Commandment and other Writers about the Sabbath That this Commandment begins with Remember to keep Holy the sabbath-Sabbath-day or the day of Rest not the Seventh day much less the Seventh day of the Week from the first Creation And what is that day of Rest the next Words tell us Six days shalt thou labour but the Seventh is the Sabbath c. That is after Six days of Labour the Seventh shall be a day of Rest. And in the close of that Commandment Ex. 20. 11. our Bibles have it wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath-Sabbath-day not as we commonly repeat it the Seventh day and hallowed it The Reason given to inforce it is For in Six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth c. and rested the Seventh day and accordingly should we after Six days of Work have a Seventh day of Rest and so onward If he thinks that to make a difference that we now reckon our Weeks to begin with the day of Rest and after that Six Working days which in a continued Circulation comes all to one I will allow that Gentleman if that will please him better to begin the Week on Monday and then Sunday will be the Seventh The Commandment says nothing of the Seventh day of the Week in a continued Succession from the Creation but the Seventh day after Six days of Labour And whereas he observes and would lay great weight upon it that it is hashebigni the Seventh the article ha answering to our the not a Seventh 'T is very true and very proper so to be For the meaning is not that after Six days of Labour there should be a Seventh for Rest no matter when but the Seventh day that is the next day after those Six But it is not said the Seventh in Course from the Creation Just as when it is said a Male-Child is to be Circumcised the Eighth day it is not meant of an Eighth day in Course from the Creation but the Eighth day from the Birth And in like manner Ex. 12. 16. In the Seventh day there shall be a Holy Convocation it is not meant of the Seventh day of the Week from the Creation but on the Seventh day of the Feast of unleavened Bread what ever day of the Week that happen to be And Exod. 16. 5 25. The Sixth and Seventh day there mentioned seem plainly to be not the Sixth and Seventh in course from the Creation which I doubt was not then known but from the first raining of Manna ver 4 5. He 'll say perhaps The Jews observed such Seventh day from the Creation and that was their Sabbath But that is more than he or I know or any man living They had I grant a Circulation of Seven days but from what Epocha we cannot tell And when Moses tells them on the Sixth day Ex. 16. 23. Tomorrow is the Rest of the Holy Sabbath It seems to be the fixing of a new Epocha from the first raining of Manna and then all his Arguments from the continual Observation of the Seventh day from the Creation till that time are at an end Whether this from the first raining of Manna be the same with that from the Creation no man can tell And there is Six to One odds that it is not Now that there is a new Course of Sabbath from a new beginning whereof this Seventh day from the first raining of Manna is the First and not a continuation of a former Course hitherto observed without interruption seems farther evident from this consideration Because if this were but a continuation of that uninterrupted Course of Sabbaths then the next Seventh day before it would have been a Sabbath also and to have been in like manner observed that is the next day before the first raining of Manna But on that day we find Exod. 16. 12 13. the Quails came up and covered the Camp without any Prohibition to gather them If therefore they might not now gather Manna because it was the Sabbath but might before gather Quails it should seem that was not a Sabbath And if it be not allowed upon occasion to fix a new Epocha then if the Circulation of Weeks from the beginning of the World which was then about 2500 years old did ever chance to have been interrupted and the day forgotten as in all likelyhood it might be in Egypt if not long before or if ever after it should chance so to be as in the days of Iosiah when the Book of the Law was lost and the Pass-over forgotten men must never keep a Sabbath thenceforth For then all his own Arguments return upon him No other day is Commanded 't is Will-worship no Promise to the Observance no Threatning for the Neglect I should rather think if that day were unknown as I believe it is Any day were better than None at all For Gods Commands do more respect the Substance of the Duty than the Circumstance of Time especially if they cannot both be had Circumcision was to be Administred on the Eighth day according to the Institution I do not mean the Eighth day of the Week but the Eighth day of the Childs Age and therefore on the same day of the Week on which the Child was Born But if by Accident or Default it were omitted it might be done any day after rather than not at all Abraham we know was 99 years old and Ismael 13 when they were Circumcised and what was the Age of other Males in Abraham's Family we cannot tell and a Proselyte at any Age was to be Circumcised though perhaps it were not remembred on what day of the Week he was Born and those who were born in the Wilderness for Forty years together were all Circumcised at once Iosh. 5. 4 5 9. though not all born on the same day of the Week The Pass-over was appointed to be eaten standing with their Loyns girt their Shoes on their feet and their Staffs in their hand as in hast to be gone Ex. 12. Yet our Saviour seemeth to have Eaten it Sitting or rather Lying And none of them were to stir out of doors till morning Ex. 12. 