should have applied that of the Apostle Rom. 14.21 22. to have deter'd him there-from Wherefore seeing this Piece is so dangerous and may do and already has done so much hurt it s very Expedient if not morally Necessary to endeavour a prevention of its evil Consequences and there especially where the Author is resident and it may most infect and it may well be deemed a Duty of some one of the Dressers of that part of the Vineyard of the Lord Christ where this Weed or Thorn is sprung up to endeavour it's eradication before it spreads any farther or wounds any deeper That Province therefore which I most unable for and Naturally altogether averse from Polemical Disputes shall undertake and with the best skill and faithfulness that God shall afford perform shall only be with all possible Brevity and Perspicuity to weaken all the Arguments the Author manages for his Notion and to confirm and Ratifie all these which he endeavours to weaken and evacuate for the ancient general Scriptural Doctrin of the Lords-day-Sabbath or Sacred Rest and herein to follow his own method Giving some transient Glances upon things that may occur some what Excentrical or Alien from the Great design of this Book Which I shall study to do with all Candor and due Deference to the Gentility Gravity and I hope real Piety of the Author THE CONTENTS Sect. I. SOme general Observations premised whether the World were made by Christ as Jesus Christ God-man page 4 Sect. II. Of Christ's being Jehovah and in what sense the Law was given by him p. 8 Sect. III. Whether after the Creation the Lord rested on the Seventh-day and so Sanctified and Instituted it and did himself observe it as that even Adam in a State of Innocence was bound by it and all Mankind without distinction before the Fall p. 12 Sect. IV. Whether the Ten Commandments were given by Christ to Jews and Gentiles p. 21 Sect. V. Whether Christ in the Flesh did confirm all the Ten Commandments and every tittle of the Fourth And whether Christ and his Apostles did enjoyn or did not rather speak against the Observation of the Seventh-day-Sabbath p. 24 Sect. VI. Of the Word Seventh in the Fourth Commandment the Sabbath not recommended by Christ to his Disciples Of Commenius's desire of Reformation c. p. 30 Sect. VII Of the Ceremonial Law and what is Moral and Positive what is truly Moral that the Saturday Seventh-day-Sabbath is not more may be pleaded for Circumcision p. 35 Sect. VIII Whether Christ in his own Person Observed the Seventh-Week-day-Sabbath and no other and what may be gathered from it The Arguments for the Seventh-day-Sabbath equally hold for all the Jewish Ceremonies Of the Pre-Antiquity of that Day and the falsity of that Argument p. 41 Sect. IX Whether Christ Rested on the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath while he lay in the Grave And what may be Argued from it p. 44 Sect. X. Vpon what day of the Week Christ ascended into Heaven whether the seventh-Seventh-day or Saturday p. 48 Sect. XI Whether after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath was observed by the Apostles and First Christians How long the Apostles met the Jews in their Synagogues on the Seventh-day and for what Reason p. 51 Sect. XII The Argument from Christ's Resurrection for the First-day of the Week to be the Christian Sabbath Vindicated Circumcision not more abolisht than the Seventh-day-Sabbath That abolisht the First succeeds on the Account of Our Lord's Resurrection since that Time with equal or stronger Reason than the former continued till he Rose from the dead p. 57 Sect. XIII Other Arguments for the First-day-Sabbath Vindicated from the Objections of Mr. B. Of a Sabbath-days Journey After three Days may be understood on the third Day he rose again John 8.56 Psalm 118.22 Psalm 2.7 Acts 20.7 cleared and Vindicated Of the beginning of the Christian Sabbath p. 61. Sect. XIV More Texts cleared Rev. 1.9 10. of being in the Spirit on the Lords-day Math. 12.8 Mark 2.27 Jesus Christ Lord of the Sabbath Of the Lord Supper Christs Resurrection commemorated on the First-day of the Week by Institution p. 79 Sect. XV. Gal. 4.9 10. Explained What days excluded from binding Christians Col. 2.16 What Sabbaths meant as Shadows to vanish when Christ came Math. 24.20 no Argument for the Seventh-day-Sabbath p. 92 Sect. XVI Of the Morality of the Fourth Command The difference between Moral and Positive Between Naturally or Absolutely Moral and positively or secondarily Moral What the Fourth Commandment requires as Moral and Perpetual p. 101 Sect. XVII When to begin the Christian Sabbath and of the fit Time for Publick Worship on that day p. 116 Sect. XVIII The Argument of Tradition considered p. 118 Sect. XIX How far the Decalogue is in Force as to us Gentiles p. 125 Sect. XX. The Tradition of the Lords-day's Rest or First-day of the Week from the Apostles time to the end of the Fourth Century Of Easter and its Observation The change from the Seventh to the First-day not introduced by the Bishop of Rome p. 127 Sect. XXI The Conclusion of the whole with a Summary of what hath been Proved for the Observation of the First-day of the Week as the Christian Sabbath p. 130 A REPLY TO Mr. Bampfield's PLEA FOR THE Seventh-day-Sabbath THE very Title of the Book is justly lyable to Exception as that which does not fairly state the Question the second Enquiry being whether the fourth Command be repealed or altered for he very well knows that these against whom he Disputes even those who acknowledge the Morality of a Sabbath-day do neither pretend to the Repealing of the Command nor yet to the Alteration of it as such for they strenuously assert the Ratification of the preceptive part of it though they allow a practical Mutation of a single Clause therein which was at its first Injunction added as a Motive for