one Obj. By this Exposition you may say that the rest of the Decalogue is excluded For Idolatry Murder c. are not here forbidden by name Answ. I have fully proved that the Decalogue as written in Stone and part of the Law or Covenant of Moses is not at all in force especially to the Gentiles nor yet as part of the Covenant or promise of Works made with Adam in Innocency For the form of the Promissory Covenant of Works ceased upon mans sin and the promise of a Saviour And the form of the Mosaical Law or Covenant never reached to the Gentile Nations and is ceased to the Jews Therefore the Matter must cease as it constituted the same Covenant when the forme ceased And Paul saith expresly that this Law Written in Stone is done away But 1. The Law of Nature as a meer Law never ceased 2. And Christ hath taken it into his Covenant as part of the Matter of it So that it is wholly in force though not as part of the Covenant of Works either Adamical or Mosaical But the Sabbath as to the seventh day was no part of the Law of Nature as is proved And Paul expresly saith that it was a shadow of things to come and is therefore vanished away Col. 2. 16. Had it been part of the Law of Nature it had bound us as such and as Christs Law or had it been one of the Enumerated particulars Act. 15. it had bound the Neighbour Gentiles pro tempore at least But being neither that Council dischargeth Christians from the observation of it as far as I can understand the Text. FINIS Postscript IT is long since the foregoing Treatise was promised to a Person of Honourable Rank who was enclined to the Jewish Sabbath but before it was finished or well begun I had a sight of a Treatise on the same subject by the late Reverend Worthy Servant of Christ Mr. Hughes of Plimouth which enclined me to take my promised work as unnecessary But yet some reasons moved me to reassume it Near two Moneths after it went from me to the Press the said Treatise of Mr. Hughes first and after another on the same subject by Dr. I. Owen came abroad Yet do I not reverse mine because many Witnesses in an Age of Enmity and Neglect can be no injury to a truth so serviceable to the Cause of Christianity and the prosperity of the Church and the good of souls Though if I were one that took the Churches prosperity to consist in the Riches Grandeur Ease and Domination of Empire of Papal Pastors rather than in the humble holy heavenly self-denying imitation of a Crucified Christ I would have forborn a subject which is all for our preparation for a Heavenly Sabbatism and carrieth men above the sensual Rest of Fleshly men and therefore is so much disrelished by them Rom. 8. 6 7 8. But supposing it my duty to do what I have done I think meet to advertise the Reader that when several men treat of the same subject though they speak the same things in the main yet usually each of them bringeth some considerable light which is omitted by the rest And as the same Spirit sets them all on work so all together give suller evidence to the truth than any one of them alone And I hope the Concourse of these three Tractates doth prognosticate that though the Devil hath so contrived the business for the Prophane that like Papists they will hear and read none but those that are not like to change them yet God will awaken the sober and serious believers of this Age to a more holy and fruitful improvement of his day which will greatly tend to the encrease of real Godliness and consequently to the recovery of the dying hopes of this apostatizing and divided Age. But that which moveth me to write this Postscript is to acquaint thee for the prevention of scandal by any seeming differences in our Writings 1. That it cannot be expected that all who plead the same Cause should say just the same things for it for matter and manner of argumentation 2. That if I own the Name Sabbath less than some others and adhere more to the name of the Lords Day I do not thereby oppose the use of the name of Sabbath absolutely nor is that in it self a Controversie about the Matter but the Name which though not contemptible yet is of far less moment than the Thing 3. That if I make not use of so many Old Testament Texts as some others I do not thereby deny the usefulness of them nor call you off from the consideration of any argumentation or evidence thence offered you 4. That if I seem to be more for the cessation of Moses Law than some others even of that part which was written in Stone yet no part of the Law of Nature is thereby denyed by me any more than by any of them And they that are angry with me for writing so much against the Antinomians should not also be angry with me for going no further from them than the force of Truth constraineth me 5. That you must pardon me for my purposely avoiding the name of the Moral Law Mr. Cawdry and Mr. Palmer who have written most largely of the Sabbath have told you the reason I love not such names as are not fitted to the nature of things but are fitted to signifie almost what the Speaker pleaseth I know no Law which is not formally Moral as being Regula actionum Moralium And men may if they will as well confine the signification of the word Law it self as of a Moral Law Nor doth use it self sufficiently notifie the distinguishing signification of it For one meaneth by that name all the Law of Nature as such Another meaneth only so much of the Law of Nature as is common to all mankind Another meaneth all Positive Laws of supernatural Revelation which are perpetual and universal as well as the Law of Nature Therefore without finding fault with others it sufficeth me to distinguish Laws by such names as plainly signifie the intended difference And though by the Law of Nature I mean not formally the same thing that some others do I have sufficiently opened my sense and the reasons of it in my Reasons of the Christian Religion 6. That they who say that the Old Covenant or the Covenant of Works made by Moses with the Jews is abrogate or ceased and the Decalogue as a part of or belonging to that Covenant do say the same thing that I do when I maintain that the Decalogue and whole Law as Mosaical is ceased but that all the Natural part is by Christ assumed into his Law or Covenant of Grace For it is the same thing which is denominated the Law of Moses or of Christ from the preceptive part and and a Covenant from the terms or sanction especially the Promissory part Nor is there any part of the Law of Moses which was not a
