upon the Desires of many now published by it self is but a Part of our remaining Exercitations on that Epistle Nor am I without all hopes but that what shall be declared and proved on this subject may be blessed to an Usefulness unto them who would willingly learn or be established in the Truth An Attempt also will be made herein for the conviction of others who have been seduced into Paths inconsistent with the Communion of Saints the Peace of the Churches of Christ or Opinions hurtful to the Practice of Godliness and left unto the Blessing of him who when he hath supplyed seed to the Sower doth himself also give the encrease And these Considerations have prevailed with me to cast my Mite into this Sanctuary and to endeavour the right stating and confirmation of that Doctrine whereon so important a part of our Duty towards God doth depend as is generally confessed and will be found by Experience that there doth on this concerning a Day of Sacred Rest. § 4 The Controversies about the Sabbath as we call it at present for Distinction sake and to determine a subject of our Discourse which have been publickly agitated are Universal as unto all its concerns Neither Name nor Thing is by all agreed on For whereas most Christians acknowledge we may say all for those by whom it is denyed are of no weight nor scarce of any number that a day on one account or other in an Hebdomadal Revolution of Time is to be set apart to the publick Worship of God yet how that Day is to be called is not agreed amongst them Neither is it granted that it hath any Name affixed unto it by any such means that should cause it justly to be preferred unto any other that men should arbitrarily consent to call it by The Names which have been and amongst some are still in use for its Denotation and Distinction are the seventh Day the Sabbath the Lords Day the first Day of the Week Sunday So was the Day now commonly observed called of Old by the Graecians and Romans before the Introduction of Religion into its Observation And this Name some still retain as a thing indifferent others suppose it were better left unto utter disuse § 5 Those about the Thing it self are various and respect all the concerns of the Day enquired after Nothing that relates unto it no part of its respect to the Worship of God is admitted by all uncontended about For it is debated amongst all sorts of persons 1. Whether any part of Time be naturally and morally to be separated and set apart to the solemn Worship of God or which is the same whether it be a natural and moral Duty to separate any part of time in any Revolution of it unto Divine Service I mean so as it should be stated and fixed in a periodical Revolution otherwise to say that God is solemnly to be worshipped and yet that no time is required thereunto is an open contradiction 2. Whether such a Time supposed be absolutely and originally moral or made so by Positive Command suited unto General Principles and Intimations of Nature And under this consideration also a part of Time is called Moral Metonymically from the Duty of its Observance 3 Whether on supposition of some part of Time so designed the Space or Quantity of it have its Determination or Limitation morally or meerly by Law Positive or Arbitrary For the Observation of some part of Time may be Moral and the quota pars arbitrary 4 Whether every Law Positive of the Old Testament were absolutely Ceremonial or whether there may not be a Law Moral Positive as given to and obligatory of all mankind though not absolutely written in the Heart of man by Nature that is whether there be no morality in any Law but what is a part of the Law of Creation 5 Whether the Institution of the seventh Day Sabbath was from the Beginning of the World and before the Fall of man or whether it were first appointed when the Israelites came into the Wilderness This in itself is only a matter of Fact yet such as whereon the Determination of the Point of Right as to the Universal Obligation unto the Observation of such a Day doth much depend and therefore hath the Investigation and true stating of it been much laboured in and after by Learned men 6 Upon a supposition of the Institution of the Sabbath from the Beginning Whether the Additions made and Observances annexed unto it at the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai with the Ends whereunto it was then designed and the Uses whereunto it was employed gave unto the seventh Day a new State distinct from what it had before although naturally the same day was continued as before For if they did so that new State of the Day seems only to be taken away under the New Testament if not the Day it self seemes to be abolished for that some change is made therein from what was fixed under the Judaical Oeconomy cannot modestly be denyed 7 Whether in the fourth Commandment there be a Foundation of a Distinction between a seventh Day in General or one Day in seven and that seventh Day which was the same numerically and precisely from the Foundation of the World For whereas an Obligation unto the strict Observation of that Day precisely is as we shall prove plainly taken away in the Gospel if the Distinction intimated be not allowed there can be nothing remaining obligatory unto us in that command whilst it is supposed that that Day is at all required therein Hence 8 It is especially enquired whether a seventh Day or one Day in seven or in the Hebdomadal Cycle be to be observed Holy unto the Lord on the Account of the fourth Commandment 9 Whether under the New Testament all Religious Observation of Dayes be so taken away as that there is no Divine Obligation remaining for the Observance of any one Day at all but that as all Dayes are alike in themselves so are they equally free to be disposed of and used by us as Occasion shall require For if the Observation of one Day in seven be not founded in the Law of Nature expressed in the Original Positive Command concerning it and if it be not seated Morally in the fourth Commandment it is certain that the necessary Observance of it is now taken away 10 On the other extream whether the seventh Day from the Creation of the world or the last Day of the Week be to be observed precisely under the New Testament by vertue of the Fourth Commandment and no other The Assertion hereof supposeth that our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath hath neither changed nor reformed any thing in or about the Religious Observation of an Holy Day of Rest unto the Lord whence it follows that such an Observation can be no Part or Act of Evangelical Worship properly so called but only a Moral Duty of the Law 11 Whether on the
with all Believers in a peaceable agreement in the worship of God And therefore of all differences in judgement which lead unto practice those are the worst and most pernicious which occasion or draw after them any thing whereby men are hindred from joyning together in the same publick solemn worship whereby they yield unto God that Revenue of his Glory which is due unto him in this world And that many of these are found at this day is not so much from the Nature of the things themselves about which men differ as from the weakness prejudices and corrupt affections of them who are possessed with different Apprehensions about them But now upon a supposition of an Adherence by any unto the seventh day Sabbath all Communion amongst Professors in solemn Gospel-Ordinances is rendred impossible For if those of that perswasion do expect that others will be brought unto a relinquishment of an Evangelical observance of the Lords-day Sabbath they will find themselves mistaken The Evidence which they have of its Appointment and the Experience they have had of the presence of God with them in its Religious Observation will secure their Faith and Practise in this matter Themselves on the other hand supposing that they are obliged to meet for all solemn worship on the seventh day which the other account unwarrantable for them to do on the pretence of any binding Law to that purpose and esteem it unlawfull to assemble Religiously with others on the first Day on the Plea of an Evangelical warranty they absolutely cut off themselves from all possibility of Communion in the Administration of Gospel-Ordinances with all other Churches of Christ. And whereas most other Breaches as to such Communion are in their own nature capable of healing without a Renunciation of those Principles in the minds of men which seem to give countenance unto them the Distance is here made absolutely irreparable whilst the Opinion mentioned is owned by any I will press this no farther but only by affirming that persons truely fearing the Lord ought to be very carefull and jealous over their own understandings before they embrace an Opinion and Practice which will shut them up from all visible Communion with the generality of the Saints of God in this World § 34 We have seen the least part of the inconveniences that attend this perswasion and its practise nor do I intend to mention all of them which readily offer themselves to consideration One or two more may yet be touched on For those by whom it is owned do not only affirm that the Law of the seventh day Sabbath is absolutely and universally in force but also that the Sanction of it in its penalty against Transgressors is yet continued This was as is known the Death of the offender by stoning So did God himself determine the Application of the Curse of the Law unto the breach of this Command in the instance of the man that gathered wood on that day and was stoned by His direction Numb 45. 