respect of mighty and effectuall operation there being a power in it as of a strong law effectually and sweetly compelling to the obedience of the law For as the law of sinne within us which the Apostle calls the law of our members and is contrary to the law of our mindes or the law of the spirit of life within us is not the rule of knowing and judging what sinne is but the law of God without Romans 7.7 and yet it is called a law because it hath a compulsive power to act and encline to sin like a mighty and forcible law so the law of the spirit of life the law of our mindes is called a law not that it is the rule of a Christians life but that it compels the heart and forceth it like a living law to the obedience of that directing rule when it â—s made known to it from without It is therefore a great mistake to thinke that because God translates the law without into a Beleevers heart that therefore this heart-law is his only or principall rule of life or to imagine that the spirit without the externall law is the rule of life the spirit is the principle indeed of our obedience whereby we conforme unto the rule but it is not therefore the rule it selfe It is true indeed 1. That the spirit inclines the heart to the obedience of the rule 2. It illuminates the minde also many times to see it by secret shinings of preventing light as well as brings things to their remembrance which they knew before 3. It acts them also sometime so as that when they know not what to pray it prompts them Romans 8.26 When they know not what to speake before their Adversaries in that day it 's given to them Matth. 10.19 When they know not whither to goe nor how to goe it 's then a voice behinde them and leads them to fountaines of living waters Isaiah 30.21 Revel 7.17 But all these and such like quickning acts of the spirit doe not argue it to be our rule according to which wee ought to walke but only by which or by meanes of which we come to walke and are enclined directed and inabled to walke according to the rule which is the law of God without For the Pilot of the ship is not the compasse of the ship because that by the Pilot the ship is guided nor doth it argue that the Spirit is our rule because he guides us according to the rule It is not essentiall to the rule to give power to conforme unto it but to be that according to which we are to be conformed And therefore it 's a crazy argument to prove the law of the Spirit to be the rule of our life because it chiefly gives us power to conforme unto the rule for if the law be that according to which are to bee guided although it should give us no power yet this is sufficient to make it to be our rule Thesis 87. The Spirit of God which writ the Scriptures and in them this rule of the holy law is in the Scriptures and in that law as well as in a Beleevers heart and therefore to forsake and reject the Scriptures or this written rule is to forsake and reject the holy Spirit speaking in it as their rule nay 't is to forsake that Spirit which is the supreme Judge according to which all private spirits nay all the actings dictates movings speakings of Gods owne Spirit in us are to be tried examined and judged To the law and the testimony was the voice of the Prophets in their dayes Isa. 8.20 The Lord Christ himselfe referres the Jewes to the searching of Scriptures concerning himself Iohn 5.39 The men of Bereah are commended for examining the holy and infallible dictates of Gods Spirit in Pauls Ministery according to what was written in the Scriptures of old It is therefore but a cracking noise of windy words for any to say that they open no gap to licentiousnesse by renouncing the written and externall law as their rule considering that they cleave to a more inward and better rule viz. The law of the spirit within for as hath beene shewne they doe indeed renounce the holy Spirit speaking in the rule viz. the law without which though it be no rule of the Spirit as some object yet it is that rule according to which the Spirit guides us to walke and by which we are to judge whether the guidance bee the spirits guidance or no. Thesis 88. Some say That the difference between the old Testament dispensation and the new or pure Gospel and new Covenant is this to wit That the one or that of Moses was a Ministery from without and that of Christ from within and hence they say that the meer Commandments or letter of Scripture is not a law to a Christian why he should walke in holy duties but the law written on our hearts the law of life But if this bee the difference between the old and new Testament dispensation the ministery of the old and the ministery of the new then let all Beleevers burn their Bibles and cast all the sacred writings of the new Testament old unto spiders and cobwebs in old holes and corners and never be read spoken or meditated on for these externall things are none of Christs Ministery on which now Beleevers are to attend and then I marvaile why the Apostles preached or why they writ the Gospel for after times for that was the chiefe end of their writing as it was of the Prophets in their times Isaiah 30.8 that men might beleeve and beleeving have eternall life and know hereby that they have eternall life Iohn 20.31 1 Iohn 5.13 For either their writing and preaching the Gospell was not an externall and outward Ministry which is crosse to common sense or it was not Christs Ministery which is blasphemous to imagine and it is a vain shift for any to say That although it was Christs Ministery yet it was his Ministery as under the Law and in the flesh and not in meere glory and spirit for its evident that the Apostles preachings and writings were the effect of Christs ascension and glory Ephes. 4.8.11 when hee was most in the spirit and had received the spirit that hee might poure it out by this outward Ministery Acts 2.33 and it is a meer New-nothing and dream of Master Saltmarsh and and others to distinguish between Christ in the flesh and Christ in the Spirit as if the one Christ had a divers Ministery from the other For when the Comforter is come which is Christ in the Spirit what will he doe he will lead it s said unto all truth Iohn 16.13 But what truth will he guide us into Verily no other for substance but what Christ in the flesh had spoken and therefore it 's said that he shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you John 14.26 and therefore if I may use their
