323. 5. The Sin-offerings buth the Bullock and the Goat must be burnt without the Camp ver 27. This also is explained upon the Sin-offering Lev. cap. 4. pag. 321 322. that Christ suffered without the City as a Malefactor with whom we also should suffer bearing our reproach and being content to be accounted as Malefactors yea as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the offscouring and sweeping of the world 6. On this great day of Atonement was the Jubile to be proclaimed by sound of Trumpet Lev. 25.9 This speaks that after the performance of the whole work of our Redemption by Jesus Christ he did cause the Trumpet of the Gospel to sound to publish and proclaim the glad tidings of our Salvation throughout the world Isai 61.1 2. so that this day of Atonement is like that famous week prophesied of by Daniel cap. 9. He shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week In the midst of the week Messiah shall be cut off This week is interpreted by some concerning that seven years the first part whereof Christ preached suffered in the middle of the week and in the other three years and an half the Apostles preached at Jerusalem after which they were dispersed by persecution and so the Gospel published to all the world It is the performance of the work of our Redemption that was the foundation and groundwork of the preaching of the Gospel the Jubile is proclaimed upon the day of Atonement 7. And lastly this day of Atonement is a day of Humiliation and afflicting their Souls by an everlasting Ordinance ver 29 to the end Days of Humiliation are days of Atonement and Reconciliation Not that our Humiliation merits or deserves any thing it is not the afflicting our Souls that doth make atonement but it fits us to receive the Atonement Humiliation prepares the Soul for Christ and makes it capable to receive the Mercy and the Pardon that Christ hath purchased and that God is willing and ready to bestow upon all that will receive it by Faith THE MANIFOLD SINFULNESS OF THE POPISH HOLY DAYS Discovered in sundry Reasons against them and the most material Objections answered AMongst the several ways wherein the Superstition of the hearts of men works out and vents it self this is one the observing of Days and Times wherein the Church of Rome hath abounded filling the Kalender with superstitious Holy days many of which are still retained and continued by the Church of England But let these Reasons against them be considered Reason 1. Nothing can be holy to the Lord which is not made holy by the Lord but God the Lord of time hath not sanctified nor set apart these times We find indeed before the Ceremonial Law was instituted yea before the Fall of Man that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it Gen. 2.2 3. and therefore the Observation of a weekly Sabbath one day in seven is moral and perpetual But other Holy days are things which the Lord never commanded and which never came into his heart and of which he will say at the great Day who required these things at your hands The strength of which argument will appear the more if we consider what miserable poor shifts it puts the Patrons of these Holy days to when they go about to grapple with it 1. Sometimes they are so confounded in themselves as to deny that they place Holiness in these days the Church keeps them they say not as more holy and sacred then other days and parts of divine Worship but only for Order and Policy So Bishop Lindsey Perth Ass part 3. p. 5. But the rest of his Fellows have dealt more truly and more sincerely then he in this particular for not only Bellarmine tom 2. de Cultu Sanctorum lib. 3. cap. 10. prop. 2. asserteth Festa Christianorum non solum ratione Ordinis Politiae sed etiam ratione mysterii celebrantur suntque dies festi vere aliis sanctiores sacratiores pars quaedam divini cultus But Hooker Eccles Pol. lib. 5. sect 69. pag 375. also saith they ought to be with all men that honour God more holy then other days Downham in Praec 4. refers them to the fourth Commandment and will have them consecrated as Sabbaths to the Lord. Bishop Andrews in his Holiday Sermons on Luke 4.18 on Matth. 12.39 40. apud Gillesp Eng. Pop. Cerem part 3. cap. 1. pag. 15. hath found out many profound mysteries in them yea in the very order of them and distances of time between them as there be fifty days between Easter and Pentecost because fifty is the number of the Jubile one day between Easter and the Resurrection because Jonas was but one day in the Whales belly with many other pretty tales which are not worth transcribing And the thing it self speaks for why do they call them Holy days if they put no holiness in them nay why do they prefer them above the Sabbaths of God 2. Sometimes they labour to escape in the mist of blind distinctions so when Bishop Lindsey Perth Ass part 3. pag. 28. saith that the Holy dayes are not consecrated to holy mystical uses but to holy political uses Wherein as Mr. Gillespy