Original is not known 4. That the Antients joyn not the Lords day with these but take the Lords day for an Apostolical institution written in Scripture though the universal practice of all Churches fullier deliver the certain History of it But the rest they take for unwritten Customs as distinct from Scripture Ordinances As Epiphanius fully sheweth 5. That most Christians are agreed that if these later could be proved Apostolical Institutions for the Church universal it would be our duty to use them though they were not in Scripture So that we reject them only for want of such proof But the proof of the Lords dayes separation being far better by concurrence of Scripture and all antient History it followeth not that we must doubt of that which hath full and certain proof because we must doubt of that which wants it 6. And if it were necessary that they stood or fell together as it is not it were necessary that we did receive those three or four Ceremonies for the sake of the Lords day which â—ath so great evidence rather than that we cast off the Lords day because of these Ceremonies Not only because there is more Good in the Lords dâ—y than there is evil to be any way suspected by a doubter in these Ceremonies but especially because the Evidence for the day is so great that if the said Ceremonies had but the same they were undoubtedly of Divine authority or institution In a word I have shewed you somewhat of the evidence for the Lords day Do you now shew me the like for them and then I will prove that both must be received But if you cannot do not pretend a parity 7. And the same Churches laying by the Customs aforesaid or most of them did shew that they â—â—ok them not indeed for Apostolical institutions as they did the Lords day which they continued to observe not as a Ceremony but as a necessary thing 8. And the ancient Churches did believe that even in the Apostles dayes some things were used as Indifferent which were mutable and were not Laws but temporary customs And some things were necessary setled by Law for perpetuity Of the former kind they thought were the greeting one another with a holy kiss the Womens praying covered with a Veil of which the Apostle saith that it was then and there so decent that the contrary would have been unseemly and the Churches of God had no such custom by which he answereth the contentious yet in other Countreys where custom altereth the signification it may be otherwise Also that a man wear not long hair and that they have a Love Feast on the Lords day which yet Paul seemeth to begin to alter in his rebuke of the abusers of it 1 Cor. 11. And if these ancient Churches thought the Milk and Honey and the white Garment and the Station and Adoration Eastwards to be also such like indifferent mutable customs as it is apparent they did this is nothing at all to invalidate our proof that the Lords day was used and consequently appointed in the dayes of the Apostles Obj. At least it will prove it mutable as they were Answ. No such matter Because the very nature of such Circumstances having no stated necessity or usefulness sheweth them to be mutable But the reason of the Lords dayes use is perpetual And it is founded partly in the Law of nature which telleth us that some stated dayes should be set apart for holy things and partly in the positive part of the fourth Commandment which telleth us that once God determined of one day in seven yea and this upon the ground of his own Cessation of his Creation-work that man on that day might observe a Holy Rest in the worshipping of the great Creator which is a Reason belonging not to the Jews only but to the whole world Yea and that Reason whatever Dr. Heylin say to the contrary from the meer silence of the former History in Genesis doth seem plainly to intimate that this is but the repetition of that Law of the Sabbath which was given to Adam For why should God begin two thousand years after to give men a Sabbath upon the reason of his rest from the Creation and for the Commemoration of it if he had never called man to that Commemoration before And it is certain that the Sabbath was observed at the falling of Manna before the giving of the Law And let any considerate Christian judge between Dr. Heylin and us in this 1. Whether the not falâ—ing of Manna or the Rest of God after the Creation was like to be the Original reason of the Sabbath 2. And whether if it had been the first it would not have been said Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day for on six dayes Manna fell and not on the seventh rather than For in six dayes God created Heaven and Earth c. and rested the seventh day And it is causally added Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it Nay consider whether this annexed Reason intimate not that the day on this ground being hallowed before therefore it was that God sent not down the Manna on that day and that he prohibited the people from seeking it And he that considereth the brevity of the History in Genesis will think he is very bold that obtrudeth on the world his Negative Argument The Sabbath is not there mentioned therefore it was not then kept And if it was a Positive Law given to Adam on the reason of the Creation Rest it was then such a Positive as must be next to a Law of Nature and was given to all mankind in Adam and Adam must needs be obliged to deliver it down to the world So that though the Mosaical Law even as given in Stone be ceased yea and Adams Positives too formally as such yet this is sure that once God himself determined by a Law that one stated day in seven was the fittest proportion of time to be separated to holy Worship And if it was so once yea to all the world from the Creation it is so still Because there is still the same reason for it And we are bound to judge Gods determination of the proportion to be wiser than any that we can make And so by parity of Reason consequentially even those abrogated Laws do thus far bind us still not so far as abrogated but because the record and reason of them is still a signification of the due proportion of time and consequently of our duty Now the Lords day supposing one weekly day to be due and being but that day determined of and this upon the Reason of the Resurrection and for the Commemoration of our Redemption and that by such inspired and authorized persons it followeth clearly that this is no such mutable ceremony as a Love Feast or the Kiss of Love or the Veil or the washing of feet or the anointing of the sick which were mostly occasionall actions and
