by the Light of Nature But much more say I was it clearly manifested to Adam in Innocency But furthermore saith he the outward means or matter of that Worship which would be acceptable to God was not known by the Light of Nature the Law for a spiritual Worship by the Faculties of our Souls was natural and part of the Law of Creation tho the determination of the particular Acts whereby God would have this Homage testified was of positive Institution and depended not on the Law of Creation Tho Adam in Innocence knew God was to be worshipped yet by nature he did not know by what outward Acts he was to pay this Respect or at what Time he was more solemnly to be exercised in it than another This depended on the Directions God as the Soveraign Governor and Lawgiver should prescribe you shall therefore find the positive Institution It is observable that this great Man is not here concerned to confute the Seventh-day Sabbatarians but about another thing yet affirms with many other Learned Men that Adam by the Law of Creation did not know in Innocency at what time God was more solemnly to be worshipped than another 2. No doubt but the substance of all the ten Precepts was wrote in Adam's Heart The Substance of all Moral Precepts written in Adam's Heart yet it appears the knowledg of the Seventh-day to be kept as a Sabbath was not written there tho that which was simply and naturally moral of the fourth Commandment was Secondly I argue thus If the precise Seventh-day was written in Adam's Heart The Law of the 7th day Sabbath not written in Adam's Heart there had been no need of an Institution or positive Law to make it known to him for what more need had he of an outward Revelation of this than of the other Commandments Take here what a Learned Man hath said * Mr. P. a Minister at Rouen in France p. 3. If the keeping of the Seventh-day were a Moral Duty our Father Adam by that Light of Nature God put in his Mind when he created him would have known it as well as he knew all other things in themselves good and necessary but he neither had nor should have had any knowledg thereof if God had not injoined it to him by a particular Command as those which maintain the morality of the Sabbath do avouch So that this followeth manifestly that the observation of the Seventh-day depends merely on Institution My Brethren Let this be considered well that if the knowledg of the Seventh-day wholly depended on the Will of God or on mere Institution and resulted not as all pure and simple moral Precepts do from the holy Rectitude of God's Nature it follows that the precise Day pertains not to the Essence of the Fourth Commandment but the simple Morality of that Precept lies only in a time of Worship And certainly if God by a mere positive Command had not given it to Israel they had no more known it their duty to keep it than the Pagan World did who were wholly ignorant thereof as I shall prove And be sure if God wrote not the Law or knowledg of the Seventh-day Sabbath on Adam's Heart the Seventh-day is not of the same nature with simply moral Precepts which God engraved on his Heart even the substance or tenor of all the Ten Commandments and made him know them naturally without any instruction by word of mouth But it appears by their own Assertion it was instituted c. Therefore the knowledg of the Seventh-day as a special time of Worship was not wrote in his Heart Our Opponents dare not deny but the substance of the whole Moral Law was wrote in his Heart and they foresee it is dangerous to deny it From whence it appears that all the other Precepts are simply moral and so is a time of Worship but the precise Seventh-day by their own concession was instituted in Man's Innocency and so depends wholly upon an express positive Command declared to Adam by audible Words resounding in his Ears Mr. Tillam says Tillam 's Book p. 7. It was instituted before the Fall and founded in Mount Paradise Answ Tho I believe no such matter nor can any Man prove it yet to grant it for Argument-sake then I say it follows it was not written in Adam's Heart for the being perfect he would naturally have known it without being told it was his Duty to keep it For consider that he was created on the Sixth Day and understood what was naturally and universally good i. e. all those Duties that were essential parts of Godliness and Righteousness or things belonging to good Manners Now if so why need he be told he must keep the Seventh-day or why must that Precept come under express Institution and none of the rest Object God saw good to bring all the ten Commandments under express Institution on Mount Sinai as well as he brought the seventh-day Sabbath in Paradise under express Institution Answ I deny it not God did then see good so to do considering how the Nature of Man was corrupted and his Law written in his Heart was blotted and blur'd by the Fall But let it be consider'd that the Law was not written in two Tables of Stone so much for a Rule of Life as for other reasons The Reasons why God added the Ministration of the Law wrote in two Tables of Stone 1. It was added and written there to aggravate Sin on the Conscience It was added saith Pual because of Transgression Gal. 3. 19. it was to make Sin appear exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 13. 2. It was written there to shew the Creature his sad and woful condition and to make known how unable fallen Man was to fulfil the Righteousness of God 3. And as a Schoolmaster to lead such as were under it to Christ in whom perfect Righteousness only is to be found Man being not able to keep perfectly that holy and just Law 4. And to shew them as I conceive that nothing but the Finger of God could write his holy Law in the stony Hearts of Sinners as shall be further demonstrated hereafter for that whole Ministration of the Law and Covenant I shall prove was a shadow and typical and so no standing Law or Ministration as there written but as it is in the hand of Jesus Christ 5. That whole Law and consequently the Seventh-day Sabbath was given on Mount Sinai as it suted the Judaical Oeconomy as well their Political as Ecclesiastical state There are many Additions made to the Seventh-day Sabbath together with other Ends annex'd and Designs and Uses thereto employ'd which is granted by such as assert it was given to Adam in Paradise * This gave a new state to it saith Dr. Owen p. 8 9. Secondly If it had been given to Adam in Innocency he not knowing without an Institution it was his Duty to keep it I argue from hence it follows that he had the
sixteenth year after Christ he lays it positively down that the Sabbath was now abrogated with the other Ceremonies which were to vanish at Christ's coming Let no man judg you c. the Sabbath saith he is well match'd with Meats and Drinks New Moons and Holy Days which were all Temporary Ordinances and to go off the stage at our Saviour's entrance And that Paul means the Seventh-day Sabbaths he cites Ambrose Hierom Epiphanius Chrysostom Augustin and their particular Books that they understood Paul thus in Col. 2. 16. as he did Praefat. in Galat. Apocal 10. take what Hierom saith as follows There is no Sermon of the Apostles saith he either delivered by Epistle or by word of Mouth wherein he labours not to prove that all the Burdens of the Law are now laid away that all those things which were before in Types and Figures namely the Sabbath Circumcision the New Moons and the three Solemn Festivals did cease upon preaching the Gospel In the Context and from these Verses the weekly Sabbath no doubt is included For 1. It is part of the Hand-writing vers 14. 2. It is a Shadow c. vers 17. 3. They are commanded not to submit to the Censures of men herein vers 16. And whereas it is objected Object The Apostle doth not mean the Weekly Sabbath 1. It is certain that the primary and almost constant use of the word Sabbath Answ is to denote that weekly Day of Rest which God commanded the Jews to observe Read Mr. Baxter on the Subject and whereas it is applied to any other Days 't is in allusion to this because of the Rest from servile Work upon them in which respect they were like to the Weekly Sabbath as appears Levit. 16. 31. and Chap. 23 24 32 39. which are all the places where the word Sabbath is expresly applied to any other days And therefore the primary and almost constant use of the word ought not to be forsaken 2. Wherever the word Sabbaths is used absolutely as here without any expression in the Text to limit it 't is to be understood of the Weekly Sabbath The reason of which Rule is obvious because otherwise the Scripture would be of doubtful Interpretation and as 1 Cor. 14. 