phrase Christ in the Spirit leads us to what Christ in the flesh said inward Christ leads the faithfull to the outward Ministery of Christ Christ in the Spirit to Christ speaking in the letter the Spirit of truth to the Word of truth the Spirit within to the Word without by which we shall be judged at the last day Iohn 12.48 and therefore certainly are to be regulated by it now Thesis 89. It is true that the faithfull receive an unction or an anoinâ—ing of the Spirit which teacheth them all things but is this teaching immediate or mediate If immediate why doth Iohn tell them that he writ to them that hereby they might know they had eternall life 1 Iohn 5.13 but if it be mediate viz. by the word externally preacht or writ then the externall word still is to be our rule which the anointing of the Spirit helps us to know It is true the Apostle saith 1 Iohn 2.27 that they being taught of the Spirit did not need that any man should teach them what then was their teaching therefore immediate No verily for the Apostle explaines his meaning in the words following viz. otherwise and after another way and manner then as the Spirit taught them for so the words runne You need not that any man should teach you but as the anointing teacheth you all things and is truth For if Ministers are to preach and write in demonstration of the Spirit then those that heare them and are taught by them need no man to teach them otherwise than as the same Spirit in the same demonstration teacheth them all things It might bee truely said that the men of Bereah did need no man to teach them otherwise than as the Spirit in comparing and searching the Scriptures did teach them the things which Paul spake And Calvin well observes upon this place that the scope of the Apostle in these words is to confirme his Doctrine which he writ to them it being no unknowne thing but a thing known to them by the anointing of the Spirit which either they had received by former Ministery of the word or which now they might receive by this writing As therefore the Spirit leads us to the Word so the word leads us to the Spirit but never to a spirit without and beyond the word I meane so farre forth as that the outward administration of Christ in the flesh or in the word or letter must cease and be laid aside when the inward administration of Christ in the Spirit comes Thesis 90. It 's as weak an argument to imagine That wee are not to be led and guided by any outward commands in our obedience unto God because God is to worke all our workes for us and because we are not to live but Christ is to live in us as to thinke that we are not to look to any promises without us to direct and support our faith because Christ is also to fulfill and accomplish all the promises for us For if the question be by what are we to live The Apostles answer is full Gal. 2.19 20. that as hee did not live but by the faith of the Son of God so are we But if the question be According to what rule are we to live and wherein are wee to live The answer is given by David Psalme 119.4 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently Oh that my heart were directed to keep thy Statutes Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word ver 17. Let thy mercy come to me that I may live for thy law is my delight vers 27. So that if the question be What is the rule of faith by which we live The answer is the Gospel Phil. 3.16 But if the question be What is the rule of life it self The answer is the morall law and of this later is the controversie Thesis 91. The commanding will of God called Voluntas mandati is to be our rule and not the working will of God Voluntas decreti or the will of Gods decree for we cannot sinne by fulfilling the one but wee may sin in fulfilling the other Gods secret and working will was fulfilled when Iosephs brethren sold him into Egypt and when Nebuchadnezzar afflicted Gods people seventy yeares as also when the Scribes and Pharisees caused Christ to bee crucified yet in all these thingâ— they sinned and provoked Gods wrath against them How Was it in crossing and thwarting Gods working will or the will of Gods Decree No verily for it 's expressely said that Christ was crucified according to the determinate counsell and will of God Acts 4.28 It was therefore by crossing Gods commanding will It is therefore a hellish device of Libertines to exempt men from all Law and from the sense of all sinne Because say they all things good and evill come from Gods will and all things that are done are wrought by him and all that he doth is good and therefore all sinfull actions are good because God workes them for what have we to doe to take the measure of our wayes by his working will Gods will is his owne rule to work with not our rule to worke by Our actions may bee most sinfull when his working in and about these may bee most just and holy for though God purposeth to leave the creature to fall and sin yet he so purposed it as that it should be onely through their owne fault that so they sinne And although a Christian is to submit humbly to the