the Law which was written in Stone Nothing but partial violence can evade the force of this Text. So Heb. 7. 11 12. Vnder it the Levitical Priesthood the people received the Law And the Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law 18. For there is verily a disanulling of the Commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof For the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope 22. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better Testament In all this it is plain that it is the whole frame of the Mosaical Law that is changed and the New Testament set up in its stead Heb. 9. 18 19. Neither was the first Dedicated without blood For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Law c. Here the Law which is before said to be changed is said to contain Every Precept And Eph. 2. 15. It is the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances which Christ abolished in his flesh which cannot be exclusive of the chief part of that Law Obj. This is the Doctrine of the Antinomians that the Law is abrogated even the Moral Law Ans. It is the Doctrine of the true Antinomians that we are under no Divine Law neither of Nature nor of Christ But it is the Doctrine of Paul and all Christians that the Jewish Mosaical Law as such is abolished Obj. But do not all Divines say that the Moral Law is of perpetual obligation Ans. Yes Because it is Gods Law of Nature and also the Law of Christ. Obj. But do not most say that the Decalogue written in stone is the Moral Law and of perpetual obligation Answ. Yes for by the word Moral they mean Natural and so take Moral not in the large sense as it signifieth a Law de moribus as all Laws are whatsoever but in a narrower sense as signifying that which by Nature is of Vniversal and perpetual obligation So that they mean not that it is perpetual as it is Moses Law and written in Stone formally but as it is Moral that is Natural And they mean that Materially the Decalogue containeth the same Law which is the Law of Nature and therefore is materially still in force But they still except certain points and circumstances in it as the prefatory reason I am the Lord that brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt c. And especially this of the seventh day Sabbath Q 1. How far then are we bound by the Decalogue Answ. 1. As it is the Law of Nature 2. As it is owned by Christ and made part of his Law Therefore no more of it bindeth directly than we can prove to be either the Law of Nature or the Law of Christ. 3. As it was once a Law of God to the Jews and was given them upon aâ— reason common to them with us or all mankind we must still judge that it was once a Divine determination of what is most meet and an exposition of a Law of Nature and therefore consequentially and as that which intimateth by what God once commanded what we should take for his will and is most meet it obligeth still And so when the Law of Nature forbiddeth Incest or too near marriages and God once told the Jews what degrees were to be accounted too near this being once a Law to them directly is a Doctrine and Exposition of the Law of Nature still to us and so is consequentially a Law by parity of reason And so we shall shew anon that it is by the fourth Commandment IV. The Law of Christ bindeth us not to the observation of the seventh day Sabbath Proved 1. Because it is proved that Christ abrogated Moses Law as such and it is no where proved that he reassumed this as a part of his own Law For it is no part of the Law of Nature as is proved which we confess now to be part of his Law Object Christ saith that he came not to destroy the Law and Prophets but to fulfill them and that a jot or tittle shall not pass till all be fulfilled Answ. He is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10. 4. The Law was a Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ Gal. 3. 24. He hath therefore fulfilled the Law according to his word by his incarnation life death and resurrection It is past away but not unfulfilled And fulfilling it is not destroying it The ends of it are all attained by him 2. And though having attained its end it ceaseth formally as Moses Law yet materially all that is of natural obligation continueth under another form that is as part of his perfect Law Therefore as our childish knowledge is said as knowledge to be increased and not done away when we come to maturity but as childish to be done away so the Mosaical Jewish Law as Gods Law in general is perfected by the cessation of the parts which were fitted to the state of bondage and by addition of more perfect parts The natural part of it is made a part of a better Covenant or frame But yet as Mosaical and imperfect it is abolished Briefly this much sufficeth for the answer of all the allegations by which any would prove the continuation of Moses Law or any part of it formally as such I only add That all Moses Law even the Decalogue was Political even Gods Law for the Government of that particular Theocrcratical Policy as a Political body Therefore when the Kingdom or Policy ceased the Law as Political could not continue 2. It is proved that Christ by his Spirit in his Apostles did institute another day And seeing the Spirit was given them to bring his words to remembrance and to enable them to teach the Churches all things whatsoever he commanded them it is most probable that this was at first one of Christs own personal Precepts 3. And to put all out of doubt that neither the Law of Nature nor any Positive Law to Adam Noah or Moses or by Christ doth oblige us to the seventh day Sabbath it is expresly repealed by the Holy Ghost Col. 2. 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meats or in drink or in respect of an Holy day or Feast or of the New Moon or of the Sabbaths which are a shadow of things to came but the body is of Christ. I know many of late say that by Sabbaths here is not meant the weekly Sabbath but only other Holy dayes as Monethly or Jubilee rests But 1. This is to limit without any proof from the word of God When God speaks of Sabbaths in general without exception what is man that he should put in exceptions without any proof of Authority from God By such boldness we may pervert all his Laws Read Dr. Young upon this Text. 2. Yea when it was the weekly Sabbath which then was principally known by the Name of a Sabbath above all