22. Yet Christ and his Disciples went out the same night to the mount of Olives and thence to Gethsemane Mat. 26. 30 36. The Shew-bread was to be eaten by the Priests only yet our Saviour observes that David did eat of it on a special occasion without blaming him for so doing The Rechabites are commended Ier. 31. for obeying the Command of Ionathan their Father not to drink Wine nor build Houses but to dwell in Tents c. Yet did they upon Nebuchadnezzar's Invasion quit their Tents and repair to Ierusalem nor is it reputed a Disobedience The Paschal Lamb was to be kill'd the Fourteenth day of the First Month at Evening Yet if we consider how little knowledge they had in those days of the Sun and Moons motions and if we consider what the Jewish Writers tell us of their very uncertain Method of judging which
And if it had been on the seventh day how great a proof would this have been with him for a Seventh-day Sabbath This I take to be a Christian Sabbath and within the prospect of the Fourth Commandment And though it be not expresly called a Sabbath to avoid confusion or ambiguity because the word Sabbath in common speech was then appropriated to the Jewish Sabbath yet it is the same thing And if he doubt whether the Feast of Pentecost were on the First day of the Week as was that of the Resurrection he may be satisfied from Levit. 23. 15. where that Feast is appointed After mention made of the Pass-over ver 5. c. Moses proceeds to that of the Wave-offering v. 10 11. When ye be come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof then shall ye bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the Priest and he shall Wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath the Priest shall wave it Whether by the Sabbath here mentioned be meant the Weekly Sabbath or the first day of the Feast of Unleavened-Bread is not material because in that year whereof we are speaking this first day of the Feast was on the Weekly Sabbath as is manifest from the story of Christs Crucifixion which was on the Sixth day of the Week and the next day being the Seventh day was the Feast of the Pass-over and the morrow after this Sabbath was the day of Christ's Resurrection as well as of the Wave-offering And then he proceeds ver 15 16 to the Feast of Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks Ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the Wave-offering seven Sabbaths shall be compleat even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number Fifty days inclusively taken as the manner is in Scripture reckoning and must needs be so here It was called the Feast of Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks as Deut. 16. 9 10. which Feast of Pentecost was the morrow after the Sabbath on a first day of the Week And on this first day of the Week the morrow after the seventh day Sabbath here was a solemn Assembly for Religious Worship and a very large one both of Jews and Gentiles out of every nation under Heaven Parthians Medes Elamites c. And this solemnized by a Miraculous Effusion of the Holy Ghost in the gift of Tongues For we all hear say those of that great assembly every one in our own Tongue where in we were born the wonderful Works of God ver 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. With a long Sermon of Peter's on that occasion Which I take to be another celebration of the First day Sabbath and a very eminent one We are to observe also that in some of the places alleged to this purpose though but single instances there is an intimation of a frequent usage As in that Act. 20. ◠On the first day of the week the disciples being assembled to break bread Paul preached c. Is a fair intimation that on the first day they did use so to assemble If it were said amongst us About six a clock when they were come together in the College-Hall to supper such a thing happened Any unprejudiced person would take it for a fair intimation that they used to suppe about six a clock And if this Author could any where find in the book of Iob that On the seventh day of the week from the Creation when Iob and his friends were assembled for the joint service of God Bildad spake thus c. He would take this for a strong proof that the seventh-seventh-day Sabbath was then wont to be observed Much stronger than what he allegeth to that purpose Abram and Lot had each of them so many Cattel that they could not dwell or rest together without quarrellings amongst their servants And that of what Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron Why do you Hinder their work you make the people Rest from their burthens A like place is that of 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Nov concerning the Collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye and what that was we are told in the next words Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come If it had been so said to 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 or to Iob Upon the Seventh day of the week do this or thus what a strong proof would this have been for the Observation of a seventh day Sabbath I think it is plain from hence that the First day of the week was weekly observed and was wont to be so observed both by the Church of Corinth and by the Churches of Galatia For So Paul doth not here advise it but suppose it or take it for granted What that order was to the Churches of Galatia our Author