expounded in the next words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seven times seven years seven years being called a Sabbath of years because of the Lands resting every seventh year in answer to the Rest of the Church every seventh Day see the Targum on Isa. 58. 13. Esth. 2. 9. Moreover because of the Rest that was common to the Weekly Sabbath with all other Sacred Feasts of Moses's Institution in their stated Monthly or Annual Revolution they were also called Sabbaths as shall be proved afterwards And as the Greeks and Latines made use of this Word borrowed from the Hebrew so the Jews observing that their Sabbath Day had amongst them its Name from Saturne Dies Saturni as amongst us it is still thence called Satterday they called him or the Planet of that Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shabbetai And even from hence some of the Jews take advantage to please themselves with vain Imaginations So R. Isaac Caro commending the Excellency of the seventh Day sayes That Saturne is the Planet of that Day the whole being denominated from the first hour whereof afterwards He therefore saith he hath power on that Day to renew the strength of our Bodies as also to influence our minds to understand the Mysteries of God He is the Planet of Israel as the Astrologers acknowledge doubtless and in his portion is the rational soul and in the parts of the earth the house of the Sanctuary and among Tongues the Hebrew Tongue and among Laws the Law of Israel So far he who whether he can make good his claim to the Relation of the Jews unto Saturne or their pretended advantage on supposition thereof I leave to our Astrologers to determine seeing I know nothing of these things And on the same Account of their Rest falling on the Day under that Planetary Denomination many of the Heathen thought they dedicated the Day and the Religion of it unto Saturne So Tacitus Histor. lib. 5. Alii Honorem eum Saturno haberi Seu Principia Religionis tradentibus Idaeis quos cum Saturno Pulsos conditores Gentis accepimus seu quod c septem syderibus queis mortales reguntur altissimo orbe praecipua Potentia stella Saturni feratur ac pleraque coelestium vim suam cursiem septimos per numeros conficiant Such Fables did the most diligent of the Heathen suffer themselves to be deluded withal whereby a prejudice was kept up in their minds against the only true God and his Worship The Word sometimes is also redoubled by a pure Hebraisme 1 Chron. 9. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shabbath Shabbath that is every Sabbath and somewhat variously used in the conjunction of another form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 16. 23. Chap. 35. 2. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 31. 15. Levit. 25. 4. We render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Rest the Rest of the Sabbath and a Sabbath of Rest. Where sabbaton is preposed at least it seems to be as much as Sabbatulum and to denote the entrance into the Sabbath or the Preparation for it such as was more solemn when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Sabbath an High Day ensued Such was the Sabbath before the Passeover for the Miracle as the Jews say which befell their fore-fathers that day in Aegypt The time between the two Evenings was the Sabbatulum This then was the Name of the Day of Rest under the Old Testament yet was not the Word appropriated to the denotation of that Day only but is used sometimes naturally to express any Rest or Cessation sometimes as it were Artificially in numeration for a Week or any other season whose Composition was by and Resolution into seven though this was meerly occasional from the first limitation of a periodical Revolution of Time by a Sabbath of Rest of which before § 11 And this various Use of the Word was taken up among the Grecians and Latines also As they borrowed the Word from the Jews so they did its Use. The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meerly the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or perhaps formed by the Addition of their usual Termination from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence also our Apostle frames his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Latine Sabbatum is the same And they use this Word though rarely to express the last day of the Week So Suetonius in Tiber. Diogenes Grammaticus Sabbatis disputare Rhodi solitus And the LXX alwayes so express the seventh Day Sabbath and frequently they use it for a Week also And so in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 18. 12. I fast twice on the Sabbath that is two dayes in the Week And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13. 14. the Day of the Sabbath is that day of the Week which was set apart for a Sabbatical Rest. Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One day of the Sabbaths which frequently occurs is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first day of the Week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being often put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Numeral for the Cardinal § 12 About the time of the Writing of the Books of the New Testament both the Jews themselves and all the Heathen that took notice of them called all their Feasts and Solemn Assemblies their Sabbaths because they did no servile work in them They had the general nature of the Weekly Sabbath in a cessation from Labour So the first day of the Feast of Trumpets which was to be on the first day of the second Month what day soever of the Week it happened to be on was called a Sabbath Levit. 23. 24. This Scaliger well observes and well proves Emendat Tempor lib. 3. Canon Isagog lib. 3. p. 213. Omnem Festivitatem Judaicam non solum Judaei sed Gentiles Sabbatum vocant Judaei quidem cum dicunt Tisri nunquam incipere à feria prima quarta sexta ne duo Sabbata continuentur Gentiles autem non alio nomine omnes eorum solennitates vocabant And this is evident from the frequent mention of the Sabbatical Fasts of the Jews when they did not nor was it lawful for them to fast on the Weekly Sabbath So speaks Augustus to Tiberius in Suetonius Ne Judaeus quidem mi Tiberi tam libenter Sabbatis jejunium servat quam ego hodie servavi And Juvenals Observant ubi Festa mero pede Sabbata Reges And Martial Et non jejuna Sabbata lege premet speaking in contradiction as he thought unto them And so Horace mentions their tricesima Sabbata which were no other but their New Moons And to this usual manner of speaking in those dayes doth our Apostle accommodate his Expressions Col. 2. 16. Let no man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in part of an Holy day any part of it or respect unto it or of the New Moon or of the Sabbaths that is any of the Judaical Feasts whatever then
