Sign that God sanctified and set them apart to be a peculiar People to himself and as a Sign also of that Obligation they were laid under to keep it as I have proved But God entered into no such Covenant with any other People or Nation under Heaven therefore the Law of the Decalogue could not concern any besides the House of Israel only Were the Heathen Gentiles or Believing Gentiles under that ministration of the Legal Covenant given by Moses to Israel No until Christ came no other People were in covenant with God at all 2. Because 't is expresly said that the Sabbath Exod. 20. was given to the Jews and Proselyte Stranger To thee and thy Man-servant and Maid-servant and Stranger that is within thy Gate Not any Gentiles or Strangers without the Pale of the Jewish Church but only them who were within their Gate So that God doth implicitly declare he injoyns none else to observe it 3. The Law of the Decalogue could not be given to all or any other People because God did not give any Command to Moses or to any of his Servants to promulge declare or make known that Law or the Sabbath to any other People in the World but the Jews only No Law can bind without Promulgation the Gospel is of a large extent as appears by the Commission Mat. 28. 18 19 20. Go into all the World c. Go teach all Nations c. Thus our Lord hath appointed the Promulgation of the Gospel but not a word of any such Commission for the Promulgation of the Law of Moses given Exod. 20. 4. Because Moses was never made or appointed a Lawgiver to any other People but Israel only Moses no Law-giver but to the Jews He was a Ruler over none but the Jews and the Decalogue was but part of the Jewish Law as written in Tables of Stone Others may say Who made thee a Ruler over us or a Legislator or deputed Officer from God to us 4. The Decalogue and consequently the Sabbath could not be given to any other People because it referr'd to a People in a Church-state having many other Laws Statutes and Judgments annexed unto it the punishment for the breach of each Precept thereof being death he that broke the Sabbath must die Now certainly if that Law had been given to other Nations or People God would have put them also into such a Church-state as the Israelites were and have given them like Statutes Judgments and Officers to execute those Judgments but this he did not do 5. Besides as one observes there were Ceremonies belonging to the Sabbath that were essential to the right keeping of it which were not enjoined on the Gentiles except Proselytes That Law given to all People must have the same Services Rites and Ceremonies essentially annexed to it given to them also but those Services Rites and Ceremonies were given to none but the Jews Otherwise as he observes there would be two sorts of Worship acceptable to God and then it would follow also that God was more severe to Israel than to others by imposing more hard and costly Services on them than on the Gentiles 6. Take here what Mr. Bunyan hath said Good Nehemiah threatned the Gentiles that were Merchants for lying then about the Walls of the City for that by that means they were a Temptation to the Jews to break their Sabbath yet he still charges the breach thereof upon his own People Nehem. 13. 16 17 c. Can it be imagined had the Gentiles been concerned by a Divine Law to keep this Sabbath that so holy and good a Man as Nehemiah would let them escape without a rebuke for so notorious a Transgression Moreover in the Prophet Ezekiel ch 20. 10 11 12. 't is said I gave my Sabbaths to be a Sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctified them Before I close with this take what two or three learned Writers have declared in confirmation of what I say Heyl. on the Sabb. p. 65 66. A Law which in it self was general and universal equally pertains to Jews and Gentiles the latter which knew not the Law doing by nature the things contained in the Law as St. Paul has told us but this Law published on Mount Sinai and as delivered by the hand of Moses obliged those of the house of Israel only Take what another saith As neither the Judicial Zanchius de redempt l. 1. c. 11. Tom. 1. nor Ceremonial so nor the Moral Law contained in the Decalogue doth concern us Christians as given by Moses to the Jews but only so far forth as it is consonant to the Law of Nature which bind all alike and was afterwards ratified by Christ our King The Reason he asserts this was to prove the Gentiles were never obliged to observe their Sabbath Let me add what Mr. Baxter hath wrote Baxter on the Sabb. p. 74. He saith That the Fourth Commandment of Moses bindeth us not to the Seventh-day Sabbath because that Moses's Law never bound any but the Jews and those Proselytes that made themselves Inhabitants of their Land or voluntarily subjected themselves to their Policy For Moses was Ruler of none but the Jews nor a Legislator or deputed Officer from God to any other Nation The Decalogue was but part of the Jewish Law if you consider it not as written in Nature but in Tables of Stone and the Jewish Law was given as a Law to no other People but to them It was a national Law as they were a peculiar People and holy Nation so that even in Moses's days it bound no other Nations of the World therefore it needed no abrogation to the Gentiles but a declaration that it did not bind them 7. To close with what we find in the Old Testament about this 'T is worthy our noting that God told the Israelites that those Seven Nations of Canaan whom they should drive out This is a full Answ to Mr. Soarsby who has filled many Pages of his Book to prove the Decalogue Law was given to all the World were defiled with all those Sins and Abominations that he commanded them to abstain from i. e. they had violated all natural or simple moral Precepts But God never charged them with the Sin of breaking the Jews Sabbath So that from thence I infer the Decalogue was not given to them and so not the Sabbath Secondly I shall prove out of the New Testament that the Law of Moses i. e. the Decalogue was given to none but the Jews or People of Israel 1. See Rom. 9. To whom pertaineth the giving forth of the Law c. speaking of the Israelites to whom that is by way of contradistinction to any other People or to them and none else 2. Upon this very account Paul shews that the Jews had the advantage of all other People Rom. 3. 1. What advantage then hath the Jew c. Much every way
bringing a better hope did And 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 Testament dedicated without Blood For when Moses had spoken every Precept to all the People according to the Law c. Here the Law before said to be changed is said to contain every Precept And Ephes 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 thereof Object This is the Doctrine of the Antinomians that the Law is abrogated even the Moral Law Answ It is the Doctrin of the true Antinomians that we are under no Divine Law neither of Nature nor of Christ But it is the Doctrin of Paul and all Christians that the Jewish Mosaical Law is abolished Object But do not all Divines say that the Moral Law is of perpetual Obligation Answ Yes because it is God's Law of Nature and the Law of Christ Object 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 signifying a Law de moribus as all Laws are whatsoever but in a narrower sense as signifying that which by nature is of universal and perpetual Obligation So that they mean not that it is perpetual as it is Moses's Law and written in Stone formally but as it is that which is natural And they mean that materially the Decalogue containeth the same Law which is the Law of Nature and therefore it is materially in force still But they except still certain Points and Circumstances in it as the prefatory Reason I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the Land of Egypt and especially this of the Seventh-day Sabbath Quest How far then are we bound to keep the Law Answ 1. As it is the Law of Nature 2. As it is own'd by Christ and made part of his Law And therefore no more of it bindeth directly than we can prove to be either the Law of Nature or the Law of Christ Thus Mr. B. Object But Christ saith he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them and that not one jot or tittle of the Law shall pass away till all be fulfilled Answ The whole Moral Law Christ hath fulfilled in our Nature for us and in our stead in his Life And by his Death he hath antitypically fulfilled all the Prophecies concerning himself in reference to such things and hath abolished the Ceremonial Law also for till then not a tittle of that could pass away Is a fulfilling the Law a destroying it Besides all simple moral Precepts of the Law as in Christ's hand stand firm for ever therefore he came not to destroy the Law yet is he the end of it for Righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10. 4. tho as a Rule of Life in his hands it obligeth them perpetually Moreover Ch. 5. 20. Brethren 't is said the Law enter'd Chap. 7. 9. that the Offence might abound c. and the Commandment came c. Now this entering of the Law and coming of the Commandment The use of the Law at in Christ's hand chiefly refers to the Law as it is in Christ's hand set home with Power by the Spirit upon the Conscience The bare entrance of the Law on Mount Sinai as in Moses's hand was with Thundering and Lightning but without Rain I mean without Contrition or Brokenness of heart Men may read Moses's Law and hear it preach'd every day nay write it on the Walls of their Houses and carry it in their Bosoms but yet it may have no operations on their Hearts no 't is the Ministration of the Law in Christ's hand by his Spirit that wounds the Conscience pierces and melts the hard Heart that God's Law may be written there The Ministration of the Law in Christ's hand answers the chief design of God in giving it forth and renders the Minstration of it by Moses of little or no use for as in his hand it is done away but the Law by the Spirit greatens Sin or makes Sin abound and Grace superabound Sin thus by the Law becomes exceeding sinful and it doth not only wound but slay the Soul Sin taking occasion by the Commandment Rom. 7. 11 12. deceived me and by it slew me Wherefore the Law is holy c. O blessed be God for the Law as it is in Christ's hand Thus Sin reviv'd 〈◊〉 I dy'd saith Paul I dy'd as to any hope of Justification or eternal Life by the Law The Jews who had the Law only as in Moses's hand were puff'd up or fill'd with Pride they as Paul before Conversion or the coming of the Commandment in and by the Spirit as in Christ's hand were alive so he thought himself alive in a justified state but when the Commandment came it was then quite otherwise with him So that Christ came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it and also to make it of great use to all that receive the Spirit of Christ which Spirit is a Spirit of burning before it is a Spirit of Consolation or a Spirit of Boâ—dage before it is the Spirit of Adoption and so a Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ Gal. 3. 24. Thus we do not make void the Law through Faith but establish it God in Christ hath magnified the Law and made it honourable and that three ways 1. In sending his own Son in our Nature to keep it perfectly and to die for our breach thereof Christ was made under the Law to this very end O how doth it magnify the Law to see Godman thus conform to it and die to bear the Penalty thereof for us 2. He magnifieth the Law in putting it into the hands of his own Son as Mediator to give it forth Doth not the Dignity and Glory of the Lawgiver add to the Glory of the Law given Is not Christ a more glorious Person than Moses See Heb. 1. 8 9 10. 2. 2 3. This Man was accounted worthy of more Glory than Moses Heb. 3. 3. But alas some would have Moses partake of some part of Christ's Glory he must be their Lawgiver 3. By making of it as in Christ's hand of far greater use to Believers as I have shewed than ever it was in the hands of Moses and so to answer God's Design in it Let me only add that all Moses's Law even the Decalogue was political as one observes God's Law was for the particular political Government of the Jewish Nation as a typical Church and political Body and therefore when their Kingdom or Policy ceased the Law as Political and their figurative Sabbath could not
still and had its Patrons and Abettors Ebion and Cerinthus two of the wretchedest Hereticks of the Primitive Times And after them Apollinarius is said to countenance and defend it which doubtless made the Antient Fathers declare themselves fully in it as a dangerous Point it seemed to confirm the Jews in their Incredulity and might occasion others to make question of our Saviour's coming in the Flesh Hence Irenaeus Justin Martyr Tertullian and Eusebius Men of Note in the Primitive Times affirm that never any of the Patriarchs before Moses's Law observed the Sabbath which question less they must have done had that Law been moral and dictated by the Light of Nature He cites also Epiphanius and Theodoret on Ezech. 20. Procopius on Gen. 2. Damascen and our venerable Bede concurring with the former Fathers All talk saith he that the Observation of the Jewish Sabbath vanished utterly c I might mention other Authors to the same purpose But to proceed my Brethren because one of my Arguments against the precise Seventh-day Sabbath will be to prove it a Sign or Shadow of that Rest Believers enter into when they first close with Christ I shall say no more now by way of Explanation of my Text but proceed to those Points of Doctrine that arise herefrom Doct. 1. That it is not the Duty of believing Gentiles under the Dispensation of the Gospel The Doctrines raised to keep the Seventh Day as a Sabbath to the Lord. Doct. 2. That it is a dangerous thing for any to plead for and keep the seventh day so i◠to lay the same stress on the observation thereof as on a purely natural or simply mora◠Precept These two Propositions I purpose God assisting to prosecute and confirm in this method First I shall lay down several Explanatory Propositions Secondly Give many Arguments to prove th◠truth of the first Proposition Thirdly I shall taking in the second Proposition endeavour to prove that the observing the seventh day Sabbath so as to lay the same stre◠on it as on a natural and simply moral Precept ◠a dangerous thing Fourthly I shall prove that all Believers 〈◊〉 oblig'd to observe the first day of the week free from secular business in religious Worship as the time in season only under the Gospel-dispensation Fifthly I shall endeavour to answer all the main Objections brought by our Opponents against the Observation of the first day of the week To begin First Proposition premised Let it be considered that the Apostles perceiving the weakness of the Jews who believ'd in Christ to take them off gradually from Jewish Observation of days and other legal Rites and Ordinances did admit of the Practice of some of them for a time till they were better instructed in the Truth as it is in Jesus the nature of the new Creation and the change of the whole Law viz. the utter abolishing of all things Ceremonial or that were Signs and Shadows of things to come and the removing the ministration of all Moral Precepts from Moses as Lawgiver into the hand of Christ as Mediator in which capacity he had all Power delegated to him in Heaven and Earth as our only Lord and Lawgiver Mat. 28. 