the Lord went out from the Land of Egypt Exod 12. 41. It is a Night to be much observed unto the Lord. And so it came to pass that in those very Days and in the same time of the Year for all the Nation of the Jews were then gone up to Jerusalem to be present at this their Yearly Commemoration of their Deliverance out of Egypt and to observe the Feast of the Passeover That Jesus Christ according to the Flesh suffer'd and was put to Death on the Cross if not on the Mount of Olives yet on Mount Calvary which perhaps was a part thereof or very near unto it The Gospel saith That the Place was nigh to Jerusalem And he arose again However all this great Thing was transacted at the self same time of the Year in which that was as it doth abundantly and evidently appear from the History and Narration of all the four Evangelists concerning it And therefore it is a Night and a Day when in the Prophet Zechariah's Phrase it was not Night nor yet Day it being Twilight not Dark nor yet Light to be much observed unto the Lord yea to be observed by all Christians and by all that call themselves so in their Generations Most certain it is That it was much observed unto the Lord by the Apostles who had seen Jesus Christ in the Flesh and to whom He shewed himself alive after his Passion he being seen oâ— them Fourty Daâ—s and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Which things are not written and recorded but by their framing their Practice accordingly and by their assembling together on the first Day of the Week in Memory and Acknowledgment that their Lord did on that Day rise from the Dead Which also is the very Reason of that Change which hath been made of the Sabbath from the Seventh Day which the Jews kept Holy in Memory of the Creation because that God had finished his Work and rested on the Seventh Day and sanctified it to our Observation of the same Day of Rest separated and set apart for the more Solemn and Universal Worship now on the first Day of the Week which is called the lord's-Lord's-Day This is in Remembrance how that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ rose from the Dead on the first day of the Week And if it hath occasion'd the Change of the Sabbath Day throughout the whole Year well then may one particular Lord's Day in the Year be observed in an eminent Manner above and more than the other Lords Days and so it is done at this Day by the Churches throughout the Christian World This is the Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it Psal 118. 28. We read often in the Gospel of the Apostles and Primitive Christians assembling together on the first Day of the Week and John saith in the Revelations That he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day Now it is a Rule and Maxim laid down by Augustine an Eminent Preacher and Writer in the Church of God a Learned and Holy Man in his Generation That whatever was practised by the Apostles themselves and by the Generality of Christians for the first Three Hundred Iears this being long before the Corruptions Errors and Additions of Popery came in for they came in about the Six Hundredth Year after Christ and the same is agreeable to the Canoâ—ical Scriptures as the Observation of the Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ commonly called Easter is Which is further manifest from the Controversies of the Eastern and Western Churches about the exact time of its Observance for both did agree that it was to be kept this saith Austine We ought to receive for Divine and Apostolick Institution And truly when we read in the Scripture it self yea in the Gospel And when the Day of Pentecost which we now commonly call Whitsuntide was fully come Acts 2. 1. Christ our Passeover is now risen therefore let us now keep the Feast the Apostle hereby seems to mean the very Feast of his Resurrection not with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness but with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth Here is enough to justifie even under the Gospel Dispensation and in this Gospel-Day the Observation of those three Great Festivals as is the Nativity and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Descent of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost like as the Jews the antient Worshippers of the Father did observe their Feast of Unleavened Bread the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Faber cles Deut. 16. 16. These were their three times of their appearing before the Lord at Jerusalem which God hath Instituted by Moses altho with and amongst them they had brought in their new Moons and other Days of their own Institution as also some Gentile Rites and Observations the Continuance whereof amongst those who were converted unto and had received the Christian Faith The Apostle Paul reproves when he saith Ye observe Days and Months and Times and Years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed on you Labour in vain Gal. 4. 