifying and commanding the observation of the seventh day because it is a boundary before and after to our six working days Moreover As I shewed before it could not be said that God rested a on the day or on the first day before the Creation or time was measured by a Day and therefore the necessity of the Order of Nature placed God's Sabbath after his six Creation days but there was not the like necessity that the same day of Rest which was also made Adams Sabbath should be before his six working days So that it was fixed by the Lord in the Original Order of Adam and Eves time that we should have such a Pattern that not only answereth the principal End of a Sabbath but all Ends and suiteth with the alteration of it and with God's Example too as after Adams six working days And thô Adam's First-day of Rest or abstinence from his own Business was on God's seventh day Sabbath yet seeing that Man 's Original Sabbath was not appointed to be kept after God's Example of working six days first before his Sabbath we have reason to believe that we also are not to follow it farther than we find by the Example of our first Parents that he designed it should be of use to us But that Adams Pattern was to explain the Mind of God in sanctifying the seventh day which I believe cannot rationally be denyed nor that it should be of Moral use to us to justifie our keeping of the Sabbath after the Gospel Pattern to answer the design of God in the Moral Precept and in his first sanctifying of the seventh day against this Exception that it cannot be said to be Originally introduced by only six working days after God's Example of making the World seeing our First Parents did not follow it in this particular SECT XI HAving thus far treated on the Sabbath Day I shall now proceed to shew that there is a first day to be observed holy under the Gospel from the Types and Shadows of it under the Law for all the 〈…〉 and the Law prophesied until John Heb. 9.23 Colos 2.16 17 and was a shadow of 〈◊〉 my things under the Gospel And as other things were typed out undâ—â—â—he legal Administration so also the Gospel First-day Sabbath was typed forth under the Law as it s said the Feast of Tabernacles and ingathering of the Fruits of the Land shall be for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be an holy Convocation ye shall do no servile work therein Levit. 23.34 to 40. Seven days ye shall offer an Offering made by fire unto the Lord on the eighth day shall be an holy Convocation unto you and ye shall offer an Offering made by fire unto the Lord it is a solemn assembly and ye shall do no servile work therein on the first day shall be a Sabbath and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath Ver. 10.15.16 21. ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering seven Sabbaths shall be compleat even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days and ye shall offer a new meat-offering unto the Lord and ye shall proclaim on the self-same day Levit. 25.3 4 8 9 10 11 12. c. that it may be an holy Convocation unto you ye shall do no servile work
therein Six years thou shalt sow thy Field and prane thy Vineyard But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the Land and thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto the forty and nine years then shalt thou cause the Trumpet of the Jubilee to sound and ye shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof ye shall not sow neither reap it shall be holy unto you That some of these days were appointed as Memorials of Israels coming out of Egypt is plainly shewed in the Scriptures and of the Jubilee besides what is expressed of it Some have thought that it was a Memorial of their rest and first settlement in the Land of Canaan but yet I conceive there was a farther meaning in them viz. as Types and Shadows of Gospel things For the seventh day Sabbath thô it was first appointed for a Moral End and to preserve the Memorial of God's making the World in six days and resting on the seventh Exod. 31.15 16 17. Heb. 4.9 Rev. 20.4 5 7. and was also afterwards a sign of Israels deliverance out of Egypt yet we find the Apostle makes a farther use of it as the Foundation Type from whence he proveth there remaineth a Rest to the People of God which to answer the Types and the Apostles reasoning in this Scripture is taken for the seventh thousand years of the World So then to follow this instance we may thus argue that those solemn Convocations on the legal first and eighth day and their fiftieth day which if you mind the Text was a first day Sabbath next ensuing one of their legal Sabbaths a plain and clear Type of our Gospel first-day Sabbath that should commence next after one of their Jewish Sabbaths And so their fiftieth Year of Jubilee which followed a seventh Year Sabbath may figure to us that as after seven Sabbaths of