18 19 20. Thou seest Brother how many thousands of the Jews there are which believe and they are all zealous of the Law Acts 21. 20. Hence Paul complied with them to purify himself and to shave his Head v. 24. and on the like account in compliance with their weakness he circumcised Timothy I might from hence by the way note that had we such a Passage that Paul kept one Jewish Sabbath as we have here of his circumcising Timothy I suppose our Brethren would make no small advantage of it that it is our Duty from thence to keep it but that might have been on the same account and no better ground than it would be for us to plead for Circumcision and be circumcised as Tillam Skip and Cooly were as I am informed who called themselves the Ministers of the Circumcision But to proceed Upon the same reason perhaps the Jewish Rites Days and typical or shadowy Ordinances might and were called by their former and antient names as well as for distinction sake for tho those legal Ordinances were dead yet as our Annotators observe they were not then deadly if look'd upon as indifferent things however God was pleased they being his own appointments to vouchsafe them a gradual and decent funeral Second Proposition But nevertheless after they had been better instructed into the truth of the Gospel and the change or end of the Law they were more plainly dealt with I mean he more fully and clearly informed them and shewed them the great danger if they observed those legal Rites Days and Ordinances especially when he saw they laid such stress upon them as to make them necessary to eternal Life as a Rule of Obedience Hence the Apostle says I Paul testify unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Gal. 5. 1. And why if circumcised because it was a shadow and the keeping up the shadow was a virtual denying that the Substance was come and besides they were thereby bound to keep the whole Law Such was the natural tendency of observing one Legal Rite or Precept as given by Moses it being in that Ministration a Covenant of Works and he that kept one was obliged to keep all and he that broke one was guilty of all 1. And if so why might not Paul have told them the same thing and danger if they kept the legal Sabbath which led them according to the Tenor of it and in the strictest observance to perfect Obedience which is implyed in those words Thou shalt not think thy own thoughts nor speak thy own words 2. Or provided they made it necessary in order to a holy Life in point of Obedience as a pure moral Precept even of the same nature with the first Commandment viz. Thou shalt have no other Gods but me or the second Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image c. or the third or fifth or any of the rest I speak not of what is simply moral in the fourth Commandment but of that precise seventh day I say may not their danger be as great if thus they look'd upon those Jewish Sabbaths as if circumcised because then if they kept them not it necessarily must follow it would exclude them the Kingdom of Heaven as all other immoral Acts or actual breach of pure moral Precepts would do 3. Because Paul tells them that those Sabbaths were a Shadow or Sign so far as Circumcision was as I have and shall further make appear and so hereby unwarily they would deny that Christ was come to give us Rest and we do not yet cease working for Life in order to enter into Rest which was held forth as the Tenor of that Ministration of the Moral Law by Moses and particularly in their
Sabbath Third Proposit Let it be consider'd that the substance of the whole Moral Law or ten Commandments I mean materially not formally was written in the Heart of Adam in Innocency and as written there it contained the Covenant of Works And so long as he kept that Law perfectly he stood justified and all Mankind in him and also that he had but one positive Precept given him to try his Obedience according to the Tenor of this Covenant and Law of his Creation is very evident viz. Thou shalt not eat of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil Adam broke all the Commandments c. which positive Command he broke and in breaking it broke all the ten Commandments as to the matter or substance of them and consequently the fourth as to what was simply moral therein Dr. Lightfoot 's Miscel p. 282 283. Thus Dr. Lightfoot Adam saith he heard as much in the Garden as Israel did at Sinai but in fewer words and without Thunder At one clap he broke all the Ten Commandments I. He chose himself another God when he follow'd the Devil II. He idoliz'd and defil'd his own Belly making it as the Apostle phrases it his God III. He took God's Name in vain when he believ'd him not IV. He kept not the Rest and State wherein God had set him V. He dishonour'd his Father which was in Heaven and therefore his days were not prolong'd on Earth VI. He murder'd himself and all his Posterity VII From Eve he was a Virgin but in his Eyes and Mind he committed spiritual Adultery VIII He stole like Achan that which God set aside not to be meddled with c. IX He bare witness against God when he believ'd the witness of the Devil before him X. He coveted an evil Covetousness like Ammon which cost him his Life and all his Progeny Fourth Proposit That tho a time of Rest and a sufficient time to worship God be moral yet the particular precise day or time must be by Revelation i. e. by some positive Precept or Example made known to Mankind it being in God not in Man not in Nature not in Grace And God hath reserved to himself a Power to require or to alter both the time place and modes of his Worship as seems good in his sight tho the second and fourth Commandments be moral and of the same nature with the rest Moreover God if he please may make a positive Precept perpetual and alike obligatory as simple moral Precepts are tho they differ in respect of their own nature Fifth Proposit All natural and pure moral Precepts do as I conceive oblige all Mankind and are unchangeable in their nature as to the matter of them and differ greatly from Laws or Precepts merely positive Pure or simple moral Precepts are good good in themselves and therefore commanded but Precepts merely positive and arbitrary are commanded of God and therefore good and that Goodness that is in simple moral Precepts I do not conceive See Mr. Shepherd on the Sabbath p. 10 11 12 13 14. as Mr. Shepherd hints if I mistake him not refers to Man i. e. sutable to his good chiefly but in reference to God from the rectitude of whose holy Nature they proceed Moreover 't is acknowledg'd also that all Precepts naturally and simply moral are written in the Hearts of all Men tho much blur'd by Sin for otherwise the Gentiles had not the Law written in their Hearts but a part as to the matter of the Law Rom. 2. 14 15. Simple moral Precepts are known by the Light of Nature as to the matter â—or substance of them Precepts naturally moral may be known without Revelation or the knowledg of the Scripture What Precepts are moral tho I know some learned Men seem to differ from others here particularly Mr. Cawdrey and Mr. Palmer who affirm that some Precepts may be moral by a positive Command See Mr. Cawdrey Sabbath Rediv p. 2 3. and these others call moral-Positives which I understand not yet I deny not as I said before but that God may make a positive Command perpetually obligatory But more to this word moral when I come to speak of the fourth Commandment in Exod. 20. Now mere positive Precepts cannot be known unless God by his Word or in some supernatural way discovers them to his Creatures and such was Circumcision the precise seventh-day Sabbath the Passover and divers other things under the Law And such is the first day of the week under the Gospel as a day of Rest and of the solemn Worship of God as also Baptism the Lord's-Supper c. Sixth Proposit That the whole Moral Law is chang'd from Moses to Jesus Christ not only chang'd as a Covenant of Works but as a Rule of Life for tho the Moral Law as to the matter or substance of it perpetually remains as a Rule of Righteousness yet not as given in the hand of Moses Exod. 20. but as in the hand of Christ consider'd as Mediator who is our sole Lord and Lawgiver Mat. 28. 18 19. and that we are to receive the Law from his mouth who is our antitypical High-Priest And behold a Voice from the Cloud which said This is my beloved Son hear him hear him exclusively of Moses The Disciples would have had three Tabernacles one for Moses one for Elias and another for Christ i. e. they would have Moses to teach them or be under his Ministration but in this Transfiguration wherein was a clear Representation of the Gospel Church-state signified by the Kingdom of God in a Figure they saw there was none to be heard as a Law-giver but Christ alone And when they lifted up their Eyes they saw no Man save Jesus only ver 8. Certainly their Eyes are not open'd throughly who go to Mount Sinai to know what their Duty is in respect of any part of Gospel-Worship or day of Worship Compare this place of Scripture with Acts 3. 22 23. For Moses truly said to the Fathers A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you So Heb. 1. 1 2 3. And again it is said Joh. 8. 35. that the Servant abideth not in the House for ever Moses was a Servant and he had his day and he is gone but the Son abideth for ever Seventh Proposit That as old things are done away and all things become new so is the old Seventh-day Sabbath And it behoves us to call the Gospel-day of Worship or that Day appointed by Christ in the New Testament by that Name or Names given therein to it viz. the first day and the Lord's-day and day of Rest or Sabbath as Dr. Owen aptly enough calls it on Heb. 4. 11. Therefore tho the day of Rest under the Gospel is not call'd a Sabbath yet I shall blame none that so call it since Sabbath signifies Rest
Command concerninâ— it * He alludes to Adam in Paradise where we can find no express positive Command and if it be not seated morally in thâ— fourth Commandment it is now certain thâ— the necessary observance of it is taken away 10. On the other extream whether thâ— seventh day from the Creation of the Worldâ—â— be to be observ'd precisely under the New Tâ—â—stament by virtue of the fourth Commanâ—â—ment and no other The assertion hereâ—â— supposeth that our Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 Lord of the Sabbath hath neither chang'd 〈◊〉 nor reform'd any thing in and about the reâ—ligious observation of an holy day of Rest unto the Lord whence it follows that such an Observation can be no part or act of Evangelical Worship properly so call'd but only a moral Duty of the Law †Let our Jewish Sabbatarians consider well what the Doctor positively asserts here 11. Whether on the supposition of a non-obligation in the Law unto the observation of the seventh day precisely and of a new day to be observ'd weekly under the New Testament as a Sabbath of the Lord on what grounds it is to be observ'd 12. Whether from the fourth Commandment as one Day in seven or only unto some part or portion of Time or whether without any respect unto that Command as purely Ceremonial For granting as most do the necessity of the observation of such a Day yet some say that it has no respect at all to the fourth decalogical Precept which is totally and absolutely abolished with the rest of the Mosaical Institutions Others say that there is yet remaining in it an Obligation to the Sacred Separation of some Time or portion of Time unto the solemn Service of God and some say that it precisely requires the sanctification of one Day in seven 13. If a Day be so now to be observed it is enquired on what Ground or on what Authority there is an alteration made from the Day observed under the Old Testament to that now in use that is from the last Day to the first Day of the Week whether was this Translation of the Day of the solemn Worship of God made by Christ and his Apostles or by the Primitive Church c. 14. If this were done by the Authority of Christ and his Apostles whether by an express Institution of this new Day or whether a direct Example be sufficient no Institution being needful for the First Day for if we suppose there is no Obligation to the observance of one Day in seven indispensibly abiding and on the supposition that an Obligation to keep one Day in seven doth abide then no Institution is necessary or can be properly made as to the whole nature of it * No express Institution is needful for the observance of the first Day but Examples only if the 7th part of Time or one day in seven do abide in the 4th Command Thus far the Doctor who says many other things necessary to be considered about the observation of a Day of Worship whether as to the Work of the Day it ought to be kept with the like strictness as the Jewish Sabbath in all respects and what Duties are to be performed on it as also as to the proper Limits of that Day some pleading it ought to be from Evening to Evening as the Jews kept it or from Morning to Evening that is from after twelve a Clock in the Morning to twelve the next Evening c. From what the Doctor notes it appears that the Case in controversy calls for much study and diligence and it may be accounted an Act of great weakness in any Persons to observe the Seventh Day to the disturbance of the Church without enquiring of such as God has enlightned in these things and to whom the care of their Souls are committed to see what can be said against it Is it wisdom to advise with those only that are for it and not with such also as are directly against it This shall suffice for the Propositions I first proposed I shall endeavour to clear most of those things that seem difficult which may have been the occasion of some Persons if not all going astray and falling into the Error I purpose clearly and largely to detect This brings me to the next general Head of Discourse proposed Secondly I told you I should lay down diveâ—â— Arguments to prove the Truth of our Proposition That it is not the Duty of Gentile Believers to keep the Seventh Day as a Sabbath iâ— Gospel-times First The General Proposition I shall lay down one General Proposition to discover the Method I shall pursue foâ— proving what I have taken in hand 1. If the Law of God written in Adam's heart in Innocency did not oblige him to keep the Seventh Day as a Sabbath that Law cannot oblige Gentile Believers to keep it 2. If a positive Law or express Institution supposed to be given to Adam before or just after his Fall doth not oblige Gentile Believers to keep it 3. If the Law written in the Hearts of the Gentiles or the most refined and enlightned among them doth not oblige Gentile Believers to keep it 4. If the Law of Moses or the Law written in the two Tables of Stone doth not oblige Gentile Believers to keep it 5. If the Gospel by any Precept or Example doth not oblige them to keep the Seventh Day as a Sabbath 6. And lastly If the Law written in the Hearts of all Gospel-Believers by the Holy Spirit doth oblige them to keep the Seventh Day as a Sabbath to the Lord Then I infer it is not their Duty to keep the Seventh-Day c. for I know no other way or means whereby Gentile Believers can pretend to know they are obliged to keep the Seventh-Day as a Sabbath or a Day of Rest and solemn Worship But by none of these ways or means believing Gentiles are obliged to keep the Seventh-Day as a Sabbath c. therefore it is not the Duty of Gentile Believers to keep it To proceed 1. Let it be considered that if the keeping of the Seventh-Day as a Sabbath i. e. that precise Day from the Creation of the World were a purely natural or simply moral Precept no doubt but it was legibly written in Adam's Heart I mean as a Law of Creation and so part of the holy Image of God or of the same nature with all other moral Precepts that result from the Perfections of God's holy Nature and not from the Soveraignty of his Will only And if it was so written in Adam's Heart in Innocency he needed no positive Law to make it known to him What was any thing that was purely or simply moral even that which belonged to good Manners or to true natural Godliness or Righteousness not made known to Adam to perfect Adam this certainly cannot be That spiritual Worship which is due to God Charnock on the Attributes p. 131. saith Mr. Charnock is known
