it so Having premised this by the way now let us see how the old Sabbath was founded upon the finishing of his works As thus That day which God hath honoured and crowned with the accomplishment of the greatest work must be the day of solemn worship or sabbath-Sabbath-day But the seventh day from the Creation was thus honoured and crowned in the Cradle or infancy of the world Therefore that day must be the Sabbath day viz. till a greater work take place And then the argument will conclude as strongly for the change of the day as ever it did for the choice of it For we shall argue thus If the ground of stating the Sabbath on the seventh day were applicable to another day then the Sabbath in the first ground-work of it was alterable to another day But the ground of stating it upon that old seventh day was applicable to another day therefore c. The consequence is cleere as the Sun for as it is with duties so with dayes of worship the grounds upon which they are setled being applicable to other times and places the dayes and duties themselves have alwayes been moveable and circumstantially mutable also as that duty of reverencing of Gods Sanctuary which is mated and coupled with keeping his Sabbaths the ground of it being applicable to the Temple as well as the Tabernacle Levit. 19.30 the duty it self was also moveable from the Tabernacle to the Temple although the first were only in being when the precept was given And the like must be said of the Sabbath The consequence hath evidence enough in it self to every vulgar eye If the foundation be moveable so is the building If the Assumption be questioned viz. That the ground of fixing the Sabbath on the seventh day was moveable and applicable to another day we shall thus confirm it The ground of fixing the Sabbath on the old seventh day was Gods honouring and advancing that day above all other dayes for the time being by his most eminent work of Creation manifested to be accomplished on that day therefore when another day shall be crowned with the accomplishment of a more eminent Creation the same ground and reason which cast the Sabbath on the old day will unavoidably carry it to the new Now the work of Redemption is a new Creation 2 Cor. 5.17 and it was long ago prophesied that as the a Hag. 2.9 glory of the second Temple should out shine that of the first so the glory of this new Creation should excell that of the old and comparatively eate out the memory of it b Isai 65.17 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth sayes the Lord and the old shall not be remembered nor come into mind Not that the Lord would simply and absolutely have the memory of the Creation to be lessened but respectively and in comparison of Redemption it must not be obliterated but only subordinated retained and remembred it must be still but as a lesser work then Redemption and as a lesser good to us as the Law is to the Gospel or the Old Testament to the New Redemption must be owned as the greater and better work in as much as Spiritual things are better then Natural and Gods last works are his best the first being only preparative to the last as Dr. Sibbs excellently observes Mat. 16.26 Mark 8.36 And verily he that shall question whether Redemption be a greater and better work then Creation knows little what a Redeemer is or what the ransome of an immortal soul is worth See Mr. Phil. Goodw. Dies Dominic rediv. pa. 11.12 13. I should think as mans gaining the world cannot recompense the loss of his soul so Gods creating of the world doth not equalize Christs redeeming the soul In creating the world indeed the Lord has done much for me but in shedding his precious blood in conquering sin and death he hath done more then if he had created another world for me Let the redeemed of the Lord say so yea the work is not only better to me but greater in it self too In creation there was but a words speaking and the work was presently done 2 Cor. 5.21 Gal. 3.13 See more in Dr. Gouge Heb. 9. S. 63. but in Redemption there was doing and dying God must come down from heaven God must be made man yea God-man must be made sin and a curse for me Here was a work exceeding wonder Besides in the work of Creation there was nothing to with stand But in the work of Redemption here was Justice against Mercy wrath against pity In a word in the Creation God brought something out of nothing but in redemption he hath out of one contrary brought another good out of evil life out of death Is not thy soul ravished Christian at these discoveries of wisdome grace and power shining forth in thy souls Redemption Canst thou see the like in the worlds Creation Is there not more glory in one Christ then in many worlds What a sapless unsavory question therefore to a soul that knows any thing of Christ Pa. 130. is that which T. T. propounds Who told thee the work of Redemption was the greater work A question more beseeming a Jew then a Christian But the answer is ready at hand He that hath told me the heavens are the works of his a Psalm 8.3 fingers and Redemption the work of his b Isal 52.9 10. arm his out-stretched unbared arm hath sufficiently taught me that Redemption is the greater work a work of greater might I am sure of greater mercy And so for his next question If it be the greater work who told thee that it deserves the honour of the day I answer a wiser and better man then you or I that man after Gods own heart who was most likely to know the mind of the Lord he has foretold it in that 118th Psalm when by a prophetick spirit foreseeing the glory of the resurrection day as a day amongst the seven dayes like the Sun amongst the seven planets he accordingly salutes it with a magnificent Title This is the day which the Lord hath made yea magnified for the word signifies not only to make but to magnifie and advance above all others c 1 Sam. 12.6 And such was the power of God in raising Christ hat the Psalmist cryes our it is marvellous in our sight Acts 4.10.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est vel imus vel summus lapis Arretius in 1 Pet. 2.7 Mat. 11.11 As by the same word the Lord is said to advance Moses and Aaron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to lift them up in dignity and preeminency above the rest of the people Thus he foresaw that the Lord would magnifie and exalt the resurrection day and why Because on this day the most glorious work of redemption was to be accomplished the stone which the builders resused being made the head of the corner i. e. to perfect
