confesseth that its no doubt but the Religious observation of the day began in the Apostles age with their approbation and Authority and hath since continued in the same respect And what needs he more for confutation And as to his allegations of the Judgement of the Reformed Lutheran and Roman Church 1. We take none of them for our Rule so impartial are we But 2. He himself citeth Beza Mercer Paraeus Cuchlinus Simler Hospinian Zanchius c. as holding that It was an Apostolical and Truly Divine Tradition that the Apostles turned the Sabbath into the Lords day that it was an Apostolical custome or a custome received in the Apostles times c. And whereas afterward he would perswade us that they spent but a little of the day in holy worship he himself cited Mr. George Sandys Travels saying of the Copties that On Saturday presently after midnight they repair unto their Churches where they remain well nigh till Sunday at noon of the Evening he speaketh not but of their first meeting during which time they neither sit nor kneel but support themselves on Crutches And they sing over the most part of Davids Psalms at every meeting with divers parcels of the New Testament This is like the old way And such a Liturgie we do not contradict nor scruple Sandys also informeth us of the ArmenianChristians that coming into the place of the Assembly on Sunday in the afternoon no doubt they had been there in the Morning be found one sitting in the midst of the Congregation in habit not differing from the rest reading on a Bible in the Chaldaean tongue That anon after came the Bishop in a hood or Vest of black with a staffe in his hand That first he prayed and then sung certain Psalms assisted by two or three After all of them singing joyntly at interims praying to themselves the Bishop all this while with his bands erected and his face towards the Altar That Service being ended they all kissed his hand and bestowed their Almes he laying his other hand on their heads and blessing them c. And of the Abaffines he reciteth out of Brierwood and he from Damianus a Goes that they honour the Lords day as the Christian Sabbath and the Saturday as the Jews Sabbath because they receive the Canons called the Apostles which speak for both And King Edgar in England ordained that the Sabbath should begin ou Saturday at three a Clock Afternoon and continue till break a Day on Munday These Laws for the Sabbath of Alfred Edgar c. were confirmed by Etheldred and more fully by Canutus But of these things I shall say more anon under the Proposition following In the mean time only remembring you 1. That it is well that we are required after the fourth Commandment to pray Lord have Mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law And we accept his Concession that this includeth all of that Commandment which is the Law of Nature Though I have told you that it reacheth somewhat further 2. That we approve of the plain Doctrine of the English Homilies on this point and stand to the Exposition of sober impartiality Prop. 10. It hath been the constant practice of all Christs Churches in the whole world ever since the daies of the Apostles to this day to assemble for publick worship on the Lords day as a day set apart thereunts by the Apostles Yea so universal was this judgement and practice that there is no one Church no one writer or one heretick that I remember to have read of that can be proved ever to have dissented or gainsaid it till of late times The proof of this is needless to any one that is versed in the writings of the ancients And others cannot try what we shall produce I have been these ten years separated from my Library and am therefore less furnished for this task than is requisite But I will desire no man to receive more than the Testimonies produced by Dr. Pet. Heylin himself which with pittiful weakness he would pervert And he being the Grand Adversary with whom I do now contend I shall only premise these few Observations as sufficient to confute all his Cavils and Evasions 1. When his great work is to prove that the Lords day was not called the Sabbath unless by allusion we grant it him as to a Jewish Sabbath as nothing to the purpose 2. Whereas he strenuously proveth that the Lords day was not taken for a Sabbath de re we grant it him also taking the word in the primitive Jewish sense 3. When he laboureth to prove that Christians met on other daies of the week besides the Lords day though not for the Lords Supper we grant it him as nothing to the purpose So Calvin Preached or Lectured daily at Geneva and yet kept not every day as a holy day separated to Gods worship as they did the Lords day though too remisly So we do still keep Week-day Lectures and the Church of England requireth the Reading of Common Prayer on Wednesdayes and Fridays and holy day Evens Do they therefore keep them Holy as the Lords day 4. When he tells us that Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen plead against them that would hear and pray on that day only we grant it him and we are ready to say as they do that we should not confine Gods Service to one day only as if we might be profane and worldly on all other daies but should take all fit opportunities for religious helps and should all the week keep our minds as near as we can in a holy frame and temper Of the rest of his Objections I shall say more in due place 5. But I must note in the beginning that he granteth the main cause which I plead for acknowledging Hist. Sab. l. 2. page 30. it thus So that the Religious observation of this day beginning in the age of the Apostles no doubt but with their Approbation and Authority and since continuing in the same respect for so many ages may be very well accounted amongst those Apostolical Traditions which have been universally received in the Church of God And what need we more than the Religious Observation in the Apostles time by the Apostles Approbation and Authority and this delivered to us by the universal Church as an Apostolical Tradition But yet he saith that the Apostles made it not a Sabbath Answ. Give us the Religious observation and call it by what name you please We are not fond of the name of the Sabbath 6 And therefore we grant all that he laboriously proveth of the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath and that the Ancients commonly consent that by the abolished Sabbath Col. 2. 