substance is come the signe or thing shadowing ceaseth And I say the Seventh-day-sabbath being so as a Seventh-day-sabbath it ceaseth also See again Exod. 31. 13 14. Ezek. 20. 12 21. Coloss. 2. 14. Nor do I find that our Protestant Writers notwithstanding their reverence of the Sabbath do conclude otherwise but that though time as to worshipping God must needs be contained in the bowels of the moral Law as moral yet they for good reasons forbear to affix the seventh day as that time there too They do it I say for good reasons reasons drawn from the Scripture or rather for that the Scripture draws them so to conclude yet they cast not away the morality of a Sabbath of rest to the Church It is to be granted then that time for Gods Worship abideth for ever but the seventh day vanishes as a shadow and sign because such indeed it was as the Scripture above cited declares as to the Sanction thereof as a Sabbath The Law of Nature then calls for Time but the God of Nature assigns it and has given power to his Son to continue SUCH time as himself shall by his eternal Wisdom judge most meet for the Churches of the Gentiles to solemnize Worship to God by him in Hence he is said to be Lord even of the sabbath day Matth. 12. 9. Sixthly I find by reading Gods Word that Paul by Authority Apostolical takes away the Sanctions of all the Jews Festivals and Sabbaths This is manifest for that he leaves the observation or non-observation of them as things indifferent to the Mind and Discretion of the Believers One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind Rom. 14. 5. By this last clause of the Verse Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind he doth plainly declare that such days are now stript of their Sanction For none of Gods Laws while they retain their Sanction are left to the will and mind of the believers as to whether they will observe them or no. Men I say are not left to their liberty in such a case for when a stamp of Divine Authority is upon a Law and abides so long we are bound not to our mind but to that Law But when a thing once sacred has lost its sanction then it falls as to Faith and Conscience among other common or indifferent things And so the Seventh-day-sabbath did Again Seventhly Thus Paul writes to the Church of Coloss. Let no man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of any holy day or of the new Moon or of the Sabbath which are a shadow of things to come but the body is Christ Coloss. 2. 16 17. Here also as he serveth other Holy-days he serveth the Sabbath He gives a liberty to believers to refuse the observation of it and commands that no man should judge against them for their so doing And as you read the reason of his so doing is because the body the substance is come Christ saith he is the Body or that which these things were a shadow or figure of The Body is Christ. Nor hath the Apostle since he saith or of the Sabbath one would th 〈…〉 left any hole out at which mens inventions could get but man has sought out many and so many he will use But again That the Apostle by this word Sabbath intends the Seventh-day-sabbath is clear for that it is by Moses himself counted for a sign as we have shewed and for that none of the other Sabbaths were a more clear shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ than this For that and that alone is called the Rest of God in it God rested from all his works Hence he calls it by way of eminency MY Sabbath and MY Holy-day Isai. 58. 13. Yet could that Rest be nothing else but typical for God never since the world began really rested but in his Son This is he saith God in whom I am well pleased This Sabbath then was Gods Rest typically and was given to Israel as a sign of his Grace towards them in Christ Wherefore when Christ was risen it ceased and was no longer of obligation to bind the Conscience to the observation thereof Or of the Sabbath He distinctly singleth out THIS Seventh day as that which was a most noble shadow a most exact shadow And then puts that with the other together saying they are a shadow of things to come and that Christ has answered them all The body is Christ. Eighthly No man will I think deny but that Heb. 4. 4. intends the Seventh-day-sabbath on which God rested from all his works for the Text doth plainly say so Yet may the observing Reader easily perceive that both it and the Rest of Canaan also made mention of vers 5. were typical as to a day made mention of vers 7 and 8. which day he calls another He would not afterwards have made mention of another day If Joshuah had given them rest he would not Now if they had not that Rest in Joshuah's days be sure they had it not by Moses for he was still before All the Rests therefore that Moses gave them and that Joshua gave them too were but typical of another day in which God would give them rest vers 9 10. And whether the day to come was Christ or Heaven it makes no matter 'T is enough that they before did fail as always Shadows do and that therefore mention by David is and that afterward made of another day There remains therefore a rest to the people of God A Rest to come of which the Seventh day in which God rested and the Land of Canaan was a type which Rest begins in Christ now and shall be consummated in glory And in that he saith There remains a Rest referring to that of David What is it if it signifies not that the other Rests remain not There remains therefore a Rest a Rest prefigured by the Seventh day and by the Rest of Canaan though they are fled and gone There remains a Rest a Rest which stands not now in signs or shadows in the Seventh day or Canaan but in the Son of God and his Kingdom to whom and to which the weary are invited to come for rest Isai. 28. 12. Matth. 11. 28. Heb. 4. 11. Yet this casts not out the Christians Holy-day or Sabbath For that was not ordained to be a Type or Shadow of things to come but to sanctifie the Name of their God in and to perform that worship to him which was also in a shadow signified by the ceremonies of the Law as the Epistle to the Hebrews doth plentifully declare And I say again the Seventh-day-sabbath cannot be it for the reasons shewed afore Ninthly Especially if you adde to all this that nothing of the ministration of Death written and engraven in stones is brought by Jesus or by his Apostles into the Kingdom of Christ as a part of his instituted
22 23. But these things as I said he did not of Conscience to the things for he knew that their sanction was gone Nor would he suffer them to be imposed upon the Churches directly or indirectly no not by Peter himself Gal. 2. Were I in Turkie with a Church of Jesus Christ I would keep the first day of the week to God and for the edification of his people And would also preach the Word to the Infidels on their Sabbath day which is our Friday and be glad too if I might have such opportunity to try to perswade them to a love of their own salvation Obj. But if the Seventh-day-sabbath is as you say to be laid aside by the Churches of the Gentiles Why doth Christ say to his Pray that your flight be not in the Winter nor on the Sabbath day For say some by this saying it appears that the old Seventh-day-sabbath as you have-called it will as to the Sanction of it abide in force after Christ is ascended into heaven Answ. I say first These words was spoken to the Jewish Christians not to the Gentile-churches And the reason of this first hint you will see clearer afterwards The Jews had several Sabbaths as their Seventh-day-sabbath their Monthly Sabbaths their Sabbath of Years and their Jubile Levit. 