and complete the fabrick of the new Creation And thus is the resurrection-resurrection-day prophetically crowned with honour above all other dayes Old Sabbath and all For the work crowns the day and the greater the work the greater the day And therefore although the last day of the week were the greatest in dignity during the supereminency of the old Creation yet when a greater work was to be finished the day on which it was to conclude must without dispute be the greater day As John Baptist being the last and greatest of the prophets yet was lesse then the least in the Kingdome of heaven so I may say of the Old Sabbath the greatest day under the Old Testament yet it must vail and stoop when the Sun of righteousness shines forth in a new day under the New Testament Surely the second Creation must have a Sabbath of commemoration as well as the first or else God should magnifie his lesser work of Creation above his greater work of Redemption And thus I suppose I have made good my Position both Logically and Theologically that the old seventh day was alterable in its first institution since the same ground of stating the Sabbath at first upon that day might be a sufficient ground of translating it to another day as now it is and that by Divine Authority as shall be seen hereafter The adversary has no considerable weapons to oppose this truth withal but what have been already beaten out of Mr. Brabourns hands and are sufficiently blunted by others or if any new ones be added we shall now try what mettal they are made of Obj. 1 T.T. p. 7. The seventh day sayes he was set apart in memorial of the most glorious work of Creation the benefit whereof being extended to us p. 69. engageth us to that day still And again The world being created not only for Israel but for all people I appeal to all conscientious Christians whether all mankind be not bound to that very day who enjoy the benefit of the Creation By the way let me tell him when I read his insulting challenge I expected Scripture-arguments and not popular appeals But to let him swim in his own element the sum of his appealing for arguing I cannot call it amounts but to this that if the old seventh day were set apart in memory of the Creation which every Christian as a creature is bound to commemorate then the day is unchangeable perpetually to be observed But to this I answer The consequence is sick and crasie Answer and therefore it can produce but a weak conclusion For first the Covenant of grace I suppose is as ancient as the old Sabbath I am sure as eminent a mercy as the occasion of the Sabbath And doubtless to every true-hearted Christian the memory of Gods Covenant is and ought to be as precious as the memory of the worlds Creation yet I hope he will not say that circumcision and sacrifices the old memorials of the Covenant are therefore still in force or ought to be still in use among Christians who are interested in that Covenant And the like may I say of the Saturday-Sabbath Let none object the disparity between the Old Sabbath and circumcision for they are both clad in a livery of the same colour in many things they do much resemble one another Was a Gen. 17.11 circumcision a sign betwixt God and the seed of Abraham so was the b Exod. 31.17 old Sabbath betwixt God and the house of Israel Was c Gen. 17.7 circumcision a perpetual Covenant with Abrahams seed in their generation So also was the d Exod. 31.16 Sabbath to be kept as a perpetual Covenant throughout their generations In a word was e Gen. 17.14 circumcision so exacted that whosoever was uncircumcised must be cut off from the house of Israel why so also was the old f Exod. 31.14 Sabbath whosoever doth any work therein that soul shall be cut off from among the people Again let none tax me with incongruity in comparing the old Sabbath and sacrifices together for the Lord of the Sabbath himself hath taught me to lay them in an equal ballance who when the Pharisees clamoured his Disciples for Sabbath breaking stops their mouths with that g Hos 6.6 Mat. 12.7 Pluris apud De um salus mortalium quà ms crifi iapecudum Muscul in Loc. Scripture The Lord will have merey and not socrifice That is the necessities of men relieved rather then the supposed letter of the Law observed In my poor judgment it is very considerable that such a person at such a time should match the Sabbath day and sacrifices together for it was not the Sabbath in general but the Sabbath day which was then under dispute Surely there was some mystery in this Divinity of our Saviour But this may suffice for a first answer As the Covenant of grace is perpetually to be commemorated but not by circumcision and sacrifices the old memorials of it so the work of creation is continually to be had in remembrace but not by the old Sabbaths celebration For we say as the new Covenant must have new signs so the new creation a new Sabbath And 2. A new day might keep alive the memory of the old Creation Meditatio celebratio operum Dei non minus alio die quà m septimoficri potest Ursin although it be primarily intended as a memorial of redemption And this double honour is put upon the Lords day as the first day of the week it commemorates the worlds redemption as the seventh day in weekly recourse it calls to mind the worlds Creation For in labouring six dayes and resting the seventh weekly we recognize Gods working six dayes and resting the seventh originally And here I may as rationally as T.T. appeal to any ingenuous Christian if the Old Sabbath served the Jews as a means to keep them mindful both of the worlds Creation and their redemption from Egypt why may not our Lords day Sabbath be the Christians memorandum both of the worlds Creation Deut. 5.15 and his Redemption from hell Of the last most directly indeed and that most deservedly being the greatest work and the richest mercy For although t is true to have an earth to tread upon an aire to breath in light to look upon creatures to live upon are excellent mercies yet to have an angry God reconciled a sinful nature repaired Death and Hell vanquished Heaven and glory purchased and assured is infinitely more blessed more beneficial To conclude If I must consecrate a weekly Sabbath to the Lord what day more proper more suitable more significant then that which bears a lively inscriptior of the Lord my Redeemer not without some commemoration of God my Creator But the old seventh day may still he retained in memory of the Creation and the Lords day be celebrated too in memory of Redemption though not as a Sabbath both dayes may lovingly live together
to break the bonds of Christian unity and the bounds of Christian liberty yea to render the golden yoke of Christs Gospel heavier then the Iron yoke of Moses Law But his wretched design is visible in pressing two dayes in a week he would suppresse one The old seventh day must be kept as a Sabbath the Lords day only as a Church holy-day or State holy-day rather for he calls it mans Sabbath But I beseech you what has man to do to appoint a weekly holy-day contrary to Gods expresse command of six dayes for labour If the Lords day be of mans making you sin in keeping of it Psalm 118.24 But if it be a day of Gods making as the Scripture sayes then you sin in keeping any other weekly day besides it And to close all let me adde this which will not easily be answered To keep the old seventh day as a Sabbath in memory of the Creation and the Lords day only as a lesser holy-day in memory of Redemption is to place the greater honour upon the lesser work and to professe that we are lesse ingaged to Christ for shedding his blood to redeem the world then to God the Father for speaking the word to create the world which how it can stand with that Gospel-precept of honouring the Son as we honour the Father John 5.23 let any sober Christian judg Thus we have considered the ground of the Sabbaths institution in the first sense as Gods ending his work