35. Now the consideration of this penalty as expressive of the Curse of the Law influenced the minds of the Jews into that bondage frame wherein they observed the Sabbath And this alwayes put them upon many anxious arguings how they might satisfie the Law in keeping the Day so as not to incurr the penalty of its Transgression Hence are the Questions among the Jews no less endless than those about their Genealogies of old about what work may be done and what not how far they might journey on that day which when they had with some indifferent consent reduced unto 2000 Cubits which they called a Sabbath-dayes journey yet where to begin their measure from what part of the City where a man dwelt from his own House or the Synagogue or the Walls or Suburbs of it they are not agreed And the dread hereof was such amongst them of old from the rigorous Justice wherewith such Laws with such penalties were imposed on them that untill they had by common consent in the beginning of the Rule of the Hasmonaeans agreed to defend themselves from their Enemies on that Day they sate still in a neglect of the Law of Nature requiring all men to look to their preservation against open violence and suffered themselves to be slain to their satiety who chose to assault them thereon And certainly it is the greatest madness in the world for a people to engage in War that do not think it at least lawfull at all times to defend themselves And yet they lost their City afterwards by some influence from this Superstition And do men know what they do when they endeavour to introduce such a Bondage into the observance of Gospel-worship a yoke and bondage upon the Persons and Spirits of men which those before us were not able to bear Is it according to the mind of Christ that the Worship of God which ought to be in Spirit and Truth now under the Gospel should be enforced on men by capital penalties And let men thus state their Principles The seventh Day is to be kept precisely a Sabbath unto the Lord by virtue of the Fourth Commandment for not one Day in seven but the seventh Day it self is rigorously and indispensibly enjoyned unto observation and that the Transgression of this Law not as to the Spiritual Worship to be observed on it but as to every outward Transgression by journeying or other bodily labour is to be avenged with Death undoubtedly in the practice of these Principles besides that open contradiction which they will fall into unto the Spirit Rule and Word of the Gospel they will find themselves in the same entanglements wherein the Jews were and are And as the Cases that may occur about what may be done and what not what Cases of necessity may interpose for relief are not to be determined by private persons according to their own light and understanding because they have respect unto the publick Law but by them unto whom power is committed to judge upon it and to execute its penalty so there will so many Cases and those almost inexplicable emerge hereon as will render the whole Law an intolerable Burden unto Christians And what then is become of the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and wherein is the preheminence of the Spiritual Worship of the Gospel above the Carnal Ordinances of the Law § 35 And this introduceth an Evil of no less hainous importance than any of those before enumerated The precise observation of the seventh Day as such is undoubtedly no part of the Law naturally moral This we have sufficiently proved before as I suppose That Law is written in the Hearts of Believers by virtue of the Covenant of Grace and strength is administred thereby unto them for the due performance of the Duties that it doth require Nor is it an Institution of the Gospel none ever pretended it so to be If there be not much against it in the New Testament
supposition of a Non-obligation in the Law unto the Observance of the seventh Day precisely and of a New Day to be observed Weekly under the New Testament as the Sabbath of the Lord on what Ground it is so to be observed 12 Whether of the Fourth Commandment as unto one Day in seven or only as unto some part or portion of Time or whether without any respect unto that Command as purely Ceremonial For granting as most do the necessity of the Observation of such a Day yet some say that it hath no respect at all to the Fourth Decalogical Precept which is totally and absolutely abolished with the residue of Mosaical Institutions others that there is yet remaining in it an Obligation unto the Sacred Separation of some portion of our Time unto the solemn Service of God but indetermined and some that it yet precisely requires the Sanctification of one Day in seven 13 If a Day be so to be observed it is enquired on what Ground or by what Authority there is an Alteration made from the Day observed under the Old Testament unto that now in use that is from the last to the first Day of the Week Whether was this Translation of the solemn Worship of God made by Christ and his Apostles or by the Primitive Church For the same Day might have been still continued though the Duty of its Observation might have been fixed on a new Reason and Foundation For although our Lord Jesus Christ totally abolished the old solemn Worship required by the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances and by his own Authority introduced a new Law of Worship according unto Institutions of his own yet might Obedience unto it in a solemn manner have been fixed unto the former Day 14 If this were done by the Authority of Christ and his Apostles or be supposed so to be then it is enquired Whether it were done by the express Institution of a New Day or a directive Example sufficient to design a particular Day no Institution of a new Day being needful For if we shall suppose that there is no Obligation unto the Observance of one Day in seven indispensibly abiding on us from the Morality of the Fourth Command we must have an express Institution of a new Day or the Authority of it is not Divine and on the supposition that that is so no such Institution is necessary or can be properly made as to the whole nature of it 15 If this Alteration of the Day were introduced by the Primitive Church then whether the continuance of the Observation of one Day in seven be necessary or no. For what was appointed thereby seems to be no farther Obligatory unto the Churches of succeeding Ages than their concernment lyes in the Occasions and Reasons of their Determinations 16 If the continuance of one Day in seven for the solemn Worship of God be esteemed necessary in the present State of the Church then Whether the continuance of that now in general Use namely the First Day of the Week be necessary or no or whether it may not be lawfully changed to some other Day And sundry other the like Enquiries are made about the Original Institution Nature Use and Continuance of a Day of Sacred Rest unto the Lord. § 6 Moreover amongst those who do grant that it is necessary and that indispensibly so as to the present Church State which is under an Obligation from whence ever it arise neither to alter nor omit the Observation of a Day weekly for the publick Worship of God wherein a Cessation from labour and a joint Attendance unto the most solemn Duties of Religion are required of us It is not agreed whether the Day it self or the separation of it to its proper Use and End be any Part in it self of Divine Worship or be so meerly relatively with respect unto the Duties to be performed therein And as to those Duties themselves they are not only variously represented but great Contention hath been about them and the manner of their Performances as likewise concerning the Causes and Occasions which may dispense with our Attendance unto them Indeed herein lyes secretly the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and principal Cause of all the strife that hath been and is in the World about this matter Men may teach the Doctrine of a Sabbatical Rest on what Principles they please deduce it from what Original they think good if they plead not for an exactness of Duty in its Observance if they bind not a Religious carefull Attendance on the Worship of God in Publick and private on the Consciences of other men if they require not a Watchfulness against all Diversions and Avocations from the Duties of the Day they may do it without much fear of Opposition For all the concernments of Doctrines and Opinions which tend unto Practice are regulated thereby and embraced or rejected as the Practice pleaseth or displeaseth that they lead unto Lastly On a precise supposition that the Observation of such a Day is necessary upon Divine Precept or Institution yet there is a Controversie remaining about fixing its proper bounds as to its Beginning and Ending For some would have this Day of Rest measured by the first Constitution and limitation of Time unto a Day from the Creation namely from the Evening of the Day preceding unto its own as the Evening and the Morning were said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Day Gen. 1. 5. Others admit only of that proportion of Time which is ordinarily designed to our labour on the six Dayes of the Week that is from its own Morning to its own Evening with the Interposition of such Diversions as our labour on other Dayes doth admit and require § 7 And thus is it come to pass that although God made man Upright and gave him the Sabbath or Day of Rest as a token of that Condition and Pledge of a future Eternal Rest with himself yet through his finding out many Inventions that very Day is become amongst us an Occasion and Means of much Disquietment and many Contentions And that which is the worst Consequent in things of this nature that belong unto Religion and the Worship of God these Differences and the Way of their Agitation whilst the several Parties htigant have sought to weaken and invalidate their Adversaries Principles have apparently influenced the minds of all sorts of men unto a neglect in the Practice of those Duties which they severally acknowledge to be incumbent on them upon those Principles and Reasons for the Observation of such a Day which themselves allow For whilst some have hotly disputed that there is now no especial Day of Rest to be observed to the Lord by vertue of any Divine Precept or Institution and others have granted that if it be to be observed only by vertue of Ecclesiastical Constitution men may have various pretences for Dispensations from the Duties of it the whole due Observation of it is much lost
