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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14653	The doctrine of the Sabbath Wherein the first institution of the vveekly Sabbath, with the time thereof, the nature of the law binding man to keep it, the true ground, and necessity of the first institution, and of the observation of it, on the severall day in the Old Testament, and also of the moving of it to the first day under the Gospel, are laid open and proved out of the Holy Scriptures. Also besides the speciall dueties necessarily required for the due sanctification thereof, those two profitable points are proved by demonstrations out of Gods Word. First, that the Lord Christ God and man, is the Lord of the Sabbath, on whom the Sabbath was first founded...2. That the faithfull under the Gospell are as necessarily bound to keep the weekly Sabbath of the Lords day... Deliverd in divers sermons by George Walker B. of Divinity and pastor of St. Iohn Evangelists Church in London.	Walker, George, 1581?-1651.	1638 (1638)	STC 24957; ESTC S103296	151,861	168

of the weeke which they are bound to keepe for their weekly Sabbath This is that which is most controverted called in question among the learned in this age therfore comes to be first proued and clearly demonstrated by testimonies and proofes out of the holy Scriptures which being performed I proceed in the next place to the dutie of rest will shew how far Christians are bound unto it on their weekly Sabbath the Lords day And in the last place I will come to the speciall duties of sanctification by which that day is to be kept holy to the Lord now under the Gospell First for the day it selfe Some are of opinion that it is the same which was from the begining that is the seventh last day of the week This opinion is grounded upon the bare letter of the law as it was giuen both in the institution and sanctifying of the seventh day renewed againe in the fourth Commandement and understood by the fathers in the old Testament J confesse that the words of the law if we take them as they were limited to the fathers not considering wi●hall how and upon what grounds and conditions God made the seventh day the weekly Sabbath they seeme to favour their opinion For if we conceiue no mo●e but a mere cessation and rest of God from his works on the six daies created to be the ground of the law then we may also conceiue that the law of the weekly Sabbath binds all mankind to that particular day in all ages because the ground is the same to all men equally belongs to all men in all times to the worlds end O●hers are of opinion that the law of the Sabbath being but a mere ceremoniall law is a bolished by the comming of Christ and bindes not us under the Gospell to any particular day And that it is free for the Church of God to appoint any day for their holy assemblies and that Christians haue no Sabbath neither are bound to keepe any such rest as the law required in the old Testament Others hold that the law of the Sabbath is naturally simply morall in the generall nature of it as it requires a weekly Sabbath to be sanctified and kept holy and that the particular determination of the daie is an honour and prerogatiue which belongs to Christ the Redemer who is the Lord of the Sabbath And that it was the purpose of God from all eternity and in the first giving of the law as to consecrate the seventh day in memory of God perfecting all the works of creation resting from them on that day so also to consecrate by the resurrection of Christ the first day of the weeke to be ever after the weekly Sabbath in honour and memory of the worke of redemption which on that day was fully perfected by Christs rising from the dead and entering into that state of glory in which he rests for ever hauing no more to do for the ransoming and redeming of mankinde Gods justice being full satisfied The first of these opinions being grounded vpon a carnall vndestanding and imperfect sence of the words of the law hath but a weake and sandy found●tion and because as the first authors of it were blasphemous hereticks which erred in diuers fundamental points of christian faith and Religion Soe also the reviuers of it are either cursed Anabaptists or men who doe not rightly vnderstand the law nor the groundes and conditions vpon which it requires an holy weekly Sabbath Therefore it is justly hated and rejected as a Jewish errour the maintainers thereof haue in all true Christian Churches of all ages beene branded with the name of hereticall and Iudaicall Sabbatarians And I need not spend any precious time in confuting it and the frivolous fallacies by which it is maintained The second opinion being too rashly conceived and vnadvisedlie professed and held by some godly Divines of the reformed Churches who in this point do much contradict themselves also being an unsound opinion and therefore well relished by Popish Schoole-men malicious Iesuites licentious Liber●ines and men of profane hearts hath no ground in the Scriptures nor any sound Orthodox writings of any auncient fathers Yea bringing great confusion into the Decalouge which is the summe of the morall law and laying a foule staine upon our Church which hath appointed the commandement of the Sabbath to be read among the tenne Commandements and enjoynes the people to pray that God would incline their hearts to keepe that law as well as all and everie one of the rest Therefore I shall not spend any time in the