the observance of the Seventh Weekly-day And therefore he should rather have stated the Enquiry after such a manner as this Whether every Clause in the Fourth Commandment be Moral or whether every Clause of it be absolutely Immutable or so imposed from the beginning as to be so 'T is not Ingenuous nor Candid so to propose the Controversie as though the Dissenters from him were either Repealers or Alterers of the Fourth Command Moreover the Annexion of this Query to the former and the Subservience of the former to this For 't is very evident that that weighty fundamental Enquiry is made to serve this Hypothesis by his Connexion thereof Page 5. thereto as though the Immutability of every Tittle to this Command was founded upon the Deity of our Lord Christ his creating the World and giving the Moral Law and the Denial of the one were vertually and consequentially the Denial of the other and so those that are for the observance of the Lords day for so I take leave now to call it are really and consequentially Ebionites
cannot So that we have granted him his desire in shewing him what Law Christ meant in such Passages even the Ceremonial as well as the Moral for they were the Object of the Superstitious Jews greatest Zeal and they persecuted him and his Disciples as the Overthrowers of the Ceremonial Laws and therefore Christ tells them He came not to destroy but to fulfil them c. By all that hath been already said is fully shewn the Impertinency of those Quotations Page 35. 38. where our Saviour makes use of an confirms the Moral Law For there is not one word of his Sabbath in them all In our Saviour's Carriage and Language he vindicates the Sanctity of the Temple John 2.13 17. so he does Circumcision and Authorizes its Administrations upon the Sabbath day and derives it from a more August Antiquity than Moses John 7.22 23. If our Author had any such Expression from our Saviour's Mouth concerning the Sabbath how would he have triumphed therein and have fetch'd its everlasting Establishment therefrom But there is not one such Syllable concerning it These have a greater shew for their Authority from our Saviour's Discourses than the Seventh-day-Sabbath yet I doubt not but he looks on them as no longer in Force and of no Obligation in these latter and Evangelical days Page 37. He produces the Church of England Articles the Presbyterian Confession the Independants Declaration of Faith for the Ratification of the Moral Law who yet are all for the Exclusion of the last day of the Week from being the Christian Sabbath and thereby declare their Rejection of it from being any part thereof And thus all the Authority both Divine and Humane that he produceth makes nothing at all for him but very much rather against him With which this question is concluded SECT VIII HE proposes the Question Page 38. Whether Christ in his own Person did not observe the Seventh Week-day-Sabbath and no other during his Life To which we answer affirmatively with him that he did so that he was bound to do it that it was part of his Righteousness which he was to fulfil for he was born under the Authority and Obligation of the Old Testament Administrations even of the Ceremonial ones and therefore was Circumcised the eighth day went up to Jereusalem with his Mother in his Childhood to keep the Annual Feasts and in his Manhood was a Constant Conscientious and obedient Attender upon and observer of the Passover as we read in the History of his Life after his Baptism and manifesting himself to the World home to his Death or just before his Sufferings and so doubtless did by all the other Ceremonial Laws according to Gods Injunction of them and was an Observer of all other positive Divine Laws and so consequently must he be of this for neither all the former nor this particular were to be abrogated and lain aside as to their Authority till he himself was lain aside and buried in the Grave Without doubt he also dutifully kept and practised all the Judicial Laws being born a Member of their State as well as of their Church as far as their Roman Lords would permit for the Authority of these Laws lasted as long as the Judicial Polity and with it declined and perfectly expired Will this Pleader for the Seventh day contend for the Authority of all those Ceremonial and Judicial Laws home to our days because our Blessed Lord observed and kept them He must do so if this Argument be of any weight And it has been the Fate of all his Arguments hitherto to militate as much for all the Ceremonies except that of the Sabbaths being given in Innnocency of the Jews as for the Seventh day Enough for their own Confutation Just another such Medium is cunningly insinuated Page 39. to prove the Goodness of the Observation of this Sabbath viz. Its Antiquity having been the Sabbath of the Church for four thousand Years which will introduce Sacrifices into the Worship of God a Bloody Offering up of Beasts for they are as ancient within a day or two as 't is probable for God taught Adam to offer up such Sacrifices as the Types of the Seed of the Woman who was to have his Heel bruised by the Serpent his Humane Nature murthered by the Devil and his Agents but then sacrificed and offered up to God as the Expiratory Victim for the sins of Fallen Man And 't is probable that those Skins which God made Coats of for Adam might be of such sacrificed Beasts And Adam taught his Sons to Sacrifice to God And we read Gen. 4.4 That Abel brought to God the Firstlings of his Flock and the Fat thereof Will he therefore plead that their venerable Antiquity must still give them a place in the Evangelical Dispensation now that that Grand and All-sufficient Sacrifice the substance of those Shadows is offered up I trow not So neither can the Antiquity of the former Sabbath till our Saviour's days and through his