16. is meant inclusively the weekly Jewish Sabbath Epiphan l. 1. haeres 33. n. 11. Ambros. in loc Hieron Epist. ad Algus qu. 10. Chrysost. Hom. 13. in Haebr 7. August cont Jud. cap. 2. cont Faust. Manich. l. 16. c. 28. I recite the
other Festivals whatsoever it is yet greater boldness without proof to exclude the principal part from whence the rest did receive the name 3. Besides the Feasts and New Moons being here named as distinct from the Sabbath are like to include so much of the other separated dayes as will leave it still more unmeet to exclude the weekly Sabbath in the Explication of that word Sabbaths when so many Feasts are first distinguished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incuit Grotius hic sunt Azyma dies omer scenopegia dies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obj. But the Sabbath mentioned in the Decalogue could not be included Answ. This is spoken without proof and the contrary is before proved Obj. By this you will make the Christian Sabbath also to be excluded Is not the Lords day a Sabbath Answ. I am here to speak but of the name of which I say that the common sense of the word Sabbath was a Day so appointed to Rest as that the bodily Rest of it was a primary part of its observation to be kept for it self and such the Jewish Sabbaths were Though spiritual Worship was then also commanded yet the corporal Rest was more expresly or frequently urged in the Law and this not only subordinately as an advantage to the spiritual worship but for it self as an immediate and most visible and notable part of Sabbatizing Even as other Ceremonies under the Law were commanded not only as doctrinal Types of things spiritual but as external Acts of Ceremonious operous obedience suited to the Jews Minority which is after called the yoke which they and their Fathers were unable to bear Acts 15. Whereas the Lords day is appointed but as a seasonable time subserviently to the spiritual work of the day And the bodily Rest not required as primary obedience for it self but only for the spiritual work sake and therefore no bodily labour is now unlawful but such as 〈◊〉 hinderance to the spiritual work of the day 〈◊〉 or accidentally a scandal and temptation to others whereas the breach of the outward Rest of the Jews Sabbath was a sin directly of it self without hinderance of or respect to the spiritual Worship So that the first notion and sense of a Sabbath in those dayes being in common use A day of such Ceremonial Corporal Rest as the Jewish Sabbath was the Lords day is never in Scripture called by that name but the proper name is The Lords day And the ancient Churches called it constantly by that name and never called it the Sabbath but when they spake Analogically by allusion to the Jews Sabbath even as they called the holy Table the Altar and the Bread and Wine the Sacrifice Therefore it is plain that Paul is to be understood of all proper Sabbaths and not of the Lords day which was then and long after distinguished from the Sabbath And this Ceremonial Sabbatizing of the Jews was so strict that the Ceremonicusness made them the scorn of the Heathens as appeareth by the derisions of Horat. li. 1. sat 9. Persius sat 5. Juvenal sat 6. Martial lib. 4. and others whereas they derided not the Christians for the Ceremonious Rest but for their Worship on that day The Lords day being not called a Sabbath in the old sense then only in use but distinguished from the Sabbath cannot be meant by the Apostle in his exclusion of the Sabbath Obj. But the Apostles then met in the Synagogues with the Jews on the Sabbaths Therefore it is not those dayes that he meaneth here Col. 2. 16. Answ 1. You might as well say that therefore he is not for the cessation of the Jewish manner of Worship or Communion with them in it because he met with them 2. And you may as well say that he was for the continuance of Circumcision and Purification because he purified himself and circumcised Timothy 3. Or that he was for the continuance of their other Feasts in which also he refused not to joyn with them 4. But Paul did not keep their Sabbaths formally as Sabbaths but only take the advantage of their Assemblies to teach them and convince them and to keep an interest in them And not scandalize them by an unseasonable violation and contradiction 5. And you must note also that the Text saith not Observe not Sabbath dayes but Let no man judge you that is Let none take it for your sin that you observe them not nor do you receive any such Doctrine of the necessity of keeping the Law of Moses The case seemeth like that of things strangled and blood which were to be forborn among the Jews while they were offensive and the use of them hindred their conversion Obj. But the ancient Christians did observe both dayes Answ. 1. In the first Ages they did as the Apostles did that is 1. They observed no day strictly as a Sabbath in the notion then in use 2. They observed the Lords day as a day set apart by the Holy Ghost for Christian Worship 3. They so far observed the Jews Sabbath materialy as to avoid their scandal and to take opportunity to win them 2. But those that lived far from all Jews and those that lived after the Law was sufficiently taken down did keep but one day even the Lords day as separated to holy uses except some Christians who differed from the rest as the followers of Papias did in the Millenary point 3. And note that even these dissenters did still make no question of keeping the Lords day which sheweth that it was on foot from the times of the Apostles 〈◊〉 whoever it was and whenever he wrote saith that After the Sabbath we keep the Lords day And Pseudo-Clemens Can. 33. saith Servants work five dayes but on the Sabbath and Lords day they keep holy day in the Church for the Doctrine or Learning of Godliness The Text of Gal. 4. 