25. Now if he means their ordinary Sabbaths or that called the Seventh-day-sabbath why doth he joyn the Winter thereto for in that he joyneth the Winter with that Sabbath that he exhorteth them to pray their flight might not be in it should seem that the meaneth rather their Sabbath of Years or their Jubile which did better answer one to another than one day and a winter could And I say again that Christ should suppose that their flight should or might last some considerable part of a Winter and yet that then they should have their rest on those Seventh-day-sabbaths is a little besides my reason if it be considered again that the Gentiles before whom they were then to fly were Enemies to their Sabbath and consequently would take opportunity at their Sabbaths to afflict them so much the more Wherefore I would that they who plead for a continuation of the Seventh-day-sabbath from this Text would both better consider LT and the incoherence that seems to be betwixt such a Sabbath and a Winter But again were it granted that it is the Seventh-day-sabbath that Christ here intendeth yet since as we have proved the Sanction before this was taken away I mean before this flight should be he did not press them to pray thus because by any Law of Heaven they should then be commanded to keep it holy but because some would thorough their weakness have conscience of it till then And such would if their flight should happen thereon be as much grieved and perplexed as if it yet stood obligatory to them by a Law This seems to have some truth in it because among the Jews that believed there continued a long time many that were wedded yet to the Law to the ceremonial part thereof and was not so clearly Evangelized as the Churches of the Gentiles was Thou seest Brother said James to Paul how many thousands of the Jews there are that believe and they are all zealous of the Law Acts 15. 5. ch 21. 20. Of these and such weak unbelieving Jews perhaps Christ speaks when he gives this exhortation to them to pray thus whose Consciences he knew would be weak and being so would bind when they were entangled with an errour as fast as if it bound by a Law indeed Again though the Seventh-day-sabbath and Ceremonies lost their Sanction at the resurrection of Christ yet they retained some kind of being in the Church of the Jews until the desolation spoken of by Daniel should be Hence it is said that then the Oblation and Sacrifices shall cease Dan. 9. 27. And hence it is that Jerusalem and the Temple are still called the holy place even until this flight should be Matth. 24. 15. Now if Jerusalem and the Temple are still called holy even after the Body and Substance of which they were shadows was come then no marvel though some to that day that believed were entangled therewith c. For it may very well be supposed that all Conscience of them would not be quite taken away until all reason for that Conscience should be taken away also But when Jerusalem and the Temple and the Jews Worship by the Gentiles was quite extinct by ruines then in reason that Conscience did cease And it seems by some Texts that all Conscience to them was not taken away till then Quest. But what kind of being had the Seventh-day-sabbath and other Jewish Rites and Ceremonies that by Christs Resurrection was taken away Answ. These things had a vertual and a nominal being As to their vertual being that died that day Christ did rise from the dead they being crucified with him on the Cross Coloss. 2. But now when the vertual being was gone they still with the weak retained their name among many of the Jews that believed until the abomination that maketh desolate stood in the holy place for in Paul's time they were as to that but ready to vanish away Now I say they still retaining their nominal grandeur though not by vertue of a Law they could not till Time and Dispensation came be swept out of the way We will make what hath been said as to this out by a familiar similitude There is a Lord or great man dies now being dead he has lost his vertual life He has now no relation to a Wife to Children vertually yet his Name still abides and that in that Family to which otherwise he is dead Wherefore they embalm him and also keep him above ground for many days Yea he is still reverenced by those of the family and that in several respects Nor doth any thing but time and dispensation wear this name away Thus then the Old Testament-signs and shadows went off the stage in the Church of Christ among the Jews They lost their vertue and signification when Christ nailed them to his Cross Coloss. 2. But as to their Name and the Grandeur that attended that it continued with many that were weak and vanished not but when the abomination that made them desolate came The sum then and conclusion of the matter is this the Seventh-day-sabbath lost its glory when that Ministration in which it was lost its But yet the name thereof might abide a long time with the Jowish legal Christians and so might become obligatory still though not by the Law to their Conscience even as Circumcision and other Ceremonies did and to them it would be as grievous to fly on that day as if by Law it was still in force For I say to a weak Conscience that Law which has lost its life may yet thorough their ignorance be as binding as if it stood still upon the authority of God Things then become obligatory these
is the sanction of the day in which they were to be performed I would gradly see the place if it is to be found where 't is said That day retains its sanction which yet has lost that method of service which was of God appointed for the performance of worship to him thereon When Canaan-worship fell the Sanction of Canaan fell When Temple-worship and Altar-worship and the Sacrifices of the Levitical Priesthood fell down also came the things themselves Likewise so when the service or shadow and ceremonies of the Seventh-day-sabbath fell the Seventh-day-Sabbath fell likewise On the Seventh-day-sabbath as I told you Manna was not to be found But why for that that day was of Moses and of the Ministration of death But Manna was was not of him Moses saith Christ gave you not that bread from Heaven Joh. 6. 31 32. Moses as was said gave that Sabbath in Tables of stone and God gave that Manna from Heaven Christ nor his Father gives grace by the Law no not by that Law in which is contained the old seventh-day-Seventh-day-sabbath it self The Law is not of Faith why then should Grace be by Christians expected by observation of the Law The Law even the Law written and engraven in stones enjoyns perfect obedience thereto on pain of the curse of God Nor can that part of it now under consideration according as is required be fulfilled by any man was the Ceremony thereto belonging allowed to be laid aside Isai. 58. 13. Never man yet did keep it perfectly except he whose name is Jesus Christ in him therefore we have kept it and by him are set free from that Law and brought under the ministration of the Spirit But why should we be bound to seek Manna on that day on which God saies None shall be found Perhaps it will said that the sanction of THAT day would not admit that Manna should be gathered on it But that was not all for on that day there was none to be found And might I chuse I had rather sanctific that day to God on which I might gather this bread of God all day long than set my mind at all upon that in which no such bread was to be had The Lords day as was said is to the Christians the principal Manna-day On this day even on it Manna in the morning very early gathered was by the Disciples of our Lord as newly springing out of the ground The true bread of God The sheaf of First-fruits which is Christ from the dead was ordained to be waved before the Lord on the morrow after the Sabbath the day on which our Lord ceased from his own OWN Work as God did from HIS Levit. 