days be any Argument for its Admission and Authority now seeing by our Saviours coming we have the new Heaven and the new Earth which the Prophets foretold Isa 65.17 66.22 and a more glorious and blessed Work accomplished than that of the Creation which doth much more deserve a Sanctification and Separation of that day whereon its Compleater rested from all his former Labours and a new external Administration was introduced and a new day and consecrated time suitably also instituted SECT IX IT is demanded Page 40. Whether Christ did rest the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath when he was in the Grave And it is affirmatively resolved that his Soul rested in Heaven and his Body rested in the Grave that day All as a Proof that our Lord Christ himself did in his state of Death confirm that seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath as well as by his Practice and Doctrin in Life and so recommended it to the Observance of all the future Churches Which Notion if it could be proved would do more for the Seventh-day-Sabbath than all the Arguments he hath yet brought If he could rationally demonstrate that the blessed Redeemer did rest on the Seventh day from all his Humiliation and Sufferings he would then defeat the great ground on which all the Churches since our Lords coming and consummating the work of Redemption have built upon for the Change of the Seventh day into the First-day-Sabbath For they say they do it because on the first day our Lord Jesus God-man rested from that more Wonderful Glorious Gracious Profitable and Ravishing Work than that of the Creation and more laborious and difficult work to himself being really and dreadfully so to his Humane Nature But indeed this Notion is a very strange and an uncouth one because the Rest of the Mediator in this Sense cannot be thought to be any other than a happy and Complacential Reflection upon the work of our Redemption merited by all his Active and Passive Obedience which could not be until he had waded through
did not foresee a more convenient Opportunity for it hereafter Only let us here consider what he himself here grants viz. That the Moral Law was written upon Man's Heart that it did consist in Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness wherefore the Seventh-day-Sabbath is no part of it because it was not written upon Man's Heart at first 1. Because God revealed it to Man after his Creation which needed not if it had been in him before 2. Because there are obscure Remains of the Moral Law in the Humane and Rational Creature with respect to all the other Commands as might be easily manifested by an Induction but none as to the Seventh-day-Sabbath It is true as to the Moral Substance of the Law that is found in Mankind even a Separation of time and proper Seasons for the Worship of God but this is not Nay it is so rare that not one among Ten thousand does dream of it or scarce one in an Age does so much as fancy it 3. Because by his own Orthodox Assertion in this very place the Moral Law is reingraven that is more fully clearly and distinctly and in its Spiritual Sense and Latitude upon the Hearts of those that are revived by the Spirit of God which is the Image of God reinstamped upon the Regenerate and Converted as St. Paul saith Col. 3.10 Eph. 4.24 Now it is as clear as the Sun that the Generality of the Called inlightned and sanctified have not the Law of the Seventh-day-Sabbath written in their Hearts Nay they have an Aversion from it Of all truly Religious ones that ever I knew Mr. B is the Solitary Person of this Perswasion whence it must necessarily follow that it is no part of the Moral Law or of that Image of God which was instamped upon Man plainly and fully at first and remains imperfectly and obscurely in all Men and is restored to the Saints in their Regeneration and is increased in them in their progressive Sanctification Whence it is also clear that this Command thus stated was not given by Christ to Jews and Gentiles in the Creation And his proof for it is very weak and invalid which is taken from those express Commands given by God to the Jews of causing them that were either their Substance Slaves bought with their own Mony or Proselytes Strangers by Nation but yet joyning themselves to them and dwelling among them and so were of their Body who were bound as he himself there acknowledges and proves to be Circumcised to observe the Passover c. And now what Tendency hath this to prove that the Seventh-day-Sabbath was given to Jews and Gentiles When this proves only that those Gentiles were bound to keep it who were within the Gates and of their Body Politick But has no reference to nor does at all concern other Gentiles some of which might never hear of the Name of Israel or of any of their Laws and Sabbaths It pities me to see such weak and invalid Arguments which if they have any force it is to Judaize all the Christian World As to the second part of the Question whether the weekly Seventh-day-Sabbath were observed ever after during the Old Church We acknowledge it was so still among the Jewish Nation and he needed not to have produced any proofs for it But withall we say never among any other Nations nor any Footstep of it which is a sure Proof against its proper Morality As to that Observation Page 28. That the Seventh Day throughout the Old and New Testament was called the Sabbath day It was fit it should be so all along till our Saviour's Resurrection because it was the Sabbath day till then And afterward if it be so called it was in compliance with the Jews who still held it so to continue or to use the Expression which was in most common use whereby the day might be known they spake of as we do of Sunday Monday c. only to declare what day of the Week we mean or else to declare the Abolition thereof