Spirit of God being about to set out this proportion alone as a rule for all ages as well under the Gospel as under the Law and looking back upon the great neglect of it in Aegypt and foreseeing the oppositions it would meet with tending to extinguish the memory of it he is pleased in the very front of the precept which enjoyns it to place tins word Remember As for the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing can be necessarily collected from it to enforce our belief that the last of the Seven is designed in the Precept for this article is many times found where it has no such determining influence as Deut. 8.3 Man doth not live by bread only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here doth not signifie this or that kind of Bread but leaves it in its general signification Lev. 18.5 Which if a man do he shall live in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is without any Emphasis and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expounded by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without aw article Rom. 10.5 When this article is Emphatical it must be collected from the reason of the thing or the circumstances of the place When the Holy Spirit doth design a peculiar determination by it it is often joyned with a separated Pronoun as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak to this young man Zach. 2.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the self same day Gen. 7.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this house and this City Now we have nothing of this nature in the Fourth Command to oblige us to believe such a determining Emphasis in it but on the contrary the reason of the thing and all circumstances duely considered highly favour the sence which has been given The Fourth Commandment is encompassed with Moral Laws and placed in the very Centre of a perpetual rule of righteousness Our interpretation gives the most intelligible account why it should have this situation It is generally asserted That the last of the week was Typical but none have discovered the least tittle of Ceremoniality in one in seven This is reducible to the Laws of Nature which are usually reckoned to be of Two sorts either such as are discovered by the Light of Nature or else such as being made known by revelation are approved of by that Light Institut Justinian Arnold vin com p. 52. Altho' the equity of devoting just One in Seven to the Worship of God is not so manifest as generally to be pitched upon without the aid of revelation yet it being disclosed to be the mind of God it finds a very ready entertainment All agree That some time is to be set a part and what proportion can be more equal and convenient Gell. l. 3. ◠10. noc At. de Etruriae originibus Seld. de jur Nat. Gen. p. 376. Qu 69. p. 432. than the Seventh Varro made it his business to discover an excellency in this number above others Postellus observes That antiently at Rome one day in seven was sacred tho' not the same with the Jewish day The Author of the Question and Answer ad Orthodoxos ascribed to Justin Martyr takes notice of some peculiar marks of honour upon this number and says it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more valuable and eminent than others Now if the observation of one in seven appertains to the Moral Law and the last of the seven to the Ceremonial we ought to interpret the Fourth command for one in seven and not the last For the whole Decalogue being designed for a Royal Law an everlasting rule and standard for all ages certainly every Command in it is to be construed in such a sence as doth most fully comply with this intention in the Law-giver This interpretation makes the fourth Precept like to the others it stands in conjunction with for they do not descend to any particulars The First Command doth not name Saturn Mars or Mercury but keeps in the general Thou shalt have no other Gods The Second doth not mention the image of any particular Deity The Third doth not name assertory or promissory Oaths The Fifth doth not nominate any individual which stands in the relation of a Father or Mother So the Fourth doth not express the particular day of Worship but confines it self to that which is more general One in Seven whether it be the first or last as God shall please to appoint It is not difficult to discern the temper of this Law by the genius of the other precepts which are its companions Lastly There are many very considerable for Learning and Judgment who favour the interpretation which has been given S. Chrysostome glossing upon these words Hom. 16. Gen. 88. p. Fron. Duc. God rested the seventh day and sanctified it says From hence we are taught to set a-part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one day in the circle of week for the exercise of spiritual duties Aquinas affirms That the last of the seven is not contained in the Fourth Command Preceptum de observatione Sabbati est secundum aliquid morale c. secundum hoc inter praecepta Decalogi computatur non autem quantum ad taxationem temporis quia secundum hoc est ceremoniale P. 2. Q. 100. art 3.22 Q. 112. art 4. The Precept concerning the observation of the Sabbath is in some respect moral and in that sence it is accounted amongst the Ten Commandments and not as it sets out the particular time because that was ceremonial In the Homily of Time and Place these words occur By this Command meaning the Fourth we ought to have a time as one day in the week wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawful and needful works For like as it appeareth by this Commandment That no Man in the six days ought to be slothful and idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him even so God hath given express charge to all Men That upon the Sabbath-day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekly and work-day labour c. Mr. Hooker asserts Eccl. pol. l. 5. p. 378 379. That we are bound to account the Sanctification of one day in seven a duty which God's immutable Law doth exact for ever Mr. Mede speaking of the Fourth Precept Diatr of the observation of the Sabbath c. p. 240. says Where it is called in the Command the Seventh day that is in respect of Six days and not otherwise and therefore whensoever it is so called those six days of labour are mentioned with it The Seventh therefore is the Seventh after six days of labour nor can any more be inferred from it The example of the Creation is brought for the quotum One day in Seven as I have shewed and not for the designation of any certain day for that Seventh Curcellaeus is of the same mind De Esu Sangu p. 64. Notare oportet nihil
The more esteemable the sacrifice is the more honour must necessarily accrue to him who has the tender of it 3. The Law concerning Sacrifice is distinguist from the Laws of Nature in holy Writ We find it placed in an inferiour rank Psal 50.8 we must not think that sacrifices here are put below the obligations of Nature as offering â—â—â—â—ks paying Vows calling upon God v. 14 15. because they were offered with unhallowed hands The Psalmist speaks to holy Men gather my Saints together v. 5. Hear O my people v. 7. The wicked are not spoken to till the discourse concerning this matter is finished v. 16. Parallel to this is what is expressed in the book of Jer. c. 7. v. 22. Burnt-offerings are represented as not primarily intended when the Law was given forth but obedience to the voice of Heaven which is an undoubted dictate of Nature We never read that a conformity to the Laws of Nature is confined to particular persons or places as the Law of Sacrificing is in the Old Testament Nature being universal under no such confinement the duty to comply with her demands must be of the same latitude 4. The Heathens in whom the Light of Nature was most refined did not account sacrificing to be of the Law of Nature They marked the sacrificing of Grass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. de Abst p. 53. Porph. and the more simple and natural Fruits of the Earth with a note of errour as is evident by the words of Porphyry They did so highly condemn the offering of Myrr Câ—sia Frankincense that they pronounced a curse against those who deserted the primitive custom and thought to please the Deity with such perfumes for this reason they were stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imprecatio They did inveigh against the offering up of brute-animals as impious unjust and hurtful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eus prae Evan. l. 4. c. 14 p. 153. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. p. 98. Porphyry says that all sacrifice is either for the honouring of the gods or the expressing a grateful resentment of benefits received or the procuring those things we stand in need of and makes it appear that the killing of animals has no congruity to any of these ends They condemn the sacrificing of men For this reason the antient custom at Rhodes of sacrificing an innocent person annually was altered and one adjudged to die for his crimes substituted in his room The King of Cyprus rescinded a Law of the same importance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amosis did the like in Heliopolis Instead of three men which use to be sacrificed to Juno he appointed three images of wax equal to them to be offered up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb l. 4. c. 16. p. 155. Adrian by the same reason was induced to abrogate all humane sacrifices They disallowed the sacrificing of any thing which is of a material and sensible nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr apud Euseb praep Ev. l. 4. p. 149. Porph. c. 2. p. 99. l. de sacrificiis Euseb l. 4. c. 13. p. 150. asserting that there is nothing material which is not impure to him who is immaterial They expresly say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pure mind and soul free from exorbitant passion is the most acceptable sacrifice that can be tendered to the Deity Apollonius Tianeus asserts that the way to make God propitius to a man is not to kindle fire and sacrifice sensible things but to offer up his mind in Prayer to him These particulars being put together it is evident that the sacrificing material things is not grounded upon the Law of Nature If there be a positive institution for it it must be either in the Old or New Testament In the Old I grant it even before the Law was given from mount Sinai This is evident from the general practice of men Cain and Abel in the land of Eden Abraham in the land of Canaan Job in the land of Vz Jethro in the land of Midian If there had been nothing in the case but arbitrary pleasure and no setled institution even from the Creation it cannot be conceived how persons of different tempers inhabiting at a great distance one from another should come all to conspire in the same practice And if there was an institution it could be from none but God The grand design of Sacrifices will contribute a further evidence to this assertion They all from the beginning were types of the Sacrifice of Christ the Lamb of God was slain in effigie from the foundation of the World If the Oblation of Christ has its foundation in a divine institution which all must grant then sacrifices which had always an aspect upon it must have the same basis He who designs the end appoints the means conducing to it The Faith of the Sacrificers is a further demonstration Abel is said by Faith to offer up a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain Heb. 11.4 Faith in this chapter is mentioned several times and is in every place of the same import Now it is expressed that the Faith of Noah and Abraham was founded upon Revelation the first was warned of God the second called therefore we have reason to conclude the same concerning the Faith of Abel when he made his Oblation to the Divine Majesty Lastly God's acceptance of the Sacrifices then tendred gives assurance that the Sacrificers had the warranty of the Divine Will for what they did The usual token was the descent of celestial Fire upon the Sacrifice We never read of any such testimony that was given of divine complacency in meer arbitrary worship but on the contrary frequent condemnation of it Tho the worship at Tophet was highly culpable upon several accounts yet they are all omitted except this one yet it never came into the heart of God to command it Jer. 7. v. 21. c. 19. v. 5. Tho' all this be granted it will not follow that Sacrificing is to be continued under the New Testament but on the contrary we have a clear repeal of the old Law as is manifest by the following considerations 1. The Place to which the offering of Sacrifice was appropriated is irrecoverably destroyed by the allowance of Heaven as appears by the predictions of the Prophets and the words of our blessed Saviour When the Jews had obtained a grant from Julian to rebuild it and spared no cost their very shovels being of silver in order to the accomplishment of their work Theod. Hist l. 3. c. 17. p. 103. yet they were not able to perfect it What they did in the day was undone by an invisible hand in the night Vast heaps of materials prepared for building were dissipated by violent Tempests They not desisting nowtithstanding these significations of displeasure at last they were compelled by an Earthquake and an eruption of Fire which consumed many of them 2. The Priesthood which was solely interested in
derive their Original from Moses All this being considered namely the importance of Divine Worship our aptitude to be mistaken about it the policy of the Tempter to cherish our inclinations it must necessarily be our concernment to gain a true Notion of it In order to this end the following particulars are to be well weighed 1. Worship in general imports a reverential and humble acknowledgment of the supereminent worth and excellency which is in another We may honour our inferiours or equals But properly we Worship that only which is vested in some eminency which we our selves are destitute of and therefore the Act always supposes an humble submission in the Mind This Excellency is not only power and authority but goodness or any other perfection We speak as congruously when we say We adore the Wisdom and Benignity of the Supreme Being as his sovereignty and dominion Nebuchadnezar who was in power superiour to Daniel yet worshipped him upon the account of his superlative understanding Worship has several names according to the diversity of the acts whereby the acknowledgment of worth is made if it be by entertaining a high esteem of it in the mind Internal Veneration if by external acts appropriated by nature or institution to signifie this esteem as an humble bowing of the Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serving and obeying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The Worth which is to be acknowledged is either finite or infinite Finite is that which is lodged in a limited Being it is either Moral as in those who are eminent for some Moral Accomplishments or Civil as in Parents and Magistrates Both these challenge from us regards suitable to their Nature The first a Moral the second a Civil Worship Infinite worth is that which is found only in the Supreme Being and our agnitions of it must be made by such acts as are congruous to the nature and institution of him in whom it resides It is as natural for an intellectual Soul rightly polished to make this reverential confession as for a smooth body to make a reflection of the Sun-beams which fall upon it The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports glory signifies likewise a weight The superlative glory of the Divine Nature when duely apprehended is to the Soul what a weight is to the Body it naturally produceth a succumbency and works it into a religious prostration Those who are most elevated in their imagination when they meet with excellency infinitely transcending what they themselves are possess'd of cannot but be so just as to stoop and make their due acknowledgments We never find it controverted in any Nation whether honorary Addresses ought to be made to the Deity All the Sons of Pride upon discovery of boundless perfection blush at the thoughts of competition and study by submissive applications to make it propitious to themselves 3. The Acts whereby an Acknowledgment of infinite Excellency is made are either mediate or immediate By mediate may be understood such as altho' they do not import an immediate acknowledgment of Divine Perfection yet have an efficacious influence upon the production of those which do That their nature may be the better discerned the following particulars must be considered 1. The World is formed by the