To which Objection from John 8. 56 some Answer may be from John 9. 4 5 where Christ says to his Disciples I must work the Works of him that sent me whilest it is day the night cometh when no man can work Where day referrs to the time of Christ's Life and publick Ministry and shews the day of Christ Abraham rejoyced to see John 8. 56 to be the time of Christ's preaching the Gospel which was in part whilst Christ's Life in this World lasted and so John 9. 4 is explained John 9. 5 As long as I am in the World Their Father Abraham joyfully believed the Promise of the Messiah and so by Faith foresaw Christ's Coming and was glad The Jews gloried much in this that they had Abraham to their Father Abraham their Father by Faith foresaw Christ's Coming into the World his preaching the Gospel his dying upon the Cross Abraham saw this by Faith in the Promise which was made to him That in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed Gen. 12. 3 22. 18 Abraham saw this in the Type of Isaac's being offered Heb. 11. 17 18 19. This Abraham saw by the Light of Divine Revelation he saw Christ's coming in the Flesh his dying for Sinners typified by the Ram sacrificed instead of Isaac and typified by other Offerings and Sacrifices and he saw by Faith upon the coming of Christ the publication of the Gospel of Christ to the whole World by which means all the Nations of the Earth both Jews and Gentiles are become blessed in his Seed and Abraham was glad with the joy of Faith which gives the Soul a clear view of a certain promised Blessing and Good at a distance as if it were present Heb. 11. 1 13 and so I think John 8. 56 evidently referrs to those Gospel Times which Abraham by Faith in the Promise saw afar off But that day which Christ says Abraham saw being mentioned as a day in general some would fain hook in as one day in every week and so by a narrow understanding of what Abraham saw by Faith would restrain it only to a particular day of the week by their Conjecture Obj. Some guess that Psal 118. 22 24 This is the day the Lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it is the Resurrection day And so they say of the day Psal 2. 7 and Acts 13. 33 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and to that of Psal 118. 24 they joyn Rom. 1. 4 where Christ is said to be declared the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the Dead Ans Now that the Stone which the Builders rejected Psal 118. 22 is meant of Christ is agreed as also that Christ is the Son of God Psal 2. 4 and that he is declared to be the Son of God with Power by his rising from the Dead Rom. 1. 4. But the day mentioned Psal 118. 24 I take as before to be the time of preaching and promulgating the Gospel of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ did plainly declare him to be God the true Messiah and Saviour of all that believe in him But to graft upon these places any thing of an institution of a weekly new Sabbath or of repealing the Seventh day I take to be a meer Conjecture and has no Foundation but in mens Fancies Others guess the day mentioned Psal 118. 24 to be the Incarnation day either of which Conceits if I could but find somewhere written in the Scriptures I hope I should believe but finding none of these there written to me they do but seem to prove the Shifts and Windlaces some are driven to use to patch up such Conceits And some of the Ancients are said to understand by Psal 2. 7 and Acts 13. 33 the eternal Generation of the Son of God Which some referr to the Resurrection others to the Incarnation of our Saviour The Gospel-day before mentioned is a day of glad Tydings for the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled in Christ Acts 13. 32 33 the glad Tydings of our Deliverance from Sin and Hell by the satisfaction made to the Justice of God by the Merits and perfect Obedience of Christ Obj. Some object from Heb. 4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. Ans Where the rest spoken of v. 1 I take to be the everlasting Rest in Heaven and the day spoken of v. 7 to be the same day spoken of Heb. 3. 13 15 compared with Heb. 4. 2 the day of preaching of the Gospel to which it concerns us much that we hearken lest we be hardened through the deceitfulness of Sin and do not hear the Voice and Call of Christ that so by believing we may enter into everlasting Rest v. 3. of which everlasting Rest the Seventh day on which God rested from all his Works was a Type v. 4 into which everlasting Rest the Hebrews who did not believe in Christ should not enter v. 5 6 who by his own Mouth and the preaching of his Apostles and Ministers did first preach the Gospel to the Jews and warned them to day to hear his voice and not to harden their Hearts which Jews understood the rest formerly promised to referr to a Rest in the Land of Canaan and overlooked that everlasting Rest which was typified by God's giving that Country of Canaan and by the weekly Sabbath Which everlasting Rest Joshua who led them into Canaan did not give them but there remaineth a Sabbatism v. 9 an everlasting Rest to the People of God which those who did believe in Christ upon the preaching of the Gospel in the day and time of preaching of it called another day v. 8. should enter into v. 5 6. Which everlasting Rest it concerned the Jews then and concerns all the World to labour to enter into lest any of us should come short of it v. 1 7 8 9 10 11. Which Sence of that place seems to me not hard to â—e apprehended by a plain understanding without any farther quarrelling about it But for any word there to lay aside the Seventh day which is a Type of Heaven and of everlasting Rest there until we come to Heaven which is the Antitype thereof or for any word there for instituting the First day of the week as a weekly Sabbath after the Resurrection of Christ and in remembrance thereof to be observed by the Churches of Christ in all after Ages I find not The great Sabbatism or Rest then and before promised to the People of God is yet to come This Sabbatism or Rest is all the state of the Churches Deliverance and eternal Felicity by Christ incarnate and glorified which in the First-fruits is all the Grace which he giveth his on Earth but in the proper full performance is the state of Glory that great glorious final anâ— everlasting Life Love Peace Light and Rest in Heaven Anâ— the 9th and 11th