absolutely changed or abolished but a afresh represented unto the people only with a relief provided for the Covenanters against its Curse and Severity with a direction how to use it to another End than was first given unto it it follows that the Day of the Sabbatical Rest could not be changed And therefore was the Observation of the seventh Day precisely continued because it was a Moral Pledge of the Rest of God in the first Covenant For this the instructive part of the Law of our Creation from Gods making the world in six dayes and resting on the seventh did require The Observation of this day therefore was still continued among the Israelites because the first Covenant was again represented unto them But when that Covenant was absolutely and in all Respects as a Covenant taken away and disannulled and that not only as to its formal Efficacy but also as to the manner of the Administration of Gods Covenant with men as it is under the Gospel there was a necessity that the Day of Rest should also be changed as I have more fully shewed elsewhere I say then that the precise Observation of the seventh Day enjoyned unto the Israelites had respect unto the Covenant of Works wherein the foundation of it was laid as hath been demonstrated And the whole Controversie about what day is to be observed now as a Day of holy Rest unto the Lord is resolved fully into this enquiry namely what Covenant we do walk before God in § 6 And that we may understand the whole Nature of the Judaical Sabbath it must moreover be considered that the Law in general and all the Precepts of it was the Instrument of the Politie of the people under the Government of God as we before observed For all the Judgements relating unto Civil things were but an Application of the Moral Law to their State and Condition Hence was the sanction of the transgressions of it to be punished with Death So was it in particular with respect unto the Sabbath Numb 15. 35 partly that it might represent unto them the Original Sanction of the whole Law as a Covenant of Works and partly to keep that stubborn people by this severity within due bounds of Government Nor was any thing punished by Death Judicially in the Law but the transgression of some Moral Command 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hand of Heaven is threatned against their Presumptuous Transgressions of the Ceremonial Law where no Sacrifice was allowed I the Lord will set my Face against that man and cut him off This also made the Sabbath a yoke and a burden that wherein their Consciences could never find perfect Rest. And in this sense also it is abolished and taken away Again it was made a part of their Law for Religious Worship in their Typical Church State in which and whereby the whole Dispensation of the Covenant which they were under was directed unto other Ends. And so it had the Nature of a shadow representing the good things to come whereby the people were to be relieved from the Rigor and Curse of the whole Law as a Covenant And on these Reasons new Commands were given for the Observation of the Sabbath new Motives Ends and Uses were added thereunto every way to accommodate it to the Dispensation of the Covenant then in force which was afterwards to be removed and taken away and therewithall the Sabbath it self so far as it had Relation thereunto For the continuation of the seventh Day precisely belonged unto the new Representation that was made of the Covenant of Works The Representation of that Covenant with the sanction given unto it amongst the Judgements of Righteousness in the Government of the people in the Land of Canaan which was the Lords and not theirs made it a yoke and burden and the use it was put unto amongst Ceremonial Observances made it a shadow in all which respects it is abolished by Christ. To say that the Sabbath as given unto the Jews is not abolished is to introduce the whole Systeme of Mosaical Ordinances which stand on the same bottom with it And particularly the Observation of the seventh Day precisely lyeth as it were in the Heart of that Oeconomy And these things will the more clearly appear if we consider the dealing of God with that people about the Sabbath from first to last § 7 The Jews some of them at least as was before discoursed would have not only the first Revelation of the Sabbath unto them or the Renovation of its Command but its first Institution absolutely to have been in their station at Mara Exod. 15. The vanity of this pretence we have before sufficiently discovered And whereas this was the Opinion of the Talmudical Masters of the Middle Ages since Christ they seem to have embraced it on the same Account whereon they have invented many other Fancies For observing that a Sabbath was in esteem amongst the Christians in Opposition unto them they began to contend that the Sabbath was as they called it the Bride of the Synagogue and belonged to themselves alone being given secretly to them only The vanity of this pretence we have before laid open and so shall not again insist upon it § 8 The first peculiar dealing of God with them about the Sabbath was evidently in their first Station at Alush Exod. 16. The occasion of the whole is laid down v. 4 5. Then said the Lord unto Moses Behold I will rain Bread from Heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day that I may prove them whether they will walk in my Laws or no And it shall come to pass that in the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in and it shall be twice as much as they gather dayly Here is no mention of the Sabbath nor any Reason given why they should gather a double portion on the sixth Day This Command therefore must needs have seemed somewhat strange unto them if they had before no notion at all of a seventh Dayes Sacred Rest. They must else otherwise have been at a great loss in themselves why they must double their measure on the sixth Day However it is apparent that either they had lost the true Day they were to observe through that long Bondage in Aegypt or knew not what belonged to the due Observation and Sanctification of it For when the people had observed this Command and gathered a double portion of Manna to keep one part of it for the next day although they had Experience that if at another season it were kept above one Day it would putrifie and stink v. 20. The Rulers of the Congregation fearing some mistake in the matter go and acquaint Moses with what was done amongst them v. 22. Hereon Moses replyeth unto them v. 23. This is that which the Lord hath said to morrow is the Rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that which you will bake This
eminent and answered Gods Rest from his own 2 Satisfaction in his works and the glorious product of them as those which had an impression on them of his Love and Grace Psal. 16. 7. § 23 It remains only that we enquire into his Entrance into his Rest both how and when he did so even as God entred into his on the seventh day for this must limit and determine a Day of Rest to the Gospel-Church Now this was not his lying down in the Grave His Body indeed there rested for a while but that was no part of his mediatory Rest as be was the founder and builder of the Church For 1 It was a part of his Humiliation Not only his Death but his abode and continuance in the state of Death was so and that a principal part of it For after the whole Humane Nature was personally united unto the Son of God to have it brought into a state of Dissolution to have the Body and Soul separated from each other was a great Humiliation And every thing of this nature belonged unto his Works and not his Rest. 2 This separation of Body and Soul under the power of Death was poenal a part of the sentence of the Law which he underwent And therefore Peter declares that the pains of Death were not loosed but in his Resurrection Act. 2. 