hallowing the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath If it be here urged That Mâ—ses expresly writeth in the history of the first Seventh day That God blessed he Seventh daâ— and halâ—owâ—d or sanct fiâ—d it Therefore if it were hallowed so early how can we truly affirm that it was not hallowed untill four and twenty hundred years after To this we say although it hath been most solidly answered before by a right worthy and learned Writer a Hist of the Sabbath That Moses doth not write that God hallowed it â—hen and on that very first Seventh day nor doth he there shew when it was hallowed but only why God did chuse thâ— Seventh day in after-times to hallow or sanctifie it and none other of the six The words of Moses may well justifie this Exposition for thus we read God blessed and sanctiâ—iâ—d it because in it he had rested Had rested â—ignifies the time not present but past So the meaning is That because God had formerly rested on the first Seventh daâ— herefore afterwards when he had drawn his people together out of Egypt he chose and preferred that day above the other daies and commanded them to keep it holy If it be further pressed that even in this fourth Commandment the words of Blessing and Halâ—owing are delivered in a Tense which signifieth the â—ime-past as Benedixâ—t and Sanctificavit that is He hath blessed and sanctified Which words do indeed relate to a former hallowing thereof before the giving of the Law And if so Why may they not point to the hallowing on the first seventh day To this we answer and grant that the Hallowing here signifieth the time past for otherwise it would have been said He blesseth and halloweth in the presenttense But this Past or former â—ime referreth us onely to that time when the Sabbath day was first actually and declaratively hallowed or set apart and was no further off than the time of the falling of Manna So we read Exod. 16. This is that which the Lord hath said To morrow Exod. 16. 13. is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. And vers 29. See the Lord hath given you the Sabbath So the people rested on the seventh day This is the first seventh-day-seventh-day-Sabbath that ever was ordained by God and made known unto his People But let it be supposed and granted that the seventh-day-Sabbath was blessed and hallowed on the first seventh day of the world as we read Gen. 2. 3. yet that Hallowing will noâ— gain-say our assertion For the better understanding whereof I will here set down two Propositions to be examined which at first will seem opposite one to the other and yet will both prove true 1. The seventh day was hallowed in the beginning in the daies of Adam 2. The seventh day was not hallowed untill the daies of Moses Concerning the first The seventh day was hallowed in the daiâ—s of Adam If Moses had said that God hallowed the seventh day not onely in Adam's time but also before the Creation and from Eternity he had said nothing but the truth But this hallowing was secret in the Divine Mind onely in God's Decree and Purpose in his Counsell Providence Predestination and good Pleasure For whatsoever God hath done before these daies or now doth or shall do hereafter were all present to him from eternity for to him Was Is and To come are but as one moment All things and times were present to him from everlasting So that in consideration of this Decree we say that the seventh day was hallowed before the daies of Moses and also before the daies of Adam Just as we may also truly affirm that the world was in Beeing before the actuall Creation thereof But this Beeing is to be understood onely of the Idea in the Divine Mâ—nd and so is this early hallowing of the seventh day And this is really true and may be affirmed in plain down-right speech without any Rhetoricall figure To the second Proposition that The seventh day was not hallowed till the daies of Moses this is to be understood in respect of the actuall performance and execution of the aforesaid Decree and of the patefaction manifestation or declaration thereof The hallowing was Praescitum but not Praestitum The Pre-science of God was before man's Cognisance God's hallowing by his Decree was from Eâ—eâ—nity but the execution and actuall effect thereof was afterwards in â—ime even in the time of Moses and not before It must needs be granted that the world and all its creatures had some kind of Beeing before their actuall creation because the Scripture thus teacheth us Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world Act. 15. 18 yet then most particulars were unmade And The Lord knoweth who are his surely he knew 2 Tim. 2. 19. them before they were actually made And He hath chosen us in him in Christ before the foundation of the world every one knows Eph. 1. 4. that Eâ—ection was before Creation We read also of the Purpose of God and of grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the 2 Tim. 1. 9 world began These truths cannot otherwise be understood but onely in consideration of the Beeing of Creatures in the Idea or Divine Mind before their existence in Nature Tertullian saith * Tert. Advers Prax. p. 38â— Ante omnia Deâ—s eraâ— solus qâ—ia nihiâ— extrinsecus praeter illâ—m The Schoolmen have also taught us these Maxims Non entis nâ—lla est scientia And Non ens non intelligitur And In Dâ—o sâ—nt omnia Therefore because neither the Knowledge of God nor his Election nor his Giving grace can be said of Non entities and meer nothings it will follow that these known and chosen objects and sâ—bjects of grace had a beeing before their actuall creation and this Beeing must be onely in the same Knower and Chooser and that is God If it be enquired why Moses mentioneth this Hallowing so early seeing it was not declaratively enacted till so laâ—e as is said To this we answer That there was great and weighty reason why he did so Because the true and â—eall Sâ—bbath whereof the seventh-day-Sabbath was but a figure is indeed the greatest and most-concerning and most beneficiall mystery of true Religion for it signified Christ the Saviour and our onely means and hope of everlasting Rest in him And it will be a great consolation to us if we rightly consider thâ—â— our mercifull God ordained a sure means for our blessednesse so early as not onely at the beginning of the world but also from eternity although the externall publication and celebration thereof was not constituted untill the daies of Moses Just so the latter Prophets spake of the Birth Passiâ—n and Dâ—ath of our Râ—deemer as if all had been performed before their daies which yet was not actually effected till long after the death of those Prophets And this they spake and prophecyed by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Lastly This Dominica might possibly point at the old Sabbath-day which was really a day of the Lord 's appointing which yet the Writer abstained from calling it Sabbath 〈◊〉 the Day-Sabbath was then utterly dissolved with the City and Temple and long before this Revelation was written And if there were not something of greater concernment to be considered in the Sabbath-Law than Hallowing of a day there can be no sufficient cause alleaged why the antient Sabbath-day was not still retained which yet ought not to be in any wise albeit some Sabbatarians would have it and others would have our Sunday to be the Sabbath These two disagreeing in the day yet agree in misunderstanding and abusing those words of Christ Pray that your flight Matth. 24. 20. be not in Winter neither on the Sabbath day By which words each party would have their severall Sabbaths confirmed and continued To this we answer First This was said to the Apostles when as yet they were but Disciples and they were all dead except only St. John before the time he spake of came Therefore this monition was intended as to be declared to the Jews whom Christ knew to be intangled in Sabbaticall superstition and that they would so persist as that people do to this day for it had been no sin to fly for life on that day even when it was a Sabbath really in force much lesse afterward when it was abrogated 2. It is said Pray that it be not in the Winter surely no Jew would think it a sin to fly for life in winter onely because 't was winter But Winter and Sabbath are here joyned to shew the reason of both to be the same and that not to be sin but onely danger trouble and inconvenience First for Winter Because the daies would be short the waies foul the season cold and dangerous to themselves and their little ones especially to abide in desolate Mountains unto which vers 16. they are directed to flye Secondly for the Sabbaâ—h Because their fellow Jews being involv'd in that superstition would account them enemies to their Religion and so neither joyne with them nor afford them any succour and moreover kill them as they did many upon pretence that they were flying to the Romans 3. â—â—is monition was meant onely to the Jewishly-affected Sabbatarians because as it is remarkably observed by Eusebius * Hist l. 3. c. 5 de Dem. l. 8. at the time of begiâ—â—ing Jerusalem not one Christian was left in that great City they were all departed before to Pella beyond Jordan to which they were warned by that Divine Oracle Migremus hinc as Eusebius thought 4. It is observable that Christ upon the same occasion then said Woe be to them that are with child and give suck in 〈◊〉 19. those daies he woe must signifie temporall woe of affliction and not eternall woe for no man will say that child-bearing or giving of suck are sins because in Scripture both are accounted blessings So that praying against this Sabbath-Hight or Winter-flight is but to pray against temporall calamities 5. If to fly on the Sabbath-day at that time had been a sin Christ would not have said Pray that it may not be but he would absolutely have forbidden it as he did all transgressions of the Morall Law 6. The meaning of Christ was to forewarn the Jews to dâ—sist from their vain Sabbatizing as if he had said The Jews who so much dote on their Sabbaâ—h day and hate me and seek my life for dissolving it as Joh. 5. 18. What will they do when their enemies invade them on the Sabbath day for then they must either break their Sabbath by flight or else die in their sloath and superstition Therefore they have need to pray that this pressure come not on them upon their Sabbath day 7. They that urge â—his place for a now-Sabbath should first agree which day they will insist on whether Saturday or Sunday 1. If Saturday we ask Why themselves do not keep it 2. If Sunday we say This place will appear miserably invalid to prove because Christ never at all mentioned it nor did any Apostle command it as is shewed before nor did any of the Sabbatizing Jews then apprehend it or to this day believe it For these or for better reasons the late Learned and Reverend Bishop of Worcester my most dear Country when he was Professor of Theology in Oxford doubted not to conclude publickly upon this very place That it is ridiculous for any to argue for a confirmation of a Sabbath Dr. Prideaux de Sab. Orat. An. 1622. from these words which Christ foretold but onely as an inconvenience which would arise from the Judaicall superstition I find also another pretty argument used of late to prove our Sunday to be a Sabbath for The word Sabbath signifieth Rest therefore Sunday being a day of Rest ought to be called Sabbath If this will hold VVhy should not our late frequent fasting-Fasting-dayes and Thanks-givings be called Sabbaths which were enforced by watch-men and under penalties with as great caution as our Sundayes from working and travelling Or why should not Nights the time of generall Rest and our Beds the place thereof and even our Graves be called Sabbaths But if the Inventer of this Argument had considered that the Fourth Commandment or Scripturall Sabbath doth not signifie onely the corporall Rest of man but onely his spirituall Rest and moreover and most principally the mystesterious Rest of God as it is said God Heb. 4. 4. Rested he might easily have answered his own argument with a better For the true Sabbaticall Rest cannot otherwise be rightly understood but onely of the Rest both of God and Man and this Rest can no where be found but onely in Christ the Saviour There is yet another scruple occasioned by our translation of the fourth Commandment which either haâ—h or may divert men from the right understanding thereof for thus our English read it Remember to keep holy the Sabbath c. Hence some imagine that to keep holy relateth onely to a Day and not to Christ But the more clear and true and unscrupulous Translation might have been by our old English word Hallow or by the word Sanctifie borrowed from the Latine thus Remember that thou Hallow or Sanctifie the Sabbath day This doubt will be plenâ—ifully cleared by the perusall of the Chap. 9. ninth Chapter of this Book Notwithstanding all this it may be granted that Christ giving that monition to pray did fore-see and relate to some kind of Law whereby the Jews of that time would be girt and obliged to keep the old Sabbath But if we enquire by what Law we shall find it to be neither the Moral nor the Ceremonial Law of God but onely a popular Club-Law or Law of Arms which was indeed the tyrannicall and superstitious Law of those grand Zelots and Rebells which cruelly insulted over their Country-men the Jews as
Simon John and Eleazer of whom we read much in a Jos de Bello lib. 8. Josephus who then rebelled against Caesar their Lawfull Prince at that time though Nero and thereby caused the utter and finall ruine of their Ciâ—y and Country If we now examine the Jewish superstitions and compare them with the practises or commands of some sabbatizing Christians we shall find them running parallel Buxdo f. as they are recorded boâ—h by our own and by forrain Writers as 1. If a Jew fell History of the Sab. short of home on a Sabbath-Eve he must stay there in wood wildernesse or high-way till the Sabbath were past 2. A blind Jew might not carry a staffe 3. A wounded man might not wear a plaister nor a woman a fan 4. A Jew might not carry mony in his purse nor knock at a door with an Hammer or Ringle nor wear Clogs or Pattens nor a Taylor his Needle nor milk Kine nor lift a beast out of a ditch nor kill a flea on that day So some Christian Sabbatarians have Mr. Tho. Roger's Preface on the 39 Artic taught publickly 1. To work on Sunday Lord's day they call it or throw a boule is a sin as great as to kill a man or commit adultery 2. To kill a cock as bad as to kill a servant 3. To make a Feast or dresse a Wedding-dinner as bad as for a father to cut his own child's throat 4. To ring more Bells then one as to commit murder They say one may not carry provender to an Horse a Maid-servant would not sweep her Kitchin nor wash her Dishes a zealous sonne would not ride for a Bone-setter when his Father's bones were broken Some school-men among the Romanist's have bin as eager in this superstition as ours They taught that it is as great a sinne to stitch a poor Man's broken shoe on Sunday as to kill a Thousand men a Advers Concil Trident as Doctor Tuppius reporteth Besides all this some of our own Sabbatarians have laboured to revive and bring in the old Jewish saturday-Sabbath Thus hath this Sabbaticall Law and our Christian Sunday been abused by schismaticall Demagogues who notwithstanding have bin of late both permitted and encouraged for such politick ends as we see are now fully effected The consideration whereof moved me to endeavour a right understanding and vindication of the Divine Sabbath Law I have also addressed this discourse to you My most Honoured Lord and Lady for an acknowledgement of your many favours to my self and to my more dear Consort in these hard times and for a Testimony of my most thankfull apprehension thereof And also for that I am well assured that you My Lord in your love to Truth and Piety have taken pains to inform your selfe in this very Mystery by carefull attention in hearing and by your more private readings and conferences besides your secret Meditations best known to your self Of which Christian imployments because I was in some part Conscious it stirred me the more to hasten this Work wherein I trust you will find satisfaction when your leisure will permit you to read it through I beg both your pardons for my tediousnesse in this addresse being not so much Epistolar as Isagogical which I so designed to be instead of an Introduction needfull for the more easie and unscrupulous perusall of the ensuing Treatise which I have cloathed with ordinary and coorse Apparrel in a low and vulgar style as to be the more fitly accommodated to the ordinary or middle sort of Christians just so as the Books of our Sabbatarians are whereby they have gained too much upon the easinesse and credulity of their adherents This book is therefore of the like alay with theirs as one saith b Mart. l. 7. ep 89. Aequales scribit libros Calvinus Umber In old time Writers were thought to procure a kind of immortality to them whose Names they recorded in their Books therefore a Plin. l. 7. ep 33. Plinius the younger a man of singular worth who procured a stay and mollifying of the persecution under Trajan desired Tacitus his contemporary to record his Name in his History because he thought that so it might continue as long as the World And before him Ovid by the same way promised the like to himselfe and to his Wife b Ovid. Met Trist l. 5 eleg 15. Nomenque erit indelebile nostrum And Perpetui fructum donavi nominis So when Picus Mirandula wrote a book and dedicated it to Politian he returned this answer c P lit lib. 12. Epist 5. Ago tibi gratias ob immortalitatem Just so did d â—ips cent ep 65. Lipsius to another But I may not promise or hope for any such production or issue by these papers to you or to my Lady though I wish I could yet I am well assured that the Doctrine herein delivered being of the greatest concernment and comfort for Christians is such as ought to continue in the Church as long as it is Militant Neither do either of you need any such immortalizing Pharmacum or paper-charm for that which your owne eminent and shining vertues may by themselves procure your piety to God your sincerity and constancy in true Religion your mercifullnesse and charitable compassion and bountifull reliefe of the poor Members of Christ your generall goodnâ—sse toward all sorts of people and particularly to the now oppressed Church-men in these â—ad times will be your Testimonialls or Epistles as the Apostle speaketh a 2 Cor. 3. 2. and Comforts to your Consciences whil'st you live here and Monuments or Trophies to posterity when both of you in a full and good old age shall follow those Prayers and Almes which are gone up before you for a Memoriall before God Act. 10. 4. with whom I trust you will find your names recorded with an everlasting Character in the blessed Registry of the Book of Life In the mâ—an time whil'st my now aged life shall last I will not forget to recommend you and yours in my Prayers to the Mercifull protection of our Lord Jesus and remain My Noble Lord and Lady Your devoted and obliged Servant EDM. PORTER Marsham in Norf. Octob. 1. 1658. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE Church disturbed about the doctrine of the Sabbath Of Sunday Sabbatism Of works practised therein and Recreations forbidden That the celebration of Sunday is pious although not commanded by the fourth Commandment How the antient Patriarks did Sabbatize yet kept not a seventh day That all the ten Commandments are still in force A passage in St. Austin and another in Isychius explained An abuse of the Commandments in the Roman-Catechisms shewed CHAP. II. That the word Sabbath signifieth Rest Of the Rest of God and the Rest of Man Of our Rest Corporall and Spirituall The differences of Sabbaths The severall sorts of Jewish Laws which commanded or enforced the Sabbath Of the Judiciall Laws of the Jews and that
they are not fit to be imposed on Christians CHAP. III. Of Ceremonial Laws Why God expressed a dislike of them before they were abrogated Of the dissolving of them and particularly of the Sabbath by Christ Why Christ dissolved the Sabbath The judgment of the Fathers therein That it is now pernicious to Sabbatize as the Jews did and yet do That Christ appointed no new Sabbath-day instead of the old CHAP. IV. Of Laws Moral and why they are so called More of Sunday-Sabbatizing Of Origen and of his Christian Sabbath That Saturday was a Church-day for Sermons Sacraments and Scripture-Lessons and a Fasting-day long after Origen's time That Christians did more reverently keep Saturday then the Jews did that Sabbath That Sunday is not to be called Sabbath Why Easter-day was altered from the Jewish Paschal-day The Author 's reverent esteem of the Christian-Sunday CHAP. V. Of the fourth Commandment what part of it is Morall and what is Ceremonial Why a Ceremonial is taken into the ten Commandments Of the Memento and some other prerogatives proper to this fourth Commandment The excellent benefit of this Sabbath-Law Why it is placed in the midst of the Commandments How the whole Law by it is performable by men CHAP. VI. That Christ is the true Morall Sabbath Why he is concealed under the word Sabbath That the Scriptures do declare him to be the Sabbath The difference of the Lord of Sabbâ—oth and the Lord of the Sabbath Of that Sabbatism mentioned Heb. 4. 9. A passage of Isaiah and another of St. Paul applied to Christ's Sabbathship That Sabbath-breaking is not called a sin in the New Testament CHAP. VII The doctrine of the Primitive Church concerning the Sabbath shewed out of Tertullian and other Father How the Patriarks kept the Sabbath before the daies of Moses The doctrine of the Church herein The meaning of the Prayers at the rehear sing of the ten Commandments How the Law may be written in our hearts and how it is so performable CHAP. VIII That Christ is called a Day Why Christ and the seventh day are both called Sabbath The first institution for keeping holy the seventh day Why the first seventh day of the world is described without mention of evening and morning The Sabbath described by Philo the Jew That the Sabbath and Melchisedech were parallel types of Christ CHAP. IX The sanctifying of the Sabbath How thâ— Godhead is said to be sanctified How the human nature of Christ is sanctified Of the name of God That it signifies God himself That the name Jesus signifies the Person of Jesus How God sanctifieth us and how we sanctifie God How Christ being the Sabbath is to be sanctified or kept holy CHAP. X. Of God's Resting That it is not acessation from working Nor meant of his ending the Creation Nor of layiâ—â— aside his care and providence in Government That his Rest and Working do consist together Something concerning the Originall of human Souls Of Universalls what they are and where to be found A Question discoursed Whether God created any new kinds of Creatures since the first seventh day Two Queries propounded CHAP. XI That the Rest of God is fixed on the seventh day onely although he did intermit Creation for some time in every former day That his Rest did not consist in any meer creature Of the Rest of God before the Creation That God performed part of the Creation on the seventh day and what that was Jewish Fables concerning the creation of Adam and Eve CHAP. XII Why the Rest of God is not mentioned untill the seventh day Why it is fixed on the Creation of mankind rather than of any other of the Creatures Answers to certain Enquiries That the consideration of Christ to be propagated from the man and the woman was the onely cause of this expression of the Rest of God CHAP. XIII That the Rest of God consisted in his purpose of producing Christ is proved by Scripture and Reason Of the Image of God Why the Woman was taken out of the Man Of the union of Christ with Mankind That this union was shewed by Christ in the Sacramentall Bread and Wine That the Soul of Christ was derived or propagated from the first man Something concerning Universall Redemption CHAP. XIV Of Adam's solitude and something concerning Monastick life with the reasons thereof That the help by the Woman consisted not in respect of Society nor of Child-bearing simply considered but onely in respect of the propagation of Christ Of Child-bearing and that it is not salvificall without faith in Christ Of Good and Evill occasioned by the Woman Why she was called Vita or Life Why God permitted the Woman to occasion the Fall CHAP. XV. An Answer to the Question How God can be said to Rest That the Rest of God is onely in Christ and Why That the Tabernacle and Temple are called God's Resting place onely as they were figures of Christ That the Ark is called God's strength in the same respect That God's Rest in Sion is also meant of Christ That the union of God and Man in Christ was ordained onely in order to man's Salvation and everlasting Rest That man's Rest is called God's Rest Certain Conclusion concerning this Rest of God CHAP. XVI That the Rest of Man is called God's Rest is shewed by other like passages of Scripture That Christ is called the Rest of God Onely because he is the Rest of Mankind An Answer to the second Querie above mentioned viz. Why God is said to Rest onely on the first seventh day and not before The Conclusion of the Doctrine of God's Rest and St. Austin's judgement therein CHAP. XVII An exposition of the Ceremoniall part of the fourth Commandement begun That the six dayes labour is not a Precept but onely a Permission That the seventh day is called a Sabbath onely because it was a figure of the true Sabbath That the seventh-day-Sabbath was not changed by Christ to the eighth day but utterly dissolved That it was never instituted till the daies of Moses St. Jerom's translation and our English examined The Jewish Sabbath and Christian Festivalls compared Of works on the Jewish Sabbath That their corporall Rest was but a figure of our spirituall Rest in Christ CHAP. XVIII The Exposition continued Why the Woman is not here mentioned That sons or servants sinned not by working upon command The miseries of servants Why Cattle might not be wrought on Sabbath daies That strangers were not obliged to Sabbatize except they resided within the Jewish pale Why cattle are mentioned before strangers Why servants cattle and strangers are not mentioned at the beginning of this Law with the Memento That by these circumstances the seventh-day-Sabbath is proved to be meerly Ceremonial and Judaical CHAP. XIX The Exposition continued How God is said to have made all in six daies and yet that he ended not his work untill the seventh day Why the Creation was prolonged six daies Of the order of Creatures
from the very Creation of man or from that very time when God commanded man to abstain from the Tree of knowledg And yet in this Assertion I shall not in the least gainsay the Doctrine of those Ancient and most learned Fathers as a Iust dial cum Tryph. Tert. Adv. Iudaeos Euseb de Demonst lib 1. c. 6. Justin Martyr and Tertallian and Eusebius who tells us that neither Adam nor Enoch nor Noah nor Melchisdeck did ever Sabbatize And b Athanas in Synopst Athanasius also who affirmed very truely That the observation of the 7th day sabbath be an not untill the dayes of Moses All which I firmly beleeve to be true provided that we understand their Assertion in the same sense that they meant it viz of the hebdomary weekly or 7th day Sabbath which verily is not that Sabbath which is meant mysteriously implied in the fourth Commandment For the Sabbath which in the fourth commandment is required to be Sanctified is the true substantiall mysticall and eternall Sabbath which is the Son of God the Messiah the great Peace-maker even the Lord Jesus Christ of which true Sabbath the Jewish Leviticall Ceremoniall or seaventh-day Sabbath was but a meer shadow type or figure which shadow is now vanished as other legal shadows are such as Circumcision and Sacrifices both which were farr more ancient then the weekly Sabbath was whereas the Sabbath meant and intended commanded in this 4th commandement was in force and kept by all the holy Patriarks before Moses was born and before it was written in stone it was written in man's heart as all other Moral lawes were and it was and is to last untill the end of this world and in the next world also and not to be Antiquated at all as the seaventh-day Sabbath was and is For the Moral law which was written by the finger of God consisteth of ten Commandments just so many no more nor lesse which number the holy Scripture mentioneth Ex. Ex. 34. 2◠34. 28. Ten commandments or Decem verba Foederis Tenn words And so again Deut. 4. 13. Tenn words or Commandments And God wrote them on two Tables of Stone to signifie the durablenesse of them all and therefore the Moral Sabbath there meant must continue as long and as firmly as any of the other nine We must still have Ten Commandments which is the reason that St. Austin and generally all our Divines to this day call this Moral law Decalogum as consisting of Ten words or Commandments The same Father in his book intituled a Aug. Tom 3. Speculum reciting the Moral law out of Ex. 20. doth quite omit the fourth commandment which is of the Sabbath and this he did because 1. He knew that the Seaventh-day Sabbath was none of the Moral laws of God but that it is totally antiquated and expired 2. Because he perceived that men did mistake the meaning of the true Moral Sabbath by fixing the duety thereby required only on the keeping holy of a day whereas they should have known that the Sabbath there meant is only Christ So that by this misconceit men slighted the Substance and magnified the Shadow for the same Father had said before b Aug. epist 86. Judaeus si sabbatum observando Dominum negat c. i. e. If the Jew by observing his Sabbath day doth thereby deny that his Lord Messiah is come how can the Christian safely observe the Sabbath day And again in his 119. Epistle to c Epist 119. cap. 12. Januarius cap. 12. he thus writeth c. Praeceptum de Sabbato solùm figuratè praecipitur de requie quae in solo Deo certa invenitur-ergo non ad literam jubemur observare diemillum nam nisi aliam Spiritualem requiem significet lex ridenda judicatur i. e. The law of the Sabbath day is only figurative signifying that Sabbath or rest which is no where to be found sure and certain but only in our God Therefore we are not hereby to observe a day as it is literally set down for unlesse some other Spiritual rest be thereby meant that Sabbath law might seem ridiculous Thus he Upon the same reason Isychius of Jerusalem affirmeth That the sabbath day which the Jewes observe is none of the Ten Commandements although it was written among them for the Sabbath there meant signifies d Isych in Levit. lib. 7. c. 26. Requiem intelligibilem saith he i. e. not a Corporal but a spiritual or intelligible Rest which rest is only in our God He added that if we will take the words going before viz I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the land of Aegypt for one of the commandments we shall still have Tenn Indeed The mysterious Sabbath which is really meant and intended in the morality of the 4th Commandement is only that God which delivereth us out of not only Egyptian but also Hellish Slavery which deliverance is implied and couched in this word Sabbath so that we need not put out one of the commandments and in the room of it take in a new for preserving the number of of Ten for that number will be found therein without such chopping and we are offended with the Romanists for such practises about these commandments who to hide the second commandement which forbiddeth image-worship have in their Catechisms quite omitted it although it continueth perfectly in their Bibles and to supply the defect they have obtruded the fallacy of Composition in making but one Commandment of the two first And the fallacy of Division in making two of the last as is apparent in their books and particularly in Ledesma's dial p. 81. Ferus libell precat p. 59. 60. the Catechism of Jacobus Ledesma a Jesuite and also of Ferus CHAP. II. The word Sabbath That it signifieth Rest Of the Rest of God and the Rest of man Of our rest Corporal and Spirituall The diffferences of Sabbaths The severall sorts of Jewish lawes which command or enforce the Sabbath The Judicial lawes of the Jewes not fit to be imposed on Christian WHat this word Sabbath signifieth we are certified by two learned Jewes first a Philo. de cherubin Philo saith Sabbatum interpretatur Quies i. e. The interpretation of Sabbath is Rest With him b Ioseph Antiq. l. 1. c. 2. Josephus agreeth Sabbatum significatrequiem i. e. that it signifieth quiet or Rest With them our Christian writers generally consent as Eusebius Nazianzen Epiphanius Jerome Austin The Rest which is signified by this word Sabbath is 1 The Rest of God mentioned Gen. 2. 2. God rested on the 7th day from all his works And so again Ex. 20. 11. How the most blessed Godhead can be said to rest which never laboured or was weary we shall inquire hereafter Secondly The Rest of man and this Rest is of two Sorts First Rest Corporal by ceasing from worldly servile labours on the 7th day both himself his family and his poor beasts
