example there was and is a present rule binding immediatly to â—ollow that example if therefore from the foundation of the world God made himself an example in six daies labour and in a seventh daies rest why should not this example then and at that time of innocency be binding there being no example which God sets before us but it supposeth a rule binding us immediatly therunto The great and most high God could have made the world in a moment or in a hundred years why did he make it then in six daies and rested the seventh day but that it might be an example to man It s evident that ever since the world began mans life was to be spent in labour and action which God could have appointed to contemplation only nor will any say that his life should be spent only in labour and never have any speciall day of rest unlesse the Antinomians who herein sin against the light of nature if therefore God was exemplary in his six daies labour why should any think but that he was thus also in his seventh daies rest Pointing out unto man most visibly as it were thereby on what day he should rest A meet time for labour was a morall duty since man was framed upon earth God therefore gives man an example of it in making the world in six daies A meet time for holy rest the end of all holy and honest labour was much more morall the end being better then the means why then was not the example of this also seen in Gods rest M. Ironside indeed is at a stand here and confesseth his ignorance In conceiving how Gods working six daies should be exemplary to man in innocency it being not preceptive but permissive only to man in his apostasie But let a plain analysis be made of the motives used to presse obedience to the fourth command and we shall finde according to the consent of all the Orthodox not prejudiced in this controversie that Gods example of working six daies in creating the world is held forth as a motive to presse Gods people to do all their work within six daies also and the very reason of our labour and rest now is the example of Gods labour and rest then as may also appear Ex. 31.17 And to say that those words in the Commandment viz. Six daies thou shalt labour are no way preceptive but meerly promissive is both crosse to the expresse letter of the text and contrary to morall equity to allow any part of the six daies for sinfull idlenesse or neglect of our weekely work so far forth as the rest upon the Sabbath be hindered hereby Thesis 157. The word Sanctified is variously taken in Scripture and various things are variously and differently sanctified yet in this place when God is said to sanctifie the Sabbath Gen. 2.2 3. it must be one of these two waies either 1. By infusion of holinesse and sanctification into it as holy men are said to be sanctified Or 2. By separation of it from common use and dedication of it to holy use as the Temple and Altar are said to be sanctified Thesis 158. God did not sanctifie the Sabbath by infusion of any habituall holinesse into it for the circumstance of a seventh day is not capable thereof whereof only rationall creatures men and Angels are Thesis 159. It must therefore be said to be sanctified in respect of its separation from common use and dedication to holy use as the Temple and Tabernacle were which yet had no inherent holinesse in them Thesis 160. Now if the Sabbath was thus sanctified by dedication it must be either for the use of God or of man i. either that God might keep this holy day or that man might observe it as a holy day to God but what dishonour is it to God to put him upon the observation of a holy day and therefore it was dedicated and consecrated for mans sake and use that so he might observe it as holy unto God Thesis 161. This day therefore is said to be sanctified of God that man might sanctifie it and dedicate it unto God and hence it follows that look as man could never have lawfully dedicated it unto God without a precedent institution from God so the institution of God implies a known command given by God unto man thereunto Thesis 162. 'T is therefore evident that when God is said to sanctifie the Sabbath Gen. 2.2 3. that man is commanded hereby to sanctifie it and dedicate it to the holy use of God Sanctificare est sanctifica â— mandare saith Iunius And therefore if M Primrose and others desire to know where God commandeth the observation of the Sabbath in Gen. 2.2 they may see it here necessarily implied in the word Sanctifie And therefore if God did sanctifie the Sabbath immediatly after the creation he commanded man to sanctifie it then for so the word Sanctified is expressely expounded by the holy Ghost himself Deut. 5.15 We need not therefore seek for wood among trees and enquire where and when and upon what ground the Patriarchs before Moses observed a Sabbath when as it was famously dedicated and sanctified i. commanded to be sanctified from the first foundation of the world Thesis 163. Our adversaries therefore dazled with the clearnesse of the light shining forth from the text Gen. 2.2 to wit that the Sabbath was commanâ—ed to be sanctified before the fall do fly to their shifts and seek for refuge from severall answers sometimes they say 't is sanctified by way of destination sometimes they â—ell uâ— of anticipation sometime they think the Book of Genesis was writ after Exodus and many such inventions which because they cannot possibly stand one with another are therefore more fit to vex and perplex the mind then to satisfie conscience and indeed do argue much uncertainty to be in the mindes of those that make these and the like answers aâ— not knowing certainly what to say nor where to stand yet let us examine them Thesis 164. To imagine that the Book of Genesis was writ after Exodus and yet to affirm that the Sabbath in Genesis is said to be sanctified and blest only in way of destination i. because God destinated and ordained that it should be sanctified many years after seems to be an ill favoured and mishapen answer and no way fit to serve their turn who invent it for if it was writ after Exodus what need was there to say that it was destinated and ordained to be sanctified for time to come when as upon this supposition the Sabbath was already sanctified for time past as appears in the story of Exodus 19.20 And therefore M. Primrose translates the words thus that God rested and hath blessed and hath sanctified the seventh day as if Moses writ of it as a thing past already but what truth is there then to speak of a destination for time to come I know Iunius so renders the Hebrew words as also