says he cannot tell 〈◊〉 thought it had been plain enough he bids the Corinthians do as he had bid the Galatians that is on the First day of the Week c. What further order he had given the Galatians it is not as to this point necessary for us to know But saith he if they must on that day lay by as God hath blessed them then they must on that day cast up their accounts tell their mony reckon their stock compute their Expenses c. which are not Sabbath-day Works A wise objection As though all this could not as well be done before so far as is necessary and on Sunday put so much into the poor mans box or give to the Deacons or Collectors as upon such account they should have found fit like as is now done in our Churches when there is occasion for such Collections Why doth he not make the same exception to that of Deut. 16. 10. concerning the Feast of Pentecost where they are to bring a tribute of a free-will-offering which says he thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God c. according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee Doth he think that on the day of Pentecost which was to be strictly observed as a Sabbath a holy Convocation and no servile work to be done Lev. 23 1. they must cast up their accounts tell their money c. because they were to offer according as the Lord hath blessed them I think not But here comes in again his former trifling objection of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether it signify the first day of the Week Yet I am very confident himself doth really believe it doth here so signify and as to his own thoughts doth not doubt of it But perhaps thinks it a piece of wit or skill in Greek thus to object against his own judgment Yet since he will have it so and we must come again to Childs play I
A DEFENSE OF THE Christian Sabbath In Answer to A TREATISE of Mr. Tho. Bampfield Pleading for SATURDAY-SABBATH BY IOHN WALLIS D. D. And Professor of Geometry in the University of OXFORD OXFORD Printed by L. Lichfield and are to be Sold by Chr. Coningsby at the Golden Turks-Head over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street LONDON 1692. Imprimatur IONATH EDWARDS Vice-Can OXON Sep. 17 t. 1692. A DISCOURSE Concerning The Christian Sabbath SIR Iune 12. 1692. I Had a while since a Book sent me by the Carrier I know not well from whom of Mr. Thomas Bampfield which in the Title-Page is said to be Printed for the Author 1692. It is Concerning the Sabbath Which he thinks should rather be Observed on what we call Saturday than on what we call Sunday I should not on this Account give any Disturbance to the Peace or Practise of the Church where I live so that a Sabbath be duly Observed as to the Substantials of it though perhaps not upon what day I should chuse For I do not know and I believe no man living can tell me whether what we now call Sunday be a First a Second a Third or a Seventh day in a continued Circulation of Weeks from the Creation And what it is impossible for me to know I think will be no Crime to be Ignorant of Nor hath this Author any other way than common Tradition on which he is not willing that we should lay weight whereby to guess which is the First or which is the Seventh day in such a Circulation of Weeks either from the Creation or even from Christ's Time I am sufficiently satisfied that we ought to keep a Sabbath that is a day of Holy Rest after Six days of ordinary Labour according to the Fourth Commandment and this in a continued Course or Circulation But I am not certain nor can I be which is a First or a Seventh day in such a Circulation of Weeks from the Creation And therefore shall content my self to observe that day which I find observed in the Church where I live In Old England I observe the Sabbath which here I find And if I were in New-England I would observe the Sabbath which I find observed there Though I think it may be disputable whether they and we may be said to observe the same day the First Meridian passing between them and us And yet I would not advise to have it changed in either Now I can hardly think that God hath laid the great stress of so weighty a Point as whereon the main of Gods publick Worship doth much depend on such a Circumstance as is impossible for us to know and of which we may be modestly ignorant I should rather think that what Christ says of the Place Ioh. 4. 21 23 The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor in Ierusalem worship the Father but the true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth is in good measure true of the Time also And as it is not so material whether in this or that Place God be Worshiped so he be Worshiped Aright so neither is it so material whether on this or that day as that a Sabbath or day of Holy Rest be duly kept The publick Worship of God was then in great measure confined to the Temple not indifferently in any place within thy Gates but in the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse to put his name there Deut. 16. 6 11 15 16. For which any other place may now be as well assigned that men pray every where lifting up holy hands c. 1 Tim. 2. 