were and are to continue a rule of righteousness and obedience to the Church and people of God to the end of the world and they are said to be moral not simply and absolutely but synecdochically or in some respect only and therefore in the Ten Commandments rightly to understand them we must consider two things First The substance of every Commandment And Secondly The circumstances of every Commandment Now the substance of every Commandment is moral of perpetual Equity and knowable by the Light of Nature or Reason in man fallen but the circumstances are positive and depend upon Revelation or Gods positive Commands expressed in the Scripture This is true of every one of the Ten Commandments I shall instance only in two of them which will give light to all the rest I shall instance in the Second and Fourth Commandments First The Second Commandment concerneth the outward Worship of God now the morality or substance of this Second Commandment is this Thou shalt outwardly worship the Lord thy God only by such ways and duties as he shall command and appoint And this may be known to fallen man by the light of Reason for that doth dictate to him that there is a God and that God is to be worshipped and that he is to be worshipped only by such duties ways and means as he shall command and appoint but for the circumstances of this Commandment namely the particular duties and ordinances by which God will be outwardly worshipped they depend wholly upon Revelation and the positive Commands of God for all the duties of worship commanded of God both in the Old and New Testament are to be referred to the Second Commandment So the substance or morality of the Fourth Commandment is contained in these words only Remember the sabbath-Sabbath-day to keep it holy that is Thou shalt keep holy that day of Rest which I do appoint and this also the light of Reason may dictate That it belongeth to God only to set apart and appoint to his people a day of holy Rest and all the other words expressed in this Commandment are but circumstantial and depend upon Revelation as the appointing the Seventh day from the Creation to be the day of holy Rest to the people of God before Christ was by positive command of God for Adam in the estate of innocency could not know by his concreated light that God would finish his work of Creation in six days and yet God doth make that the ground of his instituting the Seventh day to be the day of holy Rest Gen. 2. 3. much less could it be known by the light of Nature or Reason in man fallen We read of Aristotle that great Philospher who did excel in the light of Reason that he affirmed that the World had no beginning and the Scripture saith expresly Heb. 11. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God and that which we understand by faith we know by revelation only which is the ground of faith and the Seventh day being a created time as well as the other six days could not be a holy time to fallen man but by Gods special and positive Command and Institution 2. A second thing to be considered for the right understanding of the Doctrine of the Sabbath is this That the Seventh day from the Creation appointed of God to be the Sabbath or day of holy Rest to the people of God before Christs incarnation being but the positive part of the Fourth Commandment did cease and end as a holy Sabbath at the time of Christs resurrection from the dead the reason is Because though it was primarily commanded of God to be so observed yet afterwards a typical sense and use was by Moses from God added to it as Circumcision and the Passover they were instituted to be the ordinary Sacraments belonging to the Church of the Jews and were both seals of the Covenant of Grace the first of Initiation the other of confirmation and growth yet being also used as typical during the legal administration they both ceased with the Ceremonial Law and in the room of them Christ ordained Baptism and the Lords Supper to be the only Sacraments to all Christian Churches in time of the Gospel So the Seventh day from the Creation it was primarily by a positive command of God set apart to be the Jews weekly holy Sabbath yet it came to be used also as typical to signifie to the faithful their spiritual rest in Christ in this â—ife and their eternal rest by and with Christ in Heaven as Exod. 31. 13 Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a sign betwixt me and you throughout your generations which is meant also of the Seventh-day-Sabbath as is evident in ver 14 15 16 and in ver 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever and it is reckoned up amongst the other Jewish Festival Sabbaths in Levit. 23. 2 and in Col. 2. 16 17 which are a shadow of things to come but the body is Christ And Heb. 4. 3 4 5 9. There remaineth therefore a Sabbatism to the people of God and it is evident that this Sabbatism was typified by the Seventh-day-Sabbath in ver 4. And from these Scriptures it must be granted That God appointed the Rest of the seventh-Seventh-day not only as a sanctified time of his Worship publick and private but also as a sanctified sign of mans resting on the Seed of the Woman and of his eternal Rest in Heaven and therefore as soon as the Seed of the Woman had finished his Sacrifice and was risen from the dead the holy Rest of the seventh-Seventh-day ceased as did all the other types of Moses his Law Gal. 4. 