brought under the Obligation of Obedience to the Moral Law tho they were at Liberty from most of the Ceremonial Service of it that was teaching and instructive to them SECT IV. HEre I shall speak to a Proposition which is that the Law of Nature and the same in the written Moral Law of Moses obligeth all men to worship God tho' after what manner he is pleased to be worshipped is not perfectly known but by the Revelation of it to them and then it followeth that either the Gentiles in the time of the Law were bound to worship God according to the Ceremonial Precepts of Moses or had some other ways the Will of God revealed to them 1. To the first we have Reason to believe that the Gentiles were lest to their own Liberty and were not absolutely required to observe the whole Ceremonial Law of Moses For as I cannot sind a command for it Deut. 16.16 Exod. 34.23 so many Nations were at too great a distance for all their Males according to the Commandment to go up three times a Year to appear before the Lord at Jerusalem 1 Kings 11.36 Dent. 12.5 6 c. the City which he had chosen to put his Name there Nor could some Northern People observe their Sabbaths according to the Precepts from Evening to Evening of which more hereafter and whatever may be said for the Proselites that dwelt in Canaan yet those Gemtles that inhabited other Countreys could not properly make the acknowledgement required in the Law Deut. 2â— 3 9. viz. That they were come unto the Countrey which the Lord sware unto their Fathers for to give them and it was impossible for all the World to inhabit in so small a Country as the Land of Canaan for it could not bear them And therefore our present business is to consider what the Gentiles were obliged to in Point of Worship before and under the Dispensation of the Law of Moses Which 2. Seeing the Gentiles were not absolutely required to renew the Law of Nature delivered on Mount Sinai as a Visible and External Covenant intailing the Ceremonial Worship of God delivered to the Jews but were to receive the Moral Law on the Obligation of Nature as a Rule of Holy Life whereby they were under an Obligation of some Divine Worship which forasmuch as it could not be of the whole Ceremonial Law of Moses and that the Light of humane Nature alone could not discover the Will of God for their perfect Obedience therein We have then Reason to believe that the Gentiles before the Law had some Precepts of God or Divine Revelation given to them how they should worship him and that these were handed down unto Posterity I deny not but the Light of Nature might shew them it was their Duty to Pray and Praise God and to Teach or Declare to one another what they knew of him but yet through the Corruption and Depravity of our Nature by the fall we find by Experience that notwithstanding we have the Additional Light of the Holy Scriptures there are different Apprehensions amongst Men about the manner of performing these Moral Duties and then we have much more Reason to conclude that the Light of Nature it self is an uncertain Guide and therefore it is rational to believe that the Gentiles before and under the Law had some Information of the Will of God concerning their Worship of him which was handed down from Adam and then from Noah after the Flood who were both publick Fathers of all Nations Jews and Gentiles Gen. 6.2 c. Levit. 18.24 For the Scriptures shew that the Sons of God were reproved for taking Wives of all which they chose and that God charged the old Inhabitants of Canaan before the Law with Sin for those unjust Copulations forbidden in the Law for which the Lord cast them out of the Land before the Children of Israel for though he might wink at it in the Patriarks Gen. 26.34 3â— Chap. 28.1 2 8. who to escape the wicked Idolaters of their Day it is likely were under some necessity of Marrying within the bounds of Consanguinity yet had he not revealed his Will against such Incestuous Marriages they could not have been charged as Sin upon them For where there is no Law Rom. 5 1â— there is no Transgression And therefore we have from hence some ground to believe that God did not leave the old Gentiles without some discovery how he would be also worshipped Especially considering that Enoch was a Holy Prophet of whom it s testified That he pleased God Heb. 11.5 and that Noah was a Preacher of Righteousness to the old World that Shem the Son of Noah of whom it 's witnessed that the Lord God Gen. 9.26 compare Gen. 11. with chap. 24.67 chap. 25.7 20. See Ainsw on Gen. 24.62 and on chap. 14.18 2 Pet. 2.5 7 8 9. was Shems God was a live in Isaacs time and is thought to be that Melchizedeck King of Salem and Priest of the most high God who blessed Abraham and that Lot who was not concerned with Abraham in the