God provided in his services of old that he who was not able to offer a Bullock might offer a Dove with respect unto their outward condition in the world so here there is an allowance also for the natural temperaments and abilities of men Only whereas if Persons of old had pretended poverty to save their charge in the procuring of an offering it would not have been acceptable yea they would themselves have fallen under the curse of the Deceiver so no more will now a pretence of weakness or natural inability be any excuse unto any for neglect or profaneness Otherwise God requires of us and accepts from us according to what we have and not according to what we have not And we see it by experience that some mens natural spirits will carry them out unto a continuance in the outward observance of duties much beyond nay doubly perhaps unto what others are able who yet may observe an Holy Sabbath unto the Lord with acceptation And herein lyes the spring of the accommodation of these duties to the sick the aged the young the weak or Persons any way distempered God knoweth our frame and remembreth that we are dust as also that that dust is more discomposed and weakly compacted in some than others As thus the People gathered Manna of old some more some less 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every man according to his appetite yet he that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack Exod. 16. 17 18. So is every one in sincerity according to his own ability to endeavour the sanctifying of the Name of God in the duties of this Day not being obliged by the examples or prescriptions of others according to their own measures § 9 Secondly Labour to observe this Day and to perform the duties required in it with a frame of mind becoming and answering the spirit freedom and liberty of the Gospel We are now to serve God in all things in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter Rom. 7. 6. with a spirit of peace delight joy liberty and a sound mind There were three Reasons of the bondage servile frame of spirit which was in the Judaical Church in their observance of the duties of the Law and consequently of the Sabbath First The dreadfull giving and promulgation of it on Mount Sinai which was not intended meerly to strike a terror into that Generation in the wilderness but through all Ages during that Dispensation to influence and awe the hearts of the People into a dread and terror of it Hence the Apostle tells us that Mount Sinai gendered unto bondage Gal. 4. 24. that is the Law as given thereon brought the People into a spiritually servile state wherein although secretly on the account of the Ends of the Covenant they were children and heirs yet they differed nothing from servants Chap. 4. 1 3. Secondly The renovation and re inforcement of the old Covenant with the promises and threatnings of it which was to be upon them during the continuance of that state and condition And although the Law had a new Use and End now given unto it yet they were so in the dark and the proposal of them attended with so great an obscurity that they could not clearly look into the comfort and liberty finally intended therein For the Law made nothing perfect and what was of Grace in the administration of it was so veiled with Types Ceremonies and shadows that they could not see into the End of the things that were to be done away 2 Cor. 3. 13. Thirdly The sanction of the Law by death encreased their bondage For as this in it self was a terror unto them in their services so it was expressive and a representation of the original curse of the whole Law Gal. 3. 13. And hereby were they greatly awed and terrified although some of them by especial Grace were enabled to delight themselves in God and his Ordinances And in these things was administred a spirit of bondage unto fear which by the Apostle is opposed to the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. Which where it is there is liberty where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. and there only And therefore although they boasted that they were the children of Abraham and on that reason free and never in bondage yet our Saviour lets them know that whatever they pretended they were not free untill the Son should make them so And from these things arose those innumerable anxious scrupulosities which were upon them in the observation of this Day accompanied with the severe nature of those Additions in its observation which were made unto the Law of it as appropriated unto them for a season Now all these things we are freed from under the Gospel For 1 We are not now brought to receive the Law from Mount Sinai but are come unto Mount Sion So the Apostle at large Heb. 12. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24. For ye are not come unto the Mount that might be touched that is which naturally might be so by mens hands though morally the touching of it was forbidden and that burned with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest And the sound of a Trumpet and a voice of words which they that heard entreated that the Word should not be spoke unto them any more for they could not endure that which was commanded and if so much as a Beast touch the Mountain it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake which it seems were the words he used where it is on this occasion said of him And Moses spake but nothing is added of what he said Exod. 19 19. which things are insisted on by him to shew the Grounds of that bondage which the People were in under the Law whereunto he addes But you are come to Mount Sion unto the City of the living God the heavenly Hierusalem Hierusalem that is above which is free which is the mother of us all Gal. 4. 26. That is we receive the Law of our Obedience from Jesus Christ who speaks from Heaven to be observed with a spirit of liberty 2 The Old Covenant is now absolutely abolished nor is the remembrance of it any way revived Heb. 8. 13. It hath no influence into nor upon the minds of Believers They are taken into a Covenant full of Grace Joy and Peace For the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1. 17. 3 In this Covenant they receive the Spirit of Christ or Adoption to serve God without legal fear Luk. 1. 74. Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 6. And there is not any thing more insisted on in the Gospel as the principal priviledge thereof It is indeed nothing to have liberty in the Word and Rule unless we have it in the Spirit and Principle