23. Now therefore the Disciples found their green Ears of Corn indeed Now they read life both IN and OUT of the Sepulchre in which the Lord was laid Now they could not come together nor speak one to another but either their Lord was with them or they had heart-enflaming tidings from him Now cries one and says The Lord is risen And then another and says He hath appeared to such and such Now comes tidings to the Eleven that their women was early at the Sepulchre where they had a Vision of Angels that told them their Lord was risen Then comes another and says The Lord is risen indeed Two also comes from Emmaus and cries We have seen the Lord and by and by while they yet were speaking their Lord shews himself in the midst of them Now he calls to their mind some of the eminent passages of his life and eats and drinks in their presence and opens the Scriptures to them Yea and opens their Understanding too that their hearing might not be unprofitable to them all which continued from early in the morning till late at night Oh! what a Manna-day was this to the Church And more than all this you will find if you read but the four Evangelists upon this Subject Thus began the day after the Sabbath and thus it has continued thorough all Ages to this very day Never did the Seventh-day-sabbath yield Manna to Christians A new world was now begun with the poor Church of God for so said the Lord of the Sabbath Behold I make all things new A new Covenant and why not then a new resting-day to the Church or why must the old Sabbath be joyned to this new Ministration let him that can shew a reason for it Christians if I have not been so large upon things as some might expect know that my brevity on this Subject is from consideration that much needs not be spoken thereto and because I may have occalion to write a second Part. Christians beware of being entangled with Old Testament Miniserations left ' by ' one you be brought into many Inconveniencies I have observed that though the Jewish Rites have lost their Sanction yet some that are weak in Judgement do bring themselves into bondage by them Yea so high have some been carried as to a pretended Conscience to these that they have at last proceeded to Circumcision to many Wives and the observation of many bad things besides Yea I have talked with some pretending to Christianity who have said and affirmed as well as they could that the Jewish Sacrifices must up again But do you give no heed to these Jewish Fables That turn from the truth Tit. 1. 14. Do you I say that love the Lord Jesus keep close to his Testament his Word his Gospel and observe HIS Holy-day And this Caution in conclusion I would give to put stop to this Jewish Ceremony to wit That a Seventh-day-Sabbath pursued according to its imposition by Law and I know not that it is imposed by the Apostles leads to bloud and stoning to death those that do but gather Sticks thereon Numb 15. 32 33 34 35 36. A thing which no way becomes the Gospel that Ministration of the Spirit and of Righteousness 2 Cor. 3. nor yet the professors thereof Luke 9. 54 55 56. Nor can it with fairness be said that that Sabbath day remains though the Law thereof is repealed For consident I am that there is no more ground to make such a conclusion than there is to say that Circumcision is still of force though the Law for cutting of the uncircumcised is by the Gospel made null and void I told you also in the Epistle That if the Fifth Commandment was the first that was with promise then it follows that the Fourth or that Seventh-day-Sabbath had no promise intailed to it Whence it follows that where you read in the Prophet of a Promise annexed to a Sabbath it is best to understand it of our Gospel-Sabbath Isai. 56. Now if it be asked What Promise is intailed to our First-day-sabbath I answer The bigest of Promises For First The Resurrection of Christ was tyed by Promise to this day and to none other He rose the Third day after his death and that was the First day of the week
at his door This was it of which he stood guilty before God namely That his brothers bloud cried unto God against him from the ground Gen. 4. 10. I therefore take little notice of what a man saith though he flourisheth his matter with many brave words if he bring not with him Thus saith the Lord. For that and that onely ought to be my ground of Faith as to how my God would be worshipped by me For in the matters material to the Worship of God 't is safest that thus I be guided in my Judgement for here onely I perceive the footsteps of the Flock Ezek. 3. 11. Song 1. 8. They say further that for God to sanctifie a thing is to set it apart This being true then it follows that the Seventh-day-Sabbath was sanctified that is set apart for Adam in Paradise and so that it was ordained a Sabbath of rest to the Saints from the beginning But I answer as I hinted before that God did sanctifie it to his own rest The Lord also hath set apart him that is godly for himself But again 't is one thing for God to sanctifie this or that thing to an use and another thing to command that that thing be forthwith in being to us As for instance the Land of Canaan was set apart many years for the Children of Israel before they possessed that Land Christ Jesus was long sanctified that is set apart to be our Redeemer before he sent him into the world Deut. 32. 8. Joh. 10. 36. If then by Gods sanctifying of the Seventh day for a Sabbath you understand it for a Sabbath for man but the Text saith not so yet it might be so set apart for man long before it should be as such made known unto him And that the Seventh-day-Sabbath was not as yet made known to men consider Secondly Moses himself seems to have the knowledge of it at first not by Tradition but by Revelation as it is Exod. 16. 23. This is that saith he that the Lord hath said namely to me for we read not as yet that he said it to any body else To morrow is the Sabbath of the holy rest unto the Lord. Also holy Nehemiah suggesteth this when he saith of Israel to God Thou madest known to them thy holy sabbaths Neh. 9. 14. The first of these Texts shew us that tidings of a Seventh-day-Sabbath for men came first to Moses from Heaven and the second that it was to Israel before unknown But how could be either the one or the other if the Seventh day-day-Sabbath was taught men by the Light of Nature which is the moral Law or if from the beginning it was given to men by a positive Precept for to be kept This therefore strengthning my doubt about the affirmative of the first Question and also prepareth an Argument for what I plead as to this we have now under consideration Thirdly This yet seems to me more scrupulous because that the punishment due to the breach of the Seventh-day-Sabbath was hid from men to the time of Moses as is clear for that 't is said of the breaker of the Sabbath They put him in ward because it was not as yet declared what should be done unto him Numb 15. 32 33 34 35 36. But methinks had this Seventh-day-Sabbath been imposed upon men from the beginning the penalty or punishment due to the breach thereof had certainly been known before now When Adam was forbidden to eat of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil the Penalty was then if he disobeyed annexed to the Prohibition So also it was as to Circumcision the Passover and other Ordinances for Worship How then can it be thought that the Seventh-day-Sabbath should be imposed upon men from the beginning and that the Punishment for the breach thereof should be hid with God for the space of Two thousand years Gen. 2. 16 17. ch 17. 13 14. Exod. 12. 43 44 45 46 47 48. and the same Chapter vers 19. Fourthly Gods giving of the Seventh-day-Sabbath was with respect to stated and stinted Worship in his Church the which until the time of Moses was not set up among his people Things till then were adding or growing Now a Sacrifice then Circumcision then again long after that the Passover c. But when Israel was come into the Wilderness there to receive as Gods Congregation a stated stinted limited way of Worship then he appoints them a time and times to perform this Worship in but as I said afore before that it was not so as the whole five Books of Moses plainly shew wherefore the Seventh-day-Sabbath as such a limited day cannot be Moral or of the Law of Nature nor imposed till then And methinks Christ Jesus and his Apostles do plainly enough declare this very thing For that when they repeat unto the people or expound before them the Moral Law they quite exclude the Seventh-day-Sabbath Yea Paul makes that Law to us compleat without it We will first touch upon what Christ doth in this case As in his Sermon upon the Mount Matthew chap. 5. chap. 6. chap. 7. in all that large and heavenly Discourse upon this Law you have not one syllable about the Seventh-day-Sabbath So when the Young man came running and kneeling and asking what good thing he should do to inherit eternal Life Christ bids him keep the Commandments but when the Young man asked which Christ quite leaves out the seventh day and puts him upon the other As in Matth. 