Promises and Threats he hath dealt not onely with private Persons but Kingdoms and States For he hath blessed such as did observe the Sabbath and cursed such as did prophane it This is evident not onely from the History of the Scriptures but from his Judgments in all Times We might easily by observation understand it in our Times It 's somewhat remarkable and not altogether to be neglected that even in this Nation upon the publike allowance of Sports and Recreations upon the Lords Day which is our Christian Sabbath Civil and Bloody Wars and ruine of the Royal Family should so shortly follow and that the hand of God should be most against those who by Writing Words or Practise had maintained the lawfulness of that Doctrine I forbear to cite the particular places of Scripture whence these Reasons are taken and the Examples of God's Judgments because this is done already by many others who have written of the Sabbath Before I conclude this Doctrine of the Sabbath § XVII it will be expedient to say something of the Lords Day which we Christians observe and as Christians are bound to sanctifie These things I suppose will be granted by rational and impartial men 1. That we under the Gospel are as much bound to serve and worship God as the Jews were under the Law 2. That the Lords-Day is as necessary for the preservation and continuance of Religion as the Jewish Sabbath was 3. It 's as fit and as due proportion of time as theirs was For our condition in respect of the business and necessities of this life did not differ from theirs but is the same 4. It 's as useful and conducing to our Spiritual good and the attaining of our Eternal Sabbath as theirs 5. It 's the 7th part of our time and a 7th day in order as theirs also was and so consecrates no less time to God but so much as the Commandement requires 6. The morality of the Commandement and the principal thing therein aimed at is not this or that 7th day but this or that 7th day which God shall determine for Sanctification 7. As God set a Character upon their Day so He hath upon ours Upon the 7th Day He rested from the great Work of Creation and therefore sanctified and blessed it and honoured it above other days and in remembrance of the great and glorious Work of Creation He commanded the Day to be observed So upon the first Day of the Week when Christ had finished His great Work of Redemption He began His Everlasting Sabbath For upon this Day He rose again upon this Day He sent down the Holy Ghost and by these two glorious Works He honoured this Day above all others even above their Sabbath The Creation was a glorious Work the Redemption is more glorious The Creation is a great benefit the Redemption is greater And if we must remember the former we must much more remember the latter If the Day whereon He rested from the former be fit to be observed much more is the Day wherein He rested from the latter The Resurrection of the Son of God made Man and the sending down of the Holy Ghost are never to be forgotten but eternally to be remembred by Christians For upon them depend our Eternal Salvation and without them we cannot attain unto or enter into our Everlasting Rest. And he is unworthy the Name much more the Priviledges of a Christian that will not remember these things And we can hardly find any to have dis-esteemed or neglected this Day but they were either prophane Wretches or giddy Sectaries and Hereticks For the alteration of the Day to be sanctified § XVIII there was great reason For 1. Seeing Christ did not rise again nor send down the Holy Ghost upon the Iewish Sabbath but upon the first day of the Week there was more reason to observe this our first then that their last Day of the Week And surely seeing Christ could have risen upon their Sabbath and sent down the Holy Ghost upon that Day and yet did not either of them upon the same nor any other Day of the Week there was some reason in it And by singling out this time for those Blessed Works He did intimate that this should be His Day wherein all Christians should honour Him to the end of the World and that the former Sabbath was to be laid aside 2. The former Sabbath did several ways respect the Jews in particular 1. As having the Ceremonial Law annexed unto it the Services and Rites whereof were to be observed in the Tabernacle and Temple upon this Day 2. It was a Sign between God and them that they might know that it was the Lord which did sanctifie them Exod. 31. 13 17. Ezek. 20. 12. So that it was part of that Partition-Wall whereby they were separated from the Gentiles Therefore after that Christ was risen the Holy Ghost given from Heaven upon this Day the Apostles received Commission to preach unto all Nations and God taking away the Partition-Wall made of both one Body-Politick in Religion it was though altogether convenient to surrogate the Lords-Day in the place of the former Sabbath and upon these grounds the first day of the week began to be observed in the days of the Apostles and had the name of the Lords-Day and both the observation and the name have universally amongst Christians continued since that time By laying aside the former Day was signified that the Covenant with the Fathers which had this Sabbath annexed was now with that Day expired and abolished by a more excellent time which succeeded it which being sanctified by us doth distinguish us from the unbelieving Jew in all Nations For by it we profess our Belief of Christ's Resurrection and our Sanctification by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven Many remain to this day unsatisfied § XIX and doubt of the Morality of the fourth Commandement and if it were Moral by what Authority the Sabbath of the Jews determined in that Commandement of the Moral-Law given unto them could be altered For the Morality of it we must observe as before 1. That some Commandements were primitively some derivatively moral so that there were degrees of morality in that Law which is called Moral and in that respect though they were all moral yet there is a great inequality in their morality 2. This Commandement as some others have something positive in it 3. This Commandement was positive in respect of the time For neither time in general nor this or that particular time nor this or that portion of time as a day one day in seven this or that 7th day are moral They are not intrinsecally good nor have any connexion inseparable with the last end and felicity of man 4. This Commandement derives its morality ab extrinseco from the Divine Determination of the time and the Rest for Sanctification commanded in that time The Sanctification of one 7th determinate day every week
of Rest. 4. An Holy Rest not a rest from all Works but such as are secular 5. The word Day doth distinguish it from Years and Moneths and Weeks as greater and longer times and from an hour as a shorter measure of time And because it may signifie either a natural day of 24 hours or as it is an artificial day so far as it is a time of work and is opposed to a Night which is a time appointed by God for man to rest in For here it 's differenced from those six days wherein man may labour and do his secular works which also had their several nights and times of rest from the Creation And as our secularâ—work on other days is not confined merely to the time of Light natural from the Sun approaching unto or appearing in our Horizon no more is this Sabbath-Day Yet God did not take from it nor deny man in it a Night as a time of Rest. And men in these things should not be more precise than God would have them to be It 's not material whether we turn it The Sabbath or A Sabbath though The Sabbath is more emphatical and more agreeable to the Hebrew Chaldee Septuagim all which put a double Particle One upon the day another upon Sabbath Remember The Day of The Sabbath This word Sabbath-day doth not determine whether it should be one day in a Year or in a Moneth or in a Week Whether it should be the first or last of a Week or any of the intervenient Days neither doth it inform us when the Week begins or ends Yet that People of the Jews might easily understand that he meant that particular Sabbath-Day wherein they were prohibited to gather Manna which God denyed to give them that time And if they had been ignorant of this they might easily know that it signified such a time as God should determine and judge sufficient for preservation of Religion and His Worship and yet leave a competent portion of time for man's necessities This appears by the Explication following For all this I do not think that God did ever make such account of this or that seventh day as that one and the same should be of necessity and of universal and perpetual Obligation to Jews and Gentiles Neither is there any Morality in the number of seven or any necessary dependence of the continuance of Religion upon this or that seventh day The light of Natural Reason seems unable of it self to know this time yet if it be once revealed by God it cannot but acknowledge the Equity of it It may dictate unto us that if God once determine the time that time is the fittest The Heathens might have some Astronomical knowledge of the seventh day but Theological they could have none except by Tradition To sanctifie it This is the principall part of this Commandement § VI and of mans duty To sanctifie this day But it s one thing for God another thing for man to sanctifie it God may hallow it by his practise as he did the first 7th day of the World or by his institution and command For his command institution designation of the day makes it relatively holy distinguisheth it from and advanceth it above other dayes and binds man to honour it in his practice Man sactifies it for that is the sanctification here intended yet presupposing the former 1. When he esâ—eemes and accounts that day such as God hath made it 2. When not onely he rests from secular works but applyes that time to the due performance of those heavenly services which God requires of him especially and principally on this day It 's a time wherein the soul must be more imployed then the Body it 's a time wherein we must converse more with God than men with Heaven than with earth it 's a time ordained not for the temporal so much as the spiritual and eternal good of man it 's a time wherein we must not onely cease from our worldly labours businesse imployment which take up and toyl the body but sequesâ—er our hearts from worldly thoughts cares aâ—fections which distract our minds and diviner facultyes Thus instituted of God and thus hallowed of man it s the best and most excellent and noble part of our time and resembles in some degree that eternal Sabbath which we hope to hallow more perfectly in heaven When we shall