Covenant of Circumcision was a Godly Righteous Man for no doubt they were true Worshippers of God in their Families and taught others to do the like being great Lights and Witnesses of the Ways and Will of God in their Generations Moreover As the Law of Nature obliged the old Gentiles to Worship God so we find they were taught how to Exert their Obedience to it in Offering Sacrifices unto him which had a Tipical respect to the Sacrifice of Christ For it is believed from the Coats of Skin which God made to cloath Adam and Eve that they were of the Beasts that God taught Adam to Sacrifice which agreeth with what Mr. Ainsworth saith on Gen. 4.3 That the Hebrew Doctors say it is a Tradition by the hand of all 1 Chron. 21.22 26. and 22.1 2 Chron. 3.1 Gen. 22.9 Gen. 8.20 that the place wherein David and Solomon built an Altar was the place where Abraham builded an Altar and bound Isaac upon it and where Noah builded after he came out of the Ark and that was the Altar upon which Cain and Abel offered And on it Adam the first Man offered an Offering after he was Created See Dutch Annot on Job 1.1.3 and chap. 2.11 See Mr. Caryl on Job 1. and chap. 2. And we find that Jobs three Friends as it seemeth by the hand of Job as their Priest who were all four Gentiles or separated from Abrabams Seed in the Line of Isaac and Jacob and were not with their Seed taken into Gods peculiar Covenant with them were commanded of God to offer Sacrisices See Ainsw on Gen. 4.3 Job 42.8 9. 1 Sam. 13.12 Gen. 8.20 21. Exod 18.1 9. to 13. Num. 23.1 to 6 Judg. 13.17 19 1 Chron. 16.1 2 7. Jude 14.15 2 Pet. 2.5 1 Pet. 3.18 19 20. Heb. 7.1 6 7. 2 Pet. 1.21 So that sacrificing of Beasts were
of the Moral Law why then should the same Faith in the Gentiles excuse them from it as a Rule 4. Moreover I shall farther add that while the holy Apostles are throwing down the Types and Shadowy Worship under that legal Dispensation 1 Tim. 1.8 yet they assert that the Law is good if a man use it lawfully viz. as a Foundation of our Worship and Obedience to God and just behaviour towards Man which thrô Gospel Grace after the measure we have received is or ought to be put forth according to the several Moral branches of the Law and the Divine Precepts and Patterns given to us in the New Testament And therefore we find the Holy Apostles and Gospel Writers often proving and confirming the Moral part of their Doctrine by the Law as appears in Ephes 6.1 2 3. Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour thy Father and Mother which is the first Commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth Here the Apostle confirms his Moral Doctrine to the Gentiles by the Authority of the fifth Commandment or first with promise which plainly shews that it is of its self binding to us all under the Gospel and he Moralizeth the Promise by saying Earth instead of the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee So that the Promise was not only to pertain to the Jews in the Land of Canaan but was perpetually to continue to all the Gentiles and so we may say in the aforesaid case of every one that killed a Man unawares who was to flee into the City of Refuge and continue there until the Death of the High-priest Numb 35.25 that thô we have no such High-priest in Gospel days yet the equity of that Law is still in force But to return to our present business we may farther find the Apostle proveth the moral part of his Doctrine from the Commendments Exod. 20. For in Rom. 13.8 9 10. we are exhorted to love one another for saith he Love is the fulfilling of the law and he briefly citeth five of the Ten Commandments to confirm the Duty of Love which comprehendeth them all And in Chap. 7.7 12. What shall we say then is the law sin God forbid Nay I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the law had said Thou shalt not covet Wherefore the law is holy and the Commandment holy and just and good Therefore surely this Moral Precept in particular and others in general mentioned by the Apostle are of themselves binding to us as a Rule of Holy life for whatsoever Law is morally holy just and good as this particular precept is by which the Apostle came to the knowledge of Sin it is perpetually and universally binding to all Men Rom. 2.14 15. who have the substance of it written in their Hearts by Nature So that from the Apostles making use of the Anthority of the Moral Law of Moses to confirm his Doctrine Matth. 