humane Nature 2. It is uncertain whether it was before the fall because we know not whether man fell on the same day in which he was Created which is the commonest opinion though unproved Whereupon Mr. ◠Walker in his Treat of the Sabbath maintaineth that the fall and promise went before the Sabbath and so that Gods rest had respect to Christ promised as the perfection of his works and that the Sabbath was first founded on Christ and the promise But because all this is unproved Opinion I incline to the Objectors and the common sense Reasons 4. The seventh day Sabbath was kept by Abraham Gen. 26. 5. by the Israelites Exod. 5. 5. The Law for the seventh day was repeated Exod. 16. 22 23. Answers 4. I am of the same opinion but it is uncertain so far as it is uncertain whether it was instituted actually at first But the rest Ex. 5. 5. seemeth plainly to referr to no Sabbath but to the peoples neglect of their tasks while Moses kept them in hope of deliverance and treated for them And their tasks with their desire to go into the Wilderness to Sacrifice maketh it probable that Pharaoh never allowed them the Sabbaths rest Reasons 5. The Decalogue was spoken by Jehovah Christ Exod. 20. 1. see the Assemblies lesser Catechisme on the Preamble in the Commands Because the Lord is our God c. Redeemer c. therefore we are bound to keep c. Exod. 19. 3. compared with Act. 7. 38. Esa. 63. 9. Ex. 19. 17. The Decalogue written by his Finger Ex. 31. 18. On Tables of Stone Ex. 32. 15 16 19. 34 1 28. and kept by all the Prophets Answers 5. All true and uncontroverted with these suppositions 1. That the Father as well as the Son gave the Decalogue 2. That the second person was not 〈◊〉 Incarnate Christ. 3. That the Law was given by the Ministration of Angels who its like are called the Voice and Finger of God 4. That God our Redeemer did variously Govern his Kingdom by his Law and Covenant in various Editions of which more anon Reasons 6. The Decalogue was confirmed by Jehovah Christ Ma◠5. 17 18 19. Luk. 16. 17. Mat. 28. 20. Joh. 14. 15. 15. 14. Rom 3. 31. 7. 12. Jam. 2. 8 12. NewCovenant Heb. 8. 10. 1 Joh. 3. 22 24. 1 Joh. 5. 3. 2 Ep. Joh. 5. 6. Rev. 12. 17. 14. 12. 22. 14 18. compared with Mal. 4. 4. Answers 6. Here beginneth our fundamental difference I shall first tell you what we take for the truth and then consider of what you alledge against it 1. We hold that every Law is the Law of some one some Law-maker or Soveraign power And therefore Christ being now the Head over all things to the Church Eph. 1. 22 23. whatever Law is now in Being to the Church must needs be the Law of Christ. 2. We hold that Christs Redeemed Kingdom hath been Governed by him with variety of Administrations by various Editions of his Law or Covenant That is I. Universally to Mankind viz. 1. Before his Incarnation which was first To Adam and secondly to Noah and to mankind in them both 2. After his Incarnation II. Particularly to the seed of Abraham even the Jews as a particular Political society chosen out of the World not as the only people or Church of God on Earth but for peculiar extraordinary mercies as a peculiar people 3. We believe that each of these Administrations was fittest for its proper time and subject according to the manifold Wisdom of God But yet the Alterations were many and great and all tended towards perfection so that the last Edition of the Covenant by Christ Incarnate and his Holy Spirit much excelled all that went before in the Kingdom of the Mediatour And all these changes were made by God-Redeemer himself 4. As it was the work of the Redeemer to be the Repairer of Nature and recoverer of man to God so in all the several Administrations the great Laws of Nature containing mans duty to God resulting from and manifested in our Nature as related to God and in the Natura rerum or the Works of God was still made the chief part of the Redeemers Law so that this Law of Nature whose summe is the Love of God and of his Image is ever the Primitive unchangeable Law and the rest are secondary subservient Laws either Positive or remedying or both And no tittle of this shall ever cease if nature cease not 5. But yet there are temporary Laws of Nature which are about Temporary things or where the Nature of the thing it self is mutable from whence the Natural duty doth result As it was a duty by the then Law of Nature it self for Adams Sons and Daughters to Marry Increase and multiply being made a natural Benediction and the means a natural Duty And yet now it is incest against the Law of Nature for Brother and Sister to Marry So it was a Natural duty for Adam and Eve before their Fall to love each other as innocent but not so when they ceased to be innocent For cessanie materiâ cessat obligatio 6. So also some Positive Commands made to Adam in Innocence ceased on the fall and sentence As to dress that Garden And some positives of the first Administrations of Grace did cease by the supervening of a more perfect administration As the two Symbolical or Sacramental Trees in the Garden were no longer such to man when he was turned out so no positive Ordinance of Grace was any longer in force when God himself repealed it by the introduction of a more perfect Administration 7. Accordingly we hold that a change is now made of the sanctified day Where note 1. That we take not the seventh day no nor one day in seven though that be nothing to our Controversie to be a Duty by the proper Law of Nature but by a Positive Law 2. That the seventh day is never called a Sahbath till Moses time but only a Sanctified and blessed day the word Sabbath being ever taken in Scripture for a day of Ceremonial Rest as well as of spiritual Rest and Worship 3. That Christ himself hath continued a seventh day but changed the seventh day to the first not as a Sabbath that is A day of Ceremonial Rest for he hath ended all Sabbaths as shadows of things that were to come even of rest which remained for the people of God Heb. 4. 9. Col. 2. 16. And this is it which is incumbent upon us to prove and I think I have fully proved already 4. That having proved the thing done the positive Law of the seventh day changed by the Holy Ghost to the first day it concerneth us not much to give the reasons of Gods doings But yet this reason may secondarily be observed That God having made the whole frame of Nature very good did thereby make it the glass in which he was to be seen by man and the Book