19. 17 18 19. As in Mark 10. 18 19 20. As in Luke 18. 18 19 20. You will say he left out the first and second and third likewise To which I say that was because the Young man by his Question did presuppose that he had been a doer of them For he profess'd in his Supplication that he was a lover of that which is naturally good which is God in that his Petition was so universal for every thing which he had commanded Paul also when he makes mention of the moral Law quite leaves out of that the very name of the Seventh-day-Sabbath and professeth that to us Christians the Law of Nature is compleat without it As in Rom. 3. 7 19. As in Rom. 13. 7 8 9 10. As in 1 Tim. 1. 8 9 10 11. He that loveth another saith he hath fulfilled the law For this Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended under this saying Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Love worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law I make not an Argument of this but take an occasion to mention it as I go But certainly had the Seventh-day-Sabbath been moral or of the Law of Nature as some would fain perswade themselves it would not so slenderly have been passed over in all these repetitions of this Law but would by Christ
or his Apostles have been pressed upon the people when so fair an opportunity as at these times offered it self unto them But they knew what they did and wherefore they were so silent as to the mention of a Seventh-day-sabbath when they so well talked of the Law as moral Fifthly Moses and the Prophet Ezekel both do fully confirm what has been insinuated by us to wit that the Seventh day as a Sabbath was not imposed upon men until Israel was brought into the Wilderness 1. Moses saith to Israel Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm therefore the Lord thy God commandeth thee to keep the sabbath day Yea he tells us that the Covenant which God made with them in Horeb that written in stones was not made with their forefathers to wit Abraham Isaac and Jacob but with them Deut. 5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. 2. Ezekel also is punctual as to this I caused them saith God by that Prophet to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness And I gave them my statutes and shewed them my judgements which if a man do he shall even live in them Moreover I gave them my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth them Ezek. 20. 10 11 12 13. Exod. 20. 8 ch 31. 13. ch 35. 2. What can be more plain And these to be sure are two notable witnesses of God who as you see do joyntly concur in this to wit that it was not from Paradise nor from the Fathers but from the Wilderness and from Sinai that men received the Seventh-day-sabbath to keep it holy True it was Gods Sabbath before for on the first Seventh day we read that God rested thereon and sanctified it Hence he calls it in the first place MY Sabbath I gave them MY Sabbath But it seems 't was not given to the Church till he had brought them into the Wilderness But I say if it had been moral it had been natural to man and by the Light of Nature men would have understood it even both before it was and otherwise But of this you see we read nothing either by positive Law or countenanced Example or any other way but rather the flat contrary to wit That Moses had the knowledge of it first from Heaven not by Tradition That Israel had it not of or from their Fathers but in the Wilderness from him to wit Moses after he had brought them out of the Land of Egypt And that that whole Law in which this seventh-day-Seventh-day-sabbath is placed was given for the bounding and better ordering of them in their Church-state for their time till the Messias should come and put by a better Ministration this out of his Church as we shall further shew anon The Seventh-day-sabbath therefore was not from Paradise not from Nature nor from the Fathers but from the Wilderness and from Sinai QUEST III. Whether when the Seventh-day-Sabbath was given to Israel in the Wilderness the Gentiles as such was concerned therein BEfore I shew my ground for this Question I must also first premise That the Gentiles as such were then without the Church of God and pale thereof consequently had nothing to do with the essentials or necessary circumstances of that Worship which God had set up for himself now among the children of Israel Now then for the ground of the Question First we read not that God gave it to any but to the Seed of Jacob. Hence it is said to Israel and to Israel onely The Lord hath given you his Sabbaths And again I also gave them my Sabbaths Exod. 16. 29. Ezek. 2. 5 12. Now if the gift of the Seventh-day-sabbath was onely to Israel as these Texts do more than seem to say then to the Gentiles as such it was not given Unless any shall conclude that God by thus doing preferred the Jew to a state of Gentilism or that he bestowed on them by thus doing some high Gentile Priviledge But this would be very fictious For to lay aside reason the Text always as to preference did set the Jew in the first of places Rom. 2. 10 nor was his giving the Seventh-day-sabbath to them but a signe and token thereof But the great Objection is Because the Seventh-day-sabbath is found amongst the rest of those Precepts which is so commonly called the Moral Law for thence it is concluded to be of a perpetual duration But I Answer That neither that as given on Sinai is moral I mean as to the manner and ends of its Ministration of which God permitting we shall say more in our Answer to the fourth Question whither I direct you for satisfaction But Secondly The Gentiles could not be concerned as such with Gods giving of a Seventh-day-sabbath to Israel because as I have shewed before it was given to Israel considered as a Church of God Acts 7. 31. Nor was it given to them as such but with Rites and Ceremonies thereto belonging so Levit. 24. 5 6 7 8 9. Numb 28. 9 10. Neh. 13. 22. Ezek. 46. 4. Now I say if this Sabbath hath Ceremonies thereto belonging and if these Ceremonies were essential to the right keeping of the Sabbath And again if these Ceremonies were given to Israel onely excluding all but such as were their Proselytes then this Sabbath was given to them as excluding the Gentiles as such But if it had been Moral the Gentiles could assoon have been deprived of their Nature as of a Seventh-day-sabbath though the Jews should have appropriated it unto themselves onely Again to say that God gave this Seventh-day-sabbath to the Gentiles as such and yet so he must if it be of the moral Law is as much as to say that God hath ordained that that Sabbath should be kept by the Gentiles without but by the Jews not without her Ceremonies And what Conclusion will follow from hence but that God did at one and the same time set up two sorts of acceptable Worships in the world one among the Jews another among the Gentiles But how ridiculous such a thought would be and how repugnant to the wisdom of God you may easily perceive Yea what a diminution would this be to Gods Church that then was for one to say the Gentiles were to serve God with more liberty than the Jew For the Law was a Yoak and yet the Gentile is called the Dog and said to be without God in the world Deut. 7. 7. Psal. 147. 19 20. Matth. 15. 26. Eph. 2. 11 12. Thirdly When the Gentiles at the Jews return from Babylon came and offered their Wares to sell to the Children of Israel at Jerusalem on this Sabbath yea and sold them to them too yet not they but the Jews were rebuked as the onely breakers of that Sabbath