5.19 James 2.8 Chap. 4.11 1 Joh. 3.4 and from the Commendations of it in the New Testament it clearly appears to be in force unto all Men now under the Gospel And seeing the fourth Commandment in particular is delivered in such moral Terms as doth not of its self bind us to the observation of the Sabbath after the Jewish Pattern from Evening to Evening any more than after our Christian pattern from Morning to Morning which does answer that Very Precept as well as theirs did from that single Law we have then no reason to exclude the fourth Commandment from the rest of the Decalogue but to believe it is equally Moral with the other nine as will appear more patticularly in the next ensuing Section SECT VI. TO proceed therefore on the fourth Commandment I shall here recite Exod. 20.9 10 11. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it 1. That this Commandment is morally binding to both Jews and Gentiles is evident because it is in substance the same with God's sanctifying the seventh day for Man Gen. 2. And if the Sabbath be not from thence perpetually binding to all Nations but restrained to the posterity of the Jews then by the same Rule the Gentiles had no interest in the promise of the Womans Seed Gen. 3.15 or the Messias that should bruise the Serpents Head as then made to our first Parents and therefore as I believe it will be granted by all Christians that the Gentiles as well as the Jews had an interest in the first promise as then made viz. in the Original discovery of the Messias as well as in those after promises that are the fruits and effects of it So in like manner we have also ground to believe that the first sanctifying of the Sabbath-day was from thence and is also from the fourth Commandment morally binding of its self to both Jews and Gentiles for if we question the one we may also doubt of the other 2. The End of the fourth Commandment sheweth it to be a Moral Precept for a time of rest is naturally moral and by the example of God and his sanctifying the seventh day to every six working days it is also become morally and perpetually binding for all Men to keep the seventh day Sabbath as a boundary to neither more nor less than six working days together and therefore for any to deny the same in the fourth Commandment is in effect to deny the World their sixed Sabbath for thô the Gospel first-day Sabbath hath a new Sanctity yet it is founded on the old Law and Gods sanctifying of the seventh day for Man from the beginning or else it is left very dubious whether we are bound to keep any fixed day of Rest at all but as there is the same Moral reason for a Sabbath as was before so we have reason to conclude that the same Law in the fourth Commandment is morally binding to us all 3. I shall offer some Reasons for satisfaction wherefore I believe the Lord was pleased to sanctifie the Sabbath and to deliver the fourth Command to observe it under the name of the seventh day rather than of the first day Sabbath And 1. Because althô Man abstained from work on the first day after he was compleatly formed yet seeing God gave the Sanctity to the Day for a Memorial of his Creation and for Man to worship him there was reason that the day should answer the memorial of his finishing of and ceasing from the work of Creation rather than of Adams solemn entring upon his subordinate Dominion under God viz. in Honour to the Creator rather than to the Creature
none will affirm or else he was bound in Duty to keep his Sabbath before his six working days on Gods seventh-day of rest and then it was Adams Sabbath also Mark 2.27 as Christ plainly tells us That the Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath 2. There is two Moral Reasons for Man to Sabbatize or keep a Sabbath The one is to abstain from work that he may devote himself to Worship his Creator the other is to rest and refresh himself from his Toyl and Labour Now altho' many Men have not toiled themselves in any Work and so have no need of a rest to refresh their Bodies yet such are bound to keep the Sabbath as well as others in ceasing from finding their own Pleasure and speaking their own Words and to Honour God on his Holy Day Isa 58.13 So then tho' Adam and Eve had not passed one working day before they had Gods seventh-day Sabbath made for them yet it was their Moral Duty to abstain from Work and to Dedicate that very day to Attribute their Praise and Worship to him For we find by Abels Offering the Firstlings of his Flock Gen. 4.4 which was afterwards required of Israel with all the first Fruits of the Land of Canaan that the first of all our Increase is most acceptable to God and so by the same Rule was the first of Time after the Creation And when Adam was put into the Garden of Eden and had seen all the Cattel and Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of the Air and after that had Eve brought to him which God had formed for a help Meet for him and had taken a little view of the Works of God in the Heavens and on the Earth and of his own Happy Estate and Lordship over the Creatures Then surely it was his Moral Duty