24. Whom God saith he hath raised up loosing the pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it Whilst he was held of it he was under it penally This therefore could not be his Rest nor any part of it Nor did he in it enter into his Rest but continued in his Work Nor 2dly did he first enter into his Rest at his Ascension Then indeed he took actual possession of his Glory as to the full publick manifestation of it But to enter into Rest is one thing and to take possession of Glory another And it is placed by our Apostle as a consequent of his being justified in the Spirit when he entred into Rest 1 Tim. 3. 16. But this his entrance into Rest was in by and at his Resurrection from the dead For 1 Then and therein was he freed from the sentence power and stroke of the Law being discharged of all the Debts of our sins which he had undertaken to make satisfaction for Acts 2. 24. 2 Then and therein were all Types all Predictions and Prophesies fulfilled which concern the work of our Redemption 3 Then therefore his work was done I mean that which answereth Gods creating work though he still continue that which answers his work of preservation Then was the Law fulfilled and satisfied Sathan subdued Peace with God made the Price of our Redemption paid the Promise of the Spirit received and the whole Foundation of the Church of God gloriously laid on his Person in his Works and Rest. 4 Then and therein was he declared to be the Son of God with power Rom. 1. 4. God manifesting unto all that this was he concerning and unto whom he said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Acts 13. 33. § 24 Thus did the Author of the New Creation the Son of God the Builder of the Church having finished his works enter into his Rest. And this was as all know on the morning of the first day of the week And hereby did he limit and determine the Day for a sacred Sabbatical Rest under the New Testament For now was the Old Covenant utterly abolished and therefore the Day which was the pledge of Gods and Mans Rest therein was to be taken away and was so accordingly as we have shewed As the Rest from the beginning of the World had its foundation from the works of God and his Rest which ensued thereon which was determined unto the seventh Day because that was the Day wherein God ceased from those works which Day was continued under the legal administration of the Covenant by Moses so the Rest of the Lord Christ the Son of God is the foundation of our Rest which changing the old Covenant and the day annexed unto it he hath limited unto the first Day of the Week whereon he ceased from his works and entred into his Rest. And hereby the Apostle compleats the due Analogy that is between the several Rests of God and his people which he hath discoursed of in this Chapter For as in the beginning of the World there was first the work of God and his Rest thereon which made way unto a Rest for his people in himself and in his worship by the contemplation of his works that he had made on whose finishing he rested and a Day designed determined blessed and sanctified to express that Rest of God whence mention is made of those works in the command for the observation of that Day seeing the workship of God in and on it consisted principally in the glorifying of him by and for those works of his as also to be a means to further men in their entrance into eternal Rest whereunto all these things do tend and as at the giving of the Law there was a great Work of God and his Rest thereon in his establishing his Worship in the Land of Canaan which made way for the peoples entring into his Rest in that Worship and Countrey and had a Day of Rest enjoyned unto them to express the one and the other as also to help them to enter finally into the Rest of God so now under the Gospel there is a Rest answering all these in and by the instances which we have given § 25 And this is that which the Apostle affirms as the substance of all which he hath evinced Namely that there is a Sabbatism for the people of God v. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word is framed by our Apostle from an Hebrew original with a Greek Termination And he useth it as that which is comprehensive of his whole sense which no other word would be For he would shew that there is a Sabbatical Rest founded in the Rest of God remaining for the Church and therefore makes use of that word whereby God expressed his own Rest when he sanctified the seventh Day for a Day of Rest thereon That Day of Rest being removed and another on a new foundation namely the Rest of Christ upon his works introduced he calls it a Sabbatism or a Sabbath-keeping He doth not do this only and separately averring the necessity of a Sabbath-observation in the first place distinctly from a Spiritual Rest in Christ with an Eternal Rest ensuing thereon but in the manner and Order before laid down wherein the necessity of such a Day is included And besides the evidence that ariseth from the consideration of the whole Context there are two things which make it undeniably evident that our Apostle asserts an Evangelical Sabbath or Day of Rest to be constantly observed in and for the Worship of God under the Gospel For first without this design
the Red Heifer with whose ashes the water of sprinkling was to be mingled for which conjecture they want not such Reasons as are usual amongst them The two first they confirm from the Repetition of the Law Deut. 5. 14 15. For there those Words as the Lord thy God commanded thee are distinctly added to those two Precepts the Fourth and Fifth and to no other And this could arise from no other cause but because God had before given them unto the people in Mara where he said he had given them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Ordinance and Law of the Sabbath and the Judgement of Obedience to Parents and Superiors This is one of the principal wayes whereby they confirm their Imaginations And fully to establish the Truth hereof Baal Hatturim or the small Gematrical Annotations on the Masoretical Bibles adds that in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the final numeral Letters make up the same number with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Name of the Place where these Laws were given And this is the summ of what is pleaded in this case § 4 But every one may easily see the Vanity of these Pretences and how easie it is for any one to frame a thousand of them who knows not how better to spend his time Aben Ezra and Abarbinel both confess that the words used in the Repetition of the Law Deut. 5. do refer to the giving of it on Mount Sinai And if we must seek for especial Reasons of the inserting of those words besides the Soveraign Pleasure of God they are not wanting which are far more probable than these of the Masters 1 The one of these Commandments closing up the first Table concerning the Worship of God and the other heading the second Table concerning our Duties amongst our selves and towards others this Memorial as the Lord thy God commanded thee is on that account expresly annexed unto them being to be distinctly applyed unto all the Rest. 2 The Fourth Command is as it were Custos primae Tabulae the Keeper of the whole first Table seeing our owning of God to be our God and our Worship of him according to his mind were solemnly to be expressed on the Day of Rest commanded to be observed for that purpose and in the neglect whereof they will be sure enough neglected whence also a Remembrance to observe this Day is so strictly injoyned And the Fifth Commandment is apparently Custos secundae Tabulae as appointed of God to contain the means of exacting the observation of all