10 11. That all this is chiefly if not only meant of the Jewish Customs Ceremonies and Observances appears from the foregoing Verse wherein he speaks unto them on this wise But now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly Elements wherein ye desire again to be in Bondage Importing as if it was an Incongruous and Unseemly Thing that after they had known the High Spiritual Free and Inward Dispensation of the Gospel they should again Apostatize and fall back to the Law which was made up of mean low carnal outward and slavish Observations and Customs From all this consider'd together we may learn and be instructed to beware of Extreams or of running from one wrong Extream to another or least under pretence of avoiding both Extreams which are bad We reject also the Truth which lies in the middle of them both for as when God had Instituted by Moses such and such Feasts to be observed amongst the Jews they did further bring in some Feasts and Observations of their own Now in this case if any Zealots or Godly Reformers instead of Purging out laying aside and abrogating these last they should go on also to neglect and cast off all the former they would not have done safely nor yet well In like manner it is at this day There are in the Christian Church three Great and Solemn Festivals aforemention'd which by the usage from the beginning of Christianity and by being mention'd therein and also being agreeable unto the Gospel They seem to be of Divine and Apostolical Institution and as such they ought to be observed unto the Lord yea to be observ'd of 〈◊〉 Christians in their Generations But besides among and between these the Papists and others by Humane Imposition and Invention have brought in a vast Number of
Holy-days in Memory of the Apostles and of their Saints as they would call and make them Now in this Case if we would have all things done according to the Pattern shewed to us in the Gospel see Heb. 8. 5. we should throw off and surcease from the Observation of many or most of these latter sort but therefore in no wise from the former I speak as unto wise Men judge ye what I say That is no good Argument why we should not Yearly Commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead because we would not willingly mind all the Saints Days in the Romish nor yet in the English Almanack Calender According to that Reasoning which may be gather'd from Matth. 23. 23. Seeing that the first seems to be the Mind and of the Institution of God This ought to be observed but the other being the Tradition Invention or Imposition of Man may be left unobserved and let alone We should be zealous for and observe each thing according as it is the Commandment and Institution of God But there is no such Obligation as to what proceeds only from the Law of a Carnal Commandment or from the Rudiments and Ordinances of Men. To shew and put a difference is one Essential Part of the Ministerial Duty Ezek. 22. 26. And thus to put a difference between what is of Divine Institution and Appointment to shew a Difference between the Law and Commandment of God and between the Orders and Impositions of Men As also to point out both Extreams for both Extreams are bad and to shew how the Truth lies in the middle way be tween them both All this Rightfully and Skilfully done would prevent abundance of Errors and Mistakes in Matters of Religion True indeed that now under the Gospel Oeconomy and Dispensation Holiness unto the Lord should be inscribed and intended in all the Actions of those who would frame and order their Conversation according to the same Gospel And consequently to a Christian Man or Woman every day to him or her not the Sabbath Day only but every Week Day also should be Holiness unto the Lord. And as every Day we draw nearer towards our End and so we ought to grow better Even so likewise we should endeavour that we keep each day to morrow more than this notwithstanding it be the Week Day and this is Sabbath more and more Holy unto the Lord and try also if you can live the next Day yet more Holy Sober and Innocent and so on Nevertheless as in the Six Days it is lawful to do worldly Work and Labour and therein we serve God acceptably also as on the Lord's Day in the Place of his Worship which yet is not lawful to do on that And as we read in the Scriptures of a double Portion and of a double measure of the Spirit of Pre-eminence and Excellency that Christ in all things should have the Pre-eminence so in like manner all this hinders not that tho every Day unto a Christian Man or Woman should be Holy unto the Lord yet nevertheless some particular Days as those Three Great Festivals before-mentioned may be Holy above all the rest by way of Pre-eminence and Excellency Having thus prepared the way and shew'd the middle way between the too much superstitious Observance of Holy Days on one Hand and the total Neglect or Contempt of them on the other Let no Man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in Respect of an Holy Day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath Days which are a Shadow of Things to come but the Body is of Christ Col. 2. 