themselves which yet stand in need of farther Direction for their due Observation which is added unto them by Positive Institution some call Moral Positive § 4 According to these Distinctions of the Nature of the Laws which God expresseth his Will in and by are mens Apprehensions different about the immediate and instrumental Cause of the Sabbatical Rest. That God was the Author of it is as was said by all agreed But say some the Law whereby he appointed it was purely Positive the matter of it being arbitrary stated and determined only in the Command it self and so the whole Nature of the Law and that commanded in it changeable And because Positive Laws did and alwayes do respect some other things besides and beyond themselves it is pleaded that this Law was Ceremonial and Typical that is it was an Institution of an outward present Religious Observation to signifie and represent some thing not present nor yet come such were all the particulars of the whole systeme of Mosaical Worship whereof this Law of the Sabbath was a part and an Instance In brief some say that the whole Law of the Sabbath was as to its general Nature positive and arbitrary and so changeable and in particular Ceremonial and Typical and so actually changed and abolished But yet it is so fallen out that those who are most positive in these Assertions cannot but acknowledge that this Law is so ingrafted into and so closed up with somewhat that is Moral and unalterable that it is no easie thing to hit the joint aright and make a separation of the one from the other But concerning any other Law expresly and confessedly Ceremonial no such thing can be observed They were all evidently and entirely arbitrary Institutions without any such neer Relation to what is Moral as might trouble any one to make a distinction between them For Instance the Law of Sacrifices hath indeed an answerableness in it to a great Principle of the Law of Nature namely that we must honour God with our substance and the best of our Increase yet that this might be done many other wayes and not by Sacrifice if God had pleased so to ordain every one is able to apprehend It is otherwise in this matter for none will deny but that it is required of us in and by the Law of Nature that some Time be set apart and dedicated unto God for the Observation of his solemn Worship in the world And it is plain to every one that this natural dictate is inseparably included in the Law of the Sabbath It will therefore surely be difficult to make it absolutely and universally positive I know some begin to whisper things inconsistent with this concession But we have as yet the Universal consent of all Divines Antient and Modern Fathers Schoolmen and Casuists concurring in this matter For they all unanimously affirm that the separation of some part of our Time to sacred uses and the solemn honouring of God is required of us in the Light and by the Law of Nature And herein lyes the fundamental notion of the Law now enquired after This also may be farther added that whereas this Natural dictate for the observation of some time in the solemn worship of God hath been accompanied with a Declaration of his will from the foundation of the world that this Time should be one day in seven it will be a matter of no small Difficulty to find out what is purely positive therein § 5 Others building on this Foundation that the Dedication of some part of our Time to the Worship of God is a duty Natural or Moral as required by the Law of our Creation not that Time in it self which is but a circumstance of other things can be esteemed Moral but that our observation of Time may be a Moral Duty do add that the Determination of one Day in seven to be that portion of Time so to be dedicated is inseparable from the same foundation and is of the same Nature with it That is that the Sabbatical Observation of one Dayes Holy Rest in seven hath a Moral Precept for its Warranty or that which hath the nature of a Moral Precept in it so that although the Revolution of Time in seven Dayes and the confining of the Day to that determined season do depend on Revelation and a Fositive Command of God for its Observance yet on fupposition thereof the Moral Precept prevails in the whole and is everlastingly Obligatory And there are some Divines of great Piety and Learning who do judge that a Command of God given unto all men and equally Obligatory unto all respecting their manner of living unto God is to be esteemed a Moral Command and that indispensible and unchangeable although we should not be able to discover the Reason of it in the Light and Law of Nature Nor can such a Command be reckoned amongst them that are meerly positive arbitrary and changeable all which depend on sundry other things and do not firstly affect men as men in general And it is probable that God would not give out any such Catholick Command which comprized not somewhat naturally Good and Right in it And this is the best measure and Determination of what is Moral and not our Ability of discovering by Reason what is so and what is not as we shall see afterwards § 6 Moreover there are some who stay not here but contend that the precise Observation of the seventh Day in the Hebdomadal Revolution lyeth under a Command Moral and indispensible For God they say who is the Soveraign Lord of us and our Times hath taken by an Everlasting Law this Day unto himself for his honour and service And he hath therein obliged all men to an holy Rest not on some certain fixed and stated time not on one Day in seven originally as the first Intention of his Command but on the seventh Day precisely whereunto those other considerations of some stated and fixed time and of one Day in seven are Consequential and far from previous foundations of it The seventh Day as the seventh Day is they say the first proper Object of the Command the other things mentioned of a stated Time and of one Day in seven do only follow thereon and by vertue thereof belong to the Command of the Sabbath and no otherwise Herein great Honour indeed is done unto the seventh Day above all other Ordinances of Worship whatever even of the Gospel it self but whether with sufficient Warranty we must afterwards enquire At present I shall only observe that this Observation of the seventh Day precisely is resolved into the Soveraignty of God over us and our Times and into an Occasion respecting purely the Covenant of Works on which bottoms it is hard to fix it in an absolute unvariable station § 7 It is the second Opinion for the substance of it which I shall indeavour to explain and confirm and therein prove a Sacred Sabbatical Rest unto God
come to a neglect and contempt of all that Worship which was as it were built upon it And as we observed before more than once the Weekly Sabbath being inserted into the Oeconomy of their Laws as to the matter of Works and Rest it is comprized in the General with other Feasts called Sabbaths also Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep And in this regard they are all cast together by our Apostle Col. 2. 16. and the Sabbath Dayes And they who by vertue of this and the like Commands would bind us up to the Judaical Sabbath do certainly lose both that and all other ground for the Observance of any Sabbath at all For look in what respects it is joyned with the other Sabbaths by Moses in the same it is taken away with them by the Apostle § 14 There is a treble Appropriation of the Weekly Sabbaths in this place made unto the Church of the Israelites 1. In that the Observation of it is required of them in their Generations that is during the continuance of that Church State which was to abide to the coming of Christ. For what was required of them in their Generations as it was required was then to expire and be abolished 2. That they were to observe it as a perpetual Covenant or as a part of that Covenant which God then made with them which is called everlasting because it was to be so unto them seeing God would never make any other peculiar Covenant with them And whereas all the Statutes and Ordinances that God then gave them belonged unto and altogether entirely made up that Covenant some of this as this especial Command for the Sabbath and that of Circumcision are distinctly called the Covenant and ceased with it 3. It was given unto them as an especial Pledge of the Covenant that God then made with them wherein he rested in his Worship and brought them to rest therein in the Land of Canaan whereby they entred into Gods Rest. Hence it is called a sign between them v. 13 14 which is repeated and explained Ezek. 20. 12. A sign it was or an evident Expression of the present Covenant of God between them and him not a Sacramental or Typical sign of future Grace in particular any otherwise than as their whole Church Constitution and their Worship in general whereof by these means it was made a part were so that is not in it self or its own nature but as prescribed unto them And a present sign between God and them it was upon a double account 1. On the part of the people Their assembling on that Day for the Celebration of the Worship of God and the avowing him alone therein to be their God was a sign or an evident express Acknowledgement that they were the people of the Lord. And this doth not in the least impeach its Original Morality seeing there is no Moral Duty but in its Exercise or actual Performance may be so made a sign 2. On the part of God namely that it was he who sanctified them For by this Observance they had a visible pledge that God had separated them unto and for himself and therefore had given them his Word and Ordinances as the outward means of their further sanctification to be peculiarly attended unto on that Day And on these Grounds it is that God is elsewhere said to give them his Sabbaths to reveal them unto them as their peculiar Priviledge and Advantage And their Priviledge it was For although in comparison of the substance and Glory of things to be brought in by Christ with the Liberty and Spirituality of Gospel Worship all their Ordinances and Institutions were a yoke of Bondage yet considering their Use with their End and Tendency compared with the Rest of the World at that time they were an unspeakable Priviledge Psal. 147. v. 19 20. However therefore the Sabbath was originally given before unto all mankind yet God now by the Addition of his Institutions to be observed on that Day whereby he sanctified the people made an enclosure of it so far unto them alone Lastly Here is added a peculiar sanction under the Penalty of Death He that transgresseth it shall surely be put to Death v. 14. God sometimes threatneth cutting off and extermination unto Persons concerning whom yet the people had no warranty to proceed Capitally against them only he took it upon himself as the Supream Legislator and Rector of that people to destroy them and cut them off as they speak by the hand of Heaven But where ever this expression is used he shall surely be put to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dying he shall dye there the people or the Judges among them are not only warranted but commanded to proceed Judicially against such an Offendor And in this respect it belonged unto that severe Government which that people stood in need of as also to mind them of the sanction of the whole Law of Creation as a Covenant of Works with the same Commination of Death unto all Transgressors In all these regards the Sabbath was Judaical and is absolutely abolished and taken away § 15 The Command is renewed again Exod. 34. 21. Six Dayes thou shalt work but on the seventh Day thou shalt Rest in Earing time and in Harvest thou shalt rest Earing time and Harvest are the seasons wherein those who till the Ground are most intent upon their Occasions and do most hardly bear with Intermissions because they may be greatly to their Dammage Wherefore they are insisted on or specified to manifest that no Avocation nor pretence can justifie men in working or labour on that Day For by expressing Earing and Harvest all those Intervenings also are intended in those seasons whereon damage and loss might redound unto men by omitting the gathering in of their Corn. And it should seem on this Ground that on that day they might not labour neither to take it away before a flood nor remove it from an approaching fire So some of the Masters think although our Saviour convince them from their own Practice in relieving Cattel fallen into Pits on that day Luke 14. 5. and by loosing them that were tyed to lead them to watering Chap. 13. 15. that they did not conceive this universally to be the intendment of that Law that in no case any work was to be done And it seems they were wiser for their Asses in those Dayes than the poor wretch was for himself in latter Ages who falling into the Jakes at Tewkesbury on that Day would not suffer himself to be drawn out if the Story be truely reported in our Chronicles In general I doubt not but that this Additional Explanation in a way of severity is in its proper sense purely Judaical and contains something more of Rigidness that is required by the Law of the Sabbath as purely Moral § 16 Mentioned it is again with a new Addition Exod. 35. 2 3. Six Dayes shall work be done but on the seventh Day there