may be understood in respect of Providence But 2. Secondly and chiefly God may be said to have ended his work on the seventh day in respect of the promise then manifested to have been given by Christs actual undertaking the work of his Mediatorship and the Fathers rest or complacency in that blessed undertaking of the Son And here I doubt not but we shall make it appear by the light of Gods candle shining in the Scriptures that the first institution of the seventh day was founded not so much upon the memory of the Creation as upon the first publication of Christ in the promise and then it will undeniably follow that the day was made mutable in the first foundation of it For a day fixed upon the making of a promise must needs be changed upon the making good of that promise To make way for the framing of my argument I shall premise these seven considerations 1. That man sinned and fell the same day on which he was created as has been already argued and shall be further proved in the close of this position neither should it seem improbable or incredible to any that so goodly a building should be raised and ruinated both in one day considering the foundation of it stood upon the tottering Sands of free-will not the impregnable rock of free-grace and Christs righteousness 2. As man fell suddenly so Christ was promised seasonably and early The merciful Lord would not let the Sun go down upon his wrath but in the cool of the day while the wound of mans fall was yet fresh and bleeding he gave him that soveraign plaster in the promise Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head 3. That the fall of man brought corruption and confusion upon the whole Creation Gen. 3.17 18. Rom. 8.21 22. subjecting it to the curse of God the consequences whereof are misery and vanity 4. That therefore when it is said Gen. 2.2 On the seventh day God ended or perfected his work for so the word may be rendered and so it is Ezek. 16.14 it may well bear this construction that upon the seventh day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the actual undertaking of Christ newly promised to bring about mans redemption So 2 Chron. 4 12. and the worlds restauration the creatures were brought into a better state then they were in before See more of this in that learned Treatise of Mr. G Walker intituled the Doctrine of the Sabbath as corrupted and defaced by the sin of man This is certain that upon the sixth day the creation was dispatched and fully perfected as to natural perfection Therefore when it is said on the seventh day God perfected his works it may well be understood of a further and higher degree of perfection even that which was supernatural shewing a higher and more excellent end of all things created then that which at first they were created unto At least it implyes such a perfection as consisted in the creatures restauration by the mediation of Christ which made way for the setting of all to rights again A most blessed and seasonable transaction for a sin-shattered world which had certainly been demolished and laine buried in its own ruines had not the blessed Son of God put to his gracious helping-hand These are no humane fancies for a Colos 1.17 Heb. 1.3 Psal 75.3 the Scriptures do abundantly testifie that the Lord Christ is the great supporter and repairer of the Creation without whom we have reason to think that the Sun would not shine one day nor the world stand one moment Hence 5. It followes that God rested on the seventh day That is not only ceased from his work but found rest in his Son he rested and was refreshed Exod. 31.17 that is with a rest full of sweetness and delight such as he finds only in Christ in whom his soul delighteth Isai 42.2 And hence again it is said 6. That God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it how did he blesse it but by ordaining it as a day of Grace and spiritual blessings to the souls of his people during the Old Testament Now this kind of blessing was utterly inconsistent with that covenant of works made with Adam in the state of innocency there was no Grace no Christ in that Covenant But all spiritual blessings flow from Christ that fountain of the Gardens Eph. 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore blessed be God sayes that blessed Apostle who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesns Did the Lord then ordain the seventh day to be a day of spiritual blessings to the souls of his people Why still this strongly argues that Christ in the promise lay at the bottom of that day in the first designation of it for he was that blessed seed in whom it was all along promised that the nations and families of the earth should be blessed I would ask T.T. and his followers whether the blessings which they expect by vertue of the old Sabbaths Institution be new Covenant-blessings If so then they cannot deny but the day thus blessed was bottomed upon Christ The foundation of the new Covenant a Isai 42.6 I say upon Christ in the promise that renowned promise of blessed memory the seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head which promise was first made to Adam the father of men Gen. 3.15 and afterwards renewed to b Gen. 12.3 c. 18.22 c.
as needs he must those that maintain the fourth Commandment to be moral for one day in seven not the old seventh day then let me tell him his charging them with no want of ignorance argues in himself no want of impudence for upon whom does this arrogant censure fall but upon all the Learned Zealous and pious servants of God called Puritans who have encountred the rigid prelatical party in this controversie as a p 73. Dr. Bownd b Hexap in Gen p 43. Dr. Willet c Sect. 6. Dr. Twiss d Dies Domin l. 1. c. 10 Dr. Young e Mosaic Sab. p. 70. Mr. Bernard of Batcomb f in Gen. 2. moral of the fourth Co. Mr. White of Dorch g Doctr. of the Sab. vind p. 236 Mr. Byfield h of the Sab. p. 78. Mr. Fenner i Declar. the Sab. p. 101. Mr. Cleaver k p. 6. 36. Mr. Sprint l part 2. c. 7. throughout Mr. Cawdrey and Mr. Palmer and whom not of savory name in the Church of Christ do they not all affirm the same thing That the Comandment is substantially moral for one day in seven not that old seventh day and must all these modern worthies be branded for meer ignoramus's And not only these but all the Ancients too whose testimony they have all along cited Surely this man is very wise in his own conceit that he can thus look upon the greatest lights of these latter dayes as fools and dunces But I shall not answer him in his folly therefore to proceed Whereas he objects that we have Gods pattern in the mount the precise time of his rest to point out the day Answ 2 As in the first Institution of the supper Christ made use of unleavened bread yet his example binds us only to the use of bread not that which is unleavened So for the first Institution of the Sabbath God rested on the seventh day from Creation yet his example binds us only to a day of that number not that particular day See the new Annot. in Exod. 20. Attersolls new Cov. I answer as before that Gods pattern or example is directly propounded in the Commandment to point out the proportion not the particular day The proportion I say of one day in seven