And if we remember it we may make some use of that Assertion that the Seventh day and Sabbath are Synonimous in the Language of the Old and New Testament SECT V. THis Question he endeavours to prove Assirmatively Page 29. That Christ did in the Flesh confirm the Ten Commands without any Exception of the Fourth Commandment or any part or tittle thereof Which if we should fully grant without the least Exception it would make nothing for his Cause nor against ours for as long as Christ was in the World so long we all agree that the Seventh day of the Week was the injoyed Sabbath and therefore ought to be observed and so might have been commanded by Christ to be kept And so we know he ratified the Ceremonial Law by commanding the cleansed Lepers to go and shew themselves to the Priest and offer the Gift which Moses commanded for their cleansing Matt. 8.4 And so also the Judicial Law by injoyning them to pay Tithe of all even of Mint Annis and Cummin Matt. 23.23 which I think few or none do hold to be purely Moral and so the Brother 's taking of his Childless Brother's Wife he seems to confirm by a Tacit Approbation to the Sadducees objecting that to him to baffle and puzzle him about the Resurrection Matt. 22.23 30. Yet nevertheless those Laws were not permanent but expired the Ceremonial with himself and the Judicial with the Judicial State and Polity Withall we add that our Saviour did for ever confirm the Moral Law which is contained in the Ten Commandments And so the Fourth as far as Moral and in all that it commands as such But withall we say that some Passages of the Fourth Command are neither Moral nor yet commanded therein as such or of the Substance thereof Whereof the mentioning of the last the Seventh Day of the Week to be the Sacred Rest is one which here is but nakedly asserted but we defer the Proof and such as was to expire at his Resurrection Wherefore we say that that Passage Matt. 5.17 Till Heaven and Earth pass away one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away must refer only to the Moral Law Quatenus Moral and as it refers to and obliges all Nations which several Passages belonging to the Ten Commands do not whereof this is one about the Seventh day and I think th is may be cleared by this Argument That which neither our Saviour himself nor any of his Apostles did command or enjoyn to be followed by his or their Disciples and Followers cannot be Moral But neither he nor they did ever enjoyn the Seventh-day-Sabbath therefore it 's not Moral Our Saviour in none of his Discourses that I remember did ever expresly or particularly command the Observance of the Sabbath-day but spake and did things which seem to declare the Abolition of the Seventh day neither do any of his Apostles in any of their Writings impose it upon or command
the Observance of it from either Jews or Gentiles to whom they write and consequently we may conclude that they never preached it for we truly hold that the Sum and Substance of all their Sermons is in their Books Yea their Writings have several weighty Passages against the Seventh-day-Sabbath Now our Saviour in his Commission which he gave his Apostles after his Resurrection just as he was ascending up to Heaven expresly commands them to teach all Nations to observe all things whatsoever he commandeth them Matt. 28.19 20. Wherefore seeing they commanded not the Nations to observe the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath Christ never taught them that Doctrin nor injoyned them to do it and therefore this cannot be one of those Jots or Tittles of the Law which in this Authors Sense was not to pass from the Law but only what was Moral in it We acknowledge that the Lord Christ also confirmed the Moral Law by commanding the Lawyer to love the Lord God c. But withall that whoever gives to God the seventh part of his time though it be not the Seventh day of the week does therein love God as to the Declaration as to the Fruit and Effect of his Love as much as if he did the Seventh day because it is as fully the Substance of that Command The same answer will serve to Mark 12.28 31. Page 30. with this Addition That the change of the Seventh-day-Sabbath into that of the first day is no more laying aside of the Morality of the Fourth Command than the change of Circumcision the Passover and other Ceremonial Ordinances of the Old Testament into Baptism the Lords Supper and other Evangelical Administrations under the New These being as really included in and commanded by the second Command at that time as the Seventh-day-Sabbath is in and by the Fourth And therefore as the change of those Rites and Modes of Worship by our Lord Christ and his Apostles was not the laying aside of the second Command but rather a perfect Obedience thereto and practical Confirmation thereof so the change of the weekly-day-Sabbath was no Infringement but rather an Establishment of the Fourth Commandment In the same Page he Insinuates that we take away those words The Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God which yet we neither do in Letter nor Sense for we leave the words in the Command and obey them in their purport and meaning For they do not so much enjoyn the Seventh day in order as in number not so much the last day of the week as one day of the week to be observed and sanctified by us as I suppose we may have an opportunity to prove Page 31. He shews from Scripture that one great Article of the New Covenant is Gods writing his Law upon the Hearts of his People which he with us expresly acknowledges to be the Moral Law How then can the Seventh-day-Sabbath as such be part of that Law which is not written upon the Hearts of Thousands to one of Gods People I judge this to be a clear Demonstration against the Morality thereof He could never have shewn that the