day of Gods pleasure for that his Son did rise thereon and shall it not be the day of my delight in him This is the day in which his Son was both begotten and born and became the first-Fruits to God of them that sleep yea and in which also he was made by him the chief and head of the corner and shall not we rejoyce in it Acts 13. 33. Heb. 1. 5. Coloss. 1. 18. Revel 1. 5. Shall Kings and Princes and Great men set a remark upon the day of their Birth and Coronation and expect that both Subjects and Servants should do them high honour on that day and shall the day in which Christ was both begotten and born be a day contemned by Christians and his Name not be but of a common regard on that day I say again Shall God as with his finger point and that in the face of the world at this day saying Thou art my Son this day c. and shall not Christians fear and awake from their employments to worship the Lord on this day If God remembers it well may I If God says and that with all gladness of heart Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee may not ought not I also to set this day apart to sing the songs of my Redemption in This day my Redemption was finished This day my dear Jesus revived This day he was declared to be the Son of God with power Yea this is the day in which the Lord Jesus finished a greater work than ever yet was done in the world yea a work in which the Father himself was more delighted than he was in making of Heaven Earth And shall Darkness and the shadow of Death stain this day Or shall a Cloud dwell on this day Shall God regard this day from above and shall not his Light shine upon this day What shall be done to them that curse this day and would not that the Stars should give their light thereon This day after this day was come God never that we read of made mention with delight of the old Seventh-day-sabbath more Sixthly Nor is that altogether to be slighted when he saith When he bringeth his first begotten into the world Let all the Angels of God worship him to wit at that very time and day Heb. 1. 6. I know not what our Expositors say of this Text but to me it seems to be meant of his Resurrection from the dead both because the Apostle is speaking of that vers 5. and closes that Argument with this Text Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again I will be his Father and he shall be my Son And again when he bringeth his first-begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him So then for Gods bringing of his first-begotten now into the world was by his raising him again from the dead after they by crucifying of him had turned him out of the same Thus then God brought him into the world never by them to be hurried out of it again For Christ being now raised from the dead dies no more death hath no more dominion over him Now saith the Text when he bringeth him thus into the world he requireth that worship be done unto HIM When that very day and that by all the Angels of God And if by ALL then Ministers are not excluded and if not Ministers then not Churches for what is said to the Angel is said to the Church it self Rev. 2. 1 7. ch 2. 8 11. ch 2. 12 17. ch 2. 18 29. ch 3. 1 6. ch 3. 7 13. ch 3. 14 and 22. So then if the Question be asked when they must worship him the Answer is When he brought him into the world which was on the first day of the week for then he bringeth him again from the dead and gave the whole World and the Government thereof into his holy hand This Text therefore is of weight as to what we have now under consideration to wit that the First day of the Week the day in which God brought his First-begotten into the world should be the day of worshipping him by all the Angels of God Seventhly Hence this day is called the Lords day as John saith I was in the spirit on the Lords day the day in which he rose from the dead Rev. 1. 10. The Lords day Every day say some is the Lords day Indeed this for discourse-sake may be granted but strictly no day can so properly by called the Lords day as this First day of the week for that no day of the Week or of the Year has those badges of the Lords glory upon it nor such divine Grace put upon it us has the First day of the Week This we have already made appear in part and shall make appear much more before we have done therewith There is nothing as I know of that bears this title but the Lords Supper and this day 1 Cor. 11 20. Rev. 1. 10. And since Christians count it an abuse to allegorize the first let them also be ashamed to santasticalize the last The Lords day is doubtless the day in which he rose from the dead To be sure it is not the old Seventh day for from the day that he arose to the end of the Bible we find not that he did hang so much as one twist of glory upon that but this day is beautified with glory upon glory and that both by the Father and the Son by the Prophets and those that were raised from the dead thereon therefore THIS day must be more than the rest But we are as yet but upon divine Intimations drawn from such Texts which if candidly considered do very much smile upon this great truth namely that the First day of the week is to be accounted the Christian Sabbath or Holy day for Divine Worship in the Churches of the Saints And now I come to the Texts that are more express Secondly then First This was the day in the which he did use to shew himself to his people and to congregate with them after he rose from the dead On the first first day even on the day on which he rose from the dead he visited his people both when together and apart over and over and over as both Luke and John do testifie Luk. 24. Joh. 2. And preached such sermons of his resurrection and gave unto them yea and gave them such demonstration of the truth of-all as was never given them from the foundation of the world Shewing he shewed them his risen body opening he opened their Understandings and dissipating he so scattered their Unbelief on THIS day as he never had done before And this continued one way or another even from before day until the evening Secondly On the next first day following the Church was within again that is congregated to wait upon their Lord. And John so relates the matter as to give us to understand that