just dispensations of God when he leaves it to any evill yet Gods working will in all such dispensations must not be our rule for then wee must will not onely our owne sinne but our owne affliction and perdition for ever for all these are contained under his working will It is therefore a most subtle and pernicious practice in many who when they are overtaken with any sin or hampered with sinne they wash all off from themselves and lay all the blame if any be upon God himself saying The Lord left mee and he doth not helpe mee and he must doe all and hath undertaken to doe all if therefore I sin upon him be the blame or if there be any upon them it is but little But why should any judge of the evill of their sinne by Gods working will for that is not your rule but the commanding will of God according to which Samuel convinced Saul when he was left of God to spare Agag that his disobedience against the commandment was rebellion and as the sinne of Witchcraft in the eyes of God 1 Samuel 15.23 Thesis 92. It is a great part of Christs love to command us to doe any thing for him as well as to promise to doe any thing for us When the King of glory hath given us our lives by promise it s then the next part of his speciall grace and favour to command us to stand before him and attend upon his greatnesse continually
if speciall light in them they shall then have more speciall and saving light Thesis 194. As it is no argument that that Law is according to the light of nature which the Gentiles generally practised for then Polytheisme and Sacrificing of beasts yea wil-worship should be according to the light of nature because these sins were generally practised so it is no argument that that Law is not according to the light of nature which they generally neglected and therefore suppose the Gentiles never observed a Sabbath yet this is no argument that it is therefore no morall Law I know M. Primrose thinks that the Sacrifices were by an instinct of nature Because it dictates that all sinnes whereof mortall men are guilty are to be expiated by Sacrifice and Offerings to God offended Which assertion hath some truth in it if those words By Sacrifices and Offerings be left out for what light of nature could make men think that an infinite Deity offended could be pacified by such carnall observances as the Sacrifices of brute beasts and their blood which never offended This custome the Gentiles might retain as a Relique of former instruction and institution by their first Fathers after the flood which being matters meerly ceremonious might be retained more firmly then other morall duties of great consequence however we see that the practice of the Gentiles is no fit guide to direct that which is according to the law and light of nature Thesis 195. If more narrow enquiry be made what the Law of nature is these distinctions must be observed 1. The Law of nature is either of pure or corrupt nature The Law of pure nature was the Law of God writ on Adams heart in innocency which was nothing else but that holy bent and inclination of the heart within to act according to the holy Law of God revealed or Covenant made with him without and thus Aquinas places the law of nature in this inclination The Law of corrupt nature is that dimme light left in the minde and morall inclination left in the will in respect of some things contained in the Law of God which the Apostle cals Conscience Rom. 2.15 which naturall conscience is nothing but the remnants and generall principles of the law of pure nature left in all men since the fall which may be increased by more knowledge of the Law of God or more diminished and defaced by the wickednesse of man Titus 1.15 2. The Law of corrupt nature is taken either more largely or strictly As it is taken more largely so it comprehends all that which is agreeable and sutable to naturall reason and that from a naturall innate equity in the thing when it is made known either by divine instruction or humane wisdom although it be not immediatly known by the light of nature and thus many judiciall laws are naturall and morall though positive and of binding nature unto this day As it is taken strictly so it comprehends no more but what nature immediatly knows or may know without externall instruction as parents to be honoured mans life to be preserved 3. The Law of nature strictly taken are either principles of nature or conclusions from such principles The principles of the law of nature are in some respect many yet may be reduced to this one head viz. That good is to be followed evill to be avoided Conclusions are deductions from those principles like severall streames from the same spring which though lesse evident then the principles yet may be readily found out by discourse and sad search 4. Conclusions arising from these principles are more immediate or mediate Immediate are made by Aquinas to be two 1. Love God with all thy heart 2. Love thy neighbour as thy selfe Mediate are such as arise from the former principles by means of those two more immediate conclusions and of this kinde are some as he thinks yea all the laws of the Decalogue if right reason may be judge Now to apply these Thesis 196. If the question be whether the Sabbath be known by the light of pure nature the answer is yea for Adams minde knew of it and his heart was inclined and bent to the keeping of it although it be true that now this light in corrupt nature as in many other morall duties is almost wholly extinct and worn out as hath been formerly shewn And to speak plainly this great and first impression left on mans heart in pure nature is the first rule according to which we are now to judge of what is the law of nature and it serves to dash to peeces and grinde to powder