also Secondly Rest Spirituall which consisteth in the quiet and tranquillity of our minds and consciences when we are freed and quitted from the disturbing perturbations of our Consciences and turbulent horrors of our Souls upon consideration of our sinns and fear of divine vengeance This Spirituall rest is not confined to a Seaventh day only but is a continuall Rest or Sabbath to every holy Christian St. Austin saith a Aug. de Genesi ad lit l. 4. c 13. Fidelium perpetuum Sabbatum observatur i. e. The faithfull keep a continuall Sabbath And again he saith b Ibid. in Psal 91. Nostrum Sabbatum est in tranquillitate conscientiae est gaudium spei nostrae-intus est in corde Sabbatum nostrum i. e. The Christian mans Sabbath consisteth in the quietnesse and tranquillity of his conscience-It is the joyfulnesse of our hope Our Sabbath is inward residing in our heart We are also taught by St. Jerom that the Jewish Seventh day Rest was but a meer figure of the Christians Rest c Hieron Tom. 9. 11. n. 40. Judaeis Sabbatum in ocio corporali significabat sanctificationem in requie Spiritâ—s sancti i. e. The Sabbath which the Jews observed by a corporal rest did signify a Sanctification of the rest wrought by the Holy-ghost And Origen tells us d Orig. in Math. â—ract 29. Qui vivit in Christo semper sabbatizat a peccato i. e. He that doth live or abide in Christ doth alwayes Rest from sin His meaning is not that a Christian is alwaies without sin but that the infirmities of holy men do not discontinue or extinguish their resting in the mercies of God through Christ that they are freed from the dispairing terror of Damnation This is the true real and spirituall Sabbath or rest in Christ to which we are exhorted by old Ignatius e Inat ep ad Magnesianos Non Sabbatizemus Judaico mâ—râ—-sed Sabbatizemus spiritualiter i. e. That we should not deceive our selves by keeping a Sabbath day only as the Jewes did but to apprehend thereby a more excellent spirituall Sabbath viz. the true rest of our souls in Christ So bâ— these pâ—ssâ—ges we learn that there is not only a day Sabbath of externall and corporall rest to be considered in the Scriptural doctrine of Sabbaâ—hs but moreover principally a secret mysterious and spiritual Rest or Sabbath which is the Grand Sabbath whereof the other Sabbaths are but meer figures and shadows For the more clear understanding of the difference of these two sorts of Sabbaths we must inquire of the Originall of them as when and by what law they were inacted And this we cannot with plainness set forth but by examining the severall kinds of lawes imposed upon the Jewes whereby the Sabbath was both established in the judiciall commonwealth and is also binding to us Christians Wherein I shall not need to meddle with the Sabbath of years which was every Seaventh year wherein the whole land rested from husbandry Nor with the Jubilean Sabbath which was every fiftieth yeare when old owners returned to their ancient inheritances But our inquiry must must only be for the authority of the Saturday weekly or 7th-day Sabbath with the signification meaning and mystery thereof and what that true reall substantiall and spirituall Sabbath is which was but only typified by the Seventh-day Sabbath For the Jewish lawes we find 3 several diferent sorts of them viz. 1 Morâ—l 2. Ceremonial 3. Judiciall by all which the Sabbath is established all which lawes are distinctly mentioned as Expositors say by those words of Moses Deut. 6. 1. Now these are the Commandments the Statutes and the Judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you The ancient Latine Translation thus renders them 1. Praecepta to signifie the ten commandments 2. Ceremoniae to signifie the ceremoniall or Leviticall lawes 3. Judicia to signify the lawes Judiciall My designe of discoursing of them requires that I begin with the lawes Judiciall 1 The judicial Law 1. The Judicial law of the Jewes is such as we now call the law Politick Civill Common or Statute-law ordained for the ordering and governing of the commonwealth by this law punishments were enacted to be inflicted on the transgressors both of these judicial laws and also upon them that transgressed other lawes for by it Sabbath-breakers were punished with death Ex. 31. 14. And Ex. 35. 2. The gatherer of sticks on the Sabbath day is stoned to death Num. 15. 35. Idolaters are adjudged to be utterly destroyed Ex. 22. 20. To curse Father or Mother was death Levit. 20. 10. Bearing false witnes in matters capital was death Deut. 19. 18. 19. This judiciall I say appointed punishments for the transgressors of the other sorts of lawes when in those other lawes no punishment was mentioned for transgressours As in the ten commandments we find no visible nor temporal penalty mentioned for the sins of Idolatry Sabbath-breaking Dishonorers of Parents adulterers or falsewitnesses the punishment being either reserved to God or referred to the laws Judiciall or Politick There are some that have thought fit that these judicial laws of Moses should with some additions be made the laws Politick of Christians But I conceave that those laws are now most unfit for any Christian kingdome or State nor can they now have any binding power over us by vertue of that authority which they had from Moses or through him from God for these resons 1. Because they were ordained only for the Jewes commonwealth whilest it stood without any intention to continue them any longer 2. Many of them were enacted purposely to serve for the discovery of the Messiah to be an evidence of the fulfilling of some Prophecies which concerned the Tribe genealogy of Christ before his actuall manifestation in the flesh 3. Many of them are but Typicall therefore not to be used now since the Types are fullfiled by Christ the Antitype so that now they must needs be antiquated and quite out of date as well as all the other Leviticalls or ceremonialls which are typicall lawes are and ought to be disused such as Circumcision Sacrifices and New-moons c. 4. These judicialls would not be convenient for the very Jewes themselves now since the Death of Christ although they had to this day continued a People and State in their owne Country and City because the practise of these lawes would still harden them in their infidelity against the true Messiah as we see their Sabbatizing and Circumcising yet do Much lesse can they be fit for us Christians because of many and great inconveniences which would ensue thereupon Such as these 1. If the Jewish 7th year-Sabbath were in force with us wherein the whole land was to rest from Tillage and Husbandry as is commanded Ex. 23 11. and Levit. 25. 4. how many thousands of poor people would be famished and the richer people undone Indeed God did extraordinarily provide in such years
assured that the very Seaventh day Sabbath was but a meer figure and Type of the true Eternall Sabbath which is Christ That the Jewish Sabbath was but the shadow And that the body thereof was Christ Justly therefore are the Jewes reproved for doting so much on the Shadow-sabbath and utterly neglecting the Substance and body which was but only represented by that shaddow like the dog in the a Gabriae fabula 32. Fable which let-go and est the Substantiall flesh out of his mouth by snatching at the shadow thereof in the water So the great Oratour Demosthenes perceiving the Greeks to neglect the weighty matters of State which he delivered in an Oration tells them a tale then reproves them for listening with more attention to a ridiculous case b Plut. de 10. Orat. of two men contending for the shadow of an Asse than they did to the great affaires of their Country This surely was the reason that our Saviour so often took occasion to slight and decry the Jewish seventh-seventh-day sabbath because he saw the Scribes and Pharisees so strict and curious in keeping that shadow and utterly to neglect the true Substantial Sabbath which was their Messiah in whom only true Sabbatical Rest was to be found and no where elss And now since Christ is come and fully made known to his Church the Jewish Ceremonies are useless and quite gon as may thus appear 1. For now what need have we of the shadow of a Paschal Lamb seeing the true Lamb of God is slain 2. What need of the blood of Sacrifical beasts for us since Christ is Sacrificed and his precious blood powred out 3. Now there is no need of the Jewish earthly Tabernacle or Temple because Christ is come whose body was the Substantial Temple 4. No need now of Corporal Circumcision because Christ hath taken away the Superfluity of Sin even of Original Sin which was but only Figuratively signified by that Sacrament of Circumcision which Sacrament was as I conceive therefore performed or executed on that part of the body and none other part through which Original Sin is propagated 5. No need now of the Jewish Calends or New-moons because men are now really renued by the Spirit of Christ The Sun of righteousness hath inlightned us we need not the darker shadowy type of Moon-light at Noon day 6. Nor need we the Ceremonious festival of At-onement or Reconciliation now by the High-priest entring into the most holy place of the earthly Temple because Christ hath really made our Atonement by his own blood and hath himself entred into the most holy Tabernacle of Heaven and thither caried our Nature with him 7. Finally we have now no need of the Jewish weekly Typical and Ceremonious Sabbath because the true Sabbath is come even Christ who is the Sabbath or Rest both of the Godhead and of us men It is evident enough that Christ did on purpose and design take special care both to discountenance and also to dissolve the Jewish saturday-Saturday-Sabbath that by his example the Jewes might be withdrawn and weaned from the Ceremony to the Sâ—bstance and from the Letter to the Spiâ—it meaning thereof for he commanded the Iâ—potent man to cary his bed on the Sabbath day Joh. 5. 8. The Jewes therefore charge him with their Sabbath-breaking which Christ did not deny and they therefore sought to kill him vers 18. Afterwards He makes clay on the Sabbath day Joh 9. 14. which he needed not to have done in order to the curing of the blind man therefore it was done upon another dâ—sign of Nulling the Sabbath as the Jewes also apprehended it vers 16. He also excuseth his Disciples for plucking eares of corn on the Sabbath day Math. 12. And tels the Pharisees that their own Jewish priests did prophane the Sabbath by working on the Sabbath in their Temple and yet the priests were blameless For indeed they did on that day make the Shew-bread and brought in fuell for the Altar they killed washed skinned dressed and Sacrificed beasts and so laboured as much or more then ordinarie Butchers and more also on the Sabbath day than any other day of the week except it were a Festival which Festivals were also called Sabbaths To this dissolution and nulling of the Jewish Sabbath the Fathers and other Christian writers generally agree except some few Sabbatarians Saint Austin upon occasion of those words Joh. 5. 18. saith a Aug Epist 11. Christus sabbatum solvi i. e. Christ hath dissolved the Sabbath again he saith b de Gen ad lit L 4. C. 13. Jam ab usu fidelium observatio Sabbati ablaâ—a est perpetuum Sabbatum observatur i. e. The observation of the Sabbath is now taken away from believers who now keep a perpetual Sabbath For our constant adhering to Christ is our continual Sabbath And again he saith c de spiritu litera C 14. Quisquis nunc observat Sabbatum sicut litera sonat carnaliter sapit quod mors est i. e. That man which now observeth the Sabbath literally is carnally minded and to be carnally minded is death saith Saint Paul Rom. 8. 6. With him agrees Saint Ambrose using these words d An. br de fide l. 2. c. 4. Christus Sabbatum solâ—it c. Hinc Judaei ad necem ejus commoti Christ did dissolve the Sabbath and therefore the Jewes sought to kill him Ioh. 5. 16. Again he saith e Epist l. 5. Ep. 42. Sabbatum Circumcisio cessant sub Evangelio i. e. Both the Sabbath and also Circumcision do cease under the Gospel By these words he declareth that the Jewish Sabbath is but such a typical and temporary Ceremony as Circumcision was which Circumcision we know was forbidden not only by St. Paul Gal. 5. 2. but also by the whole Councell of the Apostles Act. 15. 24. St. Jerome also thus writeth of St. Paul a Hier. proaem in Gal. Nullus Apostoli Sermo est vel per epistolam vel praesentis in quo non laboret docere Antiquae legis Onra deposita id est Sabbatum Circumcisionem Calendas c. The Apostle in every Sermon of his either written by Epistle or delivered where he was present teacheth that the troublesome Ceremonies of the old law are taken off such as Sabbaths Circumcision and New-Moons c. Before him Athanasius had thus Written upon those words Mat. 11. 27. All things are delivered to me of my Father b Athan. Tom. 1. 294. Sabbatum injunctum est priori populo-sednovae creaturae non praecepit observationen Sabbati i. e. The Sabbath was imposed on the first people The Israelits but not on the new people The Christians The Jewish Sabbath was appointed to be on the last day of the week which might intimate that is was near Ending for when Christ the true Sabbath and the true light was come the Sabbaticall ceremony was uselesse as candle-light at Noon day St. Chrysostom also observeth in
Sunday-Sabbath because Origen's authority is invalid having bin condemned by the Church as erronious and his Sectaries are put into the Catalogue of Hereticks by d Epiph. Haer. 64. Epiphanius under the title of Origianistae and yet that book of Origen is now not extant in that Language wherein he wrote it but was translated into Latin by Ruffinus who is generally noted to Deteriorare as St. Ambrose speaketh i. e. to be a depraver of all books that he took in hand to translate or reform Notwithstanding I have Intituled this book Sabbatum By which word I mean that Sabbath which is Moral and natural and is commanded in the fourth Commandement which is still in force and binding both Jewes and Christians and all men in the world and so it was before any Law was written and should have so continued although it had never bin written in stone or although no Day-Sabbath had bin commanded For this fourth Commandment injoyneth and obligeth us to a more noble and needfull Sabbath than ever any seaventh-day Sabbath was or could be which surely the holy Patriarks did apprehend before the dayes of Moses but the Scribes and Pharisees and vulgar Jewes after Moses did not nor yet do to this day The true substantial and moral Sabbath intended in that Law is their Mâ—ssiah our Christ who is the Jesus i. e the Saviour and therefore the perfect and only and everlasting Sabbath or Rest of all believers Which truth I trust will hereafter clearly appear But if our Brethren do indeed believe that our Sunday is that Sabbath which is literally or but equitably as they say commanded in the Moral Law then verily they should perform all those duties and services which the Law giver commanded to be done on the Sabbath day then they must offer bloody Sacrifices two Lambs for the Sabbath besides the two which were for every week-day and Bâ—ke 12 great loaves or cakes of Shew-bread which was to be done on the Sabbath and in order heerunto they should joyn 1 Chron. 9. 32. with the Jewes and help them to build their Temple once more at Jerusalem where these duties are to be performed and with them set up the Fifth Monarchy or Earthly Kingdome of Saints If it be said that the Sunday-Sabbath differs from the Jewish in that theirs was on the last day of the week but this on the first This will not help because other festivals of the Jewes were Sabbaths and all required sacrifices and might fall on any day of the week as the Passover and Pentecost and the rest for they were moveable feasts depending on the Moon But the performance of such shadowie ceremonies now would be a real denyal of Christ as if he were not come and were not the grand Sacrifice of which the former were but meer Figures which figures now are but Cyphers All good and prudent Christians do believe and confess that the Jewish Ceremonial Saturday-Sabbath is now quite gone expired and vanished and that since the true body of them and the true light is come the Jewish figures and shadowes are not to be any longer used by us among which shadowes the Sabbath was one and the most principal of all Surely we ought to abstain from applying the appellation of Sabbath to our Sunday lest therein we should seem to Judaize Justin Martyr saith a just Dialog cum Tryph. Gentes Christiani non observant Sabbata ne Judaei putarentur i. e. The Gentiles or Nations which are Christians do now abstain ftom observing the Sabbath lest they might thereby be thought to be of the Jewish infidelity and seeing that the thing it self is gone there is no cause why we should retain the name For the very word Sabbath applyed to our Sunday is not only a sign of our ignorance in Religion but it is moreover Scandalous in that it hudwinketh the people with a Mosaical Jewish vaile as the Apostle sepaketh 2 Cor. 3. 15. And thereby hindereth them from discerning the true Sabbath which is Christ and leadeth them into the Jewish error so as to think that the whole duty required in the fourth Commandment consisteth in keeping holy one day of the week as if that were the only or principal and ultimate duty thereof which is not only untrue but dangerous also And this error of Sabbatarians mixed with their too hot and ignorant zeal therein and in some other Judaizing practises hath given our adversaries occasion to detest our Persons and also to blaspheme our Religion and as a Luther an once did some Calvinists to call us Baptized Jewes For this reason it was in all probability that the Ancient-fathers most learned Christians in the very primitive times of the Church did so warily cautiously abstain from putting the appellation of Sabbath upon the Christian Sunday lest they should be thought to Judaize And the same reason also moved the Church to alter the Jewish day of the old Passover for the solemnity of our Easter is the remembrance and confession of the Easter that is the Rising or Râ—surection of Christ from the precise fourteenth day of the Moon to the Sunday and this lest Christians should be thought to celebrate only a Typicall Passover as the Jewes did as if Christ the true Passover were not come and therefore Tessares-cae-de catitae the Church adjudged and condemned those that held to the fourtenth day for Hereticks under the appellation of Tessares-cae-decatitae or Quarâ— adecimani as we find in b Epiph. H ar 50 Epiphanius The same reason also moved the holy Apostles themselves to meet in Council on purpose against the errors of some Pharisees and Judaizing Christians in their dayes who said that the Converted Gentiles ought to be Circumcised and to be commanded to keep Moses law they meant the law Ceremonial as we read Act. 15. 5. So early did they decree against the danger of Judaizing This is not said by me as in dislike or in the least to disparage the Christians godly and zealous care in Sanctifying the Sunday devoutly and seriously to the service of our God and by joyning in our holy assemblies in praying and praising God and hearing his Word readd and opened to us and also privately meditating theron Far be it from me so to â—ilipend the godly usance of the Church in all ages thereof and the sacred lawes and decrees of Christian Princes upon which as on two pillars the Authoritative sanctification of our Sunday standeth and not otherwise Onely in all humility I offer this caution to the less learned and more credulous Brethren Rem tene linguam corrige Good Christian keep the Sunday or as now it is in England called of late though not by the Church of England the Lords-day and keep it holy in the name of God but abstain from calling it a Sabbath day Because the Sabbath was but a figure and is gon and because neither the old Jewish Sabbath nor the Christian Sunday are that
these thy Lawes in ouâ— hearts we beseech thee This prayer is grounded on the promise of God recorded both in the Prophets and also in the Gospel Jer. 31. 33. Heb. 18. 10. I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts If we enquire what that Law is and how God doth write it in our hearts and to what intent it is done The Answer is That this Law is Christ The putting or writing of it in our hearts is the mission of the Spirit of Jesus into us The intent or purpose thereof is that by a spiritual union of Christ with us we may fulfill the Law For because Christ and his Members are united by this Spirit and so become one mystical body therefore what Christ hath done in obedience to the Law must be accounted as our obedience and so imputed to us that because he hath performed the Law we also in him have performed it The Apostle tels us a 2 Cor. 13. 5. Jesus Christ is in you and b Gal. 2. 20. Christ liveth in me and c Eph. 3. 17. Christ may dwell in our hearts And Christ himself saith d Matth. 28 20. I am with you alway even unto the end of the world And the Apostle again e Gal. 3. 28. Ye are all one in Christ Jesus And that we may know that when we have the Spirit of Jesus in us then we have also the Lord Jesus himself in us Another Apostle tels us f 1 John 4. 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit But how shall it appear That the putting of Christ into us is the putting of the Law of God into our hearts The Answer is That Christ is the Law there meant and he is called the Law and is really the Law * Moses is called by Phâ—lo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much more is Christ so and not only so but he is moreover The Law with all advantages to us for he is the Law fulfilled That Christ is called the Law the Psalmist tels us a Psal 2. 7. Rom. 8. 2. I will preach the Law whereof the Lord hath said unto me Thou art mâ— Son Here the Son is called the Law or Precept of the Lord. Then that Christ is the Law fulfilled or the fufilling of the Law Of him it is said in another Psalm b Psal 40 10. Heb. 10. 7 In the volume of thy Book it is written of me that I should fulfill thy will O my God I am content to do it yea thy Law is within my heart And this Christ himself professed c Mat. 5. 17. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill the Law This also was signified by his Type the Ark wherein d Heb 9. 4 the Law was put for the Ark represented Christ and the Law in it signified that Christ should keep that Law and this he did perform only to our behoof that his obedience might be accounted ours Upon this reason only it is that the Apostle so confidently saith e Phil. 4. 13. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me If he can do all things then he can do all the works of the Law But we are well assured that he could not in his own proper person alone considered perform the Law but it must needs be thus only performed by him in and through Christ And in this consideration only Christ is our Rest and Sabbath For this reason our Church prayeth that God would incline our hearts to keep this Sabbath-law which is Christ That by keeping him the whole Law of God may be kept by us through and in him so as is here expressed by having the Law thus written in our hearts Thus this Moral Law which as Divines acknowledge is altogether impossible to the Natural man especially as it is exegetically aggravated and heightened in the Gospel is by this Sabbath made possible and easie to the Matth. 5. Spiritual man so the Apostle tels us a Rom. 10 4. Christ is the end or perfect on of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth that is He that believeth in Christ hath the benefit of performance of the Law brought home to him So St. Ambrose tels us b Ambr. in loc Perfectionem leg is habet qui credit in Christum CHAP. VIII That Christ is called a Day Why Christ and the seventh day are both called Sabbath The first Institution for keeping holy the seventh day Why the first seventh day of the World is described without Evening and Morning The Sabbath described by Philo Parallel'd with Melchisedech and both Types of Christ IF Jesus Christ be the only Sabbath which is mysteriously covered and spiritually meant and really and ultimately intended in the Moral part of this fourth Commandement as certainly he is because he only is our Redeemer our Mediator and the Peace-maker of God with man We must next enquire how this Sabbath if it be so understood can be called a Day as here it is Remember the Sabbath day for by this word Day a man may reasonably-imagine that the principal intendment of this Precept was only for the Celebration or Sanctifying of a day as the Jewes do yet think and many good Christians among us do still though erroneously believe although they agree not in the self same day with the Jews Their reason is because not only in this former part of the fourth Commandement which I have shewed to be a Morall Natural and an everlasting Law but also in the latter words annexed which are a part of the Law ceremonial and therefore but temporal and transient it is also said The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God by which words a man at first hearing would think that the Sabbath in both parts of this Law is nothing else but a day for if the seventh day be a Sabbath why may not the Sabbath be thought to be a Seventh day 1. Our Answer is That the seventh day is called a Sabbath because it was a type and figure of our true Sabbath and Rest which is Christ as the Jews corporal rest was but a figure of our spiritual rest in Christ And because it was so appointed for a figure or sign therefore it hath the name of the thing figured or signified thereby as other signs and types have for so the Paschal Lamb is called the Passover yet we know Christ only is the true Passover as the Apostle tels us 1 Cor. 5. 7. So the Rock is called Christ 1 Cor. 10. 4. So of the Eucharistical bread it is said This is my body though it was but a Sacrament or holy sign of the body of Christ And the seven Eares are seven Yeares Gen. 41. 26. Just so the seventh day is the Sabbath that is the sign type and figure of the mysterious Sabbath which is Christ 2. As the sign hath
therefore most worthily account and call our Sabbath Yet this is not all for we shall find that Christ is not only the Rest of men but that he is also the Rest of God which is next to be considered CHAP. X. Of Gods Resting That it is not a cessation from working Nor meant of his ending the Creation Nor his laying aside his care and Providence in Government This Rest and Working doe consist together Something concerning the Creation of Humane Souls Of Vniversals what they are and where to be found A Question discoursed Whether God hath created any new kinds of Creatures since the first Seventh day CHrist is our Christian Sabbath we know none other Sabbath besides him for none but he can give sure and lasting Rest to our Souls he only hath wrought our peace with God and appeased the just displeasure of the Godhead he hath effected our Reconciliation and he is that Atonement by which God and man are reunited or set at one By his mediation it is that a Quietus est or Acquittance of our debts is signed by God so that if we can keep this Sabbath holy and persevere therein we may with true comfort and cheerfulness say with the great Apostle Who shall Rom. 8. 33. lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth it is Christ that died Those that teach others or that do imagine That the only duty required by this Sabbath-precept is the sanctifying of a day whether the last day of the week as the Jews do or the first day as some Christians think and therefore presume to call it not only the Lords day which is but a novelty with us in England as is said before but also the Sabbath day They are farre short and beneath the great purpose and intendment of this fourth Commandement and conceive too meanly and lowly of that most high and mysterious Sabbath which signifieth not only the Rest of man from bodily labours but also our rest from labours and terrors of our Conscience and moreover it representeth to us the Rest of God as it is said both in this Commandement and before also Gen. 2. 2. He rested on the Seventh day For to say that God laboured in these six dayes of Creation is a weak and heathenish conceit such as we read in that Epicurean Dispute in Tully a Tull. de Nat. Deor. lib. 1. Si in mundo Deus inest aliquis qui regat qui gubernet qui cursus astrorum muta ionesque temporum rerum vicissitudines or dinesque conservet terrasque maria contemplans hominum commoda vitasque tâ—eatur nae ille est implicatus molestis negotiis operosis If there be a God in this World ruling and ordering it and continuing the motions of the starres and seasons of the years and the various order and changes of times and taking cognisance of the Land and Sea for support of mans life and welfare surely he is a God incumbred with many troublesome and stirring businesses As if the Almighty Demiurgus could not both create and govern this World except he took great pains and labour therein And yet those Christians which say that Gods resting on the Seventh day signifieth only his cessation from that great Work do in a manner affirm the same But the resting of God hath a more high and more noble signification than so as I trust we shall anon make evident In order whereunto these two Queries are to be discoursed 1. What is here meant by Gods resting 2. Why he is said to rest on the Seventh day and not on any of the former six dayes To the first Querie VVhat is meant by 1. Querie Gods resting We say this resting doth not at all signifie or intend any cessation of the Godhead or any suspension or intermission of his operation or working for although it be said He ended his work which he had made and also That he rested from all his works which God had created Gen. 2. 2. yet it is not said that he ceased resting and ceasing are not all one Nor can this Rest be meant of any ease or refreshment of God as after some motion or stirring work or labour for such a rest was needless to him who never laboured at all Nor can it be meant of any weariness of God that were impossible St. Austin saith truly b Aug. de Civit. lib. 12. c. â—â—â— In opere Dei non est labor nec in quiete desidia quiescens agit agens quiescit And again Deus nec creando defessus nec cessando refectus i. e. In Gods working there is no labour nor in his resting any cessation he resteth working and working resteth he was neither weary in creating nor refreshed by ending it Nor can this Rest of God be so understood as if he then laid aside and cast off all care and providence for his Creatures which he had newly made This cannot be imagined by us for all Christians and Heathens also do acknowledge Gods perpetual management and government of the World for he did even that very Seventh day and all other dayes since co-operate with his Creatures by his assistance it is that these great wheels of Heaven are continually turning Nazianzen saith God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for his perpetual operation Both Divines and Philosophers call God Actum Purum and the Schoolmen call him Natur am natur antem i. e. God is purely Active and he that continually supplieth his Creatures with the ability of Operation which we call Nature for in him we live and move and have our being Of him Act. 17. 28. it is said in St. Austin c De Civ l. 4. c. 12. Deus est anima mundi Mundus est corpus Dei e. i. God is operative in the World so as our souls are in our bodies And the Poet saith of the divine Spirit Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Virg. Aeâ— 6. Mens agitat molem magno se corpare miscet All which is signed for a Scriptural-truth by St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. 6. God worketh all in all So then this Rest cannot signifie Gods cessation from working nor the withdrawing his Providence from his Creatures But our Neoterick Theologs have found out another Answer and do generally expound this Rest of God to signifie only a cessation from the work of Creation for they say that although God doth continually work or operate or co-operate with his Creatures which are already made yet he doth not create or produce any new Creatures indeed he daily maketh individual or particular Creatures as Men Beasts Fishes Plants and Hearbs hut all these new productions are of the same Species i. e. sort and kind that God made at the first 1. In this Answer we observe two things First It is confessed that this Rest of God is not an absolute cessation from Work but only a cessation
Epitaph Bononiens p. 173. Hermaphroditus The truth is that the woman was then in Adam though but rough-cast as we use to say and not taken out of the mould not finished or polished For it is as easie to apprehend Eve to be then in the side of Adam as it is for us to believe and acknowledg that all we which now live were even then in the loines of Adam for which we have a strong Apostolical evidence Heb. 7. 10. Where it is said of Levi before he was born that he was in the loins of Abraham And so upon the same reason we were certainly with Levi and Ahraham in the loines of Adam So our Answer to this second Querie for present shall be only this That therefore God is not said to Rest until the seventh-seventh-day Because that until then the principal work was not finished in which alone the Rest of God consisted And what that is will now soon appear In the mean time I will lay this for my conclusion and for a Truth which I firmly beleive that the seventh-seventh-day or ceremonial-Ceremonial-Sabbath was not ordained by God for a memorial of the Creation of the world and all the meer Creatures thereof or for his ceasing from the work of Creation But for an Evangelical memorial of the Rest of God Of which we are next to enquire CHAP. XII Why the Rest of God is not mentioned until the seventh-seventh-day Why it is fixed on the Creation of Mankind rather than of any other of the creatures Answers to certain enquiries That the consideration of Christ to be propagated from the man and the woman was the only cause of this Rest of God IT may justly seem strange and wonderful that the most blessed most glorious and Almighty God who is Blessedness and Happiness it self and that so infinitely and incomprehensibly that it is impossible that any addition of happiness or rest can be added to him so as to make him more happy or more at Rest than he was from Eternity And yet so it is that God is here and now said to Rest and also to Rest so now as not before this seventh day Certainly this Rest must be occasioned by something that is External and Extra-essential to God And therefore it must be such a Rest or complacencie or acquiescence as the Godhead assumed and took in some special creature and yet not only in that creature considered singly and meerly in it self for it must be derived from some work of God unto which God intended some excellent beneficial addition of worth goodness by which consideration the Godhead was inclined to express a delight and chearfullness contentedness in it and for it in all the other creatures This as to me seemeth Moses darkly implyeth for he is yet vailed in these words Gen. 2. 2. He rested on the seventh day from al his work which he had made This Rest then seemeth to be occasioned from his work for it is not said that he rested in his work but occasionally from his work It followeth vers 3. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created to make This sudden repetition of the Rest of God doth intimate something of greater moment and consideration than ordinary Good reader observe with me that in this later expression of God's resting there is much more implied than in the former for in the first it is said He rested from all his work which he had made But in the later it is said He rested from all his work which God created to make These words created to make signifie more than only a creation Our last English Translation reades this text created and made yet in the margin it is there confessed that according to the Hebrew it is to be read created to make which is indeed the true and farr better reading so both St. Hierome and our other masters in the holy tongue read it so doth the Latine of Sixtus and Clemens Quod creavit ut faceret i. e. which he created to make By which expression I humbly conceive that the holy Spirit doth secretly and mysteriously imply that this Rest of God consisteth in some creature newly made upon which the Godhead purposed to conferr some preferment and honour greater than the bare creation of it because it is said he created it to make so saith the Expositor upon those words creavit ut faceret a Martin Borrhaius in loc Ut ad certum usum pararet ac destinaret i. e. God rested from that work which he created that he might prepare and appoint it to a certain use So that To make must signifie that God intended to make some further and greater and more excellent use of that creature than it had of it self in it's own single and created nature and that he would effect some more glorious and gracious work by it which that creature of it self and by it's own power would never be able to perform Now what creaturâ— this is And what further use God intended to make of it And what prerogative of honour he would add to it we are diligently to enquire 1. We can not with reason and judgment fasten the occasion of this Rest of God upon any one particular creature but only upon the creation of Man for from the creation of Adam God did first take occasion to express a complacency and acquiescence or Rest 2. We may not think that this Rest of Goâ— was occasioned only by the creation of the first Adam considered singly by himself and as a 〈◊〉 creature without any further reach or consideration But it was indeed occasioned by a pre-consideration of the second Adam which is Christ who is stiled by St. Paul 1. Cor. 15. 45. The last Adam because whâ—â— Adam was made Christ also was made Christ as a creature in respect of his humane nature for as Eve was then Originally and Substantially in Adam's side as is before said So was Christ seminally in his Loines so that the consideration of Christ now wrapped up in this Root of Adam was that which occasioned the first hint of an expression of complacencie in the Godhead upon the Creation of the Man for thereupon that was said by God which was not said before upon the Creation of any one or of all his other Creatures and it is said with a note of Remarkableness Gen. 1. 31. Behold it was very good Indeed his other Creatures are said to be good but not any nor all said to be very good till now 3. Though Adam was now made and in him Christ was seminally couched yet it is not presently said that God Rested nor untill some other Act was performed by the Godhead For God is not said to Rest until Eve was taken and formed and finished out of Adam's side and this was not done until the Seventh day as is before shewed This was because Christ the Saviour of