the word Rested but we know how many waies some of the Hebrew â—enses look nor is it any matter now to trouble our selves about them this only may be considered That it is a meer uncertain shift to affirm that Genesis was writ after Exodus M. Ironside tels us he could give strong reasons for it but he produceth none and as for his authorities from humane testimonies we know it is not fit to weigh out truth by humane suffrages and yet herein they do not cast the scale for Genesis to be writ after Exodus for although Beda Abulensiâ— and divers late Jesuites do affirm it yet Eusebius Catharinus Alcuinns a Lapide and sundry others both Popish and Protestant writers are better judgmented herein and their reasons for Genesis to be the first-born as it is first set down seem to be most strong The casting of this cause therefore depends not upon such uncertainties and yet if this disorder were granted iâ— will do their cause no good as if need were might be made manifest Thesis 165. M. Ironside confesseth That Gods resting and sanctifying the Sabbath are â—â—etaneous and acknowledgeth the connexion of them together at the same time by the câ—pulative And and that as God actually rested so he actually sanctifed the day but this sanctification which he means is nothing else but destination or Gods purpose and intention to sanctifie â—t afterward so that in effect this evasion amounts to thus much viz. that God did actually purpose to sanctifie it about 2500. years after the giving of the Law but yet did not actually sanctifie it and if this be the meaning it is all one as if he had said in plain terms viz. that when God is said to sanctifie the Sabbath he did not indeed sanctifie it only he purposed so to do and although M. Primrose and himself tels us that the word sanctifie signifies in the Originall some time to prâ—pare and ordain so it may be said that the word signifies sometimes to publish and proclaim if they say that this latter cannot be the meaning because we reade not in Scripture of any such proclamation that this should be the Sabbath the like may be said upon the reasons mentioned concerning their destination of it thereunto Again if to sanctifie the day be only to purpose and ordain to sanctifie it then the Sabbath was no more sanctified since the Creation then ab aeterno and before the world began for then God did purpose that it should be sanctified but this sanctification here spoken of seems to follow Gods resting which was in time and therefore it must be understood of another sanctification then that which seems to be before all time again as God did not blesse the Sabbath in way of destination so neither did he sanctiffe it in way of destination but he did not blesse it in way of destination for let them produce but one Scripture where the word blessed is taken in this sence for a purpose only to blesse indeed they think they have found out this purpose to sanctifie in the word sanctified Isa. 13.3 but where will they finde the like for the word blessed also for as the day was blessed so it was sanctified and yet I think that the Medes and Persians in Isa. 13.3 are not called Gods sanctified ones because they were destinated to be sanctified for that work but because they were so prepared foâ— it as that they were actually separated by Gods word for the accomplishment of such work but our adversaries will not say that God did thus sanctifie the Sabbath in Paradice by his word and yet suppose they are called his sanctified ones in way of destination yet there is not the like reason so to interpret it here for in Isa. 13.3 God himselfe is brought in immediatly speaking before whose eternall eyes all things to come are as present and hence he might call them his sanctified ones but in this place of Gen. 2.2 Moses not God immediatly speaks of this sanctifying in way of Historicall narration only this destination which is stood so much upon is but a meer imagination Thesis 166. It cannot be denied but that it is a usuall thing in Scripture to set down things in way of Prolepsis and Anticipation as they call it i. to set down things aforehand in the history which many years hapned and came after in order of time but there is no such Prolepsis or Anticipation here as our adversaries dream so that when God is said to sanctifie the Sabbath in Genesis the meaning should be that this he did 2500. years after the creation for this assertion wants all proof and hath no other prop to bear it up then some instances of Anticipations in other places of Scripture the Jesuites from some unwary expressions of some of the Fathers first started this answer whom Gomarus followed and after him sundry others prelatically minded but Rivet Ames and others have scattered this mist long since and therefore I shall leave but this one consideration against it viz. That throughout all the Scripture we shall not finde one Prolepsis but that the history is evident and apparently false unlesse we do acknowledge a Prolepsis and Anticipation to be in the story so that necessity of establishing the truth of the history only can establish the truth of a Prolepsis in the history I forbear to give a taste thereof by any particular instances but leave it to triall buâ— in this place alledged of Gen. 2.2 can any say that the story is apparently false unlesse we imagine a Prolepsis and the Sabbath to be first sanctified in mount Sinai Exod. 20. for might not God sanctifie it in Paradise as soon as Gods rest the cause and foundation of sanctifying of it was existing will any say with Gomarus that the Sabbath was first sanctified Exod. 16. because God blessed them so much the day before with Manna whenas in the Commandment it selfe Exod. 20. the reason of it is plainly set down to be Gods resting on the seveth day and sanctifying of it long before Thesis 167. There is not the least colour of Scripture to make this blessing and sanctifying of the day to be nothing else but Gods magnifying and liking of it in his own mind rejoycing and as it were glorying in it when he had rested from his works and yet M. Primrose casts this block in the way for the blind to stumble at supposing that there should be no such Anticipation as he pleads for for surely if God blessed and sanctified the day it was a reall and an effectuall sanctification and blessing but this magnifying and glorying in it in Gods minde is no reall thing in the blessed God he having no such affections in him but what is said to be in him that way is ever by some speciall effects the simple and pure essence of God admitting no affections per modum affectus sed affectus as is truly and commonly maintained Thesis
unto them the comfort thereof And verily if it be such a sweet voice of love to call us in to this Rest of the day certainly if ever the Enlish Nation be deprived of these seasons which God in mercy forbid it will be a black appearance of God against them in the dayes of their distresse when he shall seeme to shut them out of his Rest in his bosome by depriving them of the Rest of this day What will ye do in the solemne day in the day of the feast of the Lord For lo they are gone because of destruction Egypt shall gather them Memphis shall bury them their â—ilver shall be desired nettles shall possesse them thorns shall be in their Tabernacles the dayes of visitation are come the dayes of recompence are come Israel shall know it the Prophet is a foole the spiritual man is mad for the multitude of thine iniquity and the great hatred Hos. 9.5 6 7. But let men yet make much of Gods Sabbaths and begin here and if it be too tedius to draw neere to God every day let them but make conscience of trying and tasting how good the Lord is but this one day in a week and the Lord will yet reserve mercy for his people Jer. 17 24 25.26 for keep this keep all lose this lose all which lest I should seeme to pleade for out of a frothy and groundlesse affection to the Day and lest any in these times should be worse then the Crane and the Swallow who know their times of returne I have therefore endeavoured to cleare up those foure great difficulties about this Day in the Theses here following 1. Concerning the Morality 