Weeks they had a first days Sabbath and as after the seven Sabbaths of seven years and all those legal and external Bondages of Persons and Things there should come a time of release by sound of Trumpet with a first Year Jubilee Sabbath so after all the bondage of the legal Administration there should come a time of Gospel liberty Rom. 10.18 proclaimed by the Gospel with a first days Gospel Sabbath Thus you see how these Types and Shadows under the Law does figure out our Gospel first days Sabbath as far if not farther than many Types does usually suit with Antitypes but as they have often exceptions in their parallels so they are not of themselves positive Proofs but illustrations of Gospel things which seeing we have the Examples of the Primitive Christian Churches keeping their Sabbath on the First day following the Jews Seventh-day Sabbath or on the first day of their Week which does fairly and fully answer those Typical Sabbaths under the Law that are not applicable to any other Scripture observed Times under the Gospel nor to our Eternal Rest for that is not doubted to be a Rest from Labour and a time of Liberty nor can it be typed to us by Time because it is Eternal or by an Eighth day Seeing there is a Time or Day of General Judgment of Wicked Men between the seventh thousand years of the World as some believe and Eternal Rest then surely the Typical first Days and Years Sabbaths under the Law does bare the greater Evidence to our first day Sabbath under the Gospel However I have no dependance on these Shadows for the Justification of our First days Sabbath but on the substantial Law of God and Adams Pattern answering the first Sanctification of it to which I shall here add the Example of Christs Disciples and the Primitive Churches in the New Testament SECT XII HEre I come to demonstrate the ground we have in the New Testament for our keeping the First day of the Week a Sabbath And 1. I shall premise That Christ arose from the Dead on the First day of the Jewish Week which is frequently called in the Greek Tongue The one of the Sabbaths after their mode of Speech agreeing to the custom of the Hebrews See Dutch Annot on Mat. 28.1 Luke 24.1 John 20.1 See Dutch Annot on Gen. 1 5. and on 1 Cor. 16.2 who sometimes set one for first as may be seen in Gen. 1.5 Chap. 8.5 Numb 29.1 Dan. 9.1 So that we must read the Greek The one of the Sabbaths for the First day of the Week as it is translated in our English Bibles agreeing to the Greek in Mark 16.9 Now when Jesus was risen early 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the first of the Sabbath or as it is in our English on the first day of the week As Luke 18.12 I fast twice in the Sabbath that is twice in the Week And the Truth of our Translation is farther confirmed because it 's said In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week Luke 23 53 54. to the end Chap. 14.1 c. Mark 15.42 John 19.31 Luke 24.13 15 21. 1 Cor. 15.4 See Mr. John Weemse his Christian Synagogue Page 75 81. John 19.14 Christ arose from the dead For he was crucified the day before the Jewish Sabbath and on the Sabbath it s said the Women which followed Jesus from Galilee rested according to the Commandment and very early on the First day of the Week they came to Christs Sepulchre and he was risen which was on the third day after he was Crucified according to the Scriptures Now it was the Custom and corrupt Tradition of the Jews when the Passeover Sabbath fell on the day before their weekly seventh day Sabbath they made but one Sabbath and kept their Passeover on their seventh day Sabbath as we find they did when Christ was laid in the Grave and therefore that Sabbath day being a double Sabbath was called an High Day And the first day after on which Christ arose from the dead was no Jewish Sabbath but only the First day of their Week for there are two things that do evidently and clearly shew that the one of the Sabbaths in the Greek cannot be taken for any one of the Jewish Sabbath-days but for the first day of their Week First Because that seeing Christ arose from the Dead on the next day after the Passeover Sabbath as it was then corruptly observed by the Jews and that the Passeover Feast had but two Sabbaths viz. Exod. 12.14 to 19. on the first and seventh day of unleavened Bread then forasmuch as Christ lay in the Grave their Passeover Sabbath the Day following on which he arose could not be one of their Passeover Sabbaths Secondly It cannot be denyed but that Christ did eat the Passeover with his Disciples on the right day according to the Commandment which after our vulgar speech was on Thursday Night or in the former part of the Jews sixth day and on