AN ENQUIRY Whether the LORD JESUS CHRIST made the World and be Jehovah and gave the Moral Law AND Whether the Fourth Command be Repealed or Altered By THO. BAMPFIELD LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be sold by Tho. Fabian at the Bible in St. Paul's Church-yard a Corner-Shop next Cheapside 1692. AN ENQUIRY Whether the Lord JESUS CHRIST made the World and be JEHOVAH c. THE Word of God and the general Consent of the Christian and of much of the Heathen World being agreed for a weekly day of rest And Opinions and Practice varying which day of the week is to be observed some affirming it to be one day and some another And those agreeing upon the day differing in the Grounds of its observation and the time of its beginning and ending And these Questions concerning a Moral Duty to which All are weekly obliged do make it worth while to look into it to find if possible whether the Question be as doubtful as the many Treatises thereof have left it and whether the Unresolvedness which is upon and still afresh ariseth in the Minds of Men be incurable And when we consider the number and weight of Books and their Authors for about an Hundred years last past pleading for the first day of the week as the weekly day of rest it is some marvel whence that Unresolvedness does come and how it is maintained and with some gets Strength under many endeavours to suppress it private Consciences raising sometimes the old and sometimes new Objections and Doubts which neither themselves nor any Man or Book did yet ever answer to their satisfaction The plain Word and Law of Jehovah seeming expresly to command the observation of one day and many writing for and keeping up another Consciences are commonly startled out of all that settlement which they seem sometimes to have gotten from the Opinions good Intentions Practice Authority and Books of Men and are still suspicious that a positive Command of God and that one of the ten Commands requires positive Obedience from Man Wherein that I may commuâ—icate what I can I premise 1. First The Persons herein eminently treated with being such as are professedly awed by a Principle of Subjection to the Will of Christ if it can be known what it is and who resolve their Perswasion in Religion into the Word of God and who acknowledge themselves obliged to practise his Will whatsoever it shall prove to be I take this for granted That whatever is the Mind of Christ in this as in other Cases in his Word ought to be observed by us all 2. Secondly That Christ's Will in this is revealed to us in the Scripture or no where As for those who because they find not a Command for the first day in the Scriptures do reflect upon them as not perfect and resort to Traditions to make up what they surmise is defective in them and who to supply the want of a particular Command for the First day lodge a general Power in the Church to make Laws in this Case to bind after-Ages I answer That the Scriptures do teach us all Truths and Duties necessary to Salvation and that it is so full a Direction 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. in all cases that Christians need not go down to what is not written for direction what to do Peace on them who walk according to this Rule Gal. 6. 16. And if the Church had such Power as some pretend there being such variety of Churches which of the Churches shall give the World a Rule in this And if all Churches had been of one mind all along quo jure by what Right could they alter any Law of God And after such a loose Principle admitted where shall any man and who shall set Bounds to that loose Principle And generally the most Learned of the Prelatical as well Romanists as others go that way Mr. Calvin Calvin's Instit Book 2. chap. 8. sect 33 34. also lays the greatest stress for the observation of the First day upon the Authority of the Church he says the old Fathers have not without reason of their choice put in place of the Sabbath-day the day we call Sunday so Mr. Calvin allows the alteration to be made by the old Fathers but Mr. Calvin's particular Opinion in this case was for a seventh part of every day And for those who think the Seventh day in the fourth Command was ceremonial and that keeping one day in seven that is the First day of the week is moral and remaineth Calvin calls this a trifling of false Prophets and an infecting the people with a Jewish Opinion and he adds that such do as much exceed as the Jews in gross and carnal Superstition Some of those again but those few and mean who are for the Seventh day have run far into another Extreme and endeavoured to introduce some of the Mosaical Ceremonies which are all abolish'd by the death of Christ and are nailed to his Cross and buried in his Grave and by such Col. 2. 14. conceits occasion Slanders upon others and discourage Eph. 2. 15 16. further Enquirers which Extravagancies I take to be the usual Artifice of Satan to prejudice and hinder us from using due means to givâ— our selves or others that satisfaction we need in so weighty a case and by how much the more Wanderings there are about this Question by so much the more it is requisite that we do what we can to clear our way therein And some who have written for the First day are so confident that they count all contrary Reasoning vain Cavils and say they think they have fully proved that point And some represent such as think that Seventh day is still the Christian Sabbath as Jews On the other hand same few of those who think the Seventh day the Christian Sabbath set out the First-day-men as decliniâ—g the determining Authority of the Scriptures And these Heats are carried so high on both sides that the Bonds of Love are much broken and Christian Communion almost cut asunder which ways of speaking and writing as vehement we much dislike and I am perswaded many of both sides whoever do mistake do conscientiously mistake and I hope if it be possible to come at the certain knowledge of the Will of Christ our common Lord would sit down thereby and a right way herein we may well presume has been often and earnestly sought on all hands of Him about it and the Scriptures and Histories searched and those who love Christ are undoubtedly or ought to be willing to keep his Commands Joh. 14. 15. And here without prejudice it cannot be denied but those worthy learned pious and excellent Ministers of Christ and others who have written so many elaborate Tracts for the First day have done it with good intentions as thinking it for the Honour of Christ to keep up a day in memory of his Resurrection Nor can they or any others without
