must be conceived to imply what he meant to do afterwards To this we Answer 1. That Instance out of Jeremy is not clear nor convincing For if by Sanctifying we mean Infusing of Holinesse why may not the Spirit of God if he please sanctifie Jeremy in the womb as well as it moved John Baptist in the womb If we understand Sanctifying for Designing or setting apart to that office why might not God as well actually by some message to his Parents or otherwise as well appoint Ieremy to be a Prophet in his Mothers womb as he designed Iohn Baptist to the Like office before he was conceived 2. This is a strange Inference out of that place in Ieremy the Word Sanctified must be so taken there because it can have no other Sense therefore it must be taken so here where it may have another and fairer construction and more suitable to the Circumstance of the text in this history To come to the Observation to be gathered out of those words It is observable that the first of all the Lawes recorded in Scripture to be given to Man provides for the establishing of his owne immediate Worship VVhence 1. Observe The Worship of God ought to be Mans first and chief care Observ 1 THis Truth God hath clearly manifested in the delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai wherein he takes order in the first Table which our Saviour tearms the great Commandement for his own immediate worship which also Holy Men alwaies endeavoured to begin with in the first place as Noah after the flood Gen. 8.10 And Abraham as soon as he came to Canaan Gen. 12.7 8. Reason 1. Gods Honour is the main end wherefore we and all things are which is most advanced amongst Men by his VVorship 2. And the performance of those duties of his VVorship Sanctifies all things unto us 1 Tim. 4.5 and drawes down Gods Blessing upon us and all that we have and above all increaseth in us Holinesse unto which we are especially called Let us then be sensible of Gods great goodnesse and tender respect of Men that is content that Sacrifice shall yield to Mercy Matth. 9.13 which is his own VVorship wherein he is so much honoured and which he sets at so high a rate for the providing for our necessities Onely let us take heed of stretching this indulgence beyond the true bounds 1. Let not the inward duties of Piety give way to any of our most urgent occasions 2. Neither let the Outward acts of VVorship be omitted but in cases of urgent necessity 3. Then be rather suspended for the present then wholy laid aside if there may be opportunity to performe them afterwards It cannot be denyed but that God gave Adam Rules for the whole form of his Worship but we find in this Relation of Moses nothing mentioned but the Sabbath under which many of the rest may be pointed at Howsoever we find this Law of the Sanctifying of the Sabbath honoured so far as to be mentioned and recorded in the First place and may thence 2. Observe God makes great account of the Sanctifying of his Sabbaths Observ 2 1. AS serving for a Publique and Notorious Badge of our Profession Ezech. 20.12 2. An Especiall means of preserving and encreasing of Religion being as it were the Mart-Day for the Soul wherein we have Commerce in a sort wholly with God in Spirituall things tendring unto him and pouring out before him the Affections of our Souls in Prayers and Praises and God pouring out Grace and Comfort upon our spirits in the use of his holy Ordinances Whence it is that God enjoyns it so strictly Commandement 4th encourageth to the observation thereof by such large promises Jer. 17.24 25 and punisheth the neglect of it with such fearfull plagues Jer. 17.27 Neh. 13.18 God doth not only Sanctifie the Sabbath or set it apart to holy uses but blesseth it withall that is ordains it to be unto man a day of blessings Whence 3. Observe The Sabbath-Day Sanctified as it ought is a Day of Blessings Observ 3 CHiefly upon the Soul by the encrease of Grace and Holinesse in the use of the means of Grace which are dispensed especially upon that day to the conscionable use whereof God hath annexed a special blessing of Power and Efficacy from himself to make those that frequent them joyful in His house of Prayer and withall to accept their Sacrifices in a special manner Isa 56.6 7. Although it is true withall that the Religious observation of that holy Rest as well as other duties conscionably performed brings down more then an ordinary blessing upon mens persons and estates even in Outward things Jer. 17.24 25. The Day of Rest is not only Blessed but Sanctified also that is set apart from Common use to be holy unto the Lord as that phrase is explained in the Fourth Commandement Whence 4. Observe The Sabbath is a day of Rest consecrated by God Himself and set apart from a Common to an Holy Use Observ 4 AS all other consecrated things are Exod. 29.33 34. Numb 16 38. And the Sabbath in particular Isa 58.13 and that even the whole day as it is in other Festivals Levit. 23.32 As it clearly appears in the expression used by God in the fourth Commandement where distributing the week into seven parts He appoints six for Labour and the Seventh for this Holy Rest which must therefore necessarily be such a proportion as the other six are that is a whole day Can it then be any lesse then destruction to devour Holy things and after the vowes to enquire as Solomon speaks Prov. 20.25 By taking a part of this consecrated time and imploying it to Common Uses This we do when we make use of any part of the Sabbath Day for Labour in our ordinary Callings making up of our accounts and contriving waies for the managing of our worldly affaires and giving directions for the ordering of them Or which is worse for the satisfying of the flesh in vain Sports to call them by no worse name which we abusively term Recreations by which the mind is usually more affected and distracted then it is by ordinary Labour and consequently made more indisposed to Holy duties Whereas we are expresly forbidden on that day to do or find our own pleasure or to speak our owne Words Isa 58.13 It will perhaps be answered that such a Rest was meerly Jewish laid upon them by God as a part of their Ceremoniall bondage and therefore not to be pressed upon us Christians whom Christ hath freed from that yoak which they were so precisely to observe that they were forbidden to dresse meat Exod. 16.23 Or to kindle a fire Exod. 35 3. upon that Day We answer we require not the observation of any Rest imposed on the Jewes by any temporary law such as were those restraints from dressing of meat or kindling of a fire on the Sabbath Day both which it seems Continued no longer then their peregrination in