8. the Trumpet would give an uncertain sound 3. Therefore as I said wherever the word Sabbaths is used as here with distinction from Holy Days or Feasts and New Moons it must mean the Weekly Sabbaths otherwise the Apostle would be guilty of an unnecessary Tautology it being certain there is no other Day called a Sabbath in Scripture but what is included in those two words Therefore I conclude by Sabbaths in this Text not only may but must be understood the Weekly Sabbath and consequently it proves not only that Christians are not bound to observe the Jewish Sabbath but that they ought not so to do Take here what Mr. Baxter saith on this Text Baxter on the Lord's Day P. 167 viz. How plainly and expresly Paul numbereth Sabbaths with Shadows that cease see Col. 2. 16. to pass by other Texts and what violence mens own Wits must use in denying the Evidence of so plain a Text. The Reason that he saith not Sabbath but Sabbaths is against themselves the plural Number being most comprehensive and other Sabbaths receiving their name from this And the word Sabbath is always used in Scripture for a Rest which was partly Ceremonial See what Dr. Young in his excellent Dies Domin saith c. III. Moreover can any serious thinking Christian suppose that Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles would thus write of Sabbath Days New Moons Times and Years without exception if the Seventh-day Sabbath had remained as the Sabbath of the Lord and the Day of Gospel-worship What speak thus without restriction or intimation and yet not include the Seventh-day Sabbath Had not that Day been comprehended and meant by Sabbath Days sure he had let this Church have known it it behoved him to be faithful to us who was our Apostle and so he says he was and had declared the whole Counsel of God Acts 20. yet makes no mention of any such Jewish Sabbath to be our duty to observe but the direct contrary that it was a Shadow and that we are not to be judged or condemn'd who regard it not any more than other Times as New Moons c. But saith the Seventh-day Sabbatarian Object The Ordinances of the Law were glorious therefore Paul could not refer to them when he speaks of beggerly Elements Thus Tillam When compared to the Ordinances of the Gospel Answ they may be called weak and beggerly as Paul shews speaking of the Law written in two Tables of Stone which he calls glorious 2 Cor. 3. 7. yet a ministration of Death and Condemnation vers 9. For even that which was made glorious had no Glory in this respect by reason of the Glory that excelleth vers 10. The Shadow seems glorious till the Substance comes but what Glory appears in it then None at all What is the Glory of the Moon when the Sun appears and shines forth splendidly So what signifies the Shadow of Rest to the true Antitypical Sabbath of Rest which we have in Christ we that believe do enter into Rest Besides St. Paul calls Jewish Ordinances Carnal Ordinances which terms as much eclipse their Glory as to call them weak and beggerly Elements Heb. 9. 10. Meats and Drinks and divers Washings and carnal Ordinances Carnal Ordinances no doubt include all the Jewish Sabbaths viz. Days Months Times and Years as well as Circumcision legal Washings and Sacrifices The Apostle calls them not only carnal weak and beggerly Elements but unprofitable There was a disannulling of the Commandment going before Heb. 7. 18. for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof Take here what Calvin saith tho I in some things differ from him For seeing in the Lord's Resurrection is found the end and fulfilling of the true Rest Instit 2. c. 8. Sect. 34. which the old Sabbath shadowed by that very day which set an end to those Shadows Christians are admonished not to stick to the shadowing Ceremony He it seems concludes that the Jewish Weekly Sabbath as well as their Fellows was a Shadow of that Rest we have in Christ Take also what another nameless Author saith concerning the Antient Fathers St. Paul sharply reproveth those who allowed yet the Jewish Sabbath i. e. they observed Days Months Times and Years as if he had bestowed his labour in vain upon them Gal. 4. 10 11. But more particularly in his Epistle to the Colossians Chap. 2. 16 17. Let no man judg you in respect of an Holy Day or of the New Moons or of the Sabbath-Days which were a Shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ Yet notwithstanding all this care both of the Apostles in general and more especially of St. Paul to suppress this Error it grew up
the Sabbath is charged against them Now can it be imagin'd they should not have fail'd in this case or that God would overlook or take no notice of it Sixtly We have a Catalogue of almost all immoral Evils before and after the Flood as Idolatry Gluttony Drunkenness Lasciviousness Incest Murder Lying Covetousness Theft c. and how Sin had possessed the Thoughts Hearts and Lives of Men but no account of their Violation of the Sabbath-day Seventhly None from Adam to Moses reprehended for not keeping the Sabbath Let it be consider'd that since God so severely reprehended the Jews for profaning his Sabbaths and hardly reproved them more sharply for any one Sin than for this certainly in his enumerating the Sins 〈◊〉 his People and of the Wickedness of those that liv'd from Adam to Moses he would have reproved them for Sabbath-breaking and not have utterly passed it by in silence had they been guilty of it or can it be rationally supposed that tho they fail'd in all other respects yet that they did not in this No doubt had it been a known Duty and that some of them had been guilty of the breach of it as in all likelihood they would but God would have severely reprehended them for it Eighthly Since we read of no Sabbath till Moses's time Exod. 16. only that God sanctified the seventh day what makes our Brethren so boldly say that Adam in Innocence kept it and all the Patriarchs from Adam to Moses This may seem strange to any thinking Man i. e. that they should affirm this seeing they require an express Command from us for the keeping of the first day or else all is nothing with them Brethren this I will say that had we no more ground to keep the Lord's day in solemn Worship as a day of Rest than they can find for the Patriarchs keeping of the seventh day as a Sabbath we should not say one word more for it I challenge them to shew us one place where a Sabbath is so much as once mention'd or any express or implicit Command given to any to observe it or one Example from the Creation of the World that any Man or Woman ever kept the seventh day as a Sabbath until we come to Moses Exod. 16. I shall God assisting shew that we have more than meer Examples of the Gospel Primitive Churches for observing in a solemn manner the Lord's-day or the first day of the week when I come to that part of my Work Now let them produce but one Example that â—ne tho but one of the Patriarchs did keep the â—eventh day as a Sabbath I will conclude it might be given to Adam after his Fall for before his Fall it could not be a Law to him for the reasons I have urged but if they could produce such an Example yet say some learned Men it doth no more prove that precise day is a moral Precept or that it from hence follows that it is our Duty in Gospel-times to observe it than it proves 't is our Duty to offer Sacrifices which we read before the Ceremonial Law was given they frequently did But since there is not one Instance to be given of any one Person that kept that day till Moses's time but that the Word of God is wholly silent about it we must and may say according to that common Maxim used by Divines i. e. Where God hath not a Mouth to speak we ought not to have an Ear to hear Ninthly The Proofs of the Learned for the Patriarchs keeping the Sabbath Let us now consider what some learned Men have produced for their pretended Proofs that the Patriarchs kept the seventh day as a Sabbath which I fear hath imboldned the Jewish Sabbatarians to affirm with such Confidence that all the Patriarchs did keep it But by the way Dr. Owen who is one that asserted what I utterly deny doth yet confess that many of the Jewish Masters or Rabbins ascribe the original of the Sabbath to the Statute given to them in Mara Exod. 15. and others of them to Exod. 16. yet the said Reverend Doctor cites some of the probable grounds to prove that the Patriarchs kept it Dr. Owen on the Sab. p. 72. 1. The first and chief place I find he mentions is that in Gen. 18. 