be free from all sin and sorrow and Rest our selves with unspeakable content and joy in our God! This will be that glorious Festival and Holy-day the Sun whereof shall never set but ever shine For it shall have no end But this Blessed and Eternal Sabbath is not prepared for prophane wretches who neglect to serve their God on earth but for such as shall be most careâ—ull to sanctifie God Sabbaths in this life For the more carefull we are of the one the more sure we may be of the other The summe of the Commandement is this That whatsoever time God shall determine and design to man for a Sabbath man must remember it and be very carefull not onely to rest in it and forbear his secular imployments therein but he must be carefull to sanctifie it in the holy performance of Heavenly services without distraction After the words of the Commandement followes the explication § VII Wherein God 1. Explaines the word Sabbath Day and determins in particular what day he meant and singles it out from amongst the rest 2. Teacheth him how to sanctifie it 3. Gives the reason why he did determin upon that day for Rest and sanctification rather then upon any other So that in the words following we have 1. The determination of the day 2. The sanctification of the day 3. The reason of both 1. The determination of the day is in these words Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy Works but the 7th Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God Herein He 1. Takes out of mans time Six dayes and assignes them for secular imployments 2. He pitcheth upon the 7th which he appropriates to himself and designes for the Sabbath The former words Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy works are neither a Command nor a Permission nor a Toleration nor indulgence in strict sense whatsoever they may imply But the proper intention of them is to single out six dayes that God may let us know that none of them is the Sabbath but the 7th following They first presuppose that measure of time we call a week according to the number of the first seven dayes of the World which God created in six dayes and ceased from Creation the 7th 2. They imply that the Sabbath is weekly 3. That it 's none of the Six dayes In these six dayes man may labour and do his Work and all his Work By Mans Work may be meant 1. The work of sin in opposition to the Works of God and of the Spirit which are contrary and as God never gave any liberty
so he never granted any time for sin From sin we must keep a Perpetual Sabbath 2. Mans work is his labour and imployment in the affaires of this world which are lawfull and in themselves no way unlawfull They are not onely lawfull but in the time allotted by God necessary and he that neglects them shall offend And by this work is not meant onely the toyle of the body but the thoughts cares and consultations of the soul which both are unlawfull on the Sabbath not onely because God hath exempted all that time from them but also because they will distract and hinder us in the work of Sanctification As these words are no command so they are no prohibition of serving God and sequestring some part of the Six days for performance of heavenly dutyes For as man upon the Sabbath may eat and drink and do works of necessity mercy and charity so upon these Six dayes he may and must serve and Worship his God and single out some parts of them for that purpose Every day we should present our selves before our God and converse with him and make some part of it a Sabbath And if by Gods gracious providence our condition be such as that we enjoy a larger measure of this secular time then ordinary so that we have leasure to sanctifie the same our sin is great if we neglect the opportunity and spend our precious time in idlenesse vanity and sin or needlesse businesse of the world We must not neglect the dutyes of our calling and our necessary imployments or spend our spare time onely in contemptations and devotions so as to omit the opportunityes that God hath given us to do good to others But we must take heed leâ—â— we turn our Religion and continued devotion into formality And whereas it 's said Thou shalt do all thy Work By the Particle all may be signified all kinds of secular works though they be many and various according to the multitude and variety of employments which are honest and beneficial or any wayes convenient for man God excepts not any he gives full liberty and latitude as mans condition shall require Yet man should be so provident and so diligent especially if he have multitude of Businesseâ—s as to finish all his works in the Six dayes so as not to entangle or distract or hinder himself in religious services and the sanctification of the 7th day Neither must he cast himself so into straits as to impose upon himself necessityes upon that day wherein both body and mind should be free and prepared to Worship his God For though works of necessity may be done that day yet no man that shall create necessityes unto himself can be excused The next words § VIII But the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God inform us of three things 1. That the Sabbath is one day in seven 2. The Seventh 3. That this Sabbath is the Lords not onely because he rested in it and did blesse and sanctifie it but because though he be Lord of all time yet he hath separated it from other dayes and challengeth a special propriety in it so that man must not have so much as the use of that time for his work but must consecrate it to Gods work And to engrosse this day to our selves for wordly employments must needs be Sacriledge That which is the Lords must be given unto to the Lord. Yet here it may be a question When the Sabbath did commence and which was the first day from whence we must begin to number till we come unto the 7th To say that this day which God Commanded Israel to observe was the 7th day of Creation wherein God rested it 's hard to prove That it was the 7th weekly from the first falling of Manna is certain and so no doubt they understood it But whether that fell out to be the 7th of the Creation who can tell It might be so and it might be otherwise Yet herein we have no need to perplex our selves As they knew their Sabbath so we do ours Time in it self is neither holy nor unholy It s holy ab extrinseco from Gods command and mans observation of iâ— Let us be carefull to do our duty which is sincerely to sanctifie our 7th day which is the next thing in the explication 2. In it thou shalt do no Manner of Work § IX or thou shalt not do any work In the former Six dayes all work any work except the work of sin might be done in this not any work And in these words with those which immediately follow we may observe and consider 1. What it is to sanctifie 2. Who the persons be that are commanded to sanctifie this day 1. The sanctification is understood by the cessation and rest The rest is we must not do any work where by work is meant secular work such as may be done lawfully in the six dayes These are not onely such works as toyle the body but also such as distract and take up the Soul Therefore here is forbidden Travayling and passing from place to place either on foot or horse-back or any other wayes all labours of husbandry of trades and manufactures all secular studyes and exercises in humane learning all consultations debates and resolutions about State-affaires all judicial proceedings in secular Courts all playes sports recreations which either toyl the body or distract the soul and take up so much of this holy time as secular businesses do all thoughts and cares about worldly things all words and conferences so farr as they are inconsistent with the holy observation of the time For mans works imply all these Yet this clause doth not prohibit such works as are no wayes prophane but rather tend unto the sanctification of the day The Jewes might circumcise upon that day The Priests might kill their Sacrifices and make their fires to burn them The Disciples must pluck ears of Corn and eat them Our Saviour might heal the sick Any man might Water and fodder his Cattle or lift up a beast fallen into a ditch or deliver man or beast out of danger All which inform us 1. That necessary works and such as tend to the preservation of man or beast are lawfull to be done this day 2. That all such works as tend to the sanctification may be done likewise People may travail to the place of assembling to hear the Word of God to pray to perform holy dutyes The Minister may study to prepare himself may preach and teach and do other ministerial works even unto wearinesse We may eat and drink refresh our selves visit the sick heal them administer Physick relieve the poor and not prophane the time This was the Rest Yet what was the end of this Rest For this was but to prepare and make way to a far more noble work to which this rest was subordinate For surely 't was not Gods intention to command man to cease from his secular works to do
worse or to do nothing For if the thing commanded had been onely rest then a Beast might keep the Sabbath as well as Man and receive as much benefit from it Therefore this time was subordinate to an higher end then rest and rest was ordayned for a diviner imployment as the service of our God and the sanctification of our souls For we must Remember the Sabbath day to sanctifie it But it cannot be a Sabbath except we rest it cannot be sanctified except we apply and consecrate that time of rest to God and the service of his glorious Majesty The Jewes were directed by the Prophet how to observe a Sabbath in these words If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on mine holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own wayes nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words then thou shalt delight thy self in the Lord Esay 58. 13. 