infinite power of the Supreme Being The intellectual part of it increasing by his benediction he has made it up into families families augmenting he has out of them constituted Kingdoms and Nations By him Princes rule and Subjects are obliged to give their due regards to them 2. Whatsoever is of his formation he hath made with a design to manifest the glory of his goodness and benignity Every wise Agent propounds some worthy end to himself in all his operations and there is no purpose that we know of more worthy of and congruous to the Divine Nature than this 3. That which has an immediate connexion with the glory of his goodness and benignity is the felicity of those whether particular persons families or kingdoms which are produced by him The health of the Patient is the glory of the Physician The prosperity of the Community the honour of the Prince Much more the felicity of the creatures is the glory of him from whom they received their Beings 4. The felicity of Nations and Families consists in their flourishing estate when they are in an enjoyment of all things which the nature of their constitution requires The happiness of solitary persons in the inward tranquillity of their mind when there is no mutiny among their faculties but a transcendent contentment springing from a sence of being imployed in those operations which are sutable to the dignity of humane nature 5. There are many actions which have a peculiar tendency to promote this felicity The flourishing state of Nations and Families is advanced when the deportment of every member is agreeable to the best rules of Policy and Oeconomy When Superiours impose just commands Inferiours render a cheerful obedience and every one moves as an Intelligence in his proper Orb. The inward tranquillity of private persons when they bound their desire of sublunary gratifications with the rules of Temperance are not transported with the smiling aspects nor dejected with the severest frowns of Fortune keep an equal temper amidst all those affronts with which their Contentment is assaulted do not transgress the just bounds of Magnanimity or Meekness sweeten their conversation towards their enemies with gentleness and affability abate the acrimony of Justice with mixtures of Equity encourage beneficence with grateful returns and are merciful to the objects of compassion The Soul having a sense of a turpitude in some actions and that while she is engaged in these her demeanour is agreeable to the dignity of her nature and the grand design of her formation she is eminently delighted with them â—nd arrives at the very top of moral felicity These actions accompanied with the benign influences of Heaven being exerted will introduce such a happy temper into the Community as will highly conduce to the honour of the Supreme Rector and excite all intellectual Beings to fall down before him and make the most reverential acknowledgments of his infinite benignity and goodness Upon this 〈◊〉 they are represented as acts of Religion or Divine Worship S. James says C. 1. v. 27. that Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the father is this to visit the fatherless and the widow and to keep themselves unspotted from the world Here is an abridgment of mediate Religion divided into two branches the Duty of Man towards others and himself The first is expressed in these words to visit the father less c. The second to keep himself unspotted c. The principal part of it in relation to others consisting in being compassionate towards those whose condition requires his succour towards himself in being watchful that he be not infected with the impure conversation of the world these two by
of Worship we may add Hearing Reading receiving the Sacraments The Liturgy joyns together the setting forth the Praise of God and the hearing his Word when we with holy reverence hearken to it we set forth the Praise of his Wisdom and Goodness which by our devout and serious attention we acknowledge to be sufficient and ready to instruct us He who reads the Scripture as the Word of the living God with an intention to be made wise unto Salvation by it doth thereby manifest his deep sence of the incomprehensible and profound understanding of the Author of it When Proselytes are admitted into the Church by Baptism and have the remission of their sins sealed unto them upon the terms of the new Covenant it is an evident indication of their humble resentments of the infinite goodness of God in granting an act of Amnesty and pardon after the violation of the first Covenant Their being baptised in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost is an expression of a reverential acknowledgment of and an entire devotion to the sacred and blessed Trinity The receiving the Symbols of the body and blood of our Lord imports a laudatory agnition of him It is not an empty remembrance which is intended but a solemn commemoration attended with the most emphatical expressions of Praise and Gratitude It is stiled a shewing forth in allusion to the Jewish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was a declaration made in praise of the benignity of Heaven in procuring redemption from the Aegyptian servitude The Wine is stiled by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cup of Blessing and the Bread by Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bread of Thanksgiving These two Sacraments were not designed for the primitive times only but to continue to the last period of the World The reason of their continuance is common to all Ages we have now as much need to renounce our ghostly enemy profess our repentance promote sanctification be received into the Church commemorate the death of Christ renew our covenant gain a fuller Communion as they which lived in the first age And it is not now inexpedient that we should be taught by some visible signs our intellectual powers are in as much dependence upon sence as formerly Were the attainments of the present Age equal to the state of Paradise this way of instruction would not be disagreeable Eden was not without Two Sacramental Trees Their permanency is likewise ascertained to us by a Divine Revelation In the Commission to Baptise it is said I will be with you to the end of the world To interpret baptising nothing else but an initiating by Doctrine without Water and the end of the world the end of the age in which the Apostles lived is to offer too much violence to the Text. The proper Notion of Baptism includes Water We are not to depart from the proper signification of words and comply with a Metaphorical without a peremptory necessity The Context is so far from obliging us to this departure that on the contrary it holds forth a manifest discrimination betwixt baptising and initiating by Doctrine v. 19. v. 20. The first is expressed by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the same importance with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 13. v. 40. and there without controversie it signifies the last period of the world when the Angels shall sever the wicked from the just If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 import the Age it must be remembred that the Jews divided the time from the Creation to the dissolution of all things into two Ages the first expiring at the coming of the Messias the second at the final period of the Universe and so I will be with you to the end of the age is as much as I will be with you to the end of the world The Age before the coming of the Messias cannot be understood he being in our nature when he spake these words therefore the age after must When the Apostle says as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye shew forth the Lord's death till he come He evidently declares that the institution of the Supper is to continue till the last appearing of Jesus Christ There are but four comings of his usually spoken of The First in the Flesh when he assumed our nature the Second in the Spirit to sanctifie and rule his Church the Third in his vindicative Justice to destroy Jerusalem the Fourth in the last day to Judge the World The two first cannot be understood They were past when the Apostle wrote his Epistle The Messias was then come in the Flesh to all mankind In the Spirit at the solemn feast of Pentecost and in particular to the Corinthians they were sanctified in Christ Jesus 1 Ep. 1.2 But the coming which the Apostle aims at is future until I come Neither can we understand his coming to destroy Jerusalem For these words are inserted with a design to awake the Corinthians to a greater degree of circumspection in their preparations for the holy Communion intimating that it shall continue till Christ come to summon them before his Tribunal and judge them for their unworthy Approaches There was no summons of the Corinthians at the overthrow of Jerusalem and therefore the last coming must be understood These Acts which have been enumerated some in savour of the Mass would perswade us that sacrificing is to be added as a part of Divine Worship under the Gospel If this be so it must be warranted by some Divine Law and this must be either natural or positive Natural it is not as will be evident by the following considerations 1. A Sacrifice is an Oblation of some material thing unto God and in the offering destroyed The essential difference whereby it is distinguished from other Oblations is the destructive mutation This change cannot reasonably be esteemed an act of Worship but so far as it is an acknowledgment of some excellency appertaining to the Divine Nature as Sovereignty Wisdom Goodness c. In its self before it has an institution enstamped upon it it imports no such agnition Were we left to the conduct of natural light it would rather induce us to believe that the Godhead is dishonoured than worshipped by a dissolution of the creature in whose composure divine Power and Wisdom are eminently conspicuous 2. If the light of nature leads us to this practice it must be because it conduceth to the Honour of God and if so we being under an obligation to honour him in the superlative and most exalted degree the same reason will dictate that mankind the most excellent part of the visible Creation is to be singled out for this sacred purpose Nay that Abraham wanted not the warranty of a revelation for the offering up of Isaac but was sufficiently instructed by the light of Nature in that concernment
them It is natural for matter to persevere in the state in which it is till it meet with such an agent If they were in motion this motion must be regulated by Laws or else be casual and fortuitous If by Laws there must be an Intelligent Being to form and impress them upon the several particles and this can be nothing but a God If casual and fortuitous it is not imaginable they having no Commander over them how they should fall into their several ranks and produce as beautiful an order as the most accurate wisdom could have contrived We may with less force to our understandings conceive how millions of blind deaf and dumb men in a vast desert without any General over them may fall into a military Order march in their distinct ranks keep to their proper colours charge their enemies fall back without the least confusion as how an innumerable company of material Particles ranging in an infinite space without any intelligence to regulate their motion should produce all the curious appearances with which the Universe is adorned He must be exalted in his own fancy who can perswade himself how after all the dances which these particles have had from eternity they should at last come to embrace and clasp together some in the shape of Dogs snarling and barking some in the shape of Horses neighing and prancing others in the shape of Men talking and laughing together How is it possible that the rational Soul which has no matter in it should be made by a combination of such material ingredients That faculty which has a perception of the habitudes respects and similitudes betwixt things which make no impression upon matter must necessarily have a spiritual and immaterial constitution If the matter and form of the World did emerg and begin in time they must either of their own accord start out of the Abyss of nothing or else be fetched from thence by the energy of some superiour power The first must not be asserted Nothing can be the cause of it self for then it would be before it was in Being and by consequence be and not be at the same time If the second then that Superior Power must be lodged in some intelligent Being This Being must have an Aseity and be entirely from himself without dependence upon any other and therefore infinite in all perfection there being nothing higher to limit and set bounds unto him And this is that which we mean by a God As from the World in general it appears there is a Deity so likewise from the several parts of which it consists the Heavens the Earth the Body the Soul of Man There is not a Star in the Firmament but it shews forth the glory of this Being When we behold the heavenly Luminaries sailing in the fluid body of the Air we must necessarily conclude that there is a skilful Pilot at the stern If one born and educated within the caverns of the earth should be suddenly set upon the supersicies of it in a clear night to take a prospect he would be inclined to ask the same question which he did who saw the first ship arrive at Colchos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He who can perswade himself that all these glorious Lights came there fortuitously without the contrivance of an intelligent Being may with as much ease believe that passing through a City in a dark night all the Candles which he meets with at every door came there by chance Indeed there are attempts made to salve the Celestial appearances with Matter Figure and Motion We are told that Matter in distinct pieces being moved circularly will by grinding one against the other weare off the angular protuberances and become perfectly circular and that the angulose parts which are broken off will be of two sorts the lesser which are fit for motion the greater and more course which by reason of their unevenness are apt to entangle one within another and not to make their rounds with the same degree of celerity as the lesser do The finer sort is called the first Element The globular pieces the second The course rubbish the third The first is supposed to constitute the Sun and fixed Stars The second with some irregular particles to fill up the triangular spaces betwixt them the Heavens The third the Planets and Comets It being natural to all matter in motion to move in a right line there will be an endeavour in every part of it to recede from the Center and therefore that which is most solid and able to persevere in motion will be at the greatest distance from the middle point Yet all this doth not represent such a composition of the Heavens as to exclude the interposals of an infinite Being The Matter of which they consist the Laws whereby the motion of the matter is regulated have notwithstanding a dependence upon some intelligent Agent Matter cannot be of it self when it is made it has no more motion than what is communicated to it The motion imparted could not produce so beautiful an Order as is visible in the World were it not for some Laws which the Creator has impressed agreeable to his own nature This Hypothesis doth not only suppose a Deity as necessary upon the account of these particulars but likewise in order to the preservation of the several Vortices within their due bounds and limits For it represents the Heavens in a perfect state of War one Vortex discharging its Globuli shooting the thinner irregular Particles out of the Ecclypticks into the Poles and constantly thrusting one against another If this be true it cannot be imagined how the Heavens above five thousand years together should continue with so few alterations as Astronomers have observed in case there be no God to limit every Vortex and hinder the encroachment of the greater upon the less No doubt by this time had not there been a Moderator to keep the ballance equal the greater would have swallowed up the rest and the Star in the middle obtained an universal Monarchy We have the more reason to believe that a divine hand is interested in this affair because when the Vortex we live in has suck'd in any other the Star which belongs to it degenerating into a Comet is always believed to be ominous and prophetical of some great thing which the supreme Being is about to bring to pass As the Heavens so likewise the Earth declares the existence of a Deity When we consider so vast a body encompassed with nothing which is visible but a fluid mass of Air the curiosities of Nature lock'd up in the bowels of it the various sorts of Plants which beautifie the superficies it is natural to conceive that some invisible Power is concerned in these effects Indeed it is said that there are three Principles known by the names of Sal Sulphur and Mercury which are form'd in the interior Region of the Earth The Mercury rarified by motion being impatient of so