2. The Change 3. The Beginning 4. The Sanctification of the Sabbath Being fully perswaded that whosoever shall break one of the least Commandements and teach men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of God I do therefore desire the Reader to take along with him these two things 1. Suspending his judgment concerning the truth and validity of any part or of any particular Thesis untill he hath read over the whole for they have a dependance one upon another for mutuall clearing of one another and lest I should bis coctum apponere and say the same thing twice I have therefore purposely left out that in one part and one Thesis which is to be cleared in another either for proofe of it or resolution of objections against it and although this dependance may not so easily appeare because I have not so expressely set downe the method yet the wise-hearted I hope will easily finde it out or else pick out and accept what they see to be of God in such a confused heap for it was enough to my ends if I might lay in any broken pieces of timber to forward this building which those that are able to wade deeper into this controversie may please to make use of if there be any thing in them or in any of them in their owne better and more orderly frame for it hath been and still is my earnest desire to heaven that God would raise up some or other of his precious servants to cleare up these controversies more fully then yet they have beene that the zeale for Gods Sabbaths may not be fire without light which perhaps hath hitherto been too little through the wickednesse of former times encouraging the books one way and suppressing those of most weight and worth for the other 2. To consider that I do most willingly give way to the publishing of these things which I could in many respects have much more readily committed to the fire then to the light when I consider the great abilities of others the need such as I am have to sit down and learn the hazards and knocks men get only by coming but into the field in Polemical matters and the unusefulnesse of any thing herein for those in remote places where knowledge abounds and where to cast any thing of this nature is to cast water into the Sea I confesse I am ashamed therefore to be seene in this garment and therefore that I have thus farre yeelded hath beene rather to please others then my selfe who have many wayes compelled me hereunto the things for substance contained herein were first preached in my ordinary course upon the Sabbath dayes in opening the Commandments the desires of some Students in the Colledge and the need I saw of resolving some doubts arising about these things in the hearts of some ordinary hearers among the people occasioned a more large discussing of the controversie to which I was the more inclined because one among us who wanted not abilities was taken away from us who had promised the clearing up of all these matters when therefore these things were more plainly and fully opened and applyed to the consciences of some more popular capacities as well as others I was then put upon it to reduce the Doctrinall part of these Sermons upon the fourth Commandment into certaine Theses for the use of some Students desirous thereof when being scattered and coming to the view of some of the Elders in the Country I was by some of them desired to take off some obscurity arising from the brevity and littlenesse of them by greater enlargements and a few more explications of them which promising to do and then coming to the bearing of many I was then desired by all the Elders in the Country then met together to commit them to publike view which hitherto my heart hath opposed and therefore should still have smothered them but that some have so farre compelled me as that I feared I should resist and fight against God in not listning to them in which many things are left out which perhaps might be more usefull to a plaine people which then in the application of matters of Doctrine were publikely delivered and some few things are added especiall in that particular wherein the directive power of the Moral Law is cleared against the loose wits of these times We are strangers here for the most part to the books and writings which are now in Europe but it s much feared that the increase and growth of the many Tares and Errours in England hath been by reason of the sleepinesse of some of the honest husbandmen and that those who are best able to pluck them up have not seasonably stood in the gap and kept them out by a zealous convicting and publike bearing witnesse against them by word and writing and that therefore such as have with too much tendernesse and complyance tolerated Errours Errour will one day grow up to that head that it will not tolerate or suffer them to speak truth We have â— Proverb here That the Devil is not so soon risen but Christ is up before him and if any of his precious servants have slept and lien longer a beâ— then their Master hath done and have not spokeâ— or printed soone enough for Iesus Christ in other matters
phrase Christ in the Spirit leads us to what Christ in the flesh said inward Christ leads the faithfull to the outward Ministery of Christ Christ in the Spirit to Christ speaking in the letter the Spirit of truth to the Word of truth the Spirit within to the Word without by which we shall be judged at the last day Iohn 12.48 and therefore certainly are to be regulated by it now Thesis 89. It is true that the faithfull receive an unction or an anoinâ—ing of the Spirit which teacheth them all things but is this teaching immediate or mediate If immediate why doth Iohn tell them that he writ to them that hereby they might know they had eternall life 1 Iohn 5.13 but if it be mediate viz. by the word externally preacht or writ then the externall word still is to be our rule which the anointing of the Spirit helps us to know It is true the Apostle saith 1 Iohn 2.27 that they being taught of the Spirit did not need that any man should teach them what then was their teaching therefore immediate No verily for the Apostle explaines his meaning in the words following viz. otherwise and after another way and manner then as the Spirit taught them for so the words runne You need not that any man should teach you but as the anointing teacheth you all things and is truth For if Ministers are to preach and write in demonstration of the Spirit then those that heare them and are taught by them need no man to teach them otherwise than as the same Spirit in the same demonstration teacheth them all things It might bee truely said that the men of Bereah did need no man to teach them otherwise than as the Spirit in comparing and searching the Scriptures did teach them the things which Paul spake And Calvin well observes upon this place that the scope of the Apostle in these words is to confirme his Doctrine which he writ to them it being no unknowne thing but a thing known to them by the anointing of the Spirit which either they had received by former Ministery of the word or which now they might receive by this writing As therefore the Spirit leads us to the Word so the word leads us to the Spirit but never to a spirit without and beyond the word I meane so farre forth as that the outward administration of Christ in the flesh or in the word or letter must cease and be laid aside when the inward