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which sacredly is saith Hesychius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the number of seven It is hard to give any other Account whence all these conceptions should arise besides that insisted on From the Original Impression made on the minds of men by the Instruction of the Law of Creation which they were made under and the Tradition of the Creation of the world in six dayes closed with an additional Day of Sacred Rest did these Notions and obscure Remembrances of the specialty of that Number arise And although we have not yet enquired what Influence into the Law of Creation as instructive and directive of our Actions the six dayes work had with its consequential Day of Rest yet all will grant that whatever it were it was far more clear and cogent unto man in Innocency directly obliged by that Law and able to understand its voice in all things than it could be to them who by the Effects of it made some dark enquiries after it who were yet able to conclude that there was somewhat sacred in the number of seven though they knew not well what § 13 Neither was the Number of seven only in General Sacred amongst them but there are Testimonies produced out of the most antient Writers amongst the Heathens expressing a Notion of a seventh Dayes Sacred Feast and Rest. Many of these were of old collected by Clemens Alexandrinus and by Eusebius out of Aristobulus a Learned Jew They have by many been insisted on and yet I think it not amiss here once more to report them The words of Aristobulus wherewith he prefaceth his Allegation of them are in Eusebius Praepar Evangel lib. 13. cap. 12. speaking of the seventh Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer and Hesiod taking it out of our Books do openly affirm that it is sacred That what they affirm herein was taken from the Jewish Books I much question nor do I think that in their time when the Law only was written that the Nations of the world had any the least acquaintance with their Writings nor much until after the Babylonish Captivity when they began to be taken notice of which was principally diffused under the Persian Empire by their commerce with the Graecians who enquired into all things of that nature and that had an appearance of secret Wisdom But these Apprehensions what ever they were they seem rather to have taken up from the secret insinuations of the Law of Creation and the Tradition that was in the world of the Matter of Fact Out of Hefiod therefore he cites the following Testimonies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first the fourth and the seventh Day is sacred Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The seventh again the sacred or illustrious Light of the Sun And out of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then came the seventh Day that is sacred Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was the seventh Day wherein all things were finished or perfected Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We left the flood of Acheron on the seventh Day Whereunto he subjoyns an ingenious Exposition about the Relinquishment of the Oblivion of Error by vertue of the sacredness of the Number seven He adds also out of Linus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The seventh Day wherein all things were finished Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The seventh Day among the best things the seventh is the Nativity of all things The seventh is amongst the chiefest and is the perfect Day Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which before The same Testimonies he repeats again in his next Chapter out of Clemens with an Alteration of some few words not of any importance And the Verses ascribed to Linus in Aristobulus are said to be the work of Callimachus in Clemens which is not of our concernment Testimonies to the same purpose may be taken out of some of the Roman Writers so Tibullus giving an Account of the excuses he made for his unwillingness to leave Rome Aut ego sum causatus aves aut omina dira Saturni sacra me tenuisse Die Either I laid it on the Birds he had no incouraging Augury or that bad Omens detained me on the sacred Day of Saturn Lib. 1. Eleg. 3. § 14 I shall not from these and the like Testimonies contend that the Heathens did generally allow and observe themselves one Day sacred in the Week Nor can I grant on the other hand that those antient Assertions of Linus Homer and Hesiod are to be measured by the late Roman Writers Poets or others who ascribe the seventh Dayes sacred Feast to the Jews in way of Reproach as Ovid nec te peregrina morentur Sabbata Stay not thy journey for forraign Sabbaths And Culta Palaestino septima festa viro The seventh Day Feast observed by the Jew Nor shall I plead the Testimony of Lampridius concerning the Emperour Alexander Severus going unto the Capitol and the Temples on the seventh Day seeing in those times he might learn that Observance from the Jews whose customs he had occasion to be acquainted with For all antient Traditions were before this time utterly worn out or inextricably corrupted And when the Jews by their conversation with the Romans after the Wars of Pompey began to represent them unto them again the generality despised them all out of their hatred and contempt of that people And I do know that sundry Learned men especially two of late Gomarus and Selden have endeavoured to shew that the Testimonies usually produced in this case do not prove what they are urged for Great pains they have taken to refer them all to the sacredness of the septenary number before mentioned or the seventh day of the Month sacred as is pretended on the Account of the Birth of Apollo whereunto indeed it is evident that Hesiod hath respect in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Authority of Aristobulus and Clemens is not to be despised Something they knew undoubtedly of the state of things in the world in their own Dayes and those that went before And they do not only instance in the Testimonies before rehearsed but also assert that the sacredness of one of the seven dayes was generally admitted by all And the Testimonies of Philo and Josephus are so express to that purpose as that their force cannot be waved without offering violence unto their words The words of Philo we expressed before And Josephus in his second Book against Appion sayes positively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is neither any City of the Greeks nor Barbarians nor any Nation whatever to whom our custom of Resting on the seventh day is not come And this in the words foregoing he affirmeth to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from a long time before as not taken up by an occasional acquaintance with them And Lucian in his Pseudologista tells us that Children at School were exempted from studying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the seventh Days And Tertullian
under an Obligation unto all those Duties which the Nature of God and his own and the Relation of the one to the other made necessary Under this consideration alone it was required by the Law of mans Creation that some time should be separated unto the solemn Expression of his Obedience and due Performance of the Worship that God required of him For in vain was he indued with intellectual Faculties and appointed unto society if he were not to honour God by them in all his Relations and openly express the Homage which he owed him And this could not be done but in a Time appointed for that purpose the neglect whereof must be a deviation from the Law of the Creation And as this is generally acknowledged so no man can fancy the contrary Here then do we fix the necessity of the separation of some time to the Ends of a Sabbatical Rest even on the Nature of God and man with the Relation of one to the other For who can say no part of our time is due to God or so to be disposed Secondly Man in his Creation with respect unto the Ends of God therein was constituted under a Covenant That is the Law of his Obedience was attended with Promises and Threatnings Rewards and Punishments suited unto the Goodness and Holiness of God For every Law with Rewards and Recompences annexed hath the nature of a Covenant And in this case although the Promise wherewith man was incouraged unto Obedidience which was that of Eternal Life with God did in strict Justice exceed the worth of the Obedience required and so was a superadded Effect of Goodness and Grace yet was it suited unto the Constitution of a Covenant meet for man to serve God in unto his Glory and on the other side the Punishment threatned unto Disobedience in Death and an everlasting separation from God was such as the Righteousness and Holiness of God as his Supream Governour and Lord of him and the Covenant did require Now this Covenant belonged unto the Law of Creation For although God might have dealt with man in a way of absolute Soveraignty requiring Obedience of him without a Covenant of a Reward infinitely exceeding it yet having done so in his Creation it belongs unto and is inseparable from the Law thereof And under this Consideration the Time required in general for a Rest unto God under the first general notion of the Nature and Being of man is determined unto one Day in seven For as we shall find that in the various dispensations of the Covenant with man and the change of its Nature yet so long as God is pleased to establish any Covenant with man he hath and doth invarilably require one Day in seven to be set apart unto the Assignation of Praise and Glory to himself so we shall see afterwards that there are indications of his mind to this purpose in the Covenant it self Thirdly Man is to be considered with especial Respect unto that Covenant under which he was created which was a Covenant of Works For herein Rest with God was proposed unto him as the End or Reward of his own works or of his Personal Obedience unto God by absolute strict Righteousness and Holiness And the peculiar form of this Covenant as relating unto the way of Gods entring into it upon the finishing of his own works designed the seventh day from the Beginning of the Creation to be the Day precisely for the Observation of an holy Rest. As men then are alwayes rational creatures so some portion of Time is by them necessarily to be set apart to the solemn Worship of God As they are under a Covenant so this time was originally limited unto one day in seven And as the Covenant may be varied so may this day also which under the Covenant of Works was precisely limited unto the seventh day and these things must be further illustrated and proved § 11 This was the State and Condition wherein man was originally created Our next enquiry is after the Law of his Creation commonly called the Law of Nature with what belongeth thereunto or what is required of us by vertue thereof Now by the Law of Nature most understand the Dictates of Right Reason which all men or men generally consent in and agree about For we exclude wholly from this consideration the Instinct of Brute Creatures which hath some Appearance of a Rule unto them So Hesiod of old determined this matter speaking of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They devour one another because they have no Right or Law amongst them Hence the Prophet complaining of force and violence amongst men with a neglect of Right Justice and Equity sayes men are as the Fishes of the Sea as creeping things that have no Ruler over them Habbuk 1. 