close a confinement takes its flight with the other two blended with it into the upper region of the Earth where they constitute Minerals Plants and whatsoever the earth we tread upon is adorned with This Hypothesis is no prejudice to us for it supposeth an intelligent Being as the first Creator of matter and Moderator of its motion And when it is managed with the greatest dexterity comes very short of giving true satisfaction about many terrestrial Phaenomena how they are produced in a Mechanical way In it no provision is made for any reasonble account of the variety of Plants how it comes to pass that out of one and the same soil should spring such great diversity as the earth is beautified with If these did originally emerg out of a combination of various Particles ascending from the interior region of the Earth there must be a continuation of the like emanations for the nourishing of them and if so it is unaccountable how the several streams of Particles should be able to find out amidst such great variety as is sometimes in a little spot of ground all those roots which they properly belong to Neither can any good reason be given in case all these should be pull'd up and Wheat or any other Grain sown in the room of them how all those Particles of which some are supposed inflexible when they miss of the roots they are accustomed to should presently change their figure and become as nutritive of the new body as they had been formerly of the old To say the Succus of the Earth is modified by the figure of the Root or Seed is contrary to the Hypothesis under consideration for it is supposed in it that the interior region of the Earth is the shop where all the Particles are forged But let it be so it is but necessary that those who say it should give some account in a Mechanical way how the Seed came to be in such a mode or figure This Hypothesis likewise leaves us as much at a loss about the curiosities which appear in the composure of Plants Whatsoever Particles may be drawn out of the bowels of the Earth and elevated to the surface of it yet it doth not appear by any Mechanical Law how they should fall into such exact order as to produce the elegant colours and curious proportions which are visible in them Were Archimedes present with his Compasses or Michael Angelo with his Pencil their imitations would fall very short of that exactness which is obvious to every eye There are as great difficulties about their various virtues Whatsoever Succus ascends to the exterior part of the Earth it is not conceivable how it should cause a Plant to spring up which is hot in its operation and within an inch of it another cold one astringent another laxative one poisonous another nutritive one grateful another displeasing to the palate If this variety were the product only of some juice modified within the Earth this juice must be Homogeneous or Heterogeneous NOt the first because it could not be the cause of so much variety Not the second because the soil many times where such Plants grow is found in every part of it to be of the same Nature as appears by its administring an equal nourishment when the Plants are rooted up to any kind of Seed which is sown in the room of them Lastly The Hypothesis we speak of gives no account how a little kernel comes to be improved into the vast body of a Tree How a grain of Mustard the least of all Seeds should become the greatest of Herbs Why the Thistle in Lebanon should not be as tall as the Cedar or the Oak in Bashan as low as the Hyssop upon the wall It has not yet been made to appear by what force the Succus ascends contrary to its own gravity How it comes to climb in some Trees a yard in others five by what Law it is engaged to spread it self into Arms and Branches and what Principle has set bounds which cannot be exceeded So inscrutable is the Wisdom of him who framed the Earth that the most profound inquiries into Nature are not able to discover all the methods of it Something is industriously concealed to teach us that the Wisdom which formed the Earth far transcends all finite capacities As the Earth so the Men which inhabit it declare the existence of a Deity in their Bodies and Souls 1. Their Bodies He who takes a deliberate view of the composure of them must necessarily be convinced of the interposals of Wisdom in the contrivance The usual indications of Wisdom are the aiming at some worthy design the election of congruous means for the accomplishment of it and the actual bringing to pass what is designed All these are manifest to any who consider the frame of a humane Body It is manifestly intended to be a convenient habitation for the Soul This immortal Tenant having a considerable term of time to spend in it and being of an active and vigorous nature delighted with variety of objects it is necessary that its dwelling should be repaired be moveable and furnished with avenues whereby it may entertain and perceive those objects it meets with In order to repairs there could not be a better provision of means contrived by all the Wisdom in the World Two rowes of Teeth are formed to prepare the nourishment by Mastication an acid humor in the Ventricle for the conversion of it into Chyle strait passages in the Intestines for the separation of the purer part from the excrementitious a conveiance for it to the common Receptacle Ductus to derive it from thence into the Veins where by the potency of the Blood it is converted into the same nature Ventricles in the Heart for the entertainment of it Valvulae to prevent the recess and the Hearts being charged with too great a quantity at one time which might occasion a suffocation a passage out of the Ventricle into the Lungs where the Air thro' the Larynk communicates a temper to it a passage out of the Lungs into the left and from thence by the branches of the great Artery into all the parts of the Body Anastomoses or pores for the transmission of it out of the Arteries into the Veins again that the circulation may be continued for the repetition of the same work That every part of the body may move there is likewise a wise and accurate provision The immediate instruments of motion are the Muscles Besides the Flesh which is predominant in their composition they have Filaments or Fibres which constitute the tendon or ligament whereby the Muscle is tied to the part which it is designed to move Besides the Fibres there are Nerves which serve as channels to convey the Spirits For the providing matter for the generation of Spirits a vast quantity of Blood is prepared far exceeding what is found in other Animals The Blood in the body of Man bears the same
proportion to the other parts of it as one does to ten So that if a Man weighs two hundred pounds the Blood makes twenty of them Whereas in other Animals it is but as one to twenty For the distiling and straining of the Spirits out of this matter there is an elaboratory namely the Brain which in a Man is twice as much as in a Beast four times bigger in body As Men are designed for more action than brute Animals so the preparations conducing to that purpose are greater these Spirits commanded by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Soul into any part of the Body swell the Muscle and cause it to attract and pull the part which it is tied unto That the Soul may have a sensation of external objects their preparations are not inferior to those for motion and nutrition The Nerves which arise in the Brain are dispersed into all the parts of the Body So that no member can be touched by any object but the impression is presently conveyed into the Head Tho' there is great variety in the modification of the external Senses yet there is nothing superfluous I will instance only in the Eye It is lapped about with two coats to defend it against the injuries of the Air the outward is diaphanous in the forepart for the admission of the raies of light The inward has an aperture for the same reason which like a Curtain is moveable that the Pupilla may be greater or less according to the dimensions or distance of the object These Coats are filled with three Humours which refract the raies proceeding from the same point and make them to meet again at the bottom of the Eye which very much promotes distinct Vision The Crystalline Humor has on both sides the Processus Ciliares which serve as Tendons to alter the figure of it according as the object is nearer or farther off It will never enter into the belief of any intelligent Man that this provision for nutrition motion and sensation should be accidental and if any Wisdom be interested in the contrivance of it it must be our own or our Parents or the Wisdom of an invisible Being neither we or they know any thing of it and therefore there must be a Being in the World infinitely Wise which can be no other than what the true notion of a God imports As the Body so the Soul of Man evidently demonstrates the existence of a Deity the Powers of it are Two Understanding and Will These Two are so linked together that what conduceth to the perfection of the one never tends to the prejudice of the other The Will is no loser by any accomplishment of the Understanding nor the Understanding by any thing which is of sincere advantage to the Will If there be no God the contrary will be true For it is the perfection of the Understanding to know it truth being its proper object but the greatest damage to the Will No immorality will be disgusted when it comes to be informed that there is no Supreme Being to punish Vice and reward Virtue If the Understanding know it not this ignorance is a blemish to it but a true advantage to the Will there being nothing more efficacious to confine it within the bounds of Sobriety than this perswasion that there is a God The Principles as well as the Powers of the Soul give evidence in this matter As the false gods had their characters impressed upon the bodies of those who worshipped them So the True God has set his signatures upon the Soul there is a Law and a Conscience in every Man a Rule and a Judge a Law which points out the difference betwixt Just and Unjust Good and Evil Virtue and Vice This Rule is reduced in the Imperial Institutions to these Maximes Nothing must be done which is a violation of Piety Modesty Reputation We must not prejudice the estimation liberty and safety of others We must give to every one that which is his own These Axioms have the immediate effect of a Law which is to bind and take away our freedom to do that which is contrary Every Man is sensible that he is not at liberty to oppose the sence of these Propositions in his conversation In case he does if there be any remains of humane nature in him he finds himself under remorse and is really punished in the loss of that contentment which a sence of being employed in a good action is always accompanied with There cannot be a stricter obligation than this that a man must either do that which the propositions import or else lose his true felicity If this rule has the effect of a Law which is to bind it must have the essence and nature the operation is always a true indication of the nature of every thing and if the nature it must be made and impressed by some Sovereign Power The Legislative Power is never vested in an Inferior This Sovereign which made and impressed this Law must have a dominion over all mankind because all whether Princes or Peasants are sensible of their obligations in this particular Therefore there must be a Superior and invisible Power in the World which is that which we mean by the Deity As there is a Law in the Soul which argues the existence of God so likewise a Conscience This signifies the judgment of every Man imployed about his own actions as they bear a proportion or disproportion to the Divine Law Upon a discovery of guilt condemnation presently passeth and as great a consternation follows as that in a malefactor when he hears the sentence of death denounced against him Tho' in a time of prosperity when all things are quiet and serene the intellectual pulse may be very slow yet when a storm ariseth it is quickly awakened in the most exorbitant persons Every clap of Thunder is believed to be a messenger sent from Heaven to serve an Arrest upon them When they make the fairest appearance in the World they are like a Tragedy bound up in guilt leather without there is splendor within tumults and murder Their external Triumphs like the Drums of Tophet help only to drown the unwelcom reports of their uneasie Spirits These direful fears which haunt the Soul when it is no way obnoxious to the animadversions of humane justice evidently declare that there is an invisible power in the World which has impressed them and stands prepared to give it a taste of the most severe animadversions of his displeasure They cannot be imputed to melancholy because persons of all humours the most airy Tempers have been molested by them The Poet speaks of all in general But thinkst thou Curtman hoâ— in a vasâ—sse puteâ— c. they go free whose conscience make Whips that unheard their guilty Soul doth shake The Apostle asserts of the whole Community of the Gentiles Rom. 2. that their thoughts accuse them Neither are they the injections of politick Princes to keep their
Jesus is said to return in the power of the Spirit Luk. 14. S. Paul prays that the Romans may abound in hope thro' the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15 14. Mighty signs and wonders are said to be done by the power of the Spirit of God If the Spirit in these places did signifie no more than a divine power the meaning would be that Christ returned the Romans abounded miracles were wrought thro' the power of a Power The Spirit is likewise evidently distinguished from effects or gifts The Apostle saies that There are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 To one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit v. 8. And that all these worketh this one and the same Spirit So that there can be nothing left in these Texts for the Spirit to signifie but a Person He being manifestly distinguished from the Divine Power and the gifts and products of that Power Now I have finished the second Proposition In the Godhead there are Three Persons 3. These Three are One God Unity is essential to the Deity Plurality proceeds from the fecundity and fruitfulness of Causes but God is of himself without dependence upon any Cause If there be more Gods there must be more Infinites in the same kind which implies a contradiction for one infinite Being contains all perfection not only as considered in the general notion but actually and therefore there is none for any other Deity to be invested with and possessed of in the same manner If there be more Gods they must be distinct one from another This distinction must arise from some diversity in Nature to attribute such diversity to the Divine Nature is to make a dishonourable reflection upon the simplicity of it The Father Son and Holy Ghost are this One God 1. The Scripture plainly asserts that they are one 1 John 5.7 Tho' these words are not found in some Copies yet they are extant in more than they are wanting in and in that which is dubious the decision is according to the suffrage of the major part If such an addition has been made to the Text it must be done before or after the two first General Councils If before it was either accidental or intentional Not Accidental thro' the inadvertency of the Scribe For tho' a Scribe may mistake and leave out letters and words yet it cannot be imagined that he should casually without any design add a whole sentence and not presently upon a review which may be justly presumed in a Writing of such importance discover and correct his errour Not Intentional no good reason can be given why any should industriously make such a spurious insertion before the controversie concerning the Deity of Christ and the Holy Ghost did commence Neither was the addition which is pretended made after the two first General Councils Because the words we speak of are found in those Copies which the Fathers who lived before those Councils made use of S. Cyprian asserts de Patre Filio c. Of the Father Son and Holy Ghost it is written and these Three are One. This gives us just reason to believe that the Copies in which these