exercise the Ministerial function imployed Peter to Preach and by his Sermon at the Third Hour converted Three thousand at the Ninth hour Five Thousand He held the Angels of the Asian Churches in his right hand and out of his mouth went a two-edged sword the Sword of the Spirit namely the Word of God All this is very agreeable to the nature of a day wholly devoted to Religion 4. The Holy Apostles and Disciples Upon the First of the Week when the Disciples came together to break Bread Paul preached to them Act. 20.7 Here are actions very suitable to the design of a Sabbath Preaching and Administring the Holy Sacrament The Time when these actions were performed is the First of the Week This was a constant custom we never read that the Apostle in any place where he found none but Disciples did upon the old Sabbath communicate with them in those Ordinances which the Gospel has appointed Now as touching a Collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia so do ye Vpon the first of the week let every one of you lay up by him in store 1 Cor. 16.1 2. The duty here enjoyned is a Collection for the Saints The Apostle did design That it should be very liberal according to the estate of every Man Why he should wave the second third fourth fifth day of the Week and pitch upon the First for the doing of this generous and pious Work cannot be conceived except upon the First of the Week the Disciples of Christ use to meet and be engaged in such Religious performances as have a tendency to excite the mind to Christian liberality These were the thoughts of S. Chrysostome Hom. 43. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was an idoneity and fitness in the day to dispose and lead them to the acts of Charity This custom was not only amongst the Corinthians but all other Christians The Epistle is addressed to all who in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.2 and it was not only upon one or two First days but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First day of every Week There remaineth therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the keeping a Sabbath to the people of God For he that is entred into his rest he also hath ceased from his works as God did from his Heb. 4.9 10. These words are directed to the Hebrews who were inclinable thro' the efficaey of former impressions to disvalue the institutions of the Gospel That the Apostle might prevail with them to yield a chearful conformity to those appointments He demonstrates That Christ is more valuable than Moses and stiles their deserting the Gospel a departure from the living God and cites Psalm 95. which has a peculiar aspect upon the state of the Church under the Messias In it are described his Disciples under these names the People of his pasture the Sheep of his hand Their solemn meeting to Worship O come let us worship the duties performed at this meeting as Prayer Let us kneel before the Lord our maker v. 6. Singing of Psalms Let us make a joyful noise unto him with Psalms v. 2 3. Hearing the word if you will hear his voice v. 7. a particular day on which all these duties are to be performed To day if you will hear This day being intended for a Sabbath at which time all spiritual advantages are administred which tend to the bringing the Soul into truest satisfaction and rest an exhortation is given to the People not to harden their hearts as the Israelites did in the provocation lest they be deprived of this rest as the Israelites were of theirs in the land of Canaan Now because there are several sorts of rests recorded in the Scripture The heavenly rest in the world to come the rest of the old Sabbath rest in the land of Canaan the Apostle makes it manifest that it is none of these which the Psalmist means but the rest of a Sabbath under the Gospel Not the heavenly for the rest here spoken is confined to a certain day v. 7. Whereas the rest above is every day without interruption Not the rest of the old Sabbath for that was at the beginning when the works were finished from the Creation of the World But the rest mentioned by the Psalmist is some future thing under the Gospel as I have sworn if they shall enter Not the Rest in the land of Canaan If Jesus had given them rest then he would not afterwards have spoken of another day From these premises it is concluded there remaineth therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the keeping a Sabbath day to the people of God under the Gospel And that we may know this Sabbath is the Resurrection-day and by consequence the First of the Week it is added for he which entred into his rest hath ceased from his works as God did from his God the Father upon the Last of the Week ceased from his works and made it a day of rest unto his people Therefore God the Son has done the like with the First of the Week he then putting a period to his state of Humiliation and ceasing from his labour and trouble which he did undergo in the accomplishment of the work of our redemption I was in the Spirit upon the Lord's day Rev. 1.10 By the Lord's day we can understand no less than a day appointed by our Blessed Lord and devoted to his Honour and Worship This day must necessarily be the First of the Week For S. John in expressing this circumstance of Time designs a credit to his relation and therefore must necessarily mean some day which was very well known by this name at the writing of the Revelation It is manifest by Ignatius who was his contemporary That the common name then given to the First of the Week was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This day God was pleased to signalize by a communication of the Holy Ghost in some extraordinary measures S. John was in the Spirit upon it In the words there is an allusion to the manner of speaking amongst the Hebrews who say that a man besides the Soul which he is ordinarily endued with has another Spirit given to him upon the Sabbath which they stile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an excellent Soul Manass Ben. Is reconc Buxt Syna Jud. c. 11. p. 288. Such allusions we have in the very Context The Seven Spirits v. 4. have a plain aspect upon the Seven Angels which the Jews say do constantly attend the throne of God And the Governours of the Asian Churches are called Angels with respect to the Rulers in the Synagogues which were known by that name 5. The testimony of the following ages He who consults the Writings which are extant will meet with these four Things which being laid together will amount to what has been asserted 1. That the First of the Week was owned by Christians as a Day of Worship 2. As a Sabbath