and dust most effectually and strongly the dreams and devices of such as would make the Sabbath not morall because not naturall or not easily known by the present light of corrupt nature when as corrupt nature is no perfect copy but a blotted discovery of some part of the light of nature which was fully imprinted at large in pure nature and therefore it is no wonder if our adversaries so much oppose the Commandment of the Sabbath in the state of innocency such therefore as are otherwise Orthodox in this point and yet make this description of the Law of nature viz. which was written on mans heart in his first first Creation to be both uncertain and impertinent doe unwarily pull down one of the strongest bulwarks and the first that ever God made to defend the morality of the Sabbath there is indeed no expresse Scripture which makes this description of the Law of nature as they object and so it is of many other things which are virtually and for substance contained in the Scripture although there be no formall description set down of the same and the like I say of this description here Thesis 197. If we speak of the Law of nature strictly taken for that which is immediatly and readily known by the common light of nature in all men then it may be safely affirmed that although the Sabbath should not be in this sence naturall yet it will not follow that it is not therefore morall for the moral law once writ on mans heart in pure nature is almost blotted out only some rudera and old rubbish is left of it in a perverse minde and a corrupt heart Eph. 4.18 we see the wisest of the heathens making those things to be morall vertues Iunius instanceth in the Law of private revenge and we know they magnified will-worship which the Scripture condemns as morall vices and sins God would have common-wealths preserved in all places of the world from the inundation and deluge of mans wickednesse and therefore he hath generally printed the notions of the second Table upon mens hearts to set bounds as by sea-banks unto the overflowings thereof and hence it is that they are generally known but he would not have Churches every where and therefore there is but little known concerning matters of the first Table and consequently about this Law of the Sabbath
Sabbath did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 draw on shine forth Luke 23.54 now this shining or breaking forth of the Sabbath cannot be meant of the day light morning shining forth for its a meare dream to think that Ioseph should be so long a time in doing so little work from Saturday in the afternoon untill the next morning light onely in taking of Christ from the Crosse wrapping him in Linnen and laying him in his own Sepulchre which was not far off but neer at hand also Iohn 19.42 The shining forth of the Sabbath also stopâ— the women from proceeding to annoint Christs Body after they had brought their Spices and therefore if the shining forth of the Sabbath had been the morning after they might certainly have had sufficient time to do that work in the shining forth therefore of this Sabbath was in the latter evening in which the Sabbath began and it s said to shine forth by a metaphor because it did then first appear or draw on or as Piscator and sundry others think because about that time the stars in Heaven and the Lamps and Candles in houses began to shine forth which is just then when darknesse is predominant which is the beginning of the Sabbath at evening time 2. If that evening had not begun the Sabbath why did not the women who wanted neither conscience nor affection nor opportunity annoint his body that evening but defer it untill the night after what could stop them herein but onely the conscience of the Commandment which began the Sabbath that evening 3. Either the Sabbath must begin this evening or they did not rest the Sabbath according to the Commandment for if they began to keep the Sabbath at morning light then if they rested according to the Commandement they must keepe it untill the next morning light after but its manifest that they were stirring and in preparing their Oyntments long before that even in the dark night before the light did appeare as hath been formerly shewn Thesis 99. Why the women did not goe about to embalme Christs body the beginning of the dark evening after the Sabbath was past but staid so long a time after till the dark morning cannot be certainly determined perhaps they thought it not suitable to a rule of God and prudence to take some rest and sleep first before they went about that sad work and might think â—he morning more fit for it then the dark evening before when their sorrowfull hearts and spent spirits might need mercy to be shewn them by taking their rest awhile first They might also possibly think it offensive to others presently to run to the embalming of the dead as soon as ever the Sabbath was ended and therefore stayed till the dark morning when usually every one was preparing and stirring toward their weekly work Thesis 100. The Lord Christ could not lie three daies in the grave if the Sabbath did not begin at evening and for any to affirm that the dark morning wherein he arose was part of this first day and did belong thereunto is not onely to overthrow their own principles who begin the Sabbath at the beginning of day light morning but they also make the beginning of the Sabbath to be wholly uncertain for who can tell at what time of this dark morning our Saviour arose Thesis 101. T is true there are some parts of the habitable world in Russia and those Northern Countries wherein for about a moneths time the Sun is never out of sight now although they have no dark evening at this time yet doubtlesse they know how to measure their