words are wanting fell into the hands of the Arrians and that a rasure was made by them 2. As the words of S. John assure us that The Father the Son and the Spirit are One so we are assured by other texts of Sacred Writ that this Unity is in the Divine Essence They have all one and the same infinite Nature This is evident by the attribution of the Name Properties and peculiar Operations of the most High God to them None doubt of this relation to the Father The matter is likewise clear concerning the Son and the Spirit Christ is called the mighty God Isa 9.6 God blessed for evermore Rom. 9.5 The true God 1 Joh. 5.20 The most high God Psal 58.17 56. The most High which the Israelites tempted and provoked in the wilderness is expresly called Christ 1 Cor. 10.9 The name of God is never attributed in the sacred Oracles with such emphatical Epithets to any finite Being They are intentionally inserted to signifie that Jesus is stiled God not upon the account of his Embassy from his Father or a deification in the state of Glory but his infinite Nature He who is made God and is not so essentially cannot be said to be the true mighty most High God blessed for evermore As the Name of God so the Properties of the Divine Nature are attributed to him Omniscience Joh. 21.17 Immutability Heb. 1.11 Omnipotence Rev. 1.8 Eternity He is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is which was which is to come v. 4. Eternity comprehends all differences of time Was he but a meer Creature such perfections could not reside in him A finite Being under the greatest Elevation has not a capacity large enough to entertain and receive such boundless excellencies The peculiar Operations of God are likewise attributed to him as Creation Joh. 1.2 Coloss 1.16 God is said to create all things by Jesus Christ Eph. 3.9 The Son did concur with the Father and the Spirit in this great Work as a co-ordinate cause The Nature of Creation will not admit the interposals of an instrument There being no matter to prepare a physical instrument has nothing to do in the case And Christ is represented as more than a Moral The infinite power whereby all things are made is often ascribed to him which is never done to a meer moral instrument such as the Apostles were in the production of Miracles Conservation is likewise ascribed to him He is said to uphold all things with the word of his power Heb. 1.3 It was usual for the Jews to express the Deity by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here inserted to assure them that Christ sustains the World and prevents its relapse into its primitive Abyss by virtue of his Deity Lastly He is said to work Miracles He made the blind to see the lame to walk the dead to revive This he did not bring to pass by any mutuatitious power When he healed the multitude it is said Virtue went out of him Luk. 6.19 The power whereby he did it was not adventitious but innate When S. Peter wrought a miracle that Christ by whose power it was effected might not be deprived of the glory of it he names him as the principal cause His name thro' faith in his name hath made this man whole Act. 3.16 As the name properties and operations of the Divine Nature are attributed to the Son of God So likewise to the Holy Ghost The Spirit of the Lord 2 Sam. 23.2 is stiled the God of Israel Ananias who lied unto the Spirit Act. 5.3 is said to lie unto God v. 4. The body which is the Temple of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 is stiled
the Church of the first-born Esau is stiled profane because he slighted this sacred immunity The Posterity of Levi who ministred about holy things are said to be taken in the room of the first-born Numb 3. If there be any ambiguity in these Texts Universal Tradition gives us no small degree of assurance that we are not mistaken in that sence which we have chosen It is the general belief of the Jews and of the antient Fathers of the Christian Church That the first-born were invested with the power we have attributed to them Omnes primogeniti ex stirpe Noae Epist 126. ad Evag. Qu. Heb. â—â—1 All the first-born of Noah's stock were Priests are the words of S. Jerome What is usually produced by those who are of a contrary mind is not sufficient to invalidate this Evidence It is said That the Young men Exo. 24. were not Priests They did not sprinkle the Blood upon the Altar Esau is stiled prophane for contemning his Primogeniture because the primacy and a double portion were annex'd to it by a divine institution The Levites which were substituted in the room of the first-born were not Priests The First-born were not consecrated to God till the deliverance out of Egypt upon the account of their being preserved when the first-born of the Aegyptians were destroyed The Younger Brother is generally preferred before the Elder as Jacob before Esau Judah and Joseph before Reuben as Theodoret notes In Gen. Qu. 108. To all which I reply in order 1. The Young Men mentioned Exod. 24.5 are expresly called Priests Exod. 19.22 The Order of Aaron was not then instituted and who can they be but those whom Moses imployed to offer Sacrifice The Sacerdotal Work is attributed to them They are said to offer burnt-offerings and sacrifice peace-offerings unto the Lord. A Priest was ordained for this very purpose Heb. 5.1 If they had been Ministers to Moses and brought only the beasts in order to the being offered up the very act of Offering would not be ascribed to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed some have thought that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports only LXX That the Young Men were appointed to bring the Sacrifices but without any just reason for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when joyned with Sacrifice by the Greek Interpreters generally signifies to offer up If it should here denote only to bring it would not disappoint what is designed to be proved by us for it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they sacrificed as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tho' the Young Men did not sprinkle the Blood yet there were other Sacerdotal actions which they were ingaged in the performance of as the Dedication of the Offering and the Mactation and Oblation of it by Fire which are sufficient to demonstrate that they were vested in a Sacerdotal Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports all these 2. Esau is stiled prophane because he slighted something which was Holy That is properly Holy which is dedicated unto God and immediately related to him The double portion and the power to govern the Family had no such Dedication They were Civil Matters appertaining to the concerns of this Life and therefore there is reason to believe that this Epithete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is given to him not for the disvaluing of them but the Priesthood which was conversant about things appertaining unto God Tho' a Divine Precept did entitle him to the Primacy and a double portion yet it is not so proper to say They were Holy and he Prophane for neglecting of them By a Divine Command every man is obliged to do his own business Yet it is not very congruous to assert that every Man 's Worldly business is Holy and he prophane who is idle or meddles with other mens matters 3. When it is said That the Levites were taken instead of all the first-born Num. 3.12 We may understand all which were descended from Levi and then Aaron and his Sons will be included which were undoubtedly invested in the Priestly Office If Levites be taken only for all the Sons of Levi except Aaron's Family yet we have enough for our purpose They were devoted to attend upon the Priesthood and minister about Sacred Things when the Priests were so few That they could not slay all the burnt-offerings they helped them 2 Chron. 29.34 When one is said to be in the room of another it doth not argue a similitude in every circumstance but an agreement in the main As the First-born were devoted to the ministery of holy things so were the Levites 4. The preservation of the First-born of Israel when the First-born of Aegypt were destroyed gave occasion to the renewal of an old Charter Sanctifie all the first-born whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel both of man and beast it is mine Exo. 13.2 It is not said it shall be mine but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is mine Which intimates some constitution whereby the first-born were devoted to God antecedent to the sanctification here spoken of After the redemption from the Aegyptian bondage many of the Laws given to the people were declaratory only of former constitutions as the Precept concerning clean and unclean beasts blood sacrifices with many others All these were antient constitutions which the practices of the Zabiists gave occasion to renew and why this concerning the First-born might not be of the same nature I see no reason to think 5. Tho' the Younger Brothers had the preference in some respects yet not in those which did relate to the Primogeniture Tho' Jacob was designed to be the object of the peculiar favours of Heaven yet the right to the immunities of the first-born was in Esau until his voluntary alienation The same priviledge was vested in Reuben till he forfeited it by desiling his Father's bed The preference which Theodoret speaks of was upon the account of the Unction and Graces which the Younger Brothers were indued with and not the Function and Office Those who are Superiour in Office may be Inferiour in Gifts to those who are under an obligation of subjection From the giving of the Law to the times of the Messias we have likewise sufficient evidence for Ecclesiastical Persons It being the pleasure of God to be Worshipped in two places the Temple and the Synagogue there were persons solemnly set apart for the discharge of the duties of Religion required in both To the Temple-Service the Sons of Levi were devoted The Rites belonging to their Consecration are perspicuous in the Holy Scripture These were divided into Priests and those who were assistant to them The Priests were of the house of Aaron and their work to offer Sacrifice and to Bless in the name of the Lord. The Levites had their several offices allotted to them After the Ark was fixed and the work which they were originally dedicated to in part brought to a period they were digested into several Classes Some of
discloseth that which before was under a total concealment Therefore God designing Man for Religion has besides what he has discovered in the Law of Nature divers ways and manners revealed himself in all Ages In Paradise by a Voice from Heaven conveyed in a Gale of Wind stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 3. Aquil. Afterward by the Vrim and Thummim contained in the Sacerdotal Pectoral Sometimes by Prophecy by which the Jews understand an influence from Heaven transmitted in a Vision or dream into the Soul of which they make four degrees The first is when the influence is terminated upon the rational faculty only The second when the Imaginative is agitated but the rational part retains the predominancy The third when both are kept in a just poize and equally ballance one another The fourth when the Fancy is uppermost and it becomes difficult for the Intellect to comprehend the import of the representation Sometimes God has revealed himself by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely a celestial influx whereby Men when they were awake and had the ordinary use and vigour of their Senses were inabled to utter words of Wisdom far exceeding their ordinary strain This is that which is attributed by the Hebrews to those who were concerned in the composure of the Hagiographal part of the Old Testament and was certainly conferred upon the holy Men who framed the New What God was pleased to reveal these several ways He by his Providence communicated throughout the World That which He discovered to Adam by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adam communicated to his Sons and Daughters from whom all mankind proceed The thred of their lives was spun out to such a length That Three of them Methusalem Sem and Isaac were in a capacity to carry on the Tradition till a little before Jacob's going down into Aegypt What was discovered by prophecy was committed to a People who had their habitation in the center of the known World From thence this celestial Light was communicated in the Greek Tongue to all parts of the circumference Upon this account we read of devout Men at Jerusalem out of every nation under heaven Act. 2.5 The Queen of Sheba was not the only person which heard of the Wisdom of Solomon What was revealed by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was blessed with an universal communication Rom. 10.18 Coloss 1.6 Insomuch That if any place wants this revelation we are not to accuse the goodness of God but the impiety of Men which provoked him to withdraw so signal a favour 4. Such Conduct will be prejudicial to the Souls of Men in relation to their future state They are in a ready way to fall into the grossest errours Those who have no other Compass to Sail by but the light of their own Intellect whatsoever Topic it is derived from will quickly make shipwreck of Faith and a good Conscience There is no superstition so barbarous but they may be reconciled to the belief of the reasonableness of it and think they are obliged to a conformity unto it It was a real trouble to the Votaries of Moloch to abstain from murdering their children and offering them up to that Idol The Aegyptians had no satisfaction in their own Spirits if they did not make religious addresses to Apes and Crocodiles He who is governed only by his own Reason will be apt to boggle at the peculiar Object of our Worship the most blessed and sacred Trinity This Mystery is too deep for the line of a finite understanding to reach to the bottom of He will be under strong inclinations to raise objections against it and err about that which is necessary to his Salvation And he who is tainted with this distemper and obstinately perseveres in it the Apostle says is subverted and self-condemned if not formally yet virtually according to an equitable interpretation even as those who thrust from them the Word are said to judge themselves unworthy of eternal life Indeed we are told That Speculative Errours about the Mysteries of Religion have no hurt in them and that we may be as safe on the lest as on the right side Because there is no disobedience in them They are unavoidable It is uncharitable to think them damnable A Catalogue of those which are so cannot be made The sault cannot be known by the guilty The probability of Truth on both sides assures us That God will not punish those that err Such errours cannot be displeasing which have their allowance from Conscience the Vice-gerent of God To all which I will reply in order 1. Errour is inclusive of Disobedience We are under an obligation to submit our Intellects to Divine Revelation as well as our Wills and we are commanded not only to endeavour to find out the Truth but actually to find it Try all things hold fast that which is good To try imports the search to hold fast supposeth the finding the promise is made to those which are successful in their inquiry This is Life Eternal to know and not only to endeavour it Is it not an act of disobedience when God has given us the Light of his Word to walk by to make it our free choice to neglect this infallible Guide and prefer the Light of our own private judgment which way soever communicated to us He who refuses the Light of the Sun in the day time for his conduct and travels only in the night by Moon-shine tho' he endeavours to the utmost to find his way by those dim emanations yet in case he lose it the fault is entirely to be resolved into himself who might have enjoyed the benefit of a greater Light which would have effectually secured him against deviation 2. Errours in Religion are not unavoidable God has made a plentiful provision for our direction The Scripture is the Pandect of the Divine Will sufficient to instruct the Man of God he who errs has nothing to charge but his own will in whose power it was to have continued the scrutiny till the object had been disintangled and set free from all real scruples When the object is arrived at such a degree of clarity there is no fear of deception it being not reconcileable with the Divine Veracity that our faculty should be so composed as to be deceived in that case Errour proceeds from our giving our assent too hastily before the proposition be clear to us It being in the power of the Will to suspend the assent till that time we can with justice charge nothing but the Will as the fountain of the aberration 3. It is no uncharitableness to say That errour is damnable Faith and Charity go hand in hand That Proposition which is the object of the first cannot be inconsistent with the second Now it is evident That it is a branch of our Creed that some errours are of this nature Whosoever abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God Jo. 2. ep v. 7. There shall be false
