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-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
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-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
the Feast of Unleavened Bread For though it were the fourteenth day at evening yet it was the fourteenth day not the fifteenth And Luke 23. 54. the evening after our Saviours Crucifixion on the sixth day when it was late at night as was shewed before and must be according to the story of what had been done before that time was yet but the preparation not the Sabbath the Seventh day being not yet begun For so we have it it was the preparation and the Sabbath drew on And the Women were then preparing their Spices and Oyntments yet rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandment So that the Sabbath day was not yet begun nor was it ended when the evening of the next day began but on the morning of the day following as was shewed above And as we shewed at large before the first day of the Week on which Christ rose began very early in the morning while it was dark and continued the same day till very late at night And this is the constant Language of the New Testament every where So that when the Congregation of Christians Acts 20. 7. did on the first day of the week assemble to break Bread and Paul Preached to them continuing his Sermon till Mid-night this must needs be on what we call Sunday and the morning following was Munday morning not Sunday morning as this Author would have it 'T is manifest therefore that there was a Religious Assembly of the Christian Congregation at Troas on the First day of the Week for celebration of the Lords Supper and Preaching and Paul with them Which I take to be the celebration of a Christian Sabbath However this he says is but One Instance True this is but one But we have heard of more before and shall hear of more by and by But this one is more than he can shew for more than Two Thousand Five Hundred Years from God's resting on the Seventh day Gen. 2. 3. till after Israel was come out of Egypt Ex. 16. during which time he would have us think the Seventh-day Sabbath was constantly observed And if he could shew any one such instance of Enoch Noah Abraham or other where such a Religious Assembly for the Worship of God was held on the seventh day in course from the Creation he would think his point well proved though no more were said of it than is of this Whereas now as to the time from thence to the Floud he brings no other proof but that Abel and Enoch and Noah were good men as no doubt they were and therefore it is to be presumed they kept a Sabbath and that upon the seventh day Which is to beg the question not to prove it From thence till Israels going into Egypt all that he brings to prove this matter of fact is but that of Gen. 13. 6. where speaking of Abram and Lot with the multitude of their Cattel it is said the land was not able to bear them that they might Dwell together for their substance was great so that they could not Dwell together and there was a strife between the Herd-men of Abrams Cattle and the Herd-men of Lots Cattle c. They could not Dwell together that is saith he they could not Rest together that is they could not keep a Sabbath together therefore he concludes they did use to keep a sabbath and that Sabbath was the seventh day in course from the Creation And is not this a goodly proof I should think if he would put a stress on the word Rest it should rather signify they could not live quietly together without their herd-mens quarrelling about their Pasture for so it follows in the next words there was a strife between their herds-men From thence till after their coming out of Egypt he brings no other proof but that of Ex. 5. 4 5. Where when Moses and Aaron had been pressing Pharaoh to let Israel go three days Iourney into the Wilderness to keep a Feast and Sacrifice to the Lord their God Pharaoh replies Wherefore do ye Lett or hinder the People from their Work you make them rest from their Burdens or you take them off from their Work that is says he you make them keep a Sabbath For the Word or Verb there Translated you make them Rest is he tells us a derivative from another Verb which signifies to Rest from which Verb the word Sabbath is also derived They did therefore Rest saith he that is keep a Sabbath and that Sabbath was every Week and it was on the seventh day in course from the Creation Alas how little do either or both of these places prove of what he would have to be granted him thence He tells us sometimes there were other Sabbaths besides that of the seventh day I am sure there were other Restings If Moses and Aaron had desired Pharaoh to excuse them from their Work one day in seven that on such day they might serve the Lord their God it would have looked like an Argument But when it is to go three days into the Wilderness to keep a Feast to the Lord what is this to a Weekly Sabbath This Seventh-day sabbath so runs in the mind of this Author that if any where he can lay hold of the word Rest it must presently prove a Seventh-day-sabbath Else who would have thought that because Abram and Lot could not dwell quietly together therefore they must needs keep a Sabbath and that upon the seventh day and in course from the Creation And the like of the Israelites in Egypt because Moses and Aaron are said to hinder them from their work Therefore they did constantly keep a weekly Sabbath and that upon the seventh day in course from the Creation He might have to better purpose alleged Pharaoh's seven fat kine and seven lean ones and the seven full Ears of Corn and seven empty for here we have the number seven signalized only these were Seven Years not Seven Days and the like of Nebuchadnezzar's being seven years turned out to the Beasts of the field Dan. 4. 