10. is of the same sense with Col. 2. 16. against the Jews Sabbath and therefore needeth no other defence And I would have you consider whether as Christs Resurrection was the foundation of the Lords day so Christs lying dead and buried in a Grave on the seventh day Sabbath was not a fundamental abrogation of it I say not the Actual and plenary abrogation For it was the Command of Christ by his Word Spirit or both to the Apostles before proved which fully made the change But as the Resurrection was the Ground of the new day so his Burial seemeth to intimate that the day with all the Jewish Law which it was the symbolical profession of lay dead and buried with him Sure I am that he saith when the Bridegroom is taken from them then shall they fast and mourn but he was most notably taken from them when he lay dead in the Grave And if they must fast and mourn that day they could not keep it as a Sabbath which was a day of joy Therefore as by death he overcame him that had the power of death Heb. 2. 14. and
Church before as what day goeth over their head The Historical hints of the New Testament must be taken together and not a part only that they may prove a usage And 1. That Christ rose on that day is past doubt among Christians Joh. 20. 1. Luk. 24. 1. Mar. 16. 2. Matth. 28. 1. 2. On that same day he taught the two disciples Luk. 24. 13. And the same day he appeared to the Disciples and instructed them and did eate with them Luk. 24. 33 36. Theâ— the Disciples were assembled and theâ— he blessed them gave them their Commission and the Holy Ghost Joh. 20. 19 20 21 22. 3. The next first day of the week Christ chose to appear to them again when Thomas was with them and convinced him Joh. 20. 26. 4. In Act. 20. 7. It is mentioned as the day of their Assembling to break bread which though they did oft on other daies yet no day else was peculiarly appointed for it As for the dissenters cavil about the Translation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza hath given them Reason enough against it And Grotius and almost all expositors are against them And most that translate it literally una Sabbatorum take Vna and Prima here to be all one And Calvin with others noteth that the same phrase being used of the day of the Resurrection Matth. 26. 1. Luk. 24. 1. Joh. 20. 1. will direct us to expound this unless you mean also to deny the Resurrection to have been on the first day And 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must needs have the same signification And Mark 26. 9. compared with the other Evangelists so expounds them as Beza noteth who also telleth us that in one old Copy he found added the Lords day and citeth Hierome adv Vigilant saying Per unam Sabbati hoc est in die Dominico c. And Dr. Hammond well noteth that it plainly relateth to the Christian assemblies to which they were not to come empty but to deposite what they brought into the treasury of the Church or if it were in their private repositories it doth not much difference the case Calvins exception against Chrysostome here is groundless as the reasons before evince So that by this Text the custome of holding Church meetings on the Lords day as a peculiar day is intimated though but on the by as most Expositors agree And the denomination of the Lords day Joh. 1. 10. being the same which the Christian Churches ever used of the First day puts it yet further out of doubt As for his conjecture who doubteth whether it may be meant of the Anniversary day of Christs Resurrection when as the constant use of the name by all the Churches sheweth that it was taken ever since for the weekly day it deserveth no other refutation Now though all this set together shew that Scripture is not silent of the matter of fact yet it is the full and unquestionable expository evidence of the practice of all Churches in the world since the very daies of the Apostles which beyond all doubt assureth us that de facto the Lords day was by the Apostles separated for holy Worship especially in publick Church-assemblies But these several intimations being seconded with so full an Exposition tell us that the Scripture is not silent in the case nor doth pass it by I was loth to name the day of the sending down of the Holy Ghost as a proof Because that some do controvert it But it seemeth to me a very considerable thing 1. That the day that year 〈…〉 of Pentecost on which the Holy Ghost was given was indeed the first day of the week even Dr. Heylin granteth without any question or stop And the Churches observation of Whitsunday as the day and that so very early as Epiphanius and many others say from the Apostles doth seem a very credible history or tradition of it 2. It s agreed on that the Passoever that year fell on the Sabboth day and that Pentecost was fifty daies after the Passover which falleth out on the Lords day And Grotius noteth from Exod. 19. 