administration of Christ in the Spirit comes Thesis 90. It 's as weak an argument to imagine That wee are not to be led and guided by any outward commands in our obedience unto God because God is to worke all our workes for us and because we are not to live but Christ is to live in us as to thinke that we are not to look to any promises without us to direct and support our faith because Christ is also to fulfill and accomplish all the promises for us For if the question be by what are we to live The Apostles answer is full Gal. 2.19 20. that as hee did not live but by the faith of the Son of God so are we But if the question be According to what rule are we to live and wherein are wee to live The answer is given by David Psalme 119.4 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently Oh that my heart were directed to keep thy Statutes Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word ver 17. Let thy mercy come to me that I may live for thy law is my delight vers 27. So that if the question be What is the rule of faith by which we live The answer is the Gospel Phil. 3.16 But if the question be What is the rule of life it self The answer is the morall law and of this later is the controversie Thesis 91. The commanding will of God called Voluntas mandati is to be our rule and not the working will of God Voluntas decreti or the will of Gods decree for we cannot sinne by fulfilling the one but wee may sin in fulfilling the other Gods secret and working will was fulfilled when Iosephs brethren sold him into Egypt and when Nebuchadnezzar afflicted Gods people seventy yeares as also when the Scribes and Pharisees caused Christ to bee crucified yet in all these thingâ— they sinned and provoked Gods wrath against them How Was it in crossing and thwarting Gods working will or the will of Gods Decree No verily for it 's expressely said that Christ was crucified according to the determinate counsell and will of God Acts 4.28 It was therefore by crossing Gods commanding will It is therefore a hellish device of Libertines to exempt men from all Law and from the sense of all sinne Because say they all things good and evill come from Gods will and all things that are done are wrought by him and all that he doth is good and therefore all sinfull actions are good because God workes them for what have we to doe to take the measure of our wayes by his working will Gods will is his owne rule to work with not our rule to worke by Our actions may bee most sinfull when his working in and about these may bee most just and holy for though God purposeth to leave the creature to fall and sin yet he so purposed it as that it should be onely through their owne fault that so they sinne And although a Christian is to submit humbly to the just dispensations of God when he leaves it to any evill yet Gods working will in all such dispensations must not be our rule for then wee must will not onely our owne sinne but our owne affliction and perdition for ever for all these are contained under his working will It is therefore a most subtle and pernicious practice in many who when they are overtaken with any sin or hampered with sinne they wash all off from themselves and lay all the blame if any be upon God himself saying The Lord left mee and he doth not helpe mee and he must doe all and hath undertaken to doe all if therefore I sin upon him be the blame or if there be any upon them it is but little But why should any judge of the evill of their sinne by Gods working will for that is not your rule but the commanding will of God according to which Samuel convinced Saul when he was left of God to spare Agag that his disobedience against the commandment was rebellion and as the sinne of Witchcraft in the eyes of God 1 Samuel 15.23 Thesis 92. It is a great part of Christs love to command us to doe any thing for him as well as to promise to doe any thing for us When the King of glory hath given us our lives by promise it s then the next part of his speciall grace and favour to command us to stand before him and attend upon his greatnesse continually
Gospel makes an offer of Christ and salvation and remission of sins to all sinners where it comes yea to all sinners as sinners and as miserable yea though they have sinned long by unbeleef as is evident Hos. 14.1 Rev. 3.17 Ier. 3 2â— Isa. 55.1 all are invited to come unto these waters freely without money or price these things no man doubts of that knows the Gospel but the question is not whether Remission of sins and reconciliation in the Gospel belong to sinners but whether they belong to sinners immediately as sinners not whether they are merited by Christs death and offered out of his rich grace immediately to sinners but whether they are actually and immediately their own so as they may challenge them thus as their own from this as from a full and sufficient evidence viz. because they are sinners and because they see themselves sinners for we grant that Jesus Christ came into the world actually to save sinners yet mediatly by faith and then they may see salvation that he justifieth also the ungodly but how immediatly no but mediatly by faith Rom. 3.5 and that where sin abounds grace abounds to whom â—o all sinners no but mediatly to all those only who by â—aith receive this grace Rom. 5.17 so that the Gospel reveals no actuall love and reconciliation immediatly to a sinner as a sinner but mediatly to a sinner as a beleeving and broken-hearted sinner and the Scripture is so cleare in this point that whoever doubts of it must caecutire cum sole and we may say to them as Paul to the Galathians O foolish men who hath bewitched you that you should not see this truth For though Christ came to â—ave sinners yet he pâ—ofesseth that he came not to call the righteous but the sick sinners Mat. 9.13 though God justifieth the ungodly yet 't is such an ungodly man as beleeveth in him whose faith is imputed unto righteousnesse Rom 3.5 though grace abounds where sin abounds yet 't is not to all sinners for then all should be saved but to such as receive abundance of grace by faith Rom. 5.17 although God holds forth Christ to be a propitiation for sinners yet it 's expresly said to be mediatly through faith in his bloud Rom. 3.24.25 although the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise might be given yet it is not said to be immediatly given to sinners as sinners but mediatly to all that beleeve and in one word though it be true that Christ died for sinners and enemies that they might have remission of sins then procured and merited for them yet we never actually have nor receive â—his remission and consequently cannot see it as our own untill we doe beleeve for unto this truth saith Peter do all the Prophets witnesse that whosoever beleeveth in him shall receive remission of sins Act. 10.43 and hence it is that as all the Prophets preached the actual favour of God only to sinners as beleevers so the Apostles never preached it in New Testament times otherwise and hence Peter Act. 2.38 doth not tell the sorrowfull Jews that they were sinners and that God loved them and that Christ had died for them and that their sins were pardoned because they were sinners but he first exhorts them to repent that so they might receive remission of sins nor doth Paul tell any man that salvation belonged to him because he is a sinner but if