25 32 33. Or that of the Clean Beasts and Fowls coming into the Ark by sevens Gen. 7. 2 3. But what is more to his purpose and which he should not have missed is that of Gen. 7. 4. and Gen. 8. 10 12. where we have the interval of seven days particularly mentioned For yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the Earth c. Chap. 7. 4. where God gives to Noah just a Weeks warning of the time when the Floud should begin during which interval if those days were Sabbath days he might remove himself and what was necessary into the Ark before the next Sabbath And toward the end of the Floud Noah sends out the Dove Chap. 8. 8. And he staid seven days and again sent forth the Dove ver 10. And he staid yet other seven days and sent forth the Dove c. ver 12. Where we have the Dove sent out three
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
them with Bread from Heaven I do presume also that they did from this first raining of Manna continue a circulation of Weeks for a long time and perhaps till the time of our Saviour Yet we are not sure but that it might be intermitted in the seventy years of the Babylonish Captivity and the day forgotten and then restored a-new by Nehemiah from a new beginning Neh. 13. as he restored the Feast of Tabernacles Chap. 8. which had been intermitted from the days of Ioshua the son of Nun to that day But I rather think the memory was preserved by Tradition during those seventy years I agree also that the Church of the Jews was the most visible Church of God but I am loth to say with him p. 79. it was the whole visible Church For I presume there might be many Good men of other Nations who worshiped the true God of whom we have no History though not joined to the Jewish Church nor were that I know of obliged so to be Such was Melchizedek whoever he were not of the seed of Abraham much less of Israel And such was Iob and his Friends from divers Countries of whom were it not for the story of Iob we should have had no knowledge nor are we to think these were the onely persons of those Countries who worshiped the true God And how many such were in other Nations we cannot tell Who might if they had opportunity join as Proselites with the Iewish Church when established But I do not think they were necessarily obliged so to do or to keep the same Sabbath with them For I take it to be true even before Christs coming that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Act. 10. 34 35. Whether Iew or Greek Rom. 2. 10 11. 1 Pet. 1. 17. Which are but Quotations from Deut. 10. 19. Nor do I find that any Nation except the Iews did observe the Iewish Sabbath But I rather take it to be a distinctive sign of them from other Nations Ex. 31. 13 17. as Circumcision and the Pass-over were which when the wall of partition was taken away ceased also Yet as to what was Moral in them the Circumcision of the heart being pointed at by that of the Flesh and the old leaven of malice and wickedness to be put away instead of that of Bread and a rest from Sin of more respect with God than that from Labour we have instead thereof Baptism in the room of Circumcision the Lords Supper in the room of the Pass-over and the Lords Day or Christian Sabbath instead of the Iewish And as that took date from the raining of Manna after their deliverance from Egypt so ours from the Resurrection of Christ the true Manna I agree also that the Apostle and other Christians even after Christs Resurrection did go to the Temple and the Jewish Synagogues on their Sabbath days and did there assist at Prayers and Reading the Law and other services common to Jews and Christians on a like account as when we now meet to hear a Sermon or keep a Fast or Thanksgiving on a Week-day But so they did as to Circumcision and other Iewish Rites As when Paul circumcised Timothy and joined in the Jewish Rites of Purification Act. 21. on account of those believing Iews who were yet zealous of the Law To testify to them that he had been misrepresented by those who said he did teach the Iews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses and that they ought not to circumcise their Children nor to walk after the Customs Whereas indeed he taught that Gentiles ought so to forbear as being a new yoke to which before they were not subject but as to the Iews which were amongst the Gentiles he did allow them if not yet satisfied of their Christian Liberty so to practise For he puts a great difference between the Gentiles and the Iews among the Gentiles of which I doubt our Author doth not take notice else he would not tell us p. 39. of Paul's writing one thing and practising another He preached and wrote against Circumcision as to the Gentiles but allowed it to the Iews and himself practised it As to Timothy a Jew but not as to Titus who was no Iew. And the like we may say as to the Iewish Sabbath on their Seventh day As to what Services were peculiarly Christian as breaking of Bread they did it not at the Temple or Synagogues but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at home or from house to house Act. 2. 46. and on another day the first day of the Week Act. 20. 