14. In which words we have 1. A Precâ—pt 2. A promise of Reward The matter of the precept is the sanctification of the Sabbath by which Synechdochically is understood mans duty unto God For to sanctifie the Sabbath sincerely includes all the dutyes of the first table which have God for their immediate object In this sactification we may observe 1. The quality of the day 2. The observation of it 1. The qualityes are these 1. It 's a Sabbath and day of rest 2. It 's Gods day 3. It 's holy Gods holy day 4. It 's honourable and more excellent then other days 2. The observation requires 1. That we rest and that 1. From our sin and our vain pleasures 2. From our own Labours Works Words and all secular acts 2. That we consecrate it unto God with joy and delight so that our observation may answer the quality of the day and tend to the glory of God The persons charged with this Duty § VI are 1. Every one who is sui juris and can dispose of himself for labour and rest 2. Those persons are either Superiours or Inferiours Superiours are either private as Parents and Masters of Families or publick as Magistrates and Governours And these must 1. In their own persons rest and sanctifie this day 2. They must cause others subject to their power so far as in them is to do the like For as they are charged so they must have care of the persons subject unto them and use all means to cause them to serve their God and obey Him as well as themselves In this respect it 's true that Magistratus est custos utriusque tabulae and so is every Superiour invested with power The Inferiours are either rational or irrational Rational are either members of the Family or of the State or Church or Strangers Members of the Family are either Children as Sons and Daughters or Servants as Man-servants Maid-servants Strangers are either strangers in a Family or in a City and they may be Native or Aliens and Aliens may be Proselytes and incorporate or not incorporate Irrational as Ox or Ass or any Beast that is used for travel or labour in carrying or other Works of Husbandry This last of Brutes is not so to be understood as though the Law were given to Brutes and irrational Creatures For they are not capable of Laws The Law is not given to them but of them It 's given to Man who is the Owner and Master of the Beast 1. That he might be merciful unto his Beast For God will not have man to be cruel unto his labouring and harmless Beast For he that is cruel to these will be cruel to his Servants and such as are under his power 2. Because his Beast could not be used for Travail Carriage Draught Plowing treading out the corn or other service except some man as the Master or his children or his Servants direct them and make that use of them And from hence it 's evident That one end of this Commandement was the refreshment of Man and Beast and God in this had respect unto poor Servants who might by cruel and covetous Masters be abused and oppressed and also debarred from the service of their God to the hazard of their poor souls Poor Servants had Souls as well as the best were bound to serve their God and had as much need of Spiritual comfort as free men or their Masters And in those days if any Servants were under cruel and prophane Masters their case was lamentable For being either taken in War or sold or born Servants their Masters might force them to labour that day or to suffer cruelly if the Magistrate did not relieve them These words signifie that no man in power should suffer any Subject unto them to prophane the Sabbath so far as they could hinder it Neither did this charge unto Superiours excuse Inferiours who had liberty to sanctifie this day if they did neglect or prophane it And such as were restrained were bound to use all means to obtain this liberty to serve their God To say that this Commandement was given of Servants not unto Servants is not true For then it would follow that if they had good and Religious Masters or such as would permit them to observe the day yet they were not bound unto that duty neither did they offend if they did prophane it So far indeed as they were merely passive and subject to the absolute power of their Superiours who would in no wise suffer them to rest and sanctifie this day when they desired it and they should every way endeavour to enjoy this liberty and after all this could not then the sin must lye upon their Masters and Superiours upon whom God would charge it and that heavily too And let all Inferiours who enjoy this liberty be thankful to their God who hath shewed such great mercy to them The reason of the Institution of the Sabbath follows § IX And it 's from the end which in general is the remembrance of some great and glorious work of God for which he ought to be praised and glorified One Reason why the Israelites must rest and also give liberty to their Servants to rest is because they themselves were Servants in the Land of Aegypt and had little intermission granted them either for to refresh their Bodies or sanctifie Holy Times And this very rest and liberty might put them in mind of their great deliverance and stir them up to thankfulness upon their Sabbath-days Deut. 5. 15. Another Reason and the same more general was from the great work of Creation worthy of eternal remembrance And herein God is a Pattern and proposeth his own example unto man for imitation that as he in six days created Heaven and Earth and rested the seventh day and so sanctified and honoured it above other days so man might labour six days and rest the seventh and sanctifie it to the Lord. This example doth more distinctly
and clearly inform man that the World was not from everlasting but had beginning and that God did create it and so became the universal and supream Lord of Heaven and Earth by the Work of six days The seventh day wherein he rested from his work was a fit time for man's rest that on that day man might contemplate the glorious Works of God acknowledge God to be the Creatour and every Sabbath say Thou art worthy Oh Lord to receive glory honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 11. Besides the example of God's labour rest and Sanctification He knew that six days in the week was a fit proportion of time for man's secular works and one in seven for Diviner Employments And this is given the reason why God sanctified the seventh day and blessed it because that after in six days He had created Heaven and Earth He rested the 7th day And howsoever this great Work of Creation is never to be forgotten by Man yet because to sinful man the Work of Redemption is a greater blessing Therefore the first day of the Week being the day of Christ's Resurrection and the Restauration of Mankind is more to be observed and remembred The Lord said unto Judah Behold the days come when it shall be no more said The Lord liveth which brought up the Children of Israel out of the Land of Aegypt But the Lord liveth that brought the Children of Israel from the Land of the North c. Jer. 16. 14 15. So it may be said to us Christians since the time of Christ's glorification That it shall be no more said the Lord liveth that in six days made Heaven and Earth and rested the 7th day But the Lord liveth who after His Death and cruel Passion is risen again and hath redeemed sinful man from Hell and Eternal Death For if two great Blessings be received one after the other the latter and the greater is more to be remembred and the time thereof rather to be observed Therefore we do not observe the 7th day wherein God rested from the Work of Creation but the first day wherin Christ rose again and rested from His Work of Humiliation And though therein we do not forget the Work of Creation yet we rather remember the Work of Redemption and glorifie our God for the same From this Explication of the Words of God we may understand § XII what is here commanded and what is here forbidden The things commanded are two 1. Rest For we must remember a Sabbath and in the same we must do no manner of work 2. Sanctification For we must remember the Sabbath-day to sanctifie it Rest is two-fold 1. Of the Body 2. Of the Mind and in both these we must rest 1. The Body must rest from secular works which hinder and disturb us in the service of our God 2. The Soul must cease from such Thoughts Cares Meditations and Affections which as much distract us in the Worship of our God as labours of the Body do Again bodily works of man as man endued with understanding cannot be done without the Soul attending directing and moving it much less can Heavenly Duties be performed without the Soul which in the time of these Services must be drawn off from the World and sixed upon far more excellent Objects And because many Games and Sports which are accounted Recreations do as much toyl the Body and distract and take up the Soul as secular Works do therefore we must needs judge them to be contrary to the Rest here commanded And our very words of Conference and Discourse upon this time may be such as are neither consistent with the Rest nor the Sanctification required in this Precept Yet this Rest is not to be so strictly taken as though all kind of Work and Bodily Labour were unlawful on this day Therefore 1. Works of Necessity may be done this day and which those are the Light of Reason is sufficient to determine as to save Man or Beast in danger to receive harm or pâ—rish if not that day relieved Therefore the very Pharisees who were so precise in the observation of the outward Rest could not deny unto our Saviour but that upon the Sabbath it was lawful to lift a Beast out of a Pit or Ditch into which it was then fallen And upon the same ground it cannot be unlawful on that day to fight and defend our selves against an Enemy 2. Works which tend to the refreshment and ordinary preservation of Man and Beast cannot be unlawful Therefore on this day we cloath our selves and take our ordinary food and repast and a Beast may be watered and fed this day as well as others 3. Works which tend unto the Sanctification of the Day are not prohibited For we may travail unto and return from the places of publick Assemblies for Prayer Reading Preaching and other Divine Services The Priests under the Law did kill their Sacrifices and so prophaned the Sabbath and were blameless Math. 12. 5. And it was thought no prophanation to circumcise an Infant upon that day Joh. 7. 23. Of this nature is the toyl and labour of the Ministers in their several Congregations 4. Neither is any work of mercy as visiting the Sick administring Physick relieving the Poor and such like contrary to this Rest. And the reason of all this is because the Sabbath is for man and not man for the Sabbath and therein God intended our good not our hurt The principal thing required is the sincere Worship of God from an heart seriously bent and inclined thereunto nor the performance of some outward piece of service in such a precise nick of time Yet we must take care always to have a sanctified heart and a desire to sanctifie the same and what we lose one time we must endeavour to recompence at another The second Duty here commanded § XIII is Sanctification of the Day and this is the principal Duty â—o which Rest is subordinate For as there can be no Sanctification without Rest so there can be no Rest acceptable to God but that which tends to Sanctification An Holy Rest is the thing here commanded It must be the Rest of a Man and not of a Beast and the Rest of an Holy Man as Holy Therefore this Commandement presupposeth Man to be habitually sanctified For an unsanctified man cannot sanctifie a Sabbath as God requires it to be sanctified This Sanctification consists in the performance of Holy Duties in the Worship of God The Object of this Worship must be God alone The parts of the Worship must be such as He hath instituted and the acts of Worship must be performed by persons who are sanctified and in an holy manner And to consecrate this 7th Day to these Holy Services is the very thing here prescribed Therefore to this Sanctification is required 1. A knowledge of the day that it 's determined by God 2. A