16 17. The Apostle doth not here speak to surcease the Use of them utterly in no wise But as those great Holy days now in Use and Observation among us have all a Relation and Tendency unto Christ as his Nativity his Suffering on the Cross His Resurrection from the Dead His Ascension up to the Right Hand of God and his sending the Holy Ghost and Comforter on his Disciples Apostles and Followers on the Day of Pentecost and so in a less measure on each Day of our Assembling our selves together throughout the Year Proceed we now to shew the right manner how to observe this Holy-day in the which our Saviour Jesus Christ rose from the Dead As to which there cannot be a more fit proper and pertinent Text in all the Bible than that we have chosen If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above Wherein is to be taken notice of 1. a thing supposed If ye then be risen with Christ 2. A Direction given Seek those things which are above From the Words consider'd all together is intimated forth that wrong manner of observing Festivals now in Use in the World who look upon and practice it no other than as a time of Feasting and Idleness But herein they forget the Benefits which Christ did for them at such a time as also what Duty is expecting from themselves as arising from thence The Scripture like the Author thereof Christ Jesus who is the Word of God doth effectually answer that true End of his Priesthood As to have Compassion upon the Ignorant and those who are out of the way that is to Heaven and Happiness The Scripture gives them Notice and Warning and Direction to put them in the way again Many of the Commandments and Directions in Scripture are silent Reproofs for it often doth in an implied Manner take Notice of what is amiss or wanting in order to rightly instruct and make it up again And so where Paul by the Spirit speaketh on this wise If then ye be risen with Christ In that manner of Speech of his is contained an hidden Innuendo or Meaning as if many were not risen with Christ for He writes unto these as the choice and best of Christians and thereby He implies that even they had made a good Proficiency and Advancement if even they had gone and proceeded so far which can in no wise be said of that mixed Multitude which is abroad in the World Again many do hear or read concerning the Resurrection of Christ but they do not at the very same time mind and give heed unto what Instruction and Application is to be made thereof unto themselves namely That they also should be risen with Christ For altho People now living on the Earth are not put to Death on the Cross nor as yet laid in the Grave as He was how then can they rise with him This Question is somewhat like that of Nicodemus in John 3. 4. and like that in 1 Cor. 15. 35 36. and so it is to be answer'd in like mauner For as Jesus answer'd Nicodemus Verily verily I say unto thee except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God even so it is here except a Man be risen with Christ he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God he can have
THE OBSERVATION OF THE Three Great Festivals Asserted IN THE Christian Church AND THAT Objection Answered From Gal. 4. 10 11. AND ALSO The Right Manner of the Observance of Them made known In a SERMON Preach'd on Easter-Day By Richard Stafford LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1698. Col. iii. 1. If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the Right Hand of God AND Moses said unto the People Remember this day in which ye came out from Egypt out of the House of Bondage for by Strength of Hand the Lord brought you out from this Place There shall no leavened Bread be eaten This day came ye out in the Month Abib thou shalt therefore keep this Ordinance that is of the Passeover which He then Instituted in his Season from Year to Year Exod. 13. 3 4 10. Again it is Recorded in the foregoing Chapter Exod. 12. 42. It is a Night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the Land of Egypt this is that Night of the Lord to be observed of all the Children of Israel in their Generations From all this put together it may be truly Reason'd and Inferr'd That if the Eternal Spirit who is of the same Mind Yesterday to day and for ever and knows what are the things which are pleasing unto God and He doth require of us did as we see here He did command the Children of Israel to remember the Day in which they came out of Egypt the House of Bondage and it doth particularly set down the Month in the which it was with an Injunction Thou shalt therefore keep this Ordinance in his Season from Year to Year having before mention'd that it was a Night to be much observed unto the Lord yea it is repeated and enforced again That it was to be observed of all the Children of Israel in their Generations How much more ought all Christians to remember that Day in which Jesus Christ their Head and Saviour rose again from the Dead for hereby He was declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead Rom. 1. 