also entred into his Rest having by his rising again finished his Work viz. made a Conquest over the Powers of darkness and brought Life and Immortality to light through his so doing So then that being the day of the Rest of the Son of God it must needs be the day of the Rest of his Churches also For God gave his resting day to his Church to be a Sabbath and Christ rested from his own works as God did from his therefore he also gave the day in which he rested from his Works a Sabbath to the Churches as did the Father Not that there are TWO Sabbaths at once The Fathers was imposed for a time even until the Son's should come yea as I have shewed you even in the very time of its imposing it was also ordained to be done away Hence he saith that Ministration was to be done away 2 Cor. 3. Therefore we plead not for two Sabbaths to be at one time but that a succession of time was ordained to the New Testament-Saints or Churches of the Gentiles to worship God in which time is that in which the Son rested from his own Works as God did from his Secondly Hence he calls himself The Lord even of the Sabbath day as Luke 5. Matth. 12. shews Now to be a LORD is to have Dominion Dominion over a thing and so power to alter or change it according to that power and where is he that dares say Christ has not this absolutely We will therefore conclude that it is granted on all hands he hath The Question then is Whether he he hath exercised that power to the demolishing or removing of the Jews Seventh day and establishing another in its room The which I think is easily answered in that he did not rest from his own Works therein but chose for his own Rest to himself another day Surely had the Lord Jesus intended to have established the Seventh day to the Churches of the Gentiles he would himself in the first place have rested from his own Works therein but since he passed by that day and took no notice of it as to the finishing of his own Works as God took notice of it when he had finished his it remains that he fixed upon another day even the First of the Week on which by his rising again and shewing himself to his Disciples before his Passion he made it manifest that he had chosen as Lord of the Sabbath that day for his own Rest. Consequently and for the Rest of his Churches and for his Worship to be solemnized in Thirdly And on THIS day some of the Saints that slept arose and began their eternal Sabbath Matth. 27. 52 53. See how the Lord Jesus had glorified this day Never was such a stamp of divine Honour put upon any other day no not since the world began And the graves were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of their graves after his resurrection c. That is they rose as soon as he was risen But why was not all this done on the Seventh day No that day was set apart that Saints might adore God for the works of Creation and that Saints thorough that might look for Redemption by Christ But now a work more glorious than that is to be done and therefore another day is assigned for the doing of it in A work I say of Redemption compleated a day therefore by it self must be assigned for this and some of the Saints to begin their eternal Sabbath with God in Heaven therefore a day by it self must be appointed for this Yea and that this day might not want that glory that might attract the most dim-sighted Christian to a desire after the sanction of it the Resurrection of Christ and also of those Saints met together on it Yea they both did begin their eternal rest thereon Fourthly The Psalmist speaks of a day that the Lord Jehovah the Son of God has made and saith We will rejoyce and be glad in it But what day is this Why the day in which Christ was made the head of the corner which must be applied to the day in which he was raised from the dead which is the first of the Week Hence Peter saith to the Jews when he treateth of Christ before them and particularly of his Resurrection This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders which is become the head of thâ— corner He was set at nought bâ— them the whole course of his Ministry unto his death and was mad the head of the Corner by God that day he rose from the dead This day therefore is the day that thâ— Lord Jehovah has made a day oâ— rejoycing to the Church of Christ and we will rejoyce and be glad iâ— it For can it be imagined that the Spirit by the Prophet should thus signalize this day for nothing saying This is the day which the Lord hath made to no purpose Yes you may say for the resurrection of his Son But I adde that that is not all 't is a day that the Lord has both made for that and that we might rejoyce and be glad in it Rejoyce that is before the Lord while solemn divine Worship is performed on it by all the people that shall partake of the Redemption accomplished then Fifthly God the Father again leaves such another stamp of divine note and honour upon this day as he never before did leave upon any where he saith to our Lord Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Acts 13. 33. still I say having respect to the first day of the week for that and no other is the day here intended by the Apostle This day saith God is the day And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead now no more to return to corruption he saith on this wise I will give thee the sure mercies of David wherefore he saith in another Psalm Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption Wherefore the day in which God did this work is greater than that in which he finished the work of Creation for his making of the Creation saved it not from corruption but now he hath done a work which corruption cannot touch wherefore the day on which he did this haâ— this note from his own mouth This day as a day that doth transcend And as I said this day is the Firâ—â— of the Week for 't was in that daâ— that God begat his beloved So from the dead This first day oâ— the week therefore on it God founâ— that pleasure which he found not iâ— the Seventh day from the World Creation for that in it his Son did live again to him Now shall not Christians when they do read that God saith This day and that too with reference to a work done on it by him so full of delight to him and so full of life and Heaven to them set also a remark upon it saying This was the
day of Gods pleasure for that his Son did rise thereon and shall it not be the day of my delight in him This is the day in which his Son was both begotten and born and became the first-Fruits to God of them that sleep yea and in which also he was made by him the chief and head of the corner and shall not we rejoyce in it Acts 13. 33. Heb. 1. 5. Coloss. 1. 18. Revel 1. 5. Shall Kings and Princes and Great men set a remark upon the day of their Birth and Coronation and expect that both Subjects and Servants should do them high honour on that day and shall the day in which Christ was both begotten and born be a day contemned by Christians and his Name not be but of a common regard on that day I say again Shall God as with his finger point and that in the face of the world at this day saying Thou art my Son this day c. and shall not Christians fear and awake from their employments to worship the Lord on this day If God remembers it well may I If God says and that with all gladness of heart Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee may not ought not I also to set this day apart to sing the songs of my Redemption in This day my Redemption was finished This day my dear Jesus revived This day he was declared to be the Son of God with power Yea this is the day in which the Lord Jesus finished a greater work than ever yet was done in the world yea a work in which the Father himself was more delighted than he was in making of Heaven Earth And shall Darkness and the shadow of Death stain this day Or shall a Cloud dwell on this day Shall God regard this day from above and shall not his Light shine upon this day What shall be done to them that curse this day and would not that the Stars should give their light thereon This day after this day was come God never that we read of made mention with delight of the old Seventh-day-sabbath more Sixthly Nor is that altogether to be slighted when he saith When he bringeth his first begotten into the world Let all the Angels of God worship him to wit at that very time and day Heb. 1. 