thou beleeve with all thy heart thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.5 6 7. if the love of God be revealed to a sinner as a sinner this must be either 1. by the witnesse of the Law but this is impossible for if the curse of God be herein revealed only to a sinner as a sinner then the love of God cannot but the Law curseth every sinner Gal 3.10 Or 2. by the Light and witnesse of the Gospel but this cannot be for it reveals life and salvation only to a beleever and confirms the sentence of the Law against such a sinner as beleeves not Ioh. 3.17 36. he that beleeves not is condemned already not only for unbeleef as some say for this doth but aggravate condemnation but also for sin by which man is first condemned before he beleeves if the Apostle may be beleeved Rom. 3.19 and if a man be not condemned for sin before he beleeve then he is not a sinner before he beleeve for look as Christ hath taken away any mans condemnation in his death just so hath he taken away his sin 3. Or else by the witnesse and testimony of Gods spirit but this is flat contrary to what the Apostle speaks Gal. 3.26 with 4 6. ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Iesus and because ye are sons not sinners he hath sent the spirit of his son crying Abba Father Gal. 4.4 5 6 and verily if the love of God belong to sinners as sinners then all sinners shall certainly be saved for a quatenus ad omne valâ—â— consequentia so that by this principle as sinne hath abounded actually to condemn all so grace hath abounded actually to save all which is most pernicious nor do I know what should make men embrace this principle unlesse that they either secretly think that the strait gate and narrow way to life is now so wide and broad that all men shall in Gospel times enter in thereat which is prodigious or else they must imagine some Arminian universall Redemption and reconciliation and so put all men in a salvable and reconciled estate such as it is before faith and then the evidence and ground of their assurance must be built on this false and crazy foundation viz. Iesus Christ had died to reconcile and so hath reconciled all sinners But I am a sinner And therefore I am reconciled If this be the bottome of this Gospel-Ministry and preaching free grace as doubtlesse 't is in some then I would say these things only 1. That this doctrine under a colour of free-grace doth as much vilifie and take off the price of free grace in Christs death as any I know for what can vilifie this grace of Christ more then for Christ so to shed his bloud as that Peter and Abraham in heaven shall have no more cause to thank Iesus Christ for his love therein then Iudas and Cain in hell it being equally shed for one as much as for the other 2. That this is a false bottom for faith to rest upon and gather evidence from for 1. if Christ hath died for aâ—l he will then certainly save all for so Paul reasons Rom. 8.32 and 6.10 he hath given his Sonne to death for us how shall â—e not but with him give us all other things and therefore he will give faith and give repentance and give perseverance and give eternall life also which is most false 2. If he did not pray for all then he hath not died for all Ioh. 17.9 which Scripture never yet received scarce
Our Saviour indeed doth not speak particularly about the law of the Sabbath as he doth of killing and adultery c. but if therefore it be not morall because not spoken of here then neither the first second or fift command are morall because they are not expresly opened in this Chapter for the scope of our Saviour was to speak against the Pharisaicall interpretations of the Law in curtalling of it in making grosse murder to be forbidden but not anger adultery to be forbidden but not lust which evil they were not so much guilty of in point of the Sabbath but they rather made the Phylacteries of it too broad by overmuch strictnesse which our Saviour therefore elsewhere condemns but not a word tending to abolish this Law of the Sabbath Thesis 150. If therefore the Commandment is to be accounted morall which the Gospel reinforceth and commends unto us according to Mr. Primrose principles then the fourth Commandment may wel come into the account of such as are morall but the places mentioned and cleared out of the New Testament evince thus much The Lord Jesus comming not to destroy the Law of the Sabbath but to establish it and of the breach of which one Law he that is guilty is guilty of the breach of all Thesis 151. If the observation of the Sabbath had been first imposed upon man since the fall and in speciall upon the people of the Jews at mount Sinai there might be then some colour and reason to cloath the Sabbath with rags and the worn-out garments of ceremonialnesse but if it was imposed upon man in innocency not only before all types and ceremonies but also before all sin and upon Adam as a common person as a Commandement not proper to that estate nor as to a particular person and proper to himselfe then the morality of it is most evident our adversaries therefore lay about them here that they might drive the Sabbath out of Paradise and make it a thing altogether unknown to the state of innocency which if they cannot make good their whole frame against the morality of the Sabbath fals flat to the ground and therefore it is of no small consequence to clear up this truth viz. That Adam in innocency and in him all his posterity were commanded to sanctifie a weekly Sabbath Thesis 152. One would thinke that the words of the Text Gen. 2.2 3. were so plain to prove a Sabbath in that innocent estate that there could be no evasion made from the evidence of them for it is expresly said that the dâ—y the Lord rested the same day the Lord blessed and sanctified but we know he rested the Seventh day immediatly after the Creation and therefore he immediately blessed and sanctified the same day also for the words runne copulatively he rested the Seventh day and he blessed and sanctified that day but its strange to see not only what odde evasions men make from this cleare truth but also what curious Cabilismes and fond interpretations men make of the Hebrew Text the answer to which learned Rivet hath long since made which therefore I mention not Thesis 153. The words are not thus copulative in order of story but in order of time I say not in order of story and discourse for so things far distant in time may â—e coupled together by this copulative particle And as Mr. Primrose truly shews Exod. 16.32 33. 