it they knew noâ— what they should do with him and this was whilst they were in the Wilderness and they put him in ward for it was not yet declar'd what should be done unto him By which it appears saith he to be a new thing not yet adjusted for had it been a Law from the Creation it is scarce possible that all Men should have been ignorant whether any Punishment or not or what Punishment did belong to the Violation of a Law of such standing Object I know that Dr. Owen saith Dr. Owen on the Sab. p. 62. if the original of the Sabbath was here then the National Observation of it is introduced with a strange abruptness c. Answ To which I answer that it doth not so appear to me however let every Man read the words of Moses again and how he repeats the same over and over To morrow is the Sabbath c. To day is a Sabbath unto the Lord â—gain The Lord hath given you the Sabbath â—an any thing be brought in more solemnly â—ut I see how Men will try their Wits to deâ—â—nd their own Scriptureless Notion of a Sabbath given in Paradise as well as in pleading 〈◊〉 other groundless Practices Object But since you grant a Sabbath before 〈◊〉 Law on Mount Sinai or Ceremonial Laws â—ere given doth not this prove it is a moral Preâ—â—pt Answ No not at all because we find that sacrifices and offering the Firstlings of the â—locks Gen. 4. 7. 7. 2. 14. 20. 28. 2. and first Fruits of the Ground were offered to God from the beginning and therefore should we grant that the Seventh-day Sabbath had been practised from the beginning â—â—so yet that would no more prove it a moral â—nd perpetual Law than it proves the offering â—f the Firstlings of the Flocks and the First-â—ruits c. to be perpetual Laws or moral Duties the Sabbath being a sign and shadow as well as they were so We come now to the â—â—urth part of our first general Proposition Object The seventh-day Sabbath was given in the 20th Chapter of Exodus The grand Argument for the Jewish Sabbath consider'd and answer'd with all the other â—ine moral and perpetual Commandments wrote in two Tables of Stone by the finger of Jehovah himself and therefore it obliged believing Gentiles to keep it and all Mankind 1. To this I answer that if I can prove it is not the Duty of Gentile Believers nor any Believers in Christ in all the World to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath from hence I shall overthrow our Opponents strongest Fort and so utterly confute them which I doubt not by God's Assistance I shall fully do and in order hereto shall lay down three Propositions First The method proposed in answering this Argument I affirm the Morality of the fourth Commandment lies not in the observation of the precise seventh day from the Creation Secondly That the Law of the ten Commandments as formally given to Moses and written with the finger of God in two Tables of Stone and given to the whole House of Israel were not given to the Gentiles nor to any other People in the World save the Strangers that were within their Gates or were proselyted to the Jewish Religion Thirdly That the whole Law is changed and that what was Ceremonial or shadows 〈◊〉 things to come ceased at the death of Christ and all Precepts of the Moral Law or what 〈◊〉 simply moral as they were formally given by Moses are taken out of his hand and put into the hands of Christ consider'd as Mediator our Lord and only Lawgiver I shall now begin with the first of these Propositious First I shall give you the sense of the Learned about a pure moral Precept First The Term Moral being but a scholastical Expression and not properly signifying that which is usually understood by it Cawdry 's Christian Sabbath p. 1 2 3. say Mr. Cawdry and Mr. Palmer we have ever judg'd it a Bone of Contention Moral relating to a Law signifies in it self any Precept serving to regulate the Manners of Men. Dr. White saith White on the Sab. p. 26. A Divine Law call'd Moral is a just Rule or Measure imposed by God directing and obliging to Obedience of things holy honest and just The same is twofold simply moral or moral only by some external Constitution or Imposition of God Divine Law simply moral commands or prohibits Actions good or evil in respect of their inward nature and quality Dr. Owen saith Owen on the Sab. p. 118. Moral Laws are such as have the Reasons of them taken from the nature of the things themselves requir'd in them for they are good from their respect to the nature of God himself c. Laws Positive as they are occasionally given so they are esteem'd alterable at pleasure being fixed by mere Will and Prerogative without respect to any thing that should make them necessary antecedently to their being given they may by the same Authority at any time be taken away and abolished Mr. Shepherd saith Shepherd on the Sab. p. 6 7. A Law strictly and especially moral is that which concerns the Manners of all Men of which we now speak and may be thus describ'd viz. It is such a Law as is commanded because it is good and it is not therefore merely good because it is commanded And thus Austin saith he describ'd it long since Also Cameron and multitudes of other Writers and learned Men. But mere Divine positive Laws are commanded of God and therefore good Some say that is simply moral that is the Law of Nature or which naturally obligeth all Men and is distinguished from Laws Ceremonial and Judicial Thus one expresseth himself i. e. Primrose of the Sab. p. 4. This Law Moral all Men take to be the Law of Nature and reciprocally they take the Law of Nature for this Law for that which is naturally and universally just Mr. Cawdry and Palmer say Cawdry Sabbatum p. 3. It implys any Law of God exprest in Scripture whether it can be prov'd natural or not which from the time it was given to the end of the World binds all succeeding Generations of their Posterity to whom it was given and more especially it obliges the Church c. I think Mr. Baxter in this case has said excellently well Baxt. on the Sab. p. 77. Moral saith he signifieth that which by nature is universal and perpetually obligatory He answers this Question Do not Divines say the Decalogue written in Stone is the Moral Law and of perpetual Obligation Answ Yes for by moral they mean natural and so take moral not in a large sense as it signifies a Law de moribus as all Laws be whatsoever but in a narrower sense as signifying that which by nature is of universal and perpetual Obligation Now then that which I call a pure of simple Moral Law or Precept is that which is a Transcript
of God's holy Nature and therefore commanded whether written in the Heart of innocent Adam or in God's Word or Law and doth universally and perpetually oblige the whole World to conform thereunto Now having let you know what is to be understood by a simple Moral Law I shall shew that the Law of the precise Seventh-day Sabbath is not a Law of this nature i. e. a pure moral Precept universally and perpetually obligatory on all Men tho I deny not but there is that in the fourth Commandment which is moral in the sense I have given viz. 1. A time Three things contain'd in the fourth Commandment a sufficient time to be set apart from all worldly Business for Rest and the Worship of God and this is all I can find simply moral in the fourth Commandment 2. There is something more contained in it which God by a positive Command requir'd from the Soveraignty of his Will as that which he sees just and reasonable namely that one day in seven be set apart as a day of Rest and for his Service and that this should be perpetual to the end of the World I know Divines call this positively moral and tho I cannot see reason so to call it yet I grant as much I think as they mean thereby 3. God did also command the whole House of Israel under their Legal and Typical Church-â—tate to observe the seventh or last day of the week in remembrance of his finishing the Works of the first Creation And now that the precise seventh Day was a â—hadow or a sign I have and shall prove and 〈◊〉 was only a Law to the Israelites during that Typical Dispensation and their Political Church-â—tate which Christ nailed to his Cross and â—uried with all other Shadows and Legal Ceremonies But before I proceed I might give you the Observations of divers Expositors on the order and manner of the Expressions in the fourth Commandment As first the essential part Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy not the seventh day True in the next words God declar'd that the seventh Day should be the Jews Sabbath whom he took into a Legal and Typical Covenant and Church-state to be his own People The seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God not thy God in Christ upon the terms of the new Covenant no no but thy God in a legal and external Covenant And so their Sabbath was given to them upon the terms of the Law of Creation or the Covenant of Works which is a legal relative and external Covenant God enter'd into with the whole House of Israel or Nation of the Jews even them and all their natural Seed as such My Brethren upon this foot of account was the Seventh-day Sabbath founded not in Christ or on a new Covenant bottom nor given to New-Covenant Children as such but it waâ— bottom'd upon the Covenant of Works and only given to that People whom God brought out of the Land of Egypt and redeem'd from Egyptian Bondage And when he enters into that Covenant with them he positively says therefore he gave them his Sabbaths Deut. 5. 1. which was a shadow of a far greater Work than that 〈◊〉 Creation and of a greater Redemption thâ—â— that out of Egypt I heard lately of one 〈◊〉 said this was his chief reason of observing 〈◊〉 Seventh-day Sabbath because it was given 〈◊〉 God's Covenant-People c. not being able to discern between that legal and typical Covenant made with the whole Nation of Israel which took in their fleshly Seed as such anâ— the Covenant of Grace Moreover Expositors observe concerning the close of this Commandment ver 11. Wherefore God blessed the Sabbath-day and sanctified it that 't is not said the seventh day here but the Sabbath-day One day in seven and not the precise seventh Day from the Creation is by a positive Command in this place intimated to be God's Will and Pleasure to be observed to the end of the World But the precise Seventh-day Sabbath given to Israel I shall prove is not the moral part of the fourth Commandment but a shadow of what was to come and principally refers to Christ and to that spiritual Rest Believers enter into when they first close with him I know Divines call one Day in seven a moral positive as I just now told you by moral they 〈◊〉 as I conceive that which ought perpeâ—â—ally to be observed but that Day which God from the Soveraignty of his Will commanded the Jews was 't is plain the seventh and when Christ came who has given us the true Rest and rose from the dead he appointed as I shall hereafter prove the first Day of seven upon the account of his finishing his Work i. e. the work of Redemption as God commanded the Israeâ—â—tes to keep the seventh-day because on it he â—ested when he had finished his Work viz. â—hat of Creation Now then tho there is something naturally â—nd simply moral in the fourth Commandment â—nd tho God doth here intimate from his own â—rerogative or Arbitrary Will that he will â—ave one day in seven perpetually observed as a â—ay of Rest and sacred Worship yet that â—art of it that speaks of the seventh-day was â—erely positive and typical and so ceased with â—he Covenant of Works Indeed Dr. Owen has excellently shewed how his Commandment is of a mixt or compound â—ature partly simply moral partly positively â—oral and partly typical or Ceremonial the â—â—st he refers to the precise seventh day when he says P. 120 121. It was instituted for an outward present religious Observation to signify and represent something to come And such saith he were all the particulars of the whole System of the Mosaical Worship whereof the Law of the Sabbath was a part And in â—rief the whole Law of the Sabbath was as 〈◊〉 its general nature positive and arbitrary â—nd so changeable and particularly ceremoâ—ial and typical and so is actually changed and abolished Now to proceed The precise Seventh-day Sabbath cannot be a simple moral Precept and therefore in that lies not the Morality of the â—ourth Commandment In order to prove this â—et me lay down this Proposition viz. If the Law of the observation of the precise seventh Day hath not in it one Character of a Law that is simply moral then the Morality of the fourth Commandment doth not confist in the observation of that precise Day but that it has not one Characteâ— of such a Law I shall endeavour to prove First That the precise seventh Day is not the Morality of the fourth Commandment proved largely A simple moral Precept that I meâ— which is naturally moral obliging all Mankiâ—â— for ever as to the very matter of it or this it self as so considered abstracted from 〈◊〉 positive Command is naturally holy as â—â—sulting from the Nature of God But the seventh Day in which our Brethâ—â— place the essence or substance of the fourâ— Commandment or the