6. I know not what our Expositors say of this Text but to me it seems to be meant of his Resurrection from the dead both because the Apostle is speaking of that vers 5. and closes that Argument with this Text Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again I will be his Father and he shall be my Son And again when he bringeth his first-begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him So then for Gods bringing of his first-begotten now into the world was by his raising him again from the dead after they by crucifying of him had turned him out of the same Thus then God brought him into the world never by them to be hurried out of it again For Christ being now raised from the dead dies no more death hath no more dominion over him Now saith the Text when he bringeth him thus into the world he requireth that worship be done unto HIM When that very day and that by all the Angels of God And if by ALL then Ministers are not excluded and if not Ministers then not Churches for what is said to the Angel is said to the Church it self Rev. 2. 1 7. ch 2. 8 11. ch 2. 12 17. ch 2. 18 29. ch 3. 1 6. ch 3. 7 13. ch 3. 14 and 22. So then if the Question be asked when they must worship him the Answer is When he brought him into the world which was on the first day of the week for then he bringeth him again from the dead and gave the whole World and the Government thereof into his holy hand This Text therefore is of weight as to what we have now under consideration to wit that the First day of the Week the day in which God brought his First-begotten into the world should be the day of worshipping him by all the Angels of God Seventhly Hence this day is called the Lords day as John saith I was in the spirit on the Lords day the day in which he rose from the dead Rev. 1. 10. The Lords day Every day say some is the Lords day Indeed this for discourse-sake may be granted but strictly no day can so properly by called the Lords day as this First day of the week for that no day of the Week or of the Year has those badges of the Lords glory upon it nor such divine Grace put upon it us has the First day of the Week This we have already made appear in part and shall make appear much more before we have done therewith There is nothing as I know of that bears this title but the Lords Supper and this day 1 Cor. 11 20. Rev. 1. 10. And since Christians count it an abuse to allegorize the first let them also be ashamed to santasticalize the last The Lords day is doubtless the day in which he rose from the dead To be sure it is not the old Seventh day for from the day that he arose to the end of the Bible we find not that he did hang so much as one twist of glory upon that but this day is beautified with glory upon glory and that both by the Father and the Son by the Prophets and those that were raised from the dead thereon therefore THIS day must be more than the rest But we are as yet but upon divine Intimations drawn from such Texts which if candidly considered do very much smile upon this great truth namely that the First day of the week is to be accounted the Christian Sabbath or Holy day for Divine Worship in the Churches of the Saints And now I come to the Texts that are more express Secondly then First This was the day in the which he did use to shew himself to his people and to congregate with them after he rose from the dead On the first first day even on the day on which he rose from the dead he visited his people both when together and apart over and over and over as both Luke and John do testifie Luk. 24. Joh. 2. And preached such sermons of his resurrection and gave unto them yea and gave them such demonstration of the truth of-all as was never given them from the foundation of the world Shewing he shewed them his risen body opening he opened their Understandings and dissipating he so scattered their Unbelief on THIS day as he never had done before And this continued one way or another even from before day until the evening Secondly On the next first day following the Church was within again that is congregated to wait upon their Lord. And John so relates the matter as to give us to understand that
they were not so assembled together again till then After eight days saith he again the Disciples were within clearly concluding that they were not so on the days that were between no not on the old Seventh day Now why should the Holy Ghost thus precisely speak of their assembling together upon the first day if not to confirm us in this that the Lord had chosen that day for the new Sabbath of his Church Surely the Apostles knew what they did in their meeting together upon that day yea and the Lord Jesus also for that he used SO to visit them when SO assembled made his practice a Law unto them For Practice is enough for us New Testament Saints specially when the Lord Jesus himself is in the head of that practice and that after he rose from the dead Perhaps some may stumble at the word after after eight days but the meaning is at the conclusion of the eighth day or when they had spent in a manner the whole of their Sabbath in waiting upon their Lord then in comes their Lord and finisheth that their days service to him with confirming of Thomas's faith and by letting drop other most heavenly treasure among them Christ said he must lie three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth yet 't is evident that he rose the third day 1 Cor. 15. 4. We must take then a part for the whole and conclude that from the time that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead to the time that he shewed his Hands and his Side to Thomas eight days were almost expired that is he had sanctified unto them two first days and had accepted that service they had performed to him therein as he testified by giving of them so blessed a farewel at the conclusion of both those days Hence now we conclude that this was the custom of the Church at this day to wit upon the first day of the week to meet together and to wait upon their Lord therein For the Holy Ghost counts it needless to make a continued repetition of things 't is enough therefore if we have now and then mention made thereof Obj. But Christ shewed himself alive to them at other times also as in Joh. 21 c. Answ. The names of all those days in which he so did are obliterate and blotted out that they might not be idolized for Christ did not set them apart for worship but this day the first day of the Week by its name is kept alive in the Church the Holy Ghost surely signifying thus much that how hidden soever other days were Christ would have his day the first day had in everlasting remembrance among Saints Churches also meet together now on the Week-days and have the presence of Christ with them too in their employments but that takes not off from them the sanction of the first day of the Week no more than it would take away the sanction of the old Seventh day had it still continued holy to them wherefore this is no let or objection to hinder our sanctifying of the first day of the Week to our God But Thirdly Adde to this that upon Pentecost which was the first day of the Week mention is made of their being together