those Works and Rest of God or it could not be proposed as the reason of their suitable practice and for this end did God so Work and Rest. The Law therefore of this holy Rest he reneweth in the Decalogue amongst those other Laws which being of the same nature and original namely branches of the Law of our Creation were to be unto us moral and eternal For God would no longer entrust his mind and will in that Law unto the depraved nature of man wherein if he had not in the best often guided and directed it by fresh extraordinary revelations it would have been of little use to his glory but committed it by vocal revelation to the minds of the people as the doctrinal object of their consideration and recorded it in tables of stone Moreover the nature of the first Covenant and the way of Gods instructing man in the condition of it by his Works and Rest had limited this holy Day unto the seventh Day the observation whereof was to be commensurate unto that Covenant and its administration however the outward forms thereof might be varied § 7 On these suppositions we lay and ought to lay the observation of the Lords Day under the New Testament according to the institution of it or declaration of the mind of Christ who is our Lord and Law-giver concerning it 1. A new work of Creation or a work of a new Creation is undertaken and compleated Isa. 65. 17. Chap. 66. 22 23. 2 Pet. 3. 13. Rev. 21. 1. Rom. 8. 19 20. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Gal. 6. 15. 2. This new Creation is accompanied with a new Law and a new Covenant or the Law of faith and the Covenant of Grace Rom. 3. 27. Chap. 8. 2 3 4. Jer. 31. 32 33 34. Heb. 8. 8 9 10 11 12 13. 3. Unto this Law and Covenant a Day of holy Rest unto the Lord doth belong which cannot be the same Day with the former no more than it is the same Law or the same Covenant which were originally given unto us Heb. 4. 9. Rev. 1. 10. 4. That this Day was limited and determined to the first Day of the Week by our Lord Jesus Christ is that which shall now further be confirmed only I must desire the Reader to consider that whereas the Topical Arguments whereby this Truth is confirmed have been pleaded improved and vindicated by many of late I shall but briefly mention them and insist principally on the declaration of the proper grounds and foundations of it § 8 As our Lord Jesus Christ as the eternal Son and Wisdom of the Father was the immediate cause and Author of the old Creation Joh. 1. 3. Col. 1. 16. Heb. 1. 2 10. so as Mediatour he was the Author of this new Creation Heb. 3. 3 4. He built the House of God he built all these things and is God Herein he wrought and in the accomplishment of it saw of the travail of his soul and was satisfied Isa. 53. 11. that is he rested and was refreshed Herein he gave a new Law of life faith and obedience unto God Isa. 42. 4. not by an addition of new Preceps to the moral Law of God not virtually comprized therein and distinct from his own positive institutions of worship but in his revelation of that new way of obedience unto God in and by himself with the especial causes means and ends of it which supplyes the use and end whereunto the Moral Law was at first designed Rom. 8. 2 3. Chap 10. 3 4. whereby he becomes the Author of eternal salvation unto all that do obey him Heb. 5. 9. This Law of life and obedience he writes by his Spirit in the hearts of his people that they may be willing in the day of his power Psal. 110. 3. 1 Cor. 3. 3 6. Heb. 8 10. not at once and in the foundation of his work actually but only in the causes of it For as the Law of nature should have been implanted in the hearts of men in their conception and natural nativity had that dispensation of righteousness continued so in the new birth of them that believe in him is this Law written in their hearts in all generations Joh. 3. 6. Hereon was the Covenant established and all the promises thereof of which he was the Mediatour Heb. 8. 6. And for an holy Day of Rest for the ends before declared and on the suppositions before laid down evincing the necessity of such a Day he determined the observation of the first Day of the Week For § 9 First On this Day he rested from his works in and by his Resurrection for then had he laid the foundation of the new Heavens and new Earth and finished the works of the new Creation when all the Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy On this Day he rested from his works and was refreshed as God did and was from his For although he worketh hitherto in the communication of his Spirit and Graces as the Father continued to do in his works of providence after the finishing of the works of the old Creation though these works belonged thereunto yet he ceaseth absolutely from that kind of work whereby he laid the foundation of the new Creation henceforth he dieth no more And on this Day was he refreshed in the view of his works for he saw that it was exceeding good Now as Gods Rest and his being refreshed in his work on the seventh Day of old was a sufficient indication of the precise Day of Rest which he would have observed under the administration of that original Law and Covenant so the Rest of our Lord Jesus Christ and his being refreshed in and from his works on the first Day is a sufficient indication of the precise Day of Rest to be observed under the dispensation of the new Covenant now confirmed and established And the Church of Christ could not pass one Week under the New Testament or in a Gospel-state of worship without this indication For the Judaical Sabbath as sure as it was so and as sure as it was annexed unto the Mosaical administration of the Covenant was so far abolished as not to oblige really the Disciples of Christ in conscience unto the observation of it whatever any of them might for a season apprehend And if a new Day was not now determined there was no Day or season appointed for an observance of an holy Rest unto the Lord nor any pledge given us of our entring into the Rest of Christ. And those who say that it is required that some time be set apart unto the ends of a Sabbatical Rest but that there is no divine indication of that time when not what it is or shall be if we consider what are the ends of such a Rest as before declared must allow us to expect firmer proofs of their uncouth Assertion than any as yet we have met withall § 10 Accordingly this Indication of the Gospel Day of Rest