naturall daies by the motion of the Sun if therefore they observe that time which is equivalent to our dark evenings and sanctifie to God the space of a day as t is measured by the circling Sun round about them they may then be said to sanctifie the Sabbath from even to even if they do that which is equivalent thereunto they that know the East West South North points do certainly know when that which is equivalent to evening begins which if they could not do yet doubtlesse God would accept their will for the deed in such a case Thesis 102. If therefore the Sabbath began at evening from Adams time in innocency till Nehemiahs time and from Nehemiahs time till Christs time why should any think but that where the Jewish Sabbath the last day of the week doth end there the Christian Sabbath the first day of the week begins unlesse any can imagine some Type in the beginning of the Sabbath at evening which must change the begining of the day as the Type affixed did change the day or can give demonstrative reasons that the time of Christs Resurrection must of necessity begin the Christian Sabbath which for ought I see cannot be done And therfore it is a groundlesse assertion that the reasons of the change of the day are the same for the change of the beginning of it and that the chiefe of the reasons for the evening may be as well applyed against the change of the day it selfe as of the time of it But sufficient hath been said of this I shall onely adde this that there is no truth of Christs but upon narrow search into it hath some secret knots and difficulties and so hath this about the beginning of the Sabbath t is therefore humility and self-deniall to follow our clearest light in the simplicity of our hearts and to wait upon the Throne of grace with many tears for more cleare discoveries untill all knots be unloosed FINIS THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE SABBATH WHEREIN The true Rest of the Day together with the right manner of Sanctifying of the Day are briefly opened BY THOMAS SHEPARD Pastor of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New-England The fourth Part. LONDON Printed for Iohn Rothwell 1650. The generall Contents upon the Sanctification of the Sabbath 1. THe word Sabbath what it signifies Thesis 1. 2. All weekly labour for the Rest of the Sabbath Thesis 2. 3. The Rest of the Sabbath the meanes for a higher end Thesis 3. 4. As strict a Rest now required as was formerly among the Iewes and those places cleared which seeme contrary Thesis 4 5. 5. What worke forbidden on the Sabbath Day Thesis 10. 6. Servile worke forbidden and what is a servile worke Thesis 11 12. 7. The holinesse required upon the Sabbath in five things Thesis 14. 8. A lamentation for prophanation of the Sabbath The Sanctification of the Sabbath Thesis 1. THe word Sabbath properly signifies not common but sacred or holy Rest. The Lord therefore enjoyns this Rest from labour upon this day not so much for the Rest sake but because it is a Medium or means of that holinesse which the Lord requires upon this day otherwise the Sabbath is a day of idlenesse not of holinesse our cattell can rest but a common rest from labour as well as we and therefore its mans sin and shame if he
rest and joy the daies of the Lords sorrow and trouble do you thus weary the Lord when he gives rest unto you was there ever such mercy shewen or can there be any greater love upon Earth then for the Lord to call to a wicked sinfull Creature which deserves to be banisht for ever out of his Presence to come unto him enter into his Rest take his fill of love and refresh it selfe in his Bosome in a speciall manner all this day And therefore can there be a greater sinne above ground committed out of Hell then thus to sinne against this love I do not thinke that the single breach of the Sabbath as to sport or feast inordinately is as great a sinne as to murther a man which some have cast out to the reproach of some zealous for the observation of the Sabbath day truly the Lord knows for I believe their milk sod over if thus they said but I speak of the Sabbath under this notion and respect and as herein Gods great love appeares to weary sinfull restlesse man as a day wherein all the treasures of his most rich and precious Love are set open and in this respect let any man tell me what greater sinne he can imagine then sinnes against the greatest Love The same sinnes which are committed upon other daies in the Weeke are then provoking sinnes but to commit these sinnes upon the Sabbath Day is to double the evill of them Drinking and Swearing and Rioting and vaine Talking c. are sinnes on the weeke-day but they are now but single sinnes but these are such like sinnes on the Sabbath Day are double sinnes because they are now not only sinnes against Gods command but also against Gods Sabbaths too which much aggravates them and yet men mourn not for these sinnes had the Lord never made knowne his Sabbaths to his Churches and People in these daies they might then have had some excuse for their sinne but now to prophane them since God hath made them knowne to us especially the English Nation and People to do it upon whom the Lord hath shined out of Heaven with greater light and glory in this point of the Sabbath above any other places and Churches in the World what will they have to say for themselves with what Fig-leaves will they hide this nakednesse before the Tribunal of God The Lord might have hid his Sabbaths from us and gone to another People that would have beene more thankfull for them and glad of them then we have beene and yet he hath beene loth to leave us and doe we thus require the Lord surely he hath no need of the best of us or of our attendance upon him upon these daies it s