1 Sam. 17.54 but they are coupled and knit together in respect of time for it is the like phrase which Moses immediatly after useth Gen. 5.1 2. where t is said God created man in his Image and blessed them and called their names c. which were together in time so t is here the time God rested that time God blessed for the scope of the words Gen 2.1 2 3. is to shew what the Lord did that seventh day after the finishing of the whole creation in six daiâ—s and that is He blessed and sanctified it For look as the scope of Moses in making mention of the six daies orderly was to shew what God did every particular day so what else should be the scope in making mention of the seventh day unlesse it was to shew what God did then on that day and that is he then rested and blessed and sanctified it even then in that state of innocency Thesis 154. God is said Gen. 2.1 2 3. to blesse the Sabbath as he blessed other creatures but he blessed the creatures at that time they were made Gen. 1.22 28. and therefore he blessed the Sabbath at that time he rested Shall Gods work be presently blessed and shall his rest be then without any Was Gods rest a cause of sanctifying the day many hundred yeers after as our adversaries say and was theâ—e not as much cause then when the memory of the creation was most fresh which was the fittest time to remember Gods work in M. Primrose tels us that the creatures were blessed with a present benediction because they did constantly need it but there was no necessity he saith that man should solemnize the seventh as soon as t is made but as we shall shew that man did then need a speciall day of blessing so t is a sufficient ground of believing that then God blessed the day when there was a full and just and sufficient cause of blessing which is Gods resting it being also such a cause as was not peculiar to the Jews many hundred yeers after but common to all mankinde Thesis 155. The Rest of God which none question to be in innocency immediatly after the creation was either a naturall rest as I may call it that is a bare cessation from labour or a holy rest i. a rest set apart in exemplum or for example and for holy uses but it was not a naturall rest meerly for then it had been enough to have said that at the end of the sixt day God rested but we see God speaks of a day the seventh day God hath rested with a naturall rest or cessation from creation ever since the end of the first sixt day of the world untill now why then is it said that God rested the seventh day Or why is it not rather said that he began his rest on that day but that it is limited to a day Certainly this argues that he speaks not of naturall rest meerly or that which ex natura reâ— follows the finishing of his work for it 's then an unfit and improper speech to limit Gods rest within the ciâ—cle of a day and therefore he speaks of a holy rest then appointed for holy uses as an example for holy rest which may well be limited within the compasse of a day and hence it undeniably follows that if God rested in innocency with such a rest then the seventh day was then sanctified it being the day of holy rest Thesis 156. It cannot be shewn that ever God made himself an example of any act but that in the present
Initiation into Christs mystical Body 1 Cor. 12.12 it now stands by vertue of that general Rule by which Circumcision it selfe was administred viz That the Seale of initiation into Christs Body be applyed to all the visible members of that Body and hence children are to be now Baptized as once they were Circumcised being members of Christs Body So the first day of the week being instituted to be the Lords Day or Lords Sabbath hence it followes that if the first seventh which is now abrogated was once observed because it was the Lords Sabbath or the Sabbath Day which God appointed by the very same Rule and on the very same ground we also are bound to keep this first day being also the Sabbath of the Lord our God which he hath now appointed anew under the New Testament Thesis 41. It is true that some of the Primitive Churches in the Eastern parts did for some hundred of yeers observe both Sabbaths both Iewish and Christian. But they did this without warrant from God who allowes but one Sabbath in a week and also against the Rule of the apostles for I think that Paul foreseeing this observation of dayes and Iewish Sabbaths to be stirring and ready to creep into the Church that he did therefore condemne the same in his Epistles to the Galatians and Colosians and that therefore Christian Emperours and Councels in after-times did well and wisely both to condemn the observations of the one and withal honour the other Thesis 42. Although the work of redemption be applyed unto few in respect of the special benefits of it yet Christ by his death is made Heire and Lord of all things bring now set down at the right hand of God and there is some benefit which befalls al the world by Christs Redemption and the Government of all things is not now in the hand of God as Creator but in the hand of a Mediator Heb. 1.1 2. Heb. 2.8.9 Iohn 5.22 Colos. 1.16.17 1 Tim. 4.10 Iohn 3.35 and hence it is no wonder if all men as well as a few elected selected and called be commanded to sanctifie the Lords Day as once they were the Jewish seventh day the work of Christ being in some respect of as great extent through all the worke of Creation as the work of the Father And therefore it is a great feeblenesse in Master Brabourne to go about to vilifie the worke of Redemption and extoll that of Creation above it and that therefore the Sabbath ought still to be kept in reference to the work of Creation which concernes all men rather then in respect of Redemption which he imagines concerneth onely some few Thesis 43. The Lord Christ rested from the work of redemption by price upon the day of his Resurrection but he is not yet at rest from the work of Redemption by power untill the day of our Resurrection and Glory be perfected But it doth not hence fellow as Master Primrose imagines that there is no Lords day Instituted in respect of Christs Resurrection because he hath not nor did not then â—est from Redemption by power for look as the Father having rested from the works of Creation might therefore appoint a Day of Rest alâ—hough he did not nor doth not yet rest from Providence John 5.17 So the Lord Christ having finished the great worke of Redemption he might justly appoint a day of Rest although his redeeming workly by power was yet behind Thesis 44. The heavie and visible judgements of God revealed from heaven against prophaners of this our Lords day Sabbath will one day be a convincing Argument of the Holinesse of this Day when the Lord himselfe shall have the immediate handling and pressing of it Mean while I confesse my weaknesse to convince an adversary by it nor will I contend with any other Arguments from Antiquity for the observation of this Day but these may suffice which are alledged from the Holy Word THE BEGINNING OF THE SABBATH Wherein five severall Opinions about the beginning of the Sabbath are set down the Arguments commonly used for the four first of them are answered and the truth of the fifth for its beginning in the Evening confirmed BY THOMAS SHEPARD Pastor of the Church of Christ at Cambridge in New-England The third Part. LONDON Printed for Iohn Rothwell 1650. The generall Contents concerning the Beginning of the Sabbath 1. FIve severall Opinions concerning the beginning of the Sabbath Thesis 2. 2. The time for beginning of the Sabbath not according to the various customs of divers Nations Thesis 3. 3. The time of the Artificiall day not the beginning and end of the Sabbath as it begins and ends Thesis 13. 4. The beginning of the Sabbath not midnight Thesis 28. 5. The morning doth not begin the Sabbath Thesis 48. 6. That place of Mat. 28.1 usually alledged for the beginning of it in the morning cleared Thesis 50. 7. The Resurrection of Christ not aymed at by the Evangelists to be made the beginning of the day although it be of the change of it Thesis 58. 8. John 20 19. cleared Thesis 59. 9. Pauls preaching till midnight no argument of the beginning of the Sabbath in the morning Thesis 64. 