the Duties of the second Table or of punishing the neglect of them and disobedience unto them And therefore it may be the Memorial is not peculiarly annexed unto them on their own distinct Account but equally upon that of the other Commandments whereunto they do refer 3 There is yet an especial Reason for the peculiar Appropriation of these two Precepts by that Memorial unto this people For they had now given unto them an especial Typical Concern in them which did not at all belong unto the rest of mankind who were otherwise equally concerned in the Decalogue with themselves For in the Fourth Commandment whereas no more was before required but that one Day in seven should be observed as a Sacred Rest they were now precisely confined to the seventh Day in order from the finishing of the Creation or the establishing of the Law and Covenant of Works or a day answering thereunto For the Determination of the Day in the Hebdomadal Revolution was added in the Law Decalogical to the Law of Nature And this was with respect unto and in the confirmation of that Ordinance which gave them the seventh Day Sabbath in a peculiar manner that is the seventh Day after six dayes raining of Manna Exod. 16. And in the other the Promise annexed unto it of prolonging their Dayes had peculiar respect unto the Land of Canaan There is neither of these but is a far more probable Reason of the annexing those words as the Lord thy God commanded thee unto those two Commandments than that fixed on by the Talmudical Masters Herein only I agree with them that both these Commands were given alike in Mara and one of them I suppose none will deny to be a principal Dictate of the Law of Nature For the words mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Ordinance and a Statute the meaning of them is plainly expounded v. 26. God then declared this unto them as his unchangeable Ordinance and Institution that he would bless them on their Obedience and punish them upon their Unbelief and Rebellion wherein they had Experience of his Faithfulness to their cost The Reader may see this Fiction farther disproved in Tostatus on the place though I confess some of his Reasons are inconstringent and frivolous Moreover this Station of Mara was on or about the twenty fourth Day of Nisan or April And the first solemn Observation of the Sabbath in the Wilderness was upon the twenty second of Jiar the Month following as may easily be evinced from Moses Journal There were therefore twenty seven dayes between this Fictitious Institution of the Sabbath and the first solemn Observation of it which was at their Station in Alush as is generally supposed certainly in the Wilderness of Sin after they had left Mara and Elim and the Coast of the Red Sea whereunto they returned from Elim Exod. 16. 1. Numb 33. 8 9 10 11. For they first began their journey out of Aegypt on the fifteenth Day of Nisan or the first Month Exod. 12. 37. Numb 33. 3. And they passed through the Sea into the Wilderness about the nineteenth Day of that Month as is evident from their journyings Numb 33. 5 6 7 8 9. On the twentifourth of that Month they pitched in Mara and it was the fifteenth day of Jiar or the second Month before they entred the Wilderness of Sin where is the first mention of their solemn Observation of the Sabbath upon the occasion of the gathering of Manna Between these two seasons three Sabbaths must needs intervene and those immediately upon its first Institution if this Fancy may be admitted And yet the Rulers of the Congregation looked upon the peoples Preparation for its Observation as an unusual thing Exod. 16. 22. Which could not have fallen out had it received so fresh an Institution Besides these Masters themselves and Raski in particular who in his Comment on the place promotes this Fancy grants that Abraham observed the Sabbath But the Law and Ordinances hereof they say he received on peculiar Favour and by especial Revelation But be it so it was the great Commendation of Abraham and that given him by God himself that he would command his Children and Houshold after him to keep the Way of the Lord Gen. 18. 19. What ever Ordinance therefore he received from God of any thing to be observed in his Worship it was a part of his Fidelity to communicate the knowledge of
their Idolatrous Feasts But when the true God had no other acknowledgements amongst them but what answered the Title of the Unknown God is it any wonder that his Wayes and Worship might be unknown amongst them also And it is but pretended that they had no Indication of a Sabbatical Rest nor any means to free them from their Ignorance Mans duty is both to be learned and observed in Order It is in vain to expect that any should have Indications of an holy Rest unto God before they are brought to the knowledge of God himself When this is obtained when the true God upon just Grounds is owned and acknowledged than that some time be set apart for his solemn Worship is of Moral and Natural Right That this is included in the very first notion of the true God and our dependance upon him all men do confess And this principle was abused among the Heathen to be the foundation of all their stated Annual or Monthly Sacred Solemnities after they had nefariously lost the only Object of all Religious Worship Where this Progress is made as it might have been by attending to the directive Light of Nature and the impressions of the Law of it left upon the souls of men there will not be wanting sufficient Indicatives of the meetest season for that Worship However these things were and are to be considered and admitted in their Order and with respect unto that Order is their Obligation The Heathen were bound first to know and own the true God and him alone then to worship him solemnly and after that in order of Nature to have some solemn time separated unto the Observance of that Worship Without an Admission of these all which were neglected and rejected by them there is no place to enquire after the Obligation of an Hebdomadal Rest. And their Non-observance of it was their sin not firstly directly and immediately but consequentially as all others are that arise from an Ignorance or Rejection of those greater Principles whereon they do depend § 26 The trivial Exception from the difference of the Meridians is yet pleaded also For hence it is pretended to be impossible that all men should precisely observe the same day For if a man should sail round the world by the East he will at his return home have gotten a day by his continual approach towards the rising Sun And if he steer his course Westward he will lose a day in the annual Revolution as it is gotten the other way so did the Hollanders An. 1615. And hence the posterity of Noah gradually spreading themselves over the world must have gradually come to the Observation of different seasons if we shall suppose a Day of Sacred Rest required of them or appointed to them Apage Nugas If men might sail Eastward or Westward and not continually have seven dayes succeeding one another there would be some force in this Trifle On our Hypothesis where ever men are a seventh part of their Time or a seventh day is to be separated to the Remembrance of the Rest of God and the other Ends of the Sabbath That the Observance of this portion of time shall in all places begin and end at the same Instants the Law and Order of Gods Creation will not permit It is enough that amongst all who can assemble for the