true That in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision availeth any thing but a new Creature Gal. 6. 15. In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. which Love is the fulfilling of the Law Gal. 5. 14. and the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. And as many as walk according to this Rule Peace on them and Mercy Gal. 6. 16. Upon All whether Jews or Gentiles who believe in Christ and walk by Rule And Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 7. 19. Col. 3. 9 10 11. And upon the whole of this it seems to me the Law was given to Jews and Gentiles And through Christ both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit to the Father Eph. 2. 11 14 18. where you have also Father Son and Holy Spirit 2dly That the seventh-day Sabbath after the promulgation of the Law by Christ at Mount Sinai and that ordinarily was called by the name of the Sabbath and by that name known and observed I think is agreed by all that I know and is so plain throughout the Old Testament that there needs little to be said thereto Six days thou shalt work and on the seventh day thou shalt rest Exod. 23. 12. Upon the seventh day the Lord called to Moses out of the Cloud Exod. 24. 16. which probably was the first Sabbath after the giving the Law Exod. 20. which seventh day is often called a sign for ever between him and his People and a perpetual Covenant Exod. 31. 13 to 17. to distinguish his People from others Where the Law of the Pool's Annot. on Exod. 31. 16. Sabbath is confirmed and established to be perpetual and the reason given for the perpetuity of the Sabbath is such as hath its force till the end of the World and it 's fit and just men should retain this Monument or Memorial of the Worlds Creation even till its Dissolution And this was whilst the Lord was communing with Moses in the Mount and before the giving Moses the two Tables of Testimony Exod. 31. 18. which they were to observe in Earing-time and Harvest Exod. 34. 21. And the seventh day shall be to you an Holy day a Sabbath of rest to Jehovah Exod. 35. 2. which is repeated here and in Exod. 31. 13. before to teach them to remember that Precept above all their ceremonial Observations And the Weekly Sabbaths are called The Sabbaths of the Lord v. 38. in a way of distinction from other days of Rest which also appears in the fourth Command Exod. 20. 8 9 10 11. afterwards we have the Judgment against the Stick-gatherer Num. 15. 32 36. And after the Command renewed for lively fiery and not dead and formal Morning and Evening Word and Prayer Num 28. 3 to 8. Jehovah also repeats the Law for the Sabbath v. 9 10. which Israel prophan'd whereof we read much in the Prophets and Psal 92. is a Psalm for the Sabbath day I love thy Commandments above gold yea above fine gold I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things right Psal 119. 127 128. As if he had said I make not all thy Commands void as some do nor am I partial in approving some and rejecting or altering those I like not which cross my Opinion as others do all thy Commands ever were are and ever will be right Which I take to be the import of the Hebrew leaving out the Verb there and in many other places And he that turneth away his Ear from hearing the Law his Prayer is an abomination Prov. 28. 9. it ever was so is so and will be so an abomination 1 John 3. 22. Thus saith Jehovah My Salvation is near to come Blessed the man that keepeth the Sabbath he will accept their services Isa 56. 1 2 6 7. such ever were are and ever will be blessed Which place referring to Gospel-times is the larger Promise now And it shall come to pass that from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith Jehovah Isa 66. See also Jer. 17. 21. 23 24. And with this that great Gospel-Prophet concludeth his Prophecy The Covenant which Jehovah made with their Fathers which they broke Jer. 31. 31 32. 33. was the Moral Law I will put my Laws in their inward parts and write them in their Hearts called an everlasting Covenant Jer. 32. 40 38 39. Rom. 2. 29. John 1. 47. Rom. 7. 22 Heb. 8. 8 9 10. The Lord charges Jerusalem as having changed his Statutes therefore I even I against thee Ezek. 5. 5 6 8. That the Sabbath was appointed as a sign between him and his People is often mentioned which because they polluted he gave them Statutes not good Ezek. 20. 12 13 16 20 21. 24. My Sabbaths they greatly polluted v. 13. the Lord threatned them not to bring them into Canaan because they polluted his Sabbaths v. 15 16. which should be a sign between him and them v. 20 21 24. Which Weekly Sabbaths were to be a weekly keeping alive their Hopes of an Eternal Rest with the Lord that Rest or Sabbatism or keeping Sabbath in Heaven which remaineth for the People of God Heb. 4. 8 9. of which the seventh-day Sabbath was and is a Pledge and Representation And the prophaning the Sabbath is reckoned amongst the greater sins of Israel whose Ministers hid their Eyes from his Sabbath Ezek. 22. 8 26. 23. 38. After many Threatnings against Aegypt and after the Promises in that Prophet of converting the Jews the Resurrection of the dry Bones the Promise of Christ's Kingdom God's Judgment on Gog and Ezekiel's Vision of the new Temple Thus saith the Lord God The gate of the inward Court that looketh toward the East shall be shut the six working days but on the Sabbath it shall be opened for the Prince to enter and offer upon the Sabbath day Ezek. 46. 1 2 4. and a little after that Prophet closeth his Prophecy and God threatens to cause the Sabbath to cease Hos 2. 11. And when will the Sabbath be gone that we may set forth Wheat Amos 8. 5. By all which I conclude that the seventh day was the Sabbath till our Lord's Incarnation These and other Voices of the Prophets do shew how highly the Sabbath was valued by the Lord who gave it to his People and was ordinarily called by the Prophets and afterwards by the Apostles the Sabbath or the Sabbath day and those terms of the Seventh day and the Sabbath were Synonimous in the Church noting all along throughout the Old and New Testament one and the same Seventh-day-Sabbath And it is very observable that the Old or New Testament do never call the First day the Sabbath Q. 6. If the Ten Commands without any exception of the fourth Command or any part or tittle of it were confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ after his taking our Nature upon him