the Apostles actual settlement thereupon was the Promulgation 3. The gradual notification by the Preachers to the Churches and finally the destruction of the Jewish Policie and Temple and Priesthood were the fuller proclamation of it and the way of bringing the change that was made by Command into fuller Execution 10. The seventh day Sabbath was observed by the Apostles after the Resurrection and Ascension Act. 13. 14 15 16 42 44. 16. 13 14. And constantly Act. 17. 2. the same Greek phrase with that Luk. 14. 16. for Christ constant keeping the seventh day Sabbath as before Act. 18. 1 4. c. 10 A. 1. But withal in this time they stablished the Lords day as soon as on that day the Holy Ghost came down upon them 2. So all that while they kept other parts of the Jewish Law They scrupled yea refused a while Communion with the Gentiles as Act. 10. shews They so carryed it to the Jews that Paul made it his defence that he had not offended any thing at all either against the Law of the Jews or against the Temple Act. 25. 8. And when he Circumcised Timâ—thy purified himself shaved his head for his Vow c. Do you think that all these are duties to Believers 3. None of the Texts cited by you do prove that the Apostles kept the Sabbath at all as a Sabbath that is a day on which it was their duty to Rest But only that they Preached on that day in the Synagogues and to the people For when should they Preach to them but when they were Congregated and capable of hearing They took it for no sin to Preach on the Sabbath no more than I would do to Preach Christ on Friday which is their Sabbath to the Turks if they would hear me But Sabbatizing according to the Law was something else than Preaching 4. And it is most evident that for a long time the Christian Jews did still keep the Law of Moses And that all that the Apostles did against it then was but 1. To declare that Christ was the end of the Law and so to declare the keeping of it to be unnecessary to Salvation but not unlawful laying by the opinion of necessity 2. That the Gentile Christians should not be brought to use it because it was unnecessary For the Apostles Act. 15. do not forbid it to the Jews but only to the Gentiles who were never under it Therefore the Apostles who lived among the Jews no doubt did so far comply with them to win them as to keep the Law externally though not as a necessary thing that is not as a Law in force obliging them but as a thing yet lawful to further the Gospel And therefore no wonder if Peter went so far as to withdraw from the Gentiles when the Jews were present when even Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles who speaketh so much more than all the rest against the Law doth yet as aforesaid Circumcise Timothy shave his head purifie himself c. and as he became all things to all men so to the Jews he became a Jew But when the Jews Policie and Temple ceased the change was executively yet further made and the Jewish Christians themselves were weaned from their Law In the mean time Paul and John Rev. 2. 3. do openly rebuke the Judaizing Hereticks the Ebionites and Cerinthians and Nicolaitans and shew the perniciousness of their conceits 11. The Holy Spirit calls the seventh day and no other day the Sabbath throughout the Scriptures before and after the Death Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord Jehovah Christ Gen. 2. 2 3 4. Exod. 20. 10 c. Act. 13. 14 15 16 42 44. 16. 13 14. 17. 2. 18. 1 4. 11. A. Though it be not true that the seventh is called the Sabbath Gen. 2. and though others deny the sufficiency of your enumeration yet I grant your assertion as true And therefore am satisfied that it is the seventh day which is put down when Sabbatizing was put down and that it could be none but the seventh day which Paul meant Col. 2. 16. Let no man judge you in meaâ—s c. and Sabbaths which were Shadows of things to come For the first day is never called a Sabbath as you truly say therefore it was not put down with the Sabbath See Dr. Youngs Dies Dom. on Col. 2. 16. 12. The seventh day Sabbath was prophaned by the Church heretofore and reformed Neh. 10. 28 29 31. 13. 15 17 18 22. See Belg. Annot. on Dan. 7. 25 c. as prophesied who would change it 12. This is all granted Sacrificing also was then Prophaned and Reformed and polluted and destroyed by Antiochus And yet we are not still under the obligation of Sacrificing We are not under the Law but under Grace CHAP. III. Whether the seventh day Sabbath be part of the Law of Nature or only a Positive Law IT is but few that I have any Controversie with on this point But yet one there is who objecteth and argueth as followeth God hath put this into nature Ex. 20. 10. Thy Stranger Deut. 5. 14. The three first Chapters of Romans Particularly Chap. 2. 14 15 26 27. 3. 9. 21. 1 Cor. 11. 14. Nature hath its teachings The humane Nature in the first Adam was made and framed to the perfection of the ten words some Notions whereof are still retained even in the corrupt state of fallen man Gen. 1. 26 27. Eccl. 7. 29. Eph. 4. 20. Col. 3. 10. The Law of the seventh day Sabbath was given before the ten words were proclaimed at Sinai Exod. 16. 23. Even from the Creation Gen. 2. 2 3. Given to Adam in respect of his humane nature and in him to all the world of humane creatures Gen. 1. 14. Psalm 104. 19 Lev. 10. 23. Numb 28. 2 9 10. 'T is the 〈◊〉 word in the Original Seâ— times of Divine appointment fâ—r solemn asseâ—â—â—ing and for Gods instituted service are directed to and pointed at by those great Lights which the Creator hath set up in the Heavens Psal. 19. with Rom. 10. 4 5 6 7. 8 18 19 20. Deut. 30. 10 15. John 1. 9. Every man hath a Light and Law of Nature which he carrieth about him and is born and bred together with him These seeds of truth and light though they will not justifie in the sight of God and bring a soul throughly and safely hâ—me to glory Rom. 1. 20. Yet there are even since Adams fall those reliques and dark Letters of this holy Law of the ten words to preserve the memory of our first created dignity and for some other ends though these seeds are utterly corrupted now Titus 1. 15. Natural reason will tell men that seeing all men in all Nations do measure their Time by Weeks and their Weeks by seven dayes they should besides what of their time they offer up as due to God every day give one whole day of every Week to their Maker who