Worship of God there is no difference in general but that they all observe the same Proportion of Time And he who by circumnavigation of the world such rare and extraordinary Instances being not to be provided for in a general Law getteth or loseth a day he may at his return with a good conscience give up again what he hath got or retrive what he hath lost with those with whom he fixeth For all such occasional Accidents are to be reduced unto the common Standard All the Difficulty therefore in this Objection relates to the precise Observation of the seventh Day from the Creation and not in the least unto one day in seven And although the seventh day was appointed principally for the Land of Pakstine the seat of the Church of old wherein there was no such Alteration of Meridians yet I doubt not but that a wandring Jew might have observed the foregoing Rule and reduced his Time to order upon his return home What other exceptions of the like nature occur in this cause they shall be removed and satisfied in our next enquiry which is after the Causes of the Sabbath and the Morality of the Observation of one day in seven Exercitatio Tertia 1 Of the Causes of the Sabbath 2 God the Absolute Original Cause of it Distinction of Divine Laws into Moral and Positive 3 Divine Laws of a mixt nature partly Moral partly Positive 4 Opinion of some that the Law of the Sabbath was purely Positive Difficulties of that Opinion 5 Opinion of them who maintain the Observation of one Day in seven to be Moral 6 Opinion of them who make the Observation of the seventh Day precisely to be a Moral Duty 7 The second Opinion asserted 8 The common Notion of the Sabbath explained 9 The true Notion of it farther enquired into 10 Continuation of the same Disquisition 11 The Law of Nature wherein it consists Opinion of the Philosophers 12 Not comprized in the Dictates of Reason No obliging Authority in them formally considered 13 Uncertainty and disagreement about the Dictates of Reason Opinions of the Magi Zeno Chrysippus Plato Archelaus Aristippus Carneades Brennus c. 14 Things may belong to the Law of Nature not discoverable to the common Reason of the most 15 The Law of Nature wherein it doth really consist 16 Light given unto a septenary Sacred Rest in the Law of Nature 17 Farther Instances thereof 18 The Observation of the Sabbath on the same foundation with Monogamy 19 The seventh Day an appendix of the Covenant of Works 20 How far the whole Notion of a Weekly Sacred Rest was of the Law of Nature 21 Natural Light obscured by the Entrance of Sin 22 The summ of what is proposed 23 The enquiry about the Causes of the Sabbath renewed 24 The Command of it in what sense a Law Moral and how evidenced so to be 25 To Worship God in Associations and Assemblies a Moral Duty 26 One Day in seven required unto solemn Worship by the Law of our Creation 27 What is necessary to warrant the Ascription of any Duty to the Law of Creation 28 1. That is be congruous to the known Principles of it 29 2. That it have a general Principle in the Light of Nature 30 3. That it be taught by the Works of Creation 31 4. Direction for its Observance by superadded Revelation no impeachment of it 32 How far the same Duty may be required by a Law Moral and by a Law Positive 33 Vindication of the Truths laid down from an Objection 34 Other Evidences of the Morality of this Duty 35 Required in all states of the Church 36 These
nature soever on other Reasons the Covenant be between them whether that of Works or that of Grace by Jesus Christ. The seventh Day precisely belonging unto the Covenant of Works cannot therefore be firstly but only occasionally intended in the Decalogue Nor doth it nor can it invariably belong unto our absolute Obedience unto God because it is not of the substance of it but is only an occasional determination of a duty such as all other Positive Laws do give us And hence there is in the Command it self a difference put between a Sabbath Day and the arbitrary limitation of the seventh Day to be that day For we are commanded to remember the Sabbath Day not the seventh Day and the Reason given as is elsewhere observed is because God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath Day in the close of the Command where the formal Reason of our Obedience is expressed not the seventh Day Nor is indeed the joint Observation of the seventh Day precisely unto all to whom this Command is given that is to all who take the Lord to be their God possible though it were to the Jews in the Land of Palestina who were obliged to keep that Day For the difference of the Climate in the world will not allow it Nor did the Jews ever know whether the Day they observed was the seventh from the Creation only they knew it was so from the day whereon Manna was first given unto them And the whole Revolution and Computation of Time by Dayes was sufficiently interrupted in the dayes of Joshua and Hezekiah from allowing us to think the Observation of the seventh Day to be Moral And it is a Rule to judge of the intention of all Laws Divine and Humane that the meaning of the preceptive part of them is to be collected from the Reasons annexed to them or inserted in them Now the Reasons for a Sacred Rest that are intimated and stated in this Command do no more respect the seventh Day than any other in seven Six dayes are granted to labour that is in number and not more in a septenary Revolution Nor doth the Command say any thing whether these six dayes shall be the first or the last in the order of them And any day is as meet for the performance of the Duties of the Sabbath as the seventh if in an alike manner designed thereunto which things are at large pleaded by others § 54 It hath hitherto been allowed generally that the fourth Commandment doth at least include something in it that is Moral or else indeed no colour can be given unto its Association with them that are absolutely so in the Decalogue This is commonly said to be that some part of our Time be Dedicated to the Publick Worship of God But as this would overthrow the Pretension before mentioned that there can be no Moral Command about Time which is but a Circumstance of Moral Duties so the Limitation of that Time unto one Day in seven is so evidently a perpetually binding Law that it will not be hard to prove the unchangeable Obligation that is upon all men unto the Observance of it which is all for the substance that is contended for To avoid this it is now affirmed Disquisit p. 14. That Moralc Quarti Praecepti est non unum Diem sed totum tempus vitae nostrae quantum id fieri potest impendendum esse cultui Dei quaerendo regnum Dei Justitiam ejus atque inserviendo aedificationi proximi quo pertinet ut Deo serviamus ejus beneficia agnoscamus celeberemus cum invocemus Spiritu fidem nostram testemur confessione oris c. This is that which is Moral in the fourth Commandment namely that not one Day but as much as may be our whole lives be spent in the Worship of God seeking his Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof and furthering the edification of our neighbour Hereunto it belongeth that we should serve God acknowledge and celebrate his Benefits pray unto him in Spirit and testifie our faith by our Confession § 55 An. It is hard to discover how any of these things have the least respect to the fourth Commandment much more how the Morality of it should consist in them For all the Instances mentioned are indeed required in the