before he served himself in any Work or Business of his own most solemnly to Praise and Glorifie God for Creating him after his own Image and making him Lord over all the Earth And this seemeth to have been the Work of Man and Angels from Job 38.7 When the Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy For thô it may be doubted what these Morning Stars are and how they sang yet the Sons of God most properly were the Angels and Man who bear the greatest Likeness and Image of their Creator of those then it s said they all shouted for Joy and I observe from the Text that as this could not be precisely at the same instant when the Foundations of the Earth were laid but rather when the Works of Creation were finished because neither the Natural Stars nor Mankind were then formed So there is no Reason to understand the Text of any Time after the fall of Man for then the Enmity of the Evil Angels against God would rather excite them to Curse than to Rejoice and Praise him for his Works It 's true the Word all is sometimes taken for a part and not the whole but not here for when God had finished his Work on the sixth-day He saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good So that neither Man nor Angels were then fallen nor before this Solemn Acclamation of Joy for that would have been a Check unto it Besides we find nothing mentioned in the Text of Redemption-Grace but of the Works of Creation and therefore we have the greatest Reason to refer it to a Time of solemnizing the Praises of God between the finishing of the Creation and the Fall and there is Reason to believe that so it was for why should we imagine that God should Create all things very good and in Perfection and never receive their perfect Homage and Praise It is therefore rational to believe that God did not suffer sin to Marr the Perfection of his Works till all was sinished and did shew forth his Praise And then if Man had a time in Persection to solemnize the Praise of his Creator when could it best be done but in the sanctified time of Abstinence from his own business Mr. H. Soursby and Mr. M. Smith in their Book Page 67. say the Seventh day was a Paradice Institution for thô his Mind was then Pure and served God always yet why did God sanctifie the Sabbath for Man in Innocency as it is confessed by our seventh-day Sabbatharians if it was not principally for his solemn Worship for thô he had work appointed in Innocency to dress and keep the Garden of Eden yet it was not toilsome but delight some to him for Adams eating his Bread in Sorrow and with the Sweat of his Face came by the Curse that fell upon him for his Sin seeing therefore the Sabbath at its first sanctifying was not principally Hallowed for Man to rest and refresh his weary Body which became one Moral end of it through the Accident of Sin forseen by God but that it was first sanctified for Man to abstain from Work most solemnly to worship his Creator before he served in his own Affairs and considering God himself had no need of a Day of Rest for he fainteth not nor is weary and so his Declaration of it was for the Sake of Man to exert his worship to him we may then conclude that Adams first Sabbath was most properly fixed before his six working days to answer the Prime and Chief end of Hallowing of it after such manner as best became our first Parents in the State of Innocency Object 5. But some may say Thô by Adams first keeping his Sabbath we have no Example for beginning our Sabbath originally after our six working days yet the six days in which Israel first gathered Manna was to settle the keeping of their Sabbath as after their six working days and not before them Answer 1. Tho gathering Manna six days before their first Sabbath in the Wilderness is no where assigned as a sixing their first Sabbath after no more than six working days But it rather appears as to Man an Accidental thing For we find that God first gave the People Manna upon their murmuring because of hunger Besides if God had designed to six six working days before their first Sabbath it would better have suited such an end for God to have sanctified the seventh-day from their first Passover or from the Red Sea when they were delivered from Pharaohs pursuing of them but notwithstanding Israel were freed from the fear of their Enemies and had nothing as I can find to hinder their resting on the next seventh-day after yet if we reckon the day on which Moses and the Children of Israel sang and danced before the Lord for Joy of their Deliverance and the three days they were in the Wilderness of Shur and after that their coming to Morah and their Incamping after that at Elim by the twelve Wells of Water and seventy Palm Trees from whence they removed unto the Wilderness of Sin where