for the worship of the true and living God as it was a fit proportion of man's time and excellent means for the preservation and continuance of Religion had some connexion with the supream end and did conduce to the attaining of it The Divine Determination of that time for that end signified by a Command added did plainly make it moral For the alteration of the day it 's certain 1. That if God had in the beginning determined one and the same 7th Day to be of perpetual and universal obligation § XX then it could not be justly and by any sufficient Authority altered 2. It 's certain that the day prescribed to the Jew in time of the servitude and bondage of the Law was altered and another substituted and observed in the place thereof 3. This was altered after Christ's Incarnation and Glorification sending down of the Holy Ghost the Revelation of the Gospel preached to Jew and Gentile and in the Apostles days according to an Order given by them to the Churches planted by them 1 Cor. 16. 1 2 4. The day substituted was the first day of the week ibid. and the Lords Day and was so called and observed universally by Christians from that time to our days 4. In that one day in 7 as also this or that 7th day were positive and not moral therefore the 7th formerly observed by the Jew was alterable considered in it self 5. The 4th Commandement given to the Jew did not say that that 7th day determined then by Him should never be altered but be the Sabbath to Jew and Gentile to the end of the World 6. There were as you heard before great and weighty Reasons why the Apostles not onely might but should aâ—ter it For if the Character set upon it by the Work of Creation and the deliverance of Israel out of Aegypt the separation of them from all Nations till the exhibition of the Messias was a reason and ground to God for to institute and for them to observe them much more was the Character set upon the first day of the week by Christ's Resurrection the general manifestations and apparitions of him rise uon that day and the coming of the Holy Ghost as far greater blessings to sinful man then Creation and deliverance out of Aegypt was a sufficient ground and reason to lay aside the former day as joyned with the Ceremonial Law the Covenant with their Fathers in the Wilderness and the separation of the Jews from all other Nations and to institute and observe the first day unto God-Redeemer by Christ exhibited as the former was observed to God-Creatour and Deliverer of one Nation out of Aegypt Neither was there any need of a new express Precept seeing to the Apostles the Reasons for the alteration were so weighty clear and evincing For the former Sabbath being joyned with the Ceremonial Law given to the Jew did presuppose the Church confined to a Nation the Gentiles excluded the people of God in minority and servitude under a Tutor and Christ fo come therefore for the positive part it was to cease with the legal dispensation And as there followed a new manner of Worship and a new Administration so there must be a new day The Commandement it self requires one day in seven and if so then no day could be so fit as the day of Resurrection and the coming down of the Holy Ghost from Heaven By the observation of this we acknowledge the Levitical Priesthood and Service to be abolished Christ exhibited the Work of Redemption finished and that Jesus of Nazareth who was born at Bethlem brought up at Nazareth crucified at Jerusalem rose again the third day ascended into Heaven hath sent down the Holy Ghost is the Son of God and Saviour of the World CHAP. XI The Fifth Commandement BEfore I enter upon the words of this Commandement § I Something must be said in general 1. Concerning the difference 2. The order of these two parts of the Law For our Saviour reduceth the whole Law to two heads 1. Of the Love of God 2. Of our Neighbour And as God and our Neighbour differ and that very much so the dutyes of this latter part differ from those of the former for as the former have God for their object so these have Man The former respect our communion with God the latter our communion with our Neighbour The former presents the dutyes of men as subjects to be performed to their Soveraign the Great and everlasting the latter commands dutyes to be performed to man who is the fellow-Subject The former give morality to the latter The latter receive morality from the former and depend upon them and are so far good as they agree with the former The former have more connexion with as they conduced more immediately unto the last end Gods glory and Mans happinesse So that the difference between them is very great According to this difference there is an inequality It 's true that they are equall as they are commands and also commands of God and bind unto obedience unto God and the matter of both is just Yet their inequality is great because the dutyes of the former according to the object are far more excellent and if they come in competition with these of the second Table they must be preferred Yet we must make a distinction For in both parts of the Law there be some dutyes morall some positive and one and the same duty is in some respect moral in another positive This therefore is the certain rule that moralls of the first part or Table as some call it are to be performed beâ—ore the morals of the second Table and positives of the first before positives of the second Upon this account if the love of Father and Mother a moral duty of the latter part come in competition with the love of God required in the first part then its true our Saviour â—aith He that loveth Father or Mother more then God or hateth not Father and Mother for Christs sake is not worthy of Christ. In this respect obedience to our lawfull superiours inconsistent with our obedience to God is unlawfull for we must obey God rather then man the supreme Lord before the subordinate But if we compare positives of the first Table with morals of the second the morals of the second must be prefer'd before the positives of the first Therefore we may intermit the outward solemne worship of God upon the Sabbath day to save the life of a Beast or much more of a man though the work should take up the whole time of one Sabbath or more This lesson our Saviour taught us when he proved that it was lawfull to heale on the Sabbath This inequality is implyed in the words of our Saviour to the Scribes and Pharisees when he not onely reproves them but denounceth a judgement against them in that they pay'd tith of Mint and Annise and Cummin and omitted the weightyer matters of the Law
Word and Son of God for his Natures God and Man for his Offices Prophet Priest and King His Work of Redemption hath two Parts 1. His Humiliation 2. His Exaltation in his Resurrection Ascension Session at his Father's right-hand and investiture with all power in Heaven and Earth whereby he is made Lord and Judge of the World The Application whereby we are made partakers of the Benefits of Christ's Redemption is made by the Spirit and Word working Faith whereby sinful men are made Members of Christ and of the Universal Church which is the society of Saints The benefits of this Redemption applyed and whereof the Church is partaker are Remission of sins Resurrection and Life Everlasting Amongst many other Forms of Confessions § V and Creeds delivered by the Ancients I thought good to pitch upon one in Tertullian especially that in his Prescriptions against Hereticks where we read thus REgula est autem Fidei ut jam hinc quod credamus profiteamur illa seilicet qua Credimus Vnum omnino Deum esse nec Alium prater Mundi Conditorem qui universa de Nihilo produxerit per Verbum Suum primo Omnium â—missum Id verbum Filium ejus appellatum in Nomine Dei variè visum Patriarchis in Prophetis semper auditum Postremo delatum ex Spiritu Dei Patris et virtute in Virginem Mariam Carnem factam in utero ejus et ex eâ natum Hominem et esse Jesum Christum exinde Praedicasse Novam Legem et Novam Promissionem Regni Coelorum virtutes fecisse Fixum cruci Tertiâ Die Resurrexisse In Coelos ereptum Sedere ad Dextram Patris Misisse Vicariam Vim Spiritus Sancti qui Credentes agat Venturus cum Claritate ad Sumendos Sanctos in Vitae aeternae et Promissorum Coelestium Fructum et ad Prophanos judicandos igni perpetuo facta utriusque Partis Resusâ—itatio ne cum Carnis Resurrectione Haec Regula à Christo ut probabitur instituta The reason why I propose this § VI is because its the most full and perfect form of Confession both in Irenaeus and Tertullian Concerning which several things are observable 1. That it agrees with all the rest for Matter and Method 2. It 's most exactly Consentaneous to plain and clear Scripture 3 The Method is grounded upon our Saviours Creed 4. It more fully and perfectly out of the Scriptures informs us of the Person and Natures of Christ and so of his Incarnation For that Word by which the World and so man was created was made flesh 5. As in it we have God the Father creating the World by his Word and the same Word by the Spirit assuming flesh redeeming man so we have the same God by his Spirit sanctifying man more expresly delivered then in any of the rest 6. We may observe that that Word which was first uttered and spoken in the Creation before any thing could be created was uttered and produced from everlasting as a lively Representation of God himself to himself 7. That as the Spirit so the Word was in the Prophets as Prophets as without neither of which they could have been Prophets 8. The Government of God Redeemer is therein more expresly declared then in most of the other Forms For the Government of Creation being presupposed 1. The manner of acquiring a New Power by the Humiliation of the Word made flesh 2. His Investiture with this Power in his Exaltation 3. The Exercise of it 1. In giving the New Law with a Promise of Heaven's Kingdom 2. In adjudging men either Prophane to everlasting fire or Holy unto the enjoyment of Life everlasting upon the Resurrection of both in the last and Universal Judgment are in these few Words delivered plainly and clearly 9. This Form was received by the Church from the Apostles and by the Apostles from Christ. 