hath allowed them so liberal a portion of time wherein to provide for themselves and their families There being no other proportion of time that can so well provide for the necessities of families as six dayes of every Week and that is so well fitted to all Functions Callings and Employments And the light of Nature when cleared up will tell men that all labour and motion being in order to rest and rest being the perfection and end of labour into which labour work and motion doth pass that therefore the seventh day which is the last day in every Week is the fittest and properest day for a religious rest unto the Creator for his Worship Gen. 2. 1 c. Exod. 20. 9. Deut. 5. 13 14. Heb. 4. 1. 11. Exod. 31. 17. Rom. 14. 13. Exod. 23. 12. 34. 21. Answ. How far a day is of Natural due I have shewed before In all the words of this reason which I set down as I received them there is much which is no matter of Controversie betwen us As that there is a Light and Law of Nature which few men doubt of who are worthy to be called men And that by this Law of Nature God should be solemnly worshipped and that at a set or separated time I hope the Reader will not expect that I weary him with examining the Texts which prove this before it is denyed But the thing denyed by us is that the seventh day Sabbath as the seventh is of Natural Obligation The proofs which are brought for this I must examine For indeed this is the very hindge of all our Controversie For if this be once proved we shall easily confess that it is not abrogate For Christ came not to abrogate any of the Law of Nature though as I have said such particles of it may cease whose Matter ceaseth by a change in Nature it self The first proof is Exod. 20. 10. The stranger To which I answer Our question is not whether the Sabbath was to be rested onâ— by Strangers that are among the Jews but Whether it was part of the Law of Nature If it be intended that whatever such strangers were bound to was of the Law of Nature But strangers were bound to keep the Sabbath Ergo I deny the Major which they offer not to prove And I do more than deny it I disprove it by the Instances of Exâ—d 12. 19. Was eating leavened bread forbidden by the Law of Nature V. 48. 49. One Law shall be to him that is home-born and to the stranger that sojourneth among you Circumcision was not of the Law of Nature Lev. 16. 29. Resting from all work on the tenth day of the seventh Moneth was not of the Law of Nature though made also the strangers duty So eating blood and that which dyeth or was torn Lev. 17. 12 15. So Lev. 25. 6. Numb 15. 14 15 16 26. 29. 19. 10. 35. 15. Deut. 31. 12. Jos. 8. 33 34 35. 20. 9 c. The next pretended proof is Rom. 2. 14 c. where there is not one syllable mentioning the Decalogue as such but only in general The Law so far as it was written in the Gentiles hearts But where is it proved that the Law or the Decalogue are words of the same signification or extent any more than the whole and a part are Or where is it proved that none of the rest of the Law is written in Nature but the Decalogue only Or else that every word in the Decalogue it self is part of the Law of Nature which is the question I shall prove the contrary anon In the mean time the bare numbring of Chapters and Verses is no proof 3. It is next said that Adam was made and framed to the perfection of the ten words Answ. Adam was made in the Image of God before the ten words were given in stone But so much of them as is of the Law of Nature and had matter existent in Adams dayes no doubt was a Law to him as well as it is to us But that 's nothing to the question Whether all things in the ten words are of Natural Obligation 4. It is said that the Law of the seventh day Sabbath was given before the ten words were preclaimed in Sinai Answ. So was Circumcision and so was sacrificing yea so was the Law about the dressing of the Garden of Eden and about the eating or not eating of the fruit thereof even in innocency which yet were no parts of Natures Laws but Positives which now cease 5. It is said that it was given to Adam in respect of his humane nature and in him to all the world of humane creatures Answ. So was the Covenant of Works or Innocency which yet is at an end But what respect is it to his humane nature that you mean If you suppose this Proposition Whatever Law is given with respect to humane nature and to all men is of natural and perpetual Obligation I deny it The Law of Sâ—crinces and Oblations was given with respect to humane nature that is in order to its reparation and it was given to mankind and yet not of natural perpetual obligation The Law of distinguishing clean Beasts from unclean and the Law against eating blood were given to Noah and to all mankind with respect to humane nature Gen. 8. 20. 9. 4. and yet not wholly of natural or perpetual obligation All common Laws have some respect to humane nature But if your meaning be that this Law was given in and with the Nature of Man himself or that it is founded in and provable by the very essentials of mans nature or any thing permanent either in the nature of man or the nature of the world I still deny it and call for your proof Positives may have respect to humane Nature as obliged by them and yet not be written in humane nature nor provable by any meer natural evidence 6. It is said Set times of Divine appointment for solemn assembling c. are directed to by the great Lights c. Psal. 19. Rom. 10 c. Ans. But the question is not of set times in general that some there be But of this set time the seventh day in particular It will be long before you can fâ—tch any cogent evidence from the Lights of Heaven for it Nor do any of the Texts cited mention any such thing or any thing that can tempt a man into such an opinion It must be the Divine appointment and institution which you mention that must prove our obligation to a particular day and not any nature within us or without us 7. The only appearance of a proof is at the end that time being measured by Weeks and the end of the Weeks being fittest for Rest therefore nature points us to the last day Answ. But 1. You do not at all prove that nature teacheth all men to measure their time by Weeks 2. Nor is your Philosophy true that all motion is in order to rest