Seal the Faith of the Gospel with his blood He asserts That Moses received the lively Oracles to give unto us Act. 7.38 The lively Oracles are the Ten Commandments They are stiled Oracles because they were laid up in the place from whence God used to give forth his Oracles and lively in opposition to the dead Oracles of the Heathens which were observed to languish and fail about the time of the manifestation of Jesus Christ whereas the Ten Commandments were then in their full vigour These Precepts Stephen a sincere Convert to the Faith of Christ says Moses received That he might deliver them to us In this number he includes himself as standing in the relation of a Christian the whole Chapter being intended as an Apology for that profession Therefore the Decalogue concerns us not only by virtue of the matter of it but the Tradition and delivery by Moses To this are very consonant the words of S. Paul Honour thy Father and thy Mother which is the first Commandment with promise That it may be well with thee and thou mayst live long on the earth Eph. 6.2 3. This Promise is here mentioned with a design to quicken those who were Christians and no Israelites by birth to give a chearful obedience to the Fifth Command The Apostle endeavours That it may have this effect upon them by declaring their particular interest in it This is the first Commandment with promise as well to you Ephesians as those who are Jews If his meaning had been That this is the first Command which was given with promise to the Jews only therefore do you who are Ephesians conform to it the strength of the argument had been lost It is no good consequence That because length of days was promised to the Jews That therefore the Gentiles should enjoy the same priviledge Many temporal blessings were entailed upon that people which Christians can make no just claim to The Gospel is a more refined dispensation under the Law there was less of the Spirit and more of Temporal things While Christians are in the Sea of this world they cannot expect that the tide of external blessings should be as great as it was under the Judaical Oeconomy Now there is nothing in the whole Decalogue which in appearance is more appropriated to the Israelites than this Promise Those words That thy days may be long in the Land seem to have a particular aspect upon the land of Canaan and if that in the Decalogue which seems to be most appropriated is notwithstanding not so but common to Christians then that which seems to be less appropriated is likewise common to them and by consequence the whole Decalogue It is a known rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If that which has a greater appearance of being is not neither is that which has less Lastly The words of S. James are of the same importance For he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill c. 2.11 These two Commands are perpetual and oblige all Christians The reason of their obligation is not taken from their intrinsick nature but the authority of him who published them in the time of Moses That that time and place is aimed at is evident from v. 8. Fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture that is The Scripture and Writings of Moses where the Law is laid down and the manner of its being spoken by God upon the Mount related This reason whereby these Two Commands become obligatory under the Gospel extends to every particular precept in the Decalogue He that said thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery said likewise Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy All these were spoken at the same time in the same manner immediately by the mouth of God unto the People which cannot be affirmed of any of the Laws which are not contained in that Combination And if there be the same reason for the obligation of the whole Decalogue amongst Christians as there is for the Sixth and Seventh Precepts then the whole doth oblige them and will continue so to do to the World's End Very consonant to this is the Testimony of Theophilus Antiochenus who speaking of these Two Laws which S. James mentions together with the other parts of the Decalogue which he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 useth these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses the servant of God was a Minister of this divine Law to all the world In this he asserts no more than what the Apostle had done before him Rom. 3.19 What things soever the Law saith it saith to them which are under the Law that all the world may become guilty before God By the World we must understand not only Jews but Gentiles as most evidently appears by the ninth verse It is impossible that the whole World should be obnoxious to guilt upon the account of disobedience to the Moral Law as it lyes in the Old Testament had it not been intentionally given to it The Constitutions which go under the name of Clemens Romanus Constit Apost l. 6. c. 19. represent the Decalogue as a compleat and perfect Law appertaining to Christians Irenaeus speaks of two sorts of Divine Precepts L. 4. c. 26. p. 344. particularia which are appropriated to the Old Testament and eminentiora summa which are common to the Old and New The Scholiast upon the place reckons the Decalogue amongst the last it being designed by God as a perpetual rule for his people in all ages For this Gloss he had authority enough from Irenaeus himself L. 4. c. 39. c. 31. who afterwards represents the Decalogue as the Law of Nature and at the coming of Christ to receive extension and enlargement but no dissolution To these Testimonies we may add the consent of our own Church which she has sufficiently discovered in her placing the Ten Commandments as delivered in the Twentieth chap. of Exodus in the very Catechism which Children are to learn and obliging the people in the Liturgy after the reading of every Precept to use such words as import That it is a Law obligatory to them To say That She by the word Law understands sometimes the Law only in the mystical and Spiritual sence is very incongruous for she makes no discrimination but enjoyns the continuation of the same form of Speech to the last Command A Precept without the Letter is no Law at all It is a known rule That when the literal sence of a Law is repeated the whole Law is abrogated For the Letter is the foundation whatsoever is besides is the superstructure The superstruction must necessarily fall when the foundation is removed Tho' the spiritual sence of a Law may be of use when the Letter is discharged yet it is not to be accounted as the sence of that which is now a Law but of that which was formerly so The spiritual sence of the Ceremonial Law is still of use yet