10. That not any but Hereticks did question any thing in this Creed 11. Seeing these Hereticks professed themselves Christians and did acknowledge Christ and this had continued from Christ and the Apostles Universally and without controversie before these Hereticks did arise therefore it did sufficiently prescribe against all Heresies which different from it did arise afterwards The Analysis of these Creeds § VII and Confessions according to the ensuing Discourse intended takes in the matter and method in general of the former yet is delivered in other expressions To understand it the better you must observe 1. That it presupposeth the principal Subject of the Holy Scriptures to be the Kingdom of God and that the Doctrine thereof is contracted in the Ancient Creeds and Forms of Confession 2. That in a Kingdom or Government there must be a King or Governour invested with Power which is 1. Acquired 2. Exercised It 's exercised 1. In constituting a Common-Wealth 2. In the Administration of the same The Common-wealth is administred by Laws and Judgments Laws determine the Duties and Dues of men Judgment renders the Dues of Rewards or Punishments according to the observation or violation of the Laws These things observed We have in this Kingdom 1. The KING 2. His Government The King is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost who alone is worthy of all honour glory power and dominion for evermore His Government presupposeth his Power which is 1. Acquired 2. Exercised It 's acquired by Creation as it is continued by Preservation For immediatly upon the Creation he became the Supream Universal and Absolute Lord and continues so for evermore by his perpetual Preservation For seeing he made all things even Men and Angels of nothing and they do always for ever wholly depend upon him therefore he must needs have an absolute full and perpetual Propriety in and Dominion over them and they must needs be his Servants and Vassals This Power thus acquired began to be exercised immediatly upon the Creation 1. In the general Government of all things 1. By a constitution of an Order amongst them 2. By a Direction of them according to that Order to their ends 2. In the special Government of the immortal and intellectual Creatures who alone were capable of Laws Rewards and Punishments These speciall Creatures were Angels and Men. Amongst the Angels he 1. Established an Order 2. According to that Order he doth govern them and exercise his Power 1. In giving them Laws 2. In judging them according to those Laws Some of the Angels continued loyal and obedient and were confirmed in perpetual estate of Holiness and Happiness which was their Reward The disloyal and Apostate Angels were cast down from Heaven and reserved in everlasting Chains under Darkness unto the Judgment of the great day Jude v. 6. This was their Doom and the judgment of God upon the Angels The Government of Men is two-fold The first of Justice The second of Mercy Of Justice in the first Adam of Mercy in the second In the first after God became his Lord and Man his Subject in a special manner he
union with God the Father and Jesus Christ and the Saints they are become the Temples of the Holy Ghost and being washed in their Saviours bloud are the adopted Sons of God the Heirs of Glory come under the Divine Protection and have a general right to all those Mercies and Blessings which Christ hath purchased and God hath promised as shall more particularly be shewed hereafter For as this Subjection is virtually all obedience so it receives a right to all Blessings limited to the performance of several Duties And before I conclude this great Duty you must observe this one thing that this Subjection is that whereby we submit our selves to Christ and so to God not onely as King as some conceive but to Him as our onely Priest for expiation and intercession and also to Him as our onely Prophet to teach us not onely outwardly by the Word written but inwardly by the Spirit From this Subjection § XIV we understand what the nature of the Church as visible and of the Church mystical as consisting of real Saints is The Church in general is a Society or community of all such as subject themselves to God-Redeemer by Jesus Christ. The Church-mystical is the community of such as subject themselves sincerely unto GOD-REDEEMER So that this Subjection is the very essence of the Church To believe and subject to Christ to come and to Christ already come is accidental So to be National or Universal is To be under a Form of Discipline or to be without any setled outward Government is not essential nor to be militant or triumphant though it as such and such differs much is of the Essence To be Pilgrims and Strangers on this Earth seeking an abiding City in Heaven and to be militant fighting against the Devil the World and the Flesh is the condition of this Society in this life To obtain a final and full Victory over Sin and be secure of Eternal Bliss is in some measure an estate of triumph But to rise again be immortal and fully glorified in one full body after that all Enemies are totally and eternally subdued is the most perfect triumph And this is the Order that God hath decreed and established that first we must be militant obey and suffer in an estate of Humiliation till we prove finally victorious and after that we must except a reward and a Crown of Glory which in due time we shall certainly receive So Christ our Head was first humbled afterwards exalted and passed by the Cross to the Crown so must we His members do In this life we must be consecrated and in the life to come we shall be compleat Kings and Priests and reign with our Saviour and serve in the glorious Temple of Heaven These two conditions differ much and very much yet the difference is not essential but accidental Thus far the constitution of this Kingdom in the Soveraignty of God-Redeemer and subjection of sinful Man redeemed and called CHAP. V. Concerning the exercise of the Power of God Redeemer in the Administration of the Kingdome of Grace in general THis administration is the exercise of the power of God acquired by the humiliation of the Word § I made flesh in making new lawes and judging according to them This administration is to be considered 1. In generall and in respect of the generall affections accidentall to it 2. In the parts thereof which are 1. Legislation and 2. Jurisdiction This administration for the substance was the same alwayes and it began betimes even in the dayes of Adam after that promise of the seed of the Woman which should break the Serpents head Yet there was a great difference in the same in many things after that Christ was exhibited and glorified from that which was before Yet in all times God as Redeemer was the supreme Lord and King man sinfull the subject Faith and subjection to Christ the Law and the judgment was according to that Law And though the humiliation of the Son of God to be made man was yet to come and Christ onely present and represented in the promise yet as this humiliation was accepted from the beginning for the benefit of man so that power which was alwayes virtually in God was exercised by the word not incarnate and by the Spirit as though it had been acquired already That this administration began so early might be made evident from severall texts of Scripture rightly understood Neither was the promise of Christ made first to Abraham for this promise was passed in the sentence of the Devill The Sacrifices and offerings of Cain and Abel taught them and used before by their Father and instituted by God did witnesse the same That they were instituted by God the acceptation of Abel's Sacrifice doth prove For no service is accepted of God which is not instituted by God The Faith of Enoch whereby he pleased God was Faith in Christ otherwise he could not have sought God so as to have found him nor expected or received so glorious a reward but by the merit of his Saviour believed upon Without this faith Noah could not have been the heir of the righteousnesse which is by faith and partaker of that eternall deliverance which was typifyed by his deliverance from the flood This administration after the time of Abraham was more clear Yet God had his Kingdome and his Church long before yet he did administer the same without any Vice-gerent or President generall except some emineâ—t and principall Angel was his universal deputy as was hinted formerly Yet in the Church on earth God by his Word eternal and the Spirit in the Patriarchs and extraordinary Prophets did supply Christs propheticall office and by them at certain times made known the lawes and judgements of his Kingdom but ordinarily he used for this purpose ordinary teachers Yet besides these he gave the Spirit of Prophecy to the Angels and by them he instructed Patriarchs and other Prophets His Sacerdotall office was executed by the Patriarches the first born of the familyes and at length by the Leviticall Priests and they were typicall mediators between God and man The most eminent Priest lively Type of Christ both as King and especially as Priest was Melchizedeck who lived at Salem in the dayâ—s of Abraham He was a righteous King who by the just administration of his Kingdome procured the peace and prosperity of his subjects when the neighbour-Countryes were invalded and spoiled by War In this respect he did represent this King of perfect righteousnesse and eternal peace And as a Priest he had no predecessour from whom nor successour to whom he might derive his Sacerdotal power For he was not a Priest by birth nor did he transmit his Priesthood by death unto another as the Leviticall Priests did And in this respect he might be truly said to be without Father and Mother and descent so as to receive his Priesthood that way and without end of dayes and so was the