Verses especially do shew that it is the Heavenly Rest with the Beginnings of it by Faith and Holiness whicâ— is meant in the 4th of Heb. Let us labour therefore to enter into thâ— Rest v. 11 which is the Use that since many through Unbelieâ— fall short of that everlasting Rest let us study hard and wiâ— Earnestness and Diligence endeavour to obtain it for which eâ— the Word of God is quick and powerful v. 12 to stir us up â— strive to enter into God's Rest which Labour is commended â— all and especially to the Hebrews to whom that Epistle is directeâ— to bring them to believe in Christ Jesus the Son of God v. 13 1â— whose being God-man the Author of that Epistle doth clearâ— assert and the only Mediator by Faith in whom alone we câ— obtain that everlasting Rest Obj. But one of the principal Objections is raised from Aâ— 20. 7. And upon the First day of the week when the Disciples caâ— together to break Bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart the morrow and continued his speech until midnight Ans The first day of the week they guess was Sunday which I shall not controvert provided they will admit which I think they will not deny that it was Paul's manner to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath Acts 17. 2 and provided they tell us what part of Sunday this was for it seems to me and I think to these Objectors also to be the Evening after the Seventh day which Evening was the beginning of Sunday as the Evening was the beginning of every other day of the week Gen. 1. 5 8 13 19 23 31. And that it was in the Evening after the Sabbath I think probable from his being ready to depart on the morrow i. e. on Sunday and from his speaking till midnight and till break of day v. 7 11. And they guess the breaking of Bread there was the Lord's Supper which they guess the Disciples did there once come together to do upon the First day of the week and therefore they guess did upon the First day of every week then and ever after and Paul's preaching to them then they guess was because the Seventh day was changed to the First day but when where or by whom they shew us not but generally acknowledge to be no where found in the Scriptures only we must take their word for it which without a word from the Lord I cannot satisfie my self to do In answer to which Objection the Reader may take notice that the Greek word here preached is the same Greek word which is rendered reasoned Acts 17. 2 where Paul as his manner was his constant manner was went in unto them and three Sabbath days i. e. Seventh-day Sabbaths he preached to â—hem out of the Scriptures and is the same Greek word which is â—endered reasoned Acts 18. 4 where Paul reasoned i. e. preached in the Synagogue every Sabbath And he that without â—rejudice considers those two places will see somewhat how far â—his goes in answer to the Objection Now if we do admit that once for 't is but once Paul with the Disciples came together upon the First day of the week to break Bread â—nd if we should admit that breaking of Bread was giving and â—eceiving the Lord's Supper I say it is but once that is but one â—nstance but one Fact which was never yet understood to make New or repeal an Old Law and it would be a very dangerous â—octrine to affirm that one Fact done by the Apostles â—nd those Disciples who were at Troas and that upon a special occasion should have the force of a Law to repeal or alter one of the Ten Commands to all the World in all after Ages And this once was upon occasion of Paul's being to depart on the morrow i. e. on Sunday This was but once that Paul preached upon the First day buâ— his constant Custom was to preach on the Sabbath days Acts â—7 2 and that upon every Sabbath day Acts 18. 4. The other is pretended to be but once And not one word of instituting the First day or repealing the Seventh day And if we may humbly take a liberty of offering our weâ— sence upon this place as others do upon this and all the rest oâ— the Scriptures I further answer that it is likely to me that Pâ— abiding seven days at Troas which some think was Troy or the Country thereabout Acts 20. 6. kept as his manner was Act 17. 2. 18. 4. the Sabbath there as his Custom was and in thâ— Evening when the First day began as every other day of thâ— week did begin in the Evening Gen. 1. 5 8 13 19 23 31 the Disciples came together to break Bread And that it was thuâ— I think I have the Opinion of a whole Synod Lucius Ecclesiasâ—cal History V. Cent. 313 D. 315. a b c d e Basileae 162 Synodus Toletana Which breaking of Bread might be to receive the Lord 's Suppeâ— together or it might be only for common eating or supping togâ—ther for neither is positively or particularly expressed And may be it was common Eating because in the same Book of thâ— Acts viz. Acts 27. 35 the same Greek word is used for Paâ— breaking Bread which was common Eating in the Ship wiâ— the Centurion Souldiers and Seamen who were Heathenâ— whatever the other Prisoners with Paul were which the Serâ— of the History there shews was common Eating and I take â— be so understood by Expositors And in this very Chapter vâ— Acts 20. 11 when Paul had broken Bread and eaten he departâ— which may be the same breaking Bread mentioned v. 7 but the same Greek word and probably was common Eating Aâ— the same Greek word for breaking Bread is used Mat. 14. 1â— where Christ fed a Multitude with five Loaves and two Fishâ— which was before the Institution of the Supper And the saâ— Greek word is also used Mat. 15. 36 at another miraculous feeâ—ing of a Multitude and Mark 8. 6 19 which could not be â— Supper being before the Institution thereof So that compâ—ring Acts 20 7 with Acts 20. 11 and Acts 27. 35 and Mat. 15. 36 and Mark 8. 6 19 it seems it might be common Eating but suppose it were the Lord's Supper 't is likely Paul having kept the Sabbath with them as his manner was and intending to be gone the next morning i. e. on Sunday morning they met to have the Lord's Supper together and after Supper that Paul preached to them and talked long till break of day and then departed which seems to be Sunday morning But why the coming together of the Disciples v. 7 might not be as Friends commonly do when a Minister or any other special Acquaintance intends to take a Journey in the morning to supp with him over-night I see no substantial Reason which is a Sence obvious to common Understandings as it seems without Violence Whereas the haling of this Text to make a new