they were not so assembled together again till then After eight days saith he again the Disciples were within clearly concluding that they were not so on the days that were between no not on the old Seventh day Now why should the Holy Ghost thus precisely speak of their assembling together upon the first day if not to confirm us in this that the Lord had chosen that day for the new Sabbath of his Church Surely the Apostles knew what they did in their meeting together upon that day yea and the Lord Jesus also for that he used SO to visit them when SO assembled made his practice a Law unto them For Practice is enough for us New Testament Saints specially when the Lord Jesus himself is in the head of that practice and that after he rose from the dead Perhaps some may stumble at the word after after eight days but the meaning is at the conclusion of the eighth day or when they had spent in a manner the whole of their Sabbath in waiting upon their Lord then in comes their Lord and finisheth that their days service to him with confirming of Thomas's faith and by letting drop other most heavenly treasure among them Christ said he must lie three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth yet 't is evident that he rose the third day 1 Cor. 15. 4. We must take then a part for the whole and conclude that from the time that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead to the time that he shewed his Hands and his Side to Thomas eight days were almost expired that is he had sanctified unto them two first days and had accepted that service they had performed to him therein as he testified by giving of them so blessed a farewel at the conclusion of both those days Hence now we conclude that this was the custom of the Church at this day to wit upon the first day of the week to meet together and to wait upon their Lord therein For the Holy Ghost counts it needless to make a continued repetition of things 't is enough therefore if we have now and then mention made thereof Obj. But Christ shewed himself alive to them at other times also as in Joh. 21 c. Answ. The names of all those days in which he so did are obliterate and blotted out that they might not be idolized for Christ did not set them apart for worship but this day the first day of the Week by its name is kept alive in the Church the Holy Ghost surely signifying thus much that how hidden soever other days were Christ would have his day the first day had in everlasting remembrance among Saints Churches also meet together now on the Week-days and have the presence of Christ with them too in their employments but that takes not off from them the sanction of the first day of the Week no more than it would take away the sanction of the old Seventh day had it still continued holy to them wherefore this is no let or objection to hinder our sanctifying of the first day of the Week to our God But Thirdly Adde to this that upon Pentecost which was the first day of the Week mention is made of their being together again For Pentecost was always the morrow after the Sabbath the old Seventh-day-sabbath Upon this day I say the Holy Ghost saith they were again with one accord together in one place But oh the glory that then attended them by the presence of the Holy Ghost among them Never was such a thing done as was done on that first day till then We will read the Text And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire And it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 1 2 3 4. Here 's a first day glorified Here 's a countenance given to the day of their Christian assembling But we will note a few things upon it First The Church was now as on other first days all with one accord in one place We read not that they came together by vertue of any precedent Revelation nor by Accident but contrarywise by Agreement they was to gather with one accord or by appointment in pursuance of their duty setting apart that day as they had done the first days afore to the holy service of their blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Secondly We read that this meeting of theirs was not begun on the old Sabbath but when Pentecost was fully come the Holy Ghost intimating that they had left now and begun to leave the Seventh-day-sabbath to the unbelieving Jews Thirdly Nor did the Holy Ghost come down upon them till every moment of the old Sabbath was past Pentecost as was said was FULLY come first And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and then c. And why was not this done on the seventh-day-Seventh-day-sabbath but possibly to shew that the Ministration of Death and Condemnation was not that by or thorough which Christ the Lord would communicate so good a gift unto his Churches Gal. 3. 