the Wildernesse seeing we never read either of the observation of it or blame laid upon them for not observing it afterwards Seeing we find our Saviour Himselfe present at a great Feast on the Sabbath Day Luk. 14.1 And that in one of the cheif Pharisees Houses the strictest observers of the Sabbath even to Superstition Now that feast could not be prepared without a fire the kindling whereof if it had been unlawful on that Day neither would our Saviour have graced the Feast with his presence nor the Pharisees that watched him so narrowly and quarrelled with him so often for supposed Sabbath breaches have passed it over in silence No we require the observation of no other Rest then that onely which is expressed in the Fourth Commandement namely the laying aside of all the Labours of our particular callings in secular things that we may set a part the whole day of this Holy Rest unto God for his immediate Worship and service There are indeed many that conceive that Christians are not bound either by this Fourth Commandement or by any other law of the Decalogue as it was delivered by Moses nor any farther then we find it to be either to be a law of Nature or renewed by Christ or his Apostles And particularly they affirm that there must needs be acknowledged something to be Ceremonious and Muta ble in the Fourth Commandement as namely the observation of the last day of the week I which we our selves acknowledge to be changed whence they conclude no binding Argument can be drawn out of that Comandement to reach us that are Christians We answer 1. That it is true that God in the delivery of his Lawes to the Jewes looked upon them in divers respects In some things as the people of such a Nation and of such a Time which he manifested in giving them the Lawes Judiciall and Ceremoniall But in giving the Morall Law which takes in the whole Nature of Mankind he looked on them as the Body of the Church Representative to whom therefore he committed not onely those ten Lawes but besidesth e rest of his Oracles as the Apostle calls them Rom. 3.2 in trust for the use and service of the Church which also he manifested in divers particular Circumstances For there can be no probable reason given why God 1. Delivered the Decalogue by the voice and Pen of Christ the Head of the whole Church whereas he delivered the Judicialls and Ceremonials by by the voice and Pen of Moses the peculiar Minister of the Jewes 2. Why he wrote the Morals in Tables of stone whereas He appointed the Ceremonialls to be written in ordinary Volumes 3. Why he appointed those Tables to be kept by themselves in the Ark within the Sanctum Sanctorum which was as it were Christs own Closet whereas The Judicialls and Cerimonialls were laid up without the Altar of Incense the Pot of Mannah and Aarons Rod in a Room into which the Leviticall Priests had ordinary accesse unlesse it were to distinguish those Lawes which were peculiar to the Jewes from those which concerned the whole Church in generall Secondly to the Argument taken from the fixing of the day of Rest on the last day of the week in the Fourth Commandement We answer First that neither in the Summe nor Explication nor Conclusion of the Commandement we have no mention but of a Sabbath or day of Rest in the Explication we have the proportion of time appointed for this Rest which must be one whole day of seven in the Reason of the Commandement there is indeed a rule that directs us which shall be the Day but that is laid down in Indefinite terms and is indifferently applyable to either the first or last day of the week for howsoever the Seventh or last day of the week be there mentioned as it is here yet it is not to bind us to it as that particular day but as a day honoured above other dayes by manifesting the perfecting of that glorious red above other dayes by manifesting the perfecting of that glorious work of the Creation of the World So that the rule delivered from the designing of the particular day is onely this as we have shewed already in a treatise written of this argument that the day which God shall by his work advance above otherda yes shall be the Day of his Holy Rest which before Christ came was the last day of the week wherein by his Rest on that day God manifested the perfecting of the Worlds Creation but since Christ must upon the same ground be translated to the first wherein our Saviour by his rising from the dead on that day declared the perfecting of the worlds redemption which was the more eminent work of the two and consequently advanced that day above the former Secondly we say that having delivered all the rest of the Ceremoniall Lawes and compiled them into a volume a part by themselves distingushing them from the Morall Lawes by so many Considerable Circumstances as we have shewed already we cannot in reason conceive that God would leave out onely this one of those lawes to be mixed with his Moral and perpetuall and Unchangeable Lawes As for that Scruple which many stumble at that it appeares by mentioning in the Preface to the Law the deliverance from the Egyptian bondage and promising their Continuance in the Land of Canaan promised in the fifth Commandement that God intended the Decalogue onely to the Jewes because he mentions those things which concerned them alone We answer First that neither of those particulars in which they instance is any branch of any one of those Commandements but are only promised and annexed as Inducements to move them to yield obedience to those Lawes Now the duties may belong unto us though the Inducements and motives to perswade thereunto were peculiar unto them Secondly those very motives are indeed expressed in such a form as is appliable onely to them but the things intended by those expressions belong as well unto us as unto them Their deliverance out of Egypt in the Type belonged only to them but the deliverance from our Spiritual bondage represented thereby belongs as well to us as to them And the Land of Canaan pointed at in the fifth Commandement is any Land in the Earth which God gives any of his Servants as the Apostle clearly Interprets and Applies it Eph. 6.2 There remains yet behind one scruple which hath prevailed with many to doubt whether the law of the Sabbath were given to Adam in Paradise that is before his fall because say they being in that condition he neither needed any such Law either for the refreshing of his body or for the quickening of his spirit nor could possibly observe it having no other company but his wife which could not make a publique Assembly which the observation of the Sabbath requires To whom we answer First that this supposition that Adam being in Paradise needed no Sabbath is ill grounded