receive power and dignity above others so as in that respect to represent God honour service and subjection may be due unto them from their fellow Servants In this sense higher powers are called Gods and as such are not fellow-Servants and subjects but Superiours and in honouring them we honour God whose persons they beare And as there may be an inequality and also a difference of this communicated power and dignity so there must be in the honour and â—ervice to be performed unto them For some have supreme and some sâ—bordinate power amongst men and this is the inequality Some have Spiritual some have civil and temporall power and this is the difference and according to the degree and quality of the power such must be the Worship and Subjection For according to the power and dignity must the service and honour be both for quantity and quality In matters Civil and temporall Civil and temporall honour is due either in a family or a City or a state In matters spiritual honour is due in a Church What honour and service may be due to Saints departed and to Angels we know not because we know not what Power and Commission God hath given them over us living upon the earth Neither do we converse with them nor do they ordinarily appear unto us so as ordinarily to converse with us Honour them we may in generall as participating an higher degree of spirituall excellency But to subject our selves unto them obey them in particular and present our petitions unto them we have no warrant neither do we know that they have any such place or power as to require it of us or we be bound unto it But this we certainly believe that Christ is at his Fathers right hand is Lord of Angels and men who hath received and doth exercise all Power in Heaven and earth and therefore to him as Man the highest degree of subjection honour service next unto that which is due to God as God is due to him and none else And it 's strange that the Socinian who denyes his Deity and believes him to be a meere man though exâ—ellent and â—ighly exalted should affirm that Divine Honour in proper sense which is due onely to the supreme God should be due unto him and ought to be exhibited Yet the Orthodox Christian who acknowledgeth him to be God should give unto him as man an inferiour honour as sitting at the right hand of the Throne of Majesty and not in that Throne it self For the Divine attributes and perfections cannot be communicated to any Creature and such as he as man is and no more And the Lutheran who asserts the Divine proprietyes to be not onely Communicable but communicated to Christ as man must needs place him higher then the right hand of the Throne and set him in the Throne it self And if they worship him as man with supreme Worship as invested with supreme power which is properly Divine they cannot be excused from Idolatry The power of an Officer is derivative and cannot as such be supreme But the Scripture makes it evident that Christ is but an Officer though the Universall and supreme Officer in the administration of Gods Kingdom and according to a Commission which one day He must deliver up unto the Father The reason of this Commandement is very clear § XI For the Kingdome and government of Gods is purely Monarchical and God himself is the absolute Lord and Monarch As he onely and alone made the World so he alone doth govern it and he alone hath power to do so For among the Gods saith the Psalmist there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are theâ—e any Works like thy Works All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy name For thou art great and dost wondrous things Thou art God alone Psal. 86. 8 9 10. Therefore to transgresse this Commandement and worship the Servant and creature above the Creator who is God blessed for ever must needs be Crimen laesae Majestatis High Treason and to deny him and refuse to submit unto him as Supream Lord must needs be Rebellion And as Subjection is virtually all obedience so Atheism and Idolatry are the root of all iniquity For the Fool hath said in his heart There is no God and then he became Corrupt and did abominable things And the Gentiles changing the glory of the incorruptible God into an image and his truth into a Lie and worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator were delivered up unto Vile affections and a reprobate mind and then they were filled with all Vnrighteousnesse Fornication Wickednesse c. Rom. 1. 23 25 26 28 29. That which is contrary to this Subjection is Pride whereby man contemns God and with Pharoah saith Who is the Lord that I should let Israel go with Rabshakeh blasphemes the living God and opens the mouth against Heaven with the King of Babel sacrificeth to his own Nets with Sennacherib attributeth the works of God to Man's power and wisdome makes men with Alexander the great and some of the Roman Caesars conceit that they are Gods and to require divine Honour to be given them CHAP. VIII The second Commandement THe second Commandement is negative § I And therein we have 1. A prohibition of a Sin 2. The Reasons and Disswasives The sin prohibited is 1. The making 2. The worshipping of Images The Disswasive is 1. From the jealousie and justice of God who will severely punish this Sin of Image-Worship 2. From his mercy rewarding such as have a care to keep this Commandement This is the brief analysis of the whole This hath so near connexion with and such a dependance upon the former Law that many have taken them for the same and no man can Violate this without violation of the former It had reference in Special to the Israelites as newly come out of Egypt where this Image-Worship was a custome and a law and to those times when it was generally practis'd in other Nations For men began betimes after the sâ—ood to degenerate and apostatize especially the cursed posterity of Ham and Canaan his son It was even then an universall practise And this may seem to be the reason why God so much enlargeth upon this particular and useth such powerful reasons to disswade the people from it who were so much inclin'd unto it that notwithstanding they had solemnly engaged themselves to obey the Lord in all his Commandements had heard God speaking these Words with great Majesty and terrour yet before Moses returned from the Mount they had set up a Molten calf and did worship it Several Authours have delivered several occasions of the first beginning of this Image-Worship § II and they may be all true in respect of divers places and perâ—ons For some might have one occasion some another and all agree in the thing Yet of a universal custome it 's probable there
was an universal cause and occasion and the same perhaps not bad in it self but accidentally through the corruption of man and the suggession of the Devil abused God gâ—ve unto the Israelâ—â—es the Ark a sign of his speciall presence yet not to be Worshipped Abraham Isaac and Jacob whilest Pilgrims and Sojourners erected their Altars in such places as God appeared unto them and there did worship And it might be that the Patriarchs before the flood had some visible signs of Gods special presence yet afâ—erwards abused to Idolatry and superstition From this Laban and others might take occasion to make their Teraphims and other signs of the presence of the true God first then of their false gods and in the end made them as gods or objects of Worship and so much the rather because the Devils did â—ometimes appear near unto and sometimes spake out of thâ—ir Images being consecrated And this was suffiâ—ient to perswade the more intelligent that their God was near unto or in the image and the simple people that the Image was a God if once consecrated so that to them the image was the body and the Devil the soul of their cursed Deity Whether these things be so or no it 's certain man naturally desires the presence of his God or some visible or evident sign thereof at least not onely to help his memory but to affect his heart and strengthen his hope And it 's in vain to worship that God which either is not or cannot be present virtually at least unto his suppliant and devoâ—ed Servant And the Worship of that man who hath no assurance of the presence of his God must needs be cold defective and uncertain Neither can a Rational man believe effectually that he is a God indeed which cannot be present in the time of need To return to the Words of the Commandement The first thing in them is the Prohibition § III and therein we must consider the thing prohibited which is 1. The making of images 2. The worshipping and serving of them In both these we have 1. The image or likenesse of any thing 2. The acts about these objects which are making worshipping serving An image or likenesse is 1. Something in it self absolutely considered 2. Something in relation to another thing whereof it is an Image or likenesse which is represented by it For the form of an image or likenesse as such is to represent some other thing This image is Quid fusile tornatile sculptile 1. Something cast in some mould when the matter whereof it is made is melted Such are all images made of mettal 2. Something framed by the Turner and this kind is usually made of wood 3. Something carved or engraven in stone or wood And this is the word here used when it is saâ—d Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used often by the Septuagint in Greek to signifie Pesel and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in this place they turn it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And lest we should think that this Pesel is onely some rude matter of woo mettal stone the word Likenesse is added to let us understand that the matter is molded and râ—ceives the figure and shape of some other thing as being made to repreâ—ent it which it cannot do without some likenesse This likenesse may be either more perfect as an image or lesse perfect and hidden as in Hieroglyphicks And some do observe that every image is a likeness but every likenesse is not an image The word likeness which in Latine is turned Simulachrum may be added also to signifie that the subject of this Commandement was not onely Statues or standing Images but pictures and all other resemblances Now this Image or likenesse must be visible and represent some other visible things These Visible things which might be represented viâ—bâ—y are reckoned by induction from the place to be things in Heaven in the earth in the waters And these are reall things made by God And lest any should find some colour of exception it s added of any thing Thou shaâ—t not make the image or likenesse of any thing that is in theâ—e three places These things are ennumerated more particularly man beasts fowl creeping things fish Sun Moon Stars and the host of Heaven Deut. 4. 16 17 18 19. Among thâ—se there is no mention of God Angels the Spirits of men for these are 〈◊〉 visible Yet because these have appeared unto men in some bodily form or figure assumed men have devised how to resemble them at the second hand according to the figures assumed though not immediately as they are in themselve Yet because this appearance was never made but in the likenesse of some of the forementioned things therefore these images and likenesses must needs be here included The first act in respect of the Images § IV and resemblances of those things which is prohibited is to make them to or for our selves Not that it is unlawfull to make the Image or likenesse of any thing For Moses and Solomon had warrant to make the likenesse of Cherubins Palm-Trees and other things to beautifie the Tabernacle and Temple And there were the Molten Images of Oxen made to support the great Laver and brasen Sea in the Temple and of Lyons on either side his Throne out of the Temple And Orthodâ—x Christians who detest Image-worship make no scruple to draw Pictures and make Statues The meaning therefore is that we must not make these or cause them to be made or use them being made in or for religious Worship For we must observe that the subject of the first 4. Commandements is Cultus Dei the Worship of God and to understand this making to our selves without reference to this is to mistake 1. Therefore these Images and Likenesses must not be made to represent the true eternal and invisible God For this cause Moses saith That Israel saw no similitude in the day that the Lord spake unto them out of the mid'st of the fire Deut. 4. 15. Whereby it was implyed 1. That no religious worship was due to any but God 2. That no similitude must be made to represent him After that God in high and stately termes had set forth his glorious eternall and incomprehensible Mâ—jesty he adds To whom will ye liken God or whâ—t likenesse will ye compare unto him Esay 40. 8. Neither ought we as the Apostle saith to think that the God-head is like unto Silver or Gold or stone graven by art and mans device Act. 17. 29. For the matter of these Images is mettal oâ— stone or wood and this is naturall The form of them as Images is artificiall from the art and device of man the reâ—igious form is to represent a Deity after the false conceit of mans corrupt heart It 's true that every creature made by God doth speak Gods wisdome and power and the