Mankind was not otherwise to come into the open World that there he might perform the grand Work of a Redeemer and Saviour but only through the Woman Our merciful God doth then and not till then declare his Rest when he had laid and compleated the foundation of the Rest of us his otherwise wretched Creatures For neither Adam himself could be saved supposing his fall but through the fertility of the Woman nor could Eve or any of their posterity obtain Redemption and salvation otherwise than so as the Apostle teacheth us 1 Tim. 2. 15 She shall be saved in child-bearing that is by Christ who should descend from Eve and be born of a Woman for God confined our Redemption and our Redeemer so when he said The Seed of the Woman should bruise the Gen 3 15 Serpents head And in the Gospel God sent forth his Son made of a Woman So early Gal 4 4 and late the Godhead was pleased to signifie the conception of Christ by a Woman signally without mention of the Seed of Man promised to David in these words Psalm 132. 11. Ex fructu ventris the fruit of the belly which St. Austin a Aug in loc observes to be meant of Christ because he was only from the Belly or Womb and not from the Thigh And prophesied by Isaiah chap. 7. 14. to be conceived by a Virgin And performed in the person of the ever blessed Virgin Mary Now we may easily return an Answer to the above mentioned Enquiries concerning the Rest of God 1. In which of the Creatures God is said to Rest To this we say That his Rest was only in Mankind not in the man alone but for the honour and everlasting comfort of all holy Women he expressed not his Rest until he had formed the Woman out of the Man although the manner thereof is declared after the expression of God's Rest 2. What further use besides their Creat on God intended to make of the Man and the Woman To this we say That God purposed out of the Man and Woman to raise and produce Christ to be the Saviour and Redeemer of Mankind from eternal and deserved misery and also through the same Christ to crown Mankind with everlasting glory and for this most gracious use only did the Godhead declare it self to Rest so that in Christ alone is the true reall and final Rest and Sabbath comprised both of God and of us Men. 3. What prerogative or peculiar honour added God to this Creature Man more then to any other Creature To this we answer 1. He made Man in his own Image so as not any other Creature was made 2. From the Seed of Man he ordained that the Redeemer should proceed and not from any other Creature although some others were more high excellent than Man as the holy Angels are as the Psalmist saith Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels Yet the Apostle tels Psal 8 5 us Heb. 2. 16. That Christ took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham 3. God purposed which he also performed to unite himself so with Man as not with any other Creature to be one person with Man even this very Creator at this very time of Mans creation intimated that himself would one day become Man that he would be incarnate and so Emmanuel which is obscurely signified by those words In the Image of God created he him And Gen 1. 27 this Incarnation was most needful for Man because in it only the everlasting Sabbath and Rest of Man consisteth and in nothing else From these Premises my Conclusion is That the principal and indeed the only cause of this Rest of God consisted in the consideration and gracious purpose of the Godhead to produce the Messiah out of the Man and the Woman to be united with our humane nature and therein to fulfill the whole Will of God in our behalf and so to become the Redeemer and Saviour of Mankind Which conclusion being a Doctrine of our greatest concernment we will in the next place endeavour by God's assistance to make plain and evident even to the capacity of ordinary understandings CHAP. XIII That the Rest of God consisted in his purpose of producing Christ proved by Scripture and Reason Of the Image of God Why the Woman was taken out of the Man Of the Union of Christ with Mankind Why Redemption is only of Mankind The meaning of the Sacramental Bread and Wine That the Soul of Christ was derived and propagated from the first Man Something concerning Universal Redemption THat the Divine purpose of the Incarnation of the second Person in the Trinity was the sole motive that the Rest of God was now and not before declared may appear by many overtures or expressions in and about the Creation and other affairs concerning the first Man and Woman 1. It is said by the Godhead Let us make Gen. 1. 26 Man Whereby the concurrence of all the Divine Persons in the Creation of Man is signified As if the Godhead would express a special care and deliberation and also a consultation about the Creation of Man more than in the Creation of the whole invisible World of Angels or this visible World of all the other Creatures for it was never said before Let us make but God created and Let there be Light and Let there be a Firmament and Let the Earth bring forth c. Now although we know that all the Three Divine Persons did co-operate in the creation of every Creature as the sure Rule of Divines is Opera Trinitatis ad extrà sunt indivisa Yet their concurrence is not so declared until the Creation of Man Therefore surely a greater matter was intended than the making of a meer Creature and that certainly was Christ even He that is better than all Creatures and of whom it is said Let all the Angels of God worship Heb. 1. 6. him 2. Not only the making of Man is decreed but it is added In our Image and likenesse and In the Image of God created he him Here is Our Image Plurally and The Image of God Singly Our Image signifies the Image of the Three Divine Persons stamped on Man Power Wisdom Holinesse which are the Characters of the Father Son and Spirit as Divines say But this is not all for so much of this Image was soon desaced Nor was this Image proper to Mankind but is found also in the holy Angels and also more eminently in them than in Mankind But because these words are said of Man not said of any other Creature therefore we must find out some other Image or likenesse of God which is so peculiar to Man as that it is not to be found in any other Creature as a Theod. in Gen. quaest 20. Theodoret most judiciously observeth This being granted the Image there mentioned must needs relate and point to Christ who is
WE are now come to the last but the greatest difficulty of this Sabbaticall Doctrine touching the Rest of God and to give some Answer to those two Queries mentioned before in the 10th Chapter First How God can be said to Rest who never laboured or was at unrest Secondly Why his Rest is fixed first on the seventh day of the world and not mentioned before or declared to have been from Eternity as certainly it was seeing this Rest was onely in consideration of the Messiah now secretly laid and couched in our first parents We may not think that this expression of the Rest Contentment or Complacency of God was occasioned onely by the newnesse of that work as man pleaseth himself in new apparell new fashions or new buildings This could not be the cause of God's Rest unto Whom all his intentions and works were known from Eternity and were all present to his Divine Providence with whom there is no futurity because whatsoever is future in respect of our human apprehension is ideally present to God In which respect the words of Solomon may be rightly understood There Eccles 1. 9 is no new thing under the Sun for nothing is new to the Godhead And the Apostles have declared that this very mystery in which as we have shewed the Rest of God consisteth is The eternall purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. And That our Redemption Eph. 3. 11 1 Pet. 1. 18 19 20. with the pretious blood of Christ was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world And moreover That God hath also chosen us in him before the foundation of the Ephes 1 4. world This being undeniable we may wonder that this Rest of God is confined or limited to this one time and not mentioned before although it had been from everlasting To the first of those Queries our Answer is That the onely Rest or Sabbath of God is 1 Querie answered the Messiah because in the Obedience of Christ both active and passive the Godhead doth rest satisfied contented and well-pleased not onely with the proper and individuall person of Christ but also for and in him with all the holy Members of his Body mysticall being by faith united and One with him For therefore doth God rest in him because by him the whole Law was to be and now actually is performed so that all the duties debts and penalties which in justice are requirable of his servants are fully paid by Christ and thereby the just Godhead is satisfied to the uttermost farthing So that the Rest of God is in no wise to be ascribed to him in respect of any cessation from the work of Creation but onely in consideration of the acquiescence of God in Christ's satisfaction and thereby man's acquiescence or acquittance from the wrath of God That the Rest of the Godhead consisteth in Christ onely may appear by many passages in the Old Testament something obscurely and in the New more clearly for so we read in King Solomon's Prayer Arise O 2 Chron. 6. 41. Lord God into thy Resting-place thou and the Ark of thy strength This he said of the Temple at Jerusalem The like was said before by his father David of the Tabernacle Arise O Lord into thy Rest thou and the Ark of thy strength And the like was said Psal 132. 8 Numb 10. 35. before both by Moses Numb 10. 35. And it came to passe when the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up Lord and let them that hate thee flee before thee * God is gon up with a shout Ps 42. 5. was said of the Tabernacle and Ark Lyranus in loc Observe here good Reader that Moses calls the Ark Lord and that David and Solomon call the Tabernacle and Temple God's Rest and Resting-place These speeches must needs point at and signify Christ for therefore onely did Moses give the title of Lord to the Ark because it was the type and signall of his presence with his people And therefore onely did David and Solomon call the Tabernacle and Temple God's Rest because they were the figures and types of Christ's Body wherein the Godhead was to rest but the very substantiall Body of Christ was the reall and true Temple of God indeed so Christ said Destroy this Temple Joh. 2. 19. 21. But he spake of the Temple of his Body That the Ark was the figure or representative of Christ's Body we are taught by St. Jerom upon those words Thou and the Ark of thy strength a Hier. iâ— Psal 132. Tu corpus assumptum quo diviniâ—as tegebaâ—ur So doth St. Austin expound those words b Aug. in loc Corpus Christi quod ex Maria natum est i. e. The Ark signified that body which God the Son assumed of the Virgin Mary in which his Godhead was covered But the Resting place of God cannot be meant principally or ultimately of the typicall Temple for that is destroyed long ago nor of the Ark for that is also lost nor is the Godhead now hid in a Chest The true Resting-place of the Godhead is onely the human Nature of Christ in which it resteth and abideth for ever so as not to be separated from it all Of this residence of the Godhead John Baptist thus spake I knew him not but he Joh. 1. 33. that sent me the same said unto me Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he c. For Christ is he on whom the Divine Spirit or Godhead not onely descended but resteth and remaineth for ever The holy Psalmist in the place before mentioned saith For the Lord hath chosen Sion Psal 132. 13 14. he hath desired it for his habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell What was Sion literally but an Hill or Rock and how doth God dwell there Verily no otherwise than in any other common part of the world Nor can it truly be said to be his Rest for ever if literally understood because we are sure Sion is long since forsaken as was prophesyed by Isaiah Jeremy and Micah and that this Sion should be plowed as a field Which prophecy Jer. 26. 18 a Euseb de Demon. lib. 6. cap. 13. Eusebius saith he saw performed with his own eyes Which dereliction is thought to have been intimated by that strange voice which was heard in the Temple a little before the finall destruction thereof b Joseph n. 24. Heges n. 34 Euseb Hist lib. 3. cap. 5. Hieron n. 4 Let us depart hence of which speciall notice was taken by many Writers as Josephus Hegesippus Eusebiu and Jerom. But in Sion was the house of David and the Tabernacle and the Ark and the Temple also stood on a part of that great hill of Sion all being figures of Christ for this reason onely it was said of Sion This is my rest for ever because the everlasting Rest of the Godhead
firm estate upon his Children he will say that now he is at rest and quiet although he neither intermit his work nor personally enjoy that estate yet calleth his Childrens good his own even as God doth here call the rest of his Creatures his own Rest Of which more in the next Chapter CHAP. XVI That the Rest of Man is called Gods Rest shewed by other like passages in Scripture That Christ is called the Rest of God only because he is the Rest of Mankind An answer to the second Query above mentioned shewing Why God is said to Rest on the first Seventh day only and not before The Conclusion and St. Austin 's Judgment in this Doctrine of Gods Rest THere are many passages in Scripture concerning God which can in no wise be verified except we acknowledge this Doctrine That the properties of Man are there transferred and assumed by God and called his actions passions or dispositions as may thus appear Gen. 22. 12. It is said by God in the person of his Angel Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held thy Son from me This God did know before but because by this grand trial God made both Abraham and others know it therefore it is said Now I know a Aug. de Gen. l. 4 c. 9 Quia nos cognoscere facit saith the Expositor i. e. God is said to know only because he now made man to know It is said of one Sabinus in Seneca b Sen. Ep. 27 Putabat se scire quod quisquam in domo suâ sciret so God accounteth the apprehension of his People to be his own knowledge Deut. 13. 3. The Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God Not as if God did not know before and without trial but because hereby Man might perceive whether he doth really love God Gen. 18. 21. God saith of Sodome I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it if not I will know What need was there of this going down to see and know when God knew what was before and what would be after But only to convince the Sodomites by making them see and know their own wickedness in attempting that Sodomitical sin In the like sense also even Nescience or Ignorance is transferred on the Son of God as Mark 13. 32. But of that day knoweth no Mat. 24 36 man no not the Angels neither the Son but the Father only It were blasphemy to say absolutely that God the Son did not know it who is the same only God with the Father and is also called by the great Prophet The mighty God and The everlasting Father for every Person is the Father in respect of Isai 9. 6 all Creatures although only the first Person is the Father of the Son But when it is said Neither the Son the meaning is as St. Austin and other Expositors with him generally agree a Lib. 83 quaest quaest 60 Nescire filii est cum non prodit hominibus quod inutilitèr scirent And b De Gen. Cont. Manichae'os l. 1. c. 22 Quia discipulos nescientes reliquit Because Christ would not reveal the day of Judgment to his Disciples therefore he is said not to know it In this sense only it is that St. Hilary saith c Hil. de Trin. lib. 9. Luke 13 27 Mat 7. 23 Habemus nescientem Deum our God professeth to some I know you not For otherwise we say with Austin d Aug. Psal 10 1 Cor. 1. 24 Domine quid ignorabas Lord how is it possible that the Wisdome of God should not know all things so that God the Son is said not to know that day only because Men do not know it Isai 1. 24. God is represented by this Prophet as being disturbed of his Rest and Ease and saying Ah I will ease me of mine adversaries So the Psalmist speaketh Psalm 2. 4. and 37. 13. The Lord shall have them in derision The Lord shall laugh at him So Rom. 8. 26. The Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings And Ephes 4. 30. Greive not the holy Spirit of God And 1 Thes 5. 19. Quench not the Spirit These sayings must needs be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as relating only to Man for God cannot In himself be eased Nor can the holy Spirit make intercession or be Mediator nor groan nor be greived nor quenched nor doth God deride or laugh Men to scorn But because holy Men in whom the Spirit of God dwelleth are disturbed and persecuted and greived and quenched therefore Gods Spirit is said to be so The groanings of the Spirit are the doleful Ejaculations of holy Men. The easing of God is the removing of Adversaries Oppressors and Persecutors of his People Gods laughing is the exposing of proud Tyrants to the scorn and derision of them over whom they have domineer'd just as the hunger and thirst and nakedness and imprisonment and persecution of the Members of Christ are said to be of Christ himself Mat 25. Acts 9. So the Rest or Sabbath of the Godhead must be meant only of that everlasting Sabbath which God in Christ hath ordained for his Servants The Psalmist saith The Lords Psal 147. 17 delight is in them that fear him Now because no delights or pleasures can possibly be added or new to the unspeakable blessedness of God therefore this delight must be understood of Men That Mans delight in God and his well-being in a course of godliness leading to the everlasting delights and joyes of Heaven is here called God's delight just so as mans Rest is called the Rest of God For we may not think that the Rest of God is confined limited or circumscribed in the single person of Christ for indeed Christ is not otherwise the Rest of God but only in consideration of us Men and in regard that in Christ the Sabbath or Rest of Men is included so that Christ cannot be the Rest of the Godhead but as he is looked on and considered as a Jesus or Saviour of Mankind and in this respect only it was said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased The Reader may observe that it is not said With Whom as if the complacencie or acquiescence of God were only with the particular person of Christ but it is said In Whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To signifie that in by and through him God would be at peace and well pleased with others even with all the Members of the most holy Jesus And indeed the whole Oeconomy and design of the Godhead in preparing the Messiah was only in the behalf of Mankind so the Prophet hath taught us Unto us a Child is born and unto us a Son is given Here is both Isai 9. 6 the Nativity and the Death of the Messiah given to us Then he is called The Prince of Peace This signifies that he was to be
the maker of Peace or Atonement or Reconciliation of Man with God He is called Messiah or Christ that is anointed fitted and prepared for the great Work of Mans Redemption Then he is properly named Jesus and this in order to the benefit of Man for so the holy Angel said Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his People from their sins Mat. 1. 21 And that it may appear that this Person Jesus is qualified and endowed with sufficient power to effect that great and merciful purpose of the Godhead toward Mankind the same Prophet cals him Wonderful Counseller The Mighty God The Everlasting Father This I trust is enough to shew the meaning of Gods Rest Now to the second Querie above mentioned 2. Querie Answered viz. Why God is said to Rest on the Seventh day precisely and not before Our Answer is 1. Because on the Seventh day and not before the Creation of Mankind was completed for on that day was the Woman taken and built out of the Man and not before as is above shewed 2. God is not said to Rest until he had actually begun the Work of Mans Rest which was not done untill the Man and the Woman were both of them finished for then and not before was the Saviour of Mankind really and actually laid as the foundation of Mans Rest in which Rest or Sabbath of Man the Rest or Sabbath of the Godhead consisteth and in nothing else What God in his Divine and Secret Counsel had determined before all times to be done that did he now on this Seventh day begin which was the building of his Church for now the first stone was laid even Christ who only is the foundaâ—ion and the Rock and the chief corner-stone thereof The house built upon a Rock Matth. 7. 24. signifieth the Church when Peter had said Thou art Mat. 16 16 Christ the Son of the living God Christ presently replied Upon this Rock will I build my Church The Apostle tels us Christ was 1 Cor. 10 4. the spiritual Rock And Other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Jesus 1 Cor. 3 11 Christ Now this foundation of Rest must needs be made known unto the Man for otherwise it could not be his Rest and consequently it could not be the Rest of God until Man did so know it that he might relie and trust and set up his Rest upon it that is upon Christ Therefore the holy Scripture doth by divers intimations signifie that this great Mystery was then revealed to Adam for he was illuminated with prophetical Wisdom He knew as well as Moses that he was made in the 〈◊〉 of God that is in the same shape which God his Redeemer would one day assume as is before shewed He knew the Woman was taken and built out of him on purpose to produce a Redeemer in that only way which might fitly serve for that Work when no other way could for upon the forming of her he said This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh This speech doth shew that the Man was not ignorant in the great Mystery of the Union of Himself and the Woman and their future progenie with Christ also in one lump which union was contrived by the Godhead only in order and necessity to the Redemption of Adam and his off-spring and nothing else And it is the same which by the great Apostle is applied to the mysterious union of Christ and his Church They two shall be one flesh This Eph. 5. 31 32 is a great Mystery but I speak concerning Christ and his Church After the Fall of Man it pleased the merciful Godhead to give a more open and evident notice by an express promise of this Rest than was before when it was said The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head for after this the Man named the Woman Vita i. e. Life as is before shewed whereby he declared his Faith and expectation of a new and better life to come by the fruitfulness of the Woman than that Life which he forfeited by his fall as may reasonably be thought All these intimations and overtures being but descriptions of the great Saviour to proceed from the Man and the Woman in whom they might set up their Rest as surely they did And God having now actually begun that great Work of Redemption and laid the foundation thereof in the Earth of ouâ— first Parents and made it known unto them Therefore he doth now and not before call this blessed Rest of Man His own Best For the Church of God which consisteth of Christ and his Members united not only in the nature of our first Parents but also cemented by one and the same Spirit of God residing both in Christ the Head and also in all holy Men as inferiour Members under that Head This Church I say is very often in Scripture represented as a building even from the beginning of the World and so continued in the Gospel The Woman is said to be builded of the Rib aedificavit costam in Gen. 2. 22 Multierem Rachel and Leah are said to build the house of Israel The natural Body of Ruth 4 11 Christ is called a building by King Solomon Wisdome hath built her an house So is his mystical Body also Ye are Gods building Prov. 9. 1 1 Cor. 3. 9 And Acts 9. 31. The Churches had rest and were edified The Word of God and preaching and brotherly exhortation are resembled to buildings The Word is able to Act. 20. 32 build you up St. Paul calleth preaching there where Christ was named before building on another mans foundation and Rom. 15 20 exhorteth the Thessalonians to edifie one another 1 Thes 5 11 The prime foundation of this building is Christ upon Him the Prophets and Apostles are laid as Super-structures or second Foundations Of Christ the Prophet saith Behold Isa 28. 16 I lay in Sion for a foundation a Stone a tried Stone a precious corner-Stone a sure foundation And this is so applied to Christ by St. Peter who also calleth the Members of Christ Lively stones built up a spiritual 1 Pet. 2 5 6 house And Sion is mentioned because as the same Prophet foretold Out of Sion shall Isai 2. 3 go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem For so indeed the Law of Christ and the preaching thereof began there as Christ appointed Lukâ— 24. 7. And of Apostles and Prophets and Christ St. Paul telleth the Ephesians That they are built upon Eph. 2. 20 the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone It hath been an ancient Custome amongst Men to express a joy and delight both at the laying of the foundation and also at the raising and dedication of magnificent or holy Edifices So did the Jews at the laying of the foundation of the second Temple praising the
Church-prayer both in behalf of my self and others Lord Incline our hearts to keep this Law Amen Amen Thus much concerning the Sabbath Moral Next of the Sabbath Ceremonial Macrobius Saturnaliorum lib. 6. cap. 9. Quia seculum nostrum ab omni Bibliothecâ vetere descivit Multa ignoramus quae non laterent si Veterum lectio nobis esset familiaris A Discourse of the Jewish Hebdomarie or Ceremonial Sabbath wherein is contained an Exposition of the Later and Ceremoniall Part of the 4th Commandment CHAP. XVII An Exposition of the Ceremonial Part of the 4th Commandment begun That the 6 dayes labour is not a Precept but onely a Permission That the 7th day is called a Sabbath onely because it is a figure of the true Sabbath That the 7th day Sabbath was not changed by Christ to the 8th day but utterly dissolved That it was never instituted till the dayes of Moses St. Jerom 's Translation and our English compared The Jewish Sabbath and Christian Festivalls compared Of VVorks on the Jewish Sabbath That Corporall Rest was but the figure of our Rest in Christ HAving thus far proceeded in the search of the Sabbath Morall which is commanded in the fourth Precept of the Morall Law of God in these words Remember the Sabbath day to sanctifie it In the next place we are to consider the other words of that Law which we have declared to be meerly Typicall Ceremoniall and Temporall and obliging the Jews onely and not other Nations and to be now antiquated ever since the manifestation of the Son of God in the flesh Which ceremoniall part taketh up all the words of this Law except onely those few above mentioned the severall branches whereof we will now endeavour to expound as they are in order laid down Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work 1. These words are no Command so as to require our labour all the other six dayes but they are onely a Permission by which the Jews were invited to a diligent and cheerfull celebration of their Sabbath in regard God had given them six dayes for their own occasions and reserved but one in the seven to himself when he might have left them but one in the seven which yet was not for any need that God had of it but onely for the benefit of his people just as be permitted all the Trees of Paradice to Adam except onely one Thus far Calvin and other Divines generally agree 2. For if these words were a Command to work all the other six dayes they would contradict other Laws whereby the Jews were commanded to Rest as at the Feast of the Passeover 〈◊〉 12. 16. and at Pentecost Levit. 23. 21. and at the Atonement Levit. 23. 28. at the Feast of Trumpets Levit. 23. 25. and at the feast of Tabernacles Levit. 23. 35. These Feasts did all depend upon the Moon and therefore might and did fall on any and every one of the other six dayes respectively 3. If this Law were Morall how could we Christians lawfully abstain from working on our Sundayes and Fasting-daies and daies of Thanksgiving and other Festivalls commanded by lawfull Authority It followeth But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God These words as I conceive are not rightly rendred by our English Translators of which we will enquire anon and for present take them as they are presented In what sense the seventh day is here said to be the Sabbath of the Lord our God we have shewed before namely That it is therefore called the Sabbath because it was appointed to be a ceremony and figure to represent to the Israelites the true and reall Sabbath or Rest in the Messiah So that it is called a Sabbath just as we call Pictures by the names of those things which they represent as the Painter in Aelian wrote over his pictures * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 10 c. 10 This is an Ox this is an Horse this is a Tree So in Scripture the Ark is often called JEHOVA as †Catech. part 2. p. 45. Beza observeth the Altar is also so called Exod. 17. 15. and the Dove is called the Spirit Joh 1. 33. the seven Kin◠are seven years Gen. 41. and the Rock i◠Christ 1 Cor. 10. 4. For if the seventh day were the onely Sabbath intended in this Commandment we Christians should at this day be bound to keep it as much as the Jews were That Christ or the Apostles changed the seventh day to the eighth or Saturday to Sunday is often too boldly affirmed by our Sabbatarian Writers and too tamely swallowed by their followers which as yet they never have or ever can solidly prove But to say that Christ utterly dissolved the Ceremoniall or seventh-seventh-day Sabbath and yet left the true Sabbath unaltered to us which is our firm Rest in himself and that the Church first then Christian Magistrates also assumed another day even our Sunday instead of the Jewish seventh day for their holy Assemblies is true and easily proved although they never called this Sunday a Sabbath Nor can the Jewish seventh day possibly be that Morall Sabbath which is meant and intended in this fourth Commandment because it is here said The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God For we are well assured that the seventh day is not so to be accounted the Rest of God as if God ceased from his operation on every or on any one seventh day but his Rest was onely in consideration of the Saviour of Mankind because on the first seventh day of the world he formed the Woman as is before shewed and even then on that seventh day and ever since upon every seventh day he hath been operative in governing the world and co-operating with every creature therein without any intermission at all But he is said to rest on that seventh day because then our first parents were compleatly and fully finished and in them was laid the foundation of the future Church that is Christ who together with his holy Members was to be propagated joyntly from the Man and the Woman So that Christ onely was and is the Sabbath or Rest of God and men Upon this reason it was that the seventh day was long after sanctified or set apart for a day of bodily rest that thereby it might be a type figure and ceremoniall remembrance or commemoration of Christ the great and mysterious Sabbath Therefore the Seventh day and the Sabbath day are two distinct and severall things and differ as much as the shadow and the body or as Christ and the Lamb that is as much as Type and Anti-type For as the Lamb literally was not Christ but his figure so the seventh day literally considered was not the Sabbath here meant but typically the shadow or representation thereof Just so the Apostle saith of this seventh-day-Sabbath and of other such like ceremonies that they are a shadow of things to come but the body is Col. 2.