8. Privately in private places and Publickly in places appointed for the publick And I do not think we are now more confined to the Iewish Sabbath than to the Iewish Temple This premised I can agree with this Author in many things by him discussed I agree that Our Lord Iesus Christ according to his Divinity was God and is so the true God the God that made Heaven and Earth the God who delivered the Law upon Mount Sinai For though we do acknowledge in the Godhead a Trinity of Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost whereof Christ according to his Divinity is called the Second Person the Son of God or God the Son yet those Three Persons are but One God Nor do I know any other true God but One The God that made Heaven and Earth The Lord Iehovah The God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob The Lord God of Israel The Lord their God who brought them out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage and besides whom we are to have no Other God The God who delivered the Law to them on Mount Sinai And I do agree that Our Lord Iesus Christ is as to his Divinity this God the True God the onely true God and that he was so before his Incarnation How far each of those Actions are to be ascribed to this or that Person of the Trinity we need not be over solicitous What in the New Testament is more peculiarly ascribed to this or that of the Three Persons is in the Old Testament wont to be ascribed to God indefinitely without such particular application the doctrine of the Trinity being then not so distinctly discovered But I cannot agree that Christ as God and Man in contradistinction to the Father and Holy Ghost did all those things for he was not then Man I agree with him also that God who made the World in Six days Rested the Seventh day Gen. 2. 23. Exod. 20. 11. And that he Blessed the Sabbath day and Hallowed it And that accordingly he hath appointed after Six days of ordinary Labour Man should observe a Seventh day of Holy Rest and this in a continued succession But I should rather say that our Lord Iesus Christ is according to his Divinity that God who Blessed the Seventh day Gen. 2. than that the God who Blessed the Sabbath day is the Lord Iesus Christ as he doth p. 64. and elsewhere very often seeming to lay great stress upon it For he was not then the Lord Christ God and Man nor did he bless it as Christ but as God in Union with the Father and Holy Ghost not as contradistinguished from them I agree also that the Law of the Sabbath is one of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments delivered to Israel on Mount Sinai Ex. 20. But I am willing to think it was a Law before Not only because we find it observed Exod. 16. before the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai Ex. 20. but especially because of that in Gen. 2. 3. God blessed the Seventh day and Sanctified it because in it he rested from all his Work And those who are most averse to the Morality as it is wont to be called or the Perpetuity of the Sabbath or Day of Holy Rest and are yet very zealous for the Holiness of Places would be very fond of it if they could find so clear
that some of the Heathens as Iuvenal and Lucian do laugh or jeer at the Jewish Sabbath recutitaque Sabbata pallent and therefore did know of the Jewish Sabbath But not that they did observe it or so much as divide their Time by Weeks Now if we should admit that in some Families where the true Worship of God was preserved there be a strong presumption for 't is no more that they did observe a Sabbath that is a Seventh day of Holy Rest after Six days of ordinary Labour yet 't is a question whether that were just the Seventh day in a continual succession of Weeks from the Creation And if at any time there chance to be an intermission and the day forgotten it is impossible without a Miracle or a new Revelation that it can be restored again And if from thenceforth they would again keep a Sabbath as we find the Pass-over was revived by Hezekiah and Iosiah which had been long intermitted 2 Kings 23. and 2 Chr. 25. they must begin at adventure and thence continue it Now if we consider that the true Worship of God was oft reduced to some one family as in the time of Noah and perhaps of Abraham and even that Family sometimes corrupt enough as was that of Nahor from whence Abraham for that reason was removed and that of Laban where Iacob sojourned and how oft also the like happened we cannot tell It was very possible the Sabbath might be neglected as himself observes p. 63 it had been before and under the Captivity for a long time and made a Market-day as well as any other day of the Week like as the Temple was become a Market-place Mat. 21. 12 13. Ioh. 2. 14. 16. As was also the Pass-over in great measure from the time of Samuel till that of Iosiah 2 Chr. 35. 18. And the Feast of Tabernacles from the days of Ioshuah to Nehemiah Neh. 8. 17. And Circumcision for Forty years together in the Wilderness Iosh. 5. 5. Now if Circumcision and the Pass-over and the Feast of Tabernacles were thus neglected when they were at Liberty how much more the Sabbath when they were Bond-men in Egypt of which we have not the least mention from God's keeping a Sabbath Gen. 2. 3. till after Israels coming out of Egypt Exod. 16. Nor is there the least mention as I shew'd but now in any History Sacred or Profane so much as of dividing their time by Weeks all that time nor except that of Israel for many Ages after And though the Sun Moon and Stars Gen. 1. 