Morality of it is 〈◊〉 more holy naturally than any other day of 〈◊〉 week Object If they say but God sanctified thâ—â— Day 1. I answer they will not say that God added any inherent Holiness to that Day 2. But if they should say he did then 〈◊〉 would overthrow the Morality of it i. e. as 〈◊〉 this first property of a simple moral Precept for then it will follow it was made holy 〈◊〉 an Act of God's Arbitrary Will and Pleasure and that it was not so naturally as that Day was created or proceeded from the Holiness of God because as we have shew'd all puâ—â— moral Precepts as to the matter of them are not good merely because God commands them 〈◊〉 are in themselves good as resulting from the Holiness of his Nature For evident it is that every Day of the 〈◊〉 had one and the same efficient Cause namely Divine Creation and all days and things Goâ— made were very good and God's sanctifying the seventh Day was but his setting it apart foâ—â— some holy use Dr. Owen on the Sab. p. 82. the Day saith Dr. Owen was not capable of any inherent Holiness God then sanctified says he this Day not that he kept it holy himself which in no sense the Divine Nature is capable of nor that he purified it and made it inherently holy which the nature of the Day is not capable of nor that he celebrated that which in it self was holy mark that well but he set it apart to holy use So that from hence it follows if the Morality of the fourth Commandment lay in the precise seventh Day it wants the first Character of a simple moral Precept God might have set apart at first any other day if he had pleased as well as the seventh Secondly The seventh Day never known universally to be a Sabbath Every Precept or Law simply moral which obliges all Men to Obedience perpetually must be made known to all Men either by the Law of Nature or by Revelation from God himself in some supernatural way the Righteousness of God requires this because the Violation of simple moral Precepts is damnable 1. Now were there such a Law written in Mens Hearts I mean to keep the seventh Day some one Man or another would that way have known it But no Man hath ever so known it therefore no such Law is written in any Man's Heart and if not one Man that way ever knew it then not all Men universally besure 2. And as the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath is not revealed to all the World by the Lord this way so he never gave any Commission to Moses nor to any of his Prophets to promulgate it or reveal it to all Mankind therefore I argue it wants the second Character of a simple moral Precept Thirdly That Law which upon urgent necessity may be omitted or laid aside or be broken can be no Precept simply moral but the keeping of the Seventh-day Sabbath upon divers urgent necessities might be omitted or broken Josh 6. 15. the Jews themselves might war and go to battle on that day 1 King 20. 29. and our Saviour shews they might pull a Sheep or any other Beast out of a Pit or Ditch on the Sabbath-day Joh. 5. 10. nay our Lord wrought with his Hands and made Clay on that day did many Miracles and commanded the Man he healed to bear a Burden i. e. to carry his bed on that Day But Precepts simply moral in respect of the negative part oblige perpetually and by no means must be transgressed for as a Divine saith A Man must not tell a Lye to save the World Can any pretended necessity make it lawful to worship another God or prophane his Name or steal murder or commit Adultery I know what is said about the Israelites borrowing of the Egyptians and of God's commanding Abraham to slay his Son but those actions are to be accounted for as being extraordinary cases Obj. Works of Mercy may be done on the Sabbath-day and Christ speaks of Works of Mercy Answ Of what nature are works of Mercy I hope not of a higher concern than the discharge of a simple moral Precept And can one simple moral Precept have more Sanctity in it than another What violate the very letter of one moral Law to do that which is but implyed as the necessary consequence of another nay break a Command of the first Table to keep a Command of the second Table This is a hard case Fourthly That Law or Precept which is equalled to or compared with Sacrifices is no simple moral Precept but such is the Law or Precept of the Seventh-day Sabbath therefore 't is not a simple moral Precept That our Saviour himself doth equal it to or compare it with Sacrifices see Mat. 12. 3 4 5 6. 1. Our Lord justifies his Disciples in plucking the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath-day and compares their so doing to David's eating the Shew-bread vers 3. which was unlawful by a mere positive Law 2. He shews them how the Priests in the Temple prophaned the Sabbath and were blameless vers 5. Some think they slew Beasts on that Day however our Lord saith they prophaned the Sabbath c. But then says he If ye had known what that meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice ye would not have condemned the guiltless vers 7. What can he intend less than this viz. If ye had known the difference between a pure moral Precept and such a Precept as is nothing more than a Sign a Shadow like those of Sacrifices or a mere positive Law that I am Lord of and can take away and give another at my pleasure you would not have condemn'd the guiltless For tho all God's mere positive Precepts have great Sanctity in them and ought carefully to be kept yet when a simple moral Duty comes in competition with such as are but positive or ceremonial the lesser must give place to the greater as we commonly say Of two evils choose the least But if the precise Seventh-day Sabbath was a pure moral Precept equal with and of the same nature of that Precept of shewing Mercy there had been no ground for our Lord thus to have answered the Jews for if it had been so no doubt he would have said I must indeed blame my Disciples because they have broke one of God's righteous Precepts whose Nature and Quality is above that of David's eating of Shew-bread or Sacrifices But he who was the great Expounder of the Law knew best the vast difference between a moral Precept and such as their Sabbath and Sacrifices were Our late Annotators on this place express themselves to this purpose The meaning is that God preferreth Mercy before Sacrifices where two Laws in respect of some Circumstances seem to clash one with another so as we cannot obey both our Obedience is due to the more excellent Law Now saith our Saviour the Law of Mercy is the more
excellent Law God prefers it before Sacrifice which had you considered you would never have accused my Disciples who in this point are guiltless Why a more excellent Law Is it not because the one is a moral Law proceeding from God's Nature and the other but merely positive and Typical and so arbitrary And why do the Annotators apply that to Sacrifices Our Lord remotely refers to that but directly and immediatly to the Seventh-day Sabbath and mentions Sacrifices to show that the precise Seventh-day Sabbath was no moral Law but of the same nature with the Law of Sacrifices and that of the Shew-bread Besides our Saviour's bringing in on this occasion those words for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath clearly shews that he as Mediator had power to change dispose of or take away the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath for what a Person is Lord of he may do what he will with So that it may be lawful for any man to do any work on that Day when it ceas'd and was abolished as indeed it now is with all other Shadows and legal Ceremonies But none sure will say Christ as the Son of Man or as Mediator is Lord of any pure moral Precept so that he can give liberty to men to worship other Gods or to make graven Images and bow down to them or take God's holy Name in vain or commit Murder Adultery or steal c. No no it would be Blasphemy with a witness to say this such is the vast difference between Laws that result from the nature of God and mere positives shadowy and Ceremonial Precepts which were given for a time as an Act of God's Prerogative and good Pleasure and when the Antitype is come were to cease for ever Obj. But what say some If Christ brake the Seventh-day Sabbath he sinned thus a rash Person lately exprest himself Ans 1. Because our Lord came not to destroy the Law c. but to fulfil it and was obliged exactly to keep the whole moral Law of God that it might be imputed to us with his passive Obedience to justify us before God as his full and perfect Righteousness that therefore he was obliged to conform to all Typical and Ceremonial Laws of which he himself was the Antitype none I think ever asserted he had another way to fulfil all such Laws than by his actual Obedience to them And 2. Let it be considered in respect to the Typical Sabbath the Antitype being now come which was that Evangelical Spiritual Rest in and by Christ which all entered into that believed in him at that time for having given rest to all that came to him he had thereby in part fulfilled that figurative and typical Law and by his shewing such strange indifference about his observance thereof and his carriage towards it at every turn did clearly intimate that that Typical Sabbath was departing or in a dying condition tho not quite dead till he himself suffered and dyed on the cross and was afterwards gradually and decently buried it having as one observes an honourable Funeral when further light was given to God's People about it But no more at this time SERMON V. Six Arguments more to prove the Seventh-day Sabbath not moral That it was a Sign and Shadow to Israel of the Covenant of Works Gal. iv 10 11. Ye observe days and months c. THE last Day I gave four Reasons to prove that the simple moral part of the fourth Commandment lies not in the observation of the precise Seventh-day Sabbath I have six more to add Fifthly The 7th day Sabb. not given forth afresh by Christ or his Apostles That the precise Seventh-day Sabbath cannot be that part of the fourth Commandment which is purely moral I argue thus Whatsoever is a simple moral Precept universally and perpetually obligatory is by our Saviour or his Apostles confirmed or given forth anew in the New Testament but the Seventh-day Sabbath is not so confirm'd or given forth therefore is not a simple moral Precept To prove the Major or first Proposition let it be considered that the moral Law is transfer'd from Moses to Jesus Christ or taken out of Moses's hands as a Lawgiver and put into the hands of Christ considered as Mediator and this was signified by those words Mal. 2. 7. The Priests Lips should keep knowledg and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts Whatsoever was doubtful the High-Priest Deut. 17. 9. was to determine In this the Priests under the Law were a Type of Christ signifying that when Christ came who is God's Messenger all should receive the Law from his Mouth who was to be the great Interpreter of it and accordingly we find he opened the nature of the moral Law in Mat. 5. and other places shewing the spirituality thereof and how men may be said to break the Commands against Adultery Murder c. by the lusts and malice in their hearts tho they never actually commit either of those Sins Nay I know not one simple moral Precept which our Lord or his Apostles did not confirm or give forth anew who no ways extenuated the guilt of the breach of it but with far greater severity aggravated every transgression thereof Rom. 1. 18. Paul shews how the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. Now neither our Lord nor his Apostles seemed to confirm or give forth anew the old Jewish Seventh-day Sabbath but contrarywise as I have shew'd he seemed to excuse his Disciples when charged with the breach thereof and allow'd others to do that which was deem'd unlawful on the Sabbath-day as bearing a burden c. If our Adversaries can prove that every simple moral Precept of the Decalogue was not confirm'd by Christ or his Apostles let them do it Obj. I know they say that neither Christ nor his Apostles ever confirmed or gave out anew that Command Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image c. Answ As to Idols they are directly forbid 1 Cor. 8. 4. An Idol is nothing in the world there is none other God but one And St. John saith Little Children 1 Joh. 5. 11. keep your selves from Idols and again Flee from Idolatry Now what is a Graven Image but an Idol Every Graven Image made to be worshipped is an Idol tho every Idol is not a Graven Image Where do they read that an Image made of Bread is forbid in Moses's Law True the second Command forbids all Idols and all Idols are forbid in the Gospel Nay Idols are in a more nice manner defined and condemned in the Gospel than by the Law of Moses We read that a Man may idolize or make a God of his Belly Phil. 3. 19. and Paul declares that Covetousness is Idolatry Col. 3. 5. Object But where do we read in the New Testament that it is unlawful
for a Man to marry his own Sister Answ 1. Where all Uncleanness and Lusts of Concupiscence and Fornication are forbid there a Man is forbid to marry his own Sister 2. Is not this sort of Incest forbidden and condemned 1 Cor. 5. 1. where the incestuous Person is condemned for marrying his Father's Wife If it be unlawful for a Man to marry his Brother's Wife or his Father's Wife it is unlawful to marry his own Sister because nearer of kin 3. All manner of Incest is forbid to believing Gentiles in Acts 15. 29. this was one of those things contain'd in the Law that is given forth anew to believing Gentiles The Holy Ghost inspir'd the Apostles to write to the Gentiles to abstain from Blood Meats offered to Idols things strangled and from Fornication now Incest is by Paul call'd Fornication 1 Cor. 5. 1. I hear there is Fornication amongst you c. Tho in strict speaking say our late Annotators by Fornication we mean Uncleanness of single Persons yet by this word often in Scripture is understood all species of Uncleanness Nor is it probable that the Holy Ghost refers to the Uncleanness of single Persons in Acts 15. but to somewhat more doubtful and therefore I conceive all sorts of Incest in this place are forbidden 4. If any should say How can they know it was unlawful for a Man to marry his own Sister I answer 'T is not only known as I have shew'd by the New Testament and forbid there but also by the very Light of Nature for such Fornication 1 Cor. 5. 1. saith Paul is not so much as once nam'd among the Gentiles that is among the more civiliz'd Heathens who had no other Law than the Light of Nature which teaches Men to abhor such a Marriage For doth the Light of Nature teach a Man that it is a shame to wear long Hair and not teach him it is a shame to marry his own Sister 5. Moreover tho I said the whole Moral Law is transfer'd from Moses as a Lawgiver to Christ as Mediator yet the Old Testament and the Law as written by Moses as well as the Prophets are of great use in many respects 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and Instruction in Righteousness c. Sixthly The Seventh-day Sabbath proved to be a sign of the Covenant of Works The Morality of the fourth Commandment consists not in the observation of the precise seventh Day because that day was a sign or shadow of something to come I did at first prove in opening my Text that the weekly Jewish Sabbath is comprehended in those days the false Brethren taught the Galatians to observe Gal. 4. 10. and gave many Arguments to evince that tho there is one day in seven by a positive Law perpetually to be kept Col. 2. 16. yet the old Jewish seventh day from the Creation and under the Covenant of Works was a shadow of things to come But I shall add here something out of an approved Author further to confirm this That Sabbath Warren on the Sab. against Tillam p. 106 107 c. saith he and the particular seventh day which the Jews observed was certainly of a shadowy nature being instituted at first with reference to Christ as all other Shadows were having a Type after fix'd to it And of this we may safely expound that forementioned Text Col. 2. 