17. Christ The Reader may further observe that it is not here said The seventh day was the Sabbath but Is in the present tense and this because God never declared that the seventh day should be observed untill the daies of Moses although the Godhead did ever from the first seventh day acquiesce in Christ and not onely upon the seventh day but every day and every minute and so will do to eternity when no distinction of daies shall be any more but one everlasting day Therefore they are mistaken that think the seventh day to have been appointed to be observed on the first seventh day of the world as a Sabbath for in all the Histories of the Patriarks before the Flood and also after the Flood in the Mosaicall History of Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Reader will never find the word Sabbath so much as once mentioned untill Moses wrote the History of his own time which was about 24 hundred years after the creation of the world We observe also that in St. Jerom according to the Originall and generally in all the Latin Writers Calvin and all these words are otherwise read than our English Translation hath rendred them for we read them thus The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God but they Septimo die Sabbatum Domini Dei tui est i. e. On the seventh day the Sabboth of the Lord thy God is By these words it may appear that the seventh day was not the true and reall Sabbath here meant but that the celebration and memoriall of the Morall Sabbath was to be performed on the seventh day so that the Sabbath and the seventh day are two distinct things and differ as much as substance and shadow For the Rest of God in Christ is the true Sabbath both of God and men and the corporall rest of men was no more but onely the memoriall and celebration thereof Just so the Fathers spake concerning the great Christian Festivall of the Nativity of Christ on the 8th of the Kalends of January or 25th of December a Cyp. n. 99 Adest Christi Nativitas And b Orig. n. 46. Hieron n. 41. Hodie verus Sol mundo ortus est And c Chrys n. 61. Deus hodie factus est homo And d Aug. de Temp. Ser. 16. Hodie natus est Christus i. e. Now is the Nativity of Christ come This day the true Sun is risen This day was God made Man To day was Christ born In all which passages every one knows that these Fathers meant not that Christ was really born on that very particular day wherein they spake or wrote these words but onely that the celebration of his Nativity was performed on that day So it is here the seventh day was not the true reall and morall Sabbath but onely the day appointed for the memoriall and celebration of that Sabbath for the true Sabbath was the rest of God and men in Christ and the seventh day was the time appointed for the celebration thereof Nazianzen saith of Christian Festivalls e Naz. O. rat 39. Festi celebratio est memoria Dei i. e. Christian Festivals are but memorials of God So God himself said of the Sabbath-Feast Verily my Sabbath ye shall keep for it is a signe between me and you that ye may know that I am the Lord JEHOVA that doth sanctifie you In it thou shalt not do any work First this branch doubtlesse belongeth onely to the Ceremoniall Jewish or seventh-day Sabbath but not at all to the true substantiall Sabbath and therefore it doth not in the least concern us Christians by vertue of this Law because the seventh day or Saturday-Sabbath is antiquated and quite gon 2. If this branch did belong to the Morall Sabbath or if the sanctifying of the seventh day were the onely Sabbath meant in this Commandment surely it would be a great sin to do any of the prohibited works on that day in any case of necessity or inconvenience because the Morall Law of God is indispensable and so may not be transgressed upon any pretence whatsoever as is before shewed 3. If this branch were Morall it must needs be in force at this day and then No fire must be kindled Exod. 35. 3. No sticks gathered Numb 15. 32. Nor Manna Exod. 16. 26. No burden carried Neh. 13. 19. Jer. 17. 21. No journeying or going out of our place Exod. 16. 29. No harvest-work Exod. 34. 21. In a word we might not feed our Cattle or milk our Kine or draw a Beast out of a pit nor perform the works of Surgery of Midwifery or quench a burning house But if we can shew that such works were done on the seventh day and also that they are sufficiently warranted to be inoffensive to God then I trust the Reader will perceive that this prohibition of works doth not at all belong to the keeping of the true morall and everlasting Sabbath but onely to the Jewish sanctifying of their ceremoniall and temporall Sabbath And therefore this Law was dispensable in case of necessity or of charitable convenience as may thus appear 1. The Israelites performed the works of Journeying and War in their marching about â—ericho seven daies together one of them must be the Sabbath day This was done by God's expresse command in the Old Testament And in the New Testament there is also expresse mention of a Sabbath day's journey Act. 1. 12. 2. The Priests in the Temple carried fuell and kindled fires offered Sacrifices and baked bread and so as Christ said they profaned Mat. 12. 5. the Sabbath that is the seventh day or ceremoniall Sabbath and yet were blamelesse And this because there was a necessity laid on them even the commandment of God who yet would not have so commanded against his own morall Law 3. As for carrying burdens we know Christ commanded the impotent man to take Joh. 5. 8. take up his bed And for Cures himself performed many on the Sabbath day on set purpose to undeceive the Jews in their Sabbaticall and Pharisaicall superstitions And also excused his own Disciples for gathering corn on the Sabbath 4 As for the works of mercy and charity towards our brethren and even to our poor cattle how many generall precepts have we A righteous man regardeth the life of his Prov. 12. 10. Mat. 12. 11 beast It is Christ's own orgument If a sheep may be lifted out of a pit on the Sabbath day much more may a man in danger be holpen This he grounded on the Word of God by his Prophet Hos 67. I will have mercy and not sacrifice That is God will rather dispense with his own due for a while then thereby retard the works of mercy and compassion The Psalmist saith O Lord thou preservest â—sal 36. 6. man and beast Thus As Moses cast the two Tables of the Law out of his hands and brake them and yet Exod 32. 19. thereby brake
not the Law of God so may the people of God keep and sanctifie the true substantiall Sabbath though with the breach or as Christ said profanation of the seventh day or ceremoniall Sabbath If it be here demanded why God so strictly required a cessation from work and a corporeall Rest on the seventh day seeing he did not expect so exact an obedience thereunto To this we answer That as the seventh day was but the type of the true Sabbath which is Christ so the corporall rest therein was but the figure or signe of our spirituall and eternall rest in Him Therefore as the Ceremoniall or seventh-seventh-day Sabbath in some cases might be transgressed yet without any breach or neglect of the true Sabbath which is Christ so our corporall rest might be disturbed many waies in this life by labours sorrows sufferings and persecutions yet without any disturbance of our spirituall rest comfort settlement joy and peace in the God of all consolation for so Christ hath said These things have I said unto you that in me ye might have peace in the world ye shall Joh. 16. 33 have tribulation For the tribulations of the world do not extinguish or null the peace of God in his servants So he saith again concerning the agonies of this present life Come unto me all ye that labour Mat. 11. 28 and are heavy laden Take my yoke and ye shall find rest unto your souls By which it appeareth that the spirituall Rest or Sabbath in Christ possibly may consist with labours burdens heavinesse and even with bearing the crosse of Christ There is moreover a further reach and reason why God imposed this inconvenient and almost impossible cessation on the seventh-day-Sabbath which we will declare hereafter in its due place CHAP. XVIII The Exposition continued Why the Woman is not here mentioned That sons or servants sinned not by working upon command The miseries of servants Why cattle might not be wrought on Sabbath-daies That strangers were not obliged to Sabbatize except they resided within the Jewish Pale Why cattle are mentioned before strangers Why servants cattle and strangers are not mentioned at the beginning of this Law with the Memento That by these Circumstanstances the seventh-day-Sabbath is proved to be meerly Ceremonial Judaical Thou nor thy son nor thy daughter THey that ask why the wife was not here named may as well ask why the man or husband was not for neither are particularly mentioned because both are alike obliged and both included in this word Thou A woman may have a son and daughter and servantâ— and cattle and a stranger within her gaâ—es especially in her widowhood as well as a man But if they be joyned in matrimony then no need of particular mention of either because both are one The woman was included in the man at the creation of both Male and female created he them And both the Old the New Testament account them as one They Gen. 2. 24 Eph 5. 31. shall be one flesh In Grammar there is Hic haec homo and in Theology the wife is esteemed as haec vir or as St. Jerom translates the originall word Virago and Lyranus yet nearer calls the woman Virâ— Both are invested with superiority over their children and servants and both interested in the fruition of their goods At Heathen marrriages the woman said * Plut. Quaest Rom Ubi tu Câ—ius ego Caia And at our Christian matrimony the man saith With all my worldly goods I thee endow Nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man-servant c. This is added because otherwise the Jews might have thought it no transgression in themselves to have caused their children or servants to work if the parents or masters wrought not But by these words the contrary will appear that if their children or servants were by them compelled to work on their Sabbath day the sin was not to be imputed to the son or servant but to the parents or masters that so commanded For if it had been sin or a transgression of this Law in sons or servants to work upon command and compulsion then it must follow that cattle also even the Ox and the Asse must have been under the obligation of this Commandment and they also must have sinned as †Against Mr. N. Byfield Mr. Brerewood hath observed which to affirm is most ridiculous But if the Jewish sons or servants or subjects had wrought on their Sabbath at their own choice without command or compulsion of their Rulers then the transgression or Sabbath-breach must have been their own and the punishment thereof inflicted on themselves onely and not otherwise Thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant The condition of servants was lamentable their masters power over them was great and so was their cruelty God therefore provided some ease for them otherwise the unmercifull and covetous Jews would have afforded no rest to them at all Neither did the Judaicall Laws of the Jews wholly provide against the cruelty of masters for if a Jew by cruell Ex. 21. 20. stripes had killed his servant the master was not punishable by the Law Judaicall if the abused servant continued alive a day or two after nor except he died under his hand Although no doubt the master sinned against the morall Law Thou shalt not kiil and was therefore answerable to God for murder But their condition under the Gentiles was far worse who had legall power of life and death over them They were not onely bought and sold like cattle but also esteemed as vile or worse than their beasts One makes it a question a Tul. Offic. l. 3. Utrum equi aâ— servi jactura eligenda Another saith b Aâ—g Ps 143. Cariùs equum quà m servum emunt and another c Ambros n Ser. 41. To. 5. Quidam canum magis quam servorum curam habent Their labours were such as cattle are used for they called them d Laert. in Diogen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they were nothing but feet They ground in the Mill and carried their Masters in Litters great journeys as horses now do And when they were old and past work they were cast out of doors to perish by famin which was the practise of their wise Cato the Elder as e in Cato Major Plutarch saith Besides great were the cruelties and tortures inflicted on poor servants for light or no causes f Juvenal Sat. 6. Pone crucem servo Nil fecerit esto Hoc volo sic jubeo Seneca saith of them g Sen. Epist 47. Tussis sternutamentum magno malo luitur One Vedius Pollio a Roman h Dion in Aug. c. 15. commanded one of his servants to be cast into his pond of Lampries onely for breaking a drinking-glasse And when Pedanius a Roman was secretly slain in his own house the murderers being not known 400 of his houshold-servants were all put to death as i Tacit. Annal lib. 14.
be of things indifferent onely or though against some Laws of God which are but meerly ceremoniall as working on the Jewish Sabbath was then servants must obey actively but if their commands be against the Morall Law of God the servant must in no wise perform his master's command nor obey him therein otherwise than passively by bearing his punishment patiently In this case we have Christ's own direction concerning parents He that loveth father or mother more Mat. 10. 37. Luk. 14. 26. than me is not worthy of me And If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple For although it is not lawfull in any case to hate the persons of our parents otherwise than we must hate or sleight our own lives or souls yet in obedience to God we may and must hate and detest their pernitious commands 4. If this seventh-day Sabbath had been in force from the first seventh day of the world as some have too hotly and unadvisedly affirmed and if the Israelites in their Aegyptian bondage had been thereby obliged to Sabbatize as they must have been if it had been a Morall Law they must have obeyed God rather than men notwithstanding the Aegyptian rigour towards them But surely they had never heard of such Sabbatizing untill they were delivered out of Aegypt For when they petitioned Pharaoh by Moses to have leave to go into the desart three daies journey to sacrifice Exod. 5. 3. it seemed but a pretence for idlenesse and much more would their weekly Sabbatizing have been accounted by him who never had heard of any such thing For surely neither Jacob nor Joseph nor any of those other Patriarks Sabbatized while they continued in Aegypt which they might have done at their first comming and also during the great authority of Joseph and also would if any such morall Law had been imposed on them Therefore if they had neglected their Exod. 5. 4. Bricks upon an allegation of Sabbatizing not onely the inferiour Israelites but even Moses himself and Aaron also had been relegated as one saith Plaut in Asin Apud Fustitudinas Ferri-crepinas insulas Ubi v. vos homines mortu◠incursant boves But in the Babylonish Captivity when this seventh day-Sabbath was actually in force although no doubt the captive Jews were commanded and forced and therefore did work on this seventh day yet they did not offend God thereby because that Law was but ceremoniall and so must give place to necessity and to the great inconvenience of force and stripes In that book intituled Quaestiones Vet. Novi Testamenti which goes under the name of St. Austin The Author very judiciously thus writeth a Aug. parte 2. quaest 23. To. 4. Quod semper non licet non habet excusationem Sabbatum non observare quand que excusationem habet sed Adulterium c. nunquam i. e. That which to do is alwayes unlawful cannot be excused from sin upon any colour whatsoever but the breaking of the Jewish Sabbath-day in some cases is excusable whereas the transgression of the Moral Lawes of God as by Idolatry Perjury Murder Adultery c. is not at all to be excused in any case Thus this Writer evidently sheweth that the Jewish Seventh-day Sabbath was none of the Moral Lawes of God 5. Finally Let it be considered that these words Thou thy Son Servant Cattel and Stranger are not placed at the beginning of this fourth Commandement as Remember is nor mentioned until the Moral part of this Law was described and finished But they are with great wisdome warily reserved to be put into the Ceremonial part thereof because they do not belong to the Moral Sabbath which commandeth the keeping holy or the sanctifying of the Messiah for Cattel cannot sanctifie this Moral Sabbath Nor was there any need of requiring Parents or Masters to cause their Sons or Servants so to do because the Son and Servant were by themselves bound to it and if they did not the sin was in themselves and not in the Parent or Master For the Moral Sabbath which is Christ the Messiah might be kept holy or sanctified by Servants even in the midst of their sorest labours As our Christian Martyrs did keep this Sabbath even in the time when they laboured in the Mettal-mines and also in the midst of flames and other agonies Whereas the Ceremonial or Seventh-day-Sabbath is here appointed to be kept by resting from ordinary works without any mention of any other kind of sanctification which not only Servants and the most ignorant Ideots but Cattel also might keep For so the Heathen Romans had a Festival which they called a Ovid. Fast l. 2. Festum Stultorum And at Syracusa in Sicilie there was a Festival called b Plut. in Nicia Dies Asinarius And among the Greeks a Ovid. Fast l. 2. Feast which they called c Athaeneus l. 3. Porcalia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And another they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i e. The Feasts of Fools Asses Swine and Dogs So indeed the Jewish seventh-Seventh-day Rest or Sabbath was not only for Masters and Servants but also for Cattel as requiring only bodily Rest which therefore Bishop Andrews doubted not to call d B. Andr. Cat. on the 4th Com. Sabbatum Boum Asinorum In a word the Ceremonial Sabbath belonged not only to Men but to Cattel also who had their interest therein Therefore those words Servants and Cattel are joyntly placed in the ceremonial part of this Commandement and not in the morall part thereof with the Memento But the true Moral and Mysterious Sabbath which is Christ belongeth only to Mankind which the great Prophet doth therefore thus describe e Isa 58. 13. Si vocaveris Sabbatum Delicatum Sanctum Domini gloriosum glorificaveris eum i. e. If thou call the Sabbath a Delight the holy of the Lord Honourable and shalt honour him Here the Sabbath is described as a Person and not as only a day as is before observed And these Titles of Delight and Holy of the Lord and Honourable belong only to Christ who is indeed the only true reall and substantiall Sabbath both of God and Man The Stranger or Gentile includeth all other Nations besides the Jews even us Christians also and so the Jews at this day account us but as Gentiles and Strangers although the wall of partition between them and us is broken Eph. 2. 14. down But we Gentiles do at this day keep the true Moral Sabbath which is Christ so do not the Jews And the Jews keep the Saturday shadowie and ceremonial-Sabbath unseasonably now when it is out of date but so do not we Christians except there be any left among us that judaize CHAP. XIX The Exposition continued How God is said to have made all in six dayes and yet that he ended his Work on the Seventh day Why the Creation was
obedience of that Law which is imposed on him by the mighty Creator of Heaven and Earth In the first of these Laws which a man would imagine to be the greatest God useth only this motive I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt This was to move them by way of gratitude to adhere only to him their Deliverer and not to acknowledge any other God But the motive used in this fourth Commandement of sanctifying the Sabbath is far stronger because the deliverance of his people out of bondage might possibly have been performed either by Treaty or by the Arme of flesh without those plagues of Egypt and wonders at the Red Sea for the Israelites were numerous enough to have fought the Egyptians and to subdue them they wanted only Arms and Utensils of Warr which yet might reasonably have either been forced from the Egyptians or supplied by a forrain power we well know â—gypt was not invincible having been so often subdued Now the motive used in this Sabbath Law is proper only to the Almighty and absolutely incommunicable to any Creatures for none but God did or could make heaven and earth which is generally confessed by Heathens Jews and Christians Plato called God a Plut. in Symp. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So by Philo the Jew he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And by Dyonis Areop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And by Nâ—z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And by St. Paul b 2 Cor. 6. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is but The Almighty Father and Maker of the World Among the wise Sentences of old Pythagoras this is recorded for one If any man come and boast that he is God let him create another World and we will believe him And in the holy Scripture This making of Heaven and Earth is often mentioned as a peculiar character of the true God As In the beginning Gen. 1. 1. God created the Heaven and the Earth And Psa 146. 5 Happy is the man whose hope is in the Lord his God which made Heaven and Earth So it is in the New Testament Acts 14. 15. and 17. 24. And by this the true God is differenced from false Gods as The gods that have not made Heaven and Earth shall perish And All the Jer. 10. 11 gods of the Nations are Idols but the Lord made the Heavens And this character of God is put into the very front of our Creed First As a strong motive to incline us to believe and trust in him Secondly To inform the weaker sort of Christians who cannot appreâ—â—end what God is or what to make the object of their faith That it shall be requisite and sufficient for them at first Tâ—â— believe in God under this notion thus Whatsoever he is that made Heaven and Earth in him do I believe for so the Psalmist declareth My help Psa 121. 2 cometh from the Lord which made Heaven and Earth This great motive here used to incline us to sanctifie the Sabbath doth evidently shew that this Sabbath-Law is of greater concernment to us than the first Law is The reason whereof we have declared before * Chap. 5. And moreover That the Sabbath which is here principally meant doth not consist in keeping of a day whether the last day of the week which God imposed upon the people of Israel only and that but for a certain time Or the first day of the week which God never at all commanded But another kind of Sabbath is here commanded to be sanctified which Sabbath being rightly and deeply considered will prove and appear to be that very same Lord God that made Heaven and Earth For we have proved before First That the Sabbath day mentioned in the Moral part of this Commandement doth signifie God the Son because in him only the Godhead can be truly said to Rest and not otherwise Secondly We have proved That the Jewish Seventh day Sabbath was appointed only to be for a type figure and memorial or commemoration of that true and grand Sabbath which is Christ From these premises we here inferre That the making of Heaven and Earth is mentioned in this Commandment on purpose for a motive to incite us to a serious and most reverentiall sanctification of this true reall and substantiall Sabbath because he that is here called the Sabbath day is the great Day-spring from on high and is really He that made heaven and earth So that if we will acknowledge that the Creator of heaven and earth is to be worshipped and sanctified by us then must we also confesse that this Sabbath which is the Son of God is so to be sanctified No learned or prudent Christian I suppose will deny that this Son of God was the Creator of Heaven and Earth or if any do the Scriptures and primitive Church will gainsay them The Fathers expound these words Gen. 1. 1. In the beginning God created to signifie God the Father in God the Son And Joh. 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word that is the Word or Son was in the Godhead even that Word by which all things were made For the Word Principium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Tert. Advers Herm. Tertullian observeth doth not signify onely Ordinativum i. e. a Beginning in respect of the order of time but Potestativum i. e. a Primacy in power and authority For from this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Princes Potentates and Magistrates on earth are by him called * Id. Advers Iâ—daeos Archontes and by others Demarchi i. e. Powers Princes and Rulers of People One of the sayings of Pittacus the Philosopher was b Laert. in Pittac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Magistracy or power will show the disposition of a man Hence also are the words Archangelus in St. Paul Archiepiscopus in Chrysostome and Epiphanius and Archipresbyter and Archidiaconus in St. * Hieron Epist 4. Jerom. As to the appellation Word The Psalmist saith By the Word of the Lord the heavens Psal 33. 6 were made just so the Evangelist tells us All things were made by him That this Word was Joh. 1 3. God the Son every one knowes The Psalmist saith again vers 9. Let all the Earth and all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of of him for he spake the Word and it was done The Word by which the world was made and of which Moses thus wrote God said Let there be light and Let there be a firmament is not to be thought a transient or vocall word as Austin saith c De Civ lib. 11. c. 8. Non sonabili verbo sed intelligibili And by such a word as d In Ioh. Tract 37. Manebat non sonando transibat i. e. The world was made by that internall and substantiall Word which did not passe away from God as our words do from us but by his Word permanent of which St.
John saith The Word was with God and The Word Joh. 1. 1. was God Psal 104. 24. O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all Who this Wisdom and Beginning and Word is by which all things were made the Gospell hath taught us that it is Christ who is not onely the Beginning and the Word as it is said but is also called The Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. And All things were made by him Joh. 1. 3. and All things by him were created that are in heaven and that are in earth Col. 1. 16. The Jews in disparagement of Christ Maâ— 6. 3. Matth. 13 55. called him both a Carpenter and the son of a Carpenter so did Celsus in a Cont. Cels lib. 6. Origen and b Theod. hist. lib. 3. cap. 23. Julian the impious and apostate Emperour Justin Martyr doth indeed affirm that Christ on earth was literally a Carpenter and did make ploughs and yokes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iustin Dial. cum Tryph. Ambr. Ser. 10. but withall both St. Ambrose and St. Austin tell us That he was also that Carpenter that built Heaven and this mighty fabrick of the world Finally because this Son of God Aug. de Temp. Ser. 3â— was both the Creator and also the Sabbath both of God and Men therefore for the sanctifying of him this Motive is here mentioned of making heaven and earth And rested the seventh day Touching this Rest of God what it was and why it is fixed on the seventh day we have said much a Chapter 10 11 12 13 15 1â— before and something more must be added which will be more fit to be discoursed in the next that this Chapter may not swell too big CHAP. XX. The Exposition continued That all the Divine Persons concurred in Creating Resting Blessing and Sanctifying How the Son of God or Second Person is the Rest and Sabbath of the same Son of God How he resteth in himself Of the divers considerations of God the Son in respect of Godhead and Manhood and his severall Appellations respectfully Why the seventh day was preferred above the former six That the Ceremoniall Sabbath was for the memoriall of the Resting and not of the Working of God And Rested the seventh day THe more literall and exact reading of these words is And rested on the seventh day for thus St. Jerom renders them Requievit die septimo and the Clementine-Edition In die septimo For it was not the day that was considered by the Godhead but something that was performed on that day that occasioned this Rest which if it had been so done on any other of the former six daies certainly it would have been said of that day as it is of this that God rested on it What that thing was we have shewed before at large namely that it was in consideration of the Messiah or Christ It would now be enquired what is meant by The Lord who is here said to have made heaven and earth and to blesse and sanctifie the Sabbath day whether it be meant of the Person of the Father onely or of the Person of the Son or of the Person of the Holy Spirit or of all of them because all and every one of them is the Lord and the Creator and the Sanctifier Of the Father no man doubteth and of the Son we have proved before and of the holy Ghost holy Job saith By Job 26. 13 his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens and the Psalmist also Thou sendest forth thy Spirit Ps 104 30 and they are created and the Church at the opening of Councils used to sing that Hymn in St. Ambrose which beginneth a Inter Hymnos Ambros To. 5. Veni Creator Spiritus For when our Vulgar Catechisms ascribe Creation to the Father and Redemption to the Son and Sanctification to the holy Ghost we are not so to understand them as if these actions were of each severall person or as if the Father had no interest in our Redemption or Sanctification nor the Son or Spirit in Creation far be it from us to think so But we believe that the whole Godhead and every Person therein did joyntly co-operate in all these acts Indeed the Father created but it was in and by the Son and both by the holy Ghost So the Son Redeemed but it was from the Father and by the Spirit So the holy Ghost Sanctifieth but he doth it from the Father and the Son So also in this place the Rest of God is not to be accounted the Rest of one single Person onely but of the whole Godhead and of every one of the Three most holy Persons therein If it be now granted that the Son of God is this Lord and Creator that made heaven and eaâ—th and He that is here said to Rest and also He that is the onely Rest and Sabbath both of God and of us Men which we have proved before then it must follow that the Rest it self is here said to Rest and the Sabbath it self to rest in the Sabbath and the Son of God must be the Sabbath of the same Son of God Which at our first hearing may seem to be a violent Exposition which yet is not so as will presently appear The Reader may easily apprehend that although God is entirely One yet he is often represented to us under diverse and severall notions and capacities as if he were not the One and the same God for so this Son of God who is the onely God is set forth in Scripture and is so by us to be apprehended and believed as Immortaâ—l and yet mortall as the Mâ—ker of all things and yet made that he was from Eternity and yet born in time the Father of all men and yet the Son of man the Creator of his Mother and yet her Son All these speeches are true of this Son of God considered in his severall and respective capacities neither ought they to seem incredible or strange because we find the like diversities in one and the same Man One in Plutarch said openly to a King sitting in judicature a Plâ—t in Apoph Provoco à Philippo ad Philâ—ppum I appeal from King Philip to King Philip but in another temper So Nazianzen representeth the same person both as a Judge and as one arraigned b Naz. Eâ—ist 79. Te accuso apud te justum judicem So doth St. Ambrose to one as if he were both Client and Counsellor c Ambr. Ser. 64. Stulto consiliario usus es teipso Upon these words Psal 140. 1. Deliver me O Lord from the evill man St. Austin saith d Aug. Hom 29. de Temp. Ser. 233. à te â—e liberat i. e. God doth deliver a man from himself And upon those words Deliver us from evill he saith Deus te liberat à teipso malo We have a Proverb that a man is his own neighbour c Proximus egomet mihi
Ter. And we often read of Alter tu and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Ille ego and Ego ille as if a man were another and not himself Just so the forenamed Father speaketh of God * Aug. in Joh. Tract 27. Domine repellis nos à te da nobis alterum te So we may often observe Pâ—eachers in their Prayers appealing from God to God when they mean from God as considered onely in his Court of Justice to the same God as sitting in his Temple of mercy which is onely Christ In like manner the great Apostle speaketh of God and of Christ severally as of two 2 Tim. 4. 1. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and this is usuall in Scripture †Act. 4. 2â— Rom. 1. 7. 1 Cor. 1. 3 Although we know that the Lord Jesus is that very same God But the Second Person in the Trinity is described in holy Writ as if he were distinct and different from himself and this is in regard of a two fold consideration of his Person First If we look on him and consider him onely in his pure Divinity then according to the Scriptures we call him The mighty Isa 9. 6. God the everlasting Father The Creator by whom all creatures were made God the Word God the Son And the eternall Son of the eternall Father And the Lord JEHOVA Of him it is said Thy throne O God is for ever and ever Secondly When we consider him together with his assumed Human Nature then we call him Messiah Christ God's Annointed Emmanuel The Word made fleâ—h God incâ—rnate God manifested in the flesh God in the likenesse of sinfull flesh In the form of a servant Made of a woman and The Son of man Which appellations cannot appertain to this Second â—erson but onely in respect of his Incarnation The Premises being acknowledg'd and granted these Mysteries will be discover'd 1. How God the Son is both the Creator of all creatures and also the Rest or Sabbath of the God head 2. How the Son of God may be truly said to Rest in himself 3. How the Rest it self is said to Rest in it self and the Sabbath in the Sabbath All which the Reader will understand by considering these few Aphorisms following which are deducible from those two Considerations of the Person of Jesus just now mentioned 1. The Son of God considered onely in his pure Divinity is the Lord and the Creator who is here said to Rest 2. The Son of God considered in respect onely of his Godhead cannot be truly called the Rest or Sabbath of God and Men. The reason is because the Sabbathship of this Son of God conâ—steth not in his pure Divinity for if so then this Sabbath which is fixed onely on the first seventh day must have been before and also from eternity But it consisteth in consideration of the human Nature assumed into personall union with the Divine Nature 3. The Son of God considered onely as incarnate or as the Son of man or as Christ cannot be called the Creator of the world The reason is because the Creation was performed by this Son of God before the foundation of his Incarnation was wholly laid as is shewed before or before he could be called the Son of man 4. The Son of God is and may be truly called the Rest or Sabbath of the same Son of God This Proposition is thus to be understood That God the Son or Word who is the onely eternall God did and still doth rest in himself so as is said in this Commandment but his so resting is onely in consideration of his Incarnation and as he is Emmanuel and not otherwise So that he is not to be called the Sabbath or Rest either of himself or of us men as he is onely the Son of the Father but as he is also the Son of his mother for in this consideration onely he is styled in his Types the Rest of the Godhead and the Resting place the Habitation the Temple the Delight and the well-beloved Son in whom God is well pleased or as Beza most judiciously rendreth those words in whom the Godhead doth acquiess as is before noted This is that Sabbath or Sabbatism of which the Apostle speaketh Heb. 4. 9. that there remaineth a Rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the people of God The sum and conclusion is 1. The Son of God is the Creator even of the Son of man and of all the world 2. The Son of man is the Rest or Sabbath of the Son of God and of all holy men Rested the Seventh day In the whole History of the Creation we find mention but of seven daies and no more for all succeâ—ding daies are but the re-iteration of the first seven Of these seven the last onely is blessed and graced with the Rest of God and therefore preferred before the first day wherein Heaven was made and also before the sixth day wherein Man was created And this without any injury or slur to any of the former daies When the noble Generall The mistocles was twitted and repined at by some succeeding and inferiour Commanders because he only had the name glory of those Victories which had been obtained by their joynt-labours and valour the Generall answered them with this Apologue Once said he the working-day contended with the Holy-day for preheminence upon this reason that the Working-day by labours and molestations prepared all things ready for the solemnity but the Holy-day without labour onely rested in quietnesse and enjoyment of those labours The Holy-day replyed * Plut. Quaest Rom. Sed eâ—o nisi fuissem in nunquam esses i. e. Had it not been for the Holy-day Working-daies had not been at all His meaning was that without his wisdom and policy whom they accounted but as an idle Holy-day they had all been defeated captivated and utterly lost So is it here The seventh-day is therefore preferred before all other the former daies because it represented the great Creator of all daies and the Redeemer of the Man and the Woman and of all their posterity without whom no daies had been at all or if any had been yet without this Sabbath they had been to us but daies of misery and but wofull Parasceues against the day of wrath Whereas this mysterious Rom. 2. 5 Rom. 5. 9. Sabbath is he by whom we shall be saved from wrath Wherefore as all the elder sons of Jesse passed before the Prophet and not one of them was chosen to the honour of Unction that it might be reserved for the youngest even David so not one of the elder dayes is graced with the honour of God's Resting but that preferment is deservedly reserved for the last or youngest day which day did indeed signifie David yet not the literal or typical David but Christ the Son of David who is very often in Scripture expresly called David as Jer. 30. 9. Ezek. 34. 23. Hos 3. 5.