9 10 11 and in the room of it was appointed by Christ the First day of the week For to deny that God hath instituted another day to be the day of holy Rest to Christians in the time of the Gospel is to deny the Moral part of the Fourth Commandment 3. A third thing therefore to be considered for the right understanding of the Doctrine of the Sabbath is this That upon the Resurrection of Christ from the dead God did appoint the First day of the week to be the day of holy Rest to the Churches of Christ to the end of the world which yet in his great wisdom is so contrived that the weekly return of it is but one day in seven that still man may have six days for his labour and God may have the seventh-Seventh-day to be his holy Sabbath and this by virtue of the moral part of the Fourth Commandment and that expressed in these words Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath-day that is the day that I shall appoint by posiâ—ive Command to be my holy Sabbath-day Now that God hath appointed the First day of the week it being the Eight from the Creation and the Seventh day from the Resurrection of Christ to be the Christian Sabbath hath
been and may be made evident to any one who can but so far deny himself as to think that he may err and be mistaken in his opinion and is resolved to receive the truth whensoever and by whomsoever it shall be made manifest to him from the holy Scriptures Now for the proof of this Third particular consider that the Seventh day from the Creation being appointed of God by positive command the day of holy Rest to the Jews and that day being also made typical and so ceased as hath been already proved it was necessary from the moral part of the Fourth Commandment that God should appoint another day for his holy Sabbath instead of the Seventh day from the Creation for God only can so set apart and sanctifie a Sabbath day as to bind the inward as well as the outward man to be holily exercised all that day as it is expressed in Isa 58. 13 14. Now that the First day of the week is appointed and ordained of God to be the Christians holy Sabbath-day is sufficiently evidenced by these things 1. That the eight day from the Creation being the day of Christs resurrection from the dead is very eminent and famous in the Old Testament before the time of Christ his incarnation as 1. No creature was allowed for sacrifice until it was eight days old Exod. 22. 27 30. 2. The Law of Circumcision was strictly tied to the eight day Gen. 17. 12 and in divers other places 3. The persons of the Priests were not perfectly consecrated to minister in their Office until the eighth day Levit. 8. 33 and 9. 1. 4. The leprous person was not perfectly cleansed until the eight day Lev. 14. 10 nor the polluted Nazarite Numb 6. 10. 5. The last and great day of the Feast of Tabernacles was on the eight day which was a Sabbath-day Joh. 7. 37 and all this to typifie the eminency of the Resurrection-day of Christ even above the Seventh from the Creation and all this did clearly intimate and imply that God would at Christs resurrection take off the Crown of honour from the Seventh day and set it upon the head of the Eight day the day of his Son's resurrection from the dead having then finished the great work of man's Redemption 2. It is evident by Scripture that it hath been Gods frequent practice to set a character or mark of remembrance and honour upon his most considerable works and actions by setting apart a set and solemn time to be piously observed and kept upon that account As for his other great works he commanded only an yearly solemnity as in Exod. 12. 42 and chap. 13. 3 and in Hest 9. 20. But the great work of the Creation God would have to be remembred and honoured by a weekly solemnity by setting apart and sanctifying the Seventh day from the Creation to be observed in the weekly return of it as his holy Sabbath or day of Holy Rest Gen. 2. 3. And can we reasonably imagine that Gods Pleasure Acquiescence and Rest in raising his Son his only begotten Son from the dead having finished the great work of Redemption a greater and a more glorious work than that of the Creation and of a more dear and precious resentment to God the Father that yet this wonderful and blessed work the very admiration of Angels should not be honoured with a day of remembrance as frequent as solemn as sacred and by Gods own appointment as the other was how can it but seem very strange to a considerate believing and redeemed Christian 3. The Lord Jesus himself began to celebrate and solemnize the individual day of his Resurrection by an holy and heavenly conference with two of his Disciples as they were going from Jerusalem to Emaus Luk. 24. 