7. Now this is all that he hath to urge for the Iewish Sabbath in particular which he cannot shew to be commanded to all the World but rather to them in particular in contradistinction to the rest of the World nor that it was a Seventh day from the Creation but from the first raining of Manna For the Fourth Commandment saith nothing of this Sabbath in particular but onely of the seventh day after six days of labour As to that Imperious demand p. 40 48 64. Where is there any such Power recorded in Scripture to be given to any Man or Men whatsoever after Christ had said It is finished to alter the Seventh-day Sabbath instituted by our Lord Iesus Christ I doubt he hath forgotten that the same God who gave the Law of the Ten Commandments gave also the Ceremonial Law and if it were the Lord Iesus Christ who gave the one it was he that gave the other also And will he then ask Where is there any power recorded in scripture to be given to any man or number of men to abolish Circumcision and the rest of the Mosaick Rites instituted by the Lord Iesus Christ I know no such power recorded in Scripture to be given as to Circumcision and the rest more than as to the Iewish Sabbath And we find them both put together Col. 2. 11 16. Or will he say Where is any Power recorded in Scripture to be given to any Man or Men after Christ had said It is finished to appoint Elders and Deacons and other Officers in the Christian Church and give Orders concerning it which Christ before he so said had not given Yet we know Circumcision was abolished and such Officers and Orders given So that all this is but Flourish As to that of Christ having said It is finished whatever be meant by that we know that the whole Order and Constitution of the Christian Church was settled after that time And whatever else be signified by it it is not meant that there was nothing to be done further concerning it For if so to what purpose did Christ give Commandments to his Apostles of things pertaining to the Kingdome of God after his Resurrection if nothing were to be further done And if we consider the Apostles deportment We do not find them any where insist Authoritatively upon
Chap. 4. 9 10 11. he rebukes them severely that after they had known God or rather were known of God they should turn again to the weak and beggarly rudiments or elements Ye observe saith he days and months and times and years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain 'T is not indeed here said in particular what those days were that are here meant yet it is most likely and scarce to be doubted to be meant of the Iewish Sabbath For though other Observation of Times be here reckoned up there being the same reason of all yet there was no occasion for the others in Galatia For the Jews themselves did not think themselves obliged nor do the Jews at this day to the observation of their other Feasts or Fasts out of their own land But to that of Circumcision and of the Iewish Sabbath and the distinction of Meats they thought themselves obliged even out of their own land And of such we must understand this to the Galatians These being the things there in question not those other which were confined to the land of Canaan But he objects here that though Days be mentioned yet not Sabbath days and fansies it might be meant of some other days not of Sabbaths To gratify him therefore in this also I will proceed to that of Colos. 2. 16. Where Sabbaths are expresly named To the Colossians who were also Christian Gentiles he pursues the same notions Least any one should beguile them with inticing words Col. 2. 4. thereby to bring them under the Mosaick Law He bids them Beware lest any spoil them through Philosophy and vain deceit Whereby I suppose he means the Mosaick doctrines or Philosophy of the Jews which Clemens Alexandrinus doth all along call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in contradistinction to that of the Greeks after the traditions of men after the rudiments or elements of the world and not after Christ ver 8. and that particularly of Circumcision ver 11. in the room of which Baptism is come ver 12. Christ by his Death having blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances meaning the Jewish Law and took it out af the way nailing it to his Cross ver 14. and amongst other things Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink as if some were now clean others unclean as under the Mosaick Law or in respect of an holy day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Festival or of the new Moon or of the Sabbath days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 16. Where by Sabbath must be meant the Iewish Sabbath the day which in common speech was understood by the word Sabbath For this he hath two or three evasions He doth commonly press hard in other places that by Sabbath is to be understood the Jews Seventh-day-Sabbath and no other day The holy Spirit doth call the Seventh-day the Sabbath and no other day of the week both in the Old and in the New Testament throughout p. 46. And I think he is not much out therein that it doth usually so signify where it doth not come with some intimation to direct us to some other sense And why it should not be thought so to signify here I see no reason For though I take our Christian Sabbath to fall as properly under the word Sabbath in the Fourth Commandment as that of the Iews yet the word in common use having by this time become the proper name of that Day which the Jews so called it was necessary to avoid confusion to give the Christian Sabbath another name as that of the Lords Day or the first day of the week And consequently that the Sabbaths here mentioned are to be understood according to the then use of the word of those Sabbaths Not as if all days of Holy Rest where hereby forbidden but onely the nicety of