In a word he that understands in what particular thing the Rest of God consisteth may by the same easily apprehend why it is fixed on this seventh day Wherefore the Lord blessed c. That which our English readeth Wherefore St. Jerom and the Latines generally read Therefore idcircò From which word we observe that the Judaicall or Ceremoniall Sabbath was not appointed in consideration of the work of Creation or that men should on that day contemplate and meditate onely on the creatures of the world although those wonderfull works are also right worthy of our serious consideration and should be a great motive to incite us to glorisie the Almighty Creator but it was principally ordained to put both the Jews and us Christians also in mind of the Rest of God and to move us all to consider in what this Rest consisteth which doth far more concern us and our happinesse than all the world without it because otherwise neither the world nor any creatures therein nor the perfect knowledge by our Studies and Arts of all the excellencies and secrets thereof can bring us to that everlasting Rest which was but typically figured by this Ceremoniall Sabbath For What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul Mat. 16. 26. Now that this Wherefore or Therefore relateth to the Rest of God and not to his creating of the world we are expresly taught by Moses who tells us That God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his works So that the Gen. 2. 3. Rest of man on that day was afterwards enacted by a Law for a memoriall of the Resting and not of the Working of God Concerning the blessing and sanctifying whereof we are next to enquire CHAP. XXI The Exposition concluded The meaning of blessing and hallowing the Sabbath day The difference of hallowing God's Name and hallowing of Creatures and of the differences of Holiness When the Seventh day was first hallowed and how it was dis-hallowed Something of Sacrilege How the Prophets spake truly of things to come as if they had been past Of the Prophetical figure called Anticipation with Rules and Examples thereof applied to this Sabbath The Lord blessed the Sabbath day or Seventh day THe Leiturgie of the Church of England readeth the Seventh day but the Original hath the Sabbath day Both are read indifferently as Gen. 2. 3. hath the Seventh day and so have some of the other languages in this Commandement as appeareth in the late incomparable and renowned work of our new Great Bible Indeed both are one in this place For the Sabbath Ceremonial is but the Seventh day and the Seventh day only is that Sabbath which is here meant it being but a Sabbath Typical Blessed the Sabbath day To blesse Benedicere is to speak some good of it as in the Leiturgie of St Basil this Prayer is found a Basil n. 2 Domine loquere bonum in cor Regis pro Ecclesia tua When God blesseth he conferreth some favour or special priviledge as here on the Sabbath day such as it was capable of and in order to that purpose for which it was blessed which was to signifie Man's Rest in Christ The blessing of a Day is not like his blessing of a Man on whom by blessing he doth effectually conferre something that is beneficial to him as spirituall Graces or temporal Favours as in Children Lands Cattel Basket and Store mentioned Deut. 28. and as Isaac blessed his Sons with the dew of Heaven and fatnesse of the Earth But the Sabbath being uncapable of such benedictions the blessing of it must consist in such respects as these 1. God chose that day for his own Mysterious Rest 2. He appointed that day only and not any of the other six to be for a memorial to his people of the grand blessing of their Rest in Christ 3. He ordained it for a corporal rest both for Men and Cattel 4. He gave most strict command upon pain of capital punishment for the keeping thereof 5. He appointed larger Sacrifices on that day than on the former dayes 6. He appointed a larger portion of Manna on the Parasceue as a provision for the Sabbath 7. He appointed this holy day to be weekly that is two and fifty times in the year whereas other Festivals except new-Moons were but once These or such like are the blessings thereof And hallowed it Hallowed is holied or sanctified The meaning is that God designed it to be an holy or hallowed day To be an hallowed or sanctified day is to be divided separated or distinguished from other common dayes by way of preferment honour and preheminence and to be set apart so as that work which might lawfully have been done on that day before it was hallowed might not be done on it after the hallowing thereof We read of hallowed or holy oyl holy vessels holy vestments and holy places which might not be used or applied to any other service but that only for which they were hallowed and destinated So this hallowed day was not to be imployed in common works as other unhallowed dayes were for that would have been a profanation thereof but it was wholly to be bestowed and spent in the service of God the Sanctifier by the serious and thankful consideration of that blessed Rest which he had procured and designed for Man And this hallowed use was to continue from the first institution thereof untill the period and repealing of it by the same God who hallowed it Which was performed evidently by Jesus Christ who is the same God which did sanctifie it and this he did not untill God had actually and visibly exhibited in the â—lesh the reall and substantial accomplishment of that Typical Ceremonial and Temporary Sabbath in the Person of the said Lord Jesus But yet during the vigour and continuance of this hallowing the Sabbath day was not altogether and absolutely quitted from all manner of working We know the Priests did then work hard and Souldiers marched and other works were lawfully done the reason was because this Sabbatical Hallowing was but meerly figurative and ceremonial and therefore dispensable in case of pressing necessity and charitable accommodation toward our brethren and in duty to God and also because such workings are commanded by a Superiour Law even the Moral Law of God whereby we are required To love the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbour as our self This Law hath been in force ever since the Creation was finished and so shall continue until the end of the World but the hallowing of the Seventh day was neither from the beginning nor was it to last to the end of the World being but Ceremonial and Temporary and therefore ought to give place to the Law Moral We find Hallowing or Holiness applied diversly to several things and for divers considerations First There is an Holiness Essential which is only
first Heaven then Earth When the Heaven of Angels was made That their Heaven was intended principally for mankind Why Heaven and Earth are mentioned together Why the making of Hell is not mentioned although it was prepared within the first six daies Why the Creation is mentioned in this fourth Commandment and not in any of the other nine That the Morall Sabbath doth signifie the Creator which is God the Son That he is called the Beginning the Word and the Wisdom of God and is therefore here commanded to be sanctified CHAP. XX. The Exposition continued That all the divine persons co-operated and joyned in Creating Resting Blessing and Sanctifying How the Second Person or Son of God is the Rest or Sabbath of the same Son of God How he resteth in himself Of the divers considerations of God the Son in respect of his Godhead and Manhood Of his severall Appellations respectively Why the seventh day was preferred above the former six That the seventh-day-Sabbath was instituted for a memoriall of the Resting and 〈…〉 of God CHAP. XXI The Exposition concluded The meaning of blessing and hallowing the Sabbath day The difference of hallowing God's Name and hallowing of Creatures The differences of Holinesse When the seventh day was first hallowed How and when it was dis-hallowed Something of Sacriledge How the Prophets spake truly of things to come although they spake as if they had been past Of the Propheticall figure called Anticipation The directions of the Fathers and Scripturall examples thereof applied to this Sabbath CHAP. XXII Reasons why God having conferred honours on the seventh day did also lay some slurs upon it as 1. That this Day-Sabbath was not made known till Moses time nor at all mentioned by zealous David nor this Sabbath-Law by Christ 2. In that God expresly commanded some works on that day 3. That no Manna fell on it 4. That Christ lay dead on that whole day 5. That God called it but a signe and that it was nothing else 6. That it is said to be made for man 7. That it was impossible to be generally kept and also inconvenient occasionally to the Jews The Conclusion That the impossibility both of the seventh-day-Sabbath and also of the Morall Law was designed by God on purpose to drive man to seek for Rest and Salvation onely in the Lord Jesus Christ Errata PAg. 5. line 8. read force and necessity p. 8. l. 3. tell us p. 13. l. 27. Judaical p. 25. l. 6. Onera p. 26. l. 23. Judaical p. 32. l. 31. We are p. 34. l. 16. Judaico p. 37. l. 6. Speaketh p. 41. l. 23. Pharisaical p. 46. l. 34. killing law p. 48. l. 5. Law of God p. 65. l. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 89. l. 17. intermundium l. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 107. l. 6. God added p. 134. l. ult And in him p. 166. l. 16. judicial l. 20. judicial p. 168. l. 1. 10 act a part p. 227. l. 1. Jeremie In the Margin p. 13. l. 1. Ignatius p. 125. l. 3. Laertius in Diog. De minutioribus viderit lector The Mystery of the Sabbath Discovered The Sabbath Morall CHAP. I. The Church disturbed about the Doctrine of the Sabbath Of Sunday-Sabbatism Of works practised therein and Recreations forbidden That the celebration of Sunday is pious although not commanded by the Fourth Commandment How the Antient Patriarks did Sabbatize yet kept not a Seventh day That the ten Commandements are still in force A passage in St. Austin and Isychius explained and an abuse of the Commandements in the Roman Catechism shewed THE various opinions of men in the Doctrine of the Sabbath as it is delivered in the Fourth Commandment of the Morall Law hath more disturbed the Christian Church in these latter times then they did the Fathers the Zealous Christians in the Church Primitive yet then was the Doctrin of the Sabbath mistaken and perverted by Ebion who taught that Christians should necessarily keep the Jewish Hebdomarie or seventh-day Sabbath as some among us have done and is therefore by a Epiph. haer 30. Epiphanius and b Theod. haer fab Lib. 2. Theodoret branded with the mark of a Judaizing Heretick And now although the rejection of the Jewish Seventh-day-Sabbath is almost generally agreed among us yet a new Sabbath is set up on the Eighth day or first day of the week to be observed with as great strictnesse as the old Sabbath was on the Seventh day by the Pharisees for now not only labouâ—s are forbidden but also honest recreations such as we do not find to have been forbidden by those very Jewish zelots Which late strictnesse hath given an occasion or pretence to some to think it to be required rather in opposition to former permissions then for any new light or religious zeal because they have observed that by order of the same Superiors who forbad Recreations Souldiers have been commanded to march and the utensils and luggage of War Carts Wagons Artillary have been drawn out and most cruell bloody battells fought on that very new Sabbath-day and all this upon pretence of either private personall necessity or necessity publik which is now called Reason of State whereupon some of the approved Preachers of these times have openly in the Pulpit declared their dislike and said that now the State Civil is become like a Ship and the Church like a Cock-boat which must follow the motions and turnings of that Ship of State intimating hereby that our Religion must be reformed so as to be subservient to the interest and accommodations of the Civill governors which is quite contrary to the desires of those men who hoped and expected that their Kyrk should have bin made the Ship and the State should have bin the Cock-boat Mose and Aaron were brethren and agreed that Moses might be directed by Aaron in Spiritualls and Aaron Supported by the Brachium temporale or civill authority of Moses for stablishing true Doctrine and godly Discipline which formerly was the happy and peaceable usance of this kingdome wherein the state civill was supreme because as Optatus truly said against the disturbing Donatists c Optat. lib. 3. p. 83. Non est Respublica in ecclesia sed ecclesia in Republica est i. e. The Commonwealth is not included in the Church but the Church is in the Commonwealth And yet the civil power will not excuse those governors before God which authorise the breaking of the Commandments and Moral law of God For if the Seventh-day Sabbath practised in the Jewish Commonwealth or the Eighth among Christians which some yet call the Sabbath were indeed one of the ten Commandments of God which certainly are moral and perpetual then did the Jewes sin in performing the works of Warr and of Circumcision and Midwifery and Sacrificing at the Tabernacle and Temple on their Sabbath day And if our Sunday be really commanded by this morall law of
God or grounded thereon by a moral equity as some have untruly affirmed then neither private necessities nor publick reason of State can quit us from the guilt of Transgression thereof The Rule of Divines is which I firmly beleeve to be true Non licet in quavis necessitate leges Dei morales seu naturales violare i. e. It is not lawfull in any case of necessity to violate the moral or naturall lawes of God For example In the times of Persecution the ordinary commands of Persecutors were a Optat. lib. 3. Nega Deum Incende Testamentum Thus pone i. e. Deny thy God Burn the Book of God Worship the idol And these were injoyned upon pain of present torment and death And what greater necessity can be imagined then these and yet the Martyrs refused life upon such unlawfull conditions Joseph would not yield to adultry with his lady though he knew the consequence of imprisonment nor the 3 Hebrews Gen. 39. Dan. 3. worship the golden imâ—ge though they were assured of the fiery furnace All inconveniences dangers and necessities must submit to the moral law of God better it is to buâ—n or die then to deny Christ or blaspheme God and bear false witnesse There is a necessity to obey God but no necessity of continuing our naturall life by ungodly means In times of Persecution the Martyrs might have escaped torment if Necessity might have excused them But it is far otherwise in lawes meerly Ceremonial whether Jewish or Christian the transgression of this sort of lawes is excusable by necessity if it be a true real and pressing necessity in this case the Proverb will take place Aug. in Soliloq c. 2. To. 9. Necessitas non habet legem i. e. Necessity hath no law and Inter arma silent leges Lawes humane are dumb in time of Warr. Therefore because the Seaventh day Sabbath of the Jewes was meerly a law Ceremonial it might without sin upon necessity be slighted Upon this reason it was that Mattathias the wise and zealous Macchabean priest with his associates decreed and first taught the Jewes that they might upon necessity fight and repell their enemies on the Sabbath day as we read both in b Ios Antiq l. 12. cap. 9. 1 Mac. 2. 41. Josephus 1 Maccab. 2. 41. So likewise the Jewes of Antioch when they were by force of necessity compelled refused not to Work on their Sabbath day as the same Josephus reporteth And our Saviour excuseth his disciples for plucking eares of corne and causeth c Jos de Bello lib. 7 Mat. 12. Iohn 5. the impotent man to cary his bed and declareth that the priests who by their great labours about sacrifices in the Temple do profane the Sabbath yet are blamelesse Thus David did in necessity of hunger eat the holy Shewbread and the people of Israell for 40 yeares together in the wildernesse abstained from Circumcision as being very dangerous in their marches although it was imposed on them with great 2. Chron. 30. 2. Ex. 12. charge And in the dayes of Good Hezekiah the Passeover was celebrated in the second month which was otherwise then the law prescribed Ex. 12. All these things were done upon necessity or some usefull convenience without any offence to God * because the Sabbath day and Circumcision and Shewbread Num. 9. 11. and Passeover were but Ceremonialls and not morall lawes I doubt not but aged Eleazar the 7 brethren mentioned both by h Josephus d Iosep de Maccab. 2 Mac. c. 6. 7. and in 2 Macchab. cap. 6. 7. who were put to cruel tortures and death for refusing to eat Swines-flesh offered to Idols might have eaten thereof in that necessity and have saved their lives without offence to God because that law was but Ceremonial Only they knew their eating might have given Scandal or offence to their brethren the Jewes and therefore they abstained just as St. Paul saith in the like case 1 Cor. 10. 27. 28. Whatsoever is seâ— before you eaâ—e asking no question for conscience sake But 1 Cor. 10. 27. if any say unto you This is offered in sacrifice unto Idols eat not for his sake that shewed it Just so it is with our Christian Ceremonies whereof Sundâ—y is one and therefore the Solemnity and celebration therof in case of pressing dangers and necessities may be omitted But let us be sure that the said necessities be so indeed and not sinfull or contracted by our own faults or only pretended and then God will excuse us though some men will not Thus some Christians in time of Persecutions were condemned to the mines and listed under the title Metallicae Condemnationis and were forced there to sore work every day Sunday all as we read in Eusibius Hilarie Chrysostome â— Eus Hist l. 8. c. 13. Hil. cont Constant lib. â— Chrys de laudibus Martyrum hom 70. So at this day those Christians who are in Slavish captivity under the Turks are compelled to undergo hard labours even on Sundays and yet thereby neither the former Christian Confessors nor these do offend God which yet they would if our Sunday were a branch of the moral law of God There is not I think any good and prudent christian that doth not approve of most willingly submit to an holy celebration of our Christian Sunday although they do not think it to be enforced by virtue of the 4th CoÌ„mandment of the moral law or any equity thereof but upon another reason and ground because the equity pretended must be derived not from the Moral Sabbath but from the Jewish Ceremoniall Seaventh-day-Sabbath the equity whereof is only this That as God under the law required one day in seaven to be Sanctified as a figure and shadow of his people's rest in their Messiah to come So the Christian Church hath ordained one day in Seaven to be a memoriall of our rest in the same Messiah our Saviour who is come and our Sunday may also be called a kind of shadow as the Jewish Seaventh day was only their shadow went before the body as shadows somtimes do and our shadow followeth after the body for the body of both is Christ The Sabbath which is truly Moral and perpetual and which is intended meant and injoyn'd in the 4th Commandment is another manner of Sabbath much differing from the Jewish seventh day Sabbath or the Christians Sunday and is not such a sabbath as is by many now adayes supposed neither is the vigor and force of that Sabbath-Commandment as yet antiquated or expired but standeth in as full strength and in an obliging power as much or rather more then it had during the Jewish Synagogue or before the incarnation of our Lord. And I trust I shall make it appear that this Sabbath-law is written in our hearts evidently and convincingly as much or rather more than any other of those Moral Lawes and that this Sabbath was to be kept
Sabbath which in the fourth Commandment is so strictly required and that with a Memento also more than any other Commandment as being indeed the greatest of them all and most nearly concerning our everlasting Rest and Happiness as hereafter will appear CHAP. V. Of the Fourth Commandment what part of it is moral and what Ceremonial Why a Ceremonial is taken into the Ten Commandments Of the Memento and some other Prerogatives proper to this fourth Commandment The Excellent benefit of this Sabbath-law Why it is placed in the middle of the Commandments How the whole law is performable by men FOr the right understanding of this great mysterious Sabbath we must first diligently examin the words of the fourth Commandment which I here set down fully as I find them recorded Ex. 20. 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work But the seaventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant nor thy Cattel nor the stranger that is within thy Gates For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seaventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it All our learned Divines generally agree thus farr that this Commandment is partly Moral so that the Moral part thereof is to be obeyed and kept at this day and also during the continuance of the world They also agree that part of it is Ceremonial appertaining only to the Jewes and binding them to the observation thereof until their Mâ—ssiah came in the flesh and was made known unto that people or during the Pedagogie of them or at most during the Judaical state and politie All this I conceive to be very true But the main difficulty consisteth onely in the right dividing this Commandment by seperating the Moral and everlasting part from that part which is but Ceremonial and temporal and typical Which that I may truely and Christianly perform I here most earnestly implore the assistance and illumination of thy Divine spirit O gratious Lord Jesus that in this needfull and concerning mystery I may appeare to thee and to thy Church as thy servant Paul exhorted Timothie a workman rightly dividing the word of truth For the understanding whereof I here present â— Tim. 2. 15. to the Consideration of the pious and learned Reader What after much labour of mind and long deliberation and after diligent and serious Consulation with the Ancient Fathers I have conceived to be the true and most necessary meaning of this Commandment and what is the right Division or Seperation of the Moral Mysterious and Perpetuall part thereof from that which is only Typicall Ceremoniall and Temporall And what part of that precept bindeth us Christians to observe it as it did also the Ancient Israelites and the Patriarks and Prophets and even Adam himselfe and all his posterity And also what part thereof was proper to and concerned only the Mosaicall or Judaical people and doth not at all concern the Christians or Gentiles nor did in the least oblige the Patriarks which lived and died before the dayes of Moses The want or neglect of a right distinction of these differing parts of this Commandment in our later Theological Writers hath occasioned much trouble heart-burnings and Schisms among Christians and also many Phraisaicall curiosities in the observation of an eighth day Sabbath Which was never intended to be put upon the people of God by this 4th Commandement And moreover it hath also obscured the most needfull most holy and Mysterious Sabbath Spirituall by which we only can expect an eternall and heavenly Sabbath and salvation of our Souls and bodies For many good pious and well-meaning Christians are hereby mislead into the same arror and mistake that the Jews were in by thinking that the whole and ultimate duty commanded and intended in this 4th Comandement consisteth only in keeping holy One day of Seaven Which is but a very mean and low conceipt and far short of the High and Weighty intendment of that Precept and is also a very stumbling Block in the way to retard men from apprehending the true Sabbath therein secretly and mysteriously Veiled Which is Christ Who only is the everlasting Sabbath or Rest both of the Godhead and also of us Men. It is now time that I set down plainly what I conceive to be the Moral part of this Commandment and in what words it is contained that so it may appear how much of that long Precept concerneth us at this day and is an everlasting Law and a law Naturall and Written in Mans heart and binding not only Christians and Jews but Heathens and even all Nations as also it did all the Patriarchs before Moses was born and before it was written in stone These are the words Ex. 20. 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy In these few words is contained the whole Morality of that Law So that no more of the words are to be accounted Moral or binding us for all the following words are but a branch of the Ceremoniall law And although they are here joyned with the truly Moral Sabbath and also by the same God written in the same Tables of Stone Notwithstanding this will not make them to be a Moral law because they are so annexed for this reason only to serve as a Type and figure of the Grand Sabbath To keep the Israelites mindfull by a weekly Sabbath or rest of that everlasting Rest which they were to expect in their Messiah and not otherwise For now we see that all learned Divines have rejected and the whool Christian world have long since disused the old Jewish Typical or Seaventh-day Sabbath These later words which are so annexed to the fourth Morall Law are to be considered by themselves in their proper place but for present we must insist only on the former words which I have affirmed to be truly moral and an everlasting law For the understanding whereof the Reader may observe divers things Considerable and some of them proper and peculiar to this Commandment so as not to be found in any other of the Nine 1. In those words recited There is no mention of the Seaventh day for that was meerly Typical and Ceremonial but the Sabbath-day Therefore surely there must be understood some other Sabbath day besides the Seventh day Sabbath for otherwise it had bin enough to have said Remember the Seaventh day to keep it holy But the Seaventh day is one thing and the Sabbath day is another They differ as much as Shadow and Substance as Type and Antitype as Signum Signatum i. e. as the bare signe from that which is signified thereby for the Jewish Seaventh-day-Sabbath which was but only a signe and shadow of the Substantial Mysticall and Spiritual Sabbath which is Christ 2. To this
Commandment the Word Remember is prefixed as a John Baptist or fore runner of Christ which Memento we find not in any of the other Nine Surely there is something in this Commandement of most weighty concernment and more than is in any other of the nine for if in this Commandment God had only intended the keeping of the Seaventh day which we know was but temporary and to be left in its due time he would not have said Remember Because all those lawes which are truly Moral are also unexpirable and undispensable and to be kept at least to the end of the world and this Sabbaticall law especially so long and longer also even to Eternity therefore it deserves a Remember From this Memento Some doe argue that the Seaventh day Sabbath was observed before the dayes of Moses as if Remember related only to former usances If that were true it will make against their Seaventh day Sabbath and for our truly Morall Sabbath i. e. Christ because they may see that the Memento is prefixed to the Sabbath day but not to the Seaventh Day for that was not alwaies to be remembred 3. In this Sabbatical Commandment we finde not only a Memento going before but also another remembrance following after it as a type and shadow of the grand Sabbath for direction of God's people as the Pillar of â—ire and Cloud sometimes before and sometimes behind the Israelites Ex. 14. 19. For so it pleased God to ordain a weekly Shaddowy Sabbath to keep them in a continuall remembrance and expectation of their Messiah in whom only true certain eternall Rest was to be found Indeed Joshuah was to lead them into the Earthly Rest of the land of Canaan the land of Promise but he was but a type of the Messiah and is therefore called Jesus Acts 7. 45. Heb. 4. 8. and Canaan but a shadow of heaven and the weekly Sabbath but a figure of the Substantiall Sabbath Only their Messiah our Jesus was to lead his people into the blessed and everlasting Sabbath or Rest in heaven Now the adding an annexion of a ceremonial type to this Sabbaticall and Moral law which is not found in any other of the Nine doth cleerly shew that the Grand Sabbath here intended is of the most weighty and Considerable concernment of all and is therefore most principally to be Remembred For if it were possible for us men precisely to keep all the other Nine Commandments such a performance would not be Sufficient for our Eternall Rest without the keeping of this For this Sabbath is Christ in whom alone resideth all our hope and confidence of heaven there is none other name whereby we must be saved Acts. 4. 12. And moreover although we have transgressed and broken all the other Nine yet if we shall afterwards constantly and faithfully keep this Sabbath we shall find therein an help and remedy to preserve us from the dangerous consequences that otherwise will follow us upon such disobedience The consideration of that terrible sentence in the Law Deut. 27. 29. Cursed is he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them and of that in the Gospel Jam. 2. 10. Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offead in one point is guilty of all may drive Christians to restlesness of conscience and dispaire if this Sabbath or Rest in Christ be not apprehended which is principally that One point in which we must be most cautelous Christ himself hath said Mat 10. 32. Whosoever shall confess me before men him will I confess But whosoever shall deny me totally finally him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven The two Tables of this moral law would Plut. in vit Soloâ— in Moral be to us most uncomfortable and formidable and like those cruel Graecian laws of Draco and Lycurgus which are said to be written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a in blood and death because all transgressions were by them Capitally punished These divine lawes would be far more severe in everlasting punishments if they were not mollified by a gracious Sabbath law Aust saith he disrellished that famous book of Cicero called Hortensius b Aug. conf l. 2. 4. Quod nomen Christi non erat ibi i. e. Because the name of Christ was not there and so should we these two tables if Christ were not included therein But blessed be our gracious Law giver there we find Christ under the name and appellation of Sabbath just as in the Gospel he is called Mat. 11. 30. The Lord of the Sabbath this sweet name only maketh this yoke easie and burden light If there were nothing but the bare letter in this Moral Law woe unto us it would be but a kling law and as the Apostle sairh A killing letter if Christ were not in it But there is also in those sacred Tables as the same Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3. 6. a spirit that giveth life that is there is a secret mysterious and spiritual meaning not openly or plainly expressed but implyed and covertly intimated and that spirit is Christ who onely giveth life and he is that mysterious and spiritual Sabbath which is here intended By vertue of this secret spirit this Law which of it self considered in the bare letter doth only as the Apostle saith of it Rom 4. 15. The law worketh wrath becommeth good and vital and bringeth healing in it's wings * viperae cineres medentur morsui lact deira cap. 13. p. 716. There are some venemous and mortiferous creatures which as learned men say have in them an Antidote or remedy to preserve men from the danger of their poyson as we read in Plinie of a Plin. lib. 29. c. 4 Theriaci pastilli i. e. cakes or pills of Treacle made of the venemous viper So in a night-vision a Dragon presented an hearb to Great Alexander which cured his friend Ptolomy of a mortal wound by a poysoned arrow as b Diod. sic lib. 17. Diodorus writeth Antiochus had a Theriaca or Treacle that preserved him against all poysons as the forenamed c Plin. lib. 20. cl 24. Plinie reporteth such as Homer phanfied of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d Homer Odyss lib. 20. Verily this Law which in the letter and outward appearance of it seemeth so deadly and impossible hath in it a pretious and sure Antidote with being faithfully apprehended and piously applied will preserve us from the killing quality thereof and moreover it will shew us how the whole law may by us be perfectly performed And this Antidote is wrapped up and covered in this Sabbath law For the Sabbath is Christ and Christ hath performed the whole law and we that are united to him as members of his mystical body have also in him by him performed the whole law God because we are one with him as the Apostle saith We are members of his body Eph 5. 3. And