prove like the foolish builder Luk. 14.30 or the Ostritch Iob. 39.14.15 2 Let it be a means to strengthen our hearts in the assurance of the perfecting the work 1. Of Sanctification God according to his promises will not leave purging us till he have made us without spot or wrinckle Eph. 5.17.20 Of our Salvation Phil. 1.6 He that suffered for us till all was finished Joh. 19.30 Will not leave till he have brought us into the full possession of the gloty which he hath purchased for us VERSE 2. THe seventh day The Hebrew Shevang which retaining the Letter as well as expressing the sense we render Seven is derived from a word which signifies to be full as if seven were a full and perfect number made up by the measure of time in which God finished the Creation of the world and by his resting after he had ended it declared the full and perfect accomplishment and finishing that Glorious work God Ended That is both finished whatsoever he intended to make and besides established and setled all that he had made to continue as it doth to this day in that estate in which he had Created it and also in that Correspondency that the Creatures had one with another Which he had made A Phrase added to distinguish the works of Creation from the works of Providence in which God both the Father and the Son work to this day John 5.27 He rested Not properly for God being a pure Act must needs be alwaies working and can no more cease to work than to be Onely in respect of the Creation he is said to rest or cease or forbear to do any more Manifesting thereby that he had fully perfected and finished all that he purposed and decreed to make This was Gods Rest taken Privitively If we conceive that there is any thing more implyed in this phrase it must be Gods resting in himself and in the Contemplation of his own works delighting himself as the Rest which he enjoynes Man upon that day is not a meer privitive Rest in ceasing from our labours but besides a positive Rest in which we stay our hearts upon God rejoycing in his glorious Works and Mercies towards Mankind So that Rest of God upon the Seventh Day laies before us the ground of the Institution of the Sabbath in the words following as a Day advanced by God above the rest by manifesting the perfecting of that glorious Work of the worlds Creation Thus we see God although he hath power to give what lawes he pleaseth yet is pleased to manifest the Equity of that which he commands that we may acknowledge his Will to be a rule of Righteousnesse VVhence 1. Observe God who may command What he will yet is pleased to command nothing but that which appears to be equall and Convenient Observ 1 THus is the observation of this day of Holy Rest equall and just in respect of God whose Wisdom Power and Goodnesse in Creating all things out of nothing and all of them exceeding good were fit to be remembred in some solemn day wherein Men by exercising themselves in the meditation of those glorious VVorks of God might be stirred up to an Holy rejoycing in him and to the publishing of his praise in the assemblies of his Saints for advancing of his glorious Name Secondly neither is it more just and equall in respect of God then it is profitable and beneficial to Man 1. By refreshing himself wearied with the labours of the six daies precedent 2. For the encrease of Piety and inward Comfort to the soul by enjoying an Holy Communion with God in his Ordinances and such are all the rest of Gods Lawes equall and just in all things Psal 119.128 and good unto Men Deut. 6.24 1. Let it move all Men that have power in their hand to exercise it according to the Rules of Equity and justice and for the good of others which must needs procure the respects of Love and reverence to their persons that Command and ready Obedience to their commands with chearfulnesse 2. Let it encourage all men to ready and willing Obedience to all Gods Lawes and that for their own good by considering 1. That at present they have their fruit in holinesse exercising themselves in such duties as are both honourable and comfortable 2. And that hereafter they shall receive a sure and plentiful reward Rom. 6.22 1 Cor. 15 58. Now although God were pleased to found his law upon grounds of Equity and Conveniency yet it was more then he was bound unto to give us an account of either notwithstanding we see that he is pleased to acquaint us also with the reasonablenesse and Equity of the Law that he gives VVhence 2. Observe God not onely makes his Lawes Equall and Reasonable but besides is pleased to make it appear unto us that they are So. Observ 2 THis God is pleased to manifest to his People in reasoning the case with them Ezech. 18.25 To the same end he is pleased to prefix a preface to his Law in delivering ft upon Sinai that they might consider in their own hearts how just and equall it was that he should have power to command them whom he had delivered from so Cruel a Bondage and slavery And for particular Lawes though the world judgeth them to be bonds and Coards yet he makes his Children to understand that his Lawes are right in all things Psal 119.128 And his Testimonies very Righteous and faithful ver 138. Reasons 1. We never truly honour God till in our judgment we approve and allow his Law to be just and equall as Saint Paul doth Rom. 6.16 And David as we have seen already whereby we set to our Seal that Gods Will is the rule of righteousnesse and holinesse 2. That is the onely meanes to draw men on to ready and Chearfull and by consequent Constant Obedience when the mind discerning both the Equity and Goodnesse of Gods Laws prevails with the will to make choice of them and drawes on the whole heart to delight in them and the whole Man to follow them with the uttermost endeavours which is a clear testimony to the world of the price that we set upon those holy Lawes and of our assurance that we have of an exceeding great reward in keeping them Psal 19.11 Let it move all that are Godly to search into all Gods Lawes begging Wisdom and understanding at Gods Hand for that purpose and undertaking the work with fear and reverence Consenting to and delighting in that which we know and adoring the depth of Gods Wisdome in general in those things that through our own Ignorance we understand not so fully in particular that we may with our whole heart yield unto and walk in all duties of obedience which it requires The phrase in which the Holy Ghost expresseth Gods resting from his Works must be carefully observed He rested saith Moses from all the workes that he had made or from Creating any more Whence 3.