14. They devour one another without regard to Rule or Right As he in Varro Natura humanis omnia sunt paria Qui pote plus urget pisces ut saepe minutos Magnu ' comest ut aves enecat accipiter Most learned men therefore conclude that there is no such thing as Jus or Lex Naturae among irrational creatures and consequently nothing of Good or Evil in their Actions But the consent of men in the Dictates of Reason is esteemed the Law of Nature So Cicero Tuse 1. Omni in re consensio omuium Gentium Lex Naturae putanda est The common consent of all Nations in any thing is to be thought the Law of Nature And Aristotle also Rhetoric lib. 1. cap. 14. calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common Law unwritten pertaining unto all whose Description he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is common is according to Nature For there is somewhat which all men think and this is common Right or injustice by Nature although there should be neither society nor compact between them And this he confirms out of Empedocles that it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not which is just to some and unjust to others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is Right amongst all spread out with immense Light by the broad ruling Skie The like he affirms in his Ethicks lib. 5. cap. 10. defining it to be that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which hath alwayes or every where the same Force or Power and doth not seem or not seem so to be This his Expositors affirm to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the most of men who live according to the light of Nature with the Principles of it uncorrupted This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Dictates of Reason So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Right Reason is the same with many as jus naturae or naturale Tully in his first de Legib. pursues this at large Est unum jus saith he quo devincta est hominum societas quod Lex constituit una Quae Lex est recta Ratio prohibendi imperandi
and of the knowledge of Good and Evil ceased as all men confess with that Estate And although God did not immediately upon the sin of man destroy that Garden no nor it may be untill the Flood leaving it as a Testimony against the wickedness of that Apostate Generation for whose sin the world was destroyed yet was neither it nor the Trees of it of any use or lawful to be used as to any significancy in the Worship of God And the Reason is because all Institutions are Appendixes and things annexed unto a Covenant and when that Covenant ceaseth or is broken they are of no use or signification at all § 36 There was a new state of the Church erected presently after the Fall and this also attended with sundry new Institutions especially with that concerning Sacrifices In this Church state some Alterations were made and sundry additional Institutions given unto it upon the Erection of the peculiar Church State of the Israelites in the Wilderness which yet hindred not but that it was in General the same Church State and the same Dispensation of the Covenant that the people of God before and after the giving of the Law enjoyed and lived under Hence it was that sundry Institutions of Worship were equally in force both before and after the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai as is evident in Sacrifices and some other Instances may be given But now when the State of the Church and the Dispensation of the Covenant came to be wholly altered as they were by the Gospel not any one of the old Institutions was continued or to be continued but they were all abolished and taken away Nothing at all was traduced over from the Old Church States neither from that in Innocency nor from that which ensued on the Fall in all its variations with any Obligatory Power but what was founded in the Law of Nature and had its force from thence We may then confidently assert that what God requireth equally in all Estates of the Church that is Moral and of an everlasting Obligation unto us and all men And this is the State of matters with the Sabbath and the Law thereof § 37 Of the Command of the Sabbath in the State of Innocency we have before treated and vindicated the Testimony given unto it Gen. 2. 2 3. It will God assisting be farther discoursed and confirmed in our Exposition of the fourth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews The Observation of it by vertue of its Original Law and Command before the Promulgation of the Decalogue in Sinai or the first Wilderness Observation of the Sabbath recorded on the occasion of giving Manna hath also been before confirmed Many Exceptions I acknowledge are laid in against the Testimonies insisted on for the proof of these things but those such as I suppose are not able to invalidate them in the minds of men void of Prejudice And the Pretence of the Obscurity that is in the Command will be easily removed by the consideration of another Instance of the same Antiquity All men acknowledge that a Promise of Christ for the Object and Guide of the Faith of the ancient Patriarchs was given in those Words of God immediately spoken unto the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruize thy head and thou shalt bruize its heel The Words in themselves seem obscure unto any such End or Purpose But yet there is such light given into them and the mind of God in them from the circumstances of Time Place Persons Occasions from the Nature of the things treated of from the whole ensuing Oeconomy or dealing of God with men revealed in the Scripture as that no sober man doubts of the Promissory Nature of those Words nor of the Intention of them in General nor of the proper subject of the Promise nor of the Grace intended in it This Promise therefore was the immediate Object of the faith of the Patriarchs of old the great motive and encouragement unto and of their Obedience But yet it will be hard from the Records of Scripture to prove that any particular Patriarch did believe in trust or plead that Promise which yet we know that they did all and every one nor was there any need for our Instruction that any such practice of theirs should be recorded seeing it is a general Rule that those Holy men of God did observe and do whatever he did command them Wherefore from the record of a Command we may conclude unto a suitable Practice though it be not recorded and from a recorded approved Practice on the other side we may conclude unto the Command or Institution of the thing practised though no where plainly recorded Let unprejudiced men consider those words Gen. 2. 2 3. and they will find the Command and Institution of the Sabbath as clear and conspicuous in them as the Promise of Grace in Christ is in them before considered especially as they are attended with the Interpretation given of them in Gods following dealings with his Church And therefore although particular Instances of the Obedience of the old Patriarchs in this part of it or the Observation of the Sabbath could not be given and evinced yet we ought no more on that account to deny that they did observe it than we ought to deny their Faith in the promised Seed because it is no where expresly recorded in the Story of their lives § 38 Under the Law that is after the giving of it in the Wilderness it is granted that the portion of Time insisted on was precisely required to be dedicate unto God although it may be for some Ages it will be hard to meet with a recorded Instance of its Observation But yet none dares take any countenance from thence to question whether it were so observed or no. All therefore is secure unto the great alteration that was made in Instituted Worship under the Gospel And to proceed unto that season there is no Practice in any part of Gods Publick Worship that appears earlier in the Records of the New Testament as to what was peculiar thereunto than the Observation of one Day in seven for the Celebration of it Hereof more must be spoken afterwards Some say indeed that the Appointment of one Day in seven and that the first Day of the Week for the Worship of God was only a voluntary Agreement or a matter consented unto by the Apostolical or first Churches meerly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratia or to keep good Order and decorum amongst them without respect unto any Moral Command of God to that purpose This they say directly with respect to the first Day of the Week or the Lords Day and its Religious Observation But those who appoint the first Day of every Week to be so observed do without doubt appoint that that should be the Condition of one Day in seven Now I could incline to this