1 2 3 4. This Gift must be referred to the Lords day the first day of the week to fulfil the Scripture and to sanctifie yet further this holy day unto the use of all New Testament Churches of the Saints For since on the first day of the week our Lord did rise from the dead and by his special presence I mean his personal did accompany his Church therein and SO preach as he did his holy truths unto them it was most meet that they on the same day also should receive the first-fruits of their eternal Life most gloriously And I say again since from the resurrection of Christ to this day the Church then did receive upon the first day but as we read upon no other such glorious things as we have mentioned it is enough to beget in the hearts of them that love the Son of God a high esteem of the first day of the week But how much more when there shall be joyned to these proof that it was the custom of the first Gospel-Church the Church of Christ at Jerusalem after our Lord was risen to assemble together to wait upon God on the first day of the Week with their Lord as leader To say little more to this head but onely to repeat what is written of this day of old to wit that it should be proclaimed the self same day to wit the morrow after the Sabbath which is the first day of the Week that it may be an holy convocation unto you you shall do no servile work therein it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings Levit. 23. 16 17 18
also entred into his Rest having by his rising again finished his Work viz. made a Conquest over the Powers of darkness and brought Life and Immortality to light through his so doing So then that being the day of the Rest of the Son of God it must needs be the day of the Rest of his Churches also For God gave his resting day to his Church to be a Sabbath and Christ rested from his own works as God did from his therefore he also gave the day in which he rested from his Works a Sabbath to the Churches as did the Father Not that there are TWO Sabbaths at once The Fathers was imposed for a time even until the Son's should come yea as I have shewed you even in the very time of its imposing it was also ordained to be done away Hence he saith that Ministration was to be done away 2 Cor. 3. Therefore we plead not for two Sabbaths to be at one time but that a succession of time was ordained to the New Testament-Saints or Churches of the Gentiles to worship God in which time is that in which the Son rested from his own Works as God did from his Secondly Hence he calls himself The Lord even of the Sabbath day as Luke 5. Matth. 12. shews Now to be a LORD is to have Dominion Dominion over a thing and so power to alter or change it according to that power and where is he that dares say Christ has not this absolutely We will therefore conclude that it is granted on all hands he hath The Question then is Whether he he hath exercised that power to the demolishing or removing of the Jews Seventh day and establishing another in its room The which I think is easily answered in that he did not rest from his own Works therein but chose for his own Rest to himself another day Surely had the Lord Jesus intended to have established the Seventh day to the Churches of the Gentiles he would himself in the first place have rested from his own Works therein but since he passed by that day and took no notice of it as to the finishing of his own Works as God took notice of it when he had finished his it remains that he fixed upon another day even the First of the Week on which by his rising again and shewing himself to his Disciples before his Passion he made it manifest that he had chosen as Lord of the Sabbath that day for his own Rest. Consequently and for the Rest of his Churches and for his Worship to be solemnized in Thirdly And on THIS day some of the Saints that slept arose and began their eternal Sabbath Matth. 27. 52 53. See how the Lord Jesus had glorified this day Never was such a stamp of divine Honour put upon any other day no not since the world began And the graves were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of their graves after his resurrection c. That is they rose as soon as he was risen But why was not all this done on the Seventh day No that day was set apart that Saints might adore God for the works of Creation and that Saints thorough that might look for Redemption by Christ But now a work more glorious than that is to be done and therefore another day is assigned for the doing of it in A work I say of Redemption compleated a day therefore by it self must be assigned for this and some of the Saints to begin their eternal Sabbath with God in Heaven therefore a day by it self must be appointed for this Yea and that this day might not want that glory that might attract the most dim-sighted Christian to a desire after the sanction of it the Resurrection of Christ and also of those Saints met together on it Yea they both did begin their eternal rest thereon Fourthly The Psalmist speaks of a day that the Lord Jehovah the Son of God has made and saith We will rejoyce and be glad in it But what day is this Why the day in which Christ was made the head of the corner which must be applied to the day in which he was raised from the dead which is the first of the Week Hence Peter saith to the Jews when he treateth of Christ before them and particularly of his Resurrection This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders which is become the head of