observed as some compute from Joshua to Nehemiah which was for about One thousand years And for how many years the Seventh day Sabbath was before and under the Captivity turned into a Market-day Neh. 13. 15 to 21 I know not but 't is there written that their Fathers marketting upon the Sabbath occasioned the Captivity of Israel and Israel under their oppressing Persecutors was there particularly reproved for prophaning the Sabbath by Nehemiah as I shall shew more under the twelfth Question So that Commands may be broken and great and plain Duties may be long and generally omitted in the Churches and great Faults committed and yet Commands are still Commands and Duties continue Duties and Sins are still Transgressions of the Law and as soon as God does give us the knowledge of any Duty we ought to set about it and when He discovers to us any Sin we should bewail it and turn from it And in Truth the longer the observation of the Seventh day has been discontinued if it had been for Sixteen hundred years together which Reckoning I think you may hereafter find diminished the louder the Lord in the Fourth Command doth call upon us to return to the Law and to the Testimony the length of time wherein some Churches have given a Bill of Divorce to the Sabbath being a strong Argument to continue no longer in observance of the First day to which we never were married that I find by the Lord. And supposing the Churches had all for a long time observed the First day and by Tradition taken it for the Lord's day if they were long mistaken must they therefore persist in that wrong Observation and never be reclaimed And must no man dare under pain and peril of many Reproaches and other Persecutions and Ruin in this World so far as Angry men can do it practise it or speak or write a Word for it For all the Cry about the length of time if it were true has only this Force that because we have been out of our way for a long time therefore let no man presume or think to put us in our way again which is no good Arguing upon the Road nor in other Cases and why in this Ans 5. From Rev. 1. 10 it is plain That John was in the Island Patmos and was there in the Spirit i. e. in an Extasie and Rapture of Mind wherein the Understanding is raised and fixed in Contemplation of Divine things which were afterwards to come to pass in the Churches and the World Which also in part was the case of Peter Acts 10. 10 about the sixth hour but whether on the Sabbath I know not and of Paul 2 Cor. 12. 2 but whether on the Sabbath I know not and often of the Prophets and John being in the Spirit was on the Lord's day Now to find out which day of the week this was if it were a weekly day which is not written I shall offer the best Evidence I can from the Word Opinions in such undetermined Cases being only Conjectures which I heartily submit to the Word and better Judgments who are awed by the Word From the Text or Context we find nothing very considerable on either side that I know and therefore to find out what day this is shall collate other Scriptures for whatsoever is necessary to be known and not expressed in one Text is found in another for the Word of God is certainly compleat as to all necessary Truths I find a great deficiency in my own Understanding and Memory but nothing wanting in the Scriptures and whosoever is once poisoned with Conceits that the Scriptures are defective I do not wonder if such run to any thing that is uppermost For as the Scriptures are given by Inspiration of God so they are able to make us wise to Salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. And he that thinks this Scripture or any other Scripture false will be no Rule to me And here I may first recollect what was offered on the Third Question viz. That after the Creation the Seventh-day Sabbath was instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ and by him was blessed and sanctified Gen. 2. 1 2 3 4 and thence thus reason 1st That day which the Lord blessed and sanctified is the Lord's day but the Seventh day of the week is that day which he blessed and sanctified therefore the Seventh day is the Lord's day That the Lord blessed and sanctified the Seventh day and thaâ— he that blessed it was the Lord Christ and that the Seventh day is the day he blessed and sanctified are expresly proved by Gen. 2 2 3 4 and in the first second and third Questions And if it be so it seems to follow somewhat strongly that then the Seventh day is the Lord's day Now although all the days of the week are the Lord's that is 't was he that made that division of Time into Seven days and there stayed and every day is his yet he having peculiarly blessed sanctified and called the Seventh day his day and rested upon it and set it apart for Man to rest on and He having no where that I can yet find in his Word said any such thing of the First day or of any other day of the week but only of the Seventh I dare not speak or think contrary to his express Command and Word and the Seventh day seems to me only to be and to be by Him called The Lord's day 2. Another Scripture to prove that the seventh-Seventh-day Sabbath is the Lord's day is Exod. 20. 10 where the Seventh day is directly affirmed to be the Sabbath of the Lord that is the Seventh day is the Lord's Sabbath day or the Lord's day of Rest or the Lord's day and the like is in Deut. 5. 14 The Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God Now that which is the Lord's Sabbath day I should think cannot well be denied to be the Lord's day and it being his Sabbath day does not make it cease to be a day or cease to be his day and if it be his day then 't is the Lord's day Or we may reason thus That day which the Lord commanded to be kept holy is the Lord's day but the Seventh day is that day which the Lord commanded to be kept holy therefore the Seventh day is the Lord's day Now that the Seventh day is that day which the Lord commanded to be kept holy appears from Exod. 20. 8 10 and Deut. 5. 12 14 15. The latter end of that 15th Verse is very cogent For thus hath the Lord commanded thee to do or to make that day the Sabbath 3. Another Scripture to prove the Seventh day to be the Lord's day is Isa 58. 13 where the Sabbath is called the Lord's Holy-day and the Holy of the Lord. I think no Writer has yet doubted that the Sabbath there spoken of was the Seventh-day Sabbath then and still observed by the Israelites and it cannot be the less his day