the Law of it in the taking away of the seventh Day it self Such different Apprehensions have men of the use and improvement that may be made of the same Principles and Concessions For those of the later sort hope that if they can prove the Observation of the seventh Day precisely and not one of seven but only consequentially to be the whole of what is intended in the fourth Commandment that by vertue of the Apostles Rule Col. 2. 16. to which purpose he often elsewhere expresseth himself they shall be able to prove that it is utterly abolished Those of the other sort suppose that if they can make this to be the sense of the Commandment they shall prevail to fix a perpetual Obligation on all men from thence unto the Observation of the seventh Day precisely although the words of the Apostle seem to lye expresly against it § 42 But the supposition it self that both parties proceed upon is not only uncertain but certainly false For the very Order of Nature it self disposeth these things unto that series and mutual Respect which can never be interrupted The Command is about the separation of time unto the service of God This he tacitely grants nor will deny if he be pressed who contends for the seventh Day Here therefore it is natural and necessary that Time be indefinitely considered and required antecedently unto the Designation and Limitation of the portion of Time that is required This the Order of Nature requireth For if it be Time indefinitely that is limited in the Command unto the seventh Day Time indefinitely is the first Object of that Limitation And the case is the same with Reference unto one Day in seven This also hath and must have a natural priority unto the seventh Day for the seventh Day is one Day of the seven And these things are separable Some Part of Time may be separated unto Religious Worship and yet not one day in seven but any other portion in a certain Revolution of Dayes Weeks Months or Years if there be not a distinct Reason for it And one Day in seven may be so separated wherein the seventh Day precisely may have no Interest And these things the very Nature of them doth assert distinguish and determine Whatever Morality therefore or Obligation unto a perpetual Observance can be fancied by any to be in the Command as to the seventh Day it is but consequential unto dependant upon and separable from the command and duty for the Observance of One Day in seven And this sussiceth as to our present purpose For I do not yet treat with them who contend for the precise Observation of the seventh Day now under the Gospel It is enough that here we prove that the fourth Commandment requireth the Sacred Observation of one Day in seven and that so far as it doth so it is Moral and unchangeable § 43 All men as we have often observed do allow that there is something Moral in the fourth Commandment namely that either some part of it or the general Nature of it is so I do not therefore well understand them and Him of late who hath pleaded that the seventh Day only is required in that Command and yet that this seventh Day was absolutely Ceremonial and Typical being accordingly abolished The consistency of these Assertions doth not yet appear unto me For if the whole matter of the Command be Ceremonial the Command it self must needs be so also For a relief against this contradiction it is said that the Morality of this Command consists in this that we should look after and take up our Spiritual Rest in God But this will not allow that it should be a distinct Commandment of it self distinguished from all the Rest of the Decalogue nor indeed scarcely from any one of them For the Primitive End of all the Commandments was to direct us and bring us unto Rest with God of the first Table immediately and of the second in and by the Performance of the Duties of it among our selves And of the first Precept this is the sum so that it is unduely assigned to be the peculiar Morality of the fourth instead of the solemn Expression of that Rest as our End and Happiness Neither is there any way possible to manifest an especial Intention in and of any Law that is not found in this The Words and Letter of it in their proper and only sense require a Day or an especial season to be appointed for a Sacred Rest. And so doth the Nature of Religious Worship which undoubtedly is directed therein The Rest of God proposed in the Command as the Reason of it which was on the seventh day after six of working requireth the same Intention in the words So doth also the exact limitation of Time mentioned in it all in complyance with the Order and Place that it holds in the Decalogue wherein nothing in general is left unrequired in the Natural and Instituted Worship of God but only the setting apart with the Determination and Limitation of some time unto the solemn Observation of it Few therefore have ever denyed but that the Morality of this Command if it be Moral doth extend it self unto the separation of some part of our Time to the solemn recognizing of God and our subjection unto him and this in the Letter of the Law is limited on the Reasons before insisted on unto one day in seven in their perpetual Revolution The sole Enquiry therefore remaining is whether this Precept be Moral or no and so continue to be possessed of a Power perpetually obligatory to all the sons of men And this is that which we are now enquiring into § 44 Here therefore we must have respect unto what hath been discoursed concerning the subject matter of the Precept it self For if that be not only congruous to the Law of Nature but that also which by the Creation of our selves and all other things we are taught and obliged unto the Observation of the Law whereby it is required must be Moral For the Descriptive or Distinctive Term Moral doth first belong unto the things themselves required by any Law and thence to the Law whereby they are commanded If then we have proved that the thing it self required in the fourth Commandment or the Religious Observation of a Sacred Rest unto God for the Ends mentioned in the Periodical Revolution of seven dayes is Natural and Moral from the Relation that it hath unto the Law of Creation then there can be no Question of the Morality of that Command What hath been performed therein is left unto the Judgement of the Sober and Judicious Reader For no man can be more remote from a pertinacious adherence to his own sentiments or a Magisterial imposition of his Judgement and Apprehensions upon the minds thoughts or practice of other men than I desire to be For however we may please our selves in our light knowledge learning and sincerity yet when we have done all
Rest of a seventh Day was known and observed from the foundation of the World as hath been proved And therefore if from the Praefixe we are to conclude a Limitation or Determination to be intended in the Words Remember the Sabbath Day yet it respects only the Original Sabbath or the Sabbath in respect of its Original and not any new Institution of it For supposing the Observation of the Sabbath to have been before in use whether that use were only of late or a few dayes before or of more antient Times even from the beginning of the World the Command concerning it may be well expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remember the Sabbath Day 3. Suppose that the Sabbath had received a limitation to the seventh Day precisely in the Ordinance given unto that people in the first raining of Manna then doth the Observation of that Day precisely by vertue of this Command necessarily take place And yet the Command which is but the revival of what was required from the foundation of the world cannot be said to intend that Day precisely in the first place For the Reason of and in the Original Command for a Sabbatical Rest was Gods making the World in six dayes and resting on the seventh which requires no more but that in the continual Revolution of seven dayes six being allowed unto Work one should be observed a Sacred Rest to God These words therefore Remember the Sabbath Day referring unto the Primitive Command and Reason of it as is afterwards declared in the Body of the Law requires no more but a Weekly Day of Rest whereunto the seventh Day is reduced as added by an especial Ordinance And the Reason of this Commandment from the Works of God and the Order of them is repeated in the Decalogue because the Instruction given us by them being a part of the Law of our Creation more subject unto a neglect disregard and forgetfulness than those other Parts of it which were wholly innate to the Principles of our own Nature it was necessary that the Remembrance of it should be so expresly revived when in the other Precepts there is only a tacit excitation of our own inbred Light and Principles 4. The Emphatical Expression insisted on Remember the Sabbath Day hath respect unto the singular Necessity Use and Benefit of this holy Observance as also to that neglect and decay in its Observation which partly through their own sin partly through the Hardships that it met withal in the world the Church of former Ages had fallen into And what it had lately received of a new Institution with reference unto the Israelites falls also under this Command or is reduced unto it as a Ceremonial Branch under its proper Moral Head whereunto it is annexed And whereas it is greatly urged that the Command of the seventh Day precisely is not the Command of one day in seven and that what God hath determined as in this matter the Day is ought not to be indefinitely by us considered it may be all granted without the least Prejudice unto the Cause wherein we are ingaged For although the Institution of the seventh Day precisely be somewhat distinct from one Day in seven as containing a determinate limitation of that which in the other notion is left indefinite yet this hinders not but that God may appoint the one and the other the one in the Moral Reason of the Law the other by an especial determination and Institution And this especial Institution is to continue unless it be abrogated or changed by his own Authority which it may be without the least impeachment of the Moral Reason of the whole Law and a new day be limited by the same Authority which hath been done accordingly as we shall afterwards declare § 52 It is yet farther pleaded Disquisit p. 9 10 11 12. That no Distinction can be made between a Weekly Sabbath and the seventh Day precisely And if any such difference be asserted then if one of them be appointed in the fourth Commandment the other is not For there are not two Sabbaths enjoyned in it but one And it is evident that there never was of old but one Sabbath The Sabbath observed under the Old Testament was that required and prescribed in the fourth Commandment and so on the other side the Sabbath required in the Decalogue was that which was observed under the Old Testament and that only Two Sabbaths one of one Day in seven and the other of the seventh Day precisely are not to be fancied The seventh Day and that only was the Sabbath of the Old Testament and of the Decalogue These things I say are at large pleaded by the forementioned Author An. 1. These Objections are framed against a Distinction used by another Learned Person about the Sabbath as absolutely commanded in the Decacalogue and as injoyned to practise under the Old Testament But neither he nor any other sober Person ever fancied that there were two Sabbaths of old one injoyned unto the Church of the Israelites the other required in the Decalogue But any man may nay every