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
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
was the First Month and which the Fourteenth day of that Month we shall find they were at great uncertainties as to the just day yet was not the Service thereof to be neglected upon pretense there was danger of missing the right day For they had not Almanacks in those days as we have now to tell us before hand when will be a New Moon But if we may believe the Jewish Writers their manner was about the time when they expected a New-Moon to send men to watch for it on the Top of some Hill or high Place and he who could first discover a New-Moon was to tell the Priest and he to blow the Trumpet to give the People notice that there was a New-Moon much like our Custom at Oxford at the time of the Assizes to set some on St. Maries Steeple to watch when the Judges are coming and then to Ring the Great Bell to give notice to those concerned that the Judges are at hand But in case of Cloudy Weather if in three days time from their first Expectation no man could see a New Moon they did then venture but not before to blow the Trumpet without seeing it which must needs cause a great uncertainty and the same Moon sooner seen at one place than at another and the Pass-over kept accordingly And t is manifest in the Story of our Saviours last Pass-over that he kept it on one day and the Jews on another perhaps he about a Fortnight before might see a New-Moon a day sooner than they did So great uncertainty there was at that time as to the particular day though the Institution was punctual for the Fourteenth day of the First Month. And the like uncertainty there was as to all their Feasts of New-Moons And even in our days when the Motions of the Sun and Moon are much better known than at that time they were we are far from being exact in point of time Our Rule for Easter is much the same with theirs for the Pass-over The Rule in general is this The Sunday next after the Fourteenth day of the First Month is to be Easter day But when we come to make particular application we do strangely miss of our Rule And our Paschal Tables which should direct us do put us farther out than if we had none at all For by reason that we take the length of our common year a little too long by about Eleven minutes of an hour and the length of our Months too long also since the time that those Tables were made 't is well known that the beginning of our Ecclesiastical First Month is Ten or Eleven days later than that of the Heavens and our Ecclesiastical New-Moons and Full-Moons is later by Four or Five days than those of the Heavens Whereby we do very often mistake the Month and yet oftner the true Week for keeping of Easter And though Pope Gregory the Eighth did somewhat more than an Hundred years ago somewhat rectify the Calendar yet both Papists and Protestants do observe some the Newer Gregorian and some the Older Iulian account and in the United Provinces of the Netherlands one Town observes one account and the next the other account and accordingly keep their Easters if at all at Three Four or Five Weeks distance And so for Christmas-day 'T is not agreed amongst Chronologers either what Year or what Month much less what day of that Month our Saviour was born yet wee keep December 25th in memory of his Birth as supposing him to have been then born Yea we are at so great uncertainty that we reckon the year 1692 from his Circumcision to begin the First of Ianuary but the same year as from his Conception not till the 25th of March next following as if his Birth and Circumcision had been a quarter of a year before his Conception And if we be now at so great an uncertainty in so short a Period as from the Birth of Christ I do not think the Jews could be punctual as to a day in observing their Pass-over and much less as to a day from the Creation of the World He 'l say perhaps that Easter and Christmas being of humane Institution it is not much matter though we miss the day nor much matter perhaps whether it be kept or no. Be it so But the Pass-over was of Divine Institution yet were they at a great uncertainty and might chance to miss more than a day or two yet was not the Duty to be therefore neglected The mistake of a Day was of much less concernment than the neglect of the Duty As was the Tithing of Mint and Annise than the weightier things of the Law These little Circumstances are but Shaddows in comparison of the Substance as the Comparison is Col. 2. 17. Which is not said to incourage any one to violate the Laws of God even in little things for we find God sometimes very severe even in such as in the Case of Uzzah's touching the Ark and Nadab and Ahihu's offering strange Fire for Reasons best known to himself of which we are not aware But onely to shew that the Substantials of a Duty are to be regarded more than Circumstantials and these upon occasion to give way to those And in such Cases if it were a fault the Prayer of Hezekiah 2 Chr. 30. 18. is to take place The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God though he be not cleansed according to the Purification of the Sanctuary And his Service was accepted though as it is expresly noted they did eat the Pass-over otherwise than as it was written And in the Second Month in stead of the First And doubtless in the present case If we do not know as certainly we do not which is the First or Seventh day in a continual Circulation from the Creation it is much better to keep a Weekly Sabbath on any day of the Week whatever than to keep none at all and much more agreable to the true meaning of the Fourth Commandment All which is said partly by way of Caution not to be forward upon slight grounds to disturb the Peace and settled practise of the whole Christian Church at this day Partly to take off what he would have to be admitted but cannot be proved that the Seventh day in a continued Circulation of Weeks from the first Creation was observed as the Weekly Sabbath from the Creation to the Floud from thence to Abraham from thence to Israels coming out of Egypt and from thence till after the Resurrection of Christ. Which I think is impossible for any man to know And partly to satisfy what he objects from the Fourth Commandment Which saith indeed that there is to be a Rest on the Seventh day after Six days of Labour but not a Word of its being such Seventh day in a continual Circulation of Weeks from the Creation And therefore we are safe hitherto for ought I see But I 'le come up a little