come he directs his Disciples v. 3 to pray their Flight might not be in Winter the season of Cold or Wet would greaten the Distress nor on the Sabbath day which they were commanded to rest upon and to keep holy for such a Tribulation would be heightned if it fell upon a day whereon they used and ought without some real cogent necessity to compose themselves to an Holy Rest And for eminently gracious persons as the Apostles were and all Believers in their measure are by any hindrance though lawful to be diverted from any Ordinance of Christ where they may sedately enjoy Communion with Father Son and Holy Spirit and that for a whole day together is a matter to be deprecated Secondly And that the Sabbath in Mat. 24. 20 was the Jewish Seventh-day Sabbath I have the Opinion I think of all that write upon it that it was the Seventh-day Sabbath they were to pray that their Flight might not be upon And I cannot now imagine that Paul in his Epistles to the Romans Galatians and Colossians before mentioned went about to abrogate what Christ had so confirmed And upon the whole I do think this one place of Mat. 24. 20 compared with Mark 13. 18 which referrs to the like Cases with Mat. 24. is sufficient to prove the Seventh-day Sabbath is not altered but ought to be still observed As for those who think a weekly Seventh-day of Rest was appointed in Paradice and who acknowledge it to be ordained from the foundation of the World before the entrance of Sin and so belonged to all Mankind and that a Seventh-day weekly was directly commanded in the Decalogue wherein Vide Mr. Hughes Treatise of the Sabbath the Law of our Creation was revived and so distinguished from all Ceremonial Ordinances and so having no Concern in those fore-cited Passages in Romans Galatians and Colossians which with much more cannot be fairly denied we shall easily agree with them provided they will withal admit which we think upon what has been said cannot be denied that the weekly day first ordained Gen. 2. 2 was not only a Seventh day but was the Seventh day and no other day of the week and that the Fourth Command doth appoint the same successive Seventh day which was first commanded which was also observed as before And we now find much of this Controversie to be reduced by many except one who still mainly builds upon Traditions to this Whether The seventh or A seventh day be required in the Fourth Command which to the Impartial will reduce the Question into a narrow compass for no man can deny The seventh to be A seventh i. e. the Seventh-day Sabbath to be a Seventh day of the week and yet that admitted would almost end this part of the Controversie And the Fourth Command speaks not of A seventh which is one of the seven but The or That seventh day which Christ rested upon after the Creation And those above mentioned finding the great mischief of making any Breach upon the Ten Commands which are so often asserted throughout the Old and New Testament they now insist on this that these words Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy is the sum and substance of that whole Command and they reduce that to Remember a Sabbath day to keep it holy and then knock off The seventh day as the Romanists leave out the second Command against worshipping of Images whereas the words used in the Fourth Command are such as should stay all Constructions which would change the Seventh day and are such as do not leave the least Pretence or Colour for such a Change The words are Exod. 20. 10 The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God the leaving out the Verb is in the Hebrew I conceive imports as is common in that Tongue that it was is and will or shall be the Sabbath And those who would translate it A seventh as they therein depart from our English Translation which herein rightly renders it The seventh so I think they manifestly depart from the Hebrew Text. And we think the H In Hashabbat Exod. 20. 8 at the beginning of the Command and v. 11 at the end of it to be emphatical that is an earnest express and forcible signification that the Holy Spirit here means that very Seventh-day Sabbath which was first instituted Gen. 2 and that very day mentioned in the 10th and 11th Verses is to be kept holy and the day that is to be kept holy is the or that Seventh day which two H's in v. 8 11 do referr to one another the Sabbath to for or of Jehovah thy Aelohim 'T is not A seventh day is the Sabbath but The seventh day is the Sabbath and lest there should be found some who would curiously distinguish a seventh part of time from the seventh day expresly commanded and by so subtile and plausible a distinction enervate the Command and transferr the rest of the seventh day to some other day of the week at their will and pleasure as either to the first day of the week as some Heathens and some Christians do or to the sixth day of the week as the Mahometans do To stop up all such Gapps which one would think largely provided for by the former words of the Command and to leave it beyond all Doubt and fair Dispute with such as acknowledge the Law of God to be a Rule to walk by who generally are such as we now reason with the Lord has I think made sure work against this Objection in v. 11 where he graciously condescends to give us a Reason why we are to keep holy the seventh day because in six days he made these Heavens which we see and this Earth which we stand and lye upon And here Opposers will certainly admit the two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be emphatical and not at all to referr to any other Heaven and Earth in the Moon or elsewhere And He did quietly rest in that viz. in that Seventh day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bajom where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the H is compensated by Daggesh The or That seventh wherefore he did bless the or that day of the Sabbath or the same weekly Seventh-day Sabbath whereon He first rested and whereon He only rested and not at all upon the First day of the week Which never any man has yet affirmed or so much as that I know pretended And it seems to me impossible for any but God only who is infinite in Wisdom in so few words so warily so straitly and with like exact Wisdom and Circumspection to secure any thing by words as this Command in the body of the Ten Commands and the very Seventh day in the heart of the Fourth Command is secured by Christ against this new Conceit and Cavil of A seventh and not The or That seventh Such surely deal over-slightly and somewhat quibble with the word who take such a liberty to turn The into A and