Eng. Pop. Cer. part 3. cap. 1. pag. 7. well observeth he doth but labour to plaister over his Superstition with the untempered mortar of this quidditative distinction and uncouth speculation of which I dare say the Bishop himself comprehendeth it not 3. Sometimes they say God hath sanctified them by the great works he hath done upon them Thus Bellarmine de Cult Sanct. lib. 3. cap. 10. Christus nascens consecravit locum id est praesepe moriens consecravit Crucem resurgens consecravit Tuntulum unde exivit cur non etiam consecravit Tempus id est Dies illos quibus natus vel passus vel rediturus fuit nobis devictâ morte Which his Disciple Rich. Hooker a most Papistical Writer borrows from him and thus expresseth it Eccl. Pol. lib. 5. § 69. p. 375. No doubt as Gods extraordinary presence hath hallowed and sanctified certain Places so they are his extraordinary works that have truly and worthily advanced certain Times for which cause they ought to be with all men that honour God more holy then other days Thus he But it is not meerly the extraordinary works of God that will sanctifie a day for then all the six days of the week should be holy for God created the World in six days so that there is not one day of the week wherein there was not some work of wonder wrought It is rather the Lords resting from his works then his working that sanctifieth Time and makes it holy as Gen. 2.2 3. Exod 20.11 Upon this ground the seventh day was sanctified in old time because on that day God rested from the work of Creation and upon the same ground the first day of the week being the Rest-day of the Lord our God from the great work of Redemption his
of Grace as well as the Creature in the way of Providence we must own God in that and depend on him for it for the Church is compared in Scripture to the Moon Psal 89.37 it shall be established for ever as the Moon and as a faithful Witness in Heaven Cant. 6.9 Who is this that looketh forth fair as the Moon c. As the Moon borrows her Light from the Sun so the Church borrows her Light from Jesus Christ who is the Sun of Righteousness As the Church is compared to the Moon so Christ to the Sun for so he is called Mal. 4.2 but to you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his Wings The Church borrows her Light from Christ the Sun of Righteousness as the Moon doth from the Sun in the Firmament for Christ is compared to the Sun as well as the Church to the Moon As the Moon borrows her Light and Lustre from the Sun and is renewed by the aspects and influences thereof so the Church by influences from Christ who is indeed the Sun of Righteousness renewing the state of the Church especially under the Gospel And therefore all those Duties which were to be performed on the New Moons so far as they are perpetual ought to be more plentifully and more abundantly performed under the Gospel as abstaining from servile works from sin the worst of servitudes seeking instruction and attending upon the Ordinances for that end the sounding of the silver Trumpet of the Gospel abounding in spiritual Sacrifices and agreeing in love and amity eating their Bread in singleness of heart 3. Here seemeth to be likewise some intimation of that great mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ I mean his Conception of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary For this aimed at Christ as all the other Ceremonies of the Law and holy times and seasons did And some have gone about to make it out thus That look as Christ fulfilled other great Types and Ceremonies of the Law in other things so he did in this As the Feast of Tabernacles pointed to the time of his Birth on the fifteenth day of the seventh month so if from thence we reckon thirty eight weeks backward it will carry us to the change of the Moon at which time is a great conjunction or union of those two great Luminaries the Sun the Moon Here they think may be some dark and weak shadow of the conjunction or union of the two Natures of Christ in one person when he became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he did as in the whole state of his Humiliation so especially when he was conceived in the Virgins womb 4. The New Moon is put for every thing beneath Christ Rev. 12.1 the world which in respect of the changeableness of it is like the Moon the world and the glory thereof passeth away never standing at the same stay This should be frequently upon our hearts and thoughts 5. They were to observe the first day of the month not the fifth or sixth day so also their morning Sacrifice was to be offered early in the morning and the Passover celebrated the first month in the year To teach them that as ever they expected the Blessing of God upon the rest of their time they must be careful to set apart the first and best of all their days and hours unto his service 6. They were to observe the first day of every month one as well as another which checks that superstitious conceit as if there