g. If the second Command say Thou shalt perform all Gods instituted Worship Or Thou shalt Worship me as I appoint thee This bindeth no man to Baptism the Lords Supper c. till another Law appoint them Therefore there is not so much in the general Law alone as is in that and the particular also 2. All that is presupposed in a particular Law is not part of that Law 3. It is not so much to inferr a duty indirectly and by far fetcht Consequences as to command it directly Now I prove the assertion by instances All these following are Natural duties and commanded also in other parts of Scripture and yet are not in the Law of Moses as Written in Stone 1. To believe that the soul is Immortal 2. To believe that there is a Heaven where we shall be perfectly blessed in the Knowledge Love and Fruition of God 3. To believe that there is a Hell or life of future punishment for all the impenitent 4. To Love ourselves with a just and necessary Love as such 5. To take greatest care to save our souls above our bodies 6. To tame and mortifie all our fleshly lusts in order to our own Salvation 7. To deny all bodily pleasure profit honour liberty and life for the securing of our salvation 8. To forbear all outward acts of Gluttony Drunkenness Sloth c. as they tend to our own damnation 9. To rejoice in persecution because of our great reward in Heaven 10. To pray constantly and servently for Heaven as the means of our obtaining it Let none say that many of these same things are commanded in order to God and our neighbour For I grant that the same material acts be so as they are expressions of Love to God and Man But to do them in Love to our selves and for our own Salvation is another principle and end not contrary to but necessarily conjunct with the former two And indeed all the duties of self-love as such are past by as supposed in Moses Decalogue because they are deeply written in mans Nature and because the Law was Written as Political for another use Obj. But these are all supposed in the first Command of Loving God and in the second Table Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self Answ. 1. These last are not the words of the Decalogue but a part of the summary of all the Law 2. Both Tables indeed suppose the Love of our selves but that which is supposed is not a part of them Obj. But it is the Socinians that say the Old Testament speaketh of no reward or punishment but in this life Answ. True But Camero de tripl faed and others that rightly understand the matter affirm that 1. The Law of Nature containeth future rewards and punishments in another life 2. And so doth the Covenant of Grace made with Adam and all mankind in him and renewed to Noah Abraham and the Israelites which by Paul is called The Promise as distinct from the Law 3. But the Law of Moses in its own proper Nature as such was only Political and spake but of Temporal Rewards and Punishments 4. Though yet all the faithful were bound to take the Law and Promise together and so to have respect both to Temporal and Eternal things For the Law it self connoted and supposed things Eternal as our great concernment III. There is more of the Law of Nature in other parts of Moses Law conjunct with the Decalogue than is in the Decalogue alone I will stay no longer in the proof of this than to cite the places as you do Exod. 23. 13 32. 22. 18 20. Lev. 20. 1 4 6. Deut. 13. 17. Exod. 23. 24. Deut. 12. 23. Lev. 24. 23. 3. Exod. 12. 16. Deut. 23. 18. Exod. 22. 28. 23. 20. 21. 15 17. Lev. 19. 32. Deut. 21. 1. 16. 6. 11. Exod. 21. 12 13 18 20 22 c. 22. 2 3. Lev. 13. 14. 17. Deut. 21. Exod. 22. 19. Lev. 18. 19. 29. 20. Deut. 22. Exod. 21. 16 21 32 35. 22. 1. 4. to 17. Lev. 19. 30 35. Deut. 24. 29. 14. 21. 25. Exod. 23. 1. to 9. Deut. 23. 24. Lev. 19. 11 15. Exod. 22. 21 22. 25. 26. 23. 4. Lev. 19. 14 16 18 c. By all this I shew you why 1. I allow not of your making the word Law in the New Testament to signifie the Decalogue only or taking them for equipollent terms 2. Why I take not the Decalogue and the Law of Nature for equipollent termes or their matter to be of the same extent And consequently why I take it for no proof that all things in the Decalogue are perpetual because all things in the Law of Nature are so CHAP. V. Whether the truest Antiquity be for the seventh day Sabbath as kept by the Churches of Christ IT is here further objected that the seventh day Sabbath hath the truest testimonies of Antiquity that it is controvertible when and how the Lords day came in but the Antiquity of the seventh day Sabbath is past Controversie that the Eastern Christians long observed it and Antichrist in the West did turn it into a Fast that the Empire of Abassia keepeth it to this day Answ. There is enough said of this before were it not that some Objectors causlesly look for more I answer therefore 1. That it is true that the Sabbath is more ancient than the Lords day And so is Moses more ancient than Christ Incarnate and his Law than the Gospel as delivered by Christ and his Apostles and Circumcision than Baptism and the Passover than the Lords Supper And so every mans Conception Nativity Infancie and Ignorance was before his Maturity and Knowledge And what can you gather from all this Thus the Papists say that their way of Religion was in England before ours and that the reliques of it in our Monuments Orate pro animabus c. is their standing witness which we cannot totally deface And its true if by our way they mean the Reformation of theirs as such For the Cure is ever after the disease Though its false if they speak of our Religion it self which was here before their errours as Health is before sickness But they should consider that by this prerogative the Heathens excell us both And that they may say you have yet many Monuments of our more ancient Religion which you have not been able to obliterate You still call your Week dayes by our ancient names Sunday Munday c. Your adoration towards the East was fetcht from us and so were abundance of your Customes Which we hope may recover the reputation of our Religion 2. I have shewed you already how and why the Eastern Christians kept the Sabbath 1. They kept it not as a Sabbath but only met on that day as they did on the fourth and the sixth dayes Wednesdayes and Fridayes as it is used in England to this