Ye are all one in Christ Jesus Gal 3. 28 The Jâ—wes placed this fourth Commandment of the Sabbath not in the last but in the penultimate place of the first table supposing the fifth Commandment of Honouring parents to belong thereunto and therefore they make it the last Commandment of the b jos Antiq l. 3. cap. 4. said first Table as we find both in a Philo. de Haere Divinorum Philo also in Josephus And this they did because they understood not the right meaning â—mportance of this Sabbath-precept But our Christian writers generally present this Sabbath commandment as the last of the first table as standing in the mid'st and confines of both Tables And this they did as may probably be conjectured because they understood that this Sabbath-Law sheweth us the only way and meanes whereby the whole law of both Tables may be by men performed and that is By keeping or sanctifying this mysterious Sabbath which is Christ If it were not for this Sabbath God had herein made such a law for man as never would have bin kept and obeyed and so his laws must have bin like the lawes which * Theod. de Cur. Grae. affect lib. 9. Plato phansied for his imaginarie Common-wealth which were never executed But as one saith of the invention of Poets c Plautus in Pseâ—d Act. 1. sc 4. Poeta cùm tabâ—las cepit sibi Quaerit quod nusquam est gentium reperit tamen As the Poet when he takes his pen seekes that which is no where extant and yet finds it so our Legistaâ—or writes a law requires obedience which was not possible to be found in any of his Leige people and yet finds it in his own Sonne who thereby becomes the Sabbath or Rest both of God and Man For we well know That the Transgression of the law is sin 1 Ioh. 3. 4. That the wages of sin is death Rom. 6 23. That all men are sinners the Psalmist saith There is none that doth good no not on Ps 14. 3. which the Fathers thus read usque ad unum i. e. none but one And yet Christ saith If thou wiâ—t enter into lâ—fe keep the Commandments Math. 19. 17. These words of Christ are most certainly true No entring into life without keeping these Commandments If we enquire How sinful man can be saved and how we have kâ—pt the law The answer can be none other but this That the law is performed by man but that man is Christ That the due sentence of Death is executed on man but that man is Christ And with all that all faithfull men and true members of Christ have both performed the law and suffered the punishment due for transgression because that which Christ hath done and suffered must be really and justly accounted their's in regard that Christ and they are One. For they are really united with Christ in one body by the cement of the Spirit for the same Spirit which is in the Lord Jesus is given and communicated to them wherby Christ dwellâ—th in thâ—m thâ—y in Christ So that the keeping of Christ faithfully is keeping of the Commandments And keeping this Sabbath is the keeping of Christ for Christ only is thiâ— Sabbath all evangelical exhortations for beleeving in Christ are but precepts for keâ—ping this Sabbath As he that believeth and is baptised Mar. 16. 16. Joh 3. 15. Act. 16. 31. shal be saved That whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish And Beleeve on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved These are the productions and gracious effects of our union with Christ who thereby and not otherwise becomes our Rest and everlasting Sabbath CHAP. VI. That Christ is the true Moral Sabbath Why he is concealed under this word Sabhath That the Scriptures do declare him to be the Sabbath The difference between the Lord of Sabaoth the Lord of Sabbath Of the Sabbatism mentioned Heb. 4. 9. A passage of Isaiah Another of St. Paul applied to Christ's Sabbath-ship Sabbath-day-breaking is not called a sin in the New Testament THis Sabbath as is said doth signify Christ whereof I nothing doubt But under the law both Christ and his gracious intentions towards man-kind were covered as Moses himself was with a vail and as yet not to be made publick Thus the Grand mystery of Christ's union with his members was vailed under the Typicall eating of the Paschal lamb his Cross under the shadow of an Altar His Passion and blood-shedding under the figures of sacrificeâ— beasts And that everlasting Rest and Blessednesse which he purposed to procure for his people is here covered under the vail of Sabbatical rest This Secrecie of Christ and of his benefits was signified by the Ark and Vail of the Temple the meaning whereof was that Christ would be concealed as shut up in a Chest or hidden behind a Curtain until he had actually performed his mercifull purpose especially by his Cross and Passion and Death for after them was the vail rent immediatly and not before And therefore he had formerly charged his Diciples to tell no man that he was the Christ Mat 16. 20. Luk 9. 21. left the certain knowledg of him should hinder his passion for so the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 2. 8. Had they known they would not have Crucified the Lord of glory And after him Tertullian renders the same reason a Tert. Cont. Mar. lib. 3. Nisi ignoratus paâ—â— nâ—n poteraâ— i. e. If Christ had not bin unknown he could not have suffered And upon those words Joh. 8. 28. When ye have lift up the Son of man then shall ye know hat I am he Austin saith b Aug. in Joh. â—ract 40. Differo cognitionem vestram ut â—mpleam passionem meam i. e. he suffered his own Disciples as yet to be ignorant of his purpose that so he might accomplish his Passion And again he saith c Idem de Temp. serm 174. Si Christus man festus venisset quis au leret judicare i. e. If Christ had bin publickly manifested who he was who durst have judged him These are the reasons as may be thought why Christ is so vailed under this word Sabbath for otherwise the Law giver might and would have written this Sabbath-law in plainer words such as these Remembâ—r tâ— sanctify Messiah And in memory faith and expectation of Him thou shalt keep hoâ—â— the 7th day of every week until his comming and therein do no manner of work Verily I firmly beleeve this to be the meaning and main importance of this fourth Commandment But yet for our better satisfaction we must further inquire Whether the holy Scriptures and also the Christian Church do declare Christ to be that Sabbath which in the Moral part of this Commandment is intended and whether Christ be thereupon called the Sabbaâ—h For if so then I trust this Doctrine will be assented to by the Christian Reader To this we say That the Scriptures do clearly
put the appellation of Sabbath upon Christ for as the Son of God considered in his pure Divinity and without and before his incarnation is called The Lord of hosts Isa 1. 9. Jer. 11. 20. which in the New Testament is rendered The Lord of Sabaoth Rom. 9. 29 Jam. 5. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word Sabaoth is by some Divines a Polan p. 140. affirmed to be one of the names of God So the Church of England accounteth it and ascribeth it to every one of the Three Persons in the Hymn singing Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoâ—h And so it was heretofore esteemed in this Kingdome as we perceive by an odd story of one of the Bishops of London reported by Bâ—shop Godwin out of Matthew Paris thus As this Bishop lay musing in his Bed he heard an unknown voyce saing to him O Gilberte Foliot Dumrevolvis tot tot Deus tuus est Astarot The Bishop presently and undantedly replyed Menâ—â—ris Daemon Deus meus est Deus Sabaoth If therfore the Lord of Sabaoth were the name of the Son of God before his commng in the flesh which name signifieth the Lord of Armies as if by this name it were signified that the Godhead was at defiance and warr with mankind before our Peace-maker appeared for us Then why should we doubt to affirm that The Lord of the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 12. 8. Mar. 2. 28. Lu. 6. 5. is the name of the same Son of God since he is become The Son of man and God incarnate and Emmanuel And this in order to be a person fitly prepared and qualified to perform the law for us and to suffer for our Transgressions as a Redeemer a Saviour and procurer of an everlasting Sabbath and Rest to our otherwise unquiet restless and troubled souls and consciences As also himself professeth Mat. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest And ye shall find Rest unto your souls Surely every good Christian will find that to be true which one said to the same purpose a Aug. confess Inquietum est Domine cor meum doneâ— requiescat in te i. e. My heart is unquiet O Lord until it may find rest in thee Now if that Sabbath mentioned in this Commandment be not meant of Christ then there is no precept in all the Decalogue of faith in Christ without which the Law is to us impossible we should be Restless And further also If that Sabbath do not signify Christ then have we Christians no Sabbath at all and if so what will become of us But we are assured by the great Apostle that although the Jewish Ceremonial Seaventh-day-Sabbath be quite gon yet Heb. 4. 9. There remaineth a Rest to the people of God This rest is there called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. a Sabbath or Sabbatism And that it may appear to what people of God this Sabbath appertaineth he tels us before Vers 3. We which have believed do enter into Rest Therefore this Sabbath or Rest belongeth to us Christians He further addeth vers 6 They to whom it was first preached entred not in because of unbeleif The Rest or Sabbath here mentioned must needs signify Christ The Jews are they to whom this rest was first preached that is to whom the Gospel of Christ was preached as Christ commanded Luk. 24. 47. to begin at Jeâ—usalem The Jews entred not into this Rest because of their unbelief i. e. they could not be received into the body mystical of Christ as members thereof because they did not believe in him but rejected him But the Apostles other faithfull Chrisians do enter into this Rest through faith as it is said We which have believed do enter that is they enter into Christ they are united with him thereby obtain this Râ—st so partake in the benefits which Christ merited by his most holy life and precious death And those benefits are indeâ—d our everlasting Sabbath For what can be so truly called a Rest and Sabbath as our repose resting in the Lord which leadeth us to an everlasting Sabbath in heaven For all our restings or Sabbatizings which are Earthly are but as dreams in respect of our Rest in Christ for he is that Sabbath whose Rest is called Blessedness and his after this mortal life is ended as we read Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which dy in the Lord-that they may rest from their labours The Apostle in that place Heb. 4. useth two several words for Rest 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Rest and Sabbath This he did because he was to speak of two several Rests 1. The Earthly Rest of the Israelites after they were put into quiet possession of Canaan by Joshuah who is there called Jesus 2. The everlasting Rest of Gods People by entring into Christ through Faith and this Rest is called Sabbatism so that Sabbath and Sabbatism do plainly signifie Christ and our Rest in him For confirmation hereof it is worth our observation That the great Prophet Isaiah c. 58. v. 12. speaketh of the Sabbath as of a Person If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy-day and shalt honour him He calls the Sabbath Him which must signifie a Person and cannot be said of a meer Day Who is meant by this Him is declared in the next verse to be the Loâ—d for so it followeth Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. So that the Sabbath here meant is the Lord even the same Lord who in the Gospel calls himself The Lord of the Sabbath whereas other typical Sabbaths whether weekly or annual were but signs of this grand Sabbath as we are taught by another great Prophet Ezek. 20. 12. I gaâ—e them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifie them St. Paul to me seemeth to make this Doctrine evident and past exception when he saith Col. 2. 16. Let no man judge you in meat or drink or in respect of an holy-day or of the new-moon or of the Sabbath-days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ What can be more plainly said then this to shew That Christ is the true real and substantial Sabbath And that all other Sabbaths are but signs types figures and meer shadows of Christ who is the Body that projecteth these shadows for God himself had so said before concerning the seventh day Sabbath which only is that type which is mentioned in this fourth Commandment Exod. 31. 13. Verily my Sabbath ye shall keep for it is a sign between me and you that ye may know that I am the Lord So this which was the principal and most frequent Sabbath of all was no more but a sign and what the signatum i. e. the signification of it was is shewed to
herein The meaning of Prayers at the rehearsing of the ten Commandments How the Law may be written in our hearts and how it is performable by men TErtullian in that Book which he wrote against the Jews affirmeth That the Law which God imposed upon our first Parents in Paradise was obligatory both to them and also to all the world in their succeeding generations which Law if they had obeyed had been a Law large enough He saith again a Tert. Advers Iudaeos In hac lege Adae datâ omnia praecepta condita recognoscimus quae posteâ— pullul averunt data per Mosem In that Law which God gave to Adam all the Laws of Moses were secretly couched And again b id lib. Primordialis lex est data Adae Evae quasi matrix omnium praeceptorum Dei i. e. That first Law given to Adam and Eve was as the womb of all the Laws of the Decalogue Then he reckoneth up all the Moral Laws first generally as Christ doth Mat. 22. 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God wiâ—h all thy heart And Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Then he particularly mentioneth the Laws of the second Table Thou shalt not kill Not commit adultery Not steal Not bear false witness Honour thy Father and Mother Thou shalt not covet Now the Law given to Adam was only in these few words Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat Yet in them all the Laws of the Decalogue saith he are implied His reason is If they had so loved God They would not have disobeyed his Command If they had loved their neighbour that is one another themselves and their posterity they would not have killed them by bringing in Mortality and Original corruption of Lust Nor would they have stolen the fruit which belonged not to them Nor hâ—ve complied with the Serpent's false witnessing concerning the fruit Nor have dishonoured their Father and Creator by that Transgression Thus he From this passage we may observe that in the judgement of this Learned Father the whole Decalogue having been thus imposed upon our first Parents therefore the Law of Sabbath keeping amongst the rest must needs be put upon them We observe again That it being confessed by this Father in the same Book and immediatly after the words before alledged That neither Adam nor Abel nor Enoch nor Noah nor Melchisdeck nor Abraham did ever Sabbatize although the whole Decalogue was imposed on them also so as is said and although the laws of the Decalogue be every one of them the law of Nature and therefore written in mans heart and also that all those Patriarks must be obliged to keep this Sabbath law as well as any of the other Nine This being granted how shall we quit this learned Father from contradicting himself in these two propositions first The Patriarks were bound to keep the Sabbath second The Patriarks neither did nor were bound to keep the Sabbath This Riddle is easily unfolded by distinguishing the Sabbath Moral from the Sabbath Ceremonial that is The true Real Natural and Substantial Sabbath from the Figurative Typical and Umbratical Sabbath Or. the Body from the Shadow We affirm therefore that the Jewish Hebdomarie seaventh-day or Saturday-Sabbath was but the shadow or type and that the Messiah even Jesus Christ our Lord Emmanuel was and is the true substantial Sabbath and the true Spirit and meaning of that Sabbatical law and is the Lord of the Hebdomarie or Typical Sabbath We also affirm that neither Adam nor any of those forenamed Patriarks did ever keep or sanctify any seaventh-day or Saturday-Sabbath and also that such a Sabbath day was never known or imposed on Gods people before the dayes of Moses And for this we have the confession of a learned Jew even Philo more than once a Philo. de vita Mos lib. 1. Israelitae ignorabant mundi nat alem prinsquam ex Manna didicissent i. e. The Israelites knew not the first day of the world until the Manna fell therefore not the seaventh day Again he saith b idem lib. Ante Mosem Sabbati diem ignor abant homines Before the time of Moses men were ignorant of the Sabbath day This he affirmeth although with a Judaical excuse as if the former knowledg thereof had bin obliterated by Calamities But we also confess and firmly believe that all those holy Patriarks were bound and therefore did certainly keep and sanctify the true substantial Sabbath before Moses was born for their Sabbath was the Son of God even their true and onely Lord God who in due time was to take our humane nature on him So to be the Emmanuel in our nature to perform the whole Law which the Godhead imposeth on man in our steed and this not only by an actual keeping and performing the Commandments but also by a passive obedience in suffring the punishment of our transgressions to quit his faithful ones from the sentence of condemnation and thereby to give comfort ease tranquillity and so a Rest or Sabbath to our otherwise wearied and trembling souls For Christ only is that promised Seed of the woman which should bruise the Serpents head the birth manifestation of him in the flesh is that day which our father Abraham rejoyced to see and he is that well beloved Son in whom alone the Godhead is well pleased and resteth satisfied and at peace with us If those holy Patriarks had not kept this Sabbath they could not enter into the eternal Sabbath of heaven That Christ only is the Sabbath Moral to the sanctification whereof we all are perpetually obliged was the Doctrin of the Ancient Church as may appear by many expressions of the Fathers Origen saith a Orig. in Math. Tract 29. Qui vivit in Christo semper Sabbatizat He that liveth in Christ liveth in a continual Sabbath The holy man Macarius calleth the weekly Sabbath b Marcar Hom 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. but a Typical Sabbath and saith It was onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That it was but a branch in the shadowie or Ceremonial Law But Hoc est verâ—m Sabbatum vera requies animae quae conquiescit in verâ quiete laetitià Domini The true Sabbath is the quiet of our souls resting in tranquillity and joy of our Lord. Thus he After him Epiphanius most evidently declareth the same Doctrin more than once for thus he writeth c Epiph Haer. 8. In lege figurae erant in Evangeâ—io veritas illic Circumctsio inservit usque ad magnam Circumcisionem id est Baptismum illic Sabbatum detinens in maâ—num Sabbatum id est Reqâ—iém in Christ Under the law were figures but the truth of them was shewed in the Gospel in the Law carnal Circumcision was used until the great Circumcision by Baptism came in There was a Sabbath also which lasted until the great Sabbath came which is our
Sabbath or Rest in Christ He tels us also that Ebâ—on the Ancient Judaizing Heretick raised a report d Id Haer. 30. That Saint Paul had desired the Jewish High-preist's dâ—ughter to be given to him in mariage but being denied in revenge he wrote against their Sâ—bbath anâ— Circumcision But the true cause of the Apostle's decrying the Jewish Sabbath was this e Id. iâ—iâ— Christus est magnum Sabbatum quietos nos faciens à peccatis nostris -Ejus figura erat parvâ—m Sabbatum quod inserviebat usque ad ipsius adventum Christ is the grand Sabbath for he setteth us at rest from the troubles of our soules by reason of our sins the Jewish little weekly Sabbath was but a figure of Christ our great Sabbath and was to last but until his comming To this doctrine the learned Romanist's do assent as Bishop White hath observed out of Pet. Damianus Bishop of Ostia above 500 years since who thus writeth f Pet. Damiani lib. 2 Eph. 5. Quid per Sabbatum intelligere debemus nisi Christum in Illo siquidem Sabbato requiescâ—mus- spem ponimus i. e. What should we understand by the Sabbath but Christ for in him is our rest and hope St. Aâ—stin is most plentiful in asserting this doctrine for besides what I have observed before out of him he further saith of Circumcision and Sabbath a Aug. Cont Admantum c. 16. To. 6. Circumcisionem approbamus spiritualem- Sabbatum nam ad aeternam requiem intendimus We Christians approve of Circumcision but it is Circumcision spiritual mentioned Rom. 2. 29. Circumcision in the heart not in the letter but in the spirit and Colos 2. 11. Circumcision made without hands we approve of that Sabbath by which we intend and trust to obtain everlasting Rest Of this Sabbath he saith again b Id. Cont Adiman c 2. To. 6. Sabbatum non est repudiatum a nobis Christianis sed intellectum We Christians do not utterly reject the Sabbath but we understand it more truly than the Jews do Of the same mysterious Sabbath he saith again c Id de Gen. ad lit lib. 4 c 13. A fidel bus perpetuum Sabbatum observatur They that believe in Christ do keep a Sabbath perpetual What he meanes by this Sabbath is declared by these words d Id. Cont Faâ—stum lib. 19. c. 9. In Christo Sabbatum habemus nam ait Ego faciam ut requiescatis Our Sabbath is in Christ for he it is that saith I will give you rest Mat. 11. 28. And to shew the difference between the Typical and the Substantial Sabbaths and to what Purpose that Jewish Saturday-Sabbath was ordained He saith The Jews were offended because Christ commanded the infirm man to carry his bed on their Sabbath day Jo. 5. 10. But Christ might have answered them e Aug. in Joan. Tract 17. SacramentuÌ„ Sabbati signum observandi unius diei ad tempus datum Judaeis impletionem verò Sacramenti illius in illo venisse Sabbatum ad significationem meam vobis praeceptum est The Sacramental Sabbath or sign of keeping that day was imposed on the Jews but for a time because the fullfilling of it was performed by the comming of Christ for that Sabbath was given onely to signify Christ To this of Austin Calvin seemeth to me to subscribe where he saith f Calv. instit 2. 8. 31. Christus est verum Sabbati Complementum The keeping of a seaventh-day-Sabbath is but a vain and empty shadow except it be filled with the apprehension of Christ So that as all Typical and Ceremonial shadows were to cease when the thing was come which they signified the Sabbath being but such a sign must also so cease as Justin Martyr long ago taught g Just Dialog cum Triph. Sabbata finem habuêre nato Christo When Christ came Sabbaths went away Lastly it would be inquired what the Church of Englands doctrine is concerning that Sabbath in the fourth Commandment which Church I firmly believe to be in her doctrine and discipline the most truly Catholick Church in the world This we may discover by considering that prayer or suffrage which this Church hath required to be by us said at the rehearsing of this Sabbath-Commandment as at each other of them in these words Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law This prayer hath much troubled the minds of some of our Religious and well-meaning Countrymen because their teachers did not aright inform them in the true meaning of that Sabbath for both in their pulpits and also in their pâ—inted Catechisms they expound it to be meant only of sanctifying a day as the Jews did But if they so mean this prayer would be not only vain but also an impious mocking of God seeing the Commandment mentions onely the seaventh day and that precisely and none other and that is our Saturday which both we and all other Christian-Churches have utterly rejected but if they thereby understand our Sunday that is not so much as mentioned much less intended there nor may it be called a Sabbath day nor is the celebration of our Sunday to be enforced by vertue of that Commandment but otherwise as is before shewed But those Judicious Leanred and Godly men and also heroical Martyrs who were the compilers of our English Liturgy as Cranmer Ridley and others did rightly understand that Sabbath to signify Christ who onely is our Christian Sabbath and in this sence only we ought to understand it and then this Prayer must needs be confessed to be pious and necessary and not otherwise for the keeping of Christ by faith in him and sanctifying him that is considering his worth and benefits and demeaning our selves towards him so reverendly as becometh us and belongeth to his super-eminent hollness is the only way to procure an everlasting tranquillity Rest and Sabbath to our Consciences For without this Sabbath all our care will prove vain and the very Godhead will be but a terrour to us But if by God's merciful assistance we keep our selves fast in faith and so in Union with this blessed Sabbath we may then with comfort apply Ps 42. 5. that expostulation of the Psalmist to our own souls Why art thou cast down O my soul And why art thou disquieted in me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance Now because the prayer above mentioned though it were granted to us is not full enough to supply and satisfy our defects and necessities for neither a good inclination readiness or willingness nor yet our earnest desires no nor our laborious endeavours to perform the Law do amount to the real and perfect keeping thereof without which we cannot enter into life as Christ hath said Mat. 19 17. Therefore the Church hath added another prayer at the end of these Commandements which is full and perfect In these words Write all
the name of the thing signified so the thing signified hath the name of the sign for Christ is not only here called the Sabbath day because he is the thing signified by that day but he is also called by the names of other typical festivals as the Passover as is 1 Cor. 5. before said and by the name of the great festival Sabbath of Propitiation or Atonement described Levit. 16. And this because he only is that Lamb of God that causeth the destroying Angel to Passover us untouched and he only is as the Apostle cals him 2 Joh. 2. 2. The Propitiation for our sins It was full four and twenty hundred yeares by our English account after the Creation when God first appointed any Seventh day to be celebrated as a Sabbath or Rest yet the very first seventh day of the world is so described by Moses Gen. 2. 2. as to signifie Christ as may reasonably be conceived for that day is there set down without any mention of its Evening or Morning And this is the observation of St. Austin on the 92. a Aug. in Psal 92. 7 In Sabbato non invenitur vesper c. 1. In that Sabbath day described Gen 2. where the first mention is of Gods Rest the Reader shall not find any limitation of it by Evening or Morning although in every other of the former six dayes it is expresly said The Evening and the Morning were the 1 2 3 4 5 6th day b Pbilo lib de festis Philo the Jew and his fellow Jews called the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. without Mother I know not what this Jew's meaning was to call this day so more then other dayes possibly God might extort a truth from him without this Jew 's right understanding thereof Christ our true Sabbath was indeed without Mother in respect of his Divine Nature as also without an earthly father in respect of his humane Generation and therefore Melchisedech being the figure of Christ is for the same reason described without father and without mother Heb. 7. 3. Yet as we are well assured that Melchisedech had both a father and a mother so are we as certain that the first Seventh day had both an evening and a morning But as Melchisedech is said to be without father and mother for this reason only because there is no mention of his parents in holy Writ and this also was that thereby he might be a fit representative of Christ So the first Seventh day is set down without any mention of Evening and Morning that so it might be a fit figure of Christ who had no beginning in respect of his Godhead nor ending in respect of his Manhood and Godhead also The Prophet saith of Christ Mich. 5. 2. His goings forth have been from everlasting So the Gospel saith of him Heb. 1. 8 out of Psalm 45. 6. Thy throne O God is for ever and ever The very Jews confessed John 12. 34 We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever Christ therefore is not only a Sabbath but a day also and an everlasting day without any evening or morning The holy Priest Zacharias Luke 1. 78. cals Christ The Day-spring from on high And the Prophet Zechariah cals him Orientem i. e. the East which is all one with Day-spring Zech. 3. 8. Adducam servum meum Orientem And Chap. 6. 12. Ecce vir Oriens nomen ejus i. e. Beheld I will bring forth my servant the East And Behold the man whose name is East Our late Translators have for East rendred Branch I know not why except they were out-voted by some that are faln out with the East but how unfitly hath been lately unanswerably shewed by that learned Writer Mr. J. Gregorie of Oxford Christ calleth himself John 8. 12. The light of the Joh. 8. 12. world Old Simeon cals him Luke 2. 32. A light to lighten the Gentiles Christ is so much a Day that the Prophet styles him Dan. 7. 9. The Ancient of Dayes which the Hebrews affirm to be said of Ben-David that is of Christ the Son of David as Mr. Broughton hath told us for he indeed is the Creator of all dayes because he is our only God as the very Heathens God is by them called a Horace Diespiter i. e. the Father of Dayes Whether the Psalmist meant Christ when he said Psal 118 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made Or whether Christ meant himself and his own humane nativity when he said Joh. 8. 56. Your father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it Let those that list examine But St. Austin upon these and such like passages in Scripture doubteth not to affirm b Aug. in Psal 54. Christus est dies aeternus i. e. Christ is an everlasting day This I trust is enough to shew that Christ is called both our Sabbath and also a Day and therefore he only is this Sabbath day which we are required to keep holy or sanctifie which is next to be considered CHAP. IX Of Sanctifying the Sabbath How the Godhead is said to be sanctified How the humane nature of Christ is Sanctified Of the name of God and that it signifies God himself That the name of Jesus signifies the Person of Jesus How God sanctifieth us and how we sanctify God How Christ is to be kept holy THere is yet another scruple in the words of this Moral part of the fourth Commandement to be examined and that is How we can truly affirm that the Sabbath-day there mentioned doth signifie Christ seeing that whatsoever is meant by those words the same is required also to be Sanctified or kept holy Ex. 20. 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy And Deut. 5. 12. Keep the Sabbath-day to sanctifie it It may therefore be demanded how Christ can be said to be Sanctified or kept holy for the word sanctifie seemeth to signifie to be made holy no man will say that Christ can be by us made holy especially more holy than he is already for both the Godhead Manhood of Christ are called Holy As Holy Holy Holy is said of all the Divine persons And Holy is his name And Thy holy Child Jesus And the Holy one of Israel And Be ye holy as I am holy To this our Answer is that it needs not to seeme strange or uncouth that our Lord Jesus Christ is required to be by us sanctified or kept holy especially in respect of his assumed humanity by which onely he is our Sabbath and not otherwise seeing the pure Godhead considered without Incarnation is also required to be Sanctified as the great Prophet tels us Isa 5. 16. God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness and Christ so teacheth us to pray Hallowed or sanctified be thy name Let it not be thought that this word Name doth signifie no more but an appellation of God as if the only meaning were That whensoever we
from one particular Work viz. from making any new species or kinds of Creatures Secondly It is confessed that this Rest of God may consist together with his working for indeed the working or operation of God is as vigorous and stirring now and ever since the Creation as it was then God did never intermit or lay aside his working St. Austin saith of himself a Aug Epist 110. Meum ocium magnum habet negotium It is most true of God whose Rest here meant is not without great working Christ saith My Fatheâ— Ioh. 5. 1 â—oh 15 worketh hitherto and I work And again Mâ— Father is the Husbandman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so his Work is without any intermission as the Georgick-works are circular as one saith Redit Agricolis labor actus in orbem Virg. Georg. lib. 2. God doth work unto this day as he did also on that first 7th day wherein he is said to rest so he hath done on every 7th day ever since so he will do till the end of the World And moreover although it should please God still to make new Creatures of new kinds such as were not created at first yet such a new Creation would not in the least hinder or disturb this blessed Rest Therefore this Answer will in no wise satisfie us Besides all this Those Writers that tell us Gods Resting signifieth only his finishing or ending the Creation yet themselves affirm that God doth yet daily create new Souls and this because they do not believe that our Souls are propagated from our Progenitors as our Bodies are so that even by their own confession the Creation did not end on the first sixth or seventh day Now although I do not assent to their opinion of the daily creation of humane Souls because I do not understand how that doctrine can consist with the doctrine of Redemption if our Souls and Christs Soul be not derived from Adam yet it is evident that their opinion maketh against them whether it be true or false for by saying that our Souls are daily created they must confess that the Creation is not yet ended To that which they say That God doth not create any new kinds of Creatures such as in Schools are called Genera and Species and Universals although he doth still make particular Creatures as Men Beasts Fishes Fowles and Plants We answer That God doth make Creatures now so as he did before and not otherwise except only the manner of making immediately by himself and by way of creation As he then made particulars only Adam and Eve so now he makes Man and Woman God did not otherwise make Universals or Species then than he doth now for then he made only particular Creaâ—ures and not universals but only by creating particulars The universal is but the common nature of each particular and these universals are no where to be found but only in particulars though we should seek them in Plato's Region of Idea's or in that a Tull. de Nat. Deor. lib. 1. Diog. Laert. in Epic. Intermundum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Epicurus dreamed of for who can shew me Man except he shew me some particular person For although it be granted that these universals are realities having an essence or being yet they have no existence or subsistence nor are any where to be found but only in particulars and we know that our Acutest Schoolmen have much contended about these universals some said they are realities others that they are but words and others that they are but meer notions and conceptions of mans brain and therefore those dissenting Sects are severally called Reales Nominales Conceptuales In a word as God made Man and Woman at first so he doth still his Resting is not to be understood of ceasing from making his Creatures for he doth it to this day and thereby declareth his Omnipotencie now as much as at the first The Psalmist saith It is God that Ps 100. 3. made us and not we our selves And again I am fearfully and wonderfully made in the Psal 139. 14. lowest parts of the earth that is in the Womb In our vulgar Catechisms the first Question is Who made you 'T is answered God and the Answer is true It is all one with God to make Man of Earth or in the VVomb or of a Rib or of Nothing for all these wayes of making are Acts of his Almightinesse Finally If it may appear unto us That God hath indeed made new Creatures and such as were not created in the six or seven first dayes of the World but since then I trust the Reader will perceive that this Mysterious Rest of the Godhead implieth a farre greater matter then only a cessation from making new sorts or kinds of Creatures For manifestation whereof I offer these considerations following to the learned Reader 1. That after the fall of Man God inflicted sorrow upon Eve and all other Women in Child-bearing Gen. 3. 16. which Sorrow was not at first made yet that sorrow is something as our good Matrons know it is not nothing 2. The Earth was cursed for Mans sin Thorns and Thistles are ordained Adam is condemned to sorrow and sweating labour vers 16 17 18. All which are Realties yet not made at first 3. We are assured by our Divines That b Buc. p. 56. 58. Mors Morbi ordinata sunt a Deo i. e. Mortality and Sicknesses were ordained by God and also that hurtful Creatures such as Vipers Toads Spiders Hornets Waspes Caterpillers Gnats such like Non pertinent ad opera primae Creationis i. e. that these were no part of the first Creation therefore they must be ordained since If it be said that these and other hurtful Creatures such as Lions Beares Wolves were at first but yet without their noxious malignity and hurtful qualities this Answer will not satisfie us because even those qualities are realties So Earthquakes Famines Pestilences were not at first created nor any Sicknesses or Diseases which came into the World later as the Heathens acknowledged Post ignem Aetheriâ domo Subductum Macies Nova febrium Hor. Cor. 1. Od. 3. Terris incubuit cohors 4. What can be said against the newness of the Egyptian Plagues The burning of Sodom The last Destruction of Jerusalem and the tribulation brought upon that People of which Christ said That it should be such as was not from the beginning of the world to Matth. 24 21. that time Now that God is the Author of such kinds of evils viz. evils of punishment the Prophet hath taught us Amos 3. 6. Shall there be evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it And Moses declareth that all those evils which are threatened Deut. 28. and are now come to passe to be from the Lord which yet are but new in respect of the Creation 5. What can be said against the newness of those Wonders or Miracles wrought by