for first the refreshing of the bodies of men and beasts though it be a Consequent yet was never the Ground of the Institution of the Sabbath The moderation of our labours belongs to the eighth Commandement that enjoynes labour As for the quickening of Adams spirit why might not he need a Sabbath as well as a Sacrament And although every day were a kind of Sabbath to Adam in respect of his easie labour and his Holy conversing with God even in his works about the Creatures yet there is great difference between labouring moderately and not at all And to serve God in ordering the Creatures according to his will and to serve him in the duties of his owne immediate worship So every day ought to have been spent by Adam in an holy manner but not as a Sabbath Besides though the Sabbath were made for man yet it was not made for man alone but principally for Gods Honour in his publick worship in which respect Adam as much needed a Sabbath as we do being created for Gods Glory as well as we Secondly as Adam needed a Sabbath so he had meanes to observe a Sabbath he and his wife when there were no more persons in the World made a publick Assembly There is is a gathering of two or three as well as of a multitude Matth. 18.20 And Christ is present with them as well as with a greater number Nay further a man that is shut out from publick meetings may keep a Sabbath alone So then there being no impediment why this Commandement for the observation of the Sabbath might not be given to Adam in Paradise and Moses recording it in the first place amongst those lawes that were then given him we have no ground to doubt but that Adam had this Law then given unto him and in him unto all mankind So that we may 5. Observe The law given by God for the observation of the Sabbath Day is a law Universal and Perpetual UNiversal it must needs be 1. Because in Adam it was given to the whole nature of Man which was intirely in him at that time when he received it 2. And the use as well as the ground of it reacheth indifferently unto all men who are alike interessed in all the works that God hath wrought both of Creation and Redemption and alike obliged to honour him for them and have like need of those Spirituall comforts and refreshings which the religious observation of that brings unto supports the soul withal Upon the same ground it must needs be perpetual for if it bind all men it must of necessity bind all ages which also our Saviour necessarily implies in his answer to the Pharisees question about divorce Matth. 19.8 wherein he affirms the divorce supposed to be permitted by Moses to be unwarrantable because it crossed the Law of Marriage given to Adam in Paradise which Answer must necessarily suppose this ground that whatsoever Law was given to Adam in the Beginning those Laws that respected his present condition as his Labouring in Paradise and Eating of the Tree of Life excepted binds all his posterity in all Ages Besides the placing of this Commandement amongst the precepts of the Decalogue which our Saviour ratifies in every jot or tittle of them Matth. 5.18 further manifests the mind of God for the continuance of this Law which our Saviour wills his Disciples to be careful to observe Matth. 24.20 even at the destruction of Jerusalem 40 years after his Ascension when all other Mutable and Temporary Lawes were taken away Nay although there be this difference between this precept concerning the Sabbath and some other lawes of the Decalogue that this doth not appear so evidently to be a Law of Nature as they do yet it must necessarily be a law of Nature in the greatest part As that there must be a time for publique Worship a time of Rest from other Employments a fit time a set time a time that must return according to some time computed by Weeks or Moneths or Years For all these even by the light of Nature Heathen men acknowledged as is manifest by their practice in all Ages and Countreys Nay the Creation and Redemption of the World being once revealed even the light of Naturall reason would have directed men to make choice of those dayes in which those great works were perfected for the dayes of observing this holy Rest Now it must needs be granted that seeing the ground of fixing the Sabbath upon the Last or First day of the Week was the marking out and advancing of those dayes above others by the most eminent of Gods Works therefore mans exercise upon those dayes must be in the Contemplation of those and the rest of his works that our hearts may rejoyce in Him who hath in them manifested his Infinite Goodnesse Wisdom and Power Whence 6. Observe Meditation in Gods Works that our hearts may be raised up to an holy Rejoycing in Him is and ought to be a Christians chief Exercise for the right sanctifying of the Sabbath Day Observ 6 THe 92. Psalm composed of purpose for the Sabbath as appears in the Title of it handles no other argument but the setting out the works of Gods providence in governing the world in righteousnesse And it is as evident by the doubling of the daily Sacrifice upon that day by Gods Commandement Numb 28.9 that the Will of God was that mens thoughts should be much exercised in the meditation of that glorious work of their Redemption shadowed out under those sacrifices and purchased by the Blood of Christ And indeed as all Gods works praise him so do we by remembring them and meditating on them most highly honour and advance Him as is evident by the Psalms composed for that purpose Psal 104.107.145 Rev. 4.11 And for our selves our hearts are by that means wonderfully quickened and enlarged and filled with love towards him see Psal 18.1 116.1 and brought to an Holy Dependance on him and Confidence in him which is a fruit that is produced by this holy meditation on Gods works Psal 78.7 Now Gods honour and the encrease of Piety in us were the ends of the Institution of this holy Rest It is true that this exercise must be accompanied with those other holy duties of Prayer and Praises Preaching and Hearing of Gods Word administring the Sacraments and the like as conducing all of them if they be rightly used unto the same end VERSE 4. THese are the generations of the Heavens That is in this manner they took their Beginning From and By God alone and according to his Will by the Mighty Word of his Power In the day That is in that Time that it pleased God to take up in forming them which we know was in Six dayes and not in One But we find the Word Day in Scripture is used commonly to signifie Time Indefinitely This recapitulation of the works of Creation wherein they are challenged and ascribed unto God