first Precept of the Decalogue that only excepted of taking care to promote the edification of our Neighbour which is the summ and substance of the second Table expressed by our Saviour by loving our Neighbour as our selves To live unto God to believe and trust in him to acknowledge his Benefits to make Confession of him in the world are all especial Moral Duties of the first Commandment It cannot therefore be apprehended how the Morality of the fourth Commandment should consist in them And if there be nothing else Moral in it there is certainly nothing Moral in it at all For these things and the like are claimed from it and taken out of its possession by the first Precept And thereunto doth the General Consideration of Time with respect unto these Duties belong namely that we should live unto God whilst we live in this World For we live in Time and that is the measure of our duration and continuance Something else therefore must be found out to be Moral in the fourth Commandment or it must be denyed plainly to have any thing Moral in it § 56 It is farther yet pleaded that the Sabbath was a Type of our Spiritual Rest in Christ both that which we have in him at present by Grace and that which remains for us in Heaven Hence it was a shaddow of good things to come as were all other Ceremonial Institutions But that the same thing should be Moral and a shadow is a contradiction That which is a shadow can in no sense be said to be Moral nor on the contrary The Sabboth therefore was meerly Ceremonial An. It doth not appear it cannot be proved that the Sabbath either as to its first Original or as to the substance of the Command of it in the Decalogue was Typical or instituted to prefigure any thing that was future Yea the contrary is evident For the Law of it was given before the first Promise of Christ as we have proved and that in the state of Innocency and under the Covenant of Works in perfect force wherein there was no respect unto the Mediation of Christ. I do acknowledge that God did so order all his Works in the first Creation and under the Law of Nature as that they might be suitable Morally to represent his Works under the New Creation which from the Analogie of our Redemption to the Creation of all things is so called And hence according to the Eternal Counsel of God were all things meet to be gathered into an Head in Christ Jesus On this account there is an Instructive Resemblance between the Works of one sort and of the other So the Rest of God after the Works of the old
for the Relief and Salvation of the Elect and being solemnly renewed unto Abraham and his seed four hundred and thirty years before the giving of the Law unto his Posterity there was a blessed Relief provided therein against the Curse and Threatnings annexed to the first Covenant for all them that betook themselves unto it and made use of it Notwithstanding I say this Renovation of the first Covenant materially unto them they were so far freed from its Covenant Terms as that they had a Relief provided against what they could not answer in it with the consequences thereof 2. From the Nature and Tenor of the Covenant of Works so renewed amongst that people there was begotten in their minds such a Respect unto the Rigor of its Commands the manner of their Observance or of Obedience unto them with the dread of its Curse awfully denounced amongst them as brought a servile and bondage frame of Spirit upon them in all wherein they had to do with God by vertue of the Law and Rule of that Covenant This frame of Spirit as that which stands in direct Opposition unto the freedom and liberty purchased for us by Jesus Christ to serve God in Righteousness and Holiness without fear all our Dayes is much insisted on by the Apostle Paul especially in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians And in their Observation of the Sabbath in particular they were under this bondage filling them with many scrupulous Anxieties which arose not from the Law of the Sabbath it self as originally given unto man in the state of Innocency but from the Accommodation of the Law thereof unto them after the Entrance of sin And hereby their Sabbath Rest became unto them a great part of their wearying burthensome yoke which is taken off in Christ. 3. This Law was yet proposed to that Church and People in the Manner and Form of a Covenant and not only materially as a Law or Rule This it had from the Promises and Threatnings which it was attended withall There was adjoyned unto it Do this and live and the man that doth these things shall live in them as also Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Law to do them Not that it was hereby absolutely constituted a Covenant which eventually and finally they were to live or dye by for as we shewed before there was a Relief provided against that condition in the Promise but God gave the Old Covenant an especial Revival though with respect unto other Ends than were originally intended in it Hence this Covenant Form given unto it rendred the Obedience of that people in a great measure servile for it gendred unto bondage 4. The Law being attended with various Explanations and many Ordinances of Judgement deduced from the Principles of Moral Right and Equity contained in it was made the Rule of the Polity and Government of that people as an Holy Nation under the Rule of God himself who was their King For their Polity for the kind of it was a Theocracy over which God in an especial manner presided as their Governour and King And hence he affirms that when they would choose another King over them after the manner of the Nations that they rejected him from reigning over them though they resolved to adhere to his Laws and the manner of Government prescribed to them And this was peculiar to that people Hence the Sabbath amongst them came to have an absolute necessity accompanying it of an outward carnal Observance the neglect whereof or acting any thing against the Law of it was to be punished with Death 5. Unto this Renovation of the Covenant in the manner and for the ends expressed there was added a Typical Church State with a great number of Religious Laws and Ordinances in themselves carnal and weak but mystically significant of spiritual and heavenly things and instructive how to use the Promise that was before given for their relief from the Rigor and Curse of the Law or Covenant now proposed unto them And in all these things did the Covenant of God made with that people in the Wilderness consist The Foundation Matter Manner of Administration Promises and Threatnings of it were the same with the Covenant of Works but they were all accommodated to their Ecclesiastical and Political Estate with especial Respect unto their approaching condition in the Land of Canaan only there was in the Promise new Ends and a new Use given unto it with a Relief against its Rigor and Curse § 4 On the Account of the Accessions that were thus made to the Law and especially unto the Observation of the Sabbath is it often mentioned in the Scripture as that which God had in a peculiar manner given unto the Israelites in whose especial Worship it had so great a place many of their Principal Ordinances haveing a great Respect unto it it being also the only means of keeping up the solemnity of Natural Worship in their Synagogues among the people Acts 15. 21. Thus God sayes concerning them that he gave them his Sabbaths in the Wilderness to be a sign between him and them Ezek. 20. 