the finger of God by the Prophets by Christ and by the Apostles were they at first created I suppose No. The blind man when he received sight told the Pharisees to their face which they could not deny John 9. 32. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind 6. What can be said against the newness of Monsters or of mixt Creatures such as Leopards and Mules c. which now are extant but were not so at first created 7. It is said Jer. 31. 22. The Lord Movi coeli terra extractio Movi Adami generatio miracula morbi novi non sunt opera primae extractionis Mart. Borrhai in Gen. 2. in verbum Requievit hath created a new thing on the Earth a VVoman shall compasse a Man Which is meant of Christ to be conceived in the Womb of the Virgin-Mother which was a new thing indeed and a peculiar Signal mark to know the Messiah by 8. The same Creator professeth Isaiah 65. 17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth If you say it is meant but of a new State or condition of the Church under the Gospel I say so too But this new State or condition is not nothing it is not such as it was before and is new So is the creating of a clean or new heart Psalm 51. 10. it is a work of Regeneration or re-Creation and better to us than the Creation thereof 9. The same Creator professeth Isaiah 57. 19. I create the fruit of the lips therefore the holy Apostolical Eloquence with all the excellencies of Rhetorick and Languages and Arts are the Works of God which are not reckoned among the Works of the first Creation and this is confirmed by Christ himself when he said Matth. 10. 19. Dabitur in illa hora And by that which others said of him John 7. 46. Never man spake like this man And all those new Languages at Babel were of Gods creating Gen. 11. Our Answer to this first Querie for present shall be but only Negative because our Discourse is not yet ripe for a full positive Answer viz. That this Rest of God doth not signifie only his cessation from creating the World And moreover we affirm That although God had made more such Worlds as a Diog. Laert. in Epicuro Epicurus thought or if he had made innumerable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Worlds of meer Creatures as b Plut. de Placitiâ— Philos l. 2. c. 1. Democritus in Plutarch said yet all such Worlds would not be of value and worth sufficient to procure this Mysterious Rest and complacency of the Almighty Creator But I proceed to the second Querie CHAP. XI That the Rest of God is fixed on the Seventh day only although he intermitted creation for some time in every former day That his Rest did not consist in any meer Creature Of the Rest of God before the Creation That God performed part of the Creation on the Seventh day and what that was Jewish fables concerning the creation of Adam and Eve A short Answer to the second Querie OUr second Querie is Why God is said to Rest on the Seventh day and not on any of 2 Querie the former six dayes There is surely something more then ordinary implied in this Rest of the Godhead more then the bare Letter expresseth and more then a meer cessation from the work of Creation because this Rest is fixed and appropriated to the Seventh day only and not said at all of any of the former six dayes wherein God did both create and also cease by some pause or respite from creation which interval is by us Mortals called a Rest as the labouring-man at Mid-day is permitted to take some small time for sleep or rest and therein intermitteth his work Doubtless God did not bestow the whole compass of each several day with its evening and morning in a continual creation or forming of his several Creatures for each of them were created by the Will or Word of God which might be in a moment The Psalmist saith By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens Ps 39. 6 9 made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth for he spake and it was done It is not likely that this word or breath of God was produced to the length of each whole day but that there was some respite and some time of cessation between the Acts of creating the several Creatures each several day yet this respite of God is never called his Rest until the Seventh day That there was a respite we read that Adam was first formed 1 Tim. 2. 13. then Eve It is also very considerable That although it is said Exod. 20. 11. In six dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is Whereby it appeareth that all the Creatures were made as the Angels of Heaven the Fowls of the Air and Man Beasts Plants Fishes of the Earth and Sea Notwithstanding God is not yet said to Rest on this sixth day Surely this Rest of God consisteth in something else besides these it seems he rested not in any or all these meer Creatures but in something that was more noble and worthy of this great honour of being the Acquiescence or Rest of the Godhead But what shall we say of the pre-existence of God before the Creation and the infiniteness and eternity thereof before all times when nothing was in being but only the pure Godhead in the three eternal Persons when neither Heaven nor Earth nor Man nor Angels were created We cannot say or imagine that God was then without Rest for besides that He with-held himself from creating and from all external working we know that he was at Rest in himself in his own blessed contentment and all-sufficiencie needing nothing which Rest of God could not then be interrupted by any business or outward operation What the immanent or internal Actions of the Godhead were then we know but little and that only which the holy Apostles have taught us in whom we read of the eternal purpose of God to oâ—dain Christ before the foundation of 1 Pet. 1. 20. Eph. 1. 4 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 1. 2. the world and of chusing us in him But we find no mention of any transient or external Works of the Godhead such as Divines call Operationes Dei ad extra and such as Creation is Yet in all that infinite and incomprehensible duration from Eternity it is never said that God Rested nor until this Seventh day Therefore this Rest of God consisteth in something else besides a cessation or suspension of working and also besides that blessed quiet and tranquillity which for ever was and is in the Godhead of which the heathen Philosophers rule is true h Nisi Quietum nihil Beaâ—um est i. e. God could not be happy if â— Tull de Nat. Deor. lib. 1. he were
not at Rest The Rest of God must be in something that is proportionable and equivalent in worth to himself therefore not in the whole great Creature of the World nor in any one particular parcel thereof which is no more then only a Creature moreover the Rest of God must be like himself eternal without any ending or intermission or ceasing therefore not in meer worldly Creatures for Heaven and Earth Mat. 24. 35. Psalm 102 â—â— shall passe away And they shall wax old and perish Indeed men set up their Rest in poor worldly temporalties and for them lose eternal Rest So doth not the Godhead So that this Rest of God must be grounded on some most worthy Subject or occasioned by some most excellent Object better than the world or any meer creature thereof and what that is we will enquire anon In order whereunto I offer to the consideration of the learned Reader one thing more viz. Whether the Godhead did not perform some part of the Creation on this very seventh-seventh-day on which God is said to Rest For if it may appear to be true that something was then made or perfected which was not finished in the six dayes This may happily afford us some light to guid us into the meaning or cause or occasion of God's Rest on that seventh-day more then on any or all the former six dayes To this our Answer is fiâ—st That no man doubteth but God did work on the first seventh day and all seventh dayes ever since as is shewed before Secondly That the Scripture seemeth expresly to declare that the whole Creation was not compleated or finished on the sixth but on the seventh-day for so we read Gen. 2. 2 On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made If it were not ended but on the seventh day then surely it was not ended on the sixth day If it be here said that although it was ended on the 6th day yet it might be truly said to be ended on the seventh day because it was ended before As one in Plutarch said b Plut. de Ira cohib If Alexander be dead to day he will be dead to morrow But this evasion will not serve turn because the Ending of the work and the Resting are both affirmed to be on the seventh-day precisely and on none other day For otherwise it might be said as well that God ended his work and rested on the eighth or ninth or any other after-day The Septuagint insteed of the Seventh-day rendred The sixth-day Gen. 2. 2. For they being Jews and zealous for their Sabbath would not have it thought that God wrought on the seventh-day But St. Jerome discovered the imposture and saith c Hier. Quaest. in Gen. To. 3. In Hebraeo diem septiman habet That the text in Hebrew hath the seventh-day And addeth Arct abimus Judaeos qui de ocio Sabbati gloriantur dum Deus oper atur in Sabbato complens opera sua in eo c. We shall by this much press the Jews against their Sabbatical-Superstition seeing God himself wrought on the Sabbath and therein finished his work That God did not end or finish and compleat the work of Creation but on the seventh-day is the opinion not only of St. Jerome but of many other Later and right-Learned Divines If it â—e further enquired What particular work God made or finished on the seventh-day which was not so made on the sixth day In this we are Resolved by many great and Learned Divines That Adams side was not opened until the morning of the seventh-day And this may with great probability be observed out of the narration of Moses Gen. 2. Where after the Creation of the man which was performed on the sixth day it is said 1. God put the man into the garden of Eden vers 15. 2. God gave him the Law against eating the forbidden fruit 3. God said he would make him an help meet for him 4. God brought every Reast of the field and every Foul of the aire unto Adam 5. Adam gave names to all Cattel and to the fouls of the aire and to every Beast of the field v. 20. 6. God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam And then took one of his ribs and of it made the woman All these transactions required a good space of time which reasonably might extend until the end of the sixth day and so unto the beginning of the seventh which we know was to commence and be accounted from the evening of the said sixth day His travel Estward to Eden and his naming that multitude of Creatures might well cause weariness and weariness might incline him to that deep sleep wherein the woman was made and this may justly be judged to be within the compass of the seventh-day For I think no man will deny but that between the Creation of the Man and the extraction and forming of the woman a good portion of time intervened But then If Eve were not made or formed before the seventh-day how shall we salve the truth of the Scripture which saith In six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is To this the Answer is obvious and frequent for in the Creation of the man the woman was substantially and materially included a Civit. l. 15. c. 17. St. Austin observeth That Gen. 2 The man and woman are both called Adam And the Text saith Gen. 1. 27. Male and female created he them This was said before the woman was taken out of Adam's side Walfridus Strabus or whosoever was the author of the Ordinarie Gloss upon those words tels us b Prothemata gloss in Gen. Faemina nondum erat facta gloss Gen. jam homo masculus femina perhibetur sed quia ex latere Adae erat processura in illo computatur per substantiam à quo fuerâ—t producenda per formam i. e. These words are said of the time before Eve was formed the man is here presented both as male and female for Eve was accounted in Adam because she was then Originally and Substantially inrolled in him and soon after to be extracted and built out of him And again the same Glosser upon the same words tels us 1. c. Mulier nondum à viro divisa i. e. When those words were said they were to be understood of a time before the woman was taken out the man This truth was acknowledged by the Jewish writers who nevertheless invented fabulous conceipts thereupon They said that Adam Eve were created as One person their back-parts were joyned together until God divided them And That Adam was created with two faces Some of them called Adam Androgynum d Lyra in Loc. as Lyranus and the Glosser affirm i. e. an Epicene of both sexes just as the poet fained of his e Ovid. Met. l. 4. Aelia laelia Crispis nec vir nec mulier nec Androgyna c. Chytraeus in
the same God which made Man and said these words so that the meaning is That Man should be made in the same Image and Similitude which in after-times the same God himself would assume in the person of the Son And this was fulfilled when the Son of God became the Son of Man This is the exposition of Tertullian upon these words b Tertul. advers Prax. p. 387. Ad Imaginem Dei i. e. Ad Imaginem Filii qui homo futurus erat And again upon the same words c Idem de Resurr p. 39. Christus cogitabatur homo futurus i. e. The Image of God signifieth the humane nature and shape which God in the Person of the Son would one day take upon himself Just so doth d Orig. in Gen Hom. 1. Origen expound this Image of God and so doth the above mentioned e Theod. in Gen. quaest 19. Isa 7. 14. 9. 6. Ioh. 1. 14 1 Tim. 3. 16 Rom. 8. 3 Theodoret. The performance whereof was prophesied by Isaiah when he called the Mighty God Emanuel and fulfilled also when The Word was made flesh and when God was manifested in the flesh and the Son of God was sent in the likenesse of sinfull flesh This surely is the Image of God there meant which continued in Man after the fall and so doth untill this day This Exposition is made more credible by another passage from the mouth of God uttered after the fall of Man when he said Behold the Man is become as one of us to Gen. 3. 12. know good and evil Some Expositors have thought this to be spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as an Ironie or scoffe on proud Man I dare not say or think so for fear of Blasphemie doubtless the merciful Godhead did not flout but pitty and also comfort the now-wretched Man by this saying which I firmly believe did intimate and point at a Redeemer even Jesus Christ to be a Redeemer of him from deserved misery and so to be a solace ease and rest to his troubled Conscience The Reader may observe that whereas before there was mention of Our Image and likenesse that is the likeness of the whole Trinity it is now otherwise said Like one of Us so that Man who before was made like all is now become but like one of the Divine Persons This one doth surely signifie Christ who was then intended to be that Seed of the Woman before promised to be Incarnate to be Mortal to be made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. to be a man of sorrows to be wounded for our transgressions Isai 53. 3 5. To know good for he was Goodness it self And to know evil of sorrow and affliction and this in order to the Rest Sabbath and Salvation of Man for this reason only it is said The Man is become like One of us 3. It is greatly to be considered that the creation of the Woman was unlike the creation of the Man for Adam was made of Earth immediately Gen. 2. 19. but the Woman was not so made but of the Man she was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone yea and Soul of his Soul for we find not that God breathed a Soul into Eve because she was to receive it from the Man By this we may understand that the Redeemer was then intended together with the whole race of Mankind to be derived from that one root of Adam for otherwise Christ could not have been qualified so fitly as to be our Redeemer But because the Redeemer and the Redeemed must needs be united in one humane nature therefore the wise and merciful Godhead as the Apostle observeth hath Acts 17 26 made of one blood all Nations of men Christ and all And hence it is that the same Apostle tels us That we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones And this because Christ and We and all Mankind the Woman and all took our nature from one and the same Lump of Adam for therefore was the Son of God Incarnate became Emmanuel that he might fulfill the Law of God in the same flesh or nature upon which the said Law was imposeâ— All this was done in order and preparation of an everlasting Sabbath or Rest for Man by thus producing fitly the most holy Jesus to be a Redeemer and Saviour of Mankind in whom alone the Just Godhead might be well pleased and acquiesce For except Christ and Mankind be united in one humane nature and so be as one Man or as one Person neither Christ's fulfilling the Law nor his Death can serve for us because the obedience of one cannot serve for another nor doth the Just Godhead punish one for another but as the Prophet tels us Every Ier. 31 30 Eze. 18. 4 one shall die for his own iniquity And The Soul that sinneth it shall die Neither could the Godhead justly punish the righteous Son for us unrighteous Men nor justifie us and condemn him except we were one and the same So the Wise man saith He that justifieth Pro. 17. 15 the wicked and he that condemneth the just both are abomination to the Lord. Therefore Eve must needs be made of Adam and not of another piece of Clay that she and all her posterity may in that one lump be united with Christ For this reason it is said of Christ Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body Heb. 10 5 7 Psa 40 7 hast thou prepared for me And In the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will O God That is The Son was to perform the Law of the Godhead in the behalf of Mankind which that he might do for us God prepared him a body derived from the same flesh from which all the bodies of Mankind came and were originally united therein That he might be a fit and an identical Person for that great Work as the Apostle speaketh of Reconciling us to God in the body of his fleâ—h through death Col. 1. 21 22 Upon the same reason it is that Redemption by the death of Christ extendeth only to Adamiâ—es or Mankind whose nature Christ hath assumed with them in Adam So that the benefit and merit of his obedience cannot reach unto the apostate-Angels because he took Heb. 2 16 not on him the nature of Angels who are therefore left in their apostacie and perdition without any remedy for as they did not fall by the first Adam so neither shall they be restoâ—â—d by the last Adam and although our â—â—â—aking in the same flesh with Christ be â—ot the only means and aptitude of our Redemption by him yet it is a part thereof and necessary thereunto for our capacity thereof and such a kind of cause as Schoolmen call â—â—ne qua non Hence it is also that Christ himself said Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you This Ioh 6
was to be in the family posterity or Son of Mat. 1. 1. David and is him who was represented typified or prefigured by the Tabernacle Temple and Ark and that is onely in the Lord Jesus Christ And so Arnobius expounds that Prophecie c Arnob. iâ— Psal 131. Requies Dei in Jesu evidens est specialis in quo est arca This Rest of God is meant evidently of Jesus in whom especially was the Ark of God That which the great Prophet Isaiah saith of the progeny of Jesse may put us out of doubt that Jesus onely is the Sabbath or Rest of the Godhead Is 11. 1. There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him For from Jesse came David from David came Christ and upon Christ doth the Divine Spirit or Godhead for ever rest And this Rest of the Godhead is the very same thing which was signified by that heavenly voice of God the Father uttered more then once in the Gospell This is my beloved Son in whom I am Mat. 3. 1 17. 5. Beza in Math. 3. 17. well pleased which Beza most pertinently and for weighty reasons renders In quo acquiesco i. e. In whom the Godhead doth acquiesce or is at rest For if God were not well pleased and satisfied and at rest with mankind by Christ the expostulation of the Psalmist might with trembling be taken up by us all Wherefore hast thou made all men Ps 89. 46. for nought If it be here said that this Rest of the Godhead in Christ may possibly signifie the continuall and sempiternall mansion conjunction and union of God and man in Christ So that by these two ingrediâ—nts of Godhead and Manhood thus joyned one Hypostatical or Personall union is made whereby God and Man are become one Person and shall so rest inseparably for ever To this we answer and affirm that all the said allegation is true and that Christ may rightly be called the Rest of God in consideration of the everlasting union of the Godhead with the human nature of Christ But withall we say that there is more to be considered in this Rest than onely a meer union of God with man For we must further enquire Why it pleased the Almighty Godhead to condescend to this abasement and Exinanition so as to be personally united with a creature and to be in the form of a servant whereby the mighty God in the person of the Son became mortall and subject to all the infirmities of mankind except sin and even death also By the serious meditation hereof we shall find that the finall cause or motive of this union of the Godhead with our human nature was not intended or effected for any rest contentment or complacency of the Godhead for it self because God in respect onely of himself did not stand in need of any such Rest oâ— he had from eternity all possible blessednesse rest and Ineffable happinesse and so would have had everlastingly although neither Man nor Angel nor the World had been creaâ—ed or although God the Son or Word had never been incarnate Therefore it must needs be granted that the Incarnation was designed by God for the rest and benefit not of God but of mankind as we are excellently taught by * Atha ser 3 cont Ariâ—n Athanasius that God the Son had never been ordained to become Emmanuel or Incarnate if Mans necessity for Redemption had not wanted and necessarily required it Thus he It being thus evident that this Rest of God is not called a Rest in respect of himself but only in respect of that Rest which by his goodnesse and mercy he hath ordained for his poor Creatures It must needs follow that God calleth that his Rest which is indeed not only principally but solely the Rest of Mankind For our Lord Jesus the Emmanuel is therefore the Rest or Sabbath of the Godhead because he is the Rest or Sabbath of us Men in whom and through whom only our otherwise languishing and fainting souls may find consolation rest and refreshment he is the only solid hope and Sabbath upon whom we can depend and rest and expect and hope for an eternall Rest for in and by him only the offended Godhead is reconcileable so as to be at peace and Atonement with Man and to rest satisfied or well pleased as the Angels sang at his Nativity Glory be to God and on Earth peace Good will towards Men Or as Beza more truly reads it To Men Beza in Luk. 2 of good will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is To Men designed by Gods free Grace and good pleasure From these premises I infer the 4 conclusions following which I offer to the consideration of the Christian Reader and do here set them down that in this Doctrine of the Sabbath I may be rightly and plainly understood First That Christ is that only Sabbath or Rest both of God and Man which is mentioned and meant in the fourth Commandement and also in Gen. 2. 2. Secondly That Christ is therefore called the Rest of God because God hath in mercy ordained him to be the Rest for Mankind Thirdly That God cannot otherwise be said to Rest in Christ for our good but only because all faithful and holy Men do set up their Rest in Christ Fourthly That the Rest of God here meant consisteth only in the Rest of Man and that God calleth that his Rest which indeed is primarily and properly Mans Rest The Rest of God cannot be meant of any new rest in respect of himself only because it is impossible that any increase or access can be added to infiniteness such as is the blessed eternal and unspeakable Rest of the Godhead Therefore there must needs be some other external respect in which God is said to rest otherwise than before and that surely is the Rest which he hath procured for Man which God calleth his own Rest The holy Scriptures do very often ascribe the passions or affections of Men unto God as when God is said to repent to be angry to be greived and vexed and displeased although we are sure that no such changes can consist with the immutable Godhead for the same Scripture that saith in one place It repented Gen. 6. 6. 1 Sam. 15. 29 the Lord In another place saith The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent Therefore such speeches are but Anthropo-pathetical or after the manner of Men as a Man puls down an house which himself built because he is angry or displeased with it so God in justice destroyes some Creatures which himself made yet God is not angry but because he doth such a thing as Man in Anger doth therefore he is said to be angry Just so the Rest which is only in Man is here for the like reason called Gods Rest As when a provident Father hath settled a good and
Lord with Trumpets and Cymbals and Ezra 3 10 11 Songs So they did before at the Dedication of Solomon's Temple The Levites aâ—ayed in 2 Chron. 5. 12 13 white linnen singing with Cymbals Psalteries and Harpâ— and an hundred and twenty Priests sounding with Trumpets and saying For his Mercy endureth for ever This custome was also continued by the Christians in their Encaenia or Dedication of their holy Edifices as the Fathers and Church-Histories do very often report The most noble and most holy Edifice in the World is the Church Whereof God himself is the Builder The Materials of it are the Son of God together with all his holy Members Therefore when Christ who is the first stone and foundation of this Church was first laid in the Earth that is in our first Parents just then it pleased the Divine Founder to express a joy and complacencie therein under the notion of Rest as it is said God Rested And in another place Exod. 31. 39. He was refreshed And this was done only to signifie the Love and Goodness of God to Man for whom he had now actually begun a certain Rest Ease and Refreshment which the Godhead for it self needed not Then again at the Nativity of Christ when this building was raised for that gracious purpose of Mans Salvation it pleased the Godhead to send a whole Quire of Heavenly Levites to sing Glory to God on high And at the Dedication thereof at his Baptism God the Father by a voice from Heaven declared Mat. 3. 17 his complacencie therein so that the joy of Angels and the Rest complacencie or acquiescence of the Godhead consisted only in Christ and in him for none other reason or respect but only because he brought Peace on Earth to men of good-will This is enough to the second Query The Conclusion of the Moral Sabbath THe summe of this Doctrine concerning the Rest or Sabbath of God consisteth in these two Propositions following 1. The Rest of God is only in consideration of Christ 2. Christ is called the Rest of God for none other reason but only because the merciful Godhead intended by him to procure and effect the everlasting Sabbath and Rest of of Man This Doctrine concerning the Sabbath which I have here delivered is not New nor of mine own invention I utterly disclaim all novellism and that which is now adayes but falsly called new light especially in so concerning and weighty matters of Religion for I have shewed before by many testimonies of the Fathers that this Doctrine is the same which by them was taught and believed in the Ancient Church and now again for a close I will sub joyn only the Testimony of St. Austin who surely was the most profound Theologue of them all who thus writeth upon those words Psal 132. 14. This is my Rest for ever a Aug. in Psal 131 Haec verba Dei sunt Requies mea ibi requiesco Fratres Quantum nos ana Deus ut quia nos requiestimus se dicat requiescere non enim ille aliquando turbatur aut sic requiescit sed ibi se dicit requiescere quia nos in illo requiem habebimus i. e. These words of God This is my Rest for ever are my Rest therein do I rest Brethren so great is the Love of God to us that because we rest in Christ God saith that he resteth for God is not at all disturbed nor can so rest yet he saith that he resteth there only because there in Christ we shall have our Rest The same Father upon those words God Resteth saith b De Gen. cont Man lib. 1 c. 22. Tom. 1 Significat Requiem nostram post bona opera And again c Epist 119. c. 10 Significat se daturum nobis requiem aeterndm And again God resteth d De Gen. ad lit lib. 4. c. 9. To. 3 Quia nos quiescere facit And again upon the same words Requievit Deus e De Civit. lib. 11. cap. 8 Deus fit Requies eorum qui in eo requiescunt per fidem That is When God is said to rest it signifieth only our Rest after our labour And That he will give us everlasting Rest And because he maketh us to Rest And because He is the Rest of all them that repose their trust in him Thus doth this learned Father most judiciously and truly expound this Sabbath or Rest of God This Doctrine which declareth the Lord Jesus to be the true and substantial Sabbath which is intended in the fourth Commandement because he only is the Rest both of the Godhead and also the only perfect and solid Rest of us Men if it be again re-admitted into the present Church as it was received and believed by the Fathers and the Church Primitive as is before shewed it will quit us from many doubts waverings and quarrels and will quench those Pen-Polemicks about Sabbatism which have of late disturbed the minds of many good Christians For by this Exposition we shall easily discern that Sabbath-Law to be still in force as much or rather more than any or all the other Nine And so we shall have still Ten Commandements and not only Nine as some have objected And that this Law is truly a Law Moral and Natural and written in our hearts For I beseech the Reader to consider what precept can possibly be imagined to be more naturally imprinted in mans heart than to sanctifie and reverence him who is our â—ll Of him the Psalmist saith Whom Psa 37. 25 have I in heaven but Thee and there is none upon eaâ—th that I desire besides Thee He is our God our Creator Preserver and Maintainer from whom we have our very being our life and motion And more than all this our Lord Jesus the Lord of the Sabbath or the Lâ—rd Sabbath is He that hath redeemed us from everlasting perdition and more also He only hath prepared for us and tendered to us if we will accept his offer the everlasting and unspeakable Sabbath Rest and joyes of Heaven This is that Sabbath which himself included in those general words representing the summe of the first Table of the Law Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all Lu. 10. 27 thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind This multiplicity of words argues a weighty and most concerning Charge In this Faith I conclude and thus confidently proâ—ess That the Lord Jesus Christ is my only Sabbath In his Bosome do I repose my self All my hope and expectation of everlasting Rest is treasured up in him only And I trust I shall with faith and comfort on my death-bed say with the holy Psalmist I will lay me down in peace and take my rest for Psal 4. 6 it is thou Lord only that makest me dwell in safety Thus having as I trust retrived the most true and most ancient Sabbath I now close up this discourse with our