19. For I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the ways of the Lord and do Justice and Judgment Answ That Abraham had this Charge and Commandment given to him is granted but what little reason there is from hence to conclude he kept the Sabbath or gave charge to his Children so to do I will leave to all Mens Consideration God gave to Abraham Commands we find that evident enough and some of them not very easy to Flesh and Blood as that of offering up his only Son Moreover none doubt of the faithfulness of the Patriarch Abraham but if the Sabbath was not then instituted nor any Command given to him to keep it there could not be any such Command meant or comprehended in that Charge given to him The truth is my Brethren learned Men who are Men also of great natural Parts can put a fair gloss on any thing and make that seem to be a Truth that there is not the least ground to believe is so Abraham did all he did in Faith and therefore he had Divine Authority for all he did in God's Service Dr. Twiss's main Argument to prove that the Patriarchs observed the Seventh-day Sabbath is this Dr. Twiss on the Christian Sab. p. 57. viz. The Lord blessed the seventh day and sanctified it therefore saith he the Patriarchs did observe it Answ I answer God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it but did not give any Command to Adam to keep it therefore the Patriarchs from thence could not know or see they had any ground to observe it Dr. Twiss saith in the same place i. e. And the truth is until the coming of the Children of Israel out of Egypt we read not of any Church of God any where but in single Families neither do we read of the Patriarchs before the Flood or a long time after that they kept any day consecrated to God's Service But we say with him that it doth not therefore follow that they kept no day at all in God's Service They owned the True God and worshipped him and knew that there must be a time a sufficient time to discharge that Homage or Worship to him and tho perhaps they observ'd one day in seven yet as I conceive they did not know what precise day they ought to observe above any other until God by some express positive Command made it known which was not till he constituted the whole House of Israel into a Typical Church-state and gave them an instituted Worship and commanded their Legal and Typical Sabbath Besides how could the Patriarchs know what Duties proper for Sabbath-observation
they should perform except it had by some positive Law or Precept been discover'd to them of which we read not When God gave to Israel a Sabbath he told them how they should keep it as well as the Reasons End and Causes wherefore Tenthly I might also add here what some learned Men seem to affirm i. e. that 't is doubtful whether the Patriarchs had the distinction of Days into Weeks but rather reckon'd by Months and Years so that the precise seventh day from the Creation cannot be certainly known and 't is thought that the Jews observ'd their seventh day from the falling of Manna six days The Jews reckon'd their Seventh-day Sabbath from the falling of Manna but none on the seventh No doubt but it is impossible for any to know that that was the precise seventh day from the Creation But it may not be amiss to answer our Opponents as to what they say about the Scripture not mentioning any Sabbath from Adam to Moses or any Precept or Remembrance of it and yet things of less moment are punctually recited 1. This they say that we read not of Circumcision perform'd during all the time of Israel's being in Egypt which was near four hundred years till Zippora circumcised her Son 2. Also say they we read not of the Sabbath in the Books of Joshua and Judges c. Answ This is no parallel case for after the positive Command given to Israel to keep it there needed no such constant relation of it for no doubt but after that time it was continually observ'd Let me close this with what I find recited by many learned Men concerning the Judgment of divers of the antient Fathers about the Patriarchs observing the Sabbath The Judgment of the anâ—ient Fathers Justin Martyr saith Just Mart. 〈◊〉 cum 〈…〉 that Melchisedec who it is supposed was Shem the Son of Noah was neither circumcised nor kept the Sabbath Irenaeus saith Iren. l. 4. c. 30. Abraham believed and it was imputed to him for Righteousness before he was circumcised and without observing of the Sabbath Tertullian saith Tert. adv Judaeos de praescr c. 2 4. Abel Enoch Noah and Melchisedec observ'd not the Sabbath And again he saith that not any of the Patriarchs kept the Sabbath neither Adam Enoch Noah nor Abraham for 2455 years And hence Tertullian saith Justin de verit l. 2. in Tryph. it is manifest therefore that that cannot be moral nor perpetual that began with Moses as Justin says and ended in Christ Eusebius saith Moses brings in Melchisedec Priest of the most High God Dem. l. 1. c. 6. neither being circumcised nor anointed with Oil as was afterwards commanded in the Law no nor so much as knowing there was a Sabbath Justin Martyr again saith Cont. Tryph. in the days of Enoch People observd not Circumcision or the Sabbath before Abraham there was no Circumcision and before Moses no keeping holy the Sabbath I might also add several of the Jewish Rabbins asserting the same thing But to proceed I infer from hence that that Text Gen. 2. doth not contain in it any present Institution of the Sabbath but signifies God's Destination or Purpose to give it as a Law to his People Israel in after times and was not given to Adam in Innocence for him to sanctify it God might sanctify that precise day to his own Rest after Adam fell with respect had to Christ in whom he took up his perfect Rest and afterwards appointed the seventh day as a sign thereof However it is one thing for God to sanctify or set apart a thing for this or that use and another thing to command that thing or immediately to put it into being Our Lord Jesus was long sanctified or set apart to be our Redeemer Joh. 10. 36. before he was sent into the World actually to redeem us Jeremiah the Prophet was sanctified or set apart to his Work and Office long before he was actually call'd to the execution thereof So that if these words Gen. 2. concerning God's blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day Mr. Sam. Grascom p. 18. are to be extended saith one to relate to any thing further than to that particular seventh day following the Creation it doth not refer to any immediate Institution of the Sabbath but is a historical Narration telling us what was done and not when it was done If therefore we can find out a certain time when the Sabbath was indeed instituted there is good reason to conclude this Text refers to that time as giving us the reason why God in the Institution of the Seventh-day Sabbath made choice of that day And to sum up what I have said take these Arguments 1. We may infer The Arguments against the Patriarchs keeping the Sabbath 〈◊〉 up that if the Patriarchs kept the seventh day they had the knowledg of it by the Light of Nature or by a positive Command but they had not the knowledg of it by the Light of Nature nor by any positive Command therefore they observ'd it not 2. If they kept it by virtue of an express Command and Institution they had no doubt some Directions about the due observation thereof and instituted Sabbath-days Worship but they had no Directions about it nor instituted Sabbath-days Worship therefore they did not observe it 3. Certainly if the Patriarchs were obliged to observe the seventh day as a Sabbath God would either have commended them or some of them for keeping it or else reprehended others for not keeping it but God neither commended any of them for the keeping it nor reprehended any others for profaning and not â—eeping it therefore none of them did observe 〈◊〉 Eleventhly Let me add one Argument more 〈◊〉 prove that the Patriarchs did not observe the seventh day as a Sabbath viz. If the Patriarchs and all Mankind from the beginning of the World were or had been obliged to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath certainly there had â—een some account given of the Penalty or Punishment due to Sabbath-breakers but we read of no Penalty or Punishment to be inflicted on Sabbath-breakers therefore we conclude they were not oblig'd to the observation thereof How can it be thought that the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath should be imposed upon them and yet God should hide the Punishment due to the breach thereof from the World for more than two thousand years Evident it is that they knew what Punishment was to be inflicted for the breach of other moral Precepts as Murder Adultery c. and if this were of like nature i. e. a pure moral Duty how came it to pass that God discover'd not the Penalty to them for violating this Precept Twelfthly My last Argument is this The Sabbath under the Old Testament had a respect to a stated and stinted instituted Worship in a National Church but the Patriarchs and all God's People from Adam to Moses were not brought into such an Ecclesiastical