Seventh-day-Sabbath was a part of the Law of Nature in Adam though the substance of the Ten Commands was it and therefore it was instituted by God as before Page 32. He shews us for so I have a Belief he intends that he had a mind to prove that Set Forms of Prayers or other parts of Worship under a Form though never so Excellent though in express words of Scripture are the Pesel or Graven Image that is forbidden in the second Command which is a Notion I am sure alien from the Resentments of the most Grave Prudent Learned and Experienced Christians of former and Modern Ages and very few of them have thought so uncharitably and rigorously of them as to brand them with the grossest Idolatry though many judge them fit to be lain aside by them to whom God hath given a good and competent Gift but yet much rather to be u sed and that comfortably and profitably too where such a Gift may be denied And I think by this Rule that everly Man that joyns with another in Prayer is guilty of Idolatry against the second Command for he makes the words of the Minister or private Christian to be the Set Form of his Prayer And why a Prayer written as a Form should be more an Idol than a Prayer spoken as a Form I do not yet understand In the same Paragraph he also hints that the Lords Prayer ought only to be used in secret and alone not in publick no nor in private with any others because of those Expressions in Matt. 6.6 9. When thou prayest enter into thy Closet and shut thy Door and Pray c. Whereas the Form of that Prayer in the plural Number the very matter of that Prayer being the universal Concern of the Universal Church and of every Congregation and Society of Christians as well as of every private Christian and our Saviour commanding his Disciples to use it without any such Limitation Of a secret Personal Retirement Luke 11.2 are sufficient proofs that it may be as well used Socially as Solitarily with others as lawfully and conveniently as by ones self In the following Paragraph he seems to be of the Opinion that it would be better to have Mens or Ministers own Inventions in singing of Psalms than the Divine Inspirations of David and other Authors in Scripture And when I can believe that theirs can be better than those in Scripture or can be convinced that there is neither Psalm nor Hymn in the Bible that can fit a present Condition either for Prayer or Praises or Gratitude c. I will think so but as to the former of these two I hope I shall never believe and as to the latter I think it is not likely to fall out in my days These things ought as curiously to be replied as the Author has started these Notions and when he sees fit to endeavour a more large Explication and Vindication of them then we may also see what may be discoursed agianst them And I heartily wish he had but hinted this of his Seventh day and so saved all this labour in answering of it for it is just another such Opinion as the former and deserved only to be mentioned Indeed not to be mentioned at all at least not in Print not in publick But of this in the Preface SECT VI. IN the next Paragraph he tells us he has much to do to recover the word Seventh of the Fourth Commandment Whereas none but the Deniers of the Morality of the Seventh would wrest it from him for we all grant it to him and acknowledge it to be of the very substance of the Command that a Seventh day should be set apart for an Holy Consecrated Day to Divine Worship only we say that the Seventh day is so as the seventh part of the Week as one day of the seven
Caution of not incurring the Threats of infringing the Laws of Christ even the least of them and by way of a charitable Requital we warn him to be cautious lest he build again that which Christ hath destroyed and repair the rased Synagogue Here we have also his Notion of what is Moral telling us that many call the Ten Commandments the Moral Law I think all slid Divines do call them so but none that I know do say that every Clause and Word in them or belonging to them by this last Expression I mean part of the Preface to them is Moral and particularly not the Seventh-day-Sabbath or that Clause appertaining thereto in the Fourth Commandment no nor yet the Seventh Part of Time therein expresly commanded and perpetually too that is not primarily nor absolutely and of its self so As to his Notion of what is Moral I cannot call it either a Definition or a Description of the thing but only an Interpretation of the Word Moral viz. pertaining to Manners We usually in such Discourses put Moral in opposition to what is positive whether it be Ceremonial or Judicial But this is such a Notion as includes all Laws whatever even Human as well as Divine and of Divine all of them of what sort or kind soever for they all apertain to Manners Yea to Thoughts Words and Actions yea and are included in the Love of God because whoever loves God truely will and must yield Obedience to all his Laws of what sort soever whether Moral or Positive But such a lax Interpretation of the Moral Law served to the Design of the Seventh Day because it includes it will all other positive Laws but had he given us a true Notion of what is Moral in its self or in its own Nature it would necessarily have been exclued As may be evinced by some Properties of what is truly Moral 1. The Moral Law is inward and was consecrated with the rational Creature and does need no external Revelation or Divine Institution especially in the State of human Integrity before the Fall but such was not the Seventh day For 't was Instituted by God after Mans Creation 2. The Moral Law yet remains in some Footsteps and Degrees thereof in the Human Nature and so in the generality of Mankind the Heathens themselves not excepted as might be easily proved by their Laws and Writings but the Notion of the Seventh day is Universally