onely his pitty which seeing us wearied with sorrowes and wearying our selves in our sinnes makes him call us back to a Weekly rest in his Bosome who might have let us alone and tyred out our hearts in our own folly and madnesse all our daies and do we thus requite the Lord Certainly the time will come wherein we shall thinke as once Ierusalem did in the daies of her affliction of all our pleasant things we once had in the daies of our prosperity â—ertainly men shall one day mourne for the losse of all their precious time who mispend it now and above al times for the losse of their precious pleasant Sabbath seasons of refreshing which once they had given them to finde rest and peace in when â—he smoke of their tormenting everlasting burning shall ascend for ever and ever wherein they shall have no rest day nor night you shall remember and thinke then with teares trickling down your dry cheâ—ks of the Sabbaths the pleasant Sabbaths that once you had and shall never see one of those daies of the Sonne of man more you shall mourne then to see Abrahams bosome a farre off and thousand thousands at rest in it where you also might have bin as well as they if you had not despised the rest of God here in the bosome of his Sabbaths You shall then mourne and wring your hands and teare your haire and stampe and grow mad and yet weepe to think that if you had had a heart to have spent that very time of the Sabbath in seeking God in drawing neare to God in resting in God which you dispend in idle Talke and Idlenesse in Rioting and Wantonnesse in Sports and Foolishnesse upon this day you had then been in Gods Eternall Rest in Heaven and for ever blessed in God It s said Ierusalem remembred in the day of her affliction all her pleasant things when the Enemy did mock at her Sabbaths and so will you remember with sad hearts the loose of all your pretious seasons of grace especially then when the Devills and Heathens and damned Outâ—asts who never had the mercy to enjoy them shall moâ—k at thee for the losse of thy Sabbaths Verily I cannot thinke that any men that ever tasted any sweetnesse in Christ or his Sabbath and felt the unknown refreshings of this sweet Rest but that they will mourne for their cold affections to them and unfruitfull spending of them before they die otherwise never goe about to bleare mens eyes with Discourses and Invectives and Disputes against them or with carnall Excuses for your licentious spending of them for doubtlesse you taste not and therefore know not what they are and you will one day be found to be such as speake evill of the things you know not Heare ye despisers and wonder and perish is the infinite Majesty and glory of God so vile in your eyes that you do not thinke him worthy of speciall attendance one day in a Weeke doth he call you now to Rest in his Bosome and will you now kick his Bowels despise this Love and spit in his Face doth he call upon you to spend this day in holinesse and will you spend it in Mirth and Sports and Pastimes and in all manner of licentiousnesse Hast thou wearied God with thine iniquities and thy selfe in thine iniquities all the weeke long for which God might justly cut thee off from seeing any more Sabbath and doth the Lord Jesus instead of recompencing thee thus call you back againe to your resting place and will you now weary the Lord againe that he cannot have rest or quiet for you one day in a Weeke Oh that we could mourne for these things And yet walke abroad the face of the whole earth at this day and then say where shall you finde almost Gods Sabbaths exactly kept viz. with meet preparation for them delight in them with wonderment and thankfulnesse to God after the enjoyment of them all the world knowes to whom the barbarous Turks do dedicate their Frydayes the Jewes also how they sanctifie their saturdayes to the Lord Iehovah indeed but not unto the Lord their God What account the Papists put upon the Sabbath's not only their writings which level it with all other Holy-dayes but also their loose
a spirituall Sabbath in Christ if through Gods righteous judgment blinding their hearts they be also left to reject the outward Word because of an inward woâ—d to teach them and outward Baptisme and Lords Supper because of an inward Baptisme by the Holy Ghost and spirituall Bread from Heaven the Lord Christ Iesus and all outward Ordinances Ministries Churches because of an inward Kingdome and Temple and the Argument will hold strongly that if because they have an inward Sabbath of Rest in the bosome of Christ which I deny not that they may therefore cast away all externall Sabbaths they may then very well reject all outward Baptisme Lords Supper all Churches all Ordinances because herein there is also the inward Baptisme spirituall feeding upon Christ and inward Kingdome and Temple of God But thus they wickedly separate and sever what God hath joyned and may well stand together through the madnesse of which hellish practise I have long observed almost all the late and most pernicious errours of these times arise and those men who have formerly wept for Gods precious Sabbaths and Ordinances and have prayed for them and pleaded for them and have offered their lives in sacrifice for them and fought for them yea that have felt perhaps the comfort sweetnesse and blessing of Gods Sabbaths yea the redeeming and saving-power of Gods Ordinances to their owne soules yet through pretences of more spirituall enjoyments above and beyond and without all these they can part with these their old friends without weeping and reject them as polluted rags and fleshly formes and dark vailes and curtaines which must be drawne aside that so they may not hinder the true Light from shining in them This therfore is the reason