10. The various acception of the word Day and Morrow to answer many proofs alledged for beginning the Sabbath in the morning Thesis 68. 11. Some that hold in the beginning of the Sabbath was from Even to Even untill Christs Resurrection and then the time was changed confuted Thesis 69 70. 12. There is not the like reason for the Sabbath to begin at the first moment of Christs entrance into his rest as for the first Sabbath at the beginning of Fathers rest Thesis 71. 13 The reasons for the Change of the day are not the same for the change of the beginning of the day Thesis 73. 14. The conceived fitnesse for the beginning of the Sabbath in the morning rather then in the evening is a vanity Thesis 75. 15. The Evening begins the Christian Sabbath Thesis 76. 16. The place Gen. 1.2 cleared Thesis 78. 17. The Darkenesse mentioned Gen. 1.2 was not punctum temporis Thesis 81 81. 18. The separation of Light and darkenesse Gen. 1 2. cleared Thesis 86.87 19. Levit. 23.32 provâ—s the beginning of the Sabbath at Evening Thesis 90. 20. Nehemiah an exemplary pattern beginning the Sabbath at Evening Thesis 94. 21. Those that prepared for the buriall of Chriâ—t began their Sabbath in the Evening Thesis 97.98 22. Christs lying three dayes in the grave Thesis 100. 23. Those Nothern Countries who have the Sun in view divers weeks together in a yeer yet know when to begin the day Thesis 101. The Beginning of the SABBATH THESIS 1. IT S a holy labour saith one to enquire after the Beginning of holy Rest. The Sabbath cannot be so sweetly sanctified unlesse we know the time when to begin and end it the different apprehensions of such as have inquired after the Truth in this particular have mad way for
because these dayes are to be considered relatively in respect of the seventh Day hence the week dayes are so to be begun as that their relation to the seventh be not disturbed so as that the bounds and limits of the Sabbath be not impared or transgressed for there is no religious necessity to begin and end civill time with sacred nor is it so uncomely as it may seem at first blush to give God and Caesar their due civil accompts to the one and sacred to the other for when the Iews were subdued by the Romans they might and did begin their reckonings of civill Time as the Romans did and yet reserve the bounds of sacred Time wholly unto God They did the like in England many years since saith Mr. Fox and that their civil dayes began in the Morning and Religious dayes in the Evening And when they did thus variously begin their days there was no such undecent disproportion of Times as Reverend Mr. Cleaver imagines in the like case if holy Time should not begin with Morning which he pleads for Thesis 50. The principall foundation of this Opinion are the words of the four Evangelists Mat. 28.1 Mark 1â— 1 2. Luke 24.1 Iohn 20.1 Among all which that of Mat. 18.1 hath most weight wherein 't is said In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week c. from whence it seems to follow that if the Sabbath Day did end at the dawning of the first day of the week that then the dawning of the day-light of the first day must be the beginning of the Sabbath Day or of the Christian Sabbath Thesis 51. The consideration of this Scripture hath caused some very judicious viz. Beza Iunius and others who conceive the Sabbath to begin at even to affirm upon very probable grounds that there was among the Iews at this time under their Roman bondage a double account and reckoning of the dayes of the week 1. Civill 2. Sacred account According to sacred account they say the Church of God began their Sabbath at Evening not Morning which they demonstrate from sundry pregnant Texts in the old and new Testament but according to the civill account of the Romans who gave the precedency to the Morning before the Evening they begun it therefore in the Morning and according to this latter account they suppose the Evangelists to speak Thesis 52. But if the severall Texts be duly examined rightly compared and sincerely interpreted there will not appear a necessity of such an account from this place but rather that these Texts which are ordinarily produced to evince the beginning of the Sabbath at Morning will bring in strong evidence to demonstrate its beginning rather on the Evening before Thesis 53. For this dawning toward the first day of the week is meant of the Artificiall Day or the Light of the first Day of the week as the word dawning implies and the evidence of their fact in comming to the Sepulcher demonstrates as much for it is not the scope of the Evangelist to set down when the first day of the week began but at what time of the first day of the week such and such actions â—ell out any thing done in any Time of the day whether at six or nine or two of the Clock may be said to be done that day but it will not follow that they are therefore done in the beginning of that Day I meete with two Exceptions here 1. Some say that it might be meant of the Artificiall day if the words had run thus viz. at the Dawning of the day or the first Day of the week about the dawning of the day but the dawning toward the first day This phrase they say seems to describe beginning of such a day aâ— stands in Relation to the whole week and all the other dayes of the week which are to be taken for naturall dayes But 1. There is I hope a first Artificiall day of the week as well as a Naturall 2. This Artificiall day doth not in this account exclude the Night before as part of this first Day and consequently the Naturall Day consisting of Night and light therefore it may well stand in relation to the other dayes of the Week which were naturall for although the Evangelist sets down particularly when these things about the Resurrection of Christ happened to be viz. at the dawning towards the first day of the Week yet we that begin the Sabbath at Evening may and do use the same phrase and yet so speake of the Artificial day upon which some event begins as not to exclude the Night before upon which the Naturall Day begins 3. Compare the Evangelists and the dawning in Matthew towards the first day will be found to be all one with this phrase viz. The first day about or at the dawning of it for that which Matthew calls dawning to the first day Marke calls early in the Morning the first day of the Weeke at the rising of the Sunne and Luke calls upon the first day of the Week very early in the Morning whence it is evident that Matthews drawning to the first day is all one with about the rising of the Sun upon the first day so that this difference between dawning toward the first day and dawning upon the first day seemes to be an English Cabalisme and a meere curiosity exhaled and extracted out of the words rather then any solid Truth which the Text holds forth or the Spirit of God aimed at 2. A second exception is that though the word Day in Scripture be taken for the Artificiall day yet never when the word first second or third Day c. are joyned together and they point us to the first of Genesis where when the first or second day is mentioned it s constantly meant of a Naturall and not an Artificiall Day But 1. This is a great mistake for the Day for the Levites Travell which was not in the Night but upon the Artificiall day is called the fourth Day Iudg. 19.5 And the 5th day verse 8. 2. This Artificiall day may be called the first day as that it may involve the Night before where we make the Sabbath to begin as well as the Night after on which they make the Sabbath to end and thus the Naturall day may be here comprehended also which they plead for the same day which Artificially begins at day-light may naturally begin the night before Thesis 54. If we should suppose that this Day is meant of the Artificiall Day yet there is a harder knot to be unloosed in the words of Matthew who affirms that this Day-light or Day-dawn was the End of the Sabbath Whereby it seems that the Sabbath began at the dawning of the day before and therefore it ends at the dawning of the first day following and hence they infer that the day-light of this first day cannot belong to the night of the Jewish Sabbath which immediately