for rest in opposition to six working dayes And therefore the number of Gods working dayes is specified in the example as well as the day of his rest for in six dayes the Lord made Heaven Earth and Sea and rested the seventh day plainly intimating that the main force of the example is to bind us to such a number of dayes six for labour and one in a week for rest not such an order as first or last of seven Or admit there were some thing else in it namely that indirectly and occasionally it did lead the Jews to that old seventh day that is during the significancy of that day and the supereminency of the first Creation yet when a new Creation is finished and a new rest from a greater work manifested upon another day that indirect and occasional force of the example for the old day must needs be out of force to us being subordinated and swallowed up by the glory of a greater work and a better rest upon another day And that without any violation of the precept at all yea or the example either in the direct scope of it for one day in seven A new day might be and is instituted and yet the main scope both of the precept and example still observed in our labouring six dayes and resting every seventh Only that which was circumstantial and occasional is altered upon the account of the new Creatio or Redemption which comparatively was to put out the memory of the old Creation as it is plain Isai 65.17 And that thus it should be that the occasional force of Gods example as to the old day should be out of force to us and yet a weekly Sabbath to be still observed by the moral and direct force of the command me thinks it is not obscurely signified in the Commandment it self if we do but compare two places together Exod. 20. with Deut. 5. at the first giving of the Law in thunder and terrour Exod. 20.11 compared with Deut. 5.15 the Sabbath is wholly inforced from the Creation and Gods example in resting from that work as was said before but in the repetition or second-giving of the law by the hand of Moses a typical mediatour Deut. 5. you see the reason from the Creation is quite left out and the Sabbath is altogether inforced by a type of our Redemption viz. their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt Mr. G. Abbot Vindic. Sabb. a most accurate Treatise never yet answered So also see learned Ainsworth in Exod. 20. and the Lord brought thee thence by a mighty hand therefore he commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day lively intimating as a learned Author observes the subsistence of the fourth Commandment under the Gospel and the binding authority of it by the incorporation of a new reason drawn from our Redemption or spiritual deliverance by Christ instead of the old reason drawn from the Creation which is here utterly omitted And as he sayes well it is worthy to be considere whether such a repetition of the fourth Commandment not Seorsim or by it self alone but together with the whole decalogue in its proper place and order with such a material omission or alteration be not very significant and what can it more properly signifie then this that under the second and best dispensation of the Law that is under the Gospel the main argument for our weekly Sabbath should be the work of Redemption Surely their deliverance from Egypt literally considered was not comparable to the work of Creation that it should here be propounded as the reason of the Sabbath and the other left out but as a type of the most glorious and gracious work of Redemption there was much weight in it And if the type it self were thus significant Argum. a minori as to carry the force of a reason for the weekly Sabbath setting aside the Creation how much more should the antitype which excells all types in glory as much as the Su does the shadow It will perhaps be objected That this argues the perpetuity of the old seventh day under the Gospel I answer No it quite overthrowes it for in as much as it signifies the weekly celebration of a Sabbath in memory of Redemption rather then of Creation it evidently implyes that when this greater work should be finished the memory of the Creation upon which the old day was fixed should be swallowed up by the worke of Redemption and then the day it self must unavoidably be changed It s true while the type lasted and Redemption was rather figured then fulfilled the old day was still to be obseved
Judaerum celebrabitur amittetis regnum Sacrdotium celebrabitur nomen Christianorum Luther for the Lord God will slay thee and call his servants by another name and then v. 17. he intimates the coming in of this new name as a consequent of the new Creation For behold I make new heavens c. So that these new heavens must be created before the Disciples were called Christians Acts 11.26 and so far accomplished then as to out-shine the first Creation the supereminency whereof was the foundation on which theold seventh day stood I may therefore safely conclude The old Sabbath cannot possibly stand with the new Creation unless some new device can be found out to make an old house stand without a foundation But yet further that the work of the new Creation must necessarily draw after it a new Sabbath will more evidently appear if we look to the next Chapter Isai 66. opened where this Evangelical prophet seems rather to write an history then a prophecy of the new world under the Messiah describing it 1. By its new inhabitants or Church-members namely the n Verse 12.18 19 20. Gentiles 2. By its new Church-officers under those old titles of o V. 21. Priests and Levites I will also take of them meaning the converted Gentiles for Priests and for Levites saith the Lord. 3. By its new seasons of solemn worship under those old terms of new Moons and Sabbaths Vers 23 It shall come to pass that from one new Moon to another New Moons and Sabbaths by a figurative kind of phrase two words used to express one and the same thing are here put for the ordinary stated seasons of solemn worship in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Kings 4.23 Ezek. 46.1 or from moneth to moneth as in the Hebrew and from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come and worship before me saith the Lord that is all sorts of men without exception exemption or exclusion of any Now let us see what may be argued from this Scripture that the Prophet here points at Gospel-times is plain enough yea the whole succession of Gospel-times for the things here prophesied of are such as run parallel with the Church state of the Gentiles and the constituting of a publick Ministry chosen from among them Again that new things are here intended by these old names is without dispute a Gospel-ministry by Priests and Levites distinct from the Levitical priesthood and why not by Sabbaths and new Moons select seasons of worship under the Gospel distinct from those under the Law For that it cannot be meant of the old Sabbath and Old Testament-times of worship may be thus demonstrated That interpretation which would render the Prophet Isaiah a false Prophet cannot be true But to interpret this prophecy from moneth to moneth and from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come and worship before the Lord of the Jews