thâ— corner He was set at nought bâ— them the whole course of his Ministry unto his death and was mad the head of the Corner by God that day he rose from the dead This day therefore is the day that thâ— Lord Jehovah has made a day oâ— rejoycing to the Church of Christ and we will rejoyce and be glad iâ— it For can it be imagined that the Spirit by the Prophet should thus signalize this day for nothing saying This is the day which the Lord hath made to no purpose Yes you may say for the resurrection of his Son But I adde that that is not all 't is a day that the Lord has both made for that and that we might rejoyce and be glad in it Rejoyce that is before the Lord while solemn divine Worship is performed on it by all the people that shall partake of the Redemption accomplished then Fifthly God the Father again leaves such another stamp of divine note and honour upon this day as he never before did leave upon any where he saith to our Lord Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Acts 13. 33. still I say having respect to the first day of the week for that and no other is the day here intended by the Apostle This day saith God is the day And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead now no more to return to corruption he saith on this wise I will give thee the sure mercies of David wherefore he saith in another Psalm Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption Wherefore the day in which God did this work is greater than that in which he finished the work of Creation for his making of the Creation saved it not from corruption but now he hath done a work which corruption cannot touch wherefore the day on which he did this haâ— this note from his own mouth This day as a day that doth transcend And as I said this day is the Firâ—â— of the Week for 't was in that daâ— that God begat his beloved So from the dead This first day oâ— the week therefore on it God founâ— that pleasure which he found not iâ— the Seventh day from the World Creation for that in it his Son did live again to him Now shall not Christians when they do read that God saith This day and that too with reference to a work done on it by him so full of delight to him and so full of life and Heaven to them set also a remark upon it saying This was the
though he limits Paul preaching to that Church with whom he at present personally was Upon the first day of the week when the Disciples were come together to break bread Paul being at that time at Troas preached to them on that day Thus then you see how the Gentile-Churches did use to break bread not on the old Sabbath but on the first day of the week And I say they had it from the Church of Jerusalem where the Apostles were first seated and beheld the way of their Lord with their eyes Now I say since we have so ample an example not onely of the Church at Jerusalem but also of the Churches of the Gentiles for the keeping of the first day to the Lord and that as countenanced by Christ and his Apostles we should not be afraid to tread in their steps for their practice is the same with Law and Commandment But Fifthly We will adde to this another Text Now saith Paul concerning the collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him as God has prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. This Text some have greatly sought to evade counting the duty here on this day to be done a duty too inferiour for the sanction of an old Seventh-day-sabbath when yet to shew mercy to an Ass on the old Sabbath was a work which our Lord no ways condemns Luke 13. 15. ch 14. 15. But to pursue our design we have a Duty enjoyned and that of no inferiour sort If charity be indeed as it is the very bond of perfectness and if without it ALL our doings yea and sufferings too are not worth so much as a rush 1 Cor. 13. Coloss. 3. 14. We have here a Duty I say that a Seventh-day-sabbath when enforce was not too big for it to be performed in The work now to be done was as you see to bestow their charity upon the Poor yea to provide for time to come And I say it must be collected upon the first day of the week Upon THE first day not A first day as signifying one or two but upon THE first day even every first day for so your ancient Bibles have it also our later must be so understood or else Paul had left them to whom he did write utterly at a loss For if he intended not every first day and yet did not specifie a particular one it could hardly even a been understood which first day he meant But we need not stand upon this This work was a work for A first day for EVERY first day of the week Note again that we have this duty here commanded and enforced by an Apostolical Order I have given order saith Paul for this and his Orders as he saith in another place are the commandments of the Lord you have it in the same Epistle chap. 14. vers 37. Whence it follows that there was given even by the Apostles themselves a holy respect to the first day of the week above all the days of the week yea or of the Year besides Further I find also by this Text that this Order is universal I have saith he given this order not onely to you but to the Churches in Galatia Consequently to all other that were concerned in this Collection 2 Cor. 8. and 9. chap. c. Now this whatever others may think puts yet more glory upon the first day of the week For in that all the Churches are commanded as to make their Collections so to make them on THIS day what is it but that this day by reason of