prolonged six dayes The order of Creatures first Heaven then Earth When the Heaven of Angels was made and that it was intended principally for Mankind Why Heaven and Earth are mentioned together Why the making of Hell is not mentioned though it was prepared within the first six dayes Why the Creation is mentioned in this fourth Commandement and not in any of the other Nine That the Moral Sabbath doth signifie the Creator which is God the Son who is called The Beginning the Word and the Wisdome of God and is therefore commanded to be sanctified For in six dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in in them is and rested the Sevenâ—h day IT is here said That the World was made in six dayes and before Gen. 2. 1. that the Heavens and Earth were finished and all the host of them And yet it follows immediatly That on the seventh â—â—y God ended his work which he had made How both these Propositions are true we have shewed before namely That although the Woman was not extracted and separated nor builded or formed out of the Man until the seventh day yet it is truly said that the Creation was finished in six dayes because the Woman was included in the Man Materially Substantially and Originally although as yet Informiter as the Glosse saith that is not formed fashioned or compleated which work was respited until the seventh day and thereupon it is said that on it he ended his Work and not before In six dayes Although God could have made the World in one minute yet he prolonged the work for six dayes whereof St. Austin and other Writers attempt to render some account as 1. To intimate that after the toylings and labours of the six dayes or Ages of this World his Servants should have rest with Him 2. To teach us that we should not expect that God will do all that he can do for us on a sudden either in conferring Mercies temporal or Graces spiritual but orderly and by degrees as calling justifying glorifying and in his good time The promised Seed of Abraham was not born till the old age of his Parents nor the Egyptian deliverance performed nor the Land of Canaan possessed till four hundred yeares after the Promise Heaven and Earth The order of these Creatures is observable First Heaven then Earth The blessing of Jacob was The dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth But Esau's was The fatness of earth and the dew of heaven A true Character of Worldlings and Epicures who preferre earthly things before heavenly as one in the a Claud. de Rapt Pros lib. 1. Poet saith Salve gratissima tellus Quam nos praetulimus coelo So the Epicure in Nazianzen professed Da mihâ— praesens i. e. give me my portion in this World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let God reserve the future to himself Which is but the same that some among us profess even by their own words and others farre more wickedly practise by bloody deeds prosecuting earthly profits pleasures and honours with the manifest neglect and disclaiming of heaven and trafficking for hell as Witches do and all this at a much lower rate than Satan offered Mat. 4 8. to Christ Heaven Gen. 1. 1. It is said In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth The Heaven there meant I take to be that which St. Paul cals The third Heaven which to us is invisible 2 Cor. 12. 2. that it might be the Paradise or habitation of Angels as both a Aug. de Civit. lib. 11. Austin and other Divines have thought because as God ordained the earthly Paradise for Man at or before his creation so he prepared the Paradise of Heaven at or before their creation and this because it is said Gen. 2. 1. The Heavens and the Earth were finiâ—hed and all the host of them The word Heaven alone implieth the creation of Angels as Austin saith in the place before cited or if not these words all the host of heaven will include them And here it is said The Lord made heaven and earth and all that therein is By which words we conceive that not only the house of Heaven but also the Inhabitants thereof were finished So the Heaven which is said to have been created in the beginning must signifie the Empyreal or highest Heaven because the Creation of this lower heaven which is visible is said to have been done in the second day's work and it is called The Firmament Gen. 1. 7. And this Firmament is also called Heaven vers 8. To pâ—t a difference or distinction between the former and later or the highest and lower Heavens and this to me seemeth to be confirmed by the words of Christ Come ye blessed Mat. 25. 38. inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the World By which words surely he meant that Heaven which was created in the beginning for blessed Angels and Men. Now although this highest Heaven was made and also inhabited by Angels yet God is not said to rest in that Work nor untill he had finished the Man and the Woman and in them had laid their Saviour to conduct them to that Heaven which was not intended only for Angels but principally for Mankind as Christ said prepared for You. In order whereunto the Angels were to be instrumental as we are taught by the Apostle Are Heb. 1. 14 they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of salvation By which most gracious provision our God hath declared himself to be a true Philanthropus And also a lover of Mankind rather more than a lover of Angels For out of this heavenly Paradise the apostate-Angels were soon cast and so left without a Redeemer or any hope of return One of them it was that deceived Eve therefore the fall of Angels was before the fall of Man Indeed Man also was sent out of the earthly Paradise for sin but yet he was not left without a possibility of Reconciliation and return to a better Paradise which was to be effected by the Seed of the Woman even the Messiah who is therefore the true and reall Sabbath of Man And herein also is the love of God to Man highly expressed in that he rested only in consideration of Mankind and the Saviour of us and not in the creation either of Heaven or of Angels Heaven and Earth See how our merciful Creator in the very beginning joyneth Earth with Heaven although the Earth was then invisible clouded in darkness and in an abysse of waters between it and Heaven yet they are here joyned as to intimate so early that notwithstanding the powers of darkness and the worldly insultations of proud Oppressors God would in time bring together and unite Earth with Heaven which he performed by and in Christ Even the first Adam was composed of an heavenly Soul and an earthly Body as a resemblance of the second Adam who
in God who is the Fountain of all inherent Holiness and is Holiness it self which we are to acknowledge and which we do confesse when we pray Hallowed be thy Name Secondly There is an Holinesse Moral or of Qualities derived from God the Fountain thereof such is in holy Men as Piety Righteousness Justice Truth Sincerity â—ear and love of God Faith Hope Charity This is that which Divines call Inherent Holiness Thirdly There is an Holinesse by Dedication or Assignment as of Places Vessels Vestments Men and other Creatures and of Times as this Hallowed Sabbath day is Hence we say holy Temple holy Church holy Day holy Eâ—charist for the Bread and Wine to be used therein are of themselves but Elements but after Dedication or Consecration of them or Hallowing which our fore-fathers called Howseling them to that Mysterious use we Fox in Hen. 8. call them Sacraments Divines call this Holinesse Relative It is but a srivolous cavil or excuse of Sacrilegers who make no scruple of abusing or demolishing hallowed places as Churches and Chappels or robbing them of their vessels goods lands and Revenues which were consecrated because they say such things have no holinessâ— or holy qualities inherent in them as no pieâ—y no faith or hope c. I wish such to consider also what inherent holinesse the Jewish Sabbath had or Achan's Wedge of Num. 15. 35. gold or Ananias his money except only the Josh 7. 25. Act. 5. 5. holinesse or hallowing of dedication or destination Yet the profaning and subducing of these was punished by stoning burning and by sudden death and all this by the Sentence of God himself although the hallowing in the case of Ananias was not by God but voluntarily only by himself It may reasonably be feared that the strict injunctions and commands of some such Sacrilegers for observing the Christian Sunday which was not hallowed by any Command of God but only of Men will one day condemn their abuses of other things which were also â—hallowed by Men as Christ said Ex ore tuo serve nequam c. But then the Sabbath-day having been thus hallowed or sanctified by God How comes it to be unhallowed and laid common with other dayes Would God revoke that which himself had constituted Or durst Man presume so to do This seemeth to thwart that heavenly Voice which said to Peter in a like case What God hath cleansed call not thou Act. 10. 15 common To this our Answer is First Man might not presume to alter or null any of Gods Ordinances without Divine warrant But the dissolution of this Sabbath-day was done by the grand Warrant of the Son of God and by him then when he was the Great Son of Man Secondly We say That God never unhallowed or revoked any Sanctions which Himself ordained during the time and purposes that were by him intended for them to continue in force and use For some Divine Constitutions were inacted to continue but for a set-time as the Types were Sacrifices Circumcision Passover Tabernacle and this Sabbath all which and many such were but Ceremonial Sanctions But others were ordained by him to continue to the end of the World as all the ten Commandements which are Sanctions Moral These God never yet revoked nor never will But the other sort which were but Ceremonials and intended to last but during the Pedagogie of his People and so for a certain limited time viz. untill the manifestation of the Son of God in the flesh Which being accomplished those temporary Ordinances were to cease and this without any Mutability on Gods part or Sacrilege of Men. Just as when a Man gives a pension or rent to a pious use for a limited time of ten twenty or thirty yeares and no longer when that time is expired the Pension may cease without any Sacrilege of the Doner Hallowed The principal Question in this hallowing which hath most perplexed the minds of many good Christians is concerning the Time when God did actually hallow or set apart the Seventh day whether on the first Seventh day of the World or whether not before the dayes of Moses and the Egyptian deliverance To this we answer confidently and resolutely That although it is most certain that God did rest on the first Seventh day of the World but so as hath been at large shewed before yet he never appointed or hallowed a weekly Seventh day for Man's rest untill the dayes of Moses Our Reasons for this Assertion are these First If the weekly Seventh day had been hallowed at the beginning as a Law it must have been either written in Mans heart as all Moral Lawes of God were ever since Man was made or else it must have been openly declared as a Law positive But the Seventh-day Sabbath was not written in Man's heart For if so then it must have bound all Nations in all Ages which as yet it never did Neither was iâ— then declared overtly as a Law positive for if so then certainly we should have found some mention or footsteps of it in the History of the Patriarks which lived before Moses But we â—ind nothing of it in all that long time and we are well assured that neither Adam nor any of his posterity did ever so Sabbatize untill the dayes of Moses This is the Doctrine of the Fathers generally and of the Church Primitive Secondly The Preface before the ten Moral Laws which containeth the date or time of their Promulgation by writing to me seemeth to be annexed to them on purpose to prove this Assertion concerning the fiâ—st establishment and original of the Seventh-day Sabbath For thus we read I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt Thou shaâ—t c. By which it may appear that the publication of the Laws was after the deliverance out of Egypt Just so the Prophets date their Prophesies at the beginnings of them as The vision of Isaiah in the dayes of Uzziah c. And To Jeremiah the Isai 1. 1. Jer. 1. 1 2 word of the Lord came in the dayes of Josiah And In the first year of Jehoiakim's captivity the word of the Lord came expresly to Ezekiel Eze. 1. 2 3. the Priest The like we find in Daniel Amos Micha Zephani Haggi Zechari And in the Gospel also In the dayes of Herod And Caesar Augustus And Tiberius Luke 1. 5. 2. 1 3. 1. Caesar Here I desire the learned Reader to consider with me why it pleased the Divine Wisdom to put so late and low a date to the whole Decalogue of the Law Moral which we are well assured was in force from the creation of the first Man If not for this reason only bâ—cause there was something inserted and added to these Laws which was new and was not written in Man's heart nor ever imposed on the People of God untill they had been delivered out of Egypt And That new thing was this Ceremonial Precept of
〈◊〉 or anticiâ—â—tion as St. Augustine calls it without Aug. lib. locut in Nu. To. 3. which Figure the truth and actuall performance of their prophecies cannot appear And for our right understanding of those proleptiâ—al Prophecies the Fathers have left us many rules and instances such as these Tertullian saith a Tert. de Trin. Scriptura Quae futura suâ—t proâ—factis annuntiat After him Eusebius observeth b Euseb-Demonst l. 4. c. Prophetica consuetudo est Quod futurum est quasi praeâ—â—ritum enuntiare St. Rasil saith c Bas in â—â—a c. 1. â— Naz. Orâ—t 35. Prophetae ennarrant futura quasi praeterita And Nazianzen d In Scriptura sepè â—empora invertuntur The same is observed by Cyril Chrysostom Ambrose and very often by St. Austin The great Apostle hath also taught us that â—o 4. 17. God calleth those things which be not as though they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon which words the Glosse saith e â—los in â—oc Apud â—um jam sâ—nt quae futura sunt With God those things are present which to us are to come And Habet electos suos quos creaturus est quos habet apud semetipsum non in naturâ— suâ sed in praesentia sua i. e. God hath his Elect which yet are not born he hath them in himself and present with him though not existent in nature All this we find to be confirmed by the writings of the Prophets in whom God spake Isaiah saith of Christ Unto us a châ—ld is born and unto us a son is given yet Isa 9. 6. this Prophet died about 600 years before the birth of Christ He saith again of the Passion of Christ He was wounded for our transgressions Isa 53. 5 7 he was bruised for our iniquities He was oppressed afflicted brought as a lamb to the slaughter c. Just so the Psalmist spake long before They pierced my hands and Psal â—2 〈◊〉 18. Psal 69. â—1 my feet They cast lots upon my vesture They gave me gall and vinegar All these and many more such prophecies are meant of things not then past but to come and yet were true because as St. Austin saith f Aug. cont Max. lib. 3. â— â—6 To. 6. Pradestinatione â—am faclum eâ—at quod suo â—empore futurum eâ—at i. e. These things were actually decâ—eed in heaven though not acted on earth As Herod and Rilate are said to have done â— 4. 28. whâ—t the hand and counsell of God determined before So we read He predestâ—nated called justified glorified Ro. 8. 30. as if all these were already performed yet many are to be called justified and glorified who then were and as yet are unborn So Christ is called The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world All Rev. 13. 8. these Futures are spoken as if they had been past because to the All-seeing Godhead they were as evident and present as if they had been performed and this in respect of the Divâ—ne Providence and Eternall Decreâ— Upon the same ground Moses might truly assert the Hallowing of the seventh day at the beginning of the world although it was not so declared untill the daies of the said Moses Thus much may serve for Exposition of the Ceremoniall part of this Sabbaticall Commandment CHAP. XXII The Reasons why God conferred honours on the seventh day and why he also laâ—d some sâ—urs upon it as 1. That the Sabbath day was not made known till Moses time nor at all mentioned by David nor the Sabbath-Law by Christ 2. That God commanded some works on that day 3. That no Mana fell on it 4. That Christ lay dead on that whole day 5. That God called it but a signe and that it was nothing else 6. That it is said to be made â—or man 7. That it is impâ—ssible to be kept generally and also inconvenient occasionally to the Jews That the impossibility both of the seventh-day-Sabâ—ath and also of the Morall Law was designed by God to drive Man to seek for Râ—st and Salvation onely in Christ THe Jews greatly erred in misunderstanding the fourth Commandment as if the hallowing of the seventh day had been the onely scope and purporâ— thereof whereas indeâ—d that day was but a meer figure of the true Sabbath which is Christ for he onely is the Sabbath or Rest both of the Godhead and of us men as hath been at large shewed before Yet because the seventh day was a figure of so great a mystery and blessing therefore God did hallow and honour it with many priviledges such as are before rehearsed But withall he clogged it with many incumbrances and inconveniences and some disparagements and sâ—â—rs also and disgraces more than any other day as an allay or abatement of honour like the Boy 's Memento to King Philip who every morning call'd â—pon him with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so did God with this Aelian l. â— c. 15. Sabbath day And at length when the period of the use thereof was accomplished he cast iâ— quite away And this he did on purpose to withdraw his people from doting on the shadow to the apprehension of the true reall and substantiall Sabbath When Princes confer honours or estates upon their subjects they usually Onerate their Patents with some reservations of fealty homage or service for an acknowledgment of their minoration and subjâ—ction to their Soveraign Upon such divine Policy it pleased the Godhead so to reserve the supream honour to himself in the whole oeconomy of his instrumentall Types and Servants and therefore he chose things which in themselves were but of low condition and base esteem amongst men that so the principall honour and efficacy of their service might be ascribed to himself Thus he appointed those poor creatures Sheep and Neat and Goats as sacrifices to represent the grand Sacrifice and mystery of the death of Christ Then by the brazen image Num. 21. 8. Joh. 3. 14. of a Serpent lifted up upon a pole he represented Christ as crucified although a Serpent is of all creatures esteemed most vile and cursed The great Sacrament of taking away sins called Circumcision was to be performed on that part of man's body which is called uncomely and pudendum Indeed the Temple was a splendid and glorious type but even this and the other were sleighted when they had served their due time All this was to instruct his people not to adhere and rest on the figures but principally to regard and consider the signification and substance of them For when they conâ—ided in and boasted too much of their Templum Domini God suffered Jer. 7. 4. it soon after to be destroyed and when they magnified the brazen Serpent with offering 2 King 18. 4. incense to it the good King Hezekiah brake it in pieces The like policy was used by the Divine Wisdom in the New Testament by choosing contemptible men to administer the Gospell as Fishermen Ideots unlearned
this Law is meant of Christ I have shewed before a Chap. 7. And that Christ only is this everlasting Covenant the Gospel often declareth Christ saith This is my blood of the new Testament Matth. 26. 28. Or as St. Luke reads it This is the new Testament in my blood Luke 22. 20. Testament and Covenant signifie the same thing but only that a Covenant is a Promise Conditional And a Testament there is the same Promise or Covenant given and bequeathed So Hebr. 13. 20. The blood of Christ is called The blood of the everlasting Covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza renders Aeterâ— foederis i. e. Eternal Covenant So these words Testament and Covenant both to our own and also to forrain Translators seem all one so Christ must be this everlasting covenanted Sabbath But then if this everlasting Sabbath be really Christ how is it called a sign as the Typical Sabbath is for so we read Exod. 31. 17. It is a sign for ever To this we answer That this Sabbath is no otherwise called a sign than Christ himself is so called Luke 2. 34. This Child is set for a sign that shall be spoken against And Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven This sign signifieth the very Person of Christ as both Origen and Chrysostome expound it Only the Covenant of Christ's Sabbathship is an everlasting sign but so is not the sign of the Ceremonial Sabbath as hath been proved In this sense only the Sabbath is everlasting as it signifieth Christ of which there is no doubt to be made In a like case when question was made by Act. 13. 22. Dâ—lciâ—â—us how Dâ—vâ—d being a great sinner could be styled A man after Gods own heart St. Austin answered a De 8. Quaest. Dulc. To. 3. De Christo intellige nullus nodus est So we say if we understand that this Sabbath Moral signifieth Christ as certainly it doth then there will be no question of the everlastingness and eternity thereof The Ceremonial or Day-Sabbath was taken away that so the true substantial Sabbath might the better take place in mens minds Just as Typical Sacrifices were rejected by God that so the grand Sacrifice of Christ might be by faith apprehended of which the Apostle expresly thus writeth He taketh away the first that he may establish the second Heb. 10. 9. This is also to be observed for a sign of the depreciating or undervaluing of this Typical or Day-Sabbath that Christ said The Sabbath Mar. 2. 26 was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath This he meant no doubt of the Câ—remonial Sabbath in that it was ordained only to be ministerial and subservient to Man as a Conducter and Guide to the true everlasting Sabbath for if he had spoken of the Moral and Mystical Sabbath he might truly have said That Men was made for the Sabbath because the true Sabbath is God the Son by whom and for whose glory all Men and the World it self were made And he was before all Creatures and not made at all nor created but begotten from Eâ—ernity But yet this Son of God may truly be said to be made the Sabbath for Man yet not as he is meerly the Son of God but as he is also the Son of Man He was made Man for us and by that he became the Mystical Sabbath For the Son of God considered in his pure Divinity cannot be the Sabbath neither can the Son of Man be so if considered without his Divinity but joyntly with both Natures So that in consideration of his assumed humane Nature and therewith his Sabbathship he was made for Man and came to help and minister to Man as himself most graciously acknowledged The Son of Man came not to be ministred Matth. 20. 28. unto but to minister 7. Finally The most notorious slurre of all was That this Seventh day which God appointed to be hallowed could not possibly be so kept on that day in all places of the Earth as any Man that hath but mean knowledge in Geographie may easily apprehend for when in one part of the Earth it is Miâ—-day in another part it is Mid-night and when Day begins in one part Night begins in another so that the Jews themselves in their remote dispersions cannot possibly Sabbatize at the same time By this it may clearly appear that the seventh-day Sabbath was only a national Constitution during the standing of the Judaical Common-wealth and that the Seventh day was not that Moral Sabbath which God required in this fourth Commandement because a Law Moral bindeth all Nations in every part of the Earth but some other Sabbath was intended which possibly might be kept by all Nations that Sabbath is Christ Who therefore sent his Apostles Mar. 16. 15. with an universal Commission Go ye into all the world and preach And not only to the Jews but Go and teach all Nations Matth. 28 19. These and such like incumbrances impossibilities and inconveniences did the Godhead pâ—t upon this Ceremonial Sabbath as no fire-kindling no burden-bearing no meatdressing no stirring out of their places and thereby made that People ridiculous to other Nations as the Prophet saith The adversaries did mock at her Sabbaths And the Manichee Lam 1. 7. called their Saturday Sabbaths * Aug. Cont. Faâ—st l. 18 c. 5. Catcâ—as Saturnâ—acas i. e. the fetters of Saturn Logicians use to say Uno absur do dato mille sequuntur The mis-understanding of this one Sabbath Law led the Jews into strange and ridiculous Superstitions and also to the ruine of their Persons and City and Temple A Jew in a boysterous Sea refused to tug at the stern because it was his Sabbath day and so he perished Another would not be drawn out of a loathsome draught upon the same reason but rather miserably perished as our own Histories record The Jews could not be ignorant that God himself did work on every Sabbath-day and that he did also occasionally command others so to do as the Preists and sometimes the Souldiers therefore they might easily have perceived that both the Sabbath or Rest of God and also of his people consisted in something else and not in a meer cessation from worldly works Some Sabbatarian Writers tell us That Man should work when God worketh and rest when God rested But God worketh alwayes so cannot Man If they had said that Man should rest in that thing which God rested in they had spoken home to the true Sabbath indeed For God rested only in Christ and so should we otherwise all Seventh-day Sabbatizing is utterly vain and superstitious By these Reasons a pious and judicious Reader will clearly perceive that these slurrs were put upon the Day Sabbath by our Wise God on purpose and design to withdraw his people from the shadow to the substance and from the Ceremonial to the Moral and substantial Sabbath which is Christ for just such a design God had in his Dispensation even of the Moral Law which was first written in Man's heart Then afterwards when it was to our lapsed and depraved nature impossible yet it was again imposed on us and engraven in stone And this he did that thereby he might direct us both to perform so much of it as we can and also to seek help and mercy of him for what we cannot do There had been no need of writing this Law in Tables of stone which was written defore in Man's heart but only because as St. Austin saith a Aug. in Psal 57. Tu fugitivus eras cordis tui i. â— Man was a run-away from his own heart and principles for we find that Man now perpetrateth wickedness which his own conscience judgeth to be so and also condemneth as an Heathen confessed b Juvenal Sat. 13. Se judice nemo nocens absolvitur The reason why God did impose this Law on Man then when it was impossible is singularly rendred by the Apostle thus The Scripture Gal. 3. 2â— hath concluded all under sin that the Promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Now although the impossible Law is by faith and union with Christ made possible to Man yet it was imposed on us with all its literall impossibilities on purpose to be as the same Apostle saith Our Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ or indeed to Ibid. v 24. drive force and necessitate us to seek some other means and way for our justification and salvation besides the Law which way is only the Lord Jesus Christ in whom only our peace with God and our everlasting Sabbath consisteth To Him therefore with the Father and the holy Spirit be rendred blessing honour praise and thanksgiving for ever and ever Amen Laus Deo FINIS
use this word God we should do it with great awefull reverence which yet we ought to do but the name of God doth herâ— signifie God himself as we are well taught by St. Austin a Aug. in Joh. Tract 29. Non est Deus duae syllabae duas syllabas colimus manet aliquod magnum quod est Deus sono non manente i. e. When we mention God or Godhead think not that we mean a word a sound a syllable or two as if we worshipped sounds words or syllables for that great thing which is God remaineth when no sound or syllable is heard Just so he saith of Christ upon those words Joh. 14. 13. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name b Id. lib. Tract 102. Non est intelligendus Dominus de sono syllabis qui hoc sentit de Filio non petit in ejus nomine etiamsi non taceat literis syllabis Christum i. e. When we ask in the name of the Lord Name doth not signifie only that word Christ as if it were a Charme he that thinks so doth not pray in the name of the Son of God though the word Christ be in his mouth Thus he The Son of God is by St. John called â—oh 1. 1. The word yet he that shall think that The Word in that place signifieth only a Grammatical or vocal word and sound doth err dangerously for it followeth The word was God so it signifieth the real and substantial Son of God It is therefore a very slander that someof late have put upon this Church for requiring an adoration of our Lord Jesus when that name is mentioned They say we worship only a name But we worship only the Lord Jesus himself as the Apostle meaneth in whom the name Jesus signifieth the Person Jesus as the name of God signifieth God himself Those phrases of Blessing and Magnifying and Glorifying and Justifying and Sanctifying God and The name of God which we find in the Scripture are all to be understood in the same sense For when it is said Job 1. 21. Blessed be the name of the Lord it is all one with that of Luk. 1. 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel so Mal. 2. 2. Give glory to my name is all one with that of Josh 7. 19. My Son give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel That of Ezech. 36. 23. I will sanctifie my great name is all one with that of 1 Pet. 3. 15. Sanctifie the Lord God Where for those words Lord God both the Syriac and old Latine read The Lord Christ as a Beza in Loc. Beza notes There is also mention of Justifying God Ps 51. 4. yet neither Justifying Blessing Gloryfying or Sanctifying can make any addition by any of these Attributes to the plenitude of God These are but the expressions of man not to make God holy but to declare him to be so and to shew that he is so accounted and esteemed by us indeed God doth sanctify us Really Effectually and Actually by induing us with sanctifying Graces but we cannot sanctifie God otherwise than affectionately declaratively and verbally and also by conforming our selves to his Commandments And so Christ our Sabbath is to be sanctified by us by an holy imitation of his Vertues as the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 1. 16. Be ye holy as I am holy and to keep this Sabbath is to be wary and mindful alwayes to keep Christ by a firm faith to be fixed to him never to deny or reject him And to keep him holy is to purifie ouâ— hearts so as to be clean and prepared Mansions fit for so holy a Guest and to walk worthy of so holy and so merciful a Saviour in our private demeanour and outward conversation As the Godhead did really magnifie the Lord Jesus by uniting it self in a Personal union with that man and thereby made him the Christ or the Anointed One in which consideration only he is our Sabbath and being so anointed he was thereby really sanctified by the Godhead and also as that word signifies he was seperated distinguished differenced and preferred above all others as it is said of him Psalm 45. 7. God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows that is above all other Kings Priests and Prophets And Philip. 2. 9. That God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name So we ought to sanctifie the same Lord Jesus our Sabbath in a way of preheminence distinguishing him by the reverence and honour which we perform to him from all other persons and honours in a word we must sanctifie honour and worship him farre more then any one or then all the Creatures of Heaven and Earth God hath many holy Ones but none so holy as our Lord Jesus He is said to be sanctified by the Father John 10. 36. so are others but Christ super-eminently and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Angel cals him The most Holy Dan. 9. 24. And the same Angel again cals him That holy Thing Luke 1. 35. And even Satan confessed him to be The holy One of God Mar. 1. 24. Therefore Christ our Sabbath being thus by way of excellency declared to be the holy One and the most Holy of all Holies surely he ought to be so esteemed and also to be so declaratively sanctified by us in the most humble and reverential manner that possibly we can according to his infinite holiness This I firmly believe to be the Spirit and meaning of this Moral Sabbath and the sanctifying thereof We find many sanctifyings of Creatures as of Prophets and Priests and of Places as the Tabernacle Temple and Vessels of Dayes and Times as Sabbaths Festivals but none to be so highly sanctified as Christ our Sabbath for the Sanctifying of him is a Separating of him in a preferment above all other hallowings or sanctifyings which are performed to Creatures forasmuch as we find that his very humane Nature was by the Godhead produced in an extraordinary way distinct and separate from other men as it is said Heb 7. 25. Our High-Priest is holy seperate from sinners for he was born of a Virgin and this to seperate him from the common contagron of Original pollution It is also declared Heb. 10. 29. to be an heinous sin worthy of sore punishment to count the blood of the Covenant which is the blood of Christ to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. common which is to esteem his blood no better then the blood of another man or indeed of all men in the world and so not to seperate or preferre or sanctifie it above all others This is the grand Sin there intended because neither all men in the world nor all the Angels of Heaven if they could and would suffer in mans stead yet they would not be sound of sufficient value to Redeem us and to procure our everlasting Rest as Christ hath done whom we