Saturday-Sabbath would render the Prophet Isaiah a false Prophet since the experience of these sixteen hundred years can testifie that no flesh at all or none to speak of have owned that day as a day of solemn worship but expound it of the Christian Sabbath and so it holds true to a tittle for the first day of the week has been owned and observed by all Churches in all ages ever since the Sun of righteousness arose on that day and thus what the Lord foretold by his Prophet he has fulfilled by his Providence and this spirit of Prophecy proves the testimony of Jesus And so I suppose we have found even Old Testament-proof of a New Testament-Sabbath or which comes all to one the ordinary stated season of solemn worship under the Gospel distinct from that under the Law and all this in close connexion with the new Creation for verse 22. it is said As the new heavens and new earth which I will make shall remain before me so shall your name and your seed remain and then presently it followes from moneth to moneth and Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come and worship before me saith the Lord. Thus the Major or first Proposition is made good that the new Creation must have a new Sabbath 2. Now for the second That Christ by his resurrection brought in the new Creation we may appeal to that of the Apostle Hebr. 9.26 where our Saviours death and suffering is stated upon the end of the world and if the old world ended with his death the new must needs come in with his resurrection from the dead whereby he brought in a new generation the out-casts of the Gentiles and so a new creation of the same kind mentioned in a Isal 41.19 20 Ephes 2.10 11 Isaiah That the in-come of the Gentiles was to take its rise from our Lords resurrection is not obscurely signified by himselfe in that b Mat. 12.39.40 sign which he gave the Jewes the sign of the Prophet Jonas who was the Prophet of the Gentiles Fatentur ipsi Judaei regnum Messiae inchoandum à resurrectionemortuorum renovatione mundi Lightf Hor. Hebr. hereby he did not only point at his own resurrection as one observes but also secretly gall the Jewes with an intimation of the calling of the Gentiles upon his resurrection as the Ninivites were called upon Jonahs resurrection from the grave of the Whalesbelly And thus some expound that place Thy c Isal 26.19 dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise as reserring not only to the corporal resurrection of d Mat. 27.53 those that came out of their graves at Christs resurrection but also to the calling and quickning of the poor dead Gentiles who are said to be e Ephes 2.5 6. quickened together with Christ and raised up together with him Again that the new creation both as to persons and things followes upon Christs resurrection may be gathered from that f 2 Cor. 5.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 known Text of Scripture If any man be in Christ he is a new Creation as in the Greek old things are passed away behold all things are become new The Apostle seemes to argue from things to persons * A new name Acts 11 26. A new Jerusalem Rev. 3.12.2 new song Isal 42.10 a new Testament Heb. 8.13 all things new Rev. 21.5 See Dr. Gouge Progress of providence p. 9. All things in Christ are become new a new Jerusalem a new Church a new Covenant new Ordinances new Heavens and a new earth therefore all his followers must be new creatures and this he infers from verse 15 inasmuch as Christ dyed for us and rose again and we may place the accent upon his rising again as in another case the Apostle does g Rom. 8.34 It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again There is a rather put upon the resurrection of Christ in comparison of his death and passion so there in point of justification and so it may be here in respect
cannot with any colour of reason be denyed surely when he entred into his Kingdome he entred into his glory but by his resurrection from the dead he entred into his Kingdome being solemnly invested with Kingly power and soveraignty c Math. 28.18 Having all power in Heaven and earth put into his hands and f Rev. 3.7 the keys of David the Government of the Kingdom laid upon his shoulders to dispense lawes pronounce pardons pass sentence of life and death g John 20.23 to bind and loose at his princely pleasure In a word it was by his glorious resurrection from the dead that God h Psalm 2.6 7. set him as King upon his holy hill of Sion saying thou art my son this day have I begotten thee Christs resurrection-day was in a special manner his Coronation-day and as earthly Princes are wont on their Coronation-dayes to shew themselves to their subjects in all their royalty casting about their silver and gold so the Lord Jesus delights on this day to manifest himself to the souls of his people scattering his precious gifts and graces in the assemblies of his Saints for as this is the day which the Lord hath made so t is the day in which he himself was made i Rom. 14.9 Lord of the living and the dead k Acts 2.36 ch 3. 15. ch 5. 30 31. Lord and Christ Prince of life King of Heaven and earth a King indeed he was in the l Math. 2.2 cradle a King on the m ch 27. 37. Cross but never so much or so manifestly a King upon earth as when he conquered that King of terrours and carried away n 1 Tim. 6.16 that incomparable Title the blessed and only potentate the King eternal and immortal o Rom. 6.9 who dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him He that shall deny Christs entring into glory by his resurrection will rob him of much of his glory t is true he entred not into the place of glory in his whole person till his ascention but into the state of glory he entred by his resurrection if the bodies of the Saints shall be raised in p 1 Cor. 15.43 glory how much more was the blessed body of Jesus Christ If the glory of the stars be such what is the glory of the rising Sun But I must not expatiate here a word more and I have done He that hath entred into his rest hath ceased from his works as God did from his whence I gather that it is not only Christs rest but the reason of that rest the consummation of the work of redemption which occasions our Sabbath as Gods finishing the work of Creation did the old Sabbath Hebr. 4.3 4. And this the word Rest implies being a demonstrative proof of the accomplishment of the work for even a wise man if he undertake a work will not rest till it be finished or if he do he is p Luke 14.29.30 laugh'd at for his lost labour and therefore much more when the all-wise God is said to rest may we conclude his work is perfected To speak properly if rest imply only a cessation from work we cannot say that God rested from his work of Creation on the seventh day more then he has done ever since or Christ from his work of redemption therefore we must take in the consummation of each work as the ground of each rest otherwise all the time after should be of equal account with the last day in respect of Creation and with the first day in respect of Redemption Now the question will be when the work of Redemption was consummate and complete Doubtless not till the top-stone was laid till Christ was made the head of the corner which the q Act. 4.10 11. Apostle