16. Let no man judg you in Meats or in Drinks or in respect of an holy day or New Moons or Sabbaths which were shadows of things to come but the Body is of Christ The only question is whether their weekly Sabbath was here intended Some are jealous lest in pressing it so far it should prove prejudicial to our weekly Christian Sabbath but this is a mere causless Jealousy For let us ponder the scope and design of the place and it will appear that the Apostles design is not to level Christian Days and Duties but such as the Jews observ'd and would have introduced with Circumcision 'T is apparent that in all those three places Rom. 14. 5 6. Gal. 4. 10 11. Col. 2. 16. he crys down the Ordinances of the Law or Old Testament not the Institutions of the Gospel Look what the Jewish false Teachers cry'd up St. Paul cried down So as to argue from hence against all difference of days under the Gospel is evidently to stretch the Text beyond the Scope but to urge it against all Jewish holy days their weekly Sabbath and all is not to force it For 1. The Apostle seems to speak distinctly and distributively enumerating the several sorts of days in observation among the Jews Holy-days New-Moons Sabbaths and the gradation from yearly Holy-days to monthly New-Moons and from them to weekly Sabbaths is visible enough to such as are not blinded with Prejudice Mr. Shepherd speaks much to the same purpose Sheph. on the Sabb. Part 2. The plural term Sabbaths is usually put for the singular the Sabbath or seventh day Thes 20. p. 204. now under dispute Yea I cannot find any one Text in all the New Testament where it is applied in the same number to any other day or Sabbath but the old Seventh-day Sabbath * Mat. 12. 15. Mark 1. 21. cap. 2. 24. cap. 3. 2. Luk. 4. 31. cap. 13. 10. Act. 13. 14. Seven or eight times the same word as is here set down in the plural number is used for the old weekly Sabbath and not so much as once for any yearly Sabbath therefore in all reason that precise weekly Sabbath must be here I will not say included only but principally intended Even in the Old Testament wherever New Moons and Sabbaths are coupled together unless the Phrase be figurative as in Isa 66. 23. the Jews weekly Sabbath is denoted by it as appears by those Scriptures cited in the Margin †2 Kings 4. 23. 1 Chron. 23. 31. ch 8. 13. ch 31. 3. Neh. 10. 33. Ezek. 45. 17. Amos 8. 5. in most of which their annual Sabbaths are excepted and distinguished by another name scil Feasts to which answers the word Holy-days in this place Col. 2. 16. For indeed the word in the Original signifies a Feast or Festival-day Thus let Scripture expound Scripture and Truth will be Truth in spite of Error take the whole Sentence together Holy-days New-Moons Sabbaths and if it be an Old Testament Phrase it always implies the old Seventh-day Sabbath or take the word Sabbaths singly by it self and if it be a New Testament Term as 't is like it is it ever signifies the same seventh day unless when put for week which here it cannot be The Conclusion then is undeniable that the Jews Seventh-day Sabbath was a shadowy Sabbath Dr. Owen also repeats what some learned Men say upon this place Col. 2. 16. Let no Man judg you in Meats or Drinks or in respect of an Holy-day or the New-Moon
Dr. Owen p. 214. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the Sabbath or Sabbath-days which were a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ From hence they affirm saith he it will follow that there is nothing moral in the observation of the Sabbath seeing it was a mere Type and Shadow as were other Mosaical Institutions and also that it is absolutely abolished and taken away by Christ And if they mean no more but that precise seventh Day they were certainly right Nay Dr. Owen himself as I conceive determines the matter so as to make that precise day refer to Moses and his Oeconomy But indeed I see some learned Men have wrote very darkly because they strive to preserve a Sabbath in the Gospel-day or a day of Rest and of solemn Worship and that tho not simply yet positively moral from the fourth Command and if by moral positive they mean one day in seven which God from his Soveraign Pleasure will have perpetually observed as a day of Rest and solemn Worship I am of their mind Quest But since the Jewish seventh Day was a Sign and a Shadow what was it a Sign and Shadow of Answ Before I give a direct Answer to this let me premise one thing which in a special manner we ought to regard viz. that the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath was bottom'd upon the Covenant of Works in that Ministration of it given to the whole House of Israel as suting with their Ecclesiastical Political and Typical Church-state And this Dr. Owen has fully proved Dr. Owen on the Sab. p. 221. speaking of that Covenant Now saith he this is not absolutely and merely a Law but as it contain'd a Covenant between God and Man A Law it might have been and not a Covenant which doth not necessarily follow upon either its instructive or preceptive Power Yet it was originally given in the Counsel of God to that end and accompanied with Promises and Threatnings whence it had the nature of a Covenant By virtue of this Law as a Covenant was the observation of a Sabbath prescribed and required as a token and pledg of God's Rest in that Covenant in the performance of the Works whereon it was instituted and of Man's Interest in it Again he saith Seeing therefore that the Moral Law as a Covenant between God and Man requir'd this sacred Rest we must inquire what place as such it had in the Mosaical Oeconomy whereon the true Reason and Notion of the Sabbath doth depend for the Sabbath being originally annexed to the Covenant between God and Man * The Dr. takes it for granted which I deny that the Sabbath was given to Adam the Renovation of the Covenant doth necessarily require a special Renovation of the Sabbath and the change of the Covenant as to the nature of it in like manner doth introduce a change of the Sabbath c. 1. From hence note that Dr. Owen saith the Law given Exod. 20. was a renewal of the Covenant of Works 2. That the Seventh-day Sabbath was given as a Token or Pledg of that Covenant and Rest 3. That the Seventh-day Sabbath of Rest was not a Type of our Eternal Rest in Heaven but a Type or Shadow of that true Spiritual Rest we enter into under the New Covenant when we believe in Christ and so this Rest is the Antitype of the Jewish Seventh-day Sabbath My Brethren this is that Rest of God which he referr'd to and in which he takes up his delight and complacence Moreover God shewed his People Israel by their Sabbath how impossible it was for them by the Covenant of Works to enter into this Rest where they should utterly cease from sin it was a sign between God and them that they should perform the whole Obedience due under the Covenant of Works signified by that Obligation that in six days they should labour and do all they had to do and then rest denoting that the whole Law must be kept or no rest the man that doth them shall live by them or have Life Rest and Peace on that Condition This I say did signify Man's working for Life before he could enter into Rest for if they could do all they had to do or God required of them or answer all the Demands of the Law then they should have Rest Peace and Justification thereby Here you have the Six-days Labour and the Seventh-day's Sabbath it being an Epitome of the Covenant of Works For their Sabbath as Calvin shews in the tenor of it put them upon the highest Acts of Obedience even to live and sin not or cease from all Iniquity in Words Thoughts and Actions Now if this did not tend to Bondage and so was a Law against them and contrary to them nothing could but now in Christ who hath kept the Law perfectly for us or has done all we were to do and suffer we come to have true spiritual Rest and Peace And Our Lord no doubt alludes to this Ma◠11. 28 29. Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Brethren mind those two words labour and heavy laden On the Jewish Sabbath no servile labour was to be done nor any burdens to be born signifying that Believers in Christ cease from labouring for Life and must not bear any burden of Sin either in respect of the guilt or fear of the punishment Christ having done all and born the burden of all our sins in his own Body on the Tree so that we must cast our Burden on the Lord and he will sustain us And so we begin our Sabbath after all our Works are done and Burdens born by our dear Lord and blessed Surety on the first Day of the Week as he has directed us and from hence we work not for Life and Rest but from Life Rest and Peace Therefore to answer that Question what was the Jewish Sabbath a sign of you have in part heard but shall yet more fully hear 1. I affirm that it was a Sign of the Covenant of Works in that Ministration given to Israel written and engraven in Tables of Stone How often is that Sabbath called a Sign between God and them Exod. 31. 13. Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep it is a Sign between me and you throughout your Generations Again vers 17. 'T is a Sign between me and the Children of Israel Ezek. 20. 12. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbath to be a Sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth them But still it is enquired what was it a Sign of Some say that Israel were in bondage in Egypt others that God created the World in six days Answ I answer but remotely if at all it was a Sign of either of them for they are laid down as the Reasons why God gave Israel their Sabbath and not as a Sign of those things But let it now be well considered that God
but â—e are come to Mount Sion to the Gospel-â—ispensation Ver. 25. and so to hear him only that speakâ—h from Heaven But such as keep the old Sabbath go for it to Mount Sinai and are â—earers not of Christ but of Moses in that â—ase 8. Because the whole Law is changed or the â—â—d Covenant and all the Laws and Precepts â—hat belonged peculiarly to that as the old Sabbath did 2 Cor. 5. 17. are abolished Therefore if any Man be in Christ he is of the new Creation or 〈◊〉 new Creature Old things are passed away and behold all things are become new The old Church and old Church-Membership Rites Privileges and Ordinances both the old Jewish Worship and old Day of Worship are gone for ever and a new Church-state new Ordinances a new Worship and a new Day of Worship are introduced in their stead Now since the old Sabbath was a Sign of the old Covenant nay called the Covenant be sure that is gone Exod. 31. 16. wherefore the Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath throughout their Generations for a perpetual Covenant It belonged to the old Creation in a peculiar sense and from hence upon the bringing in the new Creation and making all things new this Sabbath cannot remain the old Jewish Legal Typical Church-Worship and Day of Worship went off all together Can any think that the old Sabbath still remains which was the sign of the old Covenant This is strange if it doth remain be sure the Penalty annexed for the breach of it remains also but the Penalty can't remain therefore the Sabbath is gone Take away the Penalty of a Law and what is become of that Law is it not abrogated Now the Penalty being corporal Death the Sabbath is gone because the Gospel-Church has no such Policy or political Power to inflict any such Punishment on Sabbath-breaking A Sabbatarian being in Prison with Mr. Tho. Grantham he professed much Love to him Ah said Grantham thou wouldst kill me Who I said he what kill my Brother or to that effect Saith the other Had you the Power of the Civil Magistracy in your hand and should I break your Sabbath what would you do with me Said he I confess Justice must take place It is well they have not that Power in their hands 9. Because Christ as a Testator hath made another Will which is his last Will and Testament and this makes all Precepts void that were given in the Old Testament and are not given forth or repeated in the new All know that no Legacy bequeathed in a former Will that is left out in a last Will is recoverable Upon this account it is you have argued that the Law for Tithes is not in force now nor Infant Churchmembership nor an external Canaan flowing with Milk and Honey or have Ministers Sons a right to succeed in the Ministry and many other things because they are not Legacies left in Christ's last Will and Testament tho they were in the Old Testament So the old Sabbath being left out in Christ's last Testament is no Legacy left to us 10. That the Decalogue-Law is transferred from Moses to Christ appears by the manner of the writing of the one and the other Moses had it to give as it was written in two Tables of Stone by the Finger of God Christ hath wrote it not in Stone but in the fleshly Tables of our Hearts by the Holy Spirit which was signified by God's writing of it with is Finger the Spirit being called the Finger of God If I by the Finger of God cast out Devils c. To close this take what Mr. B. hath said viz. The whole Law of Moses B. on the Sabb. p. 77 78. formally as such â—s ceased or abrogated by Christ I say as such because materially the same things that are in that Law may be the matter of the Law of Nature and the Law of Christ of which I shall speak anon That the whole Law of Moses as such is abâ—ogated is most clearly proved By the frequent arguings of Paul who ever speaketh of that Law as ceased without excepting any part and Christ saith Luke 16. 16. The Law and the Prophets were until John that is were the chief Doctrine of the Church till then Joh. 1. 17. The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ No Jew would have understood this if the word Law had not contained the Decalogue So John 7. 19 23 24. Acts 15. 5. it was the whole Law of Moses as such which by Circumcision they would have bound men to Gal. 5. 3. The Gentiles are said to sin without Law even when they broke the Law of Nature meaning without Moses's Law In all these Scriptures it 's not part but the whole Law of Moses which Paul excludeth which I acknowledged to the Antinomians tho they take me for their too great Adversary * Rom. 3. 19 20 21 27 28 31. Ch. 4. 13 14 15 16. Ch. 5. 13 20. Ch. 7. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Ch. 9. 4 31 32. Ch. 10. 5. Gal. 2. 16 19 21. Ch. 3. 2 10 11 12 13 14 19 21 24. Ch. 4. 21. Ch. 5. 3 4 14 23. Ch. 6. 13. Eph. 2. 15. Phil. 3. 6 9 Heb. 7. 11 12 19. Ch. 9. 19. Ch. 10. 28. 1 Cor. 9. 21. 3. More particularly there are some Texts which express the cessation of the Decalogue as it was Moses ' s Law 2 Cor. 3. 7 11. Not in Tables of Stone but in the fleshly Tables of the Heart But if the ministration of Death written and engraven in Stone was glorious so that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his Countenance which was to be done away or is done away They that say the Glory and not the Law is here said to be done away speak against the plain scope of the Text For the Glory of Moses's Face and the glorious manner of deliverance ceased in a few days which is not the Cessation here intended But as Dr. Hammond speaketh that Glory and that Law so gloriously delivered is done away and this the 11th Verse fully expresseth For if that which is done away was glorious or by Glory much more that which remaineth is glorious or is Glory So that as it is not only the Glory but the glorious Law Gospel or Testament which is said to remain so it is not only the Glory but the Law which is said to be done away And this is the Law which was written in Stone Nothing but partial Violence can evade the force of this Text. So Heb. 7. 11 12. under 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 Ver. 18. For there is verily a disannulling of the Commandment going before for the weakness and the unprofitableness thereof For the Law made nothing perfect but the