alike Let every Man be fully perswaded in his own Mind Whatever some may imagine from this Scripture yet seeing Adam in Paradice had his Sabbath for the solemn worship of God Levit. 23.3 and Israel had their Sabbath for the same end and to rest from their work and labour there being still the same Moral Use and Necessity of Nature for a Sabbath there is Reason to believe that such a day is to be observed as well now and in after Ages as it was before And considering the undeniable Evidence that hath been given to prove the Decalogue to be Morally binding to us under the Gospel there is a necessity for the Preservation of the Concord of Holy Writ to give such an Exposition of this Text of Scripture as will both suit and agree with the Letter of it and the binding quality of other Scriptures to keep a Sabbath-day To proceed therefore the Apostle surely would not have singled forth the first-day of the Week on which the Churches were wont to have their Assemblies as the properest time to make their Collection for the Saints Nor would the Apostle John have called it the Lords day as hath been shewed from History if it had not been a sanctified day for Holy Use neither would the Holy Ghost have Recorded the Disciples gathering together on the two first-days after the Resurrection of Christ nor that the Church of Troas came together on the first day of the Week to solemnize the Gospel Ordinances of Divine Worship as the only Examples to answer the Moral Law in the fourth Commandment If the same Spirit of Truth in the Apostle had here designed to make every day alike Common 2. If the Apostle in this Scripture had so designed he would not have cited so many Precepts of the Ten Commandments in Chap. 13.9 of the same Epistle and have said of the rest of them as binding to the Romans to confirm his Moral Doctrine That if there be any other Commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And therefore seeing he doth so plainly discover the binding quality of the Ten Commandments to the Gentile Christians there is no Reason to conceive he should dissolve the Obligation of any one of them in the following Chapter considering that the Liberty there mentioned of esteeming or not esteeming of Days is not there reserred or applyed as having Retation to the Moral Observation of the sourth Command 3. The Apostle would not have abolished as hath been shewed the Jewish Feasts Holy days and Sabbaths Colos 2.16 17. nor have said to the Galatians Ye observe Days Gal. 4.10 and Months and Times and Years I am afraid of you least I have bestowed upon you labour in Vain If he or any other by Christs Authority had given absolute Liberty for Christians to observe the Jewish Holy days And therefore the sence of this Text which is freest from all Exceptions is That the Apostle neither giveth us Liberty to sleight the Observation of the seventh-day required of us in the fourth Commandment as the Bond of the Gospel Pattern nor yet doth give us absolute Liberty to observe the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath and their other Holy-days but he is teaching us how we should bear with one another in indifferent Matters as the eating of Herbs and esteeming of Jewish days That in Case a Brother should be so weak as that after he is converted from the Jewish Religion to the Christian Faith he should still retain some esteem of their Holy days yet being sound in all the Essential Principles to Salvation and in the constituted Order of a Regular Gospel Church his Communion is not to be refused Ver. 1. but here let the Reader well observe that my meaning is not that any Church should receive such a Christian into full Communion with them at the Lords Table that holdeth and maketh our first-day Sabbath only as a common day to him for this in the Judgment of a Church according to Scripture Rule bringeth him under the guilt of Sin and the Church should not partake of it by their holding such full Communion with him But the Apostle means that in Case a Converted Jew as he is there treating of such a one as maketh a difference between Meats to be Clean and Unclean Ver. 14 1â— if he should still esteem some of their Holy days yet if he also keepeth the first-day Sabbath Holy unto the Lord the Church in such a Case should be tender of grieving his weak Conscience by Continual and Uncharitable Disputations with him about the Matter wherein he is not clearly enlightned so as to give him an occasion to stumble and sall at the Offence For seeing he Conscientiously keepeth Holy the first-day Sabbath Gal. 4.13 15 20 21 23. for his retaining an esteem for some Jewish Holy days so they be kept to the Lord in Christian Worship and not for Jewish Sacrifices or such things which betoken Christs not being yet come and fully exhibited in the Flesh we are not to deny Communion at the Lords Table with such a Brother seeing he neither observeth the Jewish days to uphold their worship contrary to the Prohibition of Legal Ceremonies under the Gospel Dispensation nor can any ways be charged with