again For Pentecost was always the morrow after the Sabbath the old Seventh-day-sabbath Upon this day I say the Holy Ghost saith they were again with one accord together in one place But oh the glory that then attended them by the presence of the Holy Ghost among them Never was such a thing done as was done on that first day till then We will read the Text And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire And it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 1 2 3 4. Here 's a first day glorified Here 's a countenance given to the day of their Christian assembling But we will note a few things upon it First The Church was now as on other first days all with one accord in one place We read not that they came together by vertue of any precedent Revelation nor by Accident but contrarywise by Agreement they was to gather with one accord or by appointment in pursuance of their duty setting apart that day as they had done the first days afore to the holy service of their blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Secondly We read that this meeting of theirs was not begun on the old Sabbath but when Pentecost was fully come the Holy Ghost intimating that they had left now and begun to leave the Seventh-day-sabbath to the unbelieving Jews Thirdly Nor did the Holy Ghost come down upon them till every moment of the old Sabbath was past Pentecost as was said was FULLY come first And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and then c. And why was not this done on the Seventh-day-sabbath but possibly to shew that the Ministration of Death and Condemnation was not that by or thorough which Christ the Lord would communicate so good a gift unto his Churches Gal. 3. 1 2 3 4. This Gift must be referred to the Lords day the first day of the week to fulfil the Scripture and to sanctifie yet further this holy day unto the use of all New Testament Churches of the Saints For since on the first day of the week our Lord did rise from the dead and by his special presence I mean his personal did accompany his Church therein and SO preach as he did his holy truths unto them it was most meet that they on the same day also should receive the first-fruits of their eternal Life most gloriously And I say again since from the resurrection of Christ to this day the Church then did receive upon the first day but as we read upon no other such glorious things as we have mentioned it is enough to beget in the hearts of them that love the Son of God a high esteem of the first day of the week But how much more when there shall be joyned to these proof that it was the custom of the first Gospel-Church the Church of Christ at Jerusalem after our Lord was risen to assemble together to wait upon God on the first day of the Week with their Lord as leader To say little more to this head but onely to repeat what is written of this day of old to wit that it should be proclaimed the self same day to wit the morrow after the Sabbath which is the first day of the Week that it may be an holy convocation unto you you shall do no servile work therein it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings Levit. 23. 16 17 18
the Apostle speaks here as I have hinted afore of a Church-collection When is it more fit to be done than when the Church is come together upon the first day of the Week to worship God 2. This part of Worship is most comely to be done upon the first day of the week and that at the close of that days work For thereby the Church shews not onely her thankfulness to God for a Sabbath-days mercy but also returneth him by giving to the Poor that Sacrifice for their benefit that is most behoveful to make manifest their professed subjection to Christ Prov. 19. 17. 2 Cor. 9. 12 13 14 15. It is therefore necessary that this work be done on the first day of the week for a comely close of the worship that we perform to the Lord our God on that day 3. On the first day of the week when the Church is performing of holy worship unto God then that of Collection for the Saints is most meet to be performed because then in all likelihood our hearts will be most warm with the divine Presence consequently most open and free to contribute to the necessity of the Saints You know that a man when his heart is open is taken with some excellent thing then if at all it is most free to do something for the promoting thereof Why waiting upon God in the way of his appointments opens and makes freâ— the heart to the Poor And because the first day of the week was it in which now such solemn Service to him was done therefore also the Apostle commanded that upon the same day also as on a day most fit this duty of collecting for the Poor should be done For the Lord loves a cheerful giver 2 Cor. 9. 6 7. Wherefore the Apostle by this takes the Churches as it were at the advantage and as we say while the Iron is hot to the intent he might what in him lay make their Gollections not sparing nor of a grudging mind but to flow from cheerfulness And the first day of the week though its institution was set aside doth most naturally tend to this because it is the day the onely day in which we received such blessings from God Acts 3. 26. This is the day on which at first it rained Manna all day long from Heaven upon the New Testament-Church and so continues to do this day Oh! the resurrection of Christ which was on this day and the riches that we receive thereby Though it should be and is I hope thought on every day yet when the First of the week is fully come Then To day This day This is the day to be warmed this day he was begotten from the dead The thought of this will do much with an honest mind This is the day I say that the first Saints DID find and that after-Saints DO find the blessings of God come down upon them and therefore this is the day here commanded to be set apart for holy Duties And although what I have said may be but little set by of some yet for a closing word as to this I do think could but half so much be produced from the day Christ rose from the dead quite down for the sanction of a Seventh-day-sabbath in the Churches of the Gentiles it would much sway with me But the truth is neither doth the Apostle Paul nor any of his fellows so much as once speak one word to the Churches that shews the least regard as to conscience to God of a Seventh-day-sabbath more No the first day the first day the first day is now all the cry in the Churches by the Apostles for the performing Church-worship in to God Christ began it on THAT day Then the Holy Ghost seconded it on THAT day Then the Churches practised it on THAT day And to conclude the Apostle by the command now under consideration continues the sanction of THAT day to the Churches to the end of the world But as to the old Seventh-day-sabbath as hath been said afore in this Treatise Paul who is the Apostle of the Gentiles has so taken away that whole Ministration in the bowels of which it is yea and has so stript it of its Old Testament-grandeur both by Terms and Arguments that it is strange to me it should by any be still kept up in the Churches specially since the same Apostle and that at the same time has put a better Ministration in its place 2 Cor. 3. But when the Consciences of good men are captivated with an errour none can stop them from a prosecution thereof as if it were it self of the best of truths Obj. But Paul preached frequently on the old Sabbath and that after the Resurrection of Christ. Answ. To the unbelieving Jews and their Proselytes I grant he did But we read not that he did it to any New Testament-Church on that day nor did he celebrate the instituted worship of Christ in the Churches on that day For Paul who had before cast out the Ministration of death as that which had no glory would not now take thereof any part for New Testament instituted worship for he knew that that would veil the Heart and blind the Mind from that which yet instituted Worship was ordained to discover He preached then on the Seventh-day-sabbath of a divine and crafty love to the salvation of the unbelieving Jews I say he preached now on that day to them and their Proselytes because that day was theirs by their estimation He did it I say of great love to their Souls that if possible he might save some of them Wherefore it you observe you shall still find that where 't is said that he preached on that day it was to that people not to the Churches of Christ. See Acts 9. 