why the love of manâ— at this day is grown cold toward the external Sabbath because the internall and spirituall Sabbath is now all in all And therefore many men walk either with bold consciences and will observe no Sabbath or else with loose consciences thinking it lawfull to observe it if men will injoyn it but noâ— thinking that they are tyed and bound therunto from any precept of God That place of Hebrews 4. which they so much stick to wants not light to demonstrate that the Sabbatisme there may well agree not onely with the internall but the outward Christian Sabbath but some of the ensuing Theses will serve to cleare up these things This onely I feare that because of these indignites done thus to Gods Sabbaths even by the under-workings of some of Gods owne people that the time hastens wherein if no man should speake yet the right hand of the sore displeasure of a provoked God by plagues and confusion upon the glory of all flesh will plead for his own Name and for that in speciall which is engraven upon the forehead of his holy Sabbaths Jerusalem remembred with regret of heart in the dayes of her affliction and misery all her pleasant things and especially this of the Sabbath Lam. 1.7 If the dayes of our rest and quietnesse cannot make us to relish the good things of his Temple in the fruition of our Sabbaths then doubt not of it but that the dayes of our affliction shall make a remnant to remember that they were pleasant things of all the mercies of God to Israel this is reckoned to be one of the greatest that he gave his Lawes to Israel Psal. 147.19 20. And of all Lawes this of the Sabbath For so the remnant of the Captivity acknowledged it Nehem. 9.14 who perhaps had far lower thoughts of it before their bondage And if the very making of it known be such a sweet mercy what then is the rest and peace of it the blessing and comfort of it for which I doubt not but many thousands are admiring God in heaven at this day And shall a shady imagination of an Every-day-sabbath make us sell away for nothing such a heavenly and precious season and make it common The Lord Iesus wisht his Disciples to pray that their flight from Jerusalem might not be in winter nor on the Sabbath-day Matth. 24.20 accounting it a great misery that his people should lose the publike benefit through the disturbance of any of one Sabbath-day for be it Iewish or Christian Sabbath I now dispute not sure I am it was a Sabbath-day which it seemes was to continue after Christs Ascension to the Father and therefore not wholly ceremonial And shall we account it no affliction or misery to fight or flie to ride or go to work or play to heare the Word in publike or stay at home upon the Sabbath-day Is it no mercy in these dayes to injoy many Sabbaths which was so sore a misery in Christs account and in the Apostles dayes to lose but one if mans heart be lost in the necessary cumbers of the weeke upon the Sabbath the Lord is wont to recall it again to him if any feare that the time of Grace is past the continuance of the Sabbaths the speciall seasons of grace confutes him if a mans soul be wearied with daily griefs and outward troubles the bosome of Iesus Christ which is in speciall wise opened every Lords day may refresh him and shall we have and professe so little love to such a time more precious then gold to humbled hearts as to cast away such a rich portion of precious time and make it common under a pretence of making every day a Sabbath which is either impossible to do or sinfull the loudest voice one of them of the love of Christ which now sounds in the world continually in the yeers of his people is this Come into my bosome ye weary sinners and enjoy your rest and the next voice to that is this of the Sabbath to call us off from all occasions and then to say to us Come to me my people and rest in my bosome of sweetest mercy all this day Which call would not be a mercy if it were every day for then our owne occasions must be neglected which the wise and fatherly providence of God forbids and spirituall work onely minded and intended which God did never command Nor should any marvel that the voyce of the Law should containe such a voyce of Love and therefore should not think that this controversie about the Law or for this one law of the Sabbath is unfit and unsutable to these Evangelicall and Gospel times for although the Law is dreadfull and full of terrour as considered without Christ and is to man fallen a voyce of words and a voice of terrour and feare which genders unto bondage yet as it is revealed with reference to Christ and a people in Christ so every Commandment doth spirare amorem as he speaks and breaths out Christs love for which the Saints cannot but blesse the Lord with everlasting wonderment that ever he made them to know these heart-secrets of his good will and love especially then when he writes them in their hearts and thereby gives