disorders in Ordinances or in Matters Essentially pertaining to the Regular Constitution of a Gospel Church And that this is the Mind of Christ in the Text appeareth in two things 1. Because the Apostle joineth this Liberty of Regarding or not Regarding of days with Eating or not Eating of Meats as things of a like indifferent Nature but the Keeping or not Keeping of the Weekly Sabbath hath been fully proved to be no indisserent thing but an absolute Duty and therefore it is none of the Subject Matter included in the Apostles Words 2. He intended to give no Liberty to observe the Jewish days for Legal Ceremonial Worship for this under the Gospel would not be counted a keeping of a day to the Lord but not a keeping of it to him and so as the Apostle argueth it is not a keeping of a day at all And thus having opened this Scripture and given the sence of the Apostles Words in Reconciliation to the Authority of other Places that are binding to us for the Observation of the Sabbath day I shall leave it to the serious Consideration of the Impartial Reader Answer 2. To the Objection from 2 Cor. 3.7 where the Apostle saith But if the Ministration of Death written and ongraven in Stones was glorious so that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the Face of Moses for the Glory of his Countenance which Glory was to be done away how shall not the Ministration of the Spirit be rather Glorious In Answer to this Scripture I shall Note that in the preceding and following Verses the Apostle is signifying the different and exceeding Glory of the Ministration of the quickening Spirit
he cometh home the first-day in Canaan is by his account but the seventh-day and contrarywise if he Travelleth round the World Eastward he loseth in the length of his days but gaineth a day in Tale so that by his account the first day in Canaan falleth to be his second day at his return from whence some have argued that neither a Law nor Example can bind us universally to the Observation of any one Day and therefore if it were agreed amongst men any day of the Week or one day in seven may be made our seventh-day Sabbath boundary to six working days and so would answer the Moral Law Answer 1. The Question is Whether the Moral Law bindeth us to keep the seventh-day which men may appoint at their own pleasures or the seventh-day that we are directed unto in the Holy Scriptures Phil. 3.17 2 Thes 3.9 Surely we ought to exert our Obedience to Gods Precepts after the Examples of those that are set forth to be an Example to us I say not that we should follow them in all things they ever did but in all things they did which were essential to answer any Moral or Gospel Precept given for our Practice and consequently in this particular of the first-day Sabbath For seeing the Ceremonial Precept for the Sabbath is abroga ed and the Course of Nature maketh it impossible to be morally binding to all Nations we have then no other Directions how to answer the Moral Law but the Gospel Pattern justified by the Example of our first Parents and therefore we having a positive Law to keep the seventh-day Sabbath we are under a necessity to make that our Pattern For tho' the Apostle did go into the Jews Synagogues and there preâ—â—â—hed the Gospel on their seventh-day Sabbath 2 Tim. 4.2 as the meetest time to Convert both the Jews and Gentiles who assembled together on that day Yet we no where sind in Scripture that the Apostles Disciples of Christ and Primitive Churches did of choice set a-part that day but the first day of the Week for Gospel Service and this being Recorded as the only Example of the Gospel Churches Obedience to the Moral Law in this particular of the Sabbath surely it is lest for our Directions whatever is otherwise handed down by Humane History as the Practice of some Christians for the Scriptures snew that divers were under mistakes and errors Acts 15.1 c. Gal. 2.12 Ch. 4.21 and Ch. 3 and very Subject to Judaize even in the Apostles days 2. Mr. Chasie saith That Mr. Ironside also from the Diversity of Meridians proveth that one and the same day cannot be universally kept and therefore never commanded the whole Church One and the same day sath he could not possibly be observed a Sabbath by all the Jews in the East parts and West parts 〈◊〉 of Judea and in Babilon and in Rome by Reason of their Diversity of Longitudes And if it be supposed to be but two or three 〈◊〉 difference of Longitudes yet will that difference make the days as truly to differ from being the same as will an hundred and three tho it will not make them so much to differ But altho' this be true and the Law of Moses for sixing the Jewish Sabbath to begin at Even in the Wilderness and in the Land of Canaan was never designed to bind the Israelites to that which is impossible viz. to begin their Sabbaths both at the same time of day and at the