were lucky and unlucky times whereas God hath sanctified every month and every time to his people as on the contrary to the wicked the most lucky times prove disastrous as among the Papists that famous year 1588. crowned with so many Astrological Praedictions of ensuing happiness and Victory proved quite contrary to their expectations so that Fulke Pref. Rhem. Test saith it Octogesimus Octavus mirabilis annus Clade Papistarum faustus ubique piis No month to a godly man is of it self evil but let a wicked Haman cast lots from the beginning of the year to the ending he shall find no month good So much for the mystery of their New Moons the second sort of their holy times the first was their annual Feasts the second their New Moons the third is their Sabbaths 3. Sabbaths Let no man judge you in respect of the Sabbath A word to that and so we shall finish the Text at this time This is the third sort of holy times and seasons under the Law The general notion of a Sabbath is a time of Rest They had three sorts of Sabbaths their weekly Sabbath every seventh day their yearly Sabbath every seventh year and their great sabbatical year reckoning seven times seven years which was their Jubilee every fiftieth year In every one of which was something of a shadow of things to come the Apostle is express these things are a shadow of things to come Quest Wherein Answ 1. The Sabbath of the seventh day their weekly Sabbath on the seventh day of the week this was partly moral and perpetual considered as a seventh part of weekly time sanctified and set apart by God from common use for man to rest from the works of his weekly Calling in imitation of God and in remembrance of the great work of the Creation of the world But though the Sabbath be partly moral and it must needs be so seeing it is one of the Ten Commandments otherwise there would be but nine moral Commands and the original ground of a Sabbath is not a ceremonial Institution nor the sin and fall of man but a particular Calling and therefore Adam in his innocent and sinless estate needed a Sabbath and God sanctified this day before the fall of man Gen. 2.1 2 3. but yet the Jewish Sabbath was in some respects Ceremonial and therefore it is abrogated and the Christian Sabbath substituted in stead thereof and therefore the Holy Ghost here in the Text reckons the Jewish Sabbaths in the same rank with their New Moons and yearly Festivals amongst the shadows of good things to come for it had some typical respects and uses some ceremonial Rites and Observations annexed to it I shall instance in two things wherein it is typical 1. For the Commemoration of their typical Redemption and Deliverance out of Egypt Therefore though the fourth Commandment as it is recorded in Exod. chap. 20. is grounded upon the Labour of a particular Calling and upon Gods resting from the work of Creation upon the seventh day which are moral grounds yet in the fourth Commandment as it is repeated Deut. 5. one of those moral considerations is omitted viz. the work of Creation and there is a typical consideration substituted in stead thereof viz. their Deliverance out of Egypt Deut. 5.15 2. As there was in the Jewish Sabbath a Commemoration of that typical Redemption out of Egypt so secondly it was a typical
of those former Dispensations therefore how shall we escape if after so many ways of teaching we do not receive Instruction see Heb. 2.3 4. THE GOSPEL OF CIRCUMCISION October 30. 1666. Acts 7.8 And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision and so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day and Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat the twelve Patriarchs THis excellent Sermon and Apology of Stephen the first Martyr of the New Testament the Scope of it is to shew them the variety of Gods Dispensations towards his people together with the various Rebellions and Oppositions of the Sons of men against him and so to convince them that the scope and tendency of them all was to lead to Jesus Christ and that as former Dispensations had been despised so was this which was the Glory of all the rest He goes over the History of the Church from Abrahams time to the time of Christ in sundry most eminent and principal Dispensations of God towards his Church In this Verse he is speaking of the Dispensation of God to Abraham He had shewed before how he had called Abraham out of his own Country how he had promised him a Possession the Land of Canaan how he had foretold the affliction of his Seed for four hundred years and their Deliverance afterward how the Lord had given him the Covenant of Circumcision and how under the influence of this Covenant Isaac was born and Jacob and the rest of the Patriarchs And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision I shall give you no other Doctrine but the words themselves Doct. That God gave to Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision that is the Doctrine That which I do