30 And behold two of them went the same day the Evangelist gives special notice of the day and the same day he did administer the Sacrament of the Supper to them Ver. 30 And it came to pass as he sate at meat with them c. You see that they were then eating and then he took the bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to them these words he useth only in the administration of the Holy Supper Now the same hour saith the Evangelist they returned again to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and them that were with them ver 33 c. and ver 36 c. Now why did the Holy Ghost give such particular notice of the day to be the same day the eight day the first day of the week the day of his resurrection from the dead ver 1 but to signifie that Christ on that day began to sanctifie the day of his resurrection in religious exercises to lead the way to all that should believe in him to do the like Now beside this Christ made two other appearances and each of them was on the first day of the week the day in which he rose again from the dead not mentioning any thing spoken or done by him the six days between and why all this but to put a mark of special remembrance and honour on this day the first day of the week it being now to become the holy Sabbath-day to all Christian Churches to the end of the world and it is very observable that after Christs resurrection and before his ascension he spake to his Disciples of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Acts 1. 3 that is what the Apostles were afterwards to do in the Church of God both in respect of Government and Preaching and Writing and then commands them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father ver 4 which they did as in Acts 2. 1 2 3 4. Now the day on which the Holy Ghost was sent from Heaven and fell upon the Apostles in that miraculous manner was the first day of the week as is evident from the computation of the days of Pentecost which are here said to have been fully come or fulfilled Lev. 23. 15 16. 4. It was afterwards the practice of the Saints in the Apostles days to solemnize the First day of the week in a religious assembling of themselves for Sabbath duties and exercises as Acts 20. 7. And upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread meaning after their usual and accustomed manner Paul preached unto them c. and in 1 Cor 16. 1 2 Vpon the first day of the week when ye are met together namely according to your usual custom and in both these places the exact notation of the day the first day of the week did denote to them that this was and ought to be the day to be kept by Christians for their weekly Sabbath for the Apostles had greatly sinned and caused the Christian Churches to have sinned if they had not direction and command from Christ to observe that day of the week holy as being now the Christian Sabbath 1 Cor 14. 37 and the other abolished by Christ as hath been already proved 5. In Rev. 1. 10 saith the Apostle John I was in the spirit on the Lords day this cannot be meant of the Seventh-day-Sabbath for it was above fifty years after Christs resurrection when the Apostle John wrote to the Seven Churches of Asia and then the Seventh-day-Sabbath was generally laid aside by Christians and the first day of the week the day of Christs Resurrection was generally observed and kept by them instead of it and therefore this title was by the Apostle John given to that day without any circumstance as that which was familiarly known and grown in frequent use and practice in all the Christian Churches And as Christ ordained the Holy Supper instead of the Passover and therefore stiled by the Apostle Paul The Lords Supper so because Christ ordained the day of his Resurrection to be the Christians day of Holy Rest instead of the Jewish Seventh-day-Sabbath therefore it is stiled by the Apostle John The Lords Day 6. Ever since the Apostles time the First day of the week being the day of Christs Resurrection hath been generally observed kept as the Christian Sabbath in all Christian Churches throughout all succeeding Ages unto this day Now that they all should live and dye in an erroneous sinful practice without repentance so much controverted and an inconsiderable party of them much inferior to multitudes of them both in Learning Parts Gifts and Spiritual Grace and Holiness should yet only be in the right who hold the Jewish Sabbath the Seventh day from the Creation to be still in force and accordingly do observe and keep it contrary to the declared judgment and practice of all other Christians cannot be thought but to proceed either from ignorance or from pride or from both one or both of these having been the root and cause of all the Schisms and Errors and Heresies which do or ever have disquieted and disturbed the Churches of Jesus Christ FINIS
A Serious and Brief DISCOURSE Touching the Sabbath-Day Intended to decide and determine all CONTROVERSIES Respecting that SUBJECT BY THOMAS CLEADON Rector of Radwinter in the County of Essex LONDON Printed by A. M. for Edward Brewster at the sign of the Crane in St. Paul's Church-yard 1674. OF THE SABBATH THAT we may be truly and clearly informed of the Doctrine of the Sabbath we must consider and receive these following Truths First That Adam so long as he continued in the estate of Innocency in which he was created of God nor was nor could be under the obligation of the ten Commandments and so not under the obedience of the fourth Commandment for can it rationally be supposed that Adam being created perfectly holy Gen. 1. 