assures us was by his resurrection from the dead for if this had not been done the work had been all to do again If Christ had suffered dyed and been swallowed up of death and corruption in the grave and never risen again then had we remained still in our sins and all our preaching of Christ and faith in Christ had been vain 1 Cor. 15.17 It was by our Saviours joyful resurrection therefore that the work of our Redemption was manifestly accomplished and hereupon Christ rested from his work as God did from his and as when God rested from the work of Creation he appointed a Sabbath although he did not rest from works of Providence in like manner Christ hath appointted a Sabbath upon his resting from the work of Redemption by price although he doth not rest from the work of Redemption by power till all his enemies by vanquished and all his elect saved as a * Dr. Cheynels Treatise of the blessed Trinity pag. 403. learned Author speaks And so much for this Argument on Hebr. 4. only some objections Treatise of the must be removed for T.T. takes this Text of Scripture and wofully wrests it to his own and others misguidance in countenance of the Saturday-Sabbath I shall briefly answer his several Arguments as objections against what has been spoken The polluting of Gods seventh-day-Sabbath was wofully Israels sin Obj. 1 T.T. p. 141. for which the Lord destroyed them in the wilderness as 't is plain Ezek. 20.13 And this being compared with the Apostles admonition to these Christians plainly points out the Sabbath which remains to the people of God he sets forth Israels sin and sorrow on this wise although God finished his work from the foundation of the world and thereupon speaks Gen. 2. Yet neither the glory of his wonderful Creation or authority of his institution could engage them to follow his Example but so highly did they provoke him especially in polluting his Sabbaths that he sware in is wrath they should not enter into his rest c. Wherefore the Apostle concludes in applying all to believers exhorting them in the use of that means which Israel neglected to enter into the eternal rest lest any should fall after the example of Israels unbelief or disobedience as the Greek signifies and then he concludes Magisterially Christians believe it this is the summe of the Apostles admonition But I must tell him they had need of a very strong faith that can believe such incongruous stuffe as this is For Although it be granted that Sabbath-breaking were one of I sraels sins in the wilderness Answ 1 yet it will not follow that this sin is here intimated by the Apostle as the cause of their ruine but rather the sin of unbelief For so 't is expresly affirmed ch 3. v. 18.19 To whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief So ch 4. v. 2. v. 6. v. 11. And whereas T.T. tells his Reader that the word signifies disobedience I must tell him it is his mistake to render it so in this place for
grave But a word with you Sir did the Lord Jesus indeed enter into that rest of the grave the seventh day of the week why then it seems he rose again from the dead the second day and rested but two dayes and two nights in the grave and had he not need be greater then an Angel that shall take upon him to coine such new Creeds and preach such new Gospels for sear of the Apostles d Gal. 1.7 8. Anathema To salve this he tells us p. 145. that our Saviours body was laid to rest in the Sepulchre in the close of the sixth day Very good Why then does he say in the next page that he entred into this rest on the seventh day Thus at once he contradicts both himself and the Scriptures But to conclude this author has little reason to vaunt and glory as he does in this new invention For to make Christs rest in the grave a ground of the weekly Sabbath is neither proper in respect of the thing nor proportionable in respect of the time For the thing it self how altogether improper and incongruous is it to keep a weekly festival in memory of our Saviours Funeral to make that day a day of rejoycing which was rather a day of mourning For so the Ancients held it and therefore kept it as a Fast ergo not as a Sabbath for the Sabbath was ever reckoned among the solemn c Ier. 23.2 3. Feasts of the Lord which one consideration is sufficient to shew the judgment of antiquity in this controversie For they kept the * Diem Solis laetitiae indulgemus Tertul. Apol. c. 36. Sabbato usque ad galli cantum jejunium producite et illucescente uno Sabbatorum qui est dominicus desinite Constit lib. 5. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan lib. â—3 Tom. 3. Haeres 75. Lords day as a day of spiritual joy and gladness and spent the whole Saturday the time of Christs lying in the grave in Fasting and mourning alledging for their practise that speech of our Saviour When the Bride-groom is taken from them then shall they fast Luke 5.35 Again it holds no proportion in respect of the time for our Saviour lay three dayes and three nights in the grave therefore this can be no pattern for a weekly Sabbath I doubt the best of our new Sabbath-keepers would be weary of resting so long at a time But the stress of T. T s Argument is laid upon Christs entring into rest therefore there remaineth the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God and here I shall lay the stress of my answer having manifestly proved that Christs entrance into rest was not on the seventh day no not in this authors own new notion of rest And whereas he addes that the taking down of our Saviours body from the Cross and laying it in the sepulchre in the close of the sixth day was providentially ordered I answer true providentially indeed for hereby the Holy Ghost has admirably provided against this future error of raising the old seventh-day-Sabbath from the dead and building it up anew upon the grave of Christ where it rather lies buried never to rise again For if the blessed body of Christ were laid in the grave on the sixth day then he entred not into that rest nor indeed any rest at all on the seventh day But on the first day of the week he entred into his true rest and ceased from his work of Redemption as God the Father did the seventh day from his work of Creation therefore there remaineth the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God upon the day of Christs resting from his work the day of his rising from the dead And we have grand reason to think that Christ had a significant meaning in prolonging his Resurrection to the third day which was the first of the week as the Father had in lengthening out the Creation to the seventh day which was the last of the week For as the Father could have created the world in a moment so could the Son have quickned and raised himself from the grave assoon as he was in it either the same day or the seventh if he had pleased But he purposely and providentially passed over that day and crowned the first of the week with the glory of his resurrection which plainly speakes it his will and pleasure to make that day the day of our weekly rest in which our Lord himself rested from his greatest work Oh! But Christ rested not on the day of his Resurrection Obj. 4 T. T. p. 120. for he journeyed fifteen miles that very day which was