confining it particularly to that day which was then in common speech so called But he would not have it here understood of the seventh-Seventh-day Sabbath as every where else but some other Ceremonial Sabbaths but what those are he doth not tell us That there were some other Feasts observed by the Jews which in the Old Testament are sometimes called Sabbaths but very seldome I do not deny nor that those come under the general Words in this place But those do not seem to be here principally intended because it is manifest to be understood of the Sabbath there in dispute Now there was no occasion of a dispute concerning the observance of those other Sabbaths amongst the Gentiles out of the Holy-land These observations being not thought obligatory even to the Jews but in their own Land onely And it is expresly provided Deut. 16. that these were not to be kept in any place promiscuously not within any of the Gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee But in the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse to place his name there So of the Pass-over ver 5 6. So of the Feast of Pentecost ver 11. So of the Feast of Tabernacles ver 15. And of altogether ver 16. And therefore not out of their own Land I do not deny but that they might in private houses eat the Paschal Lamb as Christ did with his Disciples but not Sacrifice the Pass-over For it was to be sacrificed in the Temple onely and the Feast of the Pass-over to be there solemnly kept Not in private houses and much less out of their own Land Nor do I remember that any where in all the New Testament the word Sabbath is used for any such Sabbaths Nor can reasonably be supposed to be here meant of those Feasts because it is put in contradistinction to them Let no man judge you in respect of a Feast of the New-moon or of the Sabbaths Which yet I do not understand as if no Sabbath might now be kept but that the Obligation to that Sabbath was now at an end Another evasion is this He would have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sabbata in the plural number to signify Weeks not Sabbath-days The Sabbath-day being called in the singular number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sabbatum For he will rather play at small game than stand out If we should allow him this it would not advance his purpose at all For if the business of Weeks be at an end that we are no longer to distribute our time into Weeks than that of the Sabbath much more which he would have to be the seventh day of the Week But suppose we do allow that one Sabbath is to be called Sabbatum what are we to call two or more Sabbaths Must not they be Sabbata And if this be his meaning then are we not to observe such Sabbaths any longer But what must we then say to Mat. 28. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render In the end of the Sabbath meaning thereby the Seventh day Sabbath then past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it began to draw towards the first day of the
Week must we read it at the end the Sabbaths because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the plural number when the Sabbaths meaning the Seventh-day Sabbaths were now at an end and the First-day Sabbath coming on in their place If that reading please him it will serve us as well But he is mistaken in his criticism 'T is true that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural number seems to be sometime put for a Week but not Weeks that I know of as he would have it And so it is commonly taken to be where we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the first day of the Week but may as well be rendered the first day after the Sabbath And so is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the singular as Luke 18. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I fast twice in the week I suppose he would not have us render it I fast twice on the Sabbath day though it be in the singular number as if he did fast twice upon one day But thus rather I keep two Fasts to one Sabbath which is the same in sense with I fast twice in the Week In like manner as the Olympiad may be taken sometime for that particular year on which were the Olympick Games which were wont to return every fifth year inclusively that is as we use to speak the fourth year after the last Olympick sometime for the interval of four years from the end of one Olympick to the end of the next following So here Sabbatum may be sometime taken strictly for the Sabbath-day and sometime for the whole septiduum or week from Sabbath to Sabbath And so is Sabbata in the plural number taken also for a Sabbath-day Thus I take it to be here Mat. 28. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the Sabbath-day was ended in the same sense with that of Mark 16. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of the very same time when the Sabbath was past And in like manner Matth. 12. 1. At that time Iesus went on the Sabbath day through the Corn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sabbatis in the plural number And so it is in Mark 2. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet it is meant but of one day as appears by the parallel place where the same is again related Luk. 6. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so Mat. 12. 5 10 12. Mar. 3. 4. Luk. 4. 31. Luk. 6. 2 9. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint is commonly put for the Sabbath-day I will not say Allways because I have not examined it but in all the places which I consulted And even in the body of the Ten Commandments Exod. 20. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember the day of the Sabbaths in the plural number And again ver 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the seventh day Sabbaths to the Lord thy God So Ex. 16. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sabbaths a holy Rest unto the Lord to morrow And Levit. 23. 3. six days shall work be done but the seventh is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sabbaths of Rest ye shall do no work therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the Sabbaths of the Lord. Which are the signal places wherein the Sabbath is commanded And the like very often if not always in the Septuagint whose language the New Testament doth usually follow So that his criticism comes to nothing but only to shew how careless he is of what he says if at least he may seem to say somewhat Such is that when he tells us p. 136. that God who hath reserved a Tenth of our Substance hath reserved But a Seventh of Time As though he thought a tenth part to be more than a seventh part And many such negligences which I spare to mention But whether we render it Sabbath-day or Sabbath-days the sense is still the same And the Apostles design in all these places seems to be this that though to the Iews to whom it had once been a Law he doth allow a liberty till they should be better satisfied for each to follow his own judgment without censuring others as well in this of the Iewish Sabbath as in the business of Circumcision and the abstinence from Meats and their other Rites yet he would by no means suffer these to be brought upon the Gentiles as a new Yoke to which before they had not been subject I say as a new Yoke to which they had not been subject For though I do admit that by natural light or the Law of Nature man ought to allow a competent time for the solemn service of God and by a positive Law that it should be at least one day in seven that is after six days of Labour the seventh to be a day of Rest and so much to be intended in the Fourth Commandment Yet I do not think it to be so determined to this day in order as to be unchangable to after Ages We can be no ways sure that the seventh day in order from the first raining of Manna Ex. 16. was the seventh in order from the Creation And as they did observe it then in order from thence so when Christ or his Apostles by direction from him did put it into a new order this new order doth as well sute the words of the Fourth Commandment as that former I do the rather say that this to the Gentiles is a new Yoke because I find this to be given as a sign a covenant or distinctive mark given to the Jews as Gods peculiar People in contradistinction to other Nations just as Circumcision was So Exod. 31. 13. My Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a Sign between me and you throughout your generations and ver 16. The Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual Covenant and ver 17. It is a Sign between me and the Children of Israel for ever So Ezek. 20. 12. I gave them my Sabbaths to be a Sign between me and them and ver 20. They shall be a Sign between me and you that ye may know that I am the Lord your God Just as it is said of Circumcision Gen. 17. 7. I will establish my Covenant between me and thee saith God to Abraham and thy seed after thee for an Everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee and ver 10 11. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every male-child among you shall be Circumcised and it shall be a Token of the Covenant between me and you and ver 13. My Covenant shall be in your flesh an everlasting Covenant not as if Circumcision were to be for ever obligatory but rebus sic stantibus so long as things continued in that estate And so it is called Rom. 4. 11. He received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith And such was the Bloud of the Paschal Lamb on the Door-posts
a Power given them from Christ to Abrogate Circumcision or the like and thereupon to proceed pro imperio But they Argue it from the nature of the thing That what was Typical of Christ was at an end now Christ is come That what was Distinctive of the Jews from other Nations was now to cease when the partition wall was broken down That what were but shadows as to the Substantials of Religion were now to pass away as beggarly Rudiments Christ regarding the Body or Substance not the Shadows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these are but shadows in comparison of what Christ came to settle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 't is the Body the Substance that Christ respects Col. 2. 17. They do not Command but Argue They do no where pretend that God or Christ had given them Authority to Abrogate a Law which God had made But Argue from the nature of the thing that the Law was ceased and was not intended to Oblige longer That the Law was now Antiquated or Expired when the End for which it was made was attained That the Types were at an End when the Thing Typified was Exhibited That the Distinctive Marks were now no more of Use when Jews and Gentiles were United That the Elements or Rudiments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which God for reasons best known to himself thought fit for the Training-up of his Church while as in a State of Minority wherein a Child though Heir of All doth little differ from a Servant should now cease when it comes to full Age Gal. 4. And to the same purpose Heb. 8. He argues that the Old Covenant was at an end when a Better Covenant was come in the room citing that of Ier. 31. Behold the days come saith