precise Point of Time to contemporize in all places where they sojourned yet it doth not from hence follow as some have argued that such differences of days do free us from all Obligations to keep any one particular day so that if Christians agree upon the fourth fifth sixth or any other day of the Week to make it the seventh-day Sabbath after our six working days it does answer the Mind of God in the Moral Law as well as by keeping our first-day Sabbath For altho as I have proved the Jewish Sabbath being by Law to begin at Even was therefore never designed for a universal Pattern to all Nations yet who will say that it was not a Pattern for the Jews in all places that had Evenings where they did sojourn and where the days have no Evenings for many Revolutions of the Sun there was no Provision made for their Sabbath in the Ceremonial Law which they were under For God had placed Israel within other Nations and required all their Males three times a Year to appear before him in Jerusalem And therefore Dem. 16.16 they were not to sojourn so far amongst the Heathens as those Northern or Southern Parts while they were a free and peculiar Kingdom of Priests to God Exod. 19.5 6. So then notwithstanding the Ceremonial Precept for the Sabbath was neither designed to oblige the Heathens In those Northern Countreys if they were then inhabited nor could by Reason of the difference of their days accommodate the Jews to keep their Sabbaths there Yet if that Law was binding at all under the least Alteration of their Day as I think none can doubt of that nor consequently that it was obliging to the Jews in other parts of the World also where the days differed more in Point of Time to begin their Sabbaths at Evening with allowance to comply with the Necessity of the Course of Nature I say then seeing that Ceremonial Precept was binding under such Alterations of their day it must be granted that it obliged them not to vary from one another in the time of keeping their Sabbath farther than the Necessity of Nature did compell them for the beginning and ending of it at the time prefixed by the Law Otherwise if their Law did not so restrain them it was of no force nor use to them and consequently if the Gospel Pattern for us to keep the first day Sabbath be any Pattern at all for us to follow as I have shewed it is it doth then oblige us to observe it with no farther Allowance to alter the day than to accommodate the Necessity of Nature in every Countrey where we dwell Object 4. Tho' Gods seventh-day Sabbath on which he rested after his six Creation days was Adams first-day Sabbath of Abstinence from work before his six working days yet that was properly Gods own Sabbath on which he rested and not Adams because he could not be said to rest before he had any working days and therefore tho Adam abstained from work on Gods Sabbath yet the Moral end of Gods Example fixed Adams first Sabbath to begin on the next seventh day after the Sabbath on which God had rested from his Work of Creation Answer 1. Adam was either allowed to dress the Garden on Gods seventh-day of Rest which he sanctified and so to have seven working days as hath been said before he could rest on the next successive seventh-day or have his seventh-day rest a day before it which I believe
none will affirm or else he was bound in Duty to keep his Sabbath before his six working days on Gods seventh-day of rest and then it was Adams Sabbath also Mark 2.27 as Christ plainly tells us That the Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath 2. There is two Moral Reasons for Man to Sabbatize or keep a Sabbath The one is to abstain from work that he may devote himself to Worship his Creator the other is to rest and refresh himself from his Toyl and Labour Now altho' many Men have not toiled themselves in any Work and so have no need of a rest to refresh their Bodies yet such are bound to keep the Sabbath as well as others in ceasing from finding their own Pleasure and speaking their own Words and to Honour God on his Holy Day Isa 58.13 So then tho' Adam and Eve had not passed one working day before they had Gods seventh-day Sabbath made for them yet it was their Moral Duty to abstain from Work and to Dedicate that very day to Attribute their Praise and Worship to him For we find by Abels Offering the Firstlings of his Flock Gen. 4.4 which was afterwards required of Israel with all the first Fruits of the Land of Canaan that the first of all our Increase is most acceptable to God and so by the same Rule was the first of Time after the Creation And when Adam was put into the Garden of Eden and had seen all the Cattel and Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of the Air and after that had Eve brought to him which God had formed for a help Meet for him and had taken a little view of the Works of God in the Heavens and on the Earth