it they knew noâ— what they should do with him and this was whilst they were in the Wilderness and they put him in ward for it was not yet declar'd what should be done unto him By which it appears saith he to be a new thing not yet adjusted for had it been a Law from the Creation it is scarce possible that all Men should have been ignorant whether any Punishment or not or what Punishment did belong to the Violation of a Law of such standing Object I know that Dr. Owen saith Dr. Owen on the Sab. p. 62. if the original of the Sabbath was here then the National Observation of it is introduced with a strange abruptness c. Answ To which I answer that it doth not so appear to me however let every Man read the words of Moses again and how he repeats the same over and over To morrow is the Sabbath c. To day is a Sabbath unto the Lord â—gain The Lord hath given you the Sabbath â—an any thing be brought in more solemnly â—ut I see how Men will try their Wits to deâ—â—nd their own Scriptureless Notion of a Sabbath given in Paradise as well as in pleading 〈◊〉 other groundless Practices Object But since you grant a Sabbath before 〈◊〉 Law on Mount Sinai or Ceremonial Laws â—ere given doth not this prove it is a moral Preâ—â—pt Answ No not at all because we find that sacrifices and offering the Firstlings of the â—locks Gen. 4. 7. 7. 2. 14. 20. 28. 2. and first Fruits of the Ground were offered to God from the beginning and therefore should we grant that the Seventh-day Sabbath had been practised from the beginning â—â—so yet that would no more prove it a moral â—nd perpetual Law than it proves the offering â—f the Firstlings of the Flocks and the First-â—ruits c. to be perpetual Laws or moral Duties the Sabbath being a sign and shadow as well as they were so We come now to the â—â—urth part of our first general Proposition Object The seventh-day Sabbath was given in the 20th Chapter of Exodus The grand Argument for the Jewish Sabbath consider'd and answer'd with all the other â—ine moral and perpetual Commandments wrote in two Tables of Stone by the finger of Jehovah himself and therefore it obliged believing Gentiles to keep it and all Mankind 1. To this I answer that if I can prove it is not the Duty of Gentile Believers nor any Believers in Christ in all the World to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath from hence I shall overthrow our Opponents strongest Fort and so utterly confute them which I doubt not by God's Assistance I shall fully do and in order hereto shall lay down three Propositions First The method proposed in answering this Argument I affirm the Morality of the fourth Commandment lies not in the observation of the precise seventh day from the Creation Secondly That the Law of the ten Commandments as formally given to Moses and written with the finger of God in two Tables of Stone and given to the whole House of Israel were not given to the Gentiles nor to any other People in the World save the Strangers that were within their Gates or were proselyted to the Jewish Religion Thirdly That the whole Law is changed and that what was Ceremonial or shadows 〈◊〉 things to come ceased at the death of Christ and all Precepts of the Moral Law or what 〈◊〉 simply moral as they were formally given by Moses are taken out of his hand and put into the hands of Christ consider'd as Mediator our Lord and only Lawgiver I shall now begin with the first of these Propositious First I shall give you the sense of the Learned about a pure moral Precept First The Term Moral being but a scholastical Expression and not properly signifying that which is usually understood by it Cawdry 's Christian Sabbath p. 1 2 3. say Mr. Cawdry and Mr. Palmer we have ever judg'd it a Bone of Contention Moral relating to a Law signifies in it self any Precept serving to regulate the Manners of Men. Dr. White saith White on the Sab. p. 26. A Divine Law call'd Moral is a just Rule or Measure imposed by God directing and obliging to Obedience of things holy honest and just The same is twofold simply moral or moral only by some external Constitution or Imposition of God Divine Law simply moral commands or prohibits Actions good or evil in respect of their inward nature and quality Dr. Owen saith Owen on the Sab. p. 118. Moral Laws are such as have the Reasons of them taken from the nature of the things themselves requir'd in them for they are good from their respect to the nature of God himself c. Laws Positive as they are occasionally given so they are esteem'd alterable at pleasure being fixed by mere Will and Prerogative without respect to any thing that should make them necessary antecedently to their being given they may by the same Authority at any time be taken away and abolished Mr. Shepherd saith Shepherd on the Sab. p. 6 7. A Law strictly and especially moral is that which concerns the Manners of all Men of which we now speak and may be thus describ'd viz. It is such a Law as is commanded because it is good and it is not therefore merely good because it is commanded And thus Austin saith he describ'd it long since Also Cameron and multitudes of other Writers and learned Men. But mere Divine positive Laws are commanded of God and therefore good Some say that is simply moral that is the Law of Nature or which naturally obligeth all Men and is distinguished from Laws Ceremonial and Judicial Thus one expresseth himself i. e. Primrose of the Sab. p. 4. This Law Moral all Men take to be the Law of Nature and reciprocally they take the Law of Nature for this Law for that which is naturally and universally just Mr. Cawdry and Palmer say Cawdry Sabbatum p. 3. It implys any Law of God exprest in Scripture whether it can be prov'd natural or not which from the time it was given to the end of the World binds all succeeding Generations of their Posterity to whom it was given and more especially it obliges the Church c. I think Mr. Baxter in this case has said excellently well Baxt. on the Sab. p. 77. Moral saith he signifieth that which by nature is universal and perpetually obligatory He answers this Question Do not Divines say the Decalogue written in Stone is the Moral Law and of perpetual Obligation Answ Yes for by moral they mean natural and so take moral not in a large sense as it signifies a Law de moribus as all Laws be whatsoever but in a narrower sense as signifying that which by nature is of universal and perpetual Obligation Now then that which I call a pure of simple Moral Law or Precept is that which is a Transcript
Dr. Owen p. 214. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the Sabbath or Sabbath-days which were a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ From hence they affirm saith he it will follow that there is nothing moral in the observation of the Sabbath seeing it was a mere Type and Shadow as were other Mosaical Institutions and also that it is absolutely abolished and taken away by Christ And if they mean no more but that precise seventh Day they were certainly right Nay Dr. Owen himself as I conceive determines the matter so as to make that precise day refer to Moses and his Oeconomy But indeed I see some learned Men have wrote very darkly because they strive to preserve a Sabbath in the Gospel-day or a day of Rest and of solemn Worship and that tho not simply yet positively moral from the fourth Command and if by moral positive they mean one day in seven which God from his Soveraign Pleasure will have perpetually observed as a day of Rest and solemn Worship I am of their mind Quest But since the Jewish seventh Day was a Sign and a Shadow what was it a Sign and Shadow of Answ Before I give a direct Answer to this let me premise one thing which in a special manner we ought to regard viz. that the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath was bottom'd upon the Covenant of Works in that Ministration of it given to the whole House of Israel as suting with their Ecclesiastical Political and Typical Church-state And this Dr. Owen has fully proved Dr. Owen on the Sab. p. 221. speaking of that Covenant Now saith he this is not absolutely and merely a Law but as it contain'd a Covenant between God and Man A Law it might have been and not a Covenant which doth not necessarily follow upon either its instructive or preceptive Power Yet it was originally given in the Counsel of God to that end and accompanied with Promises and Threatnings whence it had the nature of a Covenant By virtue of this Law as a Covenant was the observation of a Sabbath prescribed and required as a token and pledg of God's Rest in that Covenant in the performance of the Works whereon it was instituted and of Man's Interest in it Again he saith Seeing therefore that the Moral Law as a Covenant between God and Man requir'd this sacred Rest we must inquire what place as such it had in the Mosaical Oeconomy whereon the true Reason and Notion of the Sabbath doth depend for the Sabbath being originally annexed to the Covenant between God and Man * The Dr. takes it for granted which I deny that the Sabbath was given to Adam the Renovation of the Covenant doth necessarily require a special Renovation of the Sabbath and the change of the Covenant as to the nature of it in like manner doth introduce a change of the Sabbath c. 1. From hence note that Dr. Owen saith the Law given Exod. 20. was a renewal of the Covenant of