4. whereby He accomplished as Great yea a much Greater and more Especial Part of our Redemption as God did work a Deliverance to the Israelites by bringing them out of the Land of Egypt And as upon that Account He is the Lord their God so upon the alike and much greater Account He is the God of us Christians also by Redeeming us by his Son Jesus Christ from Spiritual Egypt the Bondage of Satan Sin and Death And as this same Redemption wrought and accomplished by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead is so much better than that Deliverance of our Fore-fathers out of Egypt which was a lesser Type and Figure of this as it hath by the Benefits and Priviledges hereby accrued and devolved unto Mankind obtained a much more excellent Name than that There is alike and greater Reason that the Time of Jesus Christ his Rising from the Dead should be remembred together with the Month for it was about the same Time that they did receive the Passeover and did Yearly Commemorate their Deliverance from out of Egypt that this Ordinance also should be kept in his Season from Year to Year And as Jesus Christ did arise again in the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards the first Day of the Week Mat. 28. 1. and in another Evangelist it is said That it was the first Day of the Week early when it was yet dark John 20. 1. The Holy Ghost by recording it here in these two Places in so very a particular manner that we may guess and know within a quarter of an Hour the exact time when it was doth hereby signifie That that same Night and Day between the end of the Sabbath and the first Day of the Week or rather the twilight is a Night and a Day or a Twilight to be much observed unto the Lord for raising his Son Jesus Christ from the Dead This is that Night and Day of the Lord or the Twilight to be observed of all Christians who name the Name of Jesus Christ in their Generations For this Thing of the Twilight or Dawning of the Day seems to have been foretold by the Prophet Zechariah And it shall come to pass in that day that the Light shall not be clear nor dark But it shall be one Day which shall be known unto the Lord not Day nor Night Zech. 14. 6 7. This was exactly fulfill'd But it shall come to pass at Evening Time it shall be Light It is evident from the Fourth Verse of this same Chapter that Christ herein was prophesied of And tho these Words do chiefly seem to have Respect unto Christ's last Coming to Judgment which is yet to come yet they were in a less Degree fulfilled in the Time of his Resurrection from the Dead it being an usual Method with the Scriptures of Truth to have their fulfilling in a lesser Degree and then in a Greater and more Universal manner like as it is with the Fruits of the Earth some few of these are commonly ripe before the General and Greater Quantity are so As I could Illustrate this further and make it more evidently appear from the other and parallel Places of Scripture which in such manner have been interpreted to have been fulfilled by the Divinely Inspired Apostles But this would be to go too much aside from my Subject and intended Matter for whereas it is written And his Feet shall stand in that Day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the East and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof towards the East and towards the West Zech. 14. 4. This was then somewhat fulfill'd tho I do withall believe that it will be yet more Litterally and Universally fulfill'd at his future Coming to Judgment When Jesus cried with a loud Voice and yeilded up the Ghost and behold the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent Mat. 27. 50 51. For all this comes very near and is much alike to the Mount of Olives where or near to which his Crucifixion was cleaving in the midst thereof It is a wonderful thing to consider how the Decrees and Purposes of God were made and ordered and fixed as to these material Circumstances of Place and Time Instances whereof are so very many throughout the Scripture that it is superfluous to give any other than what are pertinent to our present Matter in Hand As to the Circumstance of Time And it came to pass at the end of the Four Hundred and Thirty Years which was the time of their sojourning in Egypt even the self-same Day take notice of that it came to pass that all the Hosts of
live unto Himself but unto God who called him And so St. Peter reasons after a like manner For asmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the Flesh Arm your selves likewise with the same Mind For He that hath suffered in the Flesh hath ceased from Sin that He should no longer live the rest of his time in the Flesh to the Lusts of Men nor yet to our own Lust or Will but to the Will of God 1 Pet. 4. 12. In the future Resurrection of the Body and after that all they who shall be found worthy to obtain a Part and Portion therein they will live unto God in a much more eminent and constant manner than any even of his best Saints and Servants in the Flesh now do or can do Yea God will be to them All in All So in the first Resurrection which is in Order and Preparation and Inseparable Tendency unto that we should live unto God yet more than others do or at least it may be contrariwise with each of us than what is written of the Wicked God is not in all his Thoughts Psal 10. 