1. that it was the day that the Law was given on and so on which the Spirit was given for the new Law 3. And considering that this great gift of the Holy Ghost which was to make the Apostles Infallible and to enable them for their commission-work and bring all Christs Doctrines and Commands to their remembrance was so memorable a thing that it was as it were the Beginning of the full Gospel-state of the Church and Kingdom of Christ which through all Christs abode on Earth was as the Infant existent indeed but in the womb and on this day was as it were Born before the world and brought into the open light the Lords day also seemeth to me to be as it were Conceived on the day of Christs Resurrection but Born on this day of the Holy Ghosts descent But Dr. Heylin hath one poor reason against it viz. Because it was but an accidental thing that the day fell out that year on the first day Answ. 1. Was it not according to the course of Nature How then can that be called Accidental 2. But however it was no contingent accidental thing in his sense that the Holy Ghost was sent down on that day rather than another If a sparrow fall not to the ground without Gods providence did God choose that day He knew not why Or did it fall out hap hazard or by chance I need not insist on the confutation of his Caviâ—s about the other Texts forecited Note only 1. That as to his exception about Christs travel on his Resurrection day I have after answered it 2. That he freely granteth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifiâ—th The first day of the week both in Act. 20. 7. and 1 Cor. 16. 2. 3. That he himself citeth afterward many testimonies that oblations and contributions were in the Churches a usual Lords dayes work 4. That he confesseth that Rev. 10. 1. is meant of the Lords day as by that time grown into reputation 5. That he thinketh it was in small reputation before because Paul chose the Sabbath so often to Preach on to the Jews and Hellenists or Greeks whereas he himself is forced to confess that it was not for the days sake but the Assemblies to do them good 6. That he vainly conceiteth that Because the Lords day was kept on the account of Christs Resurrection it implyeth that it was not kept by Gods command which needeth no confutation 7. That his labour to prove that Paul meant the Jewish Sabbath as abrogated is vain for we deny it not 8. That he cannot deny that Christians had all that time of the Apostles a stated day as Pliny himself witnesseth for solemn worship above other daies 9. That he vainly snatcheth a little countenance from Calvin and Beza c. when as no man since Cochlaeus writeth more detestably of them 10. That after he
as he nailed the hand-writing of Ordinances to his Cross so he buried the Sabbath in his Grave by lying buried on that day And therefore the Western Churches who had fewer Jews among them did fast on the Sabbath day to shew the change that Christs burial intimated Though the Eastern Churches did not lest they should offend the Jews And that the ancient Christians were not for sabbatizing on the seventh day is visible in the writings of most save the Eastern ones before mentioned Tertull. cont Marcion li. 1. cap. 20. Chrysost. Theodoret Primasius c. on Gal. 4. expound that Text as that by Dayes is meant the Jewish Sabbath and by Moneths the New Moons c. Cyprian 59. Epist. ad Hidum saith that the eighth day is to Christians what the Sabbath was to the Jews and calleth the Sabbath the Image of the Lords day Athanasius de Sab. Circumcis is full and plain on it See Tertullian Advers Judae c. 4. Ambros. in Eph. 2. August Ep. 118. Châ—ysâ—st in Gal. 1. Hâ—m 12. ad pop Hilary before cited Prolog in Psalm Origen Hom. 23. in Num. Item Tertull. de Idol c. 14. Epipban l. 1. num 30. noting the Nazaraei and Ebionaei Hereticks that they kept the Jews Sabbath In a word The Council of Laodiâ—aea doth Anathematize them that did Judaize by forbearing their Labours on the Sabbath or seventh day And as Sozomen tells us that at Alexandria and Rome they used no Assemblies on the Sabbath so where they did in most Churches they communicated not in the Sacrament Yea that Ignatius himself true or false who saith as aforecited After the Sabbath let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lords day doth yet in the same Epistle ad Magnes before say Old things are passed away behold all things are made new For if we yet live after the Jewish Law and the Circumcision of the flesh we deny that we have received Grace Let us not therefore keep the Sabbath or sabbatize Jewishly as delighting in Idleness or Rest from labour For be that will not labour let him not eat In the sweat if thy brows thou shalt cat thy bread I confess I take the cited Texts to have been added since the body of the Epistle was written but though the Writer favour of the Eastern custom yet he sheweth they did not sabbatize on the account of the fourth Commandment or supposed continuation of the Jewish Sabbath as a Sabbath For bodily labour was strictly forbidden in the fourth Commandment Dionysius Alexandr hath an Epistle to Basilides a Bishop on the Question When the Sabbath Fast must end and the observation of the Lords day begin Biblioth Patr. Graec. Lat. Vol. 1. p. 306. In which he is against them that end their Fast too soon And plainly intimateth that the seventh day was to be kept but as a preparatory Fast being the day that Christ lay in the grave and not as a Sabbath or as the Lords day I cite not any of these as a humane authority to be set against the authority of the fourth Commandment But as the certain History of the change of the day which the