Evident as all the rest What can be imagined more Comfortable to man then the refreshing both of his Body and Mind by ceasing from his labour and enjoying an holy Communion with God in his Ordinances in the Religious observation of the Sabbath day more Necessary and Usefull to the supporting of his heart by Faith by the help of that Sacramental Tree of Life and minding him of his Duty of Obedience by the Interdicted fruit whereby he might continually be stirred up to those holy Duties by Outward Sensible Objects set alwayes before him even in his ordinary and daily employments What more profitable to him then to labour for his own food What more Comfortable and Necessary to him then Marriage affording so many fit helps unto him for the Support and Comfort of his Life In General We cannot otherwise conceive but that the recording of all Gods Lawes given to man as well as all his Works both of Creation and Administration of the Creatures aime at the main end wherefore all things were made and man especially endued with Wisdom and Understanding that he might take notice of and be a witnesse of the All-sufficiency and Eminent Perfections of God and the Basenesse and Emptinesse of the Creatures yea even of Man himself the most Excellent of all his Visible Works We may therefore observe in this Record of Moses of the Lawes given to Man not onely both the Goodnesse Equity and Holiness of God together with his Absolute Soveraignty and Authority in prescribing and giving Rules to man meerly according to his own Will bestowing on him and detaining from him what he pleased and appointing him to be where he appointed and to do what he Commanded but withall the whole Relation layes before us the Vanity Subjection and Emptinesse of all the Creatures and man especially that God might be honoured alone and all things else abased before Him Wherefore we must observe That as all other Creatures so Man himself was nothing at the first and after that a piece of base dead earth till God breathed the breath of Life into him which he is directed to acknowledge in the remembrance of his Creation in observing the Sabbath and Eating of the Tree of Life testifying his dependance on God for his life both present and future 2. His Subjection unto Gods Will by which he was wholly to be guided was manifested in his Abstinence from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil meerly upon Gods Command implying that he had no power to order his own wayes no not in the smallest things wherein he was to guide himself only by that rule which God laid before him 3. His Weaknesse and Vanity was in a lively manner represented to him in making use even of the basest Creatures for the supporting of his Life which he had also by Gods allowance And in his finding of the uncomfortablenesse of his life by the want of a fit Companion till God Created the Woman and gave her unto him so that he had nothing of his own but what was freely bestowed on him by God Himself So that the advancing of Gods Honour and Self-denial we may discover to be the main end of giving man these lawes as well as they are of all the rest of Gods Works Now seeing man was confined unto this present world but only for a time as being at present in some sort shut out from the immediate fruition of God who communicated himself unto him most by the Creatures and by second means so that man in his most perfect Condition in this world remained in a state of Basenesse in comparison of that Glory which he was to enjoy at full after the end of this time of his pilgrimage We may observe both in the course of Gods providence and especially in the Laws which he gave the man that God so ordered all things that man might be sensible of his present mean condition represented to him so many wayes and thereby have his thoughts raised up to the Expectation and Longing after that more glorious estate which was to come sealed unto him in the Sacrament of the Tree of Life and shadowed out in some sort in the enjoying of God in his Ordinances and sequestring himself from the world in the observation of the holy rest of the Sabbath In effect the Scope of this and the former Chapter are in a manner all one as we may easily observe by that which hath been spoken already namely the Advancement of God alone with the Abasement of all the Creatures before him which God hath appointed to be our chief study in this Life as it shall be our greatest happinesse to discover and rejoyce in it fully in the Life to come FINIS CHAP. III. THe Holy Ghost having in the precedent Chapter described unto us the state of man in his Innocency in the History in this Chapter following layes before us his Fall with the Causes Order Manner and Consequents thereof wherein his maine scope is so manifest to the world That God made man upright but that he sought out many inventions Eccles 7.29 that is to clear God of having any hand in mans sinne and of the misery which came upon him thereby discovering the cause of both to be Satans malice and mans own folly and consequently acquitting God of all the evil that came upon man saving the execution of his justice upon him according to his deserts and that too tempered with infinite mercy as we shall see To make this evident we have the whole History laid before us with all the circumstances thereof 1. The Instruments and Agents in this sad Tragedy the Serpent employed to beguile the Woman and the Woman to deceive the Man 2. The persons tempted the first Man and Woman with the order First the Woman and by her the Man 3. The baites both inward and outward with the Art used in tempering and presenting them 4. The successe steps and degrees of the temptation and the effects that it took in drawing our first Parents to Apostasie 5. The Consequents of their Fall with the execution of Gods Justice on all the Delinquents according to the quality of their offences The precise point of time of the acting of this tragedy the Holy Ghost having passed over in silence is not easily found out by conjecture Only seeing our Saviour tells us John 8 44. That Satan was a Murtherer from the beginning and we know by woful experience his diligence and activity in mischief we may assure our selves that he was dealing with our first Parents betimes partly that he might take the advantage to shake them before the habits of Grace were by exercise setled and confirmed in them and partly that by poisoning the fountain of mankind before any streames issued from it he might the more easily and certainly corrupt the whole masse of the nature of man The place where this assault was given though it be not expressely set down notwithstanding seeing we