Circumcision but also observation of Jewish Days Ye observe Days c. he doth not mean the Gospel or New Testament days of Worship but Jewish days he could not be afraid of them if they had only observ'd the first day of the Week because he had given charge to these Churches as well as others religiously to keep it as appears 1 Cor. 16. 1 2 3. but they observ'd the Jewish Sabbath and other Old Testament days nay and they laid such stress upon them as to make the observation of them necessary to eternal Life as some do now by affirming the keeping of the Seventh-day or old Jewish Sabbath is a Moral Duty being of the same nature with the first Commandment viz. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me or any other simple Moral Precept True such at Rome as did esteem some other day besides the first Day of the Week and lookt upon it as an indifferent thing were not reproved as Rom. 14. 5. The converted Jews perhaps thought they might keep the Jewish Sabbath as well as the Lord's-Day and Paul dealt with them for a time as Children or Babes in Christ But when any came to plead for it as a Moral Duty or as necessary to Salvation how sharp was he with them I am afraid of you From hence by the way observe That Jewish-day and shadowy Ordinances under the Law in comparison of New Testament Ordinances are but weak and beggerly Elements The Explanation 1. By Days The Terms of the Text explained I understand the Jewish weekly Sabbath-days 2. By Months is meant their New Moons or monthly Sabbaths which were every new Moon 3. By Times the Feasts of the Passover the Feast of Pentecost and that of Tabernacles 4. By Years every seventh Year and every fiftieth Year which was their great Jubilee I find divers learned Men thus explaining these Terms Perkins on Gal. p. 285. and tho Mr. Perkins seems to go astray afterwards yet he speaks much to the same purpose Now my Brethren the reasons why I conclude by Days here are meant the Jewish weekly Sabbath-days are First Because when Moses speaks of their Feasts and Holy-days he brings in first of all their Seventh-day Sabbath Levit. 23. Secondly If Days Months Times and Years comprehend all Days Months Times and Years which the Jews observed then their Seventh-day Sabbath is comprehended here but Days Months Times and Years comprehend all Days Months Times and Years that the Jews observed therefore it comprehends their Seventh Day here If the Minor be denyed let our Opponents or any Person shew where Days Months Times and Years are mentioned and yet the Seventh-day not comprehended Perhaps it may be objected by some who keep the Jewish Sabbath Object That the Seventh Day is every where in Scripture expressed in the singular Number i. e. Day not Days That is not true Answ for in several places the Seventh-day is expressed in the plural Number i. e. Days the Jews themselves called it Days And they asked him Mat. 12. 10. saying Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath Days see Matth. 12. 5. My Sabbaths ye shall keep 't is a Sign c. Deut. 31. 13. In the Greek 't is read Sabbaths Exod. 28. 8. and Deut. 5. 12. as the Learned in that Language shew and all Men of note both Antient and Modern Expositors of Holy Scripture saith my Author Dr. White p. 165. expound St. Paul Col. 2. 17. of Weekly Sabbaths as well as Annual Sabbaths Again it is objected Object 2. That the Days Months Times and Years were not Jewish but Heathenish Days c. Thus Coppinger in his Dispute with Mr. Ives because 't is said they did Service to them who by nature are no Gods That there were Jews among these Galatians is evident Answ Yet if otherwise i. e. tho they were Gentiles 't is clear they desired to be under the Law Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law do you hear the Law You that desire to be circumcised and to observe the Jewish Sabbath and other Mosaical Times and Seasons Do you hear the Law i. e. do you not know that the Bond-woman and her Son are cast out that the Sinai Covenant that gendered to Bondage is abolished and the Law given on Mount Sinai as a Rule of Righteousness is put into the hands of the Son of God considered as Mediator Heb. 12. 2. Ye are not come to Mount Sinai but to Mount Sion and are not now to hear him that spoke of Earth but him that speaketh from Heaven as if Paul should have said Do not you know that Circumcision the Seventh-day Sabbaths and other Jewish Times 2 Cor. 5. 17 18 19 20. Seasons and legal Rites are gone even all old things and that all things are become new My Brethren these Christians did not desire to be under the observation of Heathenish but of Jewish Days They are called the Elements of the World Object 3. therefore not Jewish days 1. The Jewish Rites were called the Elements of the World Answ for does not Paul say We when Children were in bondage under the Elements of the World Gal. 4. 2 3. 2. Besides they were such Rudiments as the Jews were to observe till the appointed time of the Father Now the Father never appointed his Children Gentile idolatrous Rudiments therefore they could not be Heathenish Days 3. What Heathenish Nation kept the seventh or the fiftieth Year as a Sabbath For by Years in our Text our Antagonists confess are meant those Years and I am sure by all Expositors 't is so understood 4. The Jewish Sanctuary is called a Worldly Sanctuary see Heb. 9. 1. Then verily the first Covenant had also Ordinances of Divine Service and a Worldly Sanctuary 5. It is evident the Apostle means Mosaical Rudiments by blaming of Peter who would have the Gentiles live after the manner of the Jews Gal. 2. 14. Moreover he refers as all may see to the Jewish Yoke Gal. 5. 1 2. 6. To put it quite out of doubt what Days he intends read Col. 2. 16. Let no man judg you in Meats or Drinks or in respect of a holy Day or of the New Moons or of the Sabbath Days which are a Shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ I. Now were any of the Idolatrous Days among the Heathen shadows of things to come or of Christ was he or that Rest he hath brought in the Antitype of them II. He speaks of a Holy Day as a Term given to the Seventh-Day in the Old Testament and of Sabbath-Days and do any think he means by neither the Seventh-Day Sabbath and yet speaks of Sabbath-Days distinct from New-Moons Times and Years Certainly he must intend in one or the other the Jewish weekly Sabbath days I find a very Learned Man writing on this Text speaking thus viz. for which also he cites St. Hierom Paul writ this Epistle in the
by the Light of Nature But much more say I was it clearly manifested to Adam in Innocency But furthermore saith he the outward means or matter of that Worship which would be acceptable to God was not known by the Light of Nature the Law for a spiritual Worship by the Faculties of our Souls was natural and part of the Law of Creation tho the determination of the particular Acts whereby God would have this Homage testified was of positive Institution and depended not on the Law of Creation Tho Adam in Innocence knew God was to be worshipped yet by nature he did not know by what outward Acts he was to pay this Respect or at what Time he was more solemnly to be exercised in it than another This depended on the Directions God as the Soveraign Governor and Lawgiver should prescribe you shall therefore find the positive Institution It is observable that this great Man is not here concerned to confute the Seventh-day Sabbatarians but about another thing yet affirms with many other Learned Men that Adam by the Law of Creation did not know in Innocency at what time God was more solemnly to be worshipped than another 2. No doubt but the substance of all the ten Precepts was wrote in Adam's Heart The Substance of all Moral Precepts written in Adam's Heart yet it appears the knowledg of the Seventh-day to be kept as a Sabbath was not written there tho that which was simply and naturally moral of the fourth Commandment was Secondly I argue thus If the precise Seventh-day was written in Adam's Heart The Law of the 7th day Sabbath not written in Adam's Heart there had been no need of an Institution or positive Law to make it known to him for what more need had he of an outward Revelation of this than of the other Commandments Take here what a Learned Man hath said * Mr. P. a Minister at Rouen in France p. 3. If the keeping of the Seventh-day were a Moral Duty our Father Adam by that Light of Nature God put in his Mind when he created him would have known it as well as he knew all other things in themselves good and necessary but he neither had nor should have had any knowledg thereof if God had not injoined it to him by a particular Command as those which maintain the morality of the Sabbath do avouch So that this followeth manifestly that the observation of the Seventh-day depends merely on Institution My Brethren Let this be considered well that if the knowledg of the Seventh-day wholly depended on the Will of God or on mere Institution and resulted not as all pure and simple moral Precepts do from the holy Rectitude of God's Nature it follows that the precise Day pertains not to the Essence of the Fourth Commandment but the simple Morality of that Precept lies only in a time of Worship And certainly if God by a mere positive Command had not given it to Israel they had no more known it their duty to keep it than the Pagan World did who were wholly ignorant thereof as I shall prove And be sure if God wrote not the Law or knowledg of the Seventh-day Sabbath on Adam's Heart the Seventh-day is not of the same nature with simply moral Precepts which God engraved on his Heart even the substance or tenor of all the Ten Commandments and made him know them naturally without any instruction by word of mouth But it appears by their own Assertion it was instituted c. Therefore the knowledg of the Seventh-day as a special time of Worship was not wrote in his Heart Our Opponents dare not deny but the substance of the whole Moral Law was wrote in his Heart and they foresee it is dangerous to deny it From whence it appears that all the other Precepts are simply moral and so is a time of Worship but the precise Seventh-day by their own concession was instituted in Man's Innocency and so depends wholly upon an express positive Command declared to Adam by audible Words resounding in his Ears Mr. Tillam says Tillam 's Book p. 7. It was instituted before the Fall and founded in Mount Paradise Answ Tho I believe no such matter nor can any Man prove it yet to grant it for Argument-sake then I say it follows it was not written in Adam's Heart for the being perfect he would naturally have known it without being told it was his Duty to keep it For consider that he was created on the Sixth Day and understood what was naturally and universally good i. e. all those Duties that were essential parts of Godliness and Righteousness or things belonging to good Manners Now if so why need he be told he must keep the Seventh-day or why must that Precept come under express Institution and none of the rest Object God saw good to bring all the ten Commandments under express Institution on Mount Sinai as well as he brought the seventh-day Sabbath in Paradise under express Institution Answ I deny it not God did then see good so to do considering how the Nature of Man was corrupted and his Law written in his Heart was blotted and blur'd by the Fall But let it be consider'd that the Law was not written in two Tables of Stone so much for a Rule of Life as for other reasons The Reasons why God added the Ministration of the Law wrote in two Tables of Stone 1. It was added and written there to aggravate Sin on the Conscience It was added saith Pual because of Transgression Gal. 3. 19. it was to make Sin appear exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 13. 2. It was written there to shew the Creature his sad and woful condition and to make known how unable fallen Man was to fulfil the Righteousness of God 3. And as a Schoolmaster to lead such as were under it to Christ in whom perfect Righteousness only is to be found Man being not able to keep perfectly that holy and just Law 4. And to shew them as I conceive that nothing but the Finger of God could write his holy Law in the stony Hearts of Sinners as shall be further demonstrated hereafter for that whole Ministration of the Law and Covenant I shall prove was a shadow and typical and so no standing Law or Ministration as there written but as it is in the hand of Jesus Christ 5. That whole Law and consequently the Seventh-day Sabbath was given on Mount Sinai as it suted the Judaical Oeconomy as well their Political as Ecclesiastical state There are many Additions made to the Seventh-day Sabbath together with other Ends annex'd and Designs and Uses thereto employ'd which is granted by such as assert it was given to Adam in Paradise * This gave a new state to it saith Dr. Owen p. 8 9. Secondly If it had been given to Adam in Innocency he not knowing without an Institution it was his Duty to keep it I argue from hence it follows that he had the