the Lord when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Iudah Not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers when I led them out of the land of Egypt For this is the Covenant that I will make That I will put my laws into their Mind and write them in their Hearts Meaning instead of an outward Ceremonial Service he would establish a service more Spiritual From whence he concludes the Antiquation of the Former In that he saith a New Covenant he hath made the first Old Now that which Decayeth and waxeth Old is ready to Vanish away They do not claim a Power to Abolish a Law of Gods making But prove by Argument that these Laws are Antiquated or Expired as not being intended by the Law-maker to bind longer than till such a time As Rom. 7. The Woman is bound by the Law to her Husband as long as he lives But if the husband be Dead she is free from the Law Not that the Law is Abolished but the Case is Altered And it is from these Considerations that he Argues against Circumcision Col. 2. 11. and the Iewish Sabbath ver 16. For as to the Substantials of the Service provided a Sabbath be duly kept it is much one whether on the Seventh or the First day Now these Substantials are he tells us p. 83. a lively spiritual Converse with the Father Son and Holy-Ghost in private Duties and publick Ordinances where they can be had and in a Holy Rest all that day saving emergent cases of Necessity and Mercy Which may be equally done on either day But as to those who were not satisfied with these Arguments if they were such as were before under those Commands he doth not urge his Authority He leaves them to practise according to their own judgment but without censuring others till they shall be better satisfied as in Rom. 14. But as to the Gentiles who had never been under these Laws the case was otherwise Which makes him argue otherwise with the Gentile Galatians Ephesians and Colossians than with the Christian Iews at Rome And as to his Question p. 47. When where and by whom it was taken away I say Then there and by the same who took away Circumcision and the other Mosaick Rites That is Fundamentally by Christ at his death who nailed them to his Cross after which they ceased to be Obligatory But Executively and Practically by his Apostles and the Christian Church according as they did leisurably and in time come to understand their Liberty All which we are to presume they did according to such directions as Christ gave them For as this Author observes p. 80. Paul in those Primitive times when the Ceremonial Law was fresh in memory and the Gospel newly preached had much a do tâ—â—e move the first converted Iews from Circumcision and other Ceremonials and so from their Iewish Sabbath therefore these things were to wear off by degrees and not to be torn from them all at once And this I think is enough to a person not prejudiced as to the Removal of the then Iewish Sabbath appointed by Moses after their coming out of Egypt on the seventh day from the first raining of Manna and not given to all the world but to be a distinctive sign of them from other Nations Now as to the other Point in Question the Observation of the Lords day I would ground that originally on the Fourth Commandment which doth appoint a Seventh day of Holy Rest after Six days of Ordinary Labour Which doth directly concern the Substantials of Worship that a Sabbath be kept and God thus served but whether on this or that day of the Seven is meerly Circumstantial and as Paul calls it a Shadow in comparison of the Body or Substance which is he tells us what Christ respects But then as to that Why the First day rather than another I answer First Here was a much more memorable Accident of Christs Resurrection than was that of Raining Manna from whence the Jewish Sabbath takes its date as the Seventh day from it not from the Creation or that of the Quails the Night before the first day that God fed them by Miracle from Heaven And therefore stands as fair for beginning such a Circulation of Weeks and Sabbaths We are told Ier. 16. 14 15. and Ier. 23 7 8. Behold the days come saith the Lord that it shall no more be said The Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt But The Lordliveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of the North Country Not that the former deliverance was to be forgotten but a greater than it did make it comparatively to disappear as when the light of the Sun doth obscure that of the Moon and Stars And so here the Resurrection of Christ to be commemorated paramount to that of former Mercies Next in pursuance of this Occasion we find our Saviour did on that day of his Resurrection appear to Mary Magdalen and the other Women declaring to them the Doctrine of the Resurrection then to the two Disciples going to Emmaus Preaching to them at large the same Doctrine and Celebrating with