10 11 12. And it is said of the same time Nehem. 9. 14. That he made known unto them his holy Sabbath that is in the manner and for the Ends expressed Nor is there any need why we should say that he gave them intends no more but that he restored the knowledge of the Sabbath amongst them the memory whereof they had almost lost although that Interpretation of the Expression might be justified For he sayes no where that he then gave his Sabbaths but that he then peculiarly gave them unto that people and that for the Ends mentioned For the Sabbath was originally a Moral Pledge and Expression of Gods Covenant Rest and our Rest in God And now was it appointed of God to be a sign of the especial Administration of the Covenant which was then enacted Hence it is said that he gave it them as a perpetual Covenant Exod. 31. 16. that they might know him to be the Lord that sanctified them v. 13. that is their God according to the Tenor of that Covenant which was to continue throughout their Generations that is until the New Covenant should be brought in and established by Christ. Thus was it peculiarly given unto them and so far as it was so as it was a sign of their Covenant as it was then first given so it is now abolished For § 5 The Renovation and change of the Covenant must and did introduce a change in the Rest annexed unto it For a Sabbath or an holy Rest belongs unto every Covenant between God and man But as for the kind and nature of it as to its Ends Use and Manner of Observation it follows the especial kind or nature of that Covenant wherein we at any season walk before God Now the Original Covenant of Works being in this Representation of it on Sinai not
is the first express mention of the Sabbath unto and amongst that people And it sufficiently declares that this was not the absolute Original of a Sabbatical Rest. It is only an Appropriation and Application of the Old Command unto them For the words are not preceptive but directive They do not Institute any thing anew but direct in the Practice of what was before Hence it is affirmed v. 29. that God gave them the Sabbath namely in this new Confirmation of it and Accommodation of it to their present Condition For this new Confirmation of it by withholding of Manna on that day belonged meerly and solely unto them and was the especial limitation of the seventh Day precisely wherein we are not concerned who do live on the the true Bread that came down from Heaven In those words therefore to morrow is the Rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord there is a certain limitation of the Day a Direction for its Sanctification as confirmed by the New sign of withholding Manna all which belonged to them peculiarly For this was the first Time that as a People they observed the Sabbath which in Aegypt they could not do And into this Institution and the Authority of it must they resolve their Practice who adhere unto the Observation of the seventh Day precisely For that day is no otherwise confirmed in the Decalogue but as it had Relation hereunto § 9 The Jews in this place fall into a double mistake about the Practical Observation of their Sabbath For from those words Bake that which you will bake and seethe that which you will seethe and that which remaineth lay up for you to be kept untill the morning v. 23. They conclude it to be unlawful to bake or seethe any thing on the Sabbath Day whereas the words have respect only to the Manna that was to be preserved And from the words of v. 29. See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the Bread of two Dayes abide you every man in his place let no man go out of his place on the seventh day they have made a Rule yea many Rules about what Motions or removals are lawful on the Sabbath Day and what not And hence they have bound themselves with many anxious and scrupulous Observances though the Injunction it self do purely and solely respect the people in the Wilderness that they should not go out into the Fields to look for Manna on that day which some of them having done v. 27. an occasion was taken from thence for this Injunction And hereunto do some of the Heathen Writers ascribe the Original of the Sabbatical Rest among the Jews supposing that the seventh day after their departure out of Aegypt they came to a place of Rest in Remembrance whereof they consecrated one day in seven to Rest and idleness ever after whereunto they add other fictions of an alike nature See Tacit Hist. lib. 5. § 10 Not long after ensued the giving of the Law on Sinai Exod. 20. That the Decalogue is a summary of the Law of Nature or the Moral Law is by all Christians acknowledged nor could the Heathens of old deny it And it is so perfectly Nothing belongs unto that Law which is not comprized therein Nor can any one Instance be given to the contrary Nor is there any thing directly and immediately in it but what belongs unto that Law Only God now made in it an especial Accommodation of the Law of their Creation unto that people whom he he was in a second Work now forming for himself Isa. 43. 19 20 21. Chap. 51. 15 16. And this he did as every part of it was capable of being so accommodated To this purpose he prefaceth the whole with an Intimation of his particular Covenant with them I am the Lord thy God and addeth thereunto the Remembrance of an especial Benefit that they and they alone were made partakers of That brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of Bondage which he did in the pursuit of his especial Covenant with Abraham and his seed This made the Obligation to Obedience unto the Law as promulgated on Mount Sinai to belong unto them peculiarly to us it is only an everlasting Rule as declarative of the Will of God and the Law of our Creation The Obligation I say that arose unto Obedience from the Promulgation of the Law on Mount Sinai was peculiar unto the Israelites and sundry things were then and there mixed with it that belonged unto them alone And whereas the Mercy the consideration whereof he proposeth as the great Motive unto Obedience which was his bringing them out of Aegypt with Reference unto his setling of them in the Land of Canaan was a Typical Mercy it gave the whole Law a station in the Typical Church State which they were now bringing into It altered not the nature of the things commanded which for the substance of them were all Moral but it gave their Obedience unto it a new and Typical Respect even as it was the Tenor of the Covenant made with them in Sinai with Respect unto the promised Land of Canaan and their Typical State therein § 51 This in an especial manner was the condition of the fourth Commandment Three things are distinctly proposed in it 1. The Command for an Observance of a Sabbath Day v. 8. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy This contains the whole substance of the Command The formal Reason whereof is contained in the last clause of it Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day and hallowed it And upon the neglect of the Observance of the Sabbath in former Generations with a Prospect on the many Difficulties that would arise among the people in the Observation of it for the future as also because the Foundation and Reason of it in the Law of Creation being principally external in the Works and Rest of God that ensued thereon were not so absolutely ingrafted in the minds of men as continually to evidence and manifest themselves as do those of the other Precepts there is an especial note put upon it for Remembrance And whereas it is a positive Precept as is that which follows it all the rest being Negatives it stood more in need than they of a particular charge and special Motives of which Nature one is added also to the next Command being in like manner a Positive Enunciation 2. Secondly There is an express Determination of this Sabbath to be one Day in seven without which it was only included in the Original Reason of it v. 9 10. Six dayes shalt thou-labour and do all thy Work but the seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God And herein the Day originally fixed in the Covenant of Works is again limited unto this people to continue unto the Time of the full Introduction and Establishment of the New Covenant And this limitation of the seventh Day was