If any difficulty arise about the manner of God's operating with the Will which we cannot comprehend we must not let go the belief of that which is clear for that which is obscure Things many times are very perspicous when the modes are concealed He would be accounted very vain who should attempt to deny That there is any such thing as light because it is difficult to explain the way of its emanation from the great Luminary of the World Every Man is sensible of a determining Power within himself That in the midst of his intellectual discussions he has a liberty to make his election of such an object as he apprehends to be most agreeable to himself To deny this because we are not fully satisfied about every mode in the doing of it is the same thing as if we should affirm That there is no such Sence as Seeing because it is not yet agreed whether the Eye perform its office by the entertainment of some Effluviums from the Object or by the help of some pressure only upon the Optic Nerve Now I have done with the second particular namely the strength whereby we are inabled to perform what we are directed to This we must expect from the Spirit of God And now I proceed to the last 3. The acceptance of what we perform is procured by the satisfaction and merit of Jesus Christ In order to the clearing up of this Truth the following steps must be taken 1. The acceptance of our Worship and Service is not upon its own account There are great defects in the best of our performances Our Faith tho' it be unfeigned yet it wants That firmness our Love tho' sincere That fervour which the Law requires The Law is natural and immutable and can no more abate in its demands than the fire can cease to be of a hot nature or the Sun to be a lucid Body If our most plausible actions were examined according to the rigour of it many flames would be discovered in them The Prophet tells us Isai 64.6 All our righteousnesses are as silthy rags The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho' it be variously interpreted yet all the Glosses agree in charging our most valuable services with imperfection The precedent words justifie the Exposition We are all as an unclean thing The fountain being impure the streams which issue from it will carry with them some signatures of the same impurity The Apostle says We know but in part it is as sure That we love and obey but in part The Will being principally concerned in the Fall must necessarily lie under a depravation equal to that of the Understanding It is a saying among the Rabbins Buxt Rab. Lex rad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 953. 1602. So long as the just live they are at war with concupiscence They affirm there are Three Sins which daily every man is guilty of Sinful Thoughts want of attention in Prayer evil words The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they represent as the cause of these miscarriages they tell us That God will bring forth in the world to come and slay before the righteous and the wicked 2. Acceptance is not upon the account of the favour of God without the interposal of satisfaction for sin by satisfaction we must understand the doing of something which repairs the damage which is received by an injury and the quieting thereby the mind of the injured who is provoked by reason of the damage A great injury is done by Sin to the Supreme Rector of the World His Authority is trampled upon and the Majesty of his Law diminished his Government exposed to contempt publick Order unhinged and by this means he is justly incensed The ready way to repair the damage and atone his displeasure is to require That the penalties due to the transgression or such as are equivalent to them be suffered and in them to express his just indignation against Sin and impress upon all such a fear and reverence as the Laws of Heaven do challenge That this should be done antecedently to Pardon and Acceptance is evidently the Will of God declared in the Holy Scripture There we find That there is no acceptance without remission and there is no remission without the shedding of blood and that this blood is the blood of a Mediator thro' which we must have redemption Rom. 3.24 Eph. 4.7 This is the reason why the Divine Amnesty from the time of the Primitive Apostasie has had a constant aspect upon this blood When the Apostle asserts concerning the Mediator if he had been to offer up himself often as the High-Priest entred into the Holy of Holiest every year with the blood of others then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the World He plainly intimates That from the beginning the Father has had a regard to the blood and sufferings of his Son in the remission of Sins Tho' satisfaction was not then made yet it was promised Captives are frequently set free in consideration of the ransom promised before it be actually paid As satisfaction is certainly agreeable to the Will of God So it seems to be sutable to the propensity of his nature Supposing the Creation it is necessary that he have a Soveraignty and Dominion over it and if he be a Sovereign Lord over the Creation he must actually govern it It is a defect to be invested with Power and not to exercise it in relation to the Community and if he governs it must be by Law Government supposeth Obedience Obedience in the Intellectual part of Creation must be an act of the Understanding The Understanding cannot act except it has a knowledge of the Will of him who governs His Will published and made known is a Law If there be a Law it must be holy it being enacted by him who is infinite in purity and sanctity and if it be holy he cannot but love it the same necessity which doth oblige him to love himself will engage him to love the resemblance And if he love his Law he cannot but hate sin which is opposite to it Hatred to that which is contrary to Holiness must be as natural to him as to love and delight in Holiness And if it be natural to terminate his hatred upon sin by an equal necessity he is obliged to punish it For hatred is never found in any without a peremptory desire to do evil to that which is its object and such a desire when it is in one who wills nothing rashly who is armed with sufficiency of power to execute whatsoever he wills who cannot be diverted from execution by any unseen emergency must necessarily take effect and whatsoever evil is done to sin by him who cannot err in his administrations must have the formality of punishment all evil being either the evil of sin or the evil of punishment This penalty must either be inflicted upon the Offender and then there will be no place left for Pardon
and acceptance or else upon some person who is willing to become a surety for the Delinquent and is able by his sufferings to restore that honour which publick order has been impaired in and by this means content the mind of the Supreme Rector and this is properly satisfaction What is usually said That if the nature of God doth oblige him to punish sin then he is by the same necessity ingaged to punish it in the offender is of no moment His hatred being not primarily terminated upon the person but the sin if the guilt be transferred by imputation to a Surety it is not incongruous to assert That the sin may be punished in him Some acts which are in general natural to God are free and undetermined in respect of the modification To Govern the World supposing the Creation is essential to him yet the mode whether he will do it immediately by himself only or make use of the Ministry of Men is his free choice So tho' to punish Sin is natural yet the manner of doing of it whether in the person offending or his undertaker is at his election If it be further added That if it be natural to punish it must be done so soon as the transgression is committed and in the extremity That which is natural admits of no delay The reply is easie This is true of that which is natural in Creatures which want freedom and life but it is otherwise in the Creator who is an Intellectual Being Supposing the Creation it is natural to him to do good and yet it is free for him to time his bounty as he pleaseth and to communicate it in what degrees and methods he judgeth most convenient It is natural for him to give a Law to his Creature but he is not determined to the circumstances of publication whether by innate Ideas only or by revelation The necessity he is under is intellectual which admits of the interposal of Counsel about the modes and circumstances of his actions If it be replied That what is natural in God tho' it may be free in these respects yet it must be always expressed in some measure or other which cannot be affirmed of his punishing sin I answer That Sin in some measure is always punished Jans Augtom 2. l. 3. cap. 3. so soon as it is committed from the first moment the Transgressour is deprived of that contentment which doth naturally emerge from a sence of a compliance with the Law of Creation The Worm of Conscience presently grows out of the feculency and pollution the Soul is defiled with The serenity of mind wherein our present beatitude consists is instantly lost and the anticipations of future torments succeed The sparks of infernal fire are quickly kindled A sence of the just judgment of God That he who doth such things is worthy of death fills the Soul with horrour and the deepest consternation Those blessings which before the Delinquent was encircled with are Metamorphised into curses Plough-shares converted into Swords Pruning-hooks into Spears every thing assumes a direful shape and menacing aspect If it be added That punishment is a debt and every one has power freely to remit his debts I answer this is not true of all kinds of debt There is a debt of Active Obedience which we owe to God from which he cannot give us a full discharge The Law of Nature is as unchangeable as his Essence Those who are guilty of open defamation are indebted to the defamed and obliged by pensive agnitions to re-invest them with that honour they have robbed them of This debt the persons injured have no more right to remit than they have to murder themselves their credit being as valuable as their lives Sin deprives God of his glory which he can by no means part with and therefore in justice must require restitution by some convenient satisfaction before he remit the penalty due to the Transgressour and receive him into favour This satisfaction which is so necessary before we can have an interest in the divine acceptance Jesus Christ has made He has repaied the damae which publick order and the Laws of Heaven received from our Sins and fully contented the mind of the Supreme Rector who in justice was obliged to vindicate the honour of his appointments This will be manifest if we consider the following particulars Jesus Christ has suffâ—red the punishment of our sin What he suffered was in our stead The damage done by sin is repaired and the mind of the Supreme Rector fully appeased and reconciled unto us upon the terms of the New Covenant 1. Christ Jesus has suffered the punishment of our Sin It is plain to every one who consults the Sacred Oracles That his sufferings were of the highest nature if we consider the words by which they are represented 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sets forth the extremity of his grief ad satietatem usque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaks his sorrow to be so great That it produced a stupefaction in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports nothing short of these two words his Soul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beseized on every side with grief Heaven above did forsake him in his apprehension Hell below did conspire against him The Jews on the one hand stood ready to betray him The Gentiles on the other were prepared to crucifie him Nothing but occasions of grief were administred to his Senses His Eyes beheld the fury of his adversaries His Ears were filled with their blasphemies The most Nervous parts of his body were pierced with instruments of cruelty The drops of Blood which fell from his sacred Body argue That nothing was wanting to consummate the most exquisite torment The circumstances of his Passion were so amazing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Dionysius in Aegypt when he saw the Sun in mourning at his crucifixion used these words Either the Divinity suffers or sympathizeth with him that does For all this there must be some important reason It cannot be imagined That he who was interested in the highest degree of the Love of his Father That never had done any thing to merit the least unkindness should be treated with so much severity upon some unnecessary grounds The could be no motives of an inferiour Nature which did induce the eternal Father to suffer his only Son the Lord of Life to die The Lord of Glory to be obscured with the clouds of ignominy and reproach There must be something in the case which could not be accomplished in any other method All confess that What the Socinians alledge as the reason might have been brought to pass upon far easier terms They tell us That Christ suffered to confirm the Covenant induce us to perform the conditions of it to make way for his ingress into Heaven in order to the performing the Office of a Priest The First of these might have been done by the working of Miracles which are the broad Seal of Heaven What can
perswasion It constantly signifies to bear or carry and for this reason is interpreted by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matt. 8.17 He bore their sicknesses that is He did undergo much trouble and pains in the curing of them He had no respite all the day and when the even was come at which time others compose themselves for rest he was pressed upon by the multitude and did attend this great work What Crellius says in the second place if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to bear it doth not follow That he did bear the punishment of sin He might accidentally undergo sorrow which was occasioned by our sins in which there was nothing of the nature of punishment in relation to him is of no validity If it be granted That it signifies to bear the thing born must be the punishment of sin Punishment imports a natural evil inflicted by one in authority That the party offended by the commission of some moral evil may receive satisfaction and the ends of government be secured All this agrees to the Sufferings of Christ They import a natural evil They were displeasing to humane Nature They were inflicted by the Supreme Rector of the World It pleased the Lord to bruise him The design of his Passion was to make Satisfaction to the injured Our Sins robbed God of his Glory This was restored by the Sufferings of his Son He was set forth to be a propitiation to declare his Righteousness The ends of Government are eminently secured His Sufferings must necessarily strike a consternation into all If such things were done in the green Tree what may be expected in the drie If he who had no sin of his own was so severely treated what can we look for if we persevere in our provocations If all things appertaining to the nature of a penalty agree to the Sufferings of Christ there is no reason but to believe when Christ is said to bear our sins that the meaning is That he did bear the punishment of them It is true A Man may be said to bear the miscarriages of another who accidentally falls under any disaster occasioned by them But the case here is quite otherwise Nothing was fortuitous The Person suffering was delivered into the hands of his Crucifiers according to the determinate Counsel of Heaven The intent of his Passion was to accomplish all those ends which are intended in punishment And that which makes an affliction to be a penalty in a proper sense is nothing but the end which is aimed at Consonant to this is what S. Paul has expressed 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him He was made sin for us that is Put under an obligation to suffer the punishment which our sins had deserved God laid upon him the Iniquity of us all The Transgressions of those who lived in the most opposite parts of the Terrestrial Globe did all meet together upon him He is the center upon which the burthen of them did