And hereby are we delivered from that anxious solicitude about particular instances in outward duties which was a great part of the yoke of the People of old For 1 Hence we may in all our duties look on God as a Father By the Spirit of his Son we may in them all cry Abba Father For through Christ we have an access in one Spirit unto tho Father Ephes. 2. 18. To God as a Father as one that will not alwayes chide that doth not watch our steps for our hurt but remembreth that we are but dust One who tyeth us not up to rigid exactness in outward things whilest we act in an holy spirit of filial obedience as his sons or children And there is great difference between the duties of servants and children neither hath a Father the same measure of them The consideration hereof regulated by the general Rules of the Scripture will resolve a thousand of such scruples as the Jews of old while servants were perplexed withall 2 Hence we come to know that he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth Therefore he more minds the inward frame of our hearts wherewith we serve him than the meer performance of outward duties which are alone so far accepted with him as they are expressions and demonstrations thereof If then in the observation of this Day our hearts are single and sincere in our aims at his Glory with delight it is of more price with him than the most rigid observation of outward duties by number and measure 3 Therefore the minds of Believers are no more influenced unto this duty by the curse of the Law and the terror thereof as represented in the threatned penalty of death The Authority and Love of Jesus Christ are the principal causes of our Obedience Hence our main duty lyeth in an endeavour to get spiritual joy and delight in the services of this Day which are the especial effects of spiritual liberty So the Prophet requires that we should call the Sabbath our delight holy and honourable of the Lord Isa. 58. 13. As also that on the other side we should not do our own pleasure nor do our own wayes nor find our own pleasure nor speak our own words And these Cautions seem to regard the Sabbath absolutely and not as Judaical But I much question whether they have not in the interpretation of some been extended beyond their original intention For the true meaning of them is no more but this that we should so delight our selves in the Lord on his holy Day as that being expresly forbidden our usual labour we should not need for want of satisfaction in our duties to turn aside unto our own pleasures and vain wayes which are only our own to spend our time and pass over the Sabbath a thing complained of by many whence sin and Satan have been more served on this Day than on all the Dayes of the Week beside But I no way think that here is a restraint laid on us from such Words Wayes and Works as neither hinder the performance of any religious duties belonging to the due celebration of the worship of God on the Day nor are apt in themselves to unframe our spirits or divert our affections from them And those whose minds are fixed in a spirit of liberty to glorifie God in and by this Day of Rest seeking after Communion with him in the wayes of his worship will be unto themselves a better Rule for their Words and Actions than those who may aim to reckon over all they do or say which may be done in such a manner as to become the Judaical Sabbath much more then the Lords-Day § 10 Thirdly Be sure to bring good and right Principles unto the performance of the duty of keeping a Day of Rest holy unto the Lord. Some of these I shall name as confirmed expresly in or drawn evidently from the preceding Discourses 1. Remember that there is a Weekly Rest or an holy Rest of one Day in the week due to the solemn work of glorifying God as God Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy We have had a Week unto our own occasions or we have a prospect of a Week in the patience of God for them Let us Remember that God puts in for some Time with us All is not our own We are not our own Lords Some time God will have to himself from all that own him in the World And this is that Time season or Day He esteems not himself acknowledged nor his Soveraignty owned in the World without it And therefore this Day of Rest he required the first Day as it were that the World stood upon its legs hath done so all along and will do so to the last Day of its duration When he had made all things and saw that they were good and was refreshed in them he required that we should own and acknowledge his Goodness and Power therein This duty we owe to God as God 2 That God appointed this Day to teach us that as he rested therein so we should seek after Rest in him here and look on this Day as a pledge of eternal Rest with him hereafter So was it from the beginning This was the End of the appointment of this Day Now our Rest in God in general consists in two things 1 In our Approbation of the Works of God and the Law of our Obedience with the Covenant of God thereon These things are expressive of and do represent unto us the Goodness Righteousness Holiness Faithfulness and Power of God For these and with respect unto them are we to give Glory to him What God rests in he requires that through it we should seek for our Rest in him As this was the duty of man in Innocency and under the Law so it is ours now much more For God hath now more eminently and gloriously unveiled and displayed the Excellencies of his Nature and the Counsels of his Wisdome in and by Jesus Christ than he had done under the first Covenant And this should work us to a greater and more holy admiration of them For if we are to acknowledge that the Law is holy just and good as our Apostle speaks although it is now useless as to the bringing of us to Rest in God how much more ought we to own and subscribe to the Gospel and the declaration that God hath made of himself therein that so it is 2 In an actual solemn compliance with his Will expressed in his Works Law and Covenant This brings us unto present satisfaction in him and leads us to the full enjoyment of him This is a Day of Rest but we cannot Rest in a Day nor any thing that a Day can afford only it is an help and means of bringing us to Rest in God Without this design all our Observation of a Sabbath is of no use nor advantage Nothing will thence redound to the Glory of God nor the benefit of our own souls And this they