him c. p. 105 God gives Bountifully p. 106 Gods blessings upon his Children ought to be remembred in Particular p. 107 Verse 27. Gods Purposes and Promises are all Yea and Amen p. 109 Gods Special Favours ought to be often Remembred ibid. The Distinction of the Sexes of Man and Woman is ordained by God Himself p. 110 Verse 28. It is by Gods blessing that Man must be sustained and upheld p. 110 God will have men to take notice of the Blessings that he bostowes upon them p. 111 God can easily bring Multitudes out of One p. 112 All men and Nations are of one Blood and have but one Father ibid. Mans Replenishing the Earth is by Special Command from God p. 113 Those that have Possessions in the Earth may so manure them that they may be useful and fraitful p. 114 All the Creatures of the Earth are the Servants of Man ibid. Verse 29. God created Man without Means p. 117 That God that hath given us life will give Means to preserve our life p. 118 Gods goodnesse in supplying us with necessary provision requires special observation p. 119 Men that have the greatest Possessions in the world must receive their Allowance from Gods Hand ibid. Mans Food is the gift of God p. 120 All the provision that God hath allowed Man for his Food is drawn out of the Earth p. 122 God doth strangely counterballance our Honours in all his dispensations unto us p. 123 Plain and Ordinary Fare may and ought to content the best amongst men ibid. Gods Allowance of Food to Man is of great variety p. 125 God gives us not our Provisions at once but by a continual Supply ibid. It is onely by Gods Decree and Blessing upon the Creatures that they have strength to nourish us p. 126 Verse 30. God allowes Sufficient Provision for the Creatures that he hath made p. 127 Men and Beasts are allowed by God the same Provisions of Food c. p. 128 Verse 31. The whole Frame of the Works which God made in the Creation of the VVorld is perfectly good p. 129 CHAP. II Verse 1. IT must be our Care to observe how God Disposeth and Ordereth that which he hath wrought Page 3 The Creatures that God hath made are to be looked on as an Army arrayed in an excellent and well composed Order ibid. God perfecteth every work that he takes in hand p. 4 Verse 2. God Commands nothing but that which is Convenient p. 6 God makes his Lawes Equal and Reasonable ibid. God Creates no more then what he made in the Beginning p. 7 God ceaseth not from his Works of Providence c p. 8 Verse 3. The Worship of God ought to be Mans first and chief care p. 13 God makes great account of the Sanctifying of his Sabbaths p. 14 The Sabbath Day is a day of Blessings ibid. The Sabbath is a Day of Rest set apart to an Holy Use ibid. The Law given by God to observe the Sabbath Day is Perpetual p. 18 Meditation in Gods Works is a Christians chief Exercise p. 19 Verse 4. He that gives things their Being may Order them as he will p. 21 When we mention the Being of the Creatures we ought to Remember Him that made them ibid. Verse 5. Every Herb and Plant is Gods Creature p. 22 The Mercies of God must be taken Notice of ibid. That which is brought to passe without ordinary Means must needs be wrought by the Power of God ibid. There can be no Rain on the Earth unlesse God send it p. 23 It is by Rain from Heaven that all the Herbs and Plants on the Earth do grow ibid. God makes use of Mans Labour to cherish the Fruits of the Earth p. 24 The Fruitfulnesse of the Earth comes onely by Gods Blessing p. 25 Verse 6. God wants no Means to effect whatsoever he will p. 26. God can bring things to passe without any Means at all ibid. Gods power is never clearly discovered till all Means be removed p. 27 Every Creatures ought to be useful unto that from whence it is produced ibid. Verse 7. The Substance of Mans Body is exceeding Base and Vile p. 28 God hath framed Mans Body into aa excellent piece of work p. 29 The Soul of Man comes Immediately from God himself p. 30 The Life of Man consisting in the union of the Soul with the Body hath a very weak foundation ibid. The Life of Man is onely by his Soul pag. 31 None worthy the Name of a Living Soul but he that lives by a Reasonable Soul p. 32 Verse 8. The Fruitfulnesse of one part of the Earth above another is from God Alone p. 34 Man can have no more title to any part of the Earth then God allowes him page 35 God bestowes upon men his Best and Chiefest Blessings p. 36 Verse 9. God takes Special Notice of all things that he bestowes upon us p. 39 Every Plant on the Earth growes where God Appoints it p. 40 Gods Bounty abounds unto men ibid. It is usual with God to mix delights and pleasure with usefulnesse and profit in all his blessings p. 41 The best amongst men have need of Outward Means to put them in mind of their Duties p. 42 Spiritual and Religious Duties ought to be remembred in our Employments in the things of this Life p. 43 Gods Commandements ought to be still before the face of his Children p. 44 God teacheth his Children by things of Ordinary and Common use ibid. God engageth himself by his Word to do us good p. 45 The continuance of Present and hope of future Life are assured by Gods Providence p. 46 All Gods Promises must be understood under the Condition of the performance of our Obedience p. 47 Good and Evill are bounded and limited only by the Will of God ibid. Verse 10. Gods Blessings are every way Compleat and Perfect Page 49 Springs and Rivers of Waters are not the least of Gods Mercies ibid. Verse 11. Gold is a Creature of great Price with Men. p. 50 God is none of the Creatures in which our Happinesse consists p. 53 Verse 15. Every Son of Adam is bound to some Employment or other in a particular Calling p. 55 Mens Callings and Employments are by Gods Own Appointment p. 57 Duty and not Gain should be the Ground of the undertaking of all our particular Callings p. 58 Mans Labour at last redounds unto himself p. 60 Mans Employment ought to be in those places where it is most needed ibid. The Labour of man makes nothing at all but only by his Husbandry c. p. 61 Verse 16. Experience of Gods goodnesse is the best Means to encourage us to chearful obedience unto Gods Will. p. 64 Mans Labour about the things of this life gives him good title unto that which he enjoyes p. 65 All Mans labour is for his own good ibid. The best way to quiet our hearts in what we want is to set before our eyes what we do enjoy p.