Works 2. That the Seventh-day Sabbath was given as a Token or Pledg of that Covenant and Rest 3. That the Seventh-day Sabbath of Rest was not a Type of our Eternal Rest in Heaven but a Type or Shadow of that true Spiritual Rest we enter into under the New Covenant when we believe in Christ and so this Rest is the Antitype of the Jewish Seventh-day Sabbath My Brethren this is that Rest of God which he referr'd to and in which he takes up his delight and complacence Moreover God shewed his People Israel by their Sabbath how impossible it was for them by the Covenant of Works to enter into this Rest where they should utterly cease from sin it was a sign between God and them that they should perform the whole Obedience due under the Covenant of Works signified by that Obligation that in six days they should labour and do all they had to do and then rest denoting that the whole Law must be kept or no rest the man that doth them shall live by them or have Life Rest and Peace on that Condition This I say did signify Man's working for Life before he could enter into Rest for if they could do all they had to do or God required of them or answer all the Demands of the Law then they should have Rest Peace and Justification thereby Here you have the Six-days Labour and the Seventh-day's Sabbath it being an Epitome of the Covenant of Works For their Sabbath as Calvin shews in the tenor of it put them upon the highest Acts of Obedience even to live and sin not or cease from all Iniquity in Words Thoughts and Actions Now if this did not tend to Bondage and so was a Law against them and contrary to them nothing could but now in Christ who hath kept the Law perfectly for us or has done all we were to do and suffer we come to have true spiritual Rest and Peace And Our Lord no doubt alludes to this Ma◠11. 28 29. Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Brethren mind those two words labour and heavy laden On the Jewish Sabbath no servile labour was to be done nor any burdens to be born signifying that Believers in Christ cease from labouring for Life and must not bear any burden of Sin either in respect of the guilt or fear of the punishment Christ having done all and born the burden of all our sins in his own Body on the Tree so that we must cast our Burden on the Lord and he will sustain us And so we begin our Sabbath after all our Works are done and Burdens born by our dear Lord and blessed Surety on the first Day of the Week as he has directed us and from hence we work not for Life and Rest but from Life Rest and Peace Therefore to answer that Question what was the Jewish Sabbath a sign of you have in part heard but shall yet more fully hear 1. I affirm that it was a Sign of the Covenant of Works in that Ministration given to Israel written and engraven in Tables of Stone How often is that Sabbath called a Sign between God and them Exod. 31. 13. Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep it is a Sign between me and you throughout your Generations Again vers 17. 'T is a Sign between me and the Children of Israel Ezek. 20. 12. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbath to be a Sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth them But still it is enquired what was it a Sign of Some say that Israel were in bondage in Egypt others that God created the World in six days Answ I answer but remotely if at all it was a Sign of either of them for they are laid down as the Reasons why God gave Israel their Sabbath and not as a Sign of those things But let it now be well considered that God
and solemn Worship And tho the last of seven was that precise Day injoyn'd under the old Covenant upon the People of Israel yet that Sabbath was not to continue longer than till the Antitype came and it being a sign and shadow it is as I have proved done away Dr. Owen Pag. 301. speaking of the Seventh-day Sabbath saith That Day was not directly nor absolutely required in the Decalogue but consequentially only by way of appropriation to the Mosaical Oeconomy whereunto it was then annexed The Command is to observe the Sabbath-day God blessed the Sabbath-day And the mention of the seventh Day in the body of the Command fixes the number of the Days in whose Revolution a Sabbatical Rest returns but determines not an everlasting order in them seeing the order relating to the old Creation is inconsistent with the Law Reason and Worship of the new And if the seventh Day and the Sabbath as some pretend are the same the sense of the Command in the inforcing part of it is but the seventh Day is the seventh Day of the Lord thy God which is none at all So as he and all learned Men generally say 't is not the precise seventh Day but one day in seven which is perpetually obligatory in the fourth Commandment Mind the words again wherein the substance or the essential part of this Command is expressed Six days shalt thou labour but a seventh is a Sabbath 't is not in the original the seventh but seventh denoting not a monthly or yearly but a weekly Sabbath the Phrase is exclusive Mr. Warren p. 48. as one observes implying thus much i. e. Thou art not bound to keep the sixth day or one in six or the tenth or one in ten but the seventh that is one in seven or one in a week The term seventh is opposed to all other numbers either ninth or twentieth as also to the six working days which clearly intend such a number as six in seven so the seventh as one in seven Suppose I give or lend a poor Man seven Pounds on condition that he improves one Pound for me now by the seventh is intended one in seven so doth God here intend one day in seven for a holy Rest to himself Tho I deny not the last of seven or one after six working days was given to the People of Israel yet it was a sign they should keep the whole Law and was a shadow of that spiritual and antitypical Rest we have in Christ and so was upon a special occasion imposed on them with the greatest strictness and severest Penalty But let it be considered that which is signified in the fourth Command as perpetually obliging us is that we observe one day in seven as a day of Rest to the Lord. Let me give you one parallel case more viz. the Law of Tithes Now God required the tenth of their Increase but will any Man say God intended any one precise tenth No begin where you will the tenth Sheaf or Lamb is the Lord's So here God will have one day in seven but the reason why he fixed on the last of the seven under the old Covenant I have shewed and shall further shew why he chuseth the first of seven in the new Covenant neither being expressed in the essential and first part of the fourth Command Had God chose now one in six or one in nine he had altered as one observes the substance of this Command It is needless to recite the words of all * Owen Twiss Shepherd Walker Palmer Hughs Dod Wallis Durham B. of Dorchest Weemse Baxter Bunyan c. those who hold that one in seven not the precise last day of the seven is perpetually to be observ'd and that the old seventh Day is abolished but I shall observe what Mr. Warren saith viz. Thus I grant the time of Worship a Sabbath it self being an inseparable Adjunct of solemn Worship is perpetual but the old Day the seventh from the Creation was made mutable and we have a Sabbath still a literal Sabbath but the old Sabbaths and old Sacrifices being Twins tho both honourable and serviceable in their Generations as they liv'd together and dy'd together let both together in God's Name be buried in the Grave of Christ so as never to rise up again but let our Gospel-worship and Gospel-Sabbath take life from our Saviour's Resurrection which brought with it a new Creation a new World making all things new But to wave this a little 't is well observ'd by Dr. Wallis He 'll say perhaps i. e. Mr. Banfield the Jews observed such a seventh Day from the Creation and that was their Sabbath But that is more than he or I know or any Man living They had I grant a circulation of seven days but from what Epocha we cannot tell And when Moses tells them on the sixth day To morrow is the Rest of the holy Sabbath it seems to be the fixing of a new Epocha from the first raining of Manna and then all his Arguments from the continual observation of the Sabbath from the Creation till that time are at an end i. e. whether this from the first raining of Manna be the same with that from the Creation And there is six to one odds that it is not 1. Observe Mr. B. of Dorchest p. 31. that at the opening and giving forth of the Command Exod. 20. 8. 't is said Remember the Sabbath-day that is the day of holy Rest of God's appointing 2. In the Conclusion of the Command v. 11. Wherefore the Lord blessed and sanctified the Sabbath-day 't is not expressed the seventh day but the Sabbath-day of holy Rest this is evident that neither in the opening nor shutting up the Commandment where we have the moral substance of it is there mention of any particular Day at all 3. What intervenes and comes in by way of explication or inforcement of Obedience between the opening and shutting up of the Command ought to be observed as 1. In what Revolution of time God had appointed this day of holy Rest to be observ'd and that is one whole day of seven of every seven days six for Labour one for Rest not one in ten or one in twenty but one in seven one day in every week 2. I observe the inforcement of Obedience to the Command from God's resting the seventh day Here I acknowledg the last of seven is mentioned but not as any branch of the unchangeable moral substance of the Command nor the observation of it directly but only consequentially being instituted before as is acknowledged by all And it must be owned that the last of seven here mentioned had first of all the honour to be the day of God's appointing and accordingly was observed till the time came that another day the first of seven was to succeed in the rome of it Note 1. As was said before neither in giving forth nor shutting up the Commandment is there any mention of