that he shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you John 17. 8. I have given to them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them V. 17 18. 〈◊〉 then through thy truth thy word is truth As thou hast sent me into the world so have I also sent them into the world And for their sakes I 〈◊〉 my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth Matth. 28. 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you alwayes to the end of the world Acts 1. 4. And being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which ye have heard of me For John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many dayes hence V. 8. But ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses uitto me both in Jerusalem and to all Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth By these Texts it is most evident that Christ promiseth the Apostles an extraordinary Spirit or measure of the Spirit so to enable them to deliver his Commands and execute their Commission as that he will own what they do by the guidance thereof and the Churches may rest upon it as the Infallible revelation of the Will of God CHAP. IV. Prop. 3. Christ performed all these promises to his Apostles and gave them his Spirit to enable them for all their commissioned work This is proved both from the fidelity of Christ and from the express assertions of the Scripture He is faithful that hath promised Heb. 10. 23. Titus 1. 2. God that cannot lye hath promised 2 Cor. 1. 18. As God is true Rev. 6. 10. H w long O Lord Holy and True Rev. 19. 11. He was called faithful and true Rom. 3. 4. Let God be true and every man a lyar 1 John 5. 10 He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar John 20. 22. He breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Acts 2. Containeth the Narrative of the comeing down of the Holy Ghost upon them at large Acts 15. 28. seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Heb. 2. 4. God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers mighty works and distributions of the Holy Ghost according to his own will 1 Pet. 1. 12. The things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven Rom. 15. 19 20. Through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ. Read all the Texts in Acts and elsewhere that speak of all the Apostles Miracles and their giving of the Holy Ghost c. And 1 Cor. 7. 40. Acts 4. 8 31. Acts 5. 3. 6. 3. 7. 51 55. 8. 15 17 18 19. 9. 17. 10. 44 45 47. 11. 15 16 24. 13. 2 4 9 52. 16. 6. Rom. 5. 5. 9. 1. 1 Cor. 2. 13. 2 Tim. 1. 14. 1 Cor. 12. Eph. 4. 7 8 c. 3. 5. But this Proposition is confessed by all Christians CHAP. V. Prop. 4. The Apostles did actually separate and appoint the first day of the Week for holy Worship especially in Church-Assemblies Here the Reader must remember that it is 〈◊〉 matter of fact that is to be proved in the proof of this Proposition and that all till this is clearly and undenyably proved so that the whole Controversie resteth upon the proof of the fact That indeed The Apostles did separate 〈◊〉 set apart this day for ordinary publick Worship And in order to the fuller proof of this I have these 〈◊〉 Propositions to prove Prop. 1. Matter of past fact is to be known to us by History Written Verbal or Practical This is evident in the nature of the thing History is the Narration of facts that are past We speak not of the fact of meer natural agents but of Moral or humane facts It may be known without History what Eclipses there have been of the Sun what changes of the Moon c. But not what in particular Morals have been done by man The necessity of other distinct wayes of knowledge are easily disproved 1. It need not be known by Divine supernatural Revelation Otherwise no men could know what is past but Prophets or inspired persons nor Prophets but in few things For it cannot be proved that God ever revealed to Prophets or inspired persons the general knowledge of things past but only some particulars of special use as the Creation to Moses c. so that if Revelation by Inspiration Voice or Visions were necessary Scripture it self could be understood by none but inspired persons or that had such revelation 2. It is not known by Natural Causes and by arguing from the Natural Cause to the Effects It is no more possible to know all things past this way by knowing the Causes than all things future Therefore it must be ordinarily known by Humane report which we call History or Tradition Prop. 2. Scripture History is not the only certain History much less the only credible Without Scripture History we may be certain that there was in 1666. a great Fire in London and a great plague in 1665. and that there were Wars in England 1642 1643 c. and that there have been Parliaments in England which have made the Statutes now in force and that there have been such Kings of England for many Ages as our Records and Histories mention c. Prop. 3. Scripture History is not the only certain History of the things of the Ages in which it was written or of former Ages much less the only credible History of them We may know by other History certainly that there were such persons as Cyrus Alexander c. That the Macedonians had a large extended Empire that the Romans after by many Victories obtained a spacious Empire that there were such persons as Julius Caesar Augustus Tiberius Nero Cicero Virgil Horace Ovid c. Prop. 4. Scripture History is not the only means appointed by God to help us to the knowledge of Ecclesiastical matters of fact transacted in Scripture times 1. For if Humane History be certain or credible in other cases it is certain or credible in these There being no reason why these things or much of them should not be as capable of a certain delivery to us by humane History as other matters As that there were Christians in those times may be known by what Tacitus Suetonius c. say And the antient Writers oft appeal in many cases to the Heathens own History And no man pretendeth as to the Civil matters mentioned in the Scriptures that no other History of the same is credible or