Convocation no manner of Work shall be done in them save that which every man shall eat that is they are to be kept as a Sabbath or day of Holy Rest ver 15 16. From the Fourteenth day at evening till the One and Twentieth day at evening ver 18. that is from the Fourteenth day at Midnight till the One and Twentieth at Mid-night And in like manner Lev. 23. 32. from Even to Even or Night to Night that is from Mid-night to Mid-night or from the end of one Evening to the end of the next Evening So in Levit. 23. 5. and Numb 28. 16 17. In the Fourteenth day of the First month is the Pass-over of the Lord and in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten c. Where it is manifest that the fourteenth day which is the Lords Pass-over is another day from the fifteenth which is the first day of the Feast For I will pass through the land of Egypt saith God this night that is the night of the Fourteenth day and will smite all the first born in the land of Egypt Ex. 12. 12. And what time of the night it was we are told ver 28. And it came to pass at Midnight the Lord smote all the first born of the land of Egypt And to the same purpose Moses tells Pharaoh chap. 11. 4 5 6 7 Thus saith the Lord About Mid-night will I go out into the midst of Egypt And the first born of the land of Egypt shall dy from the first born of Pharaoh c. that ye may know that the Lord hath put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel So that the fourteenth day which was the Lords Pass-over continued till the Mid-night of that day and then began the fifteenth day which was the first day of the Feast Than which I think nothing can be more clear And Num. 33. 3. The fifteenth day of the first month is the morrow after the Pass-over In like manner Deut. 16. 6. Thou shalt Sacrifice the Pass-over at even at the going down of the Sun that is after the going down of the Sun or when the Sun is gone down at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt which was about Mid-night Ex. 12. 21. Ex. 11. 4. What he offers from Gen. 1. 5. is easily answered The evening and the morning were the first day and so of the other days Whence he would have it thought that the day is to begin at the begining of the Evening Or as the Margin tells us it is in the Hebrew the evening was and the morning was the first day Or there was evening and there was morning day one for in such order the words stand in the Hebrew Or and was evening and was morning day one That is there was in the first day and so in the rest evening and morning or darkness and light And the Dark is put first because beginning the day from Midnight the dark is before the Light And by day one is meant the first day And it was moreover very agreable so to reckon For supposing Paradise the principal seat of Action the Sun may reasonably be supposed to be Created in the middle of the Fourth day Gen. 1. 16. in the Meridian of that place as in its greatest Splendor or if not in the Meridian of that place it must needs be in the Meridian of some place and wherever that be the day of 24 hours being there half past it must have begun at Mid-night foregoing And I doubt not but a Child born on Saturday night at Ten a Clock was to be Circumcised the next Saturday as being the Eighth day not on the Sunday after I have insisted the longer on this because I find him afterward moving another question about what time the Sabbath is to begin and end and lays great stress upon it as we shall see anon Of which I think we need not be further solicitous than to begin and end this day according as other days are accounted to begin and end in the places where we live I do not think the Fourth Commandment to descend to these Punctilio's But if he think it necessary to be more curious in it I take it to be very plain from what I have said that at the time of Christs Death and Resurrection it was accounted to begin very early in the morning while it was dark and continue till very late at night according as we now account our days from Midnight to Mid-night But I go on We have now found our Saviours Example as to the two First Sundays from his Resurrection if at least their first day of the Week be our Sunday imploying the day in Religious Exercises and Sabbatical Affairs with his Disciples How many more Sundays he so spent with them we cannot tell Which Examples of his Two first with their Imitation of him in others after of which we are to speak by and by and the Churches practise ever since looks so like the Celebration and Institution of a Christian Sabbath or day of Holy Rest and Religious Exercise as that we may warrantably do the like I am sure it is more than he can shew for the Saturday Sabbath in Gen. 2. 3. Save that men are apt to think a small thing an Institution and Ius Divinum for what they fansy but as to what they do not nothing will serve but Full Express Words We have next clear Evidence of a like Practise consonant to this Example in Act. 20. 7. On the first day of the Week when the Disciples came together to break bread Paul Preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his Speech until Mid-night Which is so plain that he is much put to his shifts to avoid it That here is a Religious Assembly of the Disciples he doth not deny Paul was Preaching very late even till Mid-night and they met to break bread which I think is generally agreed by Interpreters to signify the Celebration of the Lords Supper and I know not well what clearer Character we need demand of a Religious meeting for Worship sutable to the Work of a Sabbath or Holy Rest. And it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I think he will not deny though he seem to cavil at it to signify on the first day of the Week But he excepts that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated Preached is elsewhere render'd Reasoned or Discoursed Be it so and if that word will please him better let it be so here he reasoned discoursed treated or did hold forth that I think will not alter the case and he continued or held on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Discourse this Speech this Sermon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sermonem till Mid-night he held on this holding forth till Mid-night which I take to be the same with what we now call Preaching or very like it 't was a long continued discourse to a