so to overturn the commanded day and to lay it aside and then to set up another Day of Rest every week which as has been said we do not find commanded by the Lord when they certainly know that the Day observed in obedience to the Fourth Command by the Israelites and Proselytes was the Seventh day and no other and the Sabbath and Seventh day did both result in the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath and both relate to the first Sabbath Gen. 2 ordained by Christ which they know was the Seventh day and no other day of the week And whosoever not over-prejudic'd does read this Command I think will find this strongly there enforced viz. That the weekly day the Creator rested on is the very day to which this Command referrs and that all the World who have and receive the Word do know and confess was not the first nor sixth but the seventh day of the week and that day only and no other day and upon this I do insist And here I commend to the Reader Heb. 8. 10 where the Lord promises to put his Laws into the Minds of his People and to write them in their Hearts which is called a new Covenant v. 8 with which we may compare Jer. 31. 33 which Law promised to be written in our Hearts I think is the Moral Law which Moral Law is the Ten Commands whereof the Fourth is one And with how many Distinctions must the Word the Promises New Covenant and Command be mangled to be accommodated to such a new sence of the First day Which change of the day well considered may be one cause of the Israelites standing off from Christ Who will be converted grafted into Christ and saved by him Rom. 11. 7 26. And I hear some of late in defence of the First day have positively affirmed that the First day of the week is the Seventh day of the week and so the very day which the Letter of the Command requires by which Rule that which the Word calls the Seventh day should then become the Sixth and the Sixth the Fifth and so all the days in confusion and all the Jews and Christians hitherto in the World out in their reckoning of Seven Whilst I was considering this Question a learned Manuscript was sent me from an unknown Author who to maintain the First day of the week to be the Seventh day by the Fourth Command says to this effect That we ought to invert the Days i. e. to reckon them backward and then that which the Scriptures call the Seventh day is the First the Sixth the Second the Fifth the Third the Fourth the Fourth the Third the Fifth the Second the Sixth and then the First is the Seventh so great contrariety there is and must needs be in defending a Paradox Obj. and Ans Some farther object That the Sabbath was a Type and withal acknowledge it a Type of that Rest which is above with Christ in the upper World which we shall easily admit provided such will admit also what we think cannot be denied to Types that the Sabbath which is the Type continue till Heaven the Antitype do come Obj. and Ans Those who build the whole of this Change upon the Authority of the Church and not upon the Word which Word is against them who are very eminent may take this short Answer That if the Church have Power to change one of the Commands the Consequence is plain why may not the Church change more If any one of them be left to the Discretion of the Church certainly all are exposed as was said before Obj. and Ans Some Objectors there are who misunderstanding certain general Expressions in Paul s Epistles about the Law misapply them against the Ten Commands and so lay aside all the Moral Law which general Expressions are evidently meant of the Ceremonial Laws and may sometimes be written against some then erroneous Conceits of Justification by obedience to the Moral Law And others taking advantage of some incautelous Writings about the Privileges purchased by Christ have that way attempted to throw down the Ten Commands a Doctrine which would surely please many in this debauched licentious and erroneous Age if it would hold and some of these with the Law take away the Old Testament Obj. and Ans One thinks the Decalogue is not at all in force to the Gentiles and thinks the Preface to it Exod. 20. 2 I the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt out of the House of Bondage was to shew that it only concerned the Jews Whereas if we consider that the Church then in Aegypt was the Church of Christ and that Deliverance was of the whole then visible Church of Christ in the World amongst whom there were also many Gentiles as well as Jews I think it may be allow'd that the Preface concerns all Christians and that Deliverance expressed in the Preface as before ought to be celebrated in all After-ages by all Christians in the World whereof there is often mention in the Psalms and other Scriptures and so that Consideration from the Preface does not lessen the Obligation of the Decalogue upon the Gentiles but strengthen it And for the Obligation of the Decalogue when I find Christ so directly confirming the Law Mat. 5. 18 and Luke 16. 17 by which Law is understood the Decalogue I think I ought not to be over-ruled by any man's contrary Opinion whatever esteem I have of those who thus write and of many useful things written by them Mark 10. 19 and John 14. 15 If ye love me keep my Commands By which Commands the Decalogue is generally understood I do believe that Text Blessed are they who do his Commandments Rev. 22. 14 relates to the Ten Commandments And those general Expressions about the Law in the Acts and Epistles will be better understood if we reflect upon the occasion of them In Acts 15. 1 certain men taught the Brethren Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved Where it was Circumcision and the Ceremonial Law that was in question not the Moral Law the Ceremonial Laws were as a burthen lain aside by the Death of Christ and by the Holy Spirit as is plain in that Chapter And when Paul Acts 21. 17 18 21 came to Jerusalem some told him that many Thousands of the Jews who believed were zealous of the Law i. e. of the Ceremonial Law and were informed of Paul that he taught the Jews which were among the Gentiles to forsake Moses that is the Ceremonial Laws given by Moses saying They ought not to circumcise their Children neither to walk after the Customs and then they advise Paul to purifie himself to remove that Objection to whose Advice Paul yields v. 24 25 26 which occasion'd the Commotion v. 27 28 Crying Men of Israel help this is the man that teacheth all men every where against the Law i. e. the Ceremonial Law of Purifications and