Heavens and in them the Sun declares the glory of God in an eminent manner and measure And the Souls of men and the Angels those glorious and immortall Spirits resemble him most of all his works Yet these stand at an infinite distanâ—e below his Majesty and God did never command man to Worship him in or by these more lively Images and resemblances of â—is infinit excellency Surely iâ— we have not farr higher apprehensions and more excellent notions of him we cannot possibly worship him aright How therefore should the Image or visible likenesse of any bodily and visible being molded and fashioned by the hand or art of man represent him so glorious The stock is a Doctrin of vanityes Jer. 10 8 In this respect the Molten Image is a teacher of lyes Hab. 2. 19. It 's falshood Ier. 10. 14. 2. As an Image must not be made to represent God lest our conceits and worship oâ— him be base and corrupt so we must not think that there is any Divine power in an Image made and consecrated by man or at the appointment of man For the power of things made by Gods own hand must needs be farr more excellent then the power and vertue of any thing made by Man For the works made and consecrated by God are as far more excellent as the Heaven is above the Earth Yet there is no Divinity nor divine power in them no not in the Angels of Heaven Images may indeed be conceived by some to have some strange power when the Devil 's in them or by them or near unto them work some strange effect But these are but the Delusions of the Vnclean Spirits and the cheats of his damned Flamins and Priests The Image it self can do nothing neither could the Brazen Serpent for it was God that healed such as being stung with fiery Serpents looked upon it 3. We must not think that any Image or any other thing made by man without warrant direction command and promise from God can be a sign of his special presence as the Ark the Tabernacle the Temple were God may voluntarily bind himself to be present in a speciall manner in some special place to his people worshipping him in that place according to his commandement But it 's not in the power of any Man or Angel either to tye God's special presence to any Image or to any place The Devil if God permitted it might by compact with the cursed Conjuring Priests bind himself to be in an hollow Image to speak out of it or appear or do some strange thing near unto it Thus the Heathen no doubt were deluded and confirmed in their Image-worship And its lamentable that Christians should be thus inchanted and bewitched by their jugling Priests 4. We must not make an Image or similitude in Belief that it wil help or further our religious Worship or make it more acceptable to God neither must we use them or rather abuse them to that end To worship the true God in or by an Image is a Corruption of his Service as any rational impartial man may easily understand Therefore Moses said to Israel Take heed therefore unto your selves for you saw no manner of similitude on the day the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the mid'st of the fire lest you corrupt your selves and make you an Image c Deut 4. 15 16. 5. We must not think either that an Image consecrated or the use of it in religious Worship hath any sanctifying power For nothing can be effectual in this kind or conducing to mans spiritual good which is not instituted by God with a promise of his concurrence thereunto The second act or acts prohibited are § V Bowing down unto an Image or serving it These imply that the former act of making these Images and resemblances is here forbidden as relating to religious worship 1. To bow down is an act of Worship and Adoration wherein by some outward gesture or carriage of the body before the thing to be worshipped we testifie the inward acknowledgment of the excellency of that thing and our submission to it These outward reverentiall acts are testifications of the inward deportment of our Soules and they are specified not meer from the object but the inward recognition of the Soul Some of these are common so that the same outward acts may be performed to God or man the inward cannot For they must of necessity be either Civil or Religious One and the same cannot be both If it be the custome of any people or nation or persons to make some of these outward acts and testifications proper unto a Diety and to be performed thereunto then to use them to any thing else is Idolatry These are many â—s bowing the head kissing the hand kneeling prostrating the body and such like all signified here by the word Bowing 2. The other act here mentioned is so serve or worship and so sometimes may be the same with the former But it 's here understood as distinct to signifie Sacrificing Burning Incense Praying and the like Both these acts are usually tendred to and before Images and that several way 1. To the Images as gods endued with a Divine Power able to hear Man's Prayer bless him and deliver him and this is directly to terminate the Worship upon it as a god against the former Commandement 2. Some direct this Worship to the Image as representing some other thing besides and the same more excellent then it self The thing represented may be either the true God or some Saint or Angel or Soul of Man departed or the Devil yet not conceived to be the Devil or some other thing 1. To perform any Worship any ways unto the Devil is abominable 2. To direct Divine and Religious Worship to and terminate it upon any thing but the true God is Idolatry 3. To terminate Worship any ways upon an Image is not onely unlawful but irrational and absurd for an Image is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing made by the Art and Device of Man and there is no excellency in it to make it a fit Object of Worship 4. To terminate Worship partly upon the Image as a partial Object and partly upon the thing represented is impossible if the act of Worship be one and the same individual Act. 5. If any perform the Worship onely before the Image without any thoughts of the Image and terminate it onely and merely upon the thing represented it is to make no use at all of the Image as altogether needless and vain to that act Yet thus to do hath a colour of Superstition if not of Idolatry and can no ways be excused because that Image was no sign of God's special presence by Institution or Promise from God 6. To worship God in or by an Image made by the hand and art of man must of necessity be a corruption of that divine performance and there is no Warrant or Command from God to make or
and instruments which have a promise annexed and that by vertue of the promise and Gods ordination I will not here assert that either the word SACRAMENTUM Latine or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek doth properly signifie any such thing oâ— that the word is so used in Scripture Let it suffice that in this sense the words have bin used both by Latine and Greek writers and if any can find a better word I shall willingly accept it when I know it If any make question whether this definition doth agree to the Sacraments of the old testament as well as of the new as we use to speak it 's plain it doth For Circumcision was a sign and Seal of the righteousnesse of faith Rom. 4. 11. where we have Righteousnesse promised by God faith required from man which is the substance of the Covenant and Circumcision as a Ceremony was a sign to signify and represent the righteousnesse by faith and a Seal to confirme it Yet this faith then required was in Christ to come And Abraham had this faith before he was Circumcised which made the confirmation stronger yet it confirmed no righteousness but by faith The Celebration of the Sacraments is a profession of our Religion § VI a testimony of our union amongst our selves badges of our profession to distinguish us from others and a Solemn engagement to obedience yet these are generall accidents and are neither of the essence of them nor proper adjuncts to any one of them As the observation of them is a service to be performed unto God they are parts of his Worship As they are commanded by God they bind us as all other Laws do and the observation of them by that command becomes necessary so far as he intended them In this respect they agree with other Laws They are meanes of obtaining the benefits merited by Christ and promised by God as all other Laws obeyed are For God hath promised that upon obedience the benefit shall follow The observation of them is commanded joyntly with the observation of morall and other more excellent duties which more immediately and effectually conduce unto the main end as with repentance and faith without which they cannot be effectuall For the promise is not added to the Sacrament alone For he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved Mark 16. 