same need of knowing what special Worship he outht to be found exercised in on that day What a Sabbath instituted and no Sabbath-Service appointed on that day But this I shall further handle when I come to speak of the pretended Institution and express Command given to Adam in Innocency Thirdly If the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath was wrote in Adam's Heart some Remainders of the knowledg of that day would have been left in the Heart of his Offspring as there is of all other Precepts that are simply moral tho much blur'd and almost quite obliterated in some yet there were many Heathens who retain'd or recover'd much knowledg of God's Law first written in the Heart of Man yea they were led to the knowledg of all pure moral Precepts i.e. that there was but one God and that he was to be worshipped and his Name not profan'd that they should not murder commit Adultery steal c. nay and also to the knowledg of the fourth Commandment as to what was simply moral in it viz. a sufficient time to worship that God yet they were none of them led to know that they ought to keep the seventh day as a Sabbath Fourthly Moreover if the Seventh-day Sabbath had been a simple or pure moral Precept and written in Adam's Heart it would have been written in the Hearts of all God's New-Covenant Children as he promised he would write his Law there in Gospel-times and evident it is that all Believers in Christ whether Jews or Gentiles have the Image of God restor'd to them it being stampt upon their Hearts by the Spirit of God hence it is said who after God are created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4. 24. nay they are all said to be renew'd in Knowledg after the Image of him that created them Col. 3. 10. But in the second Impression of God's holy Law and Image thus written on our Hearts there is not one line nor lineament of any knowledg that it is our Duty to keep the seventh day as a Sabbath to the Lord which I shall further evince hereafter Fifthly Take what a learned Man saith If Adam was bound to keep the Sabbath I demand by what Law by the Law written in his Heart Why then he was bound to keep a Sabbath before there was a Sabbath to keep for the Law was ingraven on his Heart on the sixth day as a branch of that Divine Image of God concreated with him whereas the Sabbath to be sure could not be instituted till the seventh day if then Sixthly Before I close this let me note here what is said concerning this very thing by the Antient Fathers and Primitive Christian Writers who it appears deny'd the knowledg of the Seventh-day Sabbath was written in Adam's Heart Just Mart. Respon ad qu. p. 69. Theod. on Ezek. c. 20. See Justin Martyr Theodoret saith that these Commandments Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not steal and others of that kind were generally implanted by Nature in the minds of Men but for the keeping of the Sabbath it came not in by Nature but by Moses's Law Chrysostom affirms saith my Author that neither Adam nor any Man liv'd without the Law imprinted on the Soul of Man as made a living Creature but neither he nor any other of them say the seventh day was one of those Laws Also Rivet and others who plead for the Antiquity of the Sabbath dare not saith he refer the keeping of it to the Law written in Adam's Heart So that I may from what has been said positively affirm the Precept of keeping the seventh day was not written in Adam's Heart in Innocency and therefore that believing Gentiles are not oblig'd to keep the seventh day from that Law From hence also I infer it could not be written in the Hearts of any of the Jews or Gentiles for doubtless Adam by nature knew that which corrupt Man never so perfectly knew and it were great Presumption in any since Sin was so generally prevailing to say they knew in a natural way that which Adam knew not Besides is it not great folly for any to say this since the Law in Adam's Heart was the original And shall a blur'd Copy be deem'd more perfect than that or the muddy Stream be clearer than the Chrystal Fountain Therefore since it appears the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath was not written in Adam's Heart but that he needed an express positive Law to know it or discover it to him I infer much more need there was for poor Gentiles nay for Believers to have an express Law to discover it to them And since our Opponents affirm that the Commandment of the precise seventh day as a Sabbath is of the same nature and quality with the first Commandment and all other simply moral Precepts i. e. not only a time of Worship or one day in seven but the precise seventh day from the Creation I infer then what a woful condition are all we in that break or violate in the very Letter a simply moral Command nay and teach Men so to do may and how could our Saviour then be without Sin who made Clay on that day and did many other Works and commanded a Burden to be born and also commended Acts of Mercy which was but a moral Duty above keeping of the Seventh-day Sabbath Matth. 12. comparing the strict Observation of that with Sacrifices which all know were but mere positive Laws to Israel under that Legal Dispensation But more of this hereafter Object But tho it was not written in Adam's Heart that he should keep the seventh day as a Sabbath yet it was given to Adam in Innocency by a positive Institution Answ This is sooner said than proved No positive Law given to Adam to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath but let me tell you that the Law of Nature our Opponents acknowledg was antecedent to the Institution of the Sabbath and that all purely moral Precepts were certainly written in Adam's Heart Now can the precise seventh day be Adam's Duty to keep before it was sanctified to that end this is to say a thing was before it was and that the Law of Creation teaches that which it was impossible to teach and also that Revealed Religion may be known by natural Dictates or Principles which is absurd to affirm besides all confess that mere positive Precepts or Commands in instituted Worship may be alter'd or chang'd as the great Lawgiver pleaseth But to proceed to answer what is affirm'd about its Institution in Paradise as given to innocent Adam we will come to and well weigh the words of this pretended positive Precept given to Adam in Paradise Gen. 2. 2. And on the seventh day God ended his Work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his Work which he had made Ver. 3. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from
they should perform except it had by some positive Law or Precept been discover'd to them of which we read not When God gave to Israel a Sabbath he told them how they should keep it as well as the Reasons End and Causes wherefore Tenthly I might also add here what some learned Men seem to affirm i. e. that 't is doubtful whether the Patriarchs had the distinction of Days into Weeks but rather reckon'd by Months and Years so that the precise seventh day from the Creation cannot be certainly known and 't is thought that the Jews observ'd their seventh day from the falling of Manna six days The Jews reckon'd their Seventh-day Sabbath from the falling of Manna but none on the seventh No doubt but it is impossible for any to know that that was the precise seventh day from the Creation But it may not be amiss to answer our Opponents as to what they say about the Scripture not mentioning any Sabbath from Adam to Moses or any Precept or Remembrance of it and yet things of less moment are punctually recited 1. This they say that we read not of Circumcision perform'd during all the time of Israel's being in Egypt which was near four hundred years till Zippora circumcised her Son 2. Also say they we read not of the Sabbath in the Books of Joshua and Judges c. Answ This is no parallel case for after the positive Command given to Israel to keep it there needed no such constant relation of it for no doubt but after that time it was continually observ'd Let me close this with what I find recited by many learned Men concerning the Judgment of divers of the antient Fathers about the Patriarchs observing the Sabbath The Judgment of the anâ—ient Fathers Justin Martyr saith Just Mart. 〈◊〉 cum 〈…〉 that Melchisedec who it is supposed was Shem the Son of Noah was neither circumcised nor kept the Sabbath Irenaeus saith Iren. l. 4. c. 30. Abraham believed and it was imputed to him for Righteousness before he was circumcised and without observing of the Sabbath Tertullian saith Tert. adv Judaeos de praescr c. 2 4. Abel Enoch Noah and Melchisedec observ'd not the Sabbath And again he saith that not any of the Patriarchs kept the Sabbath neither Adam Enoch Noah nor Abraham for 2455 years And hence Tertullian saith Justin de verit l. 2. in Tryph. it is manifest therefore that that cannot be moral nor perpetual that began with Moses as Justin says and ended in Christ Eusebius saith Moses brings in Melchisedec Priest of the most High God Dem. l. 1. c. 6. neither being circumcised nor anointed with Oil as was afterwards commanded in the Law no nor so much as knowing there was a Sabbath Justin Martyr again saith Cont. Tryph. in the days of Enoch People observd not Circumcision or the Sabbath before Abraham there was no Circumcision and before Moses no keeping holy the Sabbath I might also add several of the Jewish Rabbins asserting the same thing But to proceed I infer from hence that that Text Gen. 2. doth not contain in it any present Institution of the Sabbath but signifies God's Destination or Purpose to give it as a Law to his People Israel in after times and was not given to Adam in Innocence for him to sanctify it God might sanctify that precise day to his own Rest after Adam fell with respect had to Christ in whom he took up his perfect Rest and afterwards appointed the seventh day as a sign thereof However it is one thing for God to sanctify or set apart a thing for this or that use and another thing to command that thing or immediately to put it into being Our Lord Jesus was long sanctified or set apart to be our Redeemer Joh. 10. 36. before he was sent into the World actually to redeem us Jeremiah the Prophet was sanctified or set apart to his Work and Office long before he was actually call'd to the execution thereof So that if these words Gen. 2. concerning God's blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day Mr. Sam. Grascom p. 18. are to be extended saith one to relate to any thing further than to that particular seventh day following the Creation it doth not refer to any immediate Institution of the Sabbath but is a historical Narration telling us what was done and not when it was done If therefore we can find out a certain time when the Sabbath was indeed instituted there is good reason to conclude this Text refers to that time as giving us the reason why God in the Institution of the Seventh-day Sabbath made choice of that day And to sum up what I have said take these Arguments 1. We may infer The Arguments against the Patriarchs keeping the Sabbath 〈◊〉 up that if the Patriarchs kept the seventh day they had the knowledg of it by the Light of Nature or by a positive Command but they had not the knowledg of it by the Light of Nature nor by any positive Command therefore they observ'd it not 2. If they kept it by virtue of an express Command and Institution they had no doubt some Directions about the due observation thereof and instituted Sabbath-days Worship but they had no Directions about it nor instituted Sabbath-days Worship therefore they did not observe it 3. Certainly if the Patriarchs were obliged to observe the seventh day as a Sabbath God would either have commended them or some of them for keeping it or else reprehended others for not keeping it but God neither commended any of them for the keeping it nor reprehended any others for profaning and not â—eeping it therefore none of them did observe 〈◊〉 Eleventhly Let me add one Argument more 〈◊〉 prove that the Patriarchs did not observe the seventh day as a Sabbath viz. If the Patriarchs and all Mankind from the beginning of the World were or had been obliged to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath certainly there had â—een some account given of the Penalty or Punishment due to Sabbath-breakers but we read of no Penalty or Punishment to be inflicted on Sabbath-breakers therefore we conclude they were not oblig'd to the observation thereof How can it be thought that the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath should be imposed upon them and yet God should hide the Punishment due to the breach thereof from the World for more than two thousand years Evident it is that they knew what Punishment was to be inflicted for the breach of other moral Precepts as Murder Adultery c. and if this were of like nature i. e. a pure moral Duty how came it to pass that God discover'd not the Penalty to them for violating this Precept Twelfthly My last Argument is this The Sabbath under the Old Testament had a respect to a stated and stinted instituted Worship in a National Church but the Patriarchs and all God's People from Adam to Moses were not brought into such an Ecclesiastical
Covenant of Grace no doubt but they had abode in that Covenant to this day and for ever but they are cut off and now are in no actual Covenant relation with God at all Sure the Covenant of Grace cannot be utterly broken 2. Moreover then they should not have needed to look for the Law in two Tables of Stone because that whole Moral Law should not only be written in the New Testament the Book of the New Covenant but in their Hearts also 3. Now when a Covenant is abolished as the old Covenant is will any dare to plead for the sign of it which obliges them to keep the whole Law No plain it is the sign i. e. the old Sabbath is gone with the Covenant it self Quest If the old Sabbath was a sign of that of which you say what was it a Type or Shadow of Answ It was a Type or Shadow of our blessed Rest in Christ Heb. 4. For we which have believed do enter into Rest This is the Antitype of the seventh-day Rest when no Labor is to be done nor any burden of Sin to be born by Believers this is that Rest God is pleased with and here we also rest from all Labour or Works of our own as God did from his at first Macarius saith Hom. 39. in Mat. 12. that Sabbath given to Moses was a Type and Shadow only of that real Rest given by God to the Soul My Brethren what comfort is here to you that enter into this Rest What Joy may hence spring in your Hearts who are delivered from Bondage and grievous Burdens Gal. 5. 1. Stand 〈◊〉 therefore in that Liberty wherewith Christ has made you free and be not again entangled with the yoke of Bondage lest Christ profit you nothing Seventhly I might prove that the Morality of the fourth Commandment consists not in the precise Seventh-day Sabbath even from that Memorandum that is fix'd in the beginning of the Command viz. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy Now tho one day in seven be by a positive Law made perpetually obligatory in the fourth Command yet that is not as so considered a simple moral Precept much less not the precise seventh Day and this because it is brought in with Remember denoting clearly the difference between this Command as to any particular day and that which is purely moral in this Command for that which is connatural to us or an inherent Law of Nature is so engraven in our Hearts that inlightned Persons especially are not very subject to forget it But a mere positive Precept which is not so written in our Hearts by Nature we are too ready to forget therefore God as I conceive to this Precept added this Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy 'T is not said Remember ye have no Gods but me or remember you do not take the Name of the Lord in vain or remember you do not disobey your Father and Mother or that you do not steal commit Adultery Murder c. no such charge is given there why so because these Precepts being simply moral are written in our Hearts The word remember as one notes hath not primarily any reference either to the Works of God or to the finishing his Works but to God's destination of the Day to be in time to come the Churches Sabbath Not remember how your Fathers kept it or God instituted it from the beginning but it is a new Ordinance and of another nature i. e. the chief of all Ceremonies c. Eighthly 'T is naturally impossible for all Men to keep the precise 7th day throout the World To prove that the precise seventh Day is not a simple moral Precept I argue thus That which all Men throughout the World are not able precisely to observe or keep or which is morally impossible for them so to do can be no simple moral Precept but all Men throughout the World are not able to observe the seventh precise Day from the Creation it being morally impossible so to do therefore it is no simple moral Precept I shall not so much insist on that part that it is impossible for any Man much less for the whole World to know which is the precise seventh Day from the Creation as what some learned Men have shewn viz. that it is morally impossible to keep such a precise seventh Day 1. This must be premised that the Saturday Sabbatarians affirm that the precise seventh Day is to be kept saying in this the Morality of the fourth Command lies which consists of 24 hours and hath a Morning or Sun-rising and an Evening or Sun-setting throughout the whole year and it was that precise day of the week in which God rested from all his Works Now Dr. White p. 177 178 179. as one observes in some habitable Regions and under some Climates the year is not distinguished by weeks containing each of them seven days neither are there several natural days of twenty four hours consisting of Morning and Evening by means of the rising and setting of the Sun as these Instances and Examples following do declare Continuance of the Sun above the Horizon 1. deg 70. In the Southern part 〈◊〉 Groinland Finmark Lapland and in the North of Russia and Tartaria one day lasteth from the 10th of May unto July 14. 