excluded and the Generality of Mankind totally destitute thereof If it be here objected That the Heathen did separate a Seventh-day to their Religious Service To this may be applyed That 't was but some of them and but for some time not Universally and Perpetually That they did it by Tradition from the Jews or by Satans Institution and Injunction who in his cursed Pride affects to have his Votaries serve him as the Acknowledgers of Jehovah do him 3. All Moral Laws are clearly and distinctly ingraven upon the Minds and Hearts of those that are enlightned and sanctifyed by the Spirit of God But not a Tittle or punctum of his Seventh-day is seen in the Generality of them 4. Man was made for Moral Duty that is to Glorify and Honour God in all Acts of Internal and External Piety to profit and comfort his Neighbour by all Acts of Charity to possess his own Vessel in Sanctification and Honour And by so doing he lives up to the end for which he was made But now Man was not made for the Sabbath and for its Observance but the Sabbath was made for Man and for his Good Mark 2.27 5. Moral Duties are such as a Man cannot change them or neglect them or do any thing beside them without dishonouring and sinning against God But now it is certain That as to the Nature of the thing its self separated form a positive Institution that a Man may as fully Glorify and Honour God and as compleatly serve him by appropriating and imploying another day of the Week to and in his Workship and Service as the Seventh provided he do dedicate another day in Seven to that Service the Worship is the same and the proportion of time the same and so God as much and as long served as upon the last day of the Week Let him denominate any other Propriety of what is Moral and I will undertake to evince That it belongs not to his Seventh-day-Sabbath To what purpose then to urge and insist so much and so long upon the Moral Law when the Seventh-day-Sabbath is no part at all of the Morality thereof Those Passages before mentioned That Christ came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law that the Breaker of the least of Gods Commands shall be least in the Kingdom of God c. And these Page 35. He that will enter into Life must keep the Commandments It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than one tittle of the Law to fail do not only concern the Moral Law though if they did we have sufficiently shewn that the Sabbath is not concerned in them but also the Positive even the Ceremonial Law For while they were in Force as they all were throughout the days of our Saviour's Animal Life which I so call to distinguish it from the Glorious Life of his Humanity upon Earth after his Resurrection They that would enter into Life at least of the Jews and their Proselytes to whom only they were Laws and Obligatory were bound to keep them And if they did willfully and perseveringly disobey them they would as certainly be Damned as if they had lived in a Contradiction to any of the Moral Laws Because such a Refusal to observe and keep the Ceremonial Laws is directly and ultimately a Disobedience to the Moral and that too to the very Soul and Foundation of all the Commandments Even the First Command by being a Renunciation of Gods Authority in refusing a Conformity to his revealed Will. Again it was a direct and immediate Sin against the Second Command by being a refusal to worship him according to his own instituted Worship So Christ came not to destroy the Ceremonial Law but to fulfil it Which he did by being the End and Consummation thereof by being the Substance of those Figures and the Body of those Shadows and no Law is destroyed which continues in its Force as long as the Legislator intended and produces all those Ends for which he designed it Now the Ceremonial was intended by God to be no longer a Law than till our Lords Death or Resurrection or Mission of the Holy Ghost and it was designed only to typisie the Lord Christ and to lead Believers to him as to the End and Substance thereof which our Lord being he was so far from destroying it that he perfectly fulfilled it though he abrogated its future legal Authority And so not one tittle of the Ceremonial Law did fail for all had its Accomplishment on Christ no more than a tittle of the Moral Law
all the Degrees of his Abasement and begun his Exaltation and so in his Blessed and Glorious Estate delighting himself in his Conquest of the Devil the World Death and the Grave and his having perfectly satisfied Justice and purchased Grace and Glory for Lost Sinners which could not be till the Resurrection of his Body Can the State of Death with any probability be thought the Mediator's Rest Or his lying in the Grave be deemed the end of all his Abasements when Death was the worst thing his Enemies could bring upon him in their Rage and Fury when they triumphed over him in the Grave and concluded that now they had compleatly vanquished him and proved him to be a Grand Deceiver Matt. 27.62 64. when it was that which was especially required as the utmost of his Sufferings for the Expiation of our Sins being that which was denounced at first against Sin Gen. 2.17 and as the consummate Punishment thereof and is the proper Wages of Sin Rom. 6.23 and therefore so to be undergone and lain under by the Sinners Surety standing in his stead and bearing his Punishment and being made that Curse for him Gal. 3.13 which was the lowest Descent of his Humiliation which saddened the Hearts of his Disciples and filled them with fear whose hopes almost expired at his Death and were buried in his Grave in which Estate if he had abode the Devil and his Enemies would have gotten a compleat Victory over him and we could never have been justified nor saved Moreover our Saviour's Body and Soul rested as much upon the Cross after his