apart long before Eleventhly Whatsoever is a simple moral Precept or one of the ten Commandments as materially so the Holy Ghost doth convince all Believers of now under the Gospel as I have shew'd before and also he reproves them for the neglect or breach of all such Precepts but the Holy Ghost doth not convince Believers 't is their Duty to observe the Seventh-day Sabbath for reprove them for the neglect or breach of â—t tho they work and bear Burdens on that as well as on any other day of the week therefore 't is no moral Precept Twelfthly That which is a pure moral Precept is written in the Hearts of all true Believers by the Holy Ghost God promised in Gospel-times he would not write his Law in Tables of Stone put in the fleshly Tables of our Hearts now the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath is not written in the Hearts of Believers by the Spirit therefore 't is no moral Precept Tillam saith the moral Law is written in the Hearts of all Believers and so saith Mr. Soarsby and they say right yea even the whole moral Law we being created again in Christ Jesus in the Image of God but no Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath is written in our Hearts Ergo To conclude we may hereby learn to distinguish between those parts contain'd in some of the ten Commandments that are simply moral and oblige us as the Law is in Christ's hand and what was judicial For 1. The Preface to the whole Ten was Judicial 2. The second Command obliged the Jews to observe the whole Ceremonial Law and that part of God's visiting the Sins of the Fathers on the Children unto the third and fourth Generation belonged to the Covenant of Works and not to us 3. That in the fourth Command also of the seventh precise day belonged to the Covenant of Works and so to them only 4. The Promise annexed to the fifth only belonged to the Israelites that inherited the Land of Canaan 5. In the tenth Commandment Vsury or Interest of Mony Houses c. was forbid to the Jews from their poor Brethren but that was only a Judicial Law and is no Law to us Thus we may see that the moral Law is only a Law to us as in the hand of Jesus Christ SERMON VI. Proving that the Law of the Decalogue was given to no People but the People of Israel That the Moral Law is transferr'd from Moses into the Hand of Christ as Mediator Gal. iv 10 11. Ye observe days and months c. THat it is not the Duty of believing Gentiles to keep the old Seventh-day Sabbath I have proved by many Reasons The fourth was it is not their Duty by virtue of the Decalogue given to the People of Israel in Exod. 20. First Because the precise Seventh-day Sabbath is not the moral part of the fourth Commandment this I have proved by Twelve Arguments I shall now proceed and give you the next Reason why it is not the Duty of believing Gentiles to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath from hence Secondly The Decalogue given to none but the Jews as written Exod. 20. It cannot be their Duty to keep that Day from thence because the Law of the Decalogue and particularly the Seventh-day Sabbath mentioned therein was given to no People or Nation but the People of Israel only and the proselyted Stranger 1. I shall prove this directly from express Texts out of the Old Testament 2. From direct and express Texts out of the New Testament 3. I shall answer some of the chiefest Objections brought by the Seventh-day Sabbatarians against what I shall say But before I proceed let me premise two things 1. That all the World were under the Law of the first Covenant as made with the first Adam All the World under the Law of Works in the first Adam the common Head of all Mankind and that the substance of that natural and simple moral Law is written in the Hearts of all his Off-spring tho much darken'd by the Fall and actual Sin especially in some 2. That whatsoever is naturally or simply Moral contained in the Decalogue is given forth by Jesus Christ anew in the New Testament as I have proved and as so consider'd the sum or substance of those Ten words are obligatory on all Mankind Now First As to the Proofs out of the Old Testament 1. The very Preface to the Decalogue declares to whom all the Commandments contained therein was given Exod. 20. 2. viz. those very People God brought out of the Land of Egypt that People which he sanctified or set apart for himself above all People on the Earth as also by the promise annexed to the fifth Commandment viz. That thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee This shews the Laws of the Decalogue were only given to the People of Israel Again 2. 'T is said Deut. 4. 8. What Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous as this Law which is set before you this Day Now if this Law was given to all People in the World or to any one Nation or People besides Israel then the whole World or that particular People as well as the Israelites had Laws and Statutes as great and righteous as Israel had tho they might not have them in so clear a Revelation or manner as they had 3. It is expresly said Psal 147. 19 20. He shewed his Word to Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any other Nation and for his Judgments they have not known them Praise ye the Lord. How vain as well as sinful is it to go about to contradict God's Word Here it is laid down Affirmatively and Negatively It was given to Israel and not to any other Nation c. Dr. Chamberlen saith See Mr. Ives's Saturday no Sabbath p. 18 19. It was given to Israel as a Privilege only and to other Nations by way of Punishment to judg them by it Answ Men may say what they please after this manner But I shall prove that no Nation or People but that of Israel who were under that Law shall be judged by it 4. How often doth God by Moses and other of his Servants Exod. 31. 17. declare that the Sabbath was given to Israel It is a Sign between me and the Children of Israel Neh. 9. 14. c. Also Nehemiah speaking of Israel saith God made known to them his holy Sabbath To them and the Psalmist says not to any other Nation Take two or three Arguments further to evince this 1. The Law of the Decalogue was given only to a People in covenant with God The Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai given only to the House of Israel and because the whole House of Jacob were taken into that legal typical Covenant which peculiarly referr'd to that People therefore God gave them that Law and the Sabbath as a
Sign that God sanctified and set them apart to be a peculiar People to himself and as a Sign also of that Obligation they were laid under to keep it as I have proved But God entered into no such Covenant with any other People or Nation under Heaven therefore the Law of the Decalogue could not concern any besides the House of Israel only Were the Heathen Gentiles or Believing Gentiles under that ministration of the Legal Covenant given by Moses to Israel No until Christ came no other People were in covenant with God at all 2. Because 't is expresly said that the Sabbath Exod. 20. was given to the Jews and Proselyte Stranger To thee and thy Man-servant and Maid-servant and Stranger that is within thy Gate Not any Gentiles or Strangers without the Pale of the Jewish Church but only them who were within their Gate So that God doth implicitly declare he injoyns none else to observe it 3. The Law of the Decalogue could not be given to all or any other People because God did not give any Command to Moses or to any of his Servants to promulge declare or make known that Law or the Sabbath to any other People in the World but the Jews only No Law can bind without Promulgation the Gospel is of a large extent as appears by the Commission Mat. 28. 18 19 20. Go into all the World c. Go teach all Nations c. Thus our Lord hath appointed the Promulgation of the Gospel but not a word of any such Commission for the Promulgation of the Law of Moses given Exod. 20. 