because the Literal is decayed and vanished we say the whole Law is annulled The Law and the Letter of it always fall together Therefore If the Church had not believed every Law in the Decalogue in the Letter to be binding to us she would not have called every one of them a Law in that known form Lord incline our hearts to keep this Law Against all this it is objected Epilog l. 3. c. 21. p. 194. That the first and last Command of the Second Table are by the terms of them appropriated to God's antient People The Land of Promise in the Letter belongs to none but Israelites The Tenth Command forbiddeth to covet another man's wife altho' adultery was forbidden before and therefore to covet onother man's wife is to compass another man's wife which might be done where the Law alloweth divorces as Moses's Law doth To which I reply 1. If these words appropriated to the antient People of God import no more than the being delivered with some accommodation to them it is no good consequence because the first and last Precept in the second Table are thus appropriated That therefore they concern no body else The ritual Law was adapted to the circumstances of those Israelites More Nevochim p. 46. which were in being at the time when it was enacted The Law whereby the eating of blood is interdicted was therefore given because the Zabiists thought blood to be the food of infernal Gods and conceived the way to contract an acquaintance with them was to eat of it The Law which forbiddeth the eating of the fruits of the first three years was occasioned by an Idolatrous custome of the same People who use to offer part of the First-fruits of Trees to their Idol and to eat the other part in their Idol-Temple being possessed with an apprehension That the Trees would wither and die in case this custome was intermitted The preceptive part of the Writings of the Prophets is plainly accommodated to the Nation of the Jews Many parts of the New Testament are adapted to the condition of the Primitive times S. John's Gospel was intended to affront the assertions of Ebion and Cerinthus S. Paul's Epistles are proportioned to those distempers which some particular Churches conflicted with The Sermons of Christ were preached to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Both his Sacraments are not without their peculiar aspects In Baptism there is a special regard to the Jews who were no strangers to the custome of admitting Proselytes by Water Some rites in the Eucharist were derived from their Passeover Because the Law had a particular aspect upon the circumstances of the Israelites then living when it was first enacted it is no good consequence That it was not obliging to future generations which were in a different condition Or Because the Prophets were chiefly sent to the Jews That therefore Christians are not concerned in the mandatory part of their Writings Or Because the New Testament in the doctrinal and sacramental part of it was calculated for a Meridian different from that which the Church is now under That therefore it does not oblige the Church in her present state We see the same art which is used in undermining the perpetuity of the Decalogue should it prevail would be as forcible against the Old and New Testament Dominicus à Soto who maintained the principle did likewise own the consequence so far as it concerns the Old Testament Bellarm. de justif l. 4. c. 6. p. 930. He did assert Nullum testimonium ex libris Veteris Testamenti quoad vim obligandi adduci posse Christianis If those words appropriated to the ancient people of God be taken strictly it does not appear from any thing which has been produced that there is any such appropriation of those two Commands The first runs in these terms Honour thy father and thy mother This is the whole which appertains to the Precept properly taken what is annexed is a Promise and not of the essence of the Mandatory part of the Decalogue Neither is the Promise so peculiar to the Jews but that it may be applied unto others which will be evident if we consider the words That thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Long life was not only the reward of obedience amongst the Jews but likewise the Gentiles Iliad 4. Homer says That the life of Simoisius was short because he did not cherish his loving Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word very general and may import any land where the sons of Adam dwell The Lord did not only give Canaan to the Israelites but Mount Seir to the children of Esau and Ar to the children of Lot The Earth being the Lord's what any Prince or People enjoy it is by his donation This title was so well known that the Heathens used to stand upon it Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy God giveth thee to possess Judg. 9.24 This being manifest there is no Nation in the World but may lay a claim to this promise upon a supposition of obedience to the Precept As for the last Command I cannot find the least appearance of an appropriation in it The sence of what the Epilogue asserts must amount to this Because under the Law Divorce was allowed and for that reason Men might be induced to attempt the getting another man's wife from him by suggesting something against her which might occasion a Bill of Divorce therefore God enjoyned in the Tenth Command That no Man should covet another's Wife If this was so How comes it to pass that S. Paul represents this Command as in force among Christians who are not concerned in the Law of Divorce Why is it said not only that Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife but his maid-servant which was never married and his ox and his ass If the Law of Divorce was the only reason which did induce the supreme Legislator to give out this Law it must necessarily follow That a Man might give a Bill of Divorce not only to his Wife but likewise to his Ox or his Ass which supposeth him to be married to them I cannot see how to covet should signifie to compass For to compass or procure is an external act but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate to covet is an internal and therefore it is interpreted by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to put the mind upon an object The mind being conversant about that which is evil either it passeth thro' it without consent or else it is entertained with some unadvised delight or else it procures not only a sudden delight but a full and perfect consent In the first place the mind doth not sin in the second and third it doth and this is that which is interdicted in the Tenth Command altho' Adultery is prohibited before In the Precept concerning Adultery the outward act is forbidden explicitly the inward implicitely only Now because