observed Dominicam diem non colendam and this was An. 1555 in the sixteenth Century but they if it be true what is written of them by Popish Writers were otherwise Heretical as in their sence all Dissenters from them are And if they were Hereticks yet this will disprove part of the Assertion before mentioned but frequently the most Orthodox were by them called Hereticks as they are by them and others to this day In Lucius's Thirteenth Century f. 264 B and fol. 357 C D of introducing the Dominical day into Scotland we have before in the Story of the Abbot of Flay and the King's Council of Scotland An. Dom. 1203. Fol. 385 a Synod was held at Oxford An. 1223 by Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury where they determine That all Dominical days be kept with all veneration and a Fast upon the Sabbath c. So that how far some part of England then followed the Example of Scotland is worth further enquiry which is about Twenty one years after that of the Abbot of Flay And this is the sum of what I have collected out of those Books As for the Books quoted by Binius by the Magdeburgenses and by Lucius I had very few of them where those Passages probably would be found more at large which such as are furnished with or have the use of a better Study may collect if they please and give a more exact account thereof But these Writers as to Matters of Fact written by them I take to be of Credit although one of them viz. Binius were a profest Romanist and Canon of the Virgin Mary at Collen and writ permissu superiorunt But the Magdeburgenses and Lucius were Protestants and are generally allowed for ought I know as persons of Fidelity in their Collections So that as to the Matters of Fact which I have brokenly gathered from them some for and some against my Opinion I think there remains little doubt Inferences from what I have collected I leave to the impartial Reader Binius's 13th Century King John about Ann. Dom. 1208 and the Tenth year of his Reign upon occasion of a Popish imposing upon his Prerogative in a Case of Conge-de-lier was excommunicated by the Pope and his Kingdom interdicted which bred so great Troubles at home and abroad as at last forc'd him to lay down his Crown at the Feet of Pandulphus the Pope's Agent After he was humbled by that Excommunication and Interdiction this King An. 15. of his Reign by Writ removes the Market of the City of Exon from the Dominical or first day of the week on which it was formerly held to Monday Prinn's History of the Pope's Usurpations part 3 fol. 17. So that Exon kept Markets on Sunday above 1200 years after Christ And the Market of Launceston was from the first to the fifth day of the week And in the 2d and 3d of Henry III the next King succeeding King John K. Henry III removes another Market in Devon and Ten more in other Counties from the First day to other days of the week Which alteration of Markets which we find before in the Case of the Abbot of Flay King John would not then admit And 6 Hen. III Prinn's Jurisdiction of Courts fol. 153 there is the King's Writ Ballinis de Hastings to answer before the Justices for removing Markets from one day to another without the King's Licence unless it be from the Dominical day It seems some then held Markets on that day but might remove them to another day without the King's Licence And those who desire and need such Presidents may probably there find many more like these these coming to hand upon the perusal of a few Leaves of that voluminous Book In our Records we find by the Writs to summon Parliaments that they were of old appointed to meet upon Sundays Elsyng's Method of holding Parliaments fol. 91 92 in the time of Edw. I Edw. II and Edw. III which Edw. I. succeeded Henry III who succeeded King John But 5 Rich. II. who was deposed by his Popish rebellious Subjects and Clergy and who succeeded Edward III. the Parliament appointed to meet upon Sunday met that day and adjourned till Monday Prinn's Jurisdict of Courts fol. 4. From which time of 5 Rich. II. Prinn says no Parliaments have been summoned to meet on the Dominical days And Prinn thinks Modus tenendi Parliamentum was compiled after 5 Rich. II. for many ancient Parliaments of Edw. I Edw. II and Edw. III were summoned to meet on Sunday on which day the Modus c. says Parliaments ought not to be held but upon all other days that excepted So that it seems in Edward the Third's time Sunday was not much if at all observed by that King and the Civil Government of England See his Jurisd fol. 42 and his Register fol. 10 11 15. England which one lately in his Defence of the First day calls a barbarous and remote Corner of the World had the Gospel here preached in the First Century as Historians say and it was afterward generally entertained for some hundreds of years before they received the Change of the Passover to the Dominical day and by the best Collection I can make with my few Books about 1200 years or more before they received the observation of Sunday and yet had a weekly day of Rest which all the Records of old yet extant and down along to this day did then and do still call the Sabbath day And having once received the Gospel they did not so soon receive Alterations in Religion for the worse as other places nearer to Rome as appears by the Case of the Passover the change of which from the 14th day of the first Moon to the first day of the week was not here admitted as I take it till the Sixth or Seventh Century and then also but in part as appears in the Passage of Bishop Coleman which Alteration Scotland then refused And for the First day it seems to be introduced by the Popes and their Agents by degrees but not generally to obtain in England nor at all in Scotland till the beginning of the 13th Century and without any Law that I can recollect made by the King and Parliament till Edward the Sixth's time 5 6 Edw. VI cap. 3 which Act was made about 150. years since where Sunday and many Holy-days the Feast of All-saints and of Holy Innocents are established Festivals and jumbled all together it seems then esteemed much alike Which Act provides that it shall be lawful for Husband men Labourers Fishermen and all others in Harvest or any time of the year when Necessity shall require to labour ride fish or work any kind of Work at their free will and pleasure upon any of the said days So that the Civil Government of England did never that I find give Countenance to Sunday by any Act till about 150 years since and then allowed a Liberty so large as shews what Esteem they had of