14. are said to be for Signs and for Seasons for Days and for Years yet not a word is there of Weeks Nor could they indeed by their Motions distinguish Weeks as they do Months and Years And therefore though I find Years and Months to have been observed all the World over long ago yet Weeks no where that I know of ancient times but by the Nation of the Iews onely nor by them before their coming out of Egypt So that though I am willing to think the Sabbath ought to have been observed all that while yet there is too much reason to doubt it was not or if at all not without frequent intermissions which would in this case be fatal Now to argue as he doth that Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham were good men and are some of them said to walk with God and to keep his Commandments and therefore may be presumed to have kept a Sabbath is but a weak argument as to matter of Fact and to begg the Question For we are not to think them so good as to be guilty of no failings or omissions The Law of Marriage is certainly as Old if not Older than that of the Sabbath the tenour of which was he tells us p. 62. that they Two should be one flesh not they Three Four or Five yet he tells us also that Polygamy or having many Wives was frequently practised from Lamech to Malachi even by some eminent in the Church at that time and by them he supposeth held to be lawful And it may as well be thought the Law for the Sabbath might sometime within that Two Thousand Five Hundred Years be neglected and forgotten as that of Marriage In a time when there was no writing that we know of to preserve it And if once forgotten it could never as to that Seventh day be recovered And I would ask that Gentleman In case the day should chance to have been sometime forgotten as is very possible and not unlikely and that after such time upon finding the Book of the Law as in Iosiah's time 2 Kings 22. 8. which had been lost it did appear that a Sabbath should have been kept but was not as was there the case of the Pass-over Chap. 23. 21. What doth this Gentleman think in such case should be done Must they never Restore the Sabbath because they do not know the day Or must they begin upon a New Account I should think this latter and that it would be warranted by the Fourth Commandment notwithstanding his Objection No other day but the Seventh from the Creation is Commanded No Promise to the Observance of any other nor Threatning for the Omission Indeed in our days when so great a part of the World reckon by Weeks and we be stored with Astronomical Tables adjusted to the Motions of the Sun Moon and Stars and many Celestial Observations as for Instance that such a Year such a Day of such a Month there was an Eclipse on Monday morning or the like 't were more easy to rectify such an intermission But in those days when there was nothing of all this nor so much as the use of Writing that we know of older than Moses There was no way to rectify an interrupted Tradition All which is not said to disparage the Observation of the Sabbath day for which I have as great Veneration as he that pleads for the Saturday Sabbath But onely to shew that we can be at no Certainty and scarce a Conjecture which is the First Second or Seventh day of the Week in a continued Circulation of Weeks from the Creation And consequently I cannot think that the great stress of the Fourth Commandment is to be understood of just that Seventh day in every such Week from the Creation which I doubt cannot be known But rather that there should be a Weekly Sabbath that is after Six days of Work the Seventh should be a Holy Rest and then after another Six days of Work the Seventh should be again a Holy Rest and so continually which is as truly observed in the Sunday-Sabbath as in that of Saturday As when God requires the Tenth of our Increase it is not meant of the Tenth in Order for it should rather be the First in Order for he requires the First-fruits but the Tenth in Proportion So here the Seventh And this Author knows very well that it is signally noted by Expositors on the Fourth
of the house Ex. 12. 7. to be a distinctive mark between the Israelites and the Egyptians as ver 13. The bloud shall be to you for a Token upon the houses where you are and when I see the bloud I will pass over you And so Ex. 11. 5 6 7. That ye may know how that the Lord doth put a Distinction between the Egyptians and Israel And our Author himself pag. 26. doth press the same and puts great weight upon it that this Seventh-day-sabbath is often called a Sign for ever between him and them and a perpetual Covenant to Distinguish his people from others that is the people of the Jews from other Nations And so to be a Sign for Ever as Circumcision is an Everlasting Covenant Now whatsoever was a Distinctive Mark of the People of Israel from other Nations as was that of Circumcision the Pass-over and the Seventh-day-sabbath was at an end and to cease when the partition-wall was broken down between Jew and Gentile when Christ had made both one and abolished in his flesh the Enmity even the law of Commandments contained in Ordinances to make of twain One new man to reconcile both in One body by the Cross having slain the Enmity thereby Eph. 2. 14 15 16. Or as it is Col. 2. 14. Having blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us and was contrary to us as separating us Gentiles from the Jews and so excluding us out of Gods Visible Church and nailing it to his Cross. From whence he there infers ver 16. Let no man Therefore judge you in meat or drink or in respect of a holy-day a Festival or of Sabbaths the proper name at that time of the Seventh-day Sabbath which things are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ these being but shadows or empty things whereas it is the body the Substance that Christ regards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those are but shadow but 't is the Body that Christ looks at That is in our language those are only Circumstantials but 't is substance or the Substantials of Religion that Christ and Christianity respects And as it is meerly Circumstantial and doth not at all influence Religion whether in the Temple or other place God be worshiped Ioh. 4. 