Apostles made Qu. How far then is the fourth Commandment Moral you seem to subvert the old foundation which most others build the Lords day upon Answ. Let us not entangle our selves with the ambiguities of the word Moral which most properly signifieth Ethical as distinct from Physical c. By Moral here is meant that which is on what ground soever of perpetual or continued obligation And so it is all one as to ask how far it is still obligatory or in force To which I answer 1. It is a part of the Law of Nature that God be solemnly worshipped in families and in holy assemblies 2. It is a part of the Law of Nature that where greater things do not forbid it a stated time be appointed for this service and that it be not left at Randome to every mans will 3. It is of the Law of Nature that where greater matters do not hinder it this day be one and the same in the same Countreys yea if it may be through the world 4. It is of the Law of Nature that this day be not so rarely as to hinder the ends of the day nor yet so frequently as to deprive us of opportunity for our necessary corporal labour 5. It is of the Law of Nature that the holy duties of this day be nâ—t hindered by any corporal work or fleshly pleasure or any unnecessary thing which contradiâ—teth the holy ends of the day 6. It is of the Law of Nature that Rulers and in special Masters of families do take care that their inferiours thus observe it In all these points the fourth Commandment being but a transcript of the Law of Nature which we can yet prove from the nature of the reason of the thing the matter of it continueth not as Jewish but as Natural 7. Besides all this when no man of himself could tell whether one day in six or seven or eight were his duty to observe God hath come in and 1. By Doctrine or History told us that he made the world in six dayes and rested the seventh 2. By Law and bath commanded one day in seven to the Jews by which he hath made known consequentialâ—y to all men that one day in seven is the fittest proportion of time And the case being thus determined by God by a Law to others doth consequentially become a Law to us because it is the determination of Divine Wisdom unless it were done upon some reasons in which their condition differeth from ours And thus the Doctrine and Reasons of an abrogated Law continuing may induce on us an obligation to duty And in this sense the fourth Commandment may be said still to bind us to one day in seven But in two points the obligation even as to the Matter ceaseth 1. We are not bound to the seventh day because God our Redeemer who is Lord of the Sabbath hath made a change 2. We are not bound to a Sabbath in the old notion that is to a day of Ceremonial Rest for it self required but to a day to be spent in Evangelical Worship And though I am not of their mind who say that the seventh day is not commanded in the fourth Commandment but a Sabbath only yet I think that it is evident in the words that the Ratio Sabbati and the Ratio diei septimi are distinguishable And that the Sabbath as a Sabbath is first in the precept and the particular day is there but secondarily and so mutably as if God had said I will have a particular day set apart for a holy Rest and for my Worship And that day shall be one in seven and the seventh also on which I rested from my works And thus I have said as much as I think needful to satisfie the considerate about the day Again professing 1. That I believe that
humane Nature 2. It is uncertain whether it was before the fall because we know not whether man fell on the same day in which he was Created which is the commonest opinion though unproved Whereupon Mr. ◠Walker in his Treat of the Sabbath maintaineth that the fall and promise went before the Sabbath and so that Gods rest had respect to Christ promised as the perfection of his works and that the Sabbath was first founded on Christ and the promise But because all this is unproved Opinion I incline to the Objectors and the common sense Reasons 4. The seventh day Sabbath was kept by Abraham Gen. 26. 5. by the Israelites Exod. 5. 5. The Law for the seventh day was repeated Exod. 16. 22 23. Answers 4. I am of the same opinion but it is uncertain so far as it is uncertain whether it was instituted actually at first But the rest Ex. 5. 5. seemeth plainly to referr to no Sabbath but to the peoples neglect of their tasks while Moses kept them in hope of deliverance and treated for them And their tasks with their desire to go into the Wilderness to Sacrifice maketh it probable that Pharaoh never allowed them the Sabbaths rest Reasons 5. The Decalogue was spoken by Jehovah Christ Exod. 20. 1. see the Assemblies lesser Catechisme on the Preamble in the Commands Because the Lord is our God c. Redeemer c. therefore we are bound to keep c. Exod. 19. 3. compared with Act. 7. 38. Esa. 63. 9. Ex. 19. 17. The Decalogue written by his Finger Ex. 31. 18. On Tables of Stone Ex. 32. 15 16 19. 34 1 28. and kept by all the Prophets Answers 5. All true and uncontroverted with these suppositions 1. That the Father as well as the Son gave the Decalogue 2. That the second person was not 〈◊〉 Incarnate Christ. 3. That the Law was given by the Ministration of Angels who its like are called the Voice and Finger of God 4. That God our Redeemer did variously Govern his Kingdom by his Law and Covenant in various Editions of which more anon Reasons 6. The Decalogue was confirmed by Jehovah Christ Ma◠5. 17 18 19. Luk. 16. 17. Mat. 28. 20. Joh. 14. 15. 15. 14. Rom 3. 31. 7. 12. Jam. 2. 8 12. NewCovenant Heb. 8. 10. 1 Joh. 3. 22 24. 1 Joh. 5. 3. 2 Ep. Joh. 5. 6. Rev. 12. 17. 14. 12. 22. 14 18. compared with Mal. 4. 