Death as they did in the Grave after his Burial And so the Muchammedists have as fair a Plea for their Sixth-day-Sabbath because on that day the Dead Body of our Saviour felt no pain on the Tree and his Soul enjoyed all Bliss in Heaven And so in this sense rested on their day of Worship How unreasonable and unscriptural to call this the Rest of our Redeemer Besides it was impossible that as Redeemer he should rest in the State of Death and in the Grave for the Redeemer must be God-man his Deity could not declaratively rest till it had raised its own Humanity out of the Grave and rent in sunder the Bonds of Death And his Humanity could not really do so because it was not during that Condition for we know that Death is the Separation of the Soul from the Body Now the Soul separated from the Body is a Spirit and not a Man the Body separated from the Soul is a Corps not a Man both Soul and Body separated are not Man but essentially conjoyned they make the Man Wherefore though both Body and Soul in their mutual Separation were united to the Deity and so he was always God and had the essential parts of Man yet being divided he was not Man for by Death they being dissolved his Humanity was destroyed and continued so as long as Death had power over him So that 't is against all Reason and common Sense to assert that the Mediator who must be God-man rested in the Grave seeing in this true sense he could not be Man there No no This was no part of his Rest but his Resurrection from the Grave the re-uniting of his Body and Soul was the first entrance into it For as the Father Son and Holy Spirit Jehovah is not said to rest till he had fully compleated his six days work of Creation and then with infinite Complacency viewed all he had compleated on the Seventh So Jesus Christ God-man cannot be said to rest from the Work of our Redemption till he had fully compleated and ended all his Humiliation till he had conquered all his and our Enemies which could not possibly be while he lay in the Grave on the Seventh day but it was when he rose from thence on the First when indeed he had a glorious and Blessed satisfaction in himself when he reflected upon all he had done and all the Sufferings he waded through and all the Humiliation he was sunk into and had happily and triumphingly concluded with all those inestimable Blessings that should accrue to the Church and that infinite Glory that would redound to God thereby And therefore as God's Resting on the Seventh day from his work of Creation was proposed as the Example and Motive to the Old Church before Christ's coming for the keeping the Seventh for their Sabbath So likewise our Saviour's Resting from his work of our Redemption on the First day of the Week may worthily be and we say really is proposed as a Motive and Example to the Churches since his coming for their consecrating of that day for their Weekly Sabbath I am sorry that such Passages of the Author should occasion so much Tediousness to the Reader and inforce such Enlargedness from the Writer As to that place Mat. 24.20 which he tells us he will improve hereafter to his own Advantage we shall attend his Motions and meet him there To his Query Page 41. we grant that the Jewish Believers did keep the Seventh-day-Sabbath while our Saviours Body was in the Grave and that they ought to do so because as yet the First day by our Lords Resurrection was not Consecrated to be observed as the day of the Redeemers Rest And withal that they were obliged during this time to observe the unleavened Bread-Feast and supposing it to be the Eighth day from their Birth to Circumcise their Children yet I hope this is no Plea for the everlasting Permanency of these So neither can it be for that of the Seventh-day-Sabbath SECT X. WE have his Conjecture Page 43. about the Week-day of our Lord's Ascension which he would fain suppose to be on the Seventh But if we may believe St. Luke Act. 1.3 that he tarried on Earth Forty Days and so was visible to his Disciples all that time and conversed with them as oft as he saw fit and about what was most necessary and profitable for their Knowledge and then ascended into Heaven If we look on this as an Historical Account of his Abode on Earth after his Resurrection as it lays a fairer Foundation for it than all Human Conjectures can be then if we reckon from the First day of the Week to the Fortieth day and both the First and Last inclusively then the day of his Ascension was upon the Fifth day of the Week which is our Thursday as the Church of England observes it If we exclude either the First or Last day only 't will be upon the Sixth day of the Week our Fryday if I mistake not but if we exclude both the First and Last Days I mean the day of his Resurrection and the day of his Ascension from the number of Forty days then 't will fall out upon the Seventh day of the Week our Saturday which he conjectures to be the day of the Week of our Saviours Ascension But here we must consider that we have two to one against him