prudent man ought to distinguish between the Sabbath as injoyned absolutely in words expressive of the Law of our Creation and Rule of our Moral Dependance on God in the fourth Command and the same Sabbath as it had a temporary occasional Determination to the seventh Day in the Church of the Jews by vertue of an especial Intimation of the Will of God suited unto that Administration of the Covenant which that Church and People were then admitted into I see therefore no Difficulty in these things The fourth Commandment doth not contain only the moral Equity that some Time should alwayes be set apart unto the Celebration of the Worship of God nor only the Original Instruction given us by the Law of Creation and the Covenant Obedience required of us thereon wherein the substance of the Command doth consist but it expresseth moreover the peculiar Application of this Command by the Will of God to the State of the Church then erected by him with respect unto the seventh Day precisely as before instituted and commanded Exod. 16. Nor is here the least appearance of two Sabbaths but one only is absolutely commanded unto all and determined unto a certain Day for the use of some for a season § 53 2. That one Day in seven only and not the seventh Day precisely is directly and immediately injoyned in the Decalogue and the seventh only with respect unto an antecedent Mosaical Institution with the Nature of that Administration of the Covenant which the people of Israel were then taken into hath been evinced in our investigation of the Causes and Ends of the Sabbath preceding and been cleared by many And it seems evident to an impartial consideration For the Observation of one Day in seven belongs unto every Covenant of God with man And the Decalogue is the unvariable Rule of mans walking before God and living unto him of what
a shadow It is true that which is Moral so far as it is Moral cannot be a shadow We therefore say that the Weekly Observation of a Day of Rest from the foundation of the world whereunto a general Obligation was laid on all men unto its Observation the Command whereof was a part of the Moral Law of God was no shadow nor is so called by the Apostle nor did Typifie good things to come But that which is in its own Nature Moral may in respect of some peculiar manner of its Observance in such a Time or season and some Adjuncts annexed unto it in respect whereof it becomes a part of Ceremonial Worship be so far and in those respects esteemed a shadow and as such pass away In brief The Command it self of observing one Day in seven as an holy Rest unto God hath nothing Aaronical or Typical in it but hath its foundation in the Light of Nature as directed by the Works of God and his Rest thereon For its limitation precisely to the last Day of the Week with other Directions and Injunctions for and in the manner of its Observance they were Mosaical and as a shadow are departed as we shall manifest in our ensuing Exercitations § 59 But yet neither can it be absolutely proved if we would insist thereon that the Weekly Sabbath is in any sense intended in these words of the Apostle For he may design the Sabbatical Years which were instituted among that people and probably now pressed by the Judaizing Teachers on the Gentile Proselytes Nor will the exception put in from some of the Rabbins that the Sabbatical Years were not to be observed out of the Land of Canaan from which Colosse was far enough distant reinforce the Argument to this purpose For as men in one place may have their Consciences exercised and bound with the Opinion of what is to be done in another though they cannot engage in the practice of it whilst they are absent so our Apostle chargeth the Galatians as far distant from Canaan as the Colossians that when they began to Judaize they observed years as well as Dayes and Months and Times which could respect only the Sabbatical years that were instituted by the Law of Moses Exercitatio Quarta Of the Judaical Sabbath 1 The Sabbath how required by the Law of Nature as a Covenant 2 Explanations of the Law of the Sabbath in the fourth Precept of the Decalogue 3 The Law of Creation and Covenant of Works renewed in the Church of Israel with what Alterations 4 The Sabbath why said to be given peculiarly to the Israelites 5 Change in the Covenant introduceth a change in the Sabbath 6 The whole Nature of the Judaical Sabbath and how it is abolished 7 Jews sense of the Original of the Sabbath rejected 8 The first appropriation of the Law of the Sabbath to that people Exod. 16. 9 Their mistakes about its Observation 10 The giving of the Law on Mount Sinai with the Ends of it 11 Nature of the fourth Commandment thereon what Ceremonial in it 12 Renovation of the Command of the Sabbath Exod. 31. 12 13. 13 Occasion hereof 14 Appropriations made of the Sabbath to the Church of Israel in this Renovation 15 The Commandment renewed again Exod. 34. 21. New additions made to it 16 So also Exod. 35. 2 3. 17 The whole matter stated Deut. 5. 15. 18 The Conclusion The Fourth Exercitation § 1 WE have declared how the Observation of a Septenary Sacred Rest is required by the Moral Law or the Law of our Creation Now this is not absolutely and meerly as it is a Law but as it contained a Covenant between God and man A Law it might have been and not have had the nature of a Covenant which doth not necessarily follow upon either its instructive or preceptive Power Yet it was originally given in the Counsel of God to that End and accompanied with Promises and Threatnings whence it had the Nature of a Covenant By vertue of this Law as a Covenant was the Observation of a Sabbath prescribed and required as a Token and Pledge of Gods Rest in that Covenant in the performance of the Works whereon it was constituted and of the Interest of man in that Rest as also a Means of Entrance into it On this ground it should have been observed in the State of Innocency wherein the Law of it was given and declared For it was no less necessary unto that state and condition than unto any other wherein God requireth Covenant Obedience of men nor considering the Nature and Ends of an holy Rest or Sabbath can any Reason be given why it should be thought accommodated only to the Administration of the Covenant under the Old Testament after the giveing of the Law whereunto by some it is appropriated § 2 It is true indeed that in the Fourth Commandment there is an explanation of the Rest of the Sabbath so far as it consisteth in a Cessation from our own works that are of use and advantage to the outward man in this life suited as unto the state and condition of mankind in general since the Fall so unto the especial state of the Jews at that time when the Law was given as there was also in the Additional Appendix of the first Commandment But for the substance of it the same kind of Rest was to be observed in the State of Innocency and was necessary thereunto on the grounds before insisted or Servile Labour with Trouble Sweat and Vexation was occasioned by the Curse Gen. 3. 17 18 19. The State also of Servants and Handmaids such as was then and is still in use followed on the entrance of sin though meerly to serve be no part of the Curse 1 Cor. 7. 20 21. as having its foundation in that subordination which is natural And the Government of Servants ought not to be Despotical but Paternal Gen. 18. 19. In these things there was some Variation supposed in the giving of the Decalogue as to their outward manner from the original state of things amongst mankind But there was also Work required of man or labour in the Earth with reference unto his natural life and subsistence in this world in the state of Innocency For it is said expresly that God put man into the Garden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 15. to labour in it and to preserve it by labour for his Use. A Cessation therefore from bodily labour was consistent with and useful unto that condition that men thereby might be enabled to give themselves in the season they were directed unto by the Works and Example of God wholly unto the especial Ends of living unto him according to the Covenant made with them There is nothing therefore in the fourth Commandment directing unto six dayes of labour and requiring a seventh unto Rest that is inconsistent or not compliant with the Law of our Creation and the state of living unto God constituted thereby although the
applying the duties and services of a Sabbath unto it hath also been demonstrated And that this was owned from the Authority of the Lord is declared by John in the Revelation who calls it the Lords Day Rev. 1. 10. whereby he did not surprize the Churches with a new name but denoted to them the Time of his Visions by the name of the Day which was well known unto them And there is no solid Reason why it should be so called but that it owes its pre-eminence and observation unto his Institution and Authority And no man who shall deny these things can give any tolerable account how when or from whence this Day came to be so observed and so called It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords Day the Day of the Lord as the Holy Supper is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11. 20. the Lords Supper by reason of his Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Day of the Lord in the Old Testament which the LXX render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies indeed some illustrious Appearance of God in a way of judgement or mercy And so also in the Person of Christ this was the Day of his Appearance Mark 16. 9. So was it still called by the ancient Writers of the Church Ignatius in Epist. ad Trall ad magnes ect Dionysius of Corinth Epist. ad Rom. in Euseb. Hist. lib. 4. cap. 21. Theophilus Antioch lib. 1. in 4. Evangel Clemens Alex. stromat lib. 7. cap. 7. Origen lib. 8. con Cels. Tertul. de Coron milit cap. 3. As for those who assign the Institution of this Day to the Apostles although the supposition be false yet it weakens not the divine original of it For an Obligation lying on all Believers to observe a Sabbath unto the Lord and the Day observed under the Law of Moses being removed it is not to be imagined that the Apostles fixed on another Day without immediate direction from the Lord Christ. For indeed they delivered nothing to be constantly observed in the worship of God but what they had his Authority for 1 Cor. 11. 23. In all things of this nature as they had the infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost so they acted immediately in the Name and Authority of Christ where what they ordained was no less of divine Institution than if it had been appointed by Christ in his own person It is true they themselves did for a season whilest their Ministery was to have a peculiar regard to the Jews for the calling and conversion of the remnant that was amongst them according to the election of grace go frequently into their Synagogues on the seventh Day to preach the Gospel Act. 13. 