settle Crellius tells us That when Christ is said to be made Sin the meaning is That he was by wicked Men reputed and treated as a sinner But if this was the meaning then Christ was made sin by his Crucifiers whereas the action is ascribed unto God When he is said to be made sin something must be understood which is peculiar to him But if Crellius's sence of the words prevails the Martyrs may be said to be made sin when they were punished under the notion of Malefactors by their inveterate enemies The Antithesis betwixt being made sin and knowing no sin is a clear justification of our interpretation Christ knew no sin that is was guilty of none by any deviation of his own Therefore when it is said He was made sin the meaning is He was made guilty of ours by imputation and by his own consent together with assent of his Father brought under an obligation to suffer the penalty of it It is manifest from the Text That he was so made sin for us as we are made righteousness or righteous in him Now it is manifest That upon our performing the conditions of the New Covenant we are made righteous in consideration of his meritorious satisfaction and therefore he was made sin for us in consideration of our demerit which he undertook to make expiation for That which induceth the Socinians to endeavour the elusion of the evidence of the Texts which are produced is a perswasion That the fence we contend for is repugnant to reason There can be no punishment but where there is guilt there can be no guilt where there is innocency and there was nothing but innocency in the Immaculate Lamb of God But it must be remembred That the proper notion of guilt is nothing but an obligation to punishment And it is not disagreeable to reason That such an obligation should be contracted by an Innocent Person in case he be willing to stand in the place of the Nocent and suffer the penalty due to him If he be one who has power to dispose of his own life as our Blessed Lord had he may by an act of his Will as well engage himself to lay down his life as to lay down a sum of Mony Every Man may do with that which is in his power what he pleaseth Tho' it be essential to punishment to be inflicted for sin yet it is not essential to be inflicted upon the sinner The merit of Virtue is as personal and incommunicable as the merit of sin yet it as not essential to the reward to be always conferred upon the person meriting Chimham was rewarded by David for Barzillais's kindness Children frequently fare the better for their Parents deservings There is no reason to believe That it is unjust in all cases to punish one for the crime of another God who is not obnoxious to errour in his administrations has done it When he tells the people That they should have occasion no more to use this Proverb The fathers have eaten sowr grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge he intimates That they had formerly occasion so to do and what was now said in this matter was but a particular favour granted to them at this time and not to be a standing rule in all succeeding generations It is most evident That Judah suffered in the reign of Josiah for the provocations of Manasses 2 Kin. 23.26 Tho' they had sins of their own to irritate Divine Justice yet they were not the cause of their suffering He who punisheth a Nocent Person in that respect in which he is Innocent doth the same thing as if he punished one who is perfectly Innocent It is evident by the Second Command That the iniquity of the fathers is visited upon their children If such Children are only understood who imitate their Parents transgression no reason can be given of the limitation to the
Apostle says That the very burning their bodies without the Camp was a Type of him Heb. 13.11 12. for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high Priest for sin are burnt without the Camp Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the Gate There was nothing in the ceremonial constitution less probable to be in the number of the Types of the Law than this circumstance of place The mactation has a more obvious correspondence with the design of our Redeemer And if that which has the least appearance of being in that number was notwithstanding prefigurative and typical much more that which has a greater Now I have considered Christ under the notion of a Sacrifice In the next place if we look upon him as a Ransome it will be evident that what he suffered was in our stead By Sin we brought our selves into a state of bondage under an obligation to undergo the penalty of the Law The sentence of condemnation was denounced against us and we juridically bound to suffer In order to the redeeming of us from this condition Jesus Christ has been pleased to lay down a sufficient price in our stead agreeable to the expectation of the Law This is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which includes both a commutation and a compensation It was laid down in the place of that which was due from us Our Blessed Lord redeemed us from the Curse of the Law by being made a curse He suffered that which was a valuable consideration and did answer all the ends of the legal Sanction The Socinians to disappoint the strength of this Argument say That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not taken properly Moses is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet he laid down no price when he redeemed the Israelites out of Aegypt Every proper price is paid to some body It could not be paid to God because he procured it and those who are redeemed by it are bought for his service He for whom the redeemed are purchased and who procures the price of redemption doth not use to receive it A price in a proper sence would destroy the nature of remission To which I reply 1. If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be not taken properly then the blood of Christ is stiled a price only because the effusion of it intervenes before we are delivered from our bondage as a price doth altho' it hath no such influence as a price upon our redemption And if so then some reason ought to be given why our redemption is attributed more to the blood and death of Christ than to his Doctrin Miracles Promises the blood of Martyrs All these have an influence upon our Salvation of the same nature with that which Crellius attributes to the blood of Christ The Doctrin of Christ doth shew us the way to it His Miracles confirm the truth of that way His Promises excite us to walk in it The blood of Martyrs and their Heroick Patience eminently conduce to the establishment of our Faith If the blood of Christ did not contribute to our redemption in some peculiar way which is not common to these things why is it never attributed to them 2. Moses is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 7.37 because he was a Type of the true Redeemer and the blood of the Paschal Lamb a Type of the price of redemption which he laid down It is no good consequence because Moses did not pay a price properly so called therefore Christ did not The similitude betwixt the figure and the thing prefigured must not be extended beyond the bounds intended in the institution to every punctilio Jonah in the Fish's belly was a Type of Christ in the grave Because Jonah was alive it doth not follow That Christ in the grave was not dead The Brazen Serpent when it was lifted up was a Type of Christ Crucified From thence we must not infer That Christ's blood was not shed upon the Cross because none did slow from the Brazen Serpet 3. The price of our redemption was paid unto god He held us captive The Apostle says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we were kept as prisoners in a garrison under the Law Gal. 3. v. 23. By whose warrant we were committed to this prison is expressed in the precedent verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Scripture hath concluded or shut up all under sin This Warrant was written with God's own hand Parallel to this is what is expressed in the Epistle to the Romans God hath shut up all under disobedience c. 11.32 We were imprisoned for our delinquency and by a divine appointment under an obligation to suffer punishment 4. Tho' God procures the price and the redeemed are ransomed for his service yet it doth not follow That the price was not paid to him When a Subject violates the Law of his Prince and by his enormous deportment precipitates himself into a state of thraldom and it cannot be reconciled with the interest of the community and the immutable rule of justice to set him at liberty without satisfaction first made to the Law the Prince out of his benignity may contrive how this may be done and when it is done accept it and release the person with a design that he may be in capacity to serve him 5. The price of Redemption properly taken doth not destroy the nature of Pardon and Remission He on whom the Pardon is conferred contributes nothing of his own towards the meriting of it The debt is cancelled without any payment made by him to the Creditor Forgiveness is an entire act of Divine Benignity It is no diminution of the bounty of Heaven to make choice of such a way to do it in as hath a consistence with Wisdom and Justice There is more grace expressed in pardoning in and thro' Christ than in pardoning without him Immediate Remission is but a single favour Remission in and thro' Christ a double For God doth not only pardon sin but give his own Son for the procuring of it in such a method as contributes no inferiour degree of glory to every attributed in the Divine Essence and is equally advantageous to the transgressour All this duely considered will evidence That our Blessed Lord suffered in our stead 3. By what He suffered in our stead the damage done by sin is repaired and the mind of the Supreme Rector fully appeased and reconciled unto us upon the terms of the New Covenant The damage is repaired By punishment Laws are vindicated and their just authority asserted The greater the punishment is the clearer is the vindication There cannot be a greater penalty than That which was suffered by the Son of God Penalties are estimated according tot he dignity of the person who suffers It is a higher punishment for a Prince to have marks of disgrace fastned upon him than for a Peasant Our Blessed Lord infinitely transcending all
performance Mercy will be the least where it is the greatest All this doth manifest That there is no Merit in us to be a rival with the meritorious satisfaction of Christ in procuring the acceptance of our persons and services with God And if there be no merit at all in the Saints there cannot be an overplus to be laid up by the Church in a Treasury We cannot expect a tide where there is no water We may with as little violence to our reason believe That one drop of water in a deep channel may swell above the banks and fill the ditches on all hands as that the works of Men may overflow the bounds of the Law and fill the pretended Repository What is usually said concerning the overplus of the Merit of Christ is of no moment to help the Romanists in the present case His infinite Merit is not of such a nature as that part of it may be expended one way and the rest laid up in a Treasury For that which may be divided has parts and every part must be either finite or infinite If the merit of Christ may be divided into finite parts it is compounded of them and that which is composed of finite cannot be infinite If into infinite then every part is equal to the whole There is nothing bigger than that which is infinite The truth is every good Man is accepted and saved by the whole merit of Jesus Christ As infinite Merit is sufficient to procure the Divine Favour for the whole World So no less will purchase it for any particular person Omnipotence is requisite for the creating of the Firmament and no less is necessary to the making of one Star A Romanist may with as much reason conceive because the infinite power whereby this World is made is sufficient to make a thousand more That he may treasure up the overplus and issue it forth at pleasure for the creating another World as because the infinite Merit of Christ is sufficient for the redeeming and procuring favour for more than it does therefore some of it may be laid up in a reconditory at Rome The Papal Repository is not unlike the Tomb of Semiramis which Darius Hystaspis opened with a great expectation of Treasure It promiseth much without but when looked into nothing will be found but vacuity and emptiness All this doth demonstrate That indulgence and favour from God is to be expected only upon the account of the meritorious satisfaction of Jesus Christ The evidence for this doctrin is so clear That Bellarmine who set forth like the Son of Peor with a full purpose to curse it was forced to bless it with a tutissimum est That it is the most safe to rely only upon the Merits of our Blessed Lord. SECT V. Concerning the Place of Divine Worship THose who Worship God may be considered under a Threefold respect either as alone or else as parts of a Family or as Members of an Ecclesiastical Community I. Alone And so we may Worship in any solitary Place I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands 1 Tim. 2.8 Isaac went out into the field 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies both to Meditate and to pray Daniel prayed in the Lyon's den Jonas in the Whale's belly S. Peter upon the House top We have a stated rule for private Worship When thou prayest enter into thy Closet There we may take an impartial account of our sincerity The Eye of the Spectator like a Burning-glass doth often kindle the fire of publick Devotion II. As parts of a Family And so we are obliged to joyn with those with whom we live in an Oeconomical state Every Master of a Family is invested with a Domestick Power His Authority over his Children is founded in generation over others in a tacit or explicit compact This Power he is bound to use to the utmost in promoting the Glory of the Supreme Being In every Society the chief Governour lies under the strictest obligations to advance this end He cannot be said to do this except he exerts it sometimes in the engaging those who are under his inspection to perform such duties as have the most direct and immediate aspect upon the Divine Honour And there is no way more compendious to do this in than the joyning with them in Prayers and Supplication to Almighty God Upon this account we read of Family-Worship amongst those who had only the conduct of Natural light The Heathens had their Penates which were placed in the innermost part of the house to which their Devotion was daily directed Demipho in Terence says Ego Deos penates hinc salutatum domum divortar I will from hence step aside to salute the houshold-gods Salutatum Donatus interprets adoratum prece to adore by Prayer They likewise had their Lares Lar is a God qui domi à familia colebatur Cat. de re rust c. 3. who was worshipped at home by the family In the domestick Chappel of Alexander Severus were the Images of Abraham Christ Orpheus Apollonius to which he daily addressed himself with a Religious regard Lamprid. In the Holy Scriptures we read of a signal act of Religion in the first family Cain and Abel brought their Sacrifices This is recorded as a pattern to future generations The first-born of Noah's posterity was devoted to this sacred purpose Under the Law every House had a solemn consecration Deut. 20.5 Two Schedules were six'd upon the Posts of the door one containing part of the 6. c. of Deut. from the 4th to the 9th ver The other part of the 11th c. from the 13th to 21. places chosen out on purpose to inculcate the duty of Masters of Families which is to sharpen and instruct those in the Law who are under their inspection and engage them in a conformity to its demands This custome Jonathan Ben Vziel has in his Eye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he interprets those words and hath not dedicated it non fixit in ea postes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put Metonymically for the Parchment fastned to the posts of the door in which those portions of the Law were written In the New Testament we have plain indications of this duty S. Paul after he has declared the engagements incumbent upon those Relations which constitute a Family as Husbands Wives Parents Children Masters Servants he subjoyns this exhortation continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving Col. 4.2 And that we may understand it is not solitary Prayer only which he means it is added in the 3d. v. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praying together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is an Adverb of Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together Gen. 13.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cow and the Bear shall feed together Es 11.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We should live together