20. ch 13. 14 15 16. ch 16. 13. ch 17. 1 2 3. ch 18. 4. Thus though he had put away â—e sanction of that day as to himself and had left the Christians that were weak to their liberty as to conscience to it yet he takes occasion upon it to preach to the Jews that still were wedded to it the Faith that they might be saved by Grace Paul did also many other things that were Jewish and Ceremonial for which he had as then no conscience at all as to any Sanction that he believed was in them As his Circumcising of Timothy His Shaving of his Head His submitting to Jewish Purifications His acknowledging of himself a Pharisee His implicite owning of Ananias for High Priest after Christ was risen from the dead Acts 16. 1 2 3. chap. 18. 18. chap. 21. 24 25 26. chap. 23. 6. chap. 23. 1 2 3 4 5. He tells us also that to the Jew he became as a Jew that he might save the Jew And without Law to them that were without Law that also he might gain them Yea he became as he saith all things to all men that he might gain the more as it is 1 Cor. 9. 19 20 21
two ways 1. By an Institution of God 2. By the over-ruling power of a mans misinformed Conscience And although by vertue of an institution Divine Worship is acceptable to God by Christ yet Conscience will make that a man shall have but little ease if such rules and dictates as it imposes be not observed by him This is my answer upon a supposition that the Seventh-day-sabbath is in this Text intended and the answer I think stands firm and good Also there remains notwithstanding this Objection no divine Sanction in or upon the old Seventh-day-sabbath Some indeed will urge that Christ here meant the first day of the week which here he puts under the term of Sabbath But this is forein to me so I wave it till I receive more satisfaction in the thing Quest. But if indeed the first day of the week be the new Christian Sabbath why is there no more spoken of its iustitution in the Testament of Christ Answ. No more What need is there of more than enough yea there is a great deal found in the Testament of the Lord Jesus to prove its Authority Divine 1. For we have shewed from sundry Scriptures that from the very day our Lord did rise from the dead the Church at Jerusalem in which the Twelve Apostles were did meet together on that day and had the Lord himself for their Preacher while they were auditors and thus the day began 2. We have shewed that the Holy Ghost the Third person in the Trinity did second this of Christ in coming down from Heaven upon this day to manage the Apostles in their preaching and in that very day so managed them in that work that by his help they then did bring Three thousand Souls to God 3. We have shewed also that after this the Gentile-Churches did solemnize this day for holy Worship and that they had from Paul both Countenance and Order so to do And now I will adde that more need not be spoken For the practice of the first Church with their Lord in the head of them to manage them in that practice is as good as many Commands What then shall we say when we see a first Practice turned into holy Custom I say moreover that though a Seventh-day-sabbath is not natural to man as man yet our Christian Holy day is natural to us as Saints if our Consciences are not clogged before with some old Fables or Jewish Customs But if an old Religion shall get footing and rooting in us though the grounds thereof be vanished away yet the man concerned will be hard put to it should he be saved to get clear of his clouds and devote himself to that service of God which is of his own prescribing Luther himself though he saw many things were without ground which he had received for truth had yet work hard enough as himself intimates to get his Conscience clear from all those roots and strings of inbred errour But I say to an untainted and well-bred Christian we have good measure shaken together and running over for our Christian Lords day And I say again that the first day of the week and the spirit of such a Christian sute one another as nature suteth nature for there is as it were a natural instinct in Christians as such when they understand what in a first day was brought forth to fall in therewith to keep it holy to their Lord. 1. The first day of the week why it was the day of our life After two days he will revive us and in the third day we shall live in his sight After two days there is the Jews preparation and Seventh-day-sabbath quite passed over and in the third day that 's the first day of the week which is the day our Lord did rise from the dead we began to live by him in the sight of God Hos. 6. 2. Joh. 20. 1. 1 Cor. 15. 4. 2. The first day of the week That 's the day in which as I hinted before our Lord was wont to preach to his Disciples after he rose from the dead in which also he did use to shew them his Hands and his Feet Luk. 24. 38 39. Joh. 20. 25. to the end they might be confirmed in the truth of his victory over Death and the Grave for them The day in which he made himself known to them in breaking bread The day in which he so plentifully poured out the Holy Ghost upon them The day in which the Church both at Jerusalem and those of the Gentiles did use to perform to God Divine Worship all which has before been sufficiently proved And shall we not imitate our Lord nor the Church that was immediately acted by him in this and the Churches their fellows Shall I say the Lord Jesus do all this in his Church and they together with him Shall the Churches of the Gentiles also fall in with their Lord and with their Mother at Jerusalem herein And again shall all this be so punctually committed to sacred Story with the day in which these things were done under denomination over and over saying These things were done on the first day on the first day on the first day of the week while all other days are as to name buried in everlasting oblivion and shall we not take that notice thereof as to follow the Lord Jesus and the Churches herein oh stupidity 3. This day of the week They that make but observation of what the Lord did of old to a many siuners with his Churches on this day must needs conclude that in this day the Treasures of Heaven were broken up and the richest things therein communicated to his Church Shall the children of this world be as to this also wiser in their generations than the children of Light and former Saints upon whose shoulders we pretend to stand go beyond us here also Jacob could by observation gather that the place where he lay down to sleep was no other but the House of God and the very Gate of Heaven Gen. 28. 17. Laban could gather by observation that the Lord blessed him for Jacob's sake Gen. 30. 27. David could gather by what he met with upon Mount Moriah that that was the place where God would have the Temple builded therefore he sacrificed there 1 Chro. 21. 26 27 28. ch 22. 1 2. 2 Chr. 3. 1. Ruth was to mark the place where Baaz lay down to sleep and shall not Christians also mark the day in which our Lord rose from the dead Ruth 3. 4. I say shall we not mark it when so many memorable things was done on it for and LO and IN the Churches of God! Let Saints be ashamed to think that such a day should be looked over or counted common when tempted to it by Satan when kept to religious Service of old and when beautifled with so many divine Characters of sanctity as we have proved by Christ his Church the Holy Ghost and the command of Apostolical Authority