unto them the comfort thereof And verily if it be such a sweet voice of love to call us in to this Rest of the day certainly if ever the Enlish Nation be deprived of these seasons which God in mercy forbid it will be a black appearance of God against them in the dayes of their distresse when he shall seeme to shut them out of his Rest in his bosome by depriving them of the Rest of this day What will ye do in the solemne day in the day of the feast of the Lord For lo they are gone because of destruction Egypt shall gather them Memphis shall bury them their â—ilver shall be desired nettles shall possesse them thorns shall be in their Tabernacles the dayes of visitation are come the dayes of recompence are come Israel shall know it the Prophet is a foole the spiritual man is mad for the multitude of thine iniquity and the great hatred Hos. 9.5 6 7. But let men yet make much of Gods Sabbaths and begin here and if it be too tedius to draw neere to God every day let them but make conscience of trying and tasting how good the Lord is but this one day in a week and the Lord will yet reserve mercy for his people Jer. 17 24 25.26 for keep this keep all lose this lose all which lest I should seeme to pleade for out of a frothy and groundlesse affection to the Day and lest any in these times should be worse then the Crane and the Swallow who know their times of returne I have therefore endeavoured to cleare up those foure great difficulties about this Day in the Theses here following 1. Concerning the Morality 2. The Change 3. The Beginning 4. The Sanctification of the Sabbath Being fully perswaded that whosoever shall break one of the least Commandements and teach men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of God I do therefore desire the Reader to take along with him these two things 1. Suspending his judgment concerning the truth and validity of any part or of any particular Thesis untill he hath read over the whole for they have a dependance one upon another for mutuall clearing of one another and lest I should bis coctum apponere and say the same thing twice I have therefore purposely left out that in one part and one Thesis which is to be cleared in another either for proofe of it or resolution of objections against it and although this dependance may not so easily appeare because I have not so expressely set downe the method yet the wise-hearted I hope will easily finde it out or else pick out and accept what they see to be of God in such a confused heap for it was enough to my ends if I might lay in any broken pieces of timber to forward this building which those that are able to wade deeper into this controversie may please to make use of if there be any thing in them or in any of them in their owne better and more orderly frame for it hath been and still is my earnest desire to heaven that God would raise up some or other of his precious servants to cleare up these controversies more fully then yet they have beene that the zeale for Gods Sabbaths may not be fire without light which perhaps hath hitherto been too little through the wickednesse of former times encouraging the books one way and suppressing those of most weight and worth for the other 2. To consider that I do most willingly give way to the publishing of these things which I could in many respects have much more readily committed to the fire then to the light when I consider the great abilities of others the need such as I am have to sit down and learn the hazards and knocks men get only by coming but into the field in Polemical matters and the unusefulnesse of any thing herein for those in remote places where knowledge abounds and where to cast any thing of this nature is to cast water into the Sea I confesse I am ashamed therefore to be seene in this garment and therefore that I have thus farre yeelded hath beene rather to please others then my selfe who have many wayes compelled me hereunto the things for substance contained herein were first preached in my ordinary course upon the Sabbath dayes in opening the Commandments the desires of some Students in the Colledge and the need I saw of resolving some doubts arising about these things in the hearts of some ordinary hearers among the people occasioned a more large discussing of the controversie to which I was the more inclined because one among us who wanted not abilities was taken away from us who had promised the clearing up of all these matters when therefore these things were more plainly and fully opened and applyed to the consciences of some more popular capacities as well as others I was then put upon it to reduce the Doctrinall part of these Sermons upon the fourth Commandment into certaine Theses for the use of some Students desirous thereof when being scattered and coming to the view of some of the Elders in the Country I was by some of them desired to take off some obscurity arising from the brevity and littlenesse of them by greater enlargements and a few more explications of them which promising to do and then coming to the bearing of many I was then desired by all the Elders in the Country then met together to commit them to publike view which hitherto my heart hath opposed and therefore should still have smothered them but that some have so farre compelled me as that I feared I should resist and fight against God in not listning to them in which many things are left out which perhaps might be more usefull to a plaine people which then in the application of matters of Doctrine were publikely delivered and some few things are added especiall in that particular wherein the directive power of the Moral Law is cleared against the loose wits of these times We are strangers here for the most part to the books and writings which are now in Europe but it s much feared that the increase and growth of the many Tares and Errours in England hath been by reason of the sleepinesse of some of the honest husbandmen and that those who are best able to pluck them up have not seasonably stood in the gap and kept them out by a zealous convicting and publike bearing witnesse against them by word and writing and that therefore such as have with too much tendernesse and complyance tolerated Errours Errour will one day grow up to that head that it will not tolerate or suffer them to speak truth We have â— Proverb here That the Devil is not so soon risen but Christ is up before him and if any of his precious servants have slept and lien longer a beâ— then their Master hath done and have not spokeâ— or printed soone enough for Iesus Christ in other matters