God although he thought it not fit to change the Sabbath unto another day till that work should be accomplished which should occasion the change of it yet took speciall care to pen the Fourth Commandement in such expressions that when the time of accomplishing that work should come the day might be changed without altering the letter of the Law Wherefore having occasion in the fourth Commandement to alledge the same reason for the Continuation of the Sabbath that he gives here for the Institution of it and that in the same form of words which he here useth yet in the conclusion inferred upon that reason he changeth the Particular term Seventh unto that which is more General Sabbath saying not as here Therefore the Lord Sanctified the Seventh Day but Therefore the Lord Sanctified the Sabbath Day Implying that the time which he required to be observed must be one Resting day of Seven leaving the Particularity of the day to be designed by the work upon which the observation of it was to be grounded so that both the Jews from that same Law might have warrant for the observation of the Last day of the Week and we that are Christians might have the like warrant for the observing of the First day of the Week Some there are that conceive these words not to contain in them the Narration of what God instituted at present but by way of Anticipation a manifestation of what he Ordained and Appointed to be observed in the Law afterward delivered to his people upon Mount Sinai Exod. 20. As if Moses had said here This Rest of God the Seventh day was the reason why God in the delivering his Law upon Mount Sinai appointed his People to keep that Seventh day for a day of an Holy Rest To whom we answer 1. What ground is there to be drawn out of any Circumstance of the text that enforceth us to admit such an Anticipation and without such a ground who dare suppose it If we may pervert the Order of the Scriptures at our pleasure without warrant from the Letter of the text it self no Man shall be able to draw any binding Argument out of Scripture to conclude any thing at all 2. Anticipations in Scripture are most Commonly if not Alwaies used that by representing before hand somewhat which was done afterwards the whole narration might be made more clear and perspicuous or at least that the Occasion or consequents of such other things as are related might be Considered and laid together that we might the more easily and distinctly observe the VVay of God in his VVork Now in this place to mention the occasion of that which was done more then two thousand years afterwards helps nothing to the understanding of any thing there related and consequently there is upon that ground no cause of supposing such an Anticipation 3. Such an Anticipation in this place must needs be acknowledged to be utterly superfluous seeing the very ground of Instituting the rest of the Sabbath which is mentioned here is expresly and wel-nigh in the same words set down in the very body of the Law given upon Mount Sinai Now it cannot be Imagined that the Holy Ghost in an History so succinctly penned as this is would insert any thing unnecessarily and superfluously 4. Such an Anticipation in this place necessarily supposeth that the Book of Genesis was written after the delivering of the Law upon Mount Sinai for if the Law were not given before the Book of Genesis was written how could this Anticipation here shew the reason of a Law which was not then in being Now that the Book of Genesis was written after the Law was given is impossible to be proved Nay if conjectures might be admitted it seems more probable that Genesis was written while Moses was yet in Midian before he undertook the bringing up of Israel out of Egypt for besides that he was then best at leisure that Book must needs be of singular use to encourage the Children of Israel to undertake their journey into Canaan for which their Fore-Fathers had forsaken their own native soil which God had so many waies made over unto them wherein they had been sojourners so long a time and wherein God had so wonderfully protected and prospered them even to admiration all of them being great encouragements to enter into the possession of so good a Land so freely bestowed upon them Others there are that conceive that those words contain only a narration of what God himself did not what he appointed or ordained Man to do or observe afterwards and will have the words in the first clause to expresse what God did He rested and in the later to expresse how he did it He Sanctified and Blessed his Rest or kept it as an Holy Rest To whom we answer 1. How can God be said to Sanctifie his Rest in this Sense seeing his Actions and Holines of them cannot be severed but whatsoever he doth is Holy because he doth it The actions of Men indeed and the Holinesse of them be two things and are many times too far asunder but God is holy in all his Works Psal 145.17 and in ceasing from his Works And therefore to say that God Rested and that he Sanctified his Rest is to speak Improperly and Superfluously 2. If that be the sense of the term Sanctified how shall we interpret the next word Blessed In what sense God by his own Act of Resting may be said to Blesse the day of his Rest cannot easily be imagined neither do we find any other place of Scripture wherein that phrase bears such a sense 3. The letter of the Text and Series of the Narration seem to oppose this sense wherein we have related unto us three distinct Actions of God First He made 2. He Rested 3. He Blessed and Sanctified the Rest And those three are laid down as succeeding one another at least in Nature if not in Time Yea and to be in a sort the ground one of another The full perfecting and finishing of the Creation was the ground of Gods Resting and his Resting was the Ground or Occasion at least of Blessing and Sanctifying the Day of Rest or appointing of it to be a day of Holy Rest So that as in the words of the second verse He rested from all the works which he had made imply the making of the works before the Rest so in this Verse He Sanctified the Rest because he had Rested must needs imply that the Rest went before the sanctifying of the Rest and to be distinct from it A third sort there are that think those words Sanctified and Blessed to imply Not what God then did but what he purposed and intended to do afterwards and parallel for the strengthening of that conjecture with these words that phrase Jer. 11.8 where God saith that he sanctified and Ordained Jeremy to be a Prophet in the womb which cannot be understood of the Actuall Sanctifying of Jeremy at present but