26 27 made after the Image of God which was perfect in Adam his Understanding was as full of concreated light of the knowledg of God and of his works as was necessary to his present happiness and he was suitably perfect in his will and affections and therefore while he continued in this perfect holy estate what need had he of the Ten Commandments or of what use could they be unto him He knew not what it was to worship an Image or to take Gods Name in vain nor could he know any of the sins forbidden nor any of the duties commanded in the second Table of the Law nor was of it any use to him who was perfectly holy nor did he know that God would set apart one day in seven to be more holy than the rest for had he continued in the estate of Innocency more days than that in which he was created the eight day and the ninth and the tenth day and every had been alike holy to him and as much a Sabbath to him as the Seventh day for he would have been still perfectly holy and therefore not subject to bodily weariness and so needed not bodily rest nor would he then have needed any of those outward duties and ordinances of worship required of us in the second or fourth Commandments for our spiritual edification and comfort for he needed not either spiritual information or spiritual comfort or spiritual growth as we do since the fall a perfect estate of grace and holiness hath no need of any of these spiritual helps and means no more than the holy Saints in Heaven have now need or use of them And hence two things must necessarily be inferred 1. That man was fallen from his Innocency before he was commanded to observe the seventh day as the time of the Sabbath or holy Rest as it was afterwards expressed in the fourth Commandment and it is evident that Gods great design in creating man was not his continuance in the estate of innocency for one day and therefore as soon as man was created and put into Paradise God made a Covenant with him for himself and all his posterity That if he did eat first of the fruit of the tree of knowledg of good and evil he and all his posterity should presently dye that is a spiritual death by being stript of that holy image of God in which he was created but if he did eat first of the tree of Life which stood next to the other then he and all his posterity should continue for ever in their present holy and happy estate Now the Devil hearing and knowing that God had made this Covenant with him and fearing lest Adam should eat first of the tree of Life and so he and all his posterity should live for ever he being full of envy and malice and subtilty he presently entred into the Serpent and in and by the Serpent perswaded and prevailed with Eve and by Eve perswades and prevailed with Adam to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree and so they both and all their posterity were deprived of that innocent and holy estate in which they were created therefore Gods great design in creating man was that by his fall he might take occasion to glorifie both his Mercy and Justice in sending his Son into the world to be a Redeemer and Saviour which he did in promise immediately upon mans fall Gen. 3. 15 and by actual exhibition when the fulness of time was come Gal. 4. 4 And therefore Adam's continuance in the estate of innocency for so short a time was most sutable to Gods great design in man's creation 2. This also must necessarily be inferred That Adam being created perfectly innocent and holy could not fall from that holy and happy estate by any other way but only by doing some outward act in its own nature lawful which God should forbid him to do and God forbad him to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledg of good and evil which was in it self lawful but became unlawful for him to eat of that fruit by a positive negative precept from God Gen. 2. 17. For God never made with man but two Covenants essentially differing one from the other the first was made with man in the estate of innocency before his fall expressed in Gen. 2. 16 17 and this if you will you may call a Covenant of Works and this Covenant he brake Gen. 3. 6. And the second Covenant God made with man in his lapsed or fallen estate being devoid of all spiritual good overspread with original sin and under the guilt of eternal death and this was a Covenant of Grace touching the redemption and salvation of man a sinner by the death and sufferings of Christ both God and Man and this Covenant of Grace God did reveal and express to Adam immediately upon his fall in Gen. 3. 15. and what God hath revealed to be his will in reference to man a sinner ever since he made that promise hath been but an explication and amplification of that Covenant-promise made in Christ Now this Covenant of Grace since that first promise made to man in his lapsed estate God hath revealed to man a sinner or rather to his Church and people by such degrees and means as he pleased for as for the first two thousand years after that promise God revealed his will and mind to his people not by writing but either by visions or dreams or by audible voice and the like but at the end of two thousand years when God brought his people out of Egypt they being grown to a great Nation in their passage through the Wilderness God established the Covenant of Grace with them in a more publick way and after a more solemn manner upon Mount Sinai and then and not before he spake the Ten Commandments to them with his own mouth and also he wrote them in two Tables of stone with his own hand to be unto them and to all succeeding Churches in covenant with him a rule to walk by Exod. 31. 18. Now these Ten Words or Ten Commandments are no where in the Scripture called the Moral Law but by Divine Writers they are so called a morando because they