4. Answers 6. Here beginneth our fundamental difference I shall first tell you what we take for the truth and then consider of what you alledge against it 1. We hold that every Law is the Law of some one some Law-maker or Soveraign power And therefore Christ being now the Head over all things to the Church Eph. 1. 22 23. whatever Law is now in Being to the Church must needs be the Law of Christ. 2. We hold that Christs Redeemed Kingdom hath been Governed by him with variety of Administrations by various Editions of his Law or Covenant That is I. Universally to Mankind viz. 1. Before his Incarnation which was first To Adam and secondly to Noah and to mankind in them both 2. After his Incarnation II. Particularly to the seed of Abraham even the Jews as a particular Political society chosen out of the World not as the only people or Church of God on Earth but for peculiar extraordinary mercies as a peculiar people 3. We believe that each of these Administrations was fittest for its proper time and subject according to the manifold Wisdom of God But yet the Alterations were many and great and all tended towards perfection so that the last Edition of the Covenant by Christ Incarnate and his Holy Spirit much excelled all that went before in the Kingdom of the Mediatour And all these changes were made by God-Redeemer himself 4. As it was the work of the Redeemer to be the Repairer of Nature and recoverer of man to God so in all the several Administrations the great Laws of Nature containing mans duty to God resulting from and manifested in our Nature as related to God and in the Natura rerum or the Works of God was still made the chief part of the Redeemers Law so that this Law of Nature whose summe is the Love of God and of his Image is ever the Primitive unchangeable Law and the rest are secondary subservient Laws either Positive or remedying or both And no tittle of this shall ever cease if nature cease not 5. But yet there are temporary Laws of Nature which are about Temporary things or where the Nature of the thing it self is mutable from whence the Natural duty doth result As it was a duty by the then Law of Nature it self for Adams Sons and Daughters to Marry Increase and multiply being made a natural Benediction and the means a natural Duty And yet now it is incest against the Law of Nature for Brother and Sister to Marry So it was a Natural duty for Adam and Eve before their Fall to love each other as innocent but not so when they ceased to be innocent For cessanie materiâ cessat obligatio 6. So also some Positive Commands made to Adam in Innocence ceased on the fall and sentence As to dress that Garden And some positives of the first Administrations of Grace did cease by the supervening of a more perfect administration As the two Symbolical or Sacramental Trees in the Garden were no longer such to man when he was turned out so no positive Ordinance of Grace was any longer in force when God himself repealed it by the introduction of a more perfect Administration 7. Accordingly we hold that a change is now made of the sanctified day Where note 1. That we take not the seventh day no nor one day in seven though that be nothing to our Controversie to be a Duty by the proper Law of Nature but by a Positive Law 2. That the seventh day is never called a Sahbath till Moses time but only a Sanctified and blessed day the word Sabbath being ever taken in Scripture for a day of Ceremonial Rest as well as of spiritual Rest and Worship 3. That Christ himself hath continued a seventh day but changed the seventh day to the first not as a Sabbath that is A day of Ceremonial Rest for he hath ended all Sabbaths as shadows of things that were to come even of rest which remained for the people of God Heb. 4. 9. Col. 2. 16. And this is it which is incumbent upon us to prove and I think I have fully proved already 4. That having proved the thing done the positive Law of the seventh day changed by the Holy Ghost to the first day it concerneth us not much to give the reasons of Gods doings But yet this reason may secondarily be observed That God having made the whole frame of Nature very good did thereby make it the glass in which he was to be seen by man and the Book
33. 18. 34. 19. 〈◊〉 7. 6. 14. 26. 10. 3 Neh. 8. 2 7 9 〈…〉 10. 29 13. 3. Mal. 2. 6 7 8 9. 〈…〉 11. 13. 12. 5. 26. 36 40. 〈…〉 Luk 2. 22. 27. Joh. 1. 17 45. 7 19. 23. â—1 8. 5. 10. 34. 12. 34. â—5 25 Act. 6. 13. 13. 15 39. 15. 5 24. 21. 20 28. 22. 3 12. 23. 3 29 〈◊〉 23. Rom. 2. 12 13 14 17 18 20 23. 3. 19 20 21 28 31. 4. 13 14 15 16. 5. 13. 7. 1 2 3 4. 5 6 c. And so to the end of the New Testament which I need not fâ—rther number 7. That the seventh day Sabbath was kept by the Lord Jehovah Christ during his life Maâ—k 1. 21. 6. 2. Luk. 4 31. 6. 6. 1. 5. 13. 10. Mat. 12. 1 9. 13. 1 2. and constantly Luk. 4. 16. 17. See Christs counsel which was to come to pass about forty years after his death Mat. 24. 20. 7. 1. So Christ was Circumcised and joyned in the Synagogue Worship and held Communion with the Jewish Church and Priesthood and observed all the Law of Moses never violating any part For he was made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law Gal. 4. 4 5. Do you think that all this is established for us 2. And his Counsel Mat. 24. 