darkenesse is not so called Night but the separated darkenesse Gen. 1.3 when God separated the light into one Hemisphere and darknesse into another Thesis 84. But this arguing is almost against the expresse Letter of the Text Gen. 1. wherein it is most evident that light was created after darknesse had bin some time upon the face of the deepe which darknesse cannot be part of the Day-light no more then blindnesse is a part of sight and therefore is a part of the Night before this conceived separated darkenesse could exist Beside the separation of darknesse from light doth not make any new darkenesse which is a new denominated darkenesse but is the same darkenesse which was at first onely the separation is a new placeing of it but it gives no new being to it Thesis 85. Suppose also that light and darknesse are contraria privantia yet 't is not true either in Philosophy or Divinity that the habit must alway actually goe before the privation in the same subject for the privation may be first if it be in subjecto capaci i. e. In a subject capable of the habit for silence may be before speech in a man and blindnesse and deafenesse in a man who never saw nor heard a word because man is a subject capable of both and so here darknesse might be before light because this subject of the first matter was capable of both Thesis 86. Nor is it true in Divinity that the darkenesse and light were at first separated into two Hemispheres or if they were yet what orthodox Writer affirmes that the supposed separated darkenesse onely is called Night Thesis 87. For looke as the darkenesse did overspread the whole Chaos and all the dimensions of it at the same time why might not the light the habit be extended as far as was the privation before and that at the same time there being no globe or dense body of earth and waters existing as now they doe at that time created and consequently no opake and solid body to divide betweene light and darkenesse and so to seprate them into two Hemispheres as by this meanes it is at this day unlesse we imagine miracles without necessity and that God then miraculously did it when there was no necessity of it For the Element of fire being figuratively called light it being as Iunius shewes proprietas essentialls ignis being also created in the superiour part of the vast Chaos might therefore be cast downe by a mighty hand of God there being no ordinary meanes of Sun or Stars yet created to do it into all the inferiour Chaos and so make day And the ascending of this light upwards againe might make it to be Night and therefore although God separated between light and darkenesse yet this separation seâ—mes to be rather in respect of time then in respect of place or two Hemispheres for the light when it was east downe separated and scattered the darkenesse and so excluded it so that when there was light there was no darknesse when darkenesse there was no light and thus they succeeding and excluding one another the Lord is said to separate them one from another but not into two imagined Hemispheres by which imagination of two Hemispheres it will be also very difficult to set downe when it was day and when it was night at this time of the Creation because in respect of one part of the Chaos it might be called day in respect of the other Hemisphere of the Chaos it might be called night and therefore it seems more suitable to the truth that the descending of the Light made day thorowout the whole Chaos remaining and the ascending of it to its proper place successively made night which as it answers many curious questions about the nature and motion of this light so it yeelde a more then probable argument that if the day-light continued twelve houres which none question why should not each night continue as long and therefore that the first darknesse did continue such a time before the creation of the Light Thesis 88. But suppose this locall separation into two Hemispheres was granted yet it will not follow from hence that this separated darknesse onely is called night and that the darkenesse before was no part of it for if the day and night began at the imagined division of light and darknesse then this division being in an instant of time neither could the day be before the night nor the night before the day but both exist and begin together and then it will follow that the beginning of the first day was neither in the morning nor evening in darknesse nor light in night nor day but that it began in the morning and evening day-light and dark night together which is too grosse for any wise man to affirm nor would the God of Order do it Againe if the first darkenesse which was prâ—eexistent to this Hemisphericall light and darknesse was no part of the night then much lesse was it any part of the first day-light and so no part of the naturall day which if any should affirm they must deny the creation of the world in six dayes for its evident that the Heavens and Earth were made in the time of the first darknesse Thesis 89. To say that this first darknesse was part of the morning and did belong to the morning-light as now some time of darknesse in the the morning is called morning and therefore is called the womb of the morning Psal. 110.2 is a meer shift to prove the beginning of time to be in the morning and an evasion from the evidence of truth For 1. This first darknesse must either be the whole night consisting as the light did of about twelve houres and then it cannot possibly be called morning or belong thereunto or it must be part of the night and that which came after the light another part of it and then we may see a monstrous day which hath part of its night before it and part after it beside its contrary to the Text which makes the whole morning together and the whole evening together the whole day-light together and so the whole night together 2. That darknesse which by an improper speech we make to belong to the morning in our ordinary account is the latter part of the night or of the darknesse but we read not in all the Scripture nor is it suitable to any solid reason to make the first beginning of Night or darknesse as part of the morning Now this first darknesse which is the beginning of darknesse is called night at least is the beginning of night and therefore cannot be called morning but evening rather as we usually call the first beginning of darknesse after day light Thesis 90. That expresse Commandment Lev. 23 32. to celebrate the Ceremoniall Sabbath from Even to Even doth strongly prove the beginning of the morall Sabbath at the same time for why else is it called a Sabbath of rest but because