the Sanction that Christ put upon it was of vertue to sanctifie the Offering thorough and by Christ Jesus as the Altar and Temple afore did sanctifie the Gift and Gold that was and was offered on them The Proverb is The better Day the better Deed. And I believe that things done on the Lords day are better done than on other days of the week in his Worship Obj. But yet say some here are no Orders to keep this first day holy to the Lord. Answ. 1. That is supplied for that by this very Text this day is appointed above all the days of the week to do this holy duty in 2. You must understand that this Order is but additional and now enjoyned to fill up that which was begun as to holy Exercise of religious Worship by the Churches long before 3. The universality of the duty being enjoyned to this day supposes that this day was universally kept by the Churches as holy already 4. And let him that scrupleth this shew me if he can that God by the mouth of his Apostles did ever command that all the Churches should be confined to this or that duty on such a day and yet put no Sanction upon that day or that he has commanded that this work should be done on the first day of the week and yet has reserved other Church-Ordinances as a publick solemnization of Worship to him to be done of another day as of a day more fit more holy 5. If Charity if a general Collection for the Saints in the Churches is commanded on this day and on no other day but this day for Church-collection is commanded on no other there must be a reason for it And if that reason had not respect to the sanction of the day I know not why the duty should be so strictly confined to it 6. But for the Apostle now to give with this a particular command to the Churches to sanctifie that day as holy unto the Lord had been utterly superfluous for that they already and that by the countenance of their Lord and his Church at Jerusalem had done Before now I say it was become a custom as by what hath been said already is manifest wherefore what need that their so solemn a practice be imposed again upon the Brethren An intimation now of a continued respect thereto by the very naming of the day is enough to keep the Sanctity thereof on foot in the Churches How much more then when the Lord is still adding holy duty to holy duty to be performed upon that day So then in that the Apostle writes to the Churches to do this holy duty on the first day of the week he puts them in mind of the Sanction of the day and insinuates that he would still have them have a due respect thereto Quest. But is there yet another reason why this holy duty should in special as it is be commanded to be performed on the first day of the week Answ. Yes For that now the Churches were come together in their respective places the better to agree about Collections and to gather them You know Church-worship is a duty so long as we are in the world and so long also is this of making Collections for the Saints And for as much as
the Apostle speaks here as I have hinted afore of a Church-collection When is it more fit to be done than when the Church is come together upon the first day of the Week to worship God 2. This part of Worship is most comely to be done upon the first day of the week and that at the close of that days work For thereby the Church shews not onely her thankfulness to God for a Sabbath-days mercy but also returneth him by giving to the Poor that Sacrifice for their benefit that is most behoveful to make manifest their professed subjection to Christ Prov. 19. 17. 2 Cor. 9. 12 13 14 15. It is therefore necessary that this work be done on the first day of the week for a comely close of the worship that we perform to the Lord our God on that day 3. On the first day of the week when the Church is performing of holy worship unto God then that of Collection for the Saints is most meet to be performed because then in all likelihood our hearts will be most warm with the divine Presence consequently most open and free to contribute to the necessity of the Saints You know that a man when his heart is open is taken with some excellent thing then if at all it is most free to do something for the promoting thereof Why waiting upon God in the way of his appointments opens and makes freâ— the heart to the Poor And because the first day of the week was it in which now such solemn Service to him was done therefore also the Apostle commanded that upon the same day also as on a day most fit this duty of collecting for the Poor should be done For the Lord loves a cheerful giver 2 Cor. 9. 6 7. Wherefore the Apostle by this takes the Churches as it were at the advantage and as we say while the Iron is hot to the intent he might what in him lay make their Gollections not sparing nor of a grudging mind but to flow from cheerfulness And the first day of the week though its institution was set aside doth most naturally tend to this because it is the day the onely day in which we received such blessings from God Acts 3. 