4. Because Moses was never made or appointed a Lawgiver to any other People but Israel only Moses no Law-giver but to the Jews He was a Ruler over none but the Jews and the Decalogue was but part of the Jewish Law as written in Tables of Stone Others may say Who made thee a Ruler over us or a Legislator or deputed Officer from God to us 4. The Decalogue and consequently the Sabbath could not be given to any other People because it referr'd to a People in a Church-state having many other Laws Statutes and Judgments annexed unto it the punishment for the breach of each Precept thereof being death he that broke the Sabbath must die Now certainly if that Law had been given to other Nations or People God would have put them also into such a Church-state as the Israelites were and have given them like Statutes Judgments and Officers to execute those Judgments but this he did not do 5. Besides as one observes there were Ceremonies belonging to the Sabbath that were essential to the right keeping of it which were not enjoined on the Gentiles except Proselytes That Law given to all People must have the same Services Rites and Ceremonies essentially annexed to it given to them also but those Services Rites and Ceremonies were given to none but the Jews Otherwise as he observes there would be two sorts of Worship acceptable to God and then it would follow also that God was more severe to Israel than to others by imposing more hard and costly Services on them than on the Gentiles 6. Take here what Mr. Bunyan hath said Good Nehemiah threatned the Gentiles that were Merchants for lying then about the Walls of the City for that by that means they were a Temptation to the Jews to break their Sabbath yet he still charges the breach thereof upon his own People Nehem. 13. 16 17 c. Can it be imagined had the Gentiles been concerned by a Divine Law to keep this Sabbath that so holy and good a Man as Nehemiah would let them escape without a rebuke for so notorious a Transgression Moreover in the Prophet Ezekiel ch 20. 10 11 12. 't is said I gave my Sabbaths to be a Sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctified them Before I close with this take what two or three learned Writers have declared in confirmation of what I say Heyl. on the Sabb. p. 65 66. A Law which in it self was general and universal equally pertains to Jews and Gentiles the latter which knew not the Law doing by nature the things contained in the Law as St. Paul has told us but this Law published on Mount Sinai and as delivered by the hand of Moses obliged those of the house of Israel only Take what another saith As neither the Judicial Zanchius de redempt l. 1. c. 11. Tom. 1. nor Ceremonial so nor the Moral Law contained in the Decalogue doth concern us Christians as given by Moses to the Jews but only so far forth as it is consonant to the Law of Nature which bind all alike and was afterwards ratified by Christ our King The Reason he asserts this was to prove the Gentiles were never obliged to observe their Sabbath Let me add what Mr. Baxter hath wrote Baxter on the Sabb. p. 74. He saith That the Fourth Commandment of Moses bindeth us not to the Seventh-day Sabbath because that Moses's Law never bound any but the Jews and those Proselytes that made themselves Inhabitants of their Land or voluntarily subjected themselves to their Policy For Moses was Ruler of none but the Jews nor a Legislator or deputed Officer from God to any other Nation The Decalogue was but part of the Jewish Law if you consider it not as written in Nature but in Tables of Stone and the Jewish Law was given as a Law to no other People but to them It was a national Law as they were a peculiar People and holy Nation so that even in Moses's days it bound no other Nations of the World therefore it needed no abrogation to the Gentiles but a declaration that it did not bind them 7. To close with what we find in the Old Testament about this 'T is worthy our noting that God told the Israelites that those Seven Nations of Canaan whom they should drive out This is a full Answ to Mr. Soarsby who has filled many Pages of his Book to prove the Decalogue Law was given to all the World were defiled with all those Sins and Abominations that he commanded them to abstain from i. e. they had violated all natural or simple moral Precepts But God never charged them with the Sin of breaking the Jews Sabbath So that from thence I infer the Decalogue was not given to them and so not the Sabbath Secondly I shall prove out of the New Testament that the Law of Moses i. e. the Decalogue was given to none but the Jews or People of Israel 1. See Rom. 9. To whom pertaineth the giving forth of the Law c. speaking of the Israelites to whom that is by way of contradistinction to any other People or to them and none else 2. Upon this very account Paul shews that the Jews had the advantage of all other People Rom. 3. 1. What advantage then hath the Jew c. Much every way
bringing a better hope did And so much was Jesus made a Surety of a better Testament In all this it is plain that it is the whole Frame of the Mosaical Law that is changed and the New Testament set up in its stead Heb. 9. 18 19. Neither was the first Testament dedicated without Blood For when Moses had spoken every Precept to all the People according to the Law c. Here the Law before said to be changed is said to contain every Precept And Ephes 2. 15. it is the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances which Christ abolished in his Flesh which cannot be exclusive of the chief part thereof Object This is the Doctrine of the Antinomians that the Law is abrogated even the Moral Law Answ It is the Doctrin of the true Antinomians that we are under no Divine Law neither of Nature nor of Christ But it is the Doctrin of Paul and all Christians that the Jewish Mosaical Law is abolished Object But do not all Divines say that the Moral Law is of perpetual Obligation Answ Yes because it is God's Law of Nature and the Law of Christ Object But do not most say that the Decalogue written in Stone is the Moral Law and of perpetual Obligation Answ Yes for by the word Moral they mean Natural and so take Moral not in the large sense as signifying a Law de moribus as all Laws are whatsoever but in a narrower sense as signifying that which by nature is of universal and perpetual Obligation So that they mean not that it is perpetual as it is Moses's Law and written in Stone formally but as it is that which is natural And they mean that materially the Decalogue containeth the same Law which is the Law of Nature and therefore it is materially in force still But they except still certain Points and Circumstances in it as the prefatory Reason I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the Land of Egypt and especially this of the Seventh-day Sabbath Quest How far then are we bound to keep the Law Answ 1. As it is the Law of Nature 2. As it is own'd by Christ and made part of his Law And therefore no more of it bindeth directly than we can prove to be either the Law of Nature or the Law of Christ Thus Mr. B. Object But Christ saith he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them and that not one jot or tittle of the Law shall pass away till all be fulfilled Answ The whole Moral Law Christ hath fulfilled in our Nature for us and in our stead in his Life And by his Death he hath antitypically fulfilled all the Prophecies concerning himself in reference to such things and hath abolished the Ceremonial Law also for till then not a tittle of that could pass away Is a fulfilling the Law a destroying it Besides all simple moral Precepts of the Law as in Christ's hand stand firm for ever therefore he came not to destroy the Law yet is he the end of it for Righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10. 4. tho as a Rule of Life in his hands it obligeth them perpetually Moreover Ch. 5. 20. Brethren 't is said the Law enter'd Chap. 7. 9. that the Offence might abound c. and the Commandment came c. Now this entering of the Law and coming of the Commandment The use of the Law at in Christ's hand chiefly refers to the Law as it is in Christ's hand set home with Power by the Spirit upon the Conscience The bare entrance of the Law on Mount Sinai as in Moses's hand was with Thundering and Lightning but without Rain I mean without Contrition or Brokenness of heart Men may read Moses's Law and hear it preach'd every day nay write it on the Walls of their Houses and carry it in their Bosoms but yet it may have no operations on their Hearts no 't is the Ministration of the Law in Christ's hand by his Spirit that wounds the Conscience pierces and melts the hard Heart that God's Law may be written there The Ministration of the Law in Christ's hand answers the chief design of God in giving it forth and renders the Minstration of it by Moses of little or no use for as in his hand it is done away but the Law by the Spirit greatens Sin or makes Sin abound and Grace superabound Sin thus by the Law becomes exceeding sinful and it doth not only wound but slay the Soul Sin taking occasion by the Commandment Rom. 7. 