superadded Precept 2. Between that which is Purely Naturally and Absolutely Moral in it self and that which is Secondarily Respectively and Positively Moral The former is that spoken of above the latter is that which though the rational Creature could not of it self have judged a Duty yet when 't is once imposed by Command and so revealed to be the Legislator's Pleasure there is discerned in the thing it self a very great Equity Goodness and Suitableness to Gods Glory or the Creatures Good or both As in the case of Tithes or the Tenth of every Mans Estate to be devoted to Pious Uses for the Maintenance of the Worship of God and of those that are by him called thereto and imployed therein Though the Light of Nature could not primarily and from it self have discovered and devoted this very precise proportion to the immediate Service of God as absolutely necessary Yet when God does once require it it must needs close with it as very reasonable and just that God who gives all and whose all is should have the Tenth part devoted and separated to his own Service So that the Goodness of this does not only arise from the Will of the Legislator but also from the Nature of what is required when 't is once discerned to be the Legislator's Pleasure So that it is neither purely positive nor yet primarily Moral discovered only by the Promulgation of the Legislator and then embraced at and acknowledged to be most just and good by the Creature from whom 't is required Whereas what is purely positive has nothing just or good in it self nor discernable after its Imposition 3. In the Fourth Command we must distinguish between 1. The Duty commanded 2. the Explication of the Duty and 3. the Arguments and Motives thereto And so without any more nice Distinctions we proceed by God's Assistance to our Apprehensions about this Matter 1. The Duty Commanded or the Substance of the Fourth Command which is in the first Words of that Command Remember the Sabbath-day or the Day of the Sabbath to keep it holy or to sanctify it Where we acknowledge the Rest or the holy Rest to be primarily and absolutely Moral which this right Judgment of the rational Creature dictates directs to as that which it ows to its Creatour Preserver and Benefactor even a set and solemn Time separated and devoted to the immediate Service Praises and Adoration of God who because of his own Infinite and Incomparable Excellencies deserves all their Praises and Adoration and because of their own innumerable and inestimable Benefits received from him merits all their Love and Observance Which Imployment the rational Creature would acknowledge to be the most noble and excellent the most happy and blessed that it can be imployed in being the Imploying of the most noble Faculties of the Soul in their most excellent Acts about the most raised and glorious Object This I say the true Light of Nature would direct unto and so is purely moral But whether it would have directed to a Separation of a whole intire Day thereto I cannot resolve Though this also may be most probable being a Time so limited measured and distinguished by the antecedent and subsequent Darkness or by the Presence Light and Motion of the Sun in the Hemisphere But here I believe we may take for granted that the rational Creature in its Rectitude would have actually consecrated to so divine Worship and imployed in divine Worship all that Time that could have been duly and conveniently spared from the Refreshment of the Body and those due Preparations which must be made for his decaying outward Man so that Adam would have subserviated had he stood in his Innocence all his tilling of the Garden all his eating drinking and sleeping all the Recruits of his Body to the solemn Manner as that which was the End of his being the due of his God from him and the highest and most blessed Imployment of himself This I say would have been had he beenleft to the Dictates of his own Knowledge which was given him of God of himself and of his Ingagements to the Author of his being and well-being and not been prescribed by a Precept from his Lord and Sovereign But however this all must acknowledge that a Time of Rest For that 's the english of Sabbath to be set apart and sanctified to the immediate Service of the most high and munisicent God is purely moral And it may be also thought that an intire Day may bid fairly for it And this I say is the Substance of this Precept and really moral But here before I proceed I must obviate a little Criticism which the Author here seems to lay a great Stress upon and that is about ה hè in the Original which he would fain have to be very emphatical and to signifie That by way of Eminency here in this Verse the beginning of the Command the Words are Remember the Day of Rest Eth Jom Hasshabbath I would enquire of him whether this rendring of these Words be not as proper as any he can render it by Whether the Day of Rest be not so proper as the Day of a Rest or the Day of that Rest For every one that hath but peeped into the Hebrew Bible very well knows that that Letter ה serves many times if not most times only for a Letter and Ornament of writing without any Signification whatever And whether I render it by an English Particle or no he cannot blame me if I will he hath no Reason to quarrel me if I render it A or The nor I much to quarrel him though he chuses to translate it That For neither A nor The nor That are found in the Original but are only English Particles And I would fain know what Emphasis the same Hebrew Particle hath before Shamajim Aretz and I am Heaven Earth and Sea and whether the Translation either without a Particle or with that which carries no Emphasis be not far better than the Translation with an Emphatical one As for Example the Lord made Heaven and Earth and Sea or the Lord made the Heaven the Earth and the Sea are not better than the Lord made that Heaven that Earth and that Sea for if we take this Particle That Emphatically it seems to signifie that there are more Heavens for we suppose the visible Heaven or inferiour one is here meant and Earths and Seas than One and that 't is Emphatically and Eminently meant of those in the in Command beyond the others whereas there is no other Heaven Earth or Sea but what is meant in the Command and therefore would be very impertinently rendred by an Emphatical That From whence I would ask this Gentleman what reason there is why ה before Sabbath and Shebigni should be more Emphatical than before those other Words in the same Command Sure that Opinion wants solid and deep Foundations that must be upheld by such superficial and weak ones Thus much