26. This is the day on which at first it rained Manna all day long from Heaven upon the New Testament-Church and so continues to do this day Oh! the resurrection of Christ which was on this day and the riches that we receive thereby Though it should be and is I hope thought on every day yet when the First of the week is fully come Then To day This day This is the day to be warmed this day he was begotten from the dead The thought of this will do much with an honest mind This is the day I say that the first Saints DID find and that after-Saints DO find the blessings of God come down upon them and therefore this is the day here commanded to be set apart for holy Duties And although what I have said may be but little set by of some yet for a closing word as to this I do think could but half so much be produced from the day Christ rose from the dead quite down for the sanction of a Seventh-day-sabbath in the Churches of the Gentiles it would much sway with me But the truth is neither doth the Apostle Paul nor any of his fellows so much as once speak one word to the Churches that shews the least regard as to conscience to God of a Seventh-day-sabbath more No the first day the first day the first day is now all the cry in the Churches by the Apostles for the performing Church-worship in to God Christ began it on THAT day Then the Holy Ghost seconded it on THAT day Then the Churches practised it on THAT day And to conclude the Apostle by the command now under consideration continues the sanction of THAT day to the Churches to the end of the world But as to the old Seventh-day-sabbath as hath been said afore in this Treatise Paul who is the Apostle of the Gentiles has so taken away that whole Ministration in the bowels of which it is yea and has so stript it of its Old Testament-grandeur both by Terms and Arguments that it is strange to me it should by any be still kept up in the Churches specially since the same Apostle and that at the same time has put a better Ministration in its place 2 Cor. 3. But when the Consciences of good men are captivated with an errour none can stop them from a prosecution thereof as if it were it self of the best of truths Obj. But Paul preached frequently on the old Sabbath and that after the Resurrection of Christ. Answ. To the unbelieving Jews and their Proselytes I grant he did But we read not that he did it to any New Testament-Church on that day nor did he celebrate the instituted worship of Christ in the Churches on that day For Paul who had before cast out the Ministration of death as that which had no glory would not now take thereof any part for New Testament instituted worship for he knew that that would veil the Heart and blind the Mind from that which yet instituted Worship was ordained to discover He preached then on the Seventh-day-sabbath of a divine and crafty love to the salvation of the unbelieving Jews I say he preached now on that day to them and their Proselytes because that day was theirs by their estimation He did it I say of great love to their Souls that if possible he might save some of them Wherefore it you observe you shall still find that where 't is said that he preached on that day it was to that people not to the Churches of Christ. See Acts 9. 20. ch 13. 14 15 16. ch 16. 13. ch 17. 1 2 3. ch 18. 4. Thus though he had put away â—e sanction of that day as to himself and had left the Christians that were weak to their liberty as to conscience to it yet he takes occasion upon it to preach to the Jews that still were wedded to it the Faith that they might be saved by Grace Paul did also many other things that were Jewish and Ceremonial for which he had as then no conscience at all as to any Sanction that he believed was in them As his Circumcising of Timothy His Shaving of his Head His submitting to Jewish Purifications His acknowledging of himself a Pharisee His implicite owning of Ananias for High Priest after Christ was risen from the dead Acts 16. 1 2 3. chap. 18. 18. chap. 21. 24 25 26. chap. 23. 6. chap. 23. 1 2 3 4 5. He tells us also that to the Jew he became as a Jew that he might save the Jew And without Law to them that were without Law that also he might gain them Yea he became as he saith all things to all men that he might gain the more as it is 1 Cor. 9. 19 20 21
two ways 1. By an Institution of God 2. By the over-ruling power of a mans misinformed Conscience And although by vertue of an institution Divine Worship is acceptable to God by Christ yet Conscience will make that a man shall have but little ease if such rules and dictates as it imposes be not observed by him This is my answer upon a supposition that the Seventh-day-sabbath is in this Text intended and the answer I think stands firm and good Also there remains notwithstanding this Objection no divine Sanction in or upon the old Seventh-day-sabbath Some indeed will urge that Christ here meant the first day of the week which here he puts under the term of Sabbath But this is forein to me so I wave it till I receive more satisfaction in the thing Quest. But if indeed the first day of the week be the new Christian Sabbath why is there no more spoken of its iustitution in the Testament of Christ Answ. No more What need is there of more than enough yea there is a great deal found in the Testament of the Lord Jesus to prove its Authority Divine 1. For we have shewed from sundry Scriptures that from the very day our Lord did rise from the dead the Church at Jerusalem in which the Twelve Apostles were did meet together on that day and had the Lord himself for their Preacher while they were auditors and thus the day began 2. We have shewed that the Holy Ghost the Third person in the Trinity did second this of Christ in coming down from Heaven upon this day to manage the Apostles in their preaching and in that very day so managed them in that work that by his help they then did bring Three thousand Souls to God 3. We have shewed also that after this