confutation of it The arguments which are brought for the confutation of the contrary truth will sufficiently raze and vtterly abolish it out of the hearts of all true Christians The third opinion is most agreeable to the holy Scripture and the common Doctrine of the Orthodox writers both of auncient and later times especially of the most godly and learned in the Church of England who haue heretofore writen learned treatises of the Sabbath and expositions of the ten Commandements of the Decalogue And therefore I wil bee bold here againe to commend it to you for an undoubted truth which I haue aboundantly proued confirmed by many demonstratiue convincing arguments already partly in that large search which J haue made before into the nature of the law of the sabbath and that description which I haue made of it but most fully in that passage where I proued the change of the day by the resurrection of Christ from the seventh to the first day of the weeke now vnder the Gospel and brought diuers argumen●s to shew that the law which God gaue for the keeping holy of a seventh day in every weeke at the first institution of the Sabbath here in my text and renewed againe on mount Sina and giue ●f●en in charge by Moses to Israell doth now as strictly binde us to keepe an holy Sabbath on the Lords day in everie weeke as it bound the auncient people of God in the old Testament to keepe the Sabbath of the seventh day But for the confirming of your hearts in the beleife of this truth and in the knowledge of this duty I will not multiply any new arguments onely that you may more firmely retaine it in your memories and still beare it in minde that you are in conscience bound to keepe only the Lords daie and none other for your weekly Sabbath in these times of the Gospell J will bri●fly touch and explaine some principall heades which haue beene before laid down at large and in ample manner The summe whereof is this Namely That although the law of the Sabbath is not a law of nature in ●hat rigid sence in which some do conceive it that is a law written in mans heart expresly and distinctly in the creation which by the mere instinct of nature and direction of naturall reason did lead man to keepe everie seventh day of the

THE DOCTRINE OF THE SABBATH Wherein the first institution of the vveekly Sabbath with the time thereof the nature of the Law binding man to keep it the true grounds and necessity of the first institution and of the observation of it on the severall day in the Old Testament and also of the removing of it to the first day under the Gospell are laid open and proved out of the Holy Scriptures ALSO Besides the speciall dueties necessarily required for the due sanctification thereof these two profitable points are proved by demonstrations out of Gods Word First that the Lord Christ God and Man is the Lord of the Sabbath on whom the Sabbath was first founded by whom it was changed from the last to the first day of the weeke and is on that day unchangeably to be kept by all true Christians untill they come to the Eternall rest in Heaven after the generall resurrection 2. That the faithfull under the Gospell are as necessarily bound to keep the weekly Sabbath of the Lords day by vertue of the fourth Commandement as the Fathers under the Law were bound to keep the seventh day Delivered In divers Sermons by GEORGE WALKER B. of Divinity and Pastor of St. Iohn Evangelists Church in LONDON LEVIT 19.30 Ye shall keepe my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord. Printed at Amsterdam in the yeare 1638. To the Christian Reader THe Author of this Treatise being much importuned to publish his Sermons concerning the Sabbath preached in his owne Parish-Church to his owne Flocke not onely by divers of his Ch●istian Hearers but also by others both Preachers and godly people who had heard by report the manner of his large handling and expounding of this Text did yeeld at length to their Req●ests and composed this Treatise which containes in it the whole summe and substance of the matter more largely delivered The Copie whereof written with his owne hand he gave to be imparted from hand to hand and transcribed by such as did d●sire to make use of it for their owne satisfaction and the inst●uction of their owne private Families and Christian friends Which comming to my hands I thought fitt to publ●sh and impart i● to the Engl●sh C●urches in those C●u●tries on this other sid● of the S●as being credibly informed that the Author ●s not unwill●ng to submite his Doct●ine to the judgement of the true Reformed Church●s of Ch●ist acco●ding to that saying of the holie Apostle 1 Cor. 14 3● The spirits of the P●ophets are subject to the Prophets Let those things which be●ein seeme most of all to savour of noveltie be read without prejudice and sinister aff●ction weig●ed by the sh●kel of the Sanctuarie and I doubt not but such as are judicious will ●i●de them to be auncient truths like pure old gold newlie brought to light out of the old treasu●e of the sacred Scriptu●es in which m●ny p●ofitable truths fitt for these last times remaine yet to be more clearely revealed Which God w●ll undoubtedly bring to light by such as d●gge deeper in those mines then others formerly have done and labour to ●raw st●ll more Waters of comfort out of those Wells of Salvation To that God onely immortall and infinit in goodnesse and wisedome and to ●he wo●d of his grace I commend you which is able to bui●d you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified THE DOCTRINE OF THE SABBATH Gen. 2 2.3 And on the seventh God ended his vvorke which he had made and he rested the seventh day from all his wo●ke which he had made 3. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he had rested from all his worke which God created and made CHAP. 1. IN the unfolding of this Text and handling of this maine and necessary point I will observe the Method and order which is most agreeable to the order of the words First from these words And on the seventh day J will observe and declare the time of the Institution of the weekly Sabba●h even the very day wherin the first occasion was given for the sanctification of it and God did first sanctifie it and commaund that it should be kept holy Secondly I will shew the true ground and occasion of the institution of it laid downe in the next words God ende● his work which he had made and he rested the seventh day from all his worke which he had made and God bl●ssed the seventh day Thirdly I will declare what is the blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day where I shall have occasion to speake of the Law and Commandement by which God seperated it from other naturall dayes to holy Heavenly and supernaturall use And of the dueties which that Law requires at the hands of all Gods people in all ages to the end of the World on the most blessed day of all the seven in every weeke even the weekly Sabbath-day Under these heades divers subordinate points will ●ffer themselves to be handled and divers necessarie questions will come to be answered and explaned First concerning the time of the institution there are severall opi●ions among learned Writers of former and later times First some Heathen Writers as Iustine Tacitus with others have grossely and absurdly erred as in the time so also in the Author and in the occasion of the institution though they had perhaps read the the writings of Moses yet it seemes they beleeved him not concerning the fi●st institution of it by God but finding the first expresse Law concerning the keeping of the Sabbath given by Moses at mount Sina written in Tables of stone and afterwards recorded in the the Bookes of Moses they make Moses the first Author of the Sabb●th and that upon this occasion because wandring with the Israelites out of Egypt in the wildernesse and finding no sustenance but being forced to fast six dayes at length comming to mount Sina with the people there found meate and rested and upon this occasion did appoint it to be keept weekly for a Sabbath or day of rest But all true Christians who beleeve the Scriptures to be the sacred infallible VVord of God being thereby better instructed doe with one consent hold confesse and constantly teach that God the Lord Iehovah the onely true God is the Author and Ordainer of the Sabbath and that he first ordained it upon the ground and occasion mentioned in this Text and expressed in the words of the Law But yet in the time they much d●ff●r among themselves Some in the time of the first institution concurre with the infidell Heathens before mentioned though they differ much concerning the Author and the occasion For they hold that the Sabbath was neither commaunded by God nor knowne to the Fathers and Patriarches nor observed by any before the comming of Israel with Moses to mount Sina and that the first inst●tution of it was in the fourth Commaundement given by God among the ten from Mount

vvhich is the last in the vveeke rather then any other if the Church so determine it if it bee obserued vvithout any superstitious conceipt of more holinesse in that day or annexed to it rather then any other The fourth opinion is that the first lavv for observation of the vveekly Sabbath vvas the fourth commandement given from mount Sina that is did bind only the Isralits to keep the sevē●h day of the vveek for an holy Sabbath untill the cōming of Christ but novv under the gospel it is abolish●d in respect both of the particular day also the strictnes of the obseruation only the equity of it remains in the Lords day the obseruation vvherof is commēded to us by the example of the Apostles ●ovv the lavv of keeping it holy is only ecclesiasticall an holy ordinance of the Church· Thus you see vvhile men build vpon vnsure and vnstable grounds not upon the certain vvords of holy Scripture compared together made to runne in a svveet harmony hovv various different they are hovv contrary some of them in their opinions For the removing of all doub●s setling of mens judgments in a sure vvay so farre as God shal enable me I vvill endeavour to select single out vvhatsoever I finde in these severall opinions to be agreeable to the truth to the sacred vvord of God reject the rest vvill ad more over what is wanting to make up a perfect Doctrine not out of mine owne conjections but out of canonicall Scriptures for that is the sure rule of all necessary saving and sanctified knowledge that must be the sure guid when Fathers Councels Churches do lead vs into severall doubtfull wayes First for them who hold that the law of the Sabbath was written in mans heart in the Creation I hold it true insome part to weet thus far That God creating man in his owne Image did print this in mans heart That as he had his whole being from God especially his reasonable soule by which he was made able to understand the will of God revealed to him by his word so hee was bound to obey God and to serue him all his dayes with his