before he could bethink himself how he might procure that which he needed so much 2. The Largenesse of Gods bounty is set out in the Pleasantness of the Garden provided and given man for his habitation In the infinite variety of all sorts of Fruits wherewith it was stored both for Necessity and Delight all of them planted by Gods own hand And in allowing man the free use of them all excepting only One Tree reserved by God as an acknowledgment of his Soveraignty and as a Remembrance to man of his duty In the Investiture of man into his Soveraignty over all the Creatures designed unto him in the former Chapter And lastly in Creating and bestowing the Woman upon him in marriage a greater help unto him and comfort for his life then all the creatures besides could have been 3. The Sufficiency of the Provision which God made for Man appears in this that he had all his wants supplied He wanted no possessions for the Earth was his Inheritance No servants for the work which he had to do was little more then to pluck and eat his own food from the Trees and to oversee and keep in order the Garden ready planted to his hand No food for all those delicate fruits were ready prepared and allowed him for his diet Houses and Apparel there was no need of when there was no deformity that needed covering no Injury by the weather from which he needed to be defended Onely there wanted a VVife both for Propagation and Society and that also God provides for him and that such a one as he acknowledgeth to be every way meet for him and accordingly rejoyceth in her So that God ceased not till he had furnished man every way with all that his Heart could wish or his needfull Occasions required Now for the Lawes and Rules which God gave man to guide himself by in this state of Innocency we must take notice that such of them as are meerly branches of the law of Nature are here omitted VVe call them properly Lawes of Nature which being Rules discovered by the consideration of the Nature of the Creatures are easily found out by the strength of right Reason As if there be a God Reason teacheth that he must be worshipped and if he be a Spirit that he must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth If we have our Being and Education from our Parents that they must be honoured and served If Words must be manifestations unto others of our Thoughts that then they must be answerable unto them so that we must speak what we think even the truth from our hearts and the like These being written in all mens hearts by Nature that is manifest to all men by Natural reason are not mentioned in this brief history as being sufficiently known without relation The Lawes here recorded are onely such as were added to the Law of Nature by Institution which the rule of Equity doth not necessarily enforce of it self without Gods command to have it thus or otherwise As though it were of the Law of Nature that if God must be worshipped that there must be a set time and a time of rest from other employments appointed for that worship yet what portion of time this should be and on what day it should be fixed as that it should be one day in Seven and the last of seven no man could by Natural Reason conclude till God commanded that it should be so That man should take care of the Creatures and endeavour to preserve them especially being appointed for his service reason would prescribe but that Adam should take charge of Paradise to keep and dresse it was meerly by Gods Institution and Command who might as well have disposed of him in some other place as there if he had so pleased That Gods Will should be mans Rule and that his Obedience and Faith should be professed and shewed forth to others is a branch of the Law of Nature but that Adam should manifest his Faith in God by eating of the tree of Life and his subjection to his Will by abstaining from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was only by Gods own appointment having no other ground but the motion of his own will That Man and Woman should be joyned together for propagation and that too in Marriage may be conceived to be of the Law of Nature But that a man should be bound to one Wife and that for term of Life although Natural Reason must needs acknowledge it to be most convenient yet because it is not necessary God might have ordered it otherwise if he had been so pleased Whatsoever the Reason may be conceived to be why the Holy Ghost mentions only these Positive Lawes whereas he passeth over in silence the Laws of Nature it must needs be acknowledged that these Laws which being only Positive have no other foundation but the meer Will of God are notwithstanding so Equal and Good every way that being once made known natural reason it self cannot but approve them and consequently the Righteousnesse Holinesse and Goodnesse of God appears more clearly in them than in those Lawes that being branches of the Law of Nature are in a sort more Necessary seeing nothing discovers the man more evidently then those things wherein he is most free to do or approve what he will And indeed it may be probably conceived that the Holy Ghost had this scope to manifest the Righteousnesse of God in giving these Lawes because they are so recorded that the Equity of them is withall manifested by some Circumstance or other inserted into the Relation The Equity of appointing the Sabbath unto the last day of the week appears in manifesting that That day being honoured above the rest by putting an end to and declaring the perfecting of the Works of Creation was the fittest day to be observed in remembrance of so glorious a work And the Law of appointing man to labour in Paradise is manifested to be equal by this that God gave him the use of all the fruits in Paradise so that he did but labour for himself That the Interdiction of the Tree of Knowledge might appear to be equall it is recorded withall that God gave Man all the rest of the fruits to make use of freely The same is as clearly manifested in setting down at large the Law of Marriage 2. The Holinesse of these Lawes appears as well as their Equity The Sabbath Sacrament of the Tree of Life and restraint from the Eating of the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil tending only to the furthering of Faith and Obedience and the raising up of mens hearts to an holy delight in God and enjoying an holy Communion with him Mans labour tending to the exercising of Love and Mercy towards the Creatures and Marriage to further mutual edification in Piety and Godlinesse and the propagation of an holy seed as it is plainly expressed Mal. 2.15 3. The Goodnesse of these Lawes to Man is as