aliud in Decalogo praecipi nisi ut unam diem è septem à labore feriemur quod plerique Theologi morale immutabile esse agnoscunt quis verò sit septimus ille non designari c. It is to be observed that nothing else is commanded in the Decalogue except that we abstain from labour and keep holy one day of seven which many Divines confess to be moral and immutable but which of the days that Seventh is it is not expressed Against this interpretation it is objected Epilogue That then it follows That the Jews were not tyed by the Fourth Command to keep their Sabbath or if they were common sence cannot understand how Christians by the same Command should be tied to keep the First of the Week To which I reply That supposing the sence to be true which is given there is no difficulty in conceiving how all this may be done The Command requires One day of every Week to be observed as the Lord shall appoint He appointed by another Law Saturday to be that One day during the Jewish Oeconomy and when a period was put to that constitution he did substitute the First of the Week in the room of it Common sence can do no otherwise than conceive That the Last of the Week during the Law must be obligatory to the Jews by virtue of the Fourth Command it being one of seven of God's appointment and likewise the First of the Week to Christians so soon as the Last was discharged and that appointed in the place of it There is no greater mystery in the apprehending of this than there is to understand how the Fifth Command which did oblige the Jews to honour Hezekias as thè Father of their Community should bind Christians to pay the same respects to Constantine the Great The Eighth Precept did forbid a Jew to invade the right of another what was his right the judicial Law did determine Tho' that Law is at an end and the rights of Christians setled by the Laws of the Country where they live yet the Eighth Commandment doth as much oblige them as it did formerly the Jews Now I pass to the Second branch of the Proposition The Sabbath of the Fourth Command One in Seven is perpetual and not to continue only during the Jewish Oeconomy This will be manifest if we consider it is part of the Decalogue which is intended to oblige in all ages 1. In the Old Testament it is plainly distinguished from those Laws which the time of Reformation has put a period to The Decalogue was published without a restriction to any particular place The ceremonial and Judicial Laws are confined to the Land of Canaan Deut. 10.14 Deut. 5.31 The Decalogue was given immediately by God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the mouth of power as the Talmudists speak he being accompanied upon the Mount with his Angelical retinne as witnesses to the promulgation The temporary Commandments were delivered by the ministration of Moses Abarb. fol. 209. Col. 2. The Decalogue was written upon Tables of stone to point out the durableness of it and delivered without any ceremonial solemnity The other Precepts were written by Moses in a Book which was sprinkled with the blood of Calves and Goats Exod. 24.8 Heb. 9.19 with Water Scarlet Wool and Hyssop When Moses went up into the Mount to receive the Two Tables on which the Decalogue was written he was attended with Joshua Exo. 24.13 When he received the other Precepts with Aaron and Nadab c. v. 1. to import that the Decalogue must be observed under the Gospel in times of Jesus as well as Moses The other Precepts only during the Priesthood of Aaron An Ark was prepared for the preserving of the Decalogue No such provision was made for the ceremonial Law The Ark where the Decalogue lay was separated for many years from the Tabernacle where all the ceremonial service was performed and never joyned again to that which was of Moses's erection but David made a new Tent for it at Jerusalem 2 Chron 3.4 and left the old in Gibeon to shew that when Moses's Tabernacle with all the ceremonial constitutions were laid aside and a more perfect Tabernacle erected by the Son of David the Ten Commandments would retain their force and vigour He who will seriously consider what is upon record in the Old Testament cannot but discern a very plain difference put betwixt the Ten Commandments and those Laws which were to be annulled in the time of the Gospel 2. In the New Testament We have many evident intimations That the Decalogue as delivered by Moses is to continue as a perpetual rule to Christians one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law Matt. 5. By the Law we must understand the Ten Commandments Such a Law is spoken of as is antecedent to the times of Christ and this must be the Law of Nature as published by the Light of Reason or the Law as delivered by Moses The first cannot be here designed For our Blessed Lord had that in his Eye which the Scribes and Pharisees had a zeal for They endeavoured to influence the Disciples with a perswasion That the intent of their Master was to destroy this Law v. 17.20 The Law which was the object of their fervour was nto the Law of Nature as it lies out of the Scripture but the Law of Moses This Law of Moses doth not import one single Precept but a System or Combination for that which is here called Law is stiled Commandments v. 19. There are but three Systems of Commands in the Pentateuch The Ceremonial The Judicial and the Decalogue The Two first cannot be understood for the Law here is such as none might break and teach Men so to do The words have an aspect upon the future time when the Kingdom of Heaven or the Gospel-state should be more fully set up which was not till the Pentecost when the Apostles were anointed by the Spirit and set upon their Thrones but at that time it was lawful to act contrary to the judicial and ceremonial Systeme and teach others so to do Therefore by the Law nothing is left to be understood but that Combination of Precepts stiled The Decalogue and that we may know it is That in every particular which is here established it is expressed That one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from it all shall continue in full vigour and power and that we may have further assurance That the Fourth Comandment which is usually reputed the least is in the number of the Precepts here ratified it is added Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments c. to intimate That not only the great such as are purely natural and discoverable without revelation but the lesser such as the Fourth Command is accounted to be are here included To the words of Christ we may add the words of the Proto-Martyr when he was about to
Seal the Faith of the Gospel with his blood He asserts That Moses received the lively Oracles to give unto us Act. 7.38 The lively Oracles are the Ten Commandments They are stiled Oracles because they were laid up in the place from whence God used to give forth his Oracles and lively in opposition to the dead Oracles of the Heathens which were observed to languish and fail about the time of the manifestation of Jesus Christ whereas the Ten Commandments were then in their full vigour These Precepts Stephen a sincere Convert to the Faith of Christ says Moses received That he might deliver them to us In this number he includes himself as standing in the relation of a Christian the whole Chapter being intended as an Apology for that profession Therefore the Decalogue concerns us not only by virtue of the matter of it but the Tradition and delivery by Moses To this are very consonant the words of S. Paul Honour thy Father and thy Mother which is the first Commandment with promise That it may be well with thee and thou mayst live long on the earth Eph. 6.2 3. This Promise is here mentioned with a design to quicken those who were Christians and no Israelites by birth to give a chearful obedience to the Fifth Command The Apostle endeavours That it may have this effect upon them by declaring their particular interest in it This is the first Commandment with promise as well to you Ephesians as those who are Jews If his meaning had been That this is the first Command which was given with promise to the Jews only therefore do you who are Ephesians conform to it the strength of the argument had been lost It is no good consequence That because length of days was promised to the Jews That therefore the Gentiles should enjoy the same priviledge Many temporal blessings were entailed upon that people which Christians can make no just claim to The Gospel is a more refined dispensation under the Law there was less of the Spirit and more of Temporal things While Christians are in the Sea of this world they cannot expect that the tide of external blessings should be as great as it was under the Judaical Oeconomy Now there is nothing in the whole Decalogue which in appearance is more appropriated to the Israelites than this Promise Those words That thy days may be long in the Land seem to have a particular aspect upon the land of Canaan and if that in the Decalogue which seems to be most appropriated is notwithstanding not so but common to Christians then that which seems to be less appropriated is likewise common to them and by consequence the whole Decalogue It is a known rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If that which has a greater appearance of being is not neither is that which has less Lastly The words of S. James are of the same importance For he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill c. 2.11 These two Commands are perpetual and oblige all Christians The reason of their obligation is not taken from their intrinsick nature but the authority of him who published them in the time of Moses That that time and place is aimed at is evident from v. 8. Fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture that is The Scripture and Writings of Moses where the Law is laid down and the manner of its being spoken by God upon the Mount related This reason whereby these Two Commands become obligatory under the Gospel extends to every particular precept in the Decalogue He that said thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery said likewise Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy All these were spoken at the same time in the same manner immediately by the mouth of God unto the People which cannot be affirmed of any of the Laws which are not contained in that Combination And if there be the same reason for the obligation of the whole Decalogue amongst Christians as there is for the Sixth and Seventh Precepts then the whole doth oblige them and will continue so to do to the World's End Very consonant to this is the Testimony of Theophilus Antiochenus who speaking of these Two Laws which S. James mentions together with the other parts of the Decalogue which he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 useth these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses the servant of God was a Minister of this divine Law to all the world In this he asserts no more than what the Apostle had done before him Rom. 3.19 What things soever the Law saith it saith to them which are under the Law that all the world may become guilty before God By the World we must understand not only Jews but Gentiles as most evidently appears by the ninth verse It is impossible that the whole World should be obnoxious to guilt upon the account of disobedience to the Moral Law as it lyes in the Old Testament had it not been intentionally given to it The Constitutions which go under the name of Clemens Romanus Constit Apost l. 6. c. 19. represent the Decalogue as a compleat and perfect Law appertaining to Christians Irenaeus speaks of two sorts of Divine Precepts L. 4. c. 26. p. 344. particularia which are appropriated to the Old Testament and eminentiora summa which are common to the Old and New The Scholiast upon the place reckons the Decalogue amongst the last it being designed by God as a perpetual rule for his people in all ages For this Gloss he had authority enough from Irenaeus himself L. 4. c. 39. c. 31. who afterwards represents the Decalogue as the Law of Nature and at the coming of Christ to receive extension and enlargement but no dissolution To these Testimonies we may add the consent of our own Church which she has sufficiently discovered in her placing the Ten Commandments as delivered in the Twentieth chap. of Exodus in the very Catechism which Children are to learn and obliging the people in the Liturgy after the reading of every Precept to use such words as import That it is a Law obligatory to them To say That She by the word Law understands sometimes the Law only in the mystical and Spiritual sence is very incongruous for she makes no discrimination but enjoyns the continuation of the same form of Speech to the last Command A Precept without the Letter is no Law at all It is a known rule That when the literal sence of a Law is repeated the whole Law is abrogated For the Letter is the foundation whatsoever is besides is the superstructure The superstruction must necessarily fall when the foundation is removed Tho' the spiritual sence of a Law may be of use when the Letter is discharged yet it is not to be accounted as the sence of that which is now a Law but of that which was formerly so The spiritual sence of the Ceremonial Law is still of use yet
repeated These words the Lord spake and added no more Deut. 5.22 Altho' the reason taken from the Creation of the World Exo. 20. is totally omitted If the absence of this reason makes no alteration upon the Precept but the whole Law is said to be spoken altho it be wanting then the presence of a new reason taken from the deliverance out of the Aegyptian servitude cannot have any influence upon it either to make it Ceremonial or Moral The secondary reasons of a Ceremonial Command may be Moral and of a Moral Ceremonial and Positive It is to be observed That the reason we speak of has relation but to one particular in the Command namely the enjoyning of Masters to make the Sabbath a day of rest unto their Servants as well as to themselves Now to make the whole Command Ceremonial upon the account of an extrinsecal and secondary reason relating only to one circumstance in it I leave it to every unbiassed mind to determine whether it be agreeable to the usual rules of discourse 4. There is no inconvenience which will follow if we assert That as we are bound to the Fourth Command so likewise to the same measure of rest which that Precept limiteth A rest only in general is required and that in order to the keeping of One Day in a Week Holy This being the end and the end always modifying the means we have assurance That such a measure of rest is only understood as has a tendency to promote this purpose All who believe the Lord's day to be grounded upon Apostolical authority must necessarily grant that we are bound to rest upon it from all those works which are not reconcileable with the end of the institution namely The devoting of the whole day to the honour and worship of Christ If there be any stricter measures of rest enjoyned upon the particular Seventh from the Creation by any other Law it nothing concerns us no more than the day it self It is not true That the Fourth Command doth forbid all work whatsoever For if this was the sence of it it would be repugnant to the Law of Nature which requires That works of necessity piety and mercy be done at all times There was a Law amongst the Heathens That no work should be done on their feast days when Vmbro and Scaevola were consulted about the meaning of it they notwithstanding the strictness of the words made answer That such work might be done which did relate ad Deos ad urgentem vitae utilitatem quod praetermissum noceret What kind of work the Fourth Command prohibits may be collected from the words of it Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the Seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work that is any which appertains to thy particular calling or function which might with equal advantage have been dispatched in the week time Therefore when servile work is expresly forbidden on the Passeover c. and dressing of meat allowed but on the Sabbath in the Fourth Command all work all work imports no more than servile Therefore the Chaldee Paraphrast expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opus servile and that which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lev. 23.7 is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only Ex. 12.16 Deut. 16.8 All the