4. which may admit of a Twofold Consideration that God may be in some of his Thoughts but not all of them for every one doth think somewhat or other of God but not to have him there for the most and greater part this is a Contemper and rejecting of him or secondly amidst all his Thoughts which He hath about other things the World his Fellow-Creatures and such like God is not in all of them that is God is not at all or very seldom in them And this is yet a much greater Disobedience and Rebellion for it is to be without God in the World where is not a constant Sense and awful Remembrance of and Subjection unto him But indeed if we live unto God then God is in all our Thoughts or for the most and greater part for then the continual Bent lifting up and looking of our Soul is unto him that is Invisible And it is the continued Thought and Searching of our Heart without Ceasing or Intermission how we may Obey Serve and Glorifie him It hath been aforesaid how that Paul by the Spirit lays it down as a thing supposed as appears by the Particle If ye be risen with Christ for He writes unto the Colossians as unto real Christians And to such only to put in Mind of a Thing and of a Duty it is enough For they will instantly do it and set upon and endeavour it The Apostle doth suppose and take it for Granted that they had proceeded so far already by taking the Profession of Christianity and the Commemoration of the Redemption of Jesus Christ and thereupon He gives them Direction farther But there is a vast difference between Real and Nominal Christian as also between Christians formerly and now adays VVe read that in antient time They that feared the Lord would often speak one to another Mal. 3. 16. And that they would speak of the wonderful Works of God Act. 2. 11. This was in common Conversation And as these here in the Acts did it on the Day of Pentecost so they would it more esspecially at the Time appointed and upon their Solemn Feast Day For this was a Statute in Israel and an Ordinance of the God of Jacob That when they were to keep the Feast of the Passeover and when their Children did ask what those things did mean they were to tell them how the Lord in accomplishing their Deliverance out of Egypt did slay the Egyptians First-born and did pass over the Houses of the Israelites VVen they did observe the Passeover they did constantly talk of that their Deliverance and praise God for it But now adays People do keep the Feasts of what is commonly called Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide with the Leaven of Gluttony Drunkenness Chambering and VVantonness in Vanity and Idleness without speaking one VVord in their ordinary Conversation Besides what they hear perhaps out of the Sermons or from the Scriptures read in the Congregation out of Custom and Formality of the great Mercies of God vouchsafed to Mankind in their Redemption by the Birth and Incarnation of his Son Jesus Christ sending Him into the Flesh that He might destroy the VVorks of the Devil His Death and Resurrection Ascension and Descent of the Holy Ghost these are only the sit Topicks and Subjects of Discourse at those times but yet they are quite out of Fashion and Use among us but it was not so in the Primitive Times If Scholars do not as much mind their Books out of School as in School they will not make any great Proficiency and Advancement in Learning And so we pretend to be Disciples which word signifies Scholars and Followers of Jesus Christ And in Truth if we do not as much mind yea and observe our Duty to God and Christ as much yea more out of the Church and Congregation or Assemblies of People for Worship as when we are in them for we are longer out than in we shall never have that Character and Denomination from God as Daniel had Thou art greatly beloved Dan. 9. 23. or as it is in the Margent there A Man of Desires or as John had who is called the Beloved Disciple And so if we were beloved of God and of Christ we should have a Sense Manifestation and Revelation of that their Love towards us so that reciprocally and mutually our selves would love God and Christ also And it is a certain Rule according to those two Aphorisms of our Saviour Jesus Christ They are of the World therefore speak they of the World Out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh That where the Love Heart and Affection is most People do usually talk most of the same thing And hence it is that People talk so little of God and of Heavenly things for want of the Love of God in them it is because they do not seek the things above for what one seeks after He doth usually talk of and enquire after and they do not set their Affections on Things above but on Things on the Earth Indeed one Reason why those in Acts 2. 11. did talk of the wonderful Works of God because that then they had been lately and newly done and what is fresh or a Novelty this doth most commonly affect the Heart with Thought thereof and fill the Mouth with Discourse thereof But tho the Creation of the World hath been Six Thousand Years since and the Redemption of Mankind by Jesus Christ God manifested in the Flesh hath been accomplished well-nigh Seventeen Hundred Years since yet still we ought to talk of these wonderful Works of God and to declare these his Doings among the People continually praising Him for the same now at this day as in the first Year after it was if we had then lived Yea we ought to talk hereof and praise him yet more and more as we see the Day approaching