21. So whether on this or another day a Sabbath be kept If therefore those Sabbaths as is shewed were distinctive Marks or Signs of Gods peculiar Covenant or Contract with the Church of Israel as their peculiar God in contradistinction to other Nations then 't is manifest that those other Nations did not at all keep a Sabbath or not on that Day else how could this be a distinctive Mark and therefore to bring this now upon the Gentiles was to bring upon them a new Yoke I add further that this Iewish Sabbath as is shewed before seems to be not a Continuation of a former Sabbath from the Creation which I doubt was either not observed at all or had long before this time been forgot but rather a New Institution or Restitution after their coming out of Egypt from a new Epocha at Marah where God is said to have made a Statute and an Ordinance Exod. 15. 25. to which Commandment and Statute if they would hearken diligently and give Ear he would not bring upon them the Diseases which he had brought upon Egypt For saith he I am the Lord that healeth thee ver 26. Whereupon follows in the next Chapter a sabbath to be observed on the seventh-seventh-day from the first raining of Manna not from the first Creation And with reference to their Rest or Refreshing after their Labour or Bondage in Egypt as was that of the Pass-over to their being passed-over when the first-born of the Egyptians were slain For so he saith Exod. 31. 13. My Sabbath shall ye keep for it is a Sign between me and you that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctifiy you or separate you to my self as a peculiar people a holy people and ver 16 17. The Children of Israel shall keep my Sabbaths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a perpetual Covenant It is a Sign between Me and the Children of Israel for ever for in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth and on the Seventh Day he Rested and was Refreshed Not that God was Wearied with his Work and needed Refreshment but he doth parallel his Rest after his Work of Creation with their Refreshment after their Labour in Egypt And that God had a particular respect to their Rest and Refreshment from their Labour and Bondage in Egypt is farther evident not onely from the General Preface to all the Commandments I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of Bondage but from the Close of this Fourth Commandment as it is repeated in Deut. 5. 12 13 14 15. somewhat different from what is in Exod. 20. where instead of For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth c. Exod. 20. 11. we have Deut. 5. 15. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and a stretched out arm therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day Which shews that this Sabbath had a particular respect to that deliverance Now as God by Moses did upon a New occasion of their Rest from their Labour in Egypt give a New Epocha or Beginning to a Circulation of Sabbaths to be reckoned from thence in imitation of his own Resting from the Work of Creation Not by the Fourth Commandment for that speaks indifferently as to any Circulation but by this Ordinance at Marah or at Elim for 't is this determines the Circulation to the seventh day after the raining of Manna So might Christ as well by himself or his Apostles six another Epocha from his Resurrection as we have reason to think he did and this Equally within the prospect of the Fourth Commandment This Rest from the Egyptian Bondage being as much a shadow of what Christ regards as the substance as was the escaping of the Egyptian Destruction of which the Pass-over was the Memorial And accordingly this Circulation equally to cease with that of the Pass-over at the coming of Christ notwithstanding the continuance of the Fourth Commandment in a New Circulation from another Epocha It is not indeed expresly said that Christ Bid his Apostles so to do But as Moses is presumed to do what he did by Gods direction so the Apostles by Christs direction to whom he gave Commandments for that purpose Act. 1. 2 3. As to what he says so often that not one Iott or Tittle of the Law meaning that of the Decalogue is destroyed but doth still continue in force This as to the substance of the Duty I grant But if his meaning be that there is not a Word or Letter therein which doth not as literally belong
the Worship and as Prudentials so to be managed as in all other actions as may with Decency and Convenience best advance the spiritual Worship and may be varied according as the diversity of times and places may require Not to lay the Weight of Divine Institution upon such little things As if because Paul Kneeled down and Prayed Act. 20. 36. therefore it were unlawful to use any other Gesture in Praying Or as if because Christ bids when thou Prayest enter into thy Closet and shut the door Mat. 6. 