the Gentile-Churches did solemnize this day for holy Worship and that they had from Paul both Countenance and Order so to do And now I will adde that more need not be spoken For the practice of the first Church with their Lord in the head of them to manage them in that practice is as good as many Commands What then shall we say when we see a first Practice turned into holy Custom I say moreover that though a seventh-day-Seventh-day-sabbath is not natural to man as man yet our Christian Holy day is natural to us as Saints if our Consciences are not clogged before with some old Fables or Jewish Customs But if an old Religion shall get footing and rooting in us though the grounds thereof be vanished away yet the man concerned will be hard put to it should he be saved to get clear of his clouds and devote himself to that service of God which is of his own prescribing Luther himself though he saw many things were without ground which he had received for truth had yet work hard enough as himself intimates to get his Conscience clear from all those roots and strings of inbred errour But I say to an untainted and well-bred Christian we have good measure shaken together and running over for our Christian Lords day And I say again that the first day of the week and the spirit of such a Christian sute one another as nature suteth nature for there is as it were a natural instinct in Christians as such when they understand what in a first day was brought forth to fall in therewith to keep it holy to their Lord. 1. The first day of the week why it was the day of our life After two days he will revive us and in the third day we shall live in his sight After two days there is the Jews preparation and Seventh-day-sabbath quite passed over and in the third day that 's the first day of the week which is the day our Lord did rise from the dead we began to live by him in the sight of God Hos. 6. 2. Joh. 20. 1. 1 Cor. 15. 4. 2. The first day of the week That 's the day in which as I hinted before our Lord was wont to preach to his Disciples after he rose from the dead in which also he did use to shew them his Hands and his Feet Luk. 24. 38 39. Joh. 20. 25. to the end they might be confirmed in the truth of his victory over Death and the Grave for them The day in which he made himself known to them in breaking bread The day in which he so plentifully poured out the Holy Ghost upon them The day in which the Church both at Jerusalem and those of the Gentiles did use to perform to God Divine Worship all which has before been sufficiently proved And shall we not imitate our Lord nor the Church that was immediately acted by him in this and the Churches their fellows Shall I say the Lord Jesus do all this in his Church and they together with him Shall the Churches of the Gentiles also fall in with their Lord and with their Mother at Jerusalem herein And again shall all this be so punctually committed to sacred Story with the day in which these things were done under denomination over and over saying These things were done on the first day on the first day on the first day of the week while all other days are as to name buried in everlasting oblivion and shall we not take that notice thereof as to follow the Lord Jesus and the Churches herein oh stupidity 3. This day of the week They that make but observation of what the Lord did of old to a many siuners with his Churches on this day must needs conclude that in this day the Treasures of Heaven were broken up and the richest things therein communicated to his Church Shall the children of this world be as to this also wiser in their generations than the children of Light and former Saints upon whose shoulders we pretend to stand go beyond us here also Jacob could by observation gather that the place where he lay down to sleep was no other but the House of God and the very Gate of Heaven Gen. 28. 17. Laban could gather by observation that the Lord blessed him for Jacob's sake Gen. 30. 27. David could gather by what he met with upon Mount Moriah that that was the place where God would have the Temple builded therefore he sacrificed there 1 Chro. 21. 26 27 28. ch 22. 1 2. 2 Chr. 3. 1. Ruth was to mark the place where Baaz lay down to sleep and shall not Christians also mark the day in which our Lord rose from the dead Ruth 3. 4. I say shall we not mark it when so many memorable things was done on it for and LO and IN the Churches of God! Let Saints be ashamed to think that such a day should be looked over or counted common when tempted to it by Satan when kept to religious Service of old and when beautifled with so many divine Characters of sanctity as we have proved by Christ his Church the Holy Ghost and the command of Apostolical Authority