whole heart and with all his might And if God did require of him any part of his time and commanded him to obsteine from some good and lawfull workes tending to his naturall good and well being to doe some speciall workes for his Lords pleasure in one day or more selected daies of the weeke or of every moneth or yeare he ought to doe it out of duty and obedience to his Lord and Creatour Thus farre J consent that the law is naturall written in mans heart to weet in generall and in respect of the common foundation J grant also that the law and commandement of God injoyning the rest of men their servants and cattell from hard labour the seventh day or one daie in every weeke is a thing so naturally helpfull needfull for the health and wellbeing of men ever since mans fall and the curse of barennesse laid upon the earth and the punishment of toyle some labour and faint sweating imposed on man kinde that mans own naturall reason will and affection must needes approue it and moue and incline his heart to the obedience of it and his inward thoughts cannot but accuse him of wrong done to his owne body and to the life of his labouring cattell and servants if he disobey it and in this respect it may be called a law of nature Yea I adde moreover that if wee take the law of nature in a large sence as some times it is taken that is for every law which commands such duties and such obedience as in there owne nature are very vsefull profittable to the parties commanded and which is grounded on such just causes weighty grounds as by the judgment of naturall reason are in their owne nature well worthy of such observance then the law commandement of keeping an holy Sabbath on the seventh day in the old Testament in thankfulnesse for Christ promised for a continuall memoriall of that great blessing one the first day of Christs resurr●ction now under the Gospell in thankfulnesse for Christ fully exhibited the worke of redemption by him perfected which so much excels the promise made on the seventh day as perfecting of a worke excels the beginning undertaking of it may both in respect of the particular day the sanctification of it be called a law of nature that is a law requiring such morall perpetuall obedience as is in the nature of it most just and worthy to be performed But that the law and Commandement which bound the fathers to keepe an holy rest one the seventh day of every weeke and us under the Gospel to keepe it on the first day especially and no other was in in the creation written imprinted in the heart of man so distinctlie and expressly that man had an inbred notion of it and a naturall instinct of himselfe to observe this law to keepe a weekly Sabbath on those uerie daies which God hath prescribed both to the fathers us This I must needs deny for these reasons following First Gods sanctifying of the Seventh day by his word and commandement and his institution of the Sabbath by a positiue law giuen as my text here shewes had beene vaine and needlesse if the law and the Sabbath of holie rest had beene expressly and particularly written in mans heart already For what man by the instinct of nature by his own naturall reason will and affection is lead and moved to do that hee is vainly needlesly vrged unto by any law or commandement being of himselfe without any monitor ready to performe it Secondly the very word Sanctify signifieth the setting apart of this day to a supernaturall and heavenly vse euen for the performance of such duties as are aboue the naturalll imaginations and thoughts of man and which his naturall reason would never haue revealed to him not his will lead him to do If God by his word and divine superturall revealation had not directed and moved him Therefore this law by which God sanctified instituted the Sabbath is not a naturall law but a divine and supernaturall precept Thirdly in the creation and state of innocency man was bound to serve God as his creatour and the author of all his being and to be content with that estate wherein God had placed him and saw to be very good and to looke no higher It was the inordinat desire of more knowledge and of an higher estate then God had revealed and promised which made our first parents so yeelding to the devils temptations and vndoubtedly it was an occasion of their sinne in eating of the forbidden fruite Now the serving of God as his Lord and Creatour was the duty of man euery day alike for the heavens aboue and the

the weeke And in honour of the resurrection of Christ on that day hath from the time of the Apostles agreed to keepe that day for the Lords day not out of any opinion that God hath blessed sanctified it aboue all other daies of the weeke but onely for good orders sake and that it is lawfull for Gods people after publick exercises of religion and some needfull rest and refreshing to use necessarie laboures and bodily recreations which in themselves are not sinfull and unlawfull neither do hinder publick duties of religion and of Gods worship But on the contrarie it is the common doctrine of the most godly and learned in the Church of England ever since the reform●●ion of religion held maintained taught that although Christians are by Christ freed from the observation of the seventh day which was the Sabbath of the old Testament and from that servile bondage and rigorous rest which the law litterally and carnally vnderstood did impose on them or rather they by their carnal exposition wresting of the law did impose on