and of his own Happy Estate and Lordship over the Creatures Then surely it was his Moral Duty before he served himself in any Work or Business of his own most solemnly to Praise and Glorifie God for Creating him after his own Image and making him Lord over all the Earth And this seemeth to have been the Work of Man and Angels from Job 38.7 When the Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy For thô it may be doubted what these Morning Stars are and how they sang yet the Sons of God most properly were the Angels and Man who bear the greatest Likeness and Image of their Creator of those then it s said they all shouted for Joy and I observe from the Text that as this could not be precisely at the same instant when the Foundations of the Earth were laid but rather when the Works of Creation were finished because neither the Natural Stars nor Mankind were then formed So there is no Reason to understand the Text of any Time after the fall of Man for then the Enmity of the Evil Angels against God would rather excite them to Curse than to Rejoice and Praise him for his Works It 's true the Word all is sometimes taken for a part and not the whole but not here for when God had finished his Work on the sixth-day He saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good So that neither Man nor Angels were then fallen nor before this Solemn Acclamation of Joy for that would have been a Check unto it Besides we find nothing mentioned in the Text of Redemption-Grace but of the Works of Creation and therefore we have the greatest Reason to refer it to a Time of solemnizing the Praises of God between the finishing of the Creation and the Fall and there is Reason to believe that so it was for why should we imagine that God should Create all things very good and in Perfection and never receive their perfect Homage and Praise It is therefore rational to believe that God did not suffer sin to Marr the Perfection of his Works till all was sinished and did shew forth his Praise And then if Man had a time in Persection to solemnize the Praise of his Creator when could it best be done but in the sanctified time of Abstinence from his own business Mr. H. Soursby and Mr. M. Smith in their Book Page 67. say the Seventh day was a Paradice Institution for thô his Mind was then Pure and served God always yet why did God sanctifie the Sabbath for Man in Innocency as it is confessed by our seventh-day Sabbatharians if it was not principally for his solemn Worship for thô he had work appointed in Innocency to dress and keep the Garden of Eden yet it was not toilsome but delight some to him for Adams eating his Bread in Sorrow and with the Sweat of his Face came by the Curse that fell upon him for his Sin seeing therefore the Sabbath at its first sanctifying was not principally Hallowed for Man to rest and refresh his weary Body which became one Moral end of it through the Accident of Sin forseen by God but that it was first sanctified for Man to abstain from Work most solemnly to worship his Creator before he served in his own Affairs and considering God himself had no need of a Day of Rest for he fainteth not nor is weary and so his Declaration of it was for the Sake of Man to exert his worship to him we may then conclude that Adams first Sabbath was most properly fixed before his six working days to answer the Prime and Chief end of Hallowing of it after such manner as best became our first Parents in the State of Innocency Object 5. But some may say Thô by Adams first keeping his Sabbath we have no Example for beginning our Sabbath originally after our six working days yet the six days in which Israel first gathered Manna was to settle the keeping of their Sabbath as after their six working days and not before them Answer 1. Tho gathering Manna six days before their first Sabbath in the Wilderness is no where assigned as a sixing their first Sabbath after no more than six working days But it rather appears as to Man an Accidental thing For we find that God first gave the People Manna upon their murmuring because of hunger Besides if God had designed to six six working days before their first Sabbath it would better have suited such an end for God to have sanctified the seventh-day from their first Passover or from the Red Sea when they were delivered from Pharaohs pursuing of them but notwithstanding Israel were freed from the fear of their Enemies and had nothing as I can find to hinder their resting on the next seventh-day after yet if we reckon the day on which Moses and the Children of Israel sang and danced before the Lord for Joy of their Deliverance and the three days they were in the Wilderness of Shur and after that their coming to Morah and their Incamping after that at Elim by the twelve Wells of Water and seventy Palm Trees from whence they removed unto the Wilderness of Sin where