shall be to you an holy Day a Sabbath of Rest unto the Lord whosoever doth work therein shall be put to death Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath Day Here again the Penalties and the Prohibition of kindling fire are Mosaical and so is on their account the whole Command as here renewed though there be that in it which for the substance of it is Moral And here the seventh Day precisely is made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holiness unto them or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Convocation of holiness an holy Convocation as it is expressed Levit. 23. 2. where these words are again repeated whose Profanation was to be avenged with Death The Prohibition also added about kindling of fire in their habitations hath been the occasion of many anxious Observances among the Jews They all agree that the kindling of fire for Profit and Advantage in Kilns and Oasts for the making of Brick or drying of Corn or for founding or melting Mettals is here forbidden But what need was there that so it should be seeing all these things are expresly forbidden in the Command in general Thou shalt do no manner of work somewhat more is intended They say therefore that it is the kindling of fire for the dressing of Victuals And this indeed seems to be the intendment of this especial Law as the Manna that was to be eaten on the Sabbath was to be prepared on the Parasecue But withal I say this is a new additional Law and purely Mosaical the Original Law of the Sabbath making no entrenchment on the ordinary duties of humane life as we shall see afterwards Whether it forbad the kindling of fire for Light and Heat I much question The present Jews in most places employ Christian Servants about such works For the poor wretches care not what is done to their Advantage so they do it not themselves But these and the like Precepts belonged unquestionably unto their Paedagogie and were separable from the Original Law of the Sabbath § 17 Lastly The whole matter is stated Deut. 5. 15. where after the Repetition of the Commandment it is added and remember that thou wast a Servant in the Land of Aegypt 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 commanded thee to keep the Sabbath Day The Mercy and Benefit they had received in their Deliverance from Aegypt is given as the Reason not why they should keep the Sabbath as it was proposed as a Motive unto the Observation of the whole Law in the Preface of the Decalogue but wherefore God gave them the Law of it to keep and observe Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath Now the Reason of the Command of a Sabbatical Rost absolutely God had every where declared to be his making the world in six dayes and resting on the seventh The mention whereof in this place is wholly omitted because an especial Application of the Law unto that people is intended So that it is evident that the Mosaical Sabbath was on many Accounts and in many things distinguished from that of the Decalogue which is a Moral Duty For the Deliverance of the people out of Aegypt which was a benefit peculiar unto themselves and Typical of Spiritual Mercies unto others was the Reason of the Institution of the Sabbath as it was Mosaical which it was not nor could be of the Sabbath absolutely although it might be pressed on that people as a considerable Motive why they ought to endeavour the keeping of the whole Law § 18 From all that hath been discoursed it appears That the Observation of the seventh Day precisely from the Beginning of the world belonged unto the Covenant of Works not as a Covenant but as a Covenant of Works founded in the Law of Creation And that in the Administration of that Covenant which was revived and unto certain Ends reinforced unto the Church of Israel in the Wilderness it was bound on them by an especial Ordinance to be observed throughout their Generations or during the continuance of their Church State Moreover that as to the manner of the Observance required by the Law as delivered on Mount Sinai it was a yoke and burden to the people because that dispensation of the Law gendred unto Bondage Gal. 4. 24. For it begot a Spirit of fear and Bondage in all that were its Children and subject unto its Power In this condition of things it was applyed unto sundry Ends in their Typical State in which regard it was a shadow of good things to come And so also was it in respect of those other Additional Institutions and Prohibitions which were inseparable from its Observation amongst them whereof we have spoken On all these Accounts I doubt not but that the Mosaical Sabbath and the manner of its Observation is under the Gospel utterly taken away But as for the Weekly Sabbath as required by the Law of our Creation reinforced in the Decalogue the summary Representation of that great Original Law the Observation of it is a Moral Duty which by Divine Authority is translated unto another Day § 19 The ancient Jews have a saying which by the later Masters is abused but a Truth is contained in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sabbath gives firmitude and strength to all the Affairs of this World For it may be understood of the Blessing of God on the due Observation of his Worship on that Day Hence it was they say that any young clean Beast that was to be offered in Sacrifice must continue seven dayes with the Damm and not be offered until the eighth Levit. 22. 27. That a Child was not to be circumcised until the eighth Day that there might be an Interposition of a Sabbath for their Benediction And it is not unlikely that the eighth Day was also signalized hereby as that which was to succeed in the Room of the seventh as shall be manifested in our next Discourse The Fifth Exercitation OF THE Lords-Day 1 A Summary of what hath been proved a progress to the Lords-day 2 The new Creation of all things in Christ the foundation of Gospel-Obedience and Worship 3 The old and new Creation compared 4 The old and new Covenant 5 Distinct Ends of these Covenants 6 Supposition of the Heads of things before confirmed 7 Foundation of the Lords-day on those Suppositions 8 Christ the â—uthor of the new Creation his Works therein 9 His Rest from his Works the Indication of a new Day of Rest. 10 Observed by the Apostles 11 Proof of the Lords-day from Heb. 4. proposed 12 The words of the Text. 13 esign of the Apostle in general 14 His answer unto an Objection with his general Argument 15 The nature of the Rests treated on by him 16 The Church under the Law of Nature and its Rest. 17 The Church under the Law of Institution and its Rest. 18