6. therefore we may not pray in the Chamber Parlour Dining-Room or Chappel Or because Christ did Celebrate the Lords Supper at Night in an Upper-room to Men onely and but Twelve and to those Sitting or Lying therefore we may not do it at Noon or Morning in a Low-room to Women as well as Men in greater Numbers or in some other Gesture For though such Circumstances may be Lawful and sometimes Advisable when convenient yet to put a Religious Necessity upon them as of Divine Institution looks like a piece of Superstition And if we consider seriously how great a mischief many times some needless Scruples do create to the Church of God how great a matter a little fire kindles and how great hindrance to real Piety it might justly make us wary how we add Fewel to such a Flame and rather bear with some things we think amiss but may perhaps not be so than by attempting to remove a suppos'd Evil create a greater Mischief As to the present point in question I have said so much upon the whole as I think might satisfy the Gentleman if he well consider it Yet I know when men have once espoused a notion of which they are fond and have so long pored upon it as to rivet it in their mind catching at every little thing that may seem to favour it and slighting whatever makes against it as we find our Author doth very often And that hardly any thing can be said so plain as that there be nothing to be cavilled at by one who is minded so to do And that when God hath declared his will as plainly as he thinks fit to do if men will not be contented with reasonable evidence he is not obliged to gratify their humours When I say we consider this It looks somewhat like what Solomon tells us Prov. 18. 19. of a Brother offended harder to be won than a strong City and I must leave the success to God who so teacheth as none like him He remits us to two Writers on this Subject in defense of the Christian Sabbath Mr. Shepheard and Mr. Hughs whom I have not read nor have them at hand and Two others whom he names not nor know I well whom he means for more than two have since written who he thinks do tacitly retract somewhat that those before had granted And divers 〈◊〉 have written on this Subject though I have scarce consulted any of them And particularly I have not seen what is written by Dr. Young or Mr. Warren whom I find cited in a late Book of G. T. which came out since this was Written and part of it printed It is very possible that some of those may have said much of what I now say or that I may now say somewhat of what they have said before But in this there is no hurt If in some particulars I vary from some of them it is not because I slight them or out of a desire to contradict them but freely to speak my own thoughts as they do theirs Nor is it to be expected that all Writers on the same Subject should agree in every particular Nor is he to make advantage of it For p. 3. he owns it is so also with those who are for the seventh day But as to the main I presume we do well enough agree I have been a great deal longer than I did intend when I first began to write I shall give you a brief Summe of what I have said to this purpose as to both Questions For the Question is double though it seem to be but one First concerning the Iewish Sabbath Whether that be Antiquated and at an end Secondly concerning the Christian Sabbath Whether there be sufficient ground for this to succeed in the place thereof As to the first I agree with him in many things which he prosecutes at large though not peculiar to his Question As That Our Lord Iesus Christ is God that he is the Lord Iehovah the God who made the World who rested the seventh day who brought Israel out of Egypt and gave the Law on Mount Sinai For there is no other God But this I say he did as God in Union with the Father and Holy Ghost not as Christ God and Man our Mediator and Redeemer For he was not then Man nor was there occasion of a Mediator and Redeemer before the fall I agree also that the Decalogue or Ten Commandments is Obligatory to us Gentiles as being for the substance of it a Law before it was so delivered on Mount Sinai And that the Fourth Commandment concerning the Sabbath is one of them which requires after six days of Labour the seventh day to be a Sabbath or day of Holy Rest. And our Christian Sabbath is such But it doth not say the seventh in course from the Creation nor doth it appear that the Iewish Sabbath was such but rather the Seventh day from the first raining of Manna I do agree also that God himself did rest on the Seventh day from the Creation Gen. 2. that is He did cease to Create But I do not there find that Man did so rest or that there was any express command for him so to do on that day much less for ever after on every Seventh day in course from the Creation How much may be thought to be implyed in those words he blessed and sanctified it I will not dispute However it is but by Implication not by any express command such as our Author demands for the Christian Sabbath Nor do I find that ever it was observed by Man till after the Israelites coming out of Egypt or expresly commanded so to be Nor do I find that any other Nation beside the Jews did anciently so much as divide their time by Weeks Since the times of Christianity they have But that they did so long before that time I do not find I do agree also that after Israels coming out of Egypt they did observe a Sabbath Exod. 16. But it was from a new command at Marah or Elim which appeared New to them not a continuation of a constant practise and it was from a new beginning the Seventh day from the first raining of Manna and as a distinctive sign or token of Gods being their God in a special manner as contradistir guished to other nations as himself owns p. 26. and 28. and as a memorial of their Refreshing after their Bondage and Labour in Egypt and feeding