it was But why I say is this day on which our Lord rose from the dead Nominated as it is Why was it not sufficient to say he rose again or be rose again the third day without a specification of the very name of the day For as was said afore Christ appeared to his Disciples after his resurrection on other days also yea and thereon did Miracles too Why then did not these days live why was their name for all that blotted out and this day onely kept alive in the Churches The day on which Christ was born of a Virgin the day of his Circumcision the day of his Baptism and Transfiguration are not by their names committed by the Holy Ghost to holy Writ to be kept alive in the world nor yet such days in which he did many great and wonderful thing But THIS day this day is still nominated the first day of the week is the day I say why are things thus left with us but because we as Saints of old should gather and separate what is of divine Authority from the rest For in that this day is so often nominated while all other days lie dead in their Graves 't is as much as if God should say Remember the First day of the week to keep it holy to the Lord your God And set this aside and I know not what reason can be rendred or what Prophecy should be fulfilled by the bare naming of the day When God of old did sanctifie for the use of his Church a day as he did many he always called them either by the name of the day of the Month or of the Week or by some other signal by which they might be certainly known Why should it not then be concluded that for this very reason the first day of the week is thus often nominated by the Holy Ghost in the Testament of Christ Moreover he that takes away the first day as to this Service leaves us now NO day as sanctified of God for his solemn Worship to be by his Churches performed in As for the Seventh-day-sabbath that as we see is gone to its grave with the Signs and Shadows of the Old Testament Yea and has such a dash left upon it by Apostolical Authority that 't is enough to make a Christian fly from it for ever 2 Cor. 3. Now I say since that is removed by God If we should suffer the first day also to be taken away by man What day that has a divine stamp upon it would be left for us to worship God in Alass the first day of the week is the Christians Market-day that which they so solemnly trade in for sole provision for all the week following This is the day that they gather Manna in To be sure the Seventh-day-sabbath is not that For of old the people of God could never find Manna on that day On the seventh day said Moses which is the Sabbath in it there shall be none Exod. 16. 26. Any day of the week Manna could be found but on that day it was not to be found upon the face of the ground But now our first day is the Manna-day the onely day that the Churches of the New Testament even of old did gather Manna in But more of this anon Nor will it out of my mind but that it is a very high piece of ingratitude and of uncomly behaviour to deny the Son of God his day the Lords day the day that he has made And as we have shewed already this first day of the week is it yea and a great piece of unmannerliness is it too for any notwithstanding the old Seventh day is so degraded as it is to attempt to impose it on the Son of God To impose a day upon him which yet Paul denies to be a branch of the Ministration of the Spirit and of righteousness Yea to impose a part of that Ministration which HE says plamly Was to be done away for that a better Ministration stript it of its glory is a high attempt indeed 2 Cor. 3. Yet again the Apostle finites the teachers of the Law upon the mouth saying They understand neither what they say nor whereof they affirm 1 Tim. 1. 7. The Seventh-day-sabbath was indeed Gods Rest from the works of Creation but yet the Rest that he found in what the first day of the week did produce for Christ was born from the dead in it more pleased him than did all the Seventh days that ever the world brought forth wherefore as I said before it cannot be but that the well-bred Christian must set apart this day for solemn Worship to God and to sanctifie his name therein Must the Church of old be bound to remember that might in which they did come out of Egypt must Jeptha's daughter have four days for the Virgins of Israel yearly to lament her hard case in Yea must two days be kept by the Church of old yearly for their being delivered from Hamon's fury And must not one to the worlds end be kept by the Saints for the Son of God their Redeemer for all he has delivered them from a worse than Pharaob or Haman even from the Devil and Death and Sin and Hell oh stupidity Exod. 12. 24. Judg. 11. 39 40. Esth. 9. 26. 32. A day say some God forbid but he should have a day But what day oh the old day comprized within the bounds and bowels of the Ministration of death And is this the love that thou hast to thy Redeemer to keep that day to him for all the service that hath done for thee which has a natural tendancy in it to draw thee off from the consideration of the works of thy redemption to the creation of the world oh stupidity But why must he be imposed upon has he chosen that day did he finish HIS work thereon Is there in all the New Testament of our Lord from the day he rose from the dead to the end of his holy Book one syllable that signifies in the least the tenth part of such a thing Where is the Scripture that saith that this Lord of the Sabbath commanded his Church from that time to do any part of Church-service thereon Where do we find the Churches to gather together thereon But why the Seventh day What is it Take but the shadow thereof away Or what shadow now is left in it since its institution as to Divine Service is taken long since from it Is there any thing in the works that was done in that day more than shadow or that in the least tends otherwise to put us in mind of Christ and he being come what need have we of that shadow And I say again since that day was to be observed by a ceremonial method and no way else as we find and since Ceremonies are ceased what way by divine appointment is there left to keep that old Sabbath by Christians in If they say Ceremonies are ceased By the same Argument so