difference is That what is expressed in more general terms in the Fourth Precept is more explicitly and particularly set down in the Law touching the Passeover c. This will be very evident if we consider That the Passeover sometimes happened to be upon the Sabbath as in the year when our Blessed Lord was crucified and therefore by reason of these Two Solemnities meeting together That Sabbath is stiled a high day Jo. 19.31 If on the Passeover all servile work is forbidden and dressing of meat allowed but on the Sabbath all work whatsoever whether servile or not servile then by the Law of God the Jews were bound to contradictions when the Passeover fell upon the Sabbath they were bound and not bound to dress meat by the Law of the Sabbath they were bound not to do it By the Law of the Passeover they were bound to do it For the Lamb by a divine Precept was to be roasted with fire Irenaeus and S. Cyprian limit the work prohibited in the Fourth Command to servile work The Alexandrian Edition of the LXX L. 4. c. 19. c. 20. Cypr. de Sp. San. interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opus servitutis Num. 29.7 It cannot in reason be thought That the Fourth Command prohibits the dressing of meat or kindling of fire on the Sabbath which speaks nothing of these particulars When as those particular Laws which carry a much fairer and more probable appearance of such an interdiction upon an exact inquiry will be found to import no such matter As for the dressing of meat the words usually alledged are these To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that which will bake to day and seethe that which will seethe and that which remaineth lay up for you to be kept until the morning Exod. 16.23 This Text speaks of the Manna of which a double portion did descend from Heaven on the day preceding the Sabbath Of this portion one they might bake and seethe and eat that day the other part they were to lay up unbak'd and unsodden Bake that which you will bake and seethe that which you will seethe and that which remaineth not of what was baked or sodden but of what was gathered over and above the daily proportion That lay up to be kept till the morning This is plain from the miracle expressed in the next verse They laid it up till the morning and it did not stink neither was there any worm in it If it had not been raw the glory of the miracle had been celypsed Before they reserved some which they had gathered contrary to God's Command and it was putrified in the morning and now they reserve a portion according to his Command and no putrefaction is in it If it had been baked or sodden it would have been thought That that was the reason why it was not corrupted as before Indeed in the fifth ver it is said On the sixth day they shall prepare that which they shall bring in that is If any have a mind not to eat it raw but to prepare it for food whether by grinding it in Mills beating it in a Mortar Num. 11.8 or any other toilsome way all such elaborate preparations must be finished upon the Sixth day they containing too much servile work for a Sabbath Yet notwithstanding all this it does not appear from the Text but that upon the Sabbath they might do in order to a more immediate preparation of it what Christians usually do about their food on the Lord's day As for the
to sit still on the Seventh day There is as much holiness in this as in offering a brute beast unto God being stamped with a divine Command and the Rest of the Body signifying the Rest of the Soul from sin as the Sacrifice did the holiness of Christ This is the substance of what is asserted by the learned Author of the Epilogue To which I reply 1. It is no good consequence because the Precept extends to Cattle which are in no capacity to do any thing appertaining to the Sabbath but only cease from bodily labour That therefore nothing but bodily rest is enjoyned in it The Decree of the King of Niniveh concerning the Fast did reach to Cattle yet it is not true That nothing was commanded the Inhabitants of the City but what might be performed by Cattle We must take notice That a part only of the Command extends to Cattle It is required of the Masters of them That they shall not be imployed in that usual work they are designed for in the week-time but not that they keep holy the Sabbath-day To assert That Cattle are concerned in the whole Precept because they are in one part is as if we should affirm That Jacob's sons Cattle had all Aegypt for their pasture because they had Goshen which was a part of it As for Strangers they were capable both of resting and sanctifying the Sabbath If we suppose they were tyed only to the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah how doth it appear That the Sabbath of the Fourth Command was not contained under one of them It is believed to belong to the Second Mede Diat p. 85. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Munster upon Jos 9.7 useth these words nec poterant Israelitae cum Gibeonitis inire foedus nisi hac conditione ut observarent septem praecepta filiis Noae data hoc est Eliminarent Idololatriam observarent Sabbatum abstinerent ab incestu execrarentur homicidium c. The Israelites could not enter in covenant with the Gibeonites but upon this condition That they would observe the Seven Precepts given to the Sons of Noah that is cast out Idolatry observe the Sabbath abstain from Incest execrate Murther c. Here the observation of the Sabbath is reckoned amongst the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah If the Sabbath was none of them yet it must be remembred That the Tye was made not by a divine but a humane appointment Tho' the Precepts materially considered are in the Scripture yet they are not in that form and order in which they are delivered by the Talmudists Nor is there any intimation given that it was the Will of God That Proselytes or Converts from Idols should be obliged to these and no other I doubt not but this was a decree of the Jewish Church and that it might have the greater reverence paid to it the Rabbins generally ascribe it to God If Proselytes or strangers were tied only to these Seven Precepts by the will of Men yet they might be obliged to the observation of others in particular the Sabbath of the Fourth Command by the Will of God A Stranger for the sin of ignorance was bound to offer up a she-goat of the first year Num. 15.27 29. which injunction is no part of the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah 2. It is not true That to keep holy the Sabbath signifies no more than sitting still upon the Seventh Day Besides the figurative holiness there is something discernable in a Sacrifice which is not to be found in such a slothful posture The earth being the Lord's and he granting the use of it to Men for a supply of their necessities the giving back some part of it by way of oblation was accounted a piece of Homage and an expression of their agnitions of his Soveraignty over the whole Judith c. 2. v. 7. Herodotus To this end the Persians use to present their Kings with Earth and Water to signifie and acknowledge That they were Lords of Land and Sea Aquinas was so well pleased with this reason 22. Q. 55. art 1. That he asserts sacrificing in general to be of the Law of Nature Tho' the determination of it to this or that species of things be variable and grounded only upon positive institution All this cannot be asserted of sitting still which gives nothing to God but implies the withholding and suppression of those actions whereby the Body is in any capacity to honour him If there had been nothing in Sacrifice but a figurative holiness no account can be given why it should meet with so general and ready entertainment among the Heathens who were strangers to the figure Porphyry De Abstin l. 2. p. 70. who applies himself to condemn the Sacrifice of Beasts yet acknowledgeth the universality of the custom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Inhabitants of Lystra are no sooner possessed with a belief of the divinity of S. Paul and Barnabas but they make an attempt to Sacrifice Oxen to them Act. 14.13 Whereas sitting still could never gain the least approbation among them The Jews who were grown into a very superstitious practice in this particular were rather made the object of their derision They represent them as persons who spent the Seventh part of their time in idleness Tho' I am far from believing That the oblation of material things unto God accompanied with a destruction of them is warranted by the Law of Nature as I have expressed in the first Section Yet it is manifest from what has been spoken That more reason may be alledged in savour of it than for sitting still 3. Sitting still on the Seventh day was never stamped with the authority of Heaven If this was the meaning of the Fourth Precept then God repeated it so soon as it was enacted by him in these particular Laws in which he appointed That upon the Sabbath there should be a holy Convocation and the offering up of Sacrifice The People could not convene nor the Priests Sacrifice without bodily motion When it is said Let no man go out of his place on the Seventh day Exod. 16.29 It must be understood with relation to the gathering of Manna and the doing such unnecessary work as might have been dispatched in the week-time 4. It doth not appear That the Rest of the Body enjoyned in the Fourth Command is designed as a figure to signifie the Rest of the Soul from sin There is no Text of Scripture which imports any such matter And if fancy be permitted to make Types and figures as it pleaseth where there is no direction from Heaven to steer our apprehensions by there will be no end of them a figure being the effect of a positive institution cannot be discovered without the knowledge of the cause of it If the Rest of the Body is a Type of the Rest of the Soul from sin then it signifies Rest from some or from all sins Not from some only The Bible gives no
he that regardeth not a day regardeth it not to the Lord Rom. 14.5 6. By a Day here we must understand the Time then in controversie Tho' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has an indefinite sound yet the Apostle doth not intend that it should signifie any day and by consequence include the Lord's day As his representing meats and drinks to be indifferent ver 2 3. doth not depretiate the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper and sink them into an equality with our common bread and drink so neither doth his putting days upon the same level make all days of the same rank with the Lord's day This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be limited to the matter in hand That which occasioned the Apostle to write thus were the different opinions among those who were converted to the Christian Religion He who was formerly a Jew had an esteem for the old Sabbath-Passeover c. above other days The Converted Gentile had an equal regard for them The old Sabbath in particular was earnestly contended for by the Ebionites Those who regarded not this day are set upon equal terms with those who did If this day in the Apostle's apprehension had not been equal with others no account can be given why he that did not regard it is so gently treated and not rather sharply reproved for his contempt The reason why he who had a respect for it is so tenderly handled is because he was brought up under the Mosaical Oeconomy and it could not be expected that he should in an instant be disingaged from those impressions which his education had made upon him The Apostle was glad That he had entertained the rudiments of Christian Religion and used all the tenderness imaginable towards him that he might invite him into a more intimate acquaintance with it Lest this accommodation should seem to import a compliance with his errour he stiles him weak v. 1. And lest too great an advantage might be given to the Gentile who was inclined to set him at nought upon the account of this difference v. 10. He so far as prudence would permit draws at concealment over his own inclination to either party and exhorts them to ripen their minds to a Plerophory Let every one be fully perswaded in his own mind 2. As a beggarly Element How turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements ye observe days months and times and years Gal. 4.9 10. The Apostle writing to those who were of greater growth deals more roundly with them He tells them That he was afraid of them upon the account of their adhering to the old Sabbath which was now antiquated That this very time is intended is plain from the word Days Here are words enough besides to import all other seasons which were set a-part by the Law as Months Times Years Months Their New Moons Times Their Passeover Pentecost Feast of Tabernacles with other Solemnities Years The Year of Release and the Year of Jubilee Therefore nothing is left for Days to signifie but their weekly Sabbaths These days are stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beggarly elements with relation to Ebion's name which signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a beggar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eusebius notes Hist l. 3. c. 21. So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are as much as elements formerly belonging to the Church in her minority and taken up by Ebion In the number of those things which he and his complices maintained Eus Hist l. 3. c. 12. we find the Jewish Sabbath to be one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they observed the Sabbath The Days here mentioned being put indefinitely must be interpreted of the choicest of Days in the Jewish account in the thoughts of those who adhered to the ceremonial rites none were comparable to their weekly Sabbaths It was a common saying amongst them That he who denieth the Sabbath is like to him who denieth the whole Law and he who observeth the Sabbath altho' he should worship Idols his sins would be forgiven Philo Judaeus calls the weekly day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Rabbins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Queen attributing to it a Soveraignty over other days Gem. Sanhe c. 7. In the Talmud Turdnnus Rufus who is conceived to be the same with Titus the Emperour is represented as asking Rabbi Akiba why the Sabbath was more excellent than other days This question could arise from no other ground but that unusual esteem which he observed the Jews to entertain of it Lastly Days do signifie such as the Jews were formerly in bondage to This is clear from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage v. 9. There were no days to which that people were so much in bondage as their Saturday-Sabbaths They were under such a degree of servitude That they durst not use the liberty Nature allows every man in his own defence They and their City were taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio Hist l. 56. on the day of Saturn making no resistance They were bound and tyed by their Superstition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they had been in a net The Five radical Precepts which Maimonides recites as necessary to be submitted unto in order to a due celebration of the Sabbath they did beat out into an infinite number of niceties and to each of them they were so much in bondage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Huls p. 242. that they believed That the not observing of them had hitherto hindred the coming of the Messias This being duely considered will release us from that fear which some have been possessed with as tho' the pressing this Text might prove prejudicial to the Lord's-day for it is manifest That such days only are here condemned as the Jews had formerly been in bondage to which cannot be asserted of the Lord's day which was never owned by them 3. As a shadow which is vanished Let no man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new-moons or Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ Coloss 2.16 In order to a right understanding of this place it is to be premised That many things under the Mosaical Law were of a figurative and typical Nature The Apostle treating of some of them says These things hapned to them for types 1 Cor. 10.11 and the Law has a shadow of good things to come Heb. 10.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are properly the first lineaments of an effigies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is drawn in its full perfection God having an intention to give us Christ the express image of his person under the Gospel was pleased according to the methods of Art to furnish the Jews with the first lineaments of this image under the Law Amongst