16. It 's not said He that is baptized but he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved A man by faith without Baptism not by Baptism without faith may be saved Yet the contempt of these Sacraments may damn a man and deprive him of salvation because that contempt is inconsistent with faith For true faith and salvation have a necessary and inseperable connexion by the Divine ordination in so much as that He who believeth not shall be damned The efficacy of these Sacraments for the actuall enjoyment of grace requireth a right qualification in the party and depends upon the power of the holy Spirit For Baptism is the Laver of Regeneration by the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. As all other Laws have their promises and threats so these sacramentall ceremonialls likewise have From hence it followes that not onely they who neglect and omit the celebration of them but also the unworthy receivers are guilty and make themselves liable to punishment And they who observe them and observe them aright in God's good time though not alwayes at or in the time of the observation receive the benefit promised For though the benefit and the actuall enjoyment be from Christ and the Spirit yet it 's sometimes attributed to the observation of the Sacraments because they in some sort concurr in an inferiour manner to the collation of the same Therefore we are said to be ingraffed into Christ and saved by Baptism yet not by Baptism alone After these generals § VII concerning all the ceremonials and special Sacraments I proceed to speak of Sacraments in particular and bâ—cause we are freed from the Sacraments of former times by the death of Christ I will passe by Circumcision and the Passeover and come to the Sacraments of the Gospel which continue in full force and power unto this day and shall so continue unto the end of the World The Sacraments of the Gospell are two 1. Baptism 2. The Lord's Supper The first is the Sacrament of Regeneration and Admission into Christ's Kingdome and our ingrafting into Christ The second is the Sacrament of our continuance in this Kingdome and growing up in Christ. Baptism may be briefly therefore defined to be a Sacrament of our Regeneration But more particularly It is a Sacrament of the Gospel wherein by washing with Water in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost Regeneration is confirmed to the party baptized As it is a Ceremony so it agrees with all the ceremonies of God Redeemer as a Sacrament with all other Sacraments thereof as a Sacrament of the Gospel it differs from all Sacraments annexed to the Promise For though they were instituted by God yet this with the Eucharist was instituted by God Redeemer exhibited The former presupposed Christ to come these Christ already come And also though it agree with Circumcision as being a Sacrament of initiation yet it differs both in the sign and in the thing signified in some respects The name of it is Baptism which comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which though it signifies to dip or dive yet often signifies to wash In the Gospel we read of John's Baptism which was from Heaven and Christ's Baptism as instituted by Christ after his Resurrection in a certain form different from that of John's In the speciall Nature § VIII we must consider 1. The Rite 2. The Effect In the Rite we have 1. The Element or the thing 2. The Action 3. The Words The Element or outward thing considered in it self is Water which hath many vertues or power to produce many Effects as to quench Thirst to cool to moisten to mollifie to heal to fructifie and also to cleanse In respect of this cleansing power which is most ordinary God singled it as common to be had and commonly used for that end in all Nations to whom the Apostles were sent to preach and baptize And in respect of this cleansing it was fit to signifie the cleansing and regenerating vertue of the Spirit This signification was not naturall but it was determined to it by divine institution For it was made a sign of this supernatural Grace by a supernatural power of Christ not onely exhibited but raised again and ready to ascend into Heaven For this was one difference between the Sacraments of the Law and the Gospel that these latter were instituted immediately by the Son of God inâ—arnate Besides there was another that the former were alterable these never shall be altered The Action is Washing § IX and this was part of the Rite This did imply that man by nature is unclean and polluted with sin and must
or unbelieving Jewes are The distance from God and Salvation of the one is not such or so great as the distance of the other The Apostle puts the Ephesians in mind That before their conversion they were Gentiles in the slesh who were called uncircumcision by that which was called circumcision in the slesh made by hands That at that time they were without Christ being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of promise having no hope without God in the world Ephes. 2. 11 12. It 's not to be understood that they were without God as Creatour or Preserver but without God promising to save them For God did not promise to save them or their Children upon any terms They were excommunicate and banished out of his Kingdome and were denyed the very meanes of conversion Therefore they must needs be without Christ and without hope For where there is no Christ nor promise in Christ there could be no hope But after their conversion they were Subjects of Gods Kingdome fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and if the Parents being the root were holy then their Children the branches were holy and within the Verges of Gods spiritual Kingdom And as the promise in Christ to come was to the Jews and their Children so the promise in Christ already come is to Christians and their Children For the Covenant made to Abraham and his seed is essentially though not accidentally the same with the promise of the Gospel and must necessarily include the Children with the Parents as that did except any man can produce a clause of exclusion which no man to this day ever could When Peter said The promise is to you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God should call Acts 2. 3. He spake not to the Jews merely as Jews but as Christians believing in Christ already come and the promise was not personal to them alone excluding their Children but to them as such and their Children For their conversion did no wayes limit or straiten the promise made to Abraham but continued it in the same extent it was before And the words imply that if he called the Gentiles who were afar off both they and their Children as he did call them afterward even they should enjoy the promise in the same extent so as to include the Children with the Parents To understand it otherwise is to offer violence to the Text. For the Gentiles once called must enjoy the priviledges for them and theirs in as large and ample manner as the Jew did this onely was the proper and special priviledge of the Jew he must first be called Yet this we must know that Children are in the lowest form of Christs Kingdom whilst they are Children and after they are at age by their actual disobedience may loose the benefit and by Apostacy they may forfeit all their priviledges and their hope These priviledges which these Children enjoy are not ordinarily immediate conversion or justification and the Spirit of Adoption and regeneration and the actuall enjoyment of those blessings but that which they have immediate right unto is the meanes of conversion which he denyes to such as are not of the Church For this was the priviledge which the Jew enjoyed though he did not believe he was trusted with the Oracles of God wherein were precepts of duty promises for mercy and also of power to keep the precepts and the outward confirmation both of precepts and promises This was the Childrens bread which was not given to doggs of the Gentiles and such as were strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel These Children born in the Church and of believing Parents who are Christians are members of the Church subjects of Christs Kingdome and have a special relation to God to Christ to the Church and the same such as no Infants in the world born of Parents out of the Church have or as such can have The summe of this discourse is That as all Children are part of their parents make but one person by the Laws of God and men so Christian Infants are one person with their Christian parents and make but one body with them as the root and branches are but one Tree and this by divine ordination and especially in obligations to dutyes and right unto favours and priviledges spiritual so far as they are capable So that the question so much vexed in our dayes rightly stated is this Whether Christian infants as part of their parents and one person with them have right to Baptism or are subjects immediately capable of baptism according to Divine ordination To this thus stated the Antipaedo-baptists have said nothing to this hour And whereas they alleage that there is no example or precept in the Gospel for Infant-baptism it hath been answered that there is no expresse precept or example for women to receive the Lords Supper and yet they themselves administer it to women But this is but very little if not the least that may be said for infant-baptism For so many precepts and examples as they can find in the New-Testament for the Baptism of such as are at age so many precepts and examples they give us for Baptizing Infants For if the parents or one of the parents may be baptized then the Infant may be baptized For they are one person in respect of Baptism and therefore what right the one hath the other must have Neither can it be upon any sufficient ground alledged that Children are uncapable of Baptism either as it is a Sacrament or as a Sacrament of initiation or as a seale of the righteousnesse by faith For circumcision was 1. A Sacrament 2. A Sacrament of initiation 3. A Seal of the righteousnesse by faith Yet this was administred to Infants and that by Gods Institution which never would have been done by Divine Warrant if they had been uncapable The difference between Baptism and Circumcision was 1. That the signes are different 2. That there was a different modification in the object of faith required in both The signe of the former was the cutting off the foreskin of the â—lesh in the second washing with water in the name of the Father Son and Holy-Ghost The different modification of the object of faith was Christ to come and Christ already come The spirituall thing sealed and signified in both was the same that is righteousnesse by faith in Christ. And as there is no place of Scripture alleaged so I think there can be no reason sufficient given why the covenant being essentially the same the Children included then should be excluded now If the faith profession and promise of the Parents then was sufficient to obtain the sealing of the covenant by the initiating Sacrament why should they not be now For Children are as much one person now with their parents as they were then Neither should any wonder that the Faith of one may