20. had respect to the Jews misery and not to their duty He therefore foretelleth their destruction because they would reject him and his Law in a perverse zeal for Moses Law And therefore intimateth that even Moses should condemn them and their misery should be increased by their zeal for his Law For their City was taken on the Sabbath day which increased their Calamity who scrupled on that day to fight or fly And can you think Christ approved of that opinion who had so oft before condemned the like about their over rigid sabbatizing Or as Dr. Hammond thinks it is liker to be spoken of a Sabbath year when the War and Famine would come together However it be it only supposeth their adherence to their Law and Sabbath but justifieth it not at all Though yet the total and full abrogation of the Jewish Law was not fully declared till at that time of the destruction of their City and Temple their policy more fully ceased 8. That after Jehovah had finished the work of Redemption Joh. 19 30. his body rested in the Grave Mat. 27. 66. and himself in Heaven Luk. 23. 42 43. as he rested when he ended the work of Creation Gen. 2. 2 4. 8. You again adde to the Word of God It is not said that he had finished the work of Redemption But only It is finished which seemeth to mean but that 1. This was the last act of his life in which he was actively to fulfill the Law and offer himself a Sacrifice for man 2. And in which all the Law and Prophets were fulfilled which foretold this Sacrifice For that it is not meant of the whole work of Redemption as finished when he spoke those words is evident 1. Because after those words he was to die 2. Because his state in death and his burial were part of his humiliation as is implyed 1 Cor. 15. 4. Joh. 17 7. Rom. 6. 4. Col. 2. 12. Isa. 53. 9. 1 Cor. 1â— 35. Act. 2. 24. 1 Cor. 15. 26. Phil. 3. 10. 2 Tim. 1. 10. Heb. 2. 14 15. 3. Because his Resurrection was his victorious act and a part of the work of mans Redemption 4. And so is his Intercession For Redemption is larger than Humiliation or Sacrifice for sin As Exod. 6 6. Luk. 24. 21. Rom. 3. 24. 8. 23. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Eph. 1. 14. Luk. 21. 28. It is the Resurrection by which we are made Righteous and receive our hope of life and victory over death and Satan Rom. 1. 4. Phil. 3. 10 11. 1 Pet. 1. 3. 3. 21. Rom. 4. 25. 2. The clean contrary therefore to your Collection is true viz. That God did indeed end the Work of his Creation on the sixth day and rested in it as finished on the seventh But Christ was so far from ending his on the sixth and resting in it on the seventh that on that day above all other he seemed conquered by men and by him that had the power of death Heb. 2. 14 and was held as Captive by the Grave so that his Disciples hopes did seem dead with him Luk. 24. 21. This State of Death being not the least if not the lowest part of his Humiliation Whence came the Churches Article that he descended into Hades 3. I did more probably before prove from Christs own words compared with his burial a casting down of the seventh day Sabbath thus That day on which the Disciples are to fast is not to be kept as a Sabbath For that is a day of Thanksgiving But on the day of Christs Burial the Disciples were to fast that is to walk heavily Which appeareth from Mark 2. 20. When the Bridegroom is taken from them then they shall fast Now though this meant not to command any one day for fasting much less the whole time of his bodily absence yet both the sense of the words themselves and the interpretation of the Event tell us that as there was no day in which he was so sadly taken from them as that Sabbath day which almost broke their hearts and hopes for the next day he was restored to them So there was no day in which they were so dejected and unlike to the Celebraters of a Gospel day of Joy or Sabbath Do you call the day of Satans power and triumph and of the Discples greatest fear and grief that ever befell them the Celebration of a Sabbath rest It had indeed somewhat like an outward Rest but so as seemed plainly to burie in his Grave the seventh day Ceremonial Sabbath And from the Reasons now pleaded it was that the Western Churches kept the seventh day as a Fast. 9. Whilest the Lord Jehovah Christ rested private believers rested according to the Commandment Luk. 23. 55 56. Mar. 15. 42. 16. 1. compared 9 A. They did indeed keep yet the Jewish Sabbath till Christs Resurrection and the coming down of the Holy Ghost And so they did the rest of the Jewish Law For they yet knew not that it was abrogated But must we do so too You may as well argue from their keeping the Sabbath before Christs Death as on that day when he was dead The change of the day was made by Degrees by three several acts or means 1. The Resurrection of Christ was the founding act which gave the Cause of changing it Like Gods finishing his works of Creation at first 2. The Inspiration of the Holy Ghost in the Apostles doth teach them and bring all things to their remembrance which Christ commanded and was the authorising means of the change And
that they took their Authority for the highest and their judgement for infallible and therefore received their writings as Canonical and Divine 3. The Churches professed to observe the Lords day as an Apostolical Ordinance And they cannot be all supposed to have conspired in a lie yea to have belyed the Holy Ghost 4. The Apostles themselves would have controlled this course if it had not been by their own appointment For I have proved that the usage was in their own daies And they were not so careless of the preservation of Christs Ordinances and Churches as to let such things be done without contradiction when it is known how Paul strove to resist and retrench all the corruptions of Church-order in the Churches to which he wrote If the Apostles silently connived at such corruptions how could we rest on their authority Especially the Apostle John in an 99 would rather have written against it as the superstition of Usurpers as he checkt Diotrephes for contempt of him than have said that he was in