〈◊〉 five of our days 2. deg 75. In the North of Groinland the Isle of Chery Nova Zembla Lancasâ—er and Horse-Sounds the day continueth from April 21 until August the 2d of our day 102. 3. deg 80. In the North of Bassinsâ—Bay and Greenland the day continueth from April the 6th until August 17 and of our days 133. 4. deg 85. In Regions and Places undiscovered the day continueth from March 23. until August 31. of our days 161. 5. deg 90. Under this Degree the day continueth from March the 10th until September the 13th of our days 187. Now from the Premisses this Argument ariseth The Law of the fourth Commandment enjoyneth the observation of such a Sabbath day as is distinguished from the other days of the week by morning and evening by the rising and setting of the Sun and by the presence and absence thereof within the space of every 24 hours But in many Regions of the World and under sundry Climats there are no ordinary Weeks containing seven particular days distinguished each from other by morning and evening and by the rising and setting and by the presence and departure of the Sun Therefore the Sabbath-day of the fourth Commandment cannot be observed in many Regions of the universal World by such Nations as live under a Climate where there are no such Weeks and Days as the Law of the fourth Commandment enjoineth to be observed For the Subject of that Commandment is a natural day of 24 hours and where that subject is wanting how is it possible for any Law that wanteth its proper Subject to be in force Now if any shall conceive that altho
to these the most judicious pious and zealous Ministers and Martyrs of Christ who have liv'd and dy'd within the compass of these sixteen hundred years and most if not all of them will tell you that they never owned your Saturday Sabbath they liv'd without it dy'd without it and are I doubt not gone to Heaven without it Besides how many faithful Witnesses of late years has the Lord raised up to bear Testimony against it of whom I suppose the greatest part are yet alive tho some are fallen asleep In a word how many precious and gracious and pious Christians are yet upon the Earth Men and Women redeem'd from the Earth and crucified to the World of whom the World is not worthy who look upon your Sabbath as a Cypher can freely labor and travel upon it buy and sell upon it and this after accurate Inquiry about it and to this day their Consciences never reproach them their Hearts never smote them for it What will you say Are all these Hypocrites unrenewed unsanctified ones this were to condemn the Generation of God's Children and canonize your self with your few misled Associates for the only Saints in Christendom which I would hope you dare not do tho I know * Meaning Tillam you dare as much as another Well the Adversary is brought to this Dilemma either God has no People in the World but such as are of his Perswasion or his moral and immutable Laws are not written in their Hearts or the Saturday Sabbath is none of those Laws Thus this Author If the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath be written in the Hearts of Believers some one Man or another can produce some one Believer that was by the Law written in his Heart convinc'd of it without reading Moses's Law or any Book or Books compiled by Men about the Sabbath But no Man can produce any such Believer that will or can say this therefore it is not written in the Hearts of Believers Thus it appears that it is not the Duty of Gentile Believers to keep the seventh Day from the Law of God written in the Hearts of God's new Covenant Children which was the sixth and last part of the general Argument first proposed The last thing in speaking to the Seventh-day Sabbath I promised to do The dangerous Consequences of the Sabbatarian Principles was to shew you that as some hold and maintain it it is a dangerous Error 1. Is not that dangerous which caused Paul to fear he had bestowed on the Persons he speaks of Labor in vain Was it not because they observ'd Jewish Days laying stress on those things 2. Is not that a dangerous Error that leads Men to ratify or sign the Covenant of Works which binds them to keep the whole Law This I have proved is the natural tendency of this Practice Owen on the Sabb. p. 149. and the same thing Dr. Owen you have heard positively affirms also 3. Is not that dangerous that magnifies the first Creation Work above Redemption It magnifies Creation-work above Redemption or the new Creation Work when God began to create the new Heavens and new Earth which refers to the Gospel or new Creation What saith the Lord the old Heavens and old Earth shall be remembered no more that is in a day kept to that end for otherwise sure the great Works of the first Creation ought not to be forgot but the new Creation excelling the old the new Day must be kept in remembrance thereof and not the old day 4. Is not that a dangerous Error that tends It eclipses the Glory of Christ as the necessary Consequence of it to eclipse the Glory of Christ as the only Lord Head and Lawgiver to his Church and that gives part of this Honour to Moses 5. Is not that dangerous that tends to intangle and bring into Bondage and under legal Terror poor weak Christians as some who have kept the Seventh-day Sabbath have confessed till God open'd their Eyes they fearing they broke the Sabbath in some way or another for indeed no Man can perfectly keep it any more than he can keep the whole Law as has been hinted I was always in a trembling state saith one so long as I kept it c. or to that purpose Brethren it is not to be thought what Bondage it brought the zealous Jews under they not knowing when they had answered the strict observance of that day and if they brake it they must die without Mercy as the poor Man that gathered Sticks on that day they were not to speak their own words c. How should they know when they did this On Mat. 12. 2. p. 361. Nay live and sin not They would not Mr. Trap saith spit nor ease themselves on that day which is hard to believe tho some were superstitiously zealous 't is true yet others who were piously zealous by means of the strictness of the Precept continually were in fear and bondage And sad it is for any to be entangled again thereby 6. Is not that a dangerous thing Jewish Sabbath genders to Bondage that by the necessary consequence of it leads men to observe other Legal Rites and Ceremonies as not to eat Swines-flesh nor wear a Garment of Linen and Woolen nor mar the corner of their Beards Nay some of the chief of them formerly were led to Circumcision and to worse than that also I saw a Book published many years ago by two of them in which they called themselves the Ministers of the Circumcision That these things are the necessary Consequences of their Notion about their Sabbath appears because they go to Moses for it as the Law was in his hand and believe many other things that were meer Judicial Laws to be in force now They are for Moses's Law with the Statutes and Judgments and have declared that that Law is in force to stone to death such as break the Sabbath And no marvel for if that Sabbath be in force the Punishment is in force also Nay they believe I hear that a rebellious Son ought to be put to death 7. Is not that Error dangerous It renders all that keep it not guilty of horrid Immorality and of an evil Nature the necessary Consequence whereof renders all that keep not that precise Seventh-day as the Sabbath nor can be convinced 't is their Duty to observe it to be guilty of Immorality i. e. in breaking a moral Precept in the very Letter of it nay one of the Precepts of the first Table For it must be thus if the morality of the fourth Commandment lies in the observation of the precise Seventh-day Sabbath and it must be as great an Evil to violate it as 't is to have another God or to bow down to a graven Image or to swear or profane the holy Name of God or commit actual Adultery Murder c. and thus their Doctrin renders all true Christians to be guilty of a most
I take to be the Foundation of the observance of the first Day and that which I mentioned last is a clear confirmation thereof In order to do this consider that each Day to be observed either under the Law or Gospel must be comprehended in the fourth Command and that the change of the old Day takes not away the perpetual Obligation of one day in seven nor the reason of that positive perpetual Law Now there are but two great and general Instances in which God is said to rest viz. 1. That after the first Creation was finished God rested from all his Work namely from Creation-work so as he never will create any material thing again to the end of the World As to his creating the Soul that is not the creating of any new Species of Beings 2. The Rest of God-man after he had finished the Work of Redemption or the second Creation which is never to be repeated Now there is a moral Reason which is deducible from the fourth Commandment that whenever God rests there is a Foundation of a day of Rest for Man comporting with the nature and tendency of each Covenant to which that Rest doth refer Thou shalt do no manner of Work c. for in six days c. The word for implys a moral Reason which makes it applicable to any Rest of God therefore to God's Rest from the Work of Redemption I mean that of God-man which is also deducible from Heb. 4 Christ rested from his Work as God did from his Therefore there remaineth a Rest for the People of God Heb. 4. â— 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he that is entered into his Rest hath also ceased from his Works as God did from his Here is the Institution of the Lord's Day For tho this Rest hath a particular relation to the Gospel-day of Rest i. e. of that Grace Rest and Peace Christ procured for us by his doing all that we had to do and of that burden of Punishment he bore which we had to undergo for our Sins yet not exclusive of a particular Sabbath or day of Rest but it is directly intended here as the Foundation and Institution of it because that Rest in the former Verses which has a more particular respect to the Rest in Canaan is spoken of not excluding God's resting the Seventh-day Now in pursuit of this I shall here cite some material Passages out of Dr. Owen on the Sabbath who has fully confirmed what I here assert How the Creation of all things was finished Dr. Owen on the Sab. p. 256. and the Rest of God and Man that ensued thereon hath been saith he declared It hath also in part and sufficiently as to our present purpose been evidenced how the great Ends of the Creation of all in the Glory of God and the Blessedness of Man in him with the Pledg thereof in a sabbatical Rest were for a season as it were defeated and disappointed by the entrance of Sin which brake the Covenant that was founded in the Law of Creation and rendered it useless unto those Ends Hence it could no more bring Man to rest in God but yet there was the continuation of the obligatory Force of the Law and Covenant and hence of the Sabbatical Rest in the Church of Israel with the especial application of its Command to that People In this state of things God had of old determined the Renovation of all things by a new Creation a new Law of that Creation a new Covenant and a new Sabbatical Rest to his Glory by Jesus Christ And this Renovation of all things accordingly to be accomplished in Christ 2 Cor. 5. 17 18. 'T is said Old things are past away and behold all things are become new the old Law the old Covenant old Worship Pag. 258. old Sabbath and all that was peculiar to the Covenant of Works as such in the first Institution of it and its renewed Declaration on Mount Sinai all are gone and antiquated And what now remains of them as to any usefulness in our living to God doth not abide on the old Foundation but on a new Disposition of them by the Renovation of all things in Christ Eph. 1. 10. A new Law of Obedience is introduc'd by the new Creation in Christ Jesus And there is a great Renovation thereof shewed in God's writing his Law in our Hearts not here to be insisted on God brings over * That is God brings over the Law as given on Mount Sinai into the hands of Christ in this State the use of the first Law as renewed and represented in Tables of Stone for a directive Rule of Obedience to the new Creature whereby the first original Law is wholly supply'd Hereunto he makes an addition of what positive Laws he thinks meet So the Moral Law tho materially always the same yet this old Law as brought over into this new State is new also for all old things are become new And it is now the Rule of our Obedience not merely to God as Creator but to God in Christ bringing us into a new Relation to himself in the Renovation of the Image of God in our Souls and the transferring over of the Moral Law as a Rule accompanied with new Principles Motives and Ends. And now observe all the Rests of God are founded in his own Rest in his Works for a pledg hereof a day of Rest must be given and observed But as the Apostle tells in another case Pag. 262. The Priesthood being changed Heb. 7. 12. there must also of necessity be a change of the Law so the Covenant being changed and the Rest which was the end of it being changed and the way of entering into the Rest of God being changed a change of the Day must of necessity thereon ensue And no Man can assert the same day of Rest precisely to abide as of old but he must likewise assert the same way of entering into â—t which yet as all acknowledg is changed The day first annexed to the Covenant of Works that is the seventh day was continued under the old Testament because the outward Administration of the Covenant of Works was continued But now the new Covenant being absolutely established and the other abolished both as to its Nature Use Efficacy and Power no more to be represented nor proposed unto Believers even the whole of it Yea and its renewed Administration under the Old Testament being removed taken away and disappearing Heb. 8. 13. the precise day of Rest belonging unto it was to be changed also and so it came to pass On these Suppositions we lay Pag. 164. § 7. and ought to â—ay the observation of the Lord's-day under the New Testament according to the Institution of â—t or Declaration of the Mind of Christ who â—s our Lord and Lawgiver concerning it A New work of Creation or work of a new Creation is undertaken and compleated * Isa 65.