themselves as not kindling of a fire nor liberty to heal the sick nor to do any worke of charitie and necessity on the S●bbath day which could not without danger be deferred Yet they are bound by the law which was first giuen here in my text and after by Moses and the Prophets to keepe in everie weeke an holy rest and that on the first day which is the Lords day because God hath blessed it with a blessing aboue all other daies even by exhibiting Christ a perfect redeemer in his resurrection and hath thereby consecrated that day to be his holie sabbath And that all bodilie laboures sports and recreations and all worldly negociation are by Gods law strictly prohibited now under the Gospell as they were in the daies of the Patriarches and Prophets and under the law Because indeed and in truth they crosse the holie purpose of God which he hath manifested in his law and are impediments of those holy exercises which are required in the sanctification of his holie day This doctrine and practise I hold to be the best and this we are all bound to receiue and imbrace and to cleaue vnto it not onely because it is the Doctrine of our Mother Church commended to us in the book of homilies established by divets lawes statutes and constitutions still in force but also because it is most consonant to the sacred Scriptures the precepts and practise of the Apostles and to the common Doctrine of the purest and most holy Orthoxe of the auncient fathers in the Primitiue times and ages next succeeding after the Apostles as by Gods assistance as J shall make cleare and manifest In the justifying proving of this Doctrine and in laying open the speciall duties of Christians which concerne rest and cessation from all worldly negociation and bodilie laboures on the Lords daie which is the Christian Sabbath I will shew First of all That rest and c●ssation from all bodilie laboures about the worldlie businesse and from all servile and and earthlie workes which concerne this fraile life is a necessarie dutie which God requires by his law of all Christians on the Lords daie which is their Holie weeklie Sabbath vnder the Gospell 2. That Gods law rightlie understood doth in respect of rest from worldly cares and all bodily workes and pleasures as strictly binde us vnder the Gospell on the Lords day as it bound the fathers upon their seventh day in the old Testament 3. I will shew how far Gods word law doth allow of bodily exercises which concerne this life and how farre in such exercises we may goe with good warrant upon the Lords holy Sabbath and what exercises are condemned in the word of God CHAP. 19. FOR the full proofe of the first point there are many strong and invincible arguments grounded vpon the word and law of God upon the generall consent of Orthodox divines both auncient and moderne even upon the confession of them who in this point much differ and seeme to deny that the Lords day either is or ought to be called a Sab. The first Argument is drawn from the words of the law which forbids all workes to be done on the Sabbath day either by man himselfe or his children servants or cattell as Exod. 20 10. Deut. 5.14 where it is said In it thou sh●lt not do any worke thou nor thy son nor thy servant nor thy cattell Exod. 35.2 Leuit. 23.7 Yee shall do no servile work● therein whosoeve● doth any work therin shall be put to death The reasons why the Lord requires rest from all servile worke on the Sabbath day are two First because he who is the Lord our God and our Redeemer hath on that day rested from his worke and him we ought to imitate if we will enter into his rest Secondly because he hath blessed the day which is his Sabbath aboue all daies of the weeke and wheresoever the causes and reasons stand firme there the law is still in force Now this law of the Sabbath doth reach to the Lords day As J haue proved before the reasō vpon which it requirs rest frō se●vile works are much more to be found in the Lords day which is the Christian Sab then in the Old Sabbath of the seventh day For in it Christ who is God ouer all blessed for ever and who is our Redeemer from a greater then Egyptian bondage even the slauery of sinne death and hell and the Divell hath rested from the great worke of redemption as God the Creatour did one the seventh day from the worke of creation And this day is now by Christs resurrection in which Christ perfected mans redemption blessed with a blessing farre more excellent then any wherewith God blessed the seventh day Therfore this is the Sabbath now under the Gospell in it God requirs of us by his law a rest total cessatiō frō al servile works Secondly whatsoever day is the Lords holy day a day of holy convocations assemblies that is a Sab of rest frō al servile works worldly busines this is manifest Exod. 12.16 31.15 35.2 Leuit. 32.3 7 which places do plainly shew that every day which is holy to the Lord and a day of holy assemblies is a Sab of rest no worke may be done therin And so likewise in all the law the Prophets every day which is a day of holy convocation an holy day is called a Sab day of rest from our own works pleasures every Sab is called the Lords holy day for these two are termini convertibiles termes which may be naturally affi●med one of another as apeares Neh. 9 14 Isa 58 13 Now the Lords day in the time of the Gospell is the chiefe of all holy dayes among Christians It was sanctified observed by the Apostles for their day of holy assemblies from the first publishing