11 12. deceived me and by it slew me Wherefore the Law is holy c. O blessed be God for the Law as it is in Christ's hand Thus Sin reviv'd 〈◊〉 I dy'd saith Paul I dy'd as to any hope of Justification or eternal Life by the Law The Jews who had the Law only as in Moses's hand were puff'd up or fill'd with Pride they as Paul before Conversion or the coming of the Commandment in and by the Spirit as in Christ's hand were alive so he thought himself alive in a justified state but when the Commandment came it was then quite otherwise with him So that Christ came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it and also to make it of great use to all that receive the Spirit of Christ which Spirit is a Spirit of burning before it is a Spirit of Consolation or a Spirit of Boâ—dage before it is the Spirit of Adoption and so a Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ Gal. 3. 24. Thus we do not make void the Law through Faith but establish it God in Christ hath magnified the Law and made it honourable and that three ways 1. In sending his own Son in our Nature to keep it perfectly and to die for our breach thereof Christ was made under the Law to this very end O how doth it magnify the Law to see Godman thus conform to it and die to bear the Penalty thereof for us 2. He magnifieth the Law in putting it into the hands of his own Son as Mediator to give it forth Doth not the Dignity and Glory of the Lawgiver add to the Glory of the Law given Is not Christ a more glorious Person than Moses See Heb. 1. 8 9 10. 2. 2 3. This Man was accounted worthy of more Glory than Moses Heb. 3. 3. But alas some would have Moses partake of some part of Christ's Glory he must be their Lawgiver 3. By making of it as in Christ's hand of far greater use to Believers as I have shewed than ever it was in the hands of Moses and so to answer God's Design in it Let me only add that all Moses's Law even the Decalogue was political as one observes God's Law was for the particular political Government of the Jewish Nation as a typical Church and political Body and therefore when their Kingdom or Policy ceased the Law as Political and their figurative Sabbath could not
I take to be the Foundation of the observance of the first Day and that which I mentioned last is a clear confirmation thereof In order to do this consider that each Day to be observed either under the Law or Gospel must be comprehended in the fourth Command and that the change of the old Day takes not away the perpetual Obligation of one day in seven nor the reason of that positive perpetual Law Now there are but two great and general Instances in which God is said to rest viz. 1. That after the first Creation was finished God rested from all his Work namely from Creation-work so as he never will create any material thing again to the end of the World As to his creating the Soul that is not the creating of any new Species of Beings 2. The Rest of God-man after he had finished the Work of Redemption or the second Creation which is never to be repeated Now there is a moral Reason which is deducible from the fourth Commandment that whenever God rests there is a Foundation of a day of Rest for Man comporting with the nature and tendency of each Covenant to which that Rest doth refer Thou shalt do no manner of Work c. for in six days c. The word for implys a moral Reason which makes it applicable to any Rest of God therefore to God's Rest from the Work of Redemption I mean that of God-man which is also deducible from Heb. 4 Christ rested from his Work as God did from his Therefore there remaineth a Rest for the People of God Heb. 4. â— 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he that is entered into his Rest hath also ceased from his Works as God did from his Here is the Institution of the Lord's Day For tho this Rest hath a particular relation to the Gospel-day of Rest i. e. of that Grace Rest and Peace Christ procured for us by his doing all that we had to do and of that burden of Punishment he bore which we had to undergo for our Sins yet not exclusive of a particular Sabbath or day of Rest but it is directly intended here as the Foundation and Institution of it because that Rest in the former Verses which has a more particular respect to the Rest in Canaan is spoken of not excluding God's resting the Seventh-day Now in pursuit of this I shall here cite some material Passages out of Dr. Owen on the Sabbath who has fully confirmed what I here assert How the Creation of all things was finished Dr. Owen on the Sab. p. 256. and the Rest of God and Man that ensued thereon hath been saith he declared It hath also in part and sufficiently as to our present purpose been evidenced how the great Ends of the Creation of all in the Glory of God and the Blessedness of Man in him with the Pledg thereof in a sabbatical Rest were for a season as it were defeated and disappointed by the entrance of Sin which brake the Covenant that was founded in the Law of Creation and rendered it useless unto those Ends Hence it could no more bring Man to rest in God but yet there was the continuation of the obligatory Force of the Law and Covenant and hence of the Sabbatical Rest in the Church of Israel with the especial application of its Command to that People In this state of things God had of old determined the Renovation of all things by a new Creation a new Law of that Creation a new Covenant and a new Sabbatical Rest to his Glory by Jesus Christ And this Renovation of all things accordingly to be accomplished in Christ 2 Cor. 5. 17 18. 'T is said Old things are past away and behold all things are become new the old Law the old Covenant old Worship Pag. 258. old Sabbath and all that was peculiar to the Covenant of Works as such in the first Institution of it and its renewed Declaration on Mount Sinai all are gone and antiquated And what now remains of them as to any usefulness in our living to God doth not abide on the old Foundation but on a new Disposition of them by the Renovation of all things in Christ Eph. 1. 10. A new Law of Obedience is introduc'd by the new Creation in Christ Jesus And there is a great Renovation thereof shewed in God's writing his Law in our Hearts not here to be insisted on God brings over * That is God brings over the Law as given on Mount Sinai into the hands of Christ in this State the use of the first Law as renewed and represented in Tables of Stone for a directive Rule of Obedience to the new Creature whereby the first original Law is wholly supply'd Hereunto he makes an addition of what positive Laws he thinks meet So the Moral Law tho materially always the same yet this old Law as brought over into this new State is new also for all old things are become new And it is now the Rule of our Obedience not merely to God as Creator but to God in Christ bringing us into a new Relation to himself in the Renovation of the Image of God in our Souls and the transferring over of the Moral Law as a Rule accompanied with new Principles Motives and Ends. And now observe all the Rests of God are founded in his own Rest in his Works for a pledg hereof a day of Rest must be given and observed But as the Apostle tells in another case Pag. 262. The Priesthood being changed Heb. 7. 12. there must also of necessity be a change of the Law so the Covenant being changed and the Rest which was the end of it being changed and the way of entering into the Rest of God being changed a change of the Day must of necessity thereon ensue And no Man can assert the same day of Rest precisely to abide as of old but he must likewise assert the same way of entering into â—t which yet as all acknowledg is changed The day first annexed to the Covenant of Works that is the seventh day was continued under the old Testament because the outward Administration of the Covenant of Works was continued But now the new Covenant being absolutely established and the other abolished both as to its Nature Use Efficacy and Power no more to be represented nor proposed unto Believers even the whole of it Yea and its renewed Administration under the Old Testament being removed taken away and disappearing Heb. 8. 13. the precise day of Rest belonging unto it was to be changed also and so it came to pass On these Suppositions we lay Pag. 164. § 7. and ought to â—ay the observation of the Lord's-day under the New Testament according to the Institution of â—t or Declaration of the Mind of Christ who â—s our Lord and Lawgiver concerning it A New work of Creation or work of a new Creation is undertaken and compleated * Isa 65.