design and intend is a little explanation of Circumcision and of the Covenant thereof for that is the Phrase here and that in reference to our attendance upon God in this Ordinance of the New Testament Circumcision which we are now to wait upon him in To open to you the nature of Circumcision You know there is an outward and an inward part of it as there is in all other Signs and Sacraments whatsoever Something must be spoken 1. Of the Sign the nature of the external Ordinance 2. Of the Covenant that it relates to and 3. What those respects are wherein it doth relate to that Covenant 1. For the external part of this Ordinance of Circumcision It was the cutting away the Foreskin of the flesh of Abraham and his Male seed upon the eighth day The first institution of this Ordinance is recorded Gen. 17.10 11. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man child among you shall be circumcised And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin c. The Lord did appoint the Seal of this Covenant to be in that part of the body in his infinite Wisdom and Soveraignty a thing which carnal Reason would despise There seems to be two principal accounts of it 1. Because those Members of the Body are so much abused to sin in the way of uncleanness and filthiness therefore the Lord would now sanctifie them and separate a Seed and Generation to himself and usually the greatest Wrath of God to the Souls of men is expressed by giving them up to abuse those parts of the Body The World was grown very degenerate and the Lord was resolved to leave a Monument an everlasting Monument of his Wrath for those sins in all Ages and therefore destroys Sodom Gen. 18. and before this Destruction he appoints this Seal and Ordinance 2. Another account of it is this that it might be a sure and a strong Wall of Partition between the Jewish and Gentle Nations of the World It made the Partition Wall the surer because carnal Reason could not but despise such an Ordinance Those that know not God have no spiritual sense of the thing therefore we find the Heathens scoff at it as Horat. Curtosque Judaeos Credat Judaeus Apella because by their carnal Reason they could not see the reason of it Therefore when the Lord would have both united to Jesus Christ in one Body he abolishes Circumcision This Ordinance was dispensed to the Males the Females were included and comprehended in the Males and as fully and clearly comprehended in them as the Land and the Trees are said to be Circumcised so are all the Daughters of Abraham as they came of circumcised Parents and married to circumcised Husbands and their Sons were circumcised so that it was a circumcised Nation and People It was to be done upon the eighth day after the Birth of the Child and so in this Text He gave him the Covenant of Circumcision and so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day The reason of this limitation might be partly because of the Infant state of the Church in those times therefore the Lord teacheth them and limiteth them even in such small particulars which are now left to be determined only by the general Rule of the Word even the particular time and season of our Circumcision It s thought also this might have some further mystery in it in reference to the Christian Sabbaoth which is the eighth day in one respect the first in other ways of numbering and to respect a new state and life after that the compleat and full number of the days of this life here are gone through after the Week is ended the Week of this life here we come to Heaven and Glory which was one thing intimated in Circumcision as you will hear afterwards But so much for the external part of this Ordinance the cutting off the foreskin of Abraham and his Male seed and that upon the eighth day 2. To speak a little to the mystery of this Ordinance the meaning of it the spirit of this external Dispensation For besides the Shell there was a Kernel besides the letter of the Law of the Ordinance there was much spiritual mystery intended and aimed at in it Now then what is the mystery of Circumcision the inward part of it that is the Covenant And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision So that Circumcision is the Covenant and it is the same expression where this Ordinance is first instituted You shall have my Covenant in your flesh Gen. 17. It is called a Covenant as other Signs and Sacraments are it is a sacramental Phrase the Lamb is called the Passover the Bread the Body the Wine the Blood of Christ so Circumcision is the Covenant of it But what Covenant is it that Circumcision doth relate to This is the great Question You know there be two Covenants that of Works and Grace Now Circumcision was not the Covenant of Works but the Covenant of Grace That it was not a carnal Covenant and a Covenant of Works take these five Considerations to make good that ground before we proceed any further for if it be the Covenant of Works it cuts off all that is