14. Chap. 16. 13. Chap. 17. 2. Chap. 18. 4. But it is evident that they did so only to take the opportunity of their Assemblies that they might preach unto the greater numbers of them and that at such a season wherein they were prepared to attend unto sacred things Upon the same ground Paul laboured if it were possible to be at Hierusalem at the Feast of Pentecost Act. 20. 16. But that they at any time assembled the Disciples of Christ on that day for the worship of God that we read not § 29 We may now look back and take a view of what we have passed through That one Day in seven is by virtue of a divine Law to be observed Holy unto the Lord the original of such an observation Gen. 2. 2. the Letter of the fourth Commandement with the nature of the Covenant between God and man do prove and evince And hereunto is there a considerable suffrage given by learned men of all parties The Doctrine of the Reformed Divines hereabouts hath been largely represented by others They also of the Church of Rome that is many of them agree herein It is asserted in the Canon Law it self Tit. de Feriis cap. licet where the words of Alexander the third are Tam veteris quam novi Testamenti pagina septimum Diem ad humanam quietem specialiter deputavit where by septimus Dies he understands one Day in seven as Suarez sheweth De Relig. lib. 2. cap. 2. And it is so by sundry Canonists reckoned up by Covarruvias The Schoolmen also give in their consent as Bannes in 2a 2a g. 44. a. 1. Bellarmine contends expresly decultsanct lib. 3. cap. 11. that Jus divinum requirebat ut unus Dies Hebdomadae dicaretur cultui divino So doth Suarez de dieb sac cap. 1. and others might be added We have the like common consent that whatever in the institution and observation of the Sabbath under the Old Testament was peculiar unto that state of the Church either in its own nature or in its use and signification or in its manner of observance is taken away by virtue of those Rules Rom. 14. 5. Gal. 4. 10. Col. 2. 16 17. Nor can it be denied but that sundry things annexed unto the Sabbatical Rest peculiar to that Church-state which was to be removed were wholly inconsistent with the spirit grace and liberty of the Gospel I have also proved that the observation of the seventh Day precisely was a pledge of Gods Rest in the Covenant of works and of our Rest in him and with him thereby so that it cannot be retained without a re-introduction of that Covenant and the Righteousness thereof And therefore although the command for the observation of a Sabbath to the Lord so far as it is moral is put over into the Rule of the new Covenant wherein Grace is administred for the duty it requires yet take the seventh Day preeisely as the seventh Day and it is an Old Testament arbitrary institution which falls under no promise of spiritual assistance in or unto the observation of it Under the New Testament we have found a new Creation a new Law of Creation a new Covenant the Rest of Christ in that Work Law and Covenant the limiting of a Day of Rest unto us on the Day wherein he entred into his Rest a new Name given unto this Day with respect unto his Authority by whom it was appointed and an observation of it by all the Churches so that we may say of it This is the Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it as Psal. 118. 24. § 30 These foundations being laid I shall yet by some important considerations if I mistake not give some farther evidence unto the necessity of the Religious observation of the first Day of the Week in opposition unto the Day of the Law by some contended for It is therefore first acknowledged that the observation of some certain Day in and for the solemn publick Worship of God is of indispensible necessity They are beneath our consideration by whom this is denyed Most acknowledge it to be a Dictate of the Law of Nature and the Nature of these things doth require it We have proved also that there
this matter with the Blessing that attended it was that which multitudes now at Rest do bless God for and many that are yet alive do greatly rejoyce in Let these things be despised by those who are otherwise minded to me they are of great weight and importance § 32 Let us now a sittle consider the Day that by some is set up not only in competition with this but to its utter exclusion This is the seventh Day of the week or the old Judaical Sabbath which some contend that we are perpetually obliged to the observation of by vertue of the Fourth Commandment The Grounds whereon they proceed in their Affertion have been already disproved so far as the Nature of our present undertaking will admit and such evidences given unto the change of the Day as will not easily be everted nor removed The consequences of the observation of the seventh Day should the practice of it be re-assumed amongst Christians is that which at present I shall a little enquire into when we have summed up somewhat of what hath been spoken 1 It was not directly nor absolutely required in the Decalogue but consequentially only by way of Appropriation to the Mosaical Oeconomy whereunto it was then annexed The command is to observe the Sabbath-day and the blessing is upon the Sabbath-day God blessed the Sabbath-day And the mention of the seventh day in the Body of the command fixeth the number of the Dayes in whose Revolution a Sabbatical Rest returns but determines not an everlasting Order in them seeing the Order relating to the Old Creation is inconsistent with the Law Reason and Worship of the New And if the seventh day and the Sabbath as some pretend are the same the sense of the command in the enforcing part of it is but the seventh day is the seventh day of the Lord thy God which is none at all 2 The state of the Church and the Administration of the Covenant whereunto the observation of this day was annexed are removed so that it cannot continue no more than an House can stand without a Foundation 3 The Lord Christ who was the Lord of the Sabbath and by assuming that Iitle to himself manifested his Authority as to the disposal of the Day whereon a Sabbatical Rest was to be observed hath in his own Rest from his works limited unto us another day of Sacred Rest called from his appointment of it the Lords-day his Day who is the Lord of the Sabbath 4 The Day so introduced by his Authority hath from the Day of his Rest been observed without interruption or any such difference about it as fell out among the Churches of God about other Feast dayes whose observation was introduced among them they knew not well how as of the Pascha and the like And whereas the due observation of it hath been enjoyned by Councils Edicts of Emperors Kings and Princes Laws of all sorts advised and pressed by the antient Writers amongst Christians and the practice of its observance taken notice of by all who from the beginning have committed the Affairs of Christianity unto posterity yet none of any sort pretend to give it any original but all mediately or immediately referr it unto Christ himself The observation then of this Day First is an evident Judaizing and a returnal unto those Rudiments of the World which the Apostle so severely cautioneth us against I know not how it is come to pass but so it is faln out that the nearer Judaism is unto an absolute Abolition and Disappearance the more some seem inclinable to its revival and continuance or at least to fall back themselves into its antiquated observances An end it had put to it morally and legally long ago in the coming Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we may say of it what the Apostle said of Idols when the World was full of Idolatry we know that Judaism is nothing in the world no such thing as by some it is esteemed The actual Abolition of it in the profession of the present Jews by the removing of the Veyle from their Hearts and Eyes and their turning unto God we hope is in its approach And yet as was said there seems in many an inclination unto their Rites and servile observances It is apparent in the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles especially that to the Hebrews that at the first preaching of the Gospel there were very many Jews who came over to the faith and profession of it Many of these continued zealous of the Law and would bring along with them all their Mosaical Institutions which they thought were to abide in force for ever In this weakness and mis-apprehension they were forborn in the patience of God and wisdome of the Holy Ghost guiding the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ. In this state things continued unto the destruction of Hierusalem and the Temple when the chiefest cause of their contests was taken away In the mean time they carried themselves very variously according to the various tempers of their minds For it is apparent that some of them were not content themselves to be indulged in their opinions and practices but they endeavoured by all means to impose the observance of the whole Mosaical Law on the Churches of the Gentiles Their Circumcision their Sabbaths their Feasts and Fasts their Abstinences from this or that kind of meats they were contending about and thereby perverting the minds of the Disciples Some stop was put to the evil consequences hereof in the Synod at Hierusalem Acts 15. which yet determined nothing concerning the Jews own practice but only concerning the liberty of the Gentile-Believers After the destruction of Hierusalem City and Temple these professing Jews fell into several distinct wayes Some of them who as is probable had despised the heavenly warning of leaving the place took up their lot amongst their unbelieving Brethren relinquishing the profession of the Gospel which they had made not it may be with any express renuntiation of Christ but with a dis-regard of the Gospel which brought them not those good things they looked for of which mind Josephus the Historian seems to be one These in time became a part of that Apostate brood which have since continued in their enmity to the Gospel and into whose new and old superstitions they introduced sundry customes which they had learned among the Christians Some absolutely relinquished their old Judaism and compleatly incorporated with the new Gentile Churches unto whom the promise and Covenant of Abraham was transferred and made over These were the genuine Disciples of our great Apostle Others continued their profession of the Gospel but yet still thought themselves obliged unto the observation of the Law of Moses and all its institutions Hereupon they continued in a distinct and separate state from the Believers and Churches of the Gentiles and that for some Ages as some say to the dayes of Adrian These it may be were they whom Eusebius out