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
and to rise from the dead the Third day and that Repentance and Remission of Sins was to be Preached in his Name among all Nations whereof they were to be his Witnesses and Apostles ver 44 45 46 47 48. And did renew his Promise of sending the Holy-Ghost and Power from on high v. 49. He did moreover at the same meeting not only upbraid them for their unbelief Mark 16. 14. but did Authorize them with a solemn Commission for the Work they were to be sent abqut to Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature that he who believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he who believeth not shall be damned ver 15 16 and a Power to work Miracles ver 17 18 in confirmation of that Doctrine And to the same purpose Iohn 20 19. The same day at Evening in which he before appeared to Mary Magdalen and the rest being the First day of the Week the very day of his Resurrection where the Disciples were assembled at a private meeting for fear of the Iews the door being shut Iesus came and stood in the midst of them and gave them his Solemn Benediction saying unto them Peace be unto you And in Confirmation of his Resurrection shewed them his hands and his side ver 20. And then a Second time gives them his Solemn Blessing together with his Ordination or Commission for Preaching the Gospel and Planting the Christian Church Iesus saith to them Again Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed upon them and said unto them Receive the Holy Ghost Who 's soever Sins ye remit they are remitted to them and who 's soever Sins ye retain they are retained ver 21 22 23. All which being put together seems to me very like the Celebration if not the Consecration of a Christian Sabbath or day of Holy Rest and Religious Service 'T is all of it Sabbatical Work and there is a great deal of it 'T is not indeed expresly said That he did bid them thus to meet on such other First day of the Week as neither is it expresly said Gen. 2. 3. that God did then bid Adam and Eve to keep a Weekly Sabbath or that he did bid them to offer Sacrifice but it is very likely Christ might so order it and more likely than that he did not For that they did so meet we are sure and therefore 't is very likely if not a strong presumption that they were bid so to do For so we find it Ioh. 20. 26. After Eight days that is as we commonly speak in English on that day Sennight his Disciples were again within and Thomas with them who before was absent the door being shut then Iesus came and stood in the midst and said Peace be unto you as he had done the Week before and satisfyed Thomas who before doubted So that we have here Two Solemn meetings of the Disciples Two Weeks together the Two first after his Resurrection on the First day of the Week and Christ with them on both And I am sure we have not more for the First Sabbath Gen. 2. 3. On how many more such Sabbaths he so met with them I cannot tell That he oft appeared to them during the Forty days of his abode on Earth after his Resurrection we cannot doubt and its like it might be on these days The Cavil which here he makes to this place is so weak that I am sorry to see it from one who would seem to be serious As if Eight days after or after Eight days were not the same as what we would say a Week after or that day Sennight after For he must needs know that 't is not only the Common Scripture Language but the general Language of Latine and Greek Writers to reckon Inclusively that is to take in both the extreams and so it is even at this day I think in most Languages except English What we call a Sennight the French call huict jours Eight days and what we say a Fortnight is with them Quinze jours Fifteen days and so in all manner of reckoning A Fourth a Fifth an Eighth a Fifteenth and other Intervals in Musick are always so reckoned What we call a Third-day-Ague the Latins call a Quartan and what we call every other day they call a Tertian So they call Secundo Calendas i. e. Secundo die ante Calendas what we would say one day not two days before the Calends and they call tertio Calendas what is with us two days not three days before the Calends So nudius tertius is what we would say two days ago and nudius quartus is in our Language Three days ago not Four So Mark 8. 31. where Christ speaks of himself that the Son of Man should be killed and After three days rise again that is on the Third day after inclusively taken or after the Third day is come whereas according to the sense this Author would put upon the words it should rather have been said after one day for there was but one day between his Death and Resurrection And it is the same in sense with what he says Ioh. 2. 19. Destroy this Temple speaking of his Body And in Three days I will raise it up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Mat. 26. 61. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Third day after inclusively And Mat. 27. 63. they tell Pilate This Deceiver said After Three days I will rise again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning thereby the Third day after inclusively and therefore they pray that the Sepulchre may be made sure till the Third day Whereas if as our Author would reckon upon his fingers by after Three days were to be understood when Three whole days after that should be past they need not set their Watch before the Fourth or Fifth day Thus Christ's Ascension is said to be Forty days after his Resurrection speaking of a Scripture Computation in Scripture Language which in our ordinary manner of Speech is but Nine and Thirty For Ascension-Thursday if Easter-day be not reckoned for one is but 39 days after Easter Upon a like Account that Christ tells us Mat. 12. 40. that as Jonas was three days and three nights in the Whales Belly so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth Not Three whole days and Three whole nights but till the Third was begun For by day and night is here understood the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or what we now call the Artificial day consisting of 24 hours day and night and till such Third day or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was begun Christ rested in the Grave otherwise though he were in the Grave part of Three days yet but Two nights So Luke 2. 21. When Eight days were accomplished for the Circumcision of the Child they called his name Iesus that is upon the Eighth
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