the Spirit on the Lords day when he saw Christ and received his Revelation and message to the Churches 5. And if the Churches had taken up this practice universally without the Apostles it is utterly improbable that no Church writer would have committed to memory either that one Church that begun the custome or the Council or means used for a sudden Confederacy therein If it had begun with some one Church it would have been long before the rest would have been brought to an agreeing Consent It was many hundred years before they all agreed of the Time of Easter And it was till the middle of Chrysostomes time for he saith it was but ten years agoe when he wrote it that they agreed of the time of Christs Nativity But if it had been done by Confederacy at once the motion the Council called about it the debates and the dissenters and resistances would all have been matter of fact so notable as would have found a place in some Author or Church History Whereas there is not a Syllable of any such thing either of Council letter messenger debate resistance c. Therefore it is evident that the thing was done by the Apostles Prop. 12. They that will deny the validity of 〈◊〉 Historical evidence do by consequence betray the Christian faith or give away or deny the necessary means of proving the truth of it and of many great particulars of Religion I suppose that in my Book called The Reasons of the Christian Religion I have proved that Christianity is proved true by the SPIRIT as the great witness of Christ and of the Christian Verity But I have proved withall the necessity and certainty of historical means to bring the matters of fact to our notice as sense it self did bring them to the notice of the first receivers For instance I. Without such historical Evidence and Certainty we cannot be certain what 〈◊〉 of Scripture are truly Canonical and of Divine authority and what not This Protestants grant to Papists in the Controversie of Tradition Though the Canon be it self compleat and Tradition is no supplement to make up the Scriptures as if they were iâ— suâ— genere imperfect yet it is commonly granted that our Fathers and Teachers Tradition is the hand to deliver us this perfect Rule and to tell us what parts make up the Canon If any say that the Books do prove themselves to be Canonical or Divine I answer 1. What man alive could tell without historical proof that the Canticles or Esther are Canonical yea or Ecclesiastes or the Proverbs and not the Books of Wisdome and Ecclesiasticus 2. How can any man know that the Scripture histories are Canonical The suitableness of them to a holy soul will do much to confirm one that is already holy of the truth of the Doctrines But if the spirit within us assure us immediately of the truth of the History it must be by Inspiration and Revelation which no Christians have that ever I was yet acquainted with For instance that the Books of Chronicles are Canonical or the Book of Either or the Books of the Kings or Samuel or Judges And how much doth the doctrine of Christianity depend on the history As of the Creation of the Israelites bondage and deliverance and the giving of the Law and Moses miracles and of Chronologie and Christs Genealogie and of the History of Christs own Nativity Miracles and Life and the History of the Apostles afterward To say that the very History so far proveth its own truth as that without subsequent History we can be sure of it and must be is to reduce all Christs Church of right believers into a narrow room when I never knew the man that as far as I could perceive did know the History to be Divine by its proper evidence without Tradition and subsequent History 3. And how can any man know the Ceremonial Law to be Divine by its proper evidence alone Who is he that readeth over Exodus Leviticus and Numbers that will say that without knowing by History that thâ—â— is a Divinâ— Record he could have certainly perceived by the Book it self that all these were indeed Divine institutions or Laws 4. And how can any meer Positive institutions oâ— the New Testament be known proprio lumine by their own evidence to be Divine As the institution of Sacraments Officers Orders c. What is there in them that can infallibly prove it to us 5. And how can any Prophecies be known by their own evidence to be Divine till they are fulfilled and that shall prove it I know that the whole frame together of the Christian Religion 〈◊〉 its sufficient Evidence but we must not be guilty of a peevish rejecting it The 〈◊〉 part 〈◊〉 its witness within us in that state of holiness which it imprinteth on the soul and the rest are witnessed to or proved partly by that and partly by Miracles and those and the records by historical evidence But when God hath made many things necessary to the full evidence and wranglers through partiality and Contention against each others will some throw away one part and some another they will all prove destroyers of the faith as all dividers be If the Papist will say It is Tradition and not inhaerent Evidence or if others will say that it is inhaerent evidence alone and not history or Tradition where God hath made both needful hereunto both will be found injurious to the faith II. Without this historical evidence we cannot prove that any of the books of Scripture are not maimed or depraved That they come to our hands as the Apostles and Evangelists wrote them uncorrupted It is certain by History that many Hereticks did deprave and câ—rrupt them and would have obtruded those Copies or Corruptions on the Churches And how we shall certainly prove that they did not prevail or that their copies are false and ours are true I know not without the help