no fair president for celebrating a Sabbath And again he travelled fifteen miles upon this supposed new Sabbath and this not to any Church-meeting but from Jerusalem where most of his disciples were purposely joyning with the two disciples that were journeying on foot seven miles and a half into the Countrey He means the disciples going to Emmaus Luke 24.13 14. This is his last refuge and 't is a very sorry one For First This travel was without labour and if he had journeyed that day from earth to Heaven and back again from Heaven to earth it had been no impeachment to his holy rest any more then the motion of an Angel sent upon Gods errand would be a profanation of his Sabbath certainly the body of Christ at his resurrection was a glorious body and able to move from earth to Heaven as some think in a moment And whether he did not locally though not so solemnly as afterwards ascend into Heaven and descend again the very day of his resurrection is disputed by some I shall not positively assert it but modestly propound it to further inquiry whether those words a John 20.17 Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father but go and tell my brethren I ascend do not seem to imply that even now in the morning of the resurrection-day he was about to ascend and whether the same day at night returning again and bidding them touch or b Luke 24.39 handle him do not argue that now he had ascended Again whether those words c Eph. 4.8 11. When he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men some Apostles some Prophets c. must be necessarily limited to his last ascention or whether they may not be construed of some former ascention Since it seems those gifts were given upon the very day of his resurrection for then d John 20. towards the evening or end of that day the Gospel-Ministry was constituted then the Apostles received their mission and commission e v. 19. As my Father hath sent me even so send I you f v. 21. whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Yea then they received the g v. 22. Holy Ghost For he breathed on them and saith unto them receive ye the
venerable and solemn because thereon our Saviour as the rising Sun having dispellea the darkness of death shone forth by the light of his resurrection And elswhere t Dies Sabbati evat dierum Ordine posterior sanctificatione legis anierior sea ubi finis legis advenit qui est Christus Jesus Rom. 10.4 resurrectione sua octavam sanctificavit caepit eadem prima esse quae octava est habens ex numeriordine praerogativam ex resurrectione Domini sanctitatem The Sabbath day was the last in order of dayes but the first in sanctification under the Law but when the end of the Law was come to wit Jesus Christ Rom. 10.4 and by his Resurrection had consecrated the eighth day that which is the eighth began to be the first being dignified by the precedency of the number and sanctified by the Resurrection of the Lord. Then speaking further by way of allusion to Luke 6. he addes u Vbi Dies Dominica â—aepit praecellere qua Dominus Resurrexerit Sabbatum quod primum erat secundum haberi caepit a primo prima enim requies Cessavit secunda successit unde ad Hebr. scribens Apostolus ait post hac die restat ergo requies populo Deim requies ergo vera non in operis cessatione sed in Kesurrectionis est tempore Ambr. Enar. in Tit. Psalm 47. When the Lords day on which our Lord arose began to excel the Sabbath which was the first began to be accounted the Second from the first For the first rest ceased and the second succeeded Whence the Apostle writing to the Hebrewes Ch. 4. speaks of another day there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God Therefore the true rest is not now in the cessation of the work meaning the work of Creation but in the time of the Resurrection 'T is as much as if he had said the true Sabbath is not now the seventh day or last day of the week but the first day of the week this is that other day mentioned Heb. 4. this is the rest or Sabbatism that remaineth to the people of God I do the rather cite these sayings of the two worthy Father Ambrose because T.T. quotes him also for the Saturday-Sabbath which he was a zealous disputer against And although he preacht on that day it was but in preparation to the Lords day Hierom 10. Anno 385. Hierom is the next writer of note and eminency in the Church of God and he also speaks very honourably of the of the Lords day In his book against Vigilantius (w) Per unam Sabbati hoc est in die Dominico omnes conferre quae Hierosolymam in solatium dirigerentur praecipit Paulus Item ad Hedib quaestio 4. the Apostle Paul saith he commanded almost all Churches that there should be collections for the poor upon the first day of the week which is the Lords day And elsewhere he informs us how it was observed by the religious in his time x Dominicos dies orationi tantum lectioni vacant Ad Eustoch namely That they designed the Lords day wholly unto prayer and reading of the holy Scriptures For which he commends them and by commending approves their practice But of observing the Jewes Sabbath he speaks not a word only he interprets Gal. 4.10 as a repeal of the Saturday Sabbath and so does Tertullian also Libr. 1. Contr. Marc. Ch. 20. After Hierom comes Chrysostom Chrysostom 11. Anno 398. a painful and powerful preacher in his time and her how he thunders against Judaizing Christians y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will close my Sermon saies he with the words of Moses I call heaven and earth to witness against you that if any of us present or those that are absent shall go to look upon the Trumpets or meet in the Synagogues or go up to Matrona a Synagogue of the Jewes two or three miles from Antiochia in Daphne a pleasant village as himself describes it elswhere or joy in their Fasts or partake of their Sabbaths or perform any other Jewish custom great or small I am clear from the blood of you all these words shall stand up in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and you and if you obey they shall give you great boldness but if you disobey or conceal any of them that presume to commit such like things they shall rife up as vehement witnesses against you c. See how zealous this holy man was against Jewish rites and customes and amongst the rest against their Sabbaths Neither was it blind zeal but zeal according to knowledge for he knew and ha's told us z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Paul perswaded the Churches of Christ to leave off Circumcision to slight the Sabbaths and dayes legal dayes he means and all other ceremonials And again a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ ha's freed us from these Jewish observances neither was his practice in these things intended for ouru pattern for as he kept the passeover with the Jewes not that we should keep it with them but that he might introduce the truth in stead of the shadow in like manner he also endured Circumcision and observed Sabbaths and celebrated their Festivals and did all these things at Jerusalem but to none of these are we subject Yet lest we should think Chrysostom an enemy to the Christian as well as the Jewes Sabbath consider what he sayes in another place treating of almes where he occasionally touches that Text 1 Cor. 16.1 2. concerning the collection for the Saints on the first day of the week and asks this question what reason the Apostle had to command this day for the oblation of their alms And answers it thus b Hom. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Item 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi supre Because this day they did abstain from all workes and the Soul was more cheerful by the rest of the day besides the good things received this day for on this day death was destroyed the curse was dissolved sin vanquished the gates of Hell broken in peices therefore saies he if we so honour our Birth-dayes how much more ought we to honour this day which may well be called the Birth-day of all Mankind and how often does this Father call the First day of the week the c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In John 20. 1 Cor. 16.2 Lords day a royal day a day of rest and the like so others extol it Ignatius calls it the Queen of days the first day of the week and the first day of the world as truly the chiefest as it is undoubtedly the first of dayes saies Eusebius a most Holy day sayes Athanasius higher than the highest saith Nazianzen So sincerely were the Antients devoted to the solemnity of this day that in honour of Christ the Author of it they thought they could never sufficiently grace and garnish it
16.8 On the seventh day shall be a solemn Assembly to the Lord thy God thou sahlt do not work therein And as the seventh or last so also the first day of that Feast was to be a day of rest because a day of Convocation On the first day shall be a holy convocation ye shall do no servile work therein saith the Lord. Numb 28.17 18. Now that first day of unleavened bread being a memorial of their Redemption from Egypt was typical of our Christian Sabbath as was noted before And besides there being a moral equity in Gods argument that a day of holy Worship and holy Convocations must be a day of rest it is as applicable to the Lords day as ever it was to any day for we have abundantly proved that this is a holy Convocation-day and 't is a good note that of Mr. Ainsworth on Deut. 16.8 That the Hebrew word Gnat-sereth which we translate solemn Assemblies does also signifie restraint from labour whereby the Holy Ghost would teach us that Holi days set apart for solemn assemblies must be days of holy rest and restraint from work Such is the Lords day to us Christians and no other day but that a day of solemn Assembly it is and has bin from the Apostles days till now yea a day of solemn Worship therfore a day of rest or Sabbath day yea a day of solemn weekly worship therefore the undoubted Sabbath of the fourth Commandment which is the standing rule for a day of weekly worship and but a day ordinarily for the Commandment numbers out six days in the week for worldly business As when a man makes two Wils the last does ipso facto make void the first although there be no express clause to signifie the repeal or revocation and one for religious exercises neither more nor lesse So that supposing there were no repeal of the last day of the week yet the first day being instituted by Divine Authority makes void the last and takes possession of its place by the warrant of the Divine Precept it self Again as the Ministry and the Sacraments appointed by Christ are used by virtue of the second Commandment so the day appointed by Christ must be observed by virtue of the fourth Commandment because this is the general scope both of the second and fourth Commandment that we must observe all the Institutions of God from time to time I might argue further from that prophetical speech of our Saviour Matth. 24.20 where he presignifies to his Disciples that there should be a Sabbath in force long after his death at such time as the old seventh-day-Sabbath was either quite out of doors or out of date at least therefore he spake of the Christian Sabbath which we are obliged both by Law and Gospel to observe The Ancients indeed do seldom apply the title of Sabbath to the Lords day yet sometimes they do They were but too jealous of Judaizing in this particular Orat. in Christi Resurrect Ex illo Sabbato praesens hoc Sabbatum agnosce c. Sic quâ— que ritè sanctificamus Sabbatum Domini Dicente Domino omne â—pus c. Tract de tempore 152. Gregory Nyssen is express for having spoken of the old Sabbath he presently adds from that Sabbath acknowledge thou this present Sabbath the Lords day this day of rest which God hath blessed above other days For in this the only begotten Son of God did truly rest from all his works So also Austin or he that writ the Book De tempore having pleaded the due celebration of the Lords day he concludes with respect to the fourth Commandment concerning the Sabbath so do we rightly sanctifie the Sabbath of the Lord as the Lord hath said In it thou shalt do no work Hence that Royal Edict of Charles the Great published in the year 789. We ordain says he according as it is commanded in the Law of God that no man do servile work on the Lords day To which may be added the decree of King Edgar expresly stiling the Lords day the Sabbath day Diem Sabbati ab ipsa Die Saturni hora pomeridiara tertia usque in Lunaris diei dilaculum festum agitari taking order that the Sabbath should be celebrated from Saturday three a clock in the afternoon till Munday morning at break of day and this was in the year of Christ 959. seven hundred years ago better Antiquity than any can be produced or so much as pretended against this appellation If it be objected That this was in times of Popery I answer That even since the Reformation the Lords day hath been frequently called by the name Sabbath Those precious but persecuted Saints To all these might be added the Church of England Can. 70. So Hom. of time and place of prayer the Waldenses in a Catechism of theirs teach their children to call it by this name And the holy Martyr Bp Hooper in his treatise on the ten Commandements uses the same Dialect some scores more might be reckoned if need were But leaving these Authors I return to the Objector who sets all his wits a work to prove the Lords day a working day most sinfully and shamefully abusing the Scriptures to this purpose I am loth to stain my Paper with his profane Sophisms yet lest his ignorant and erroneous Proselites should take them for unanswerable Arguments I shall briefly sum up all into one Objection and return several answers to it Object T.T. p. 14. of his Pamphlet In stead of that honour put upon the first day of the week First The Father wrought upon it Gen. 1. and therefore we should be his followers as dear children Ephes 5.1 Secondly The son travelled upon it Luke 24.13 15. And he hath given us an example that we should do as he hath done John 13.15 Thirdly The Saints cast their accounts upon it 1 Cor. 16.2 And so may we Thus he quotes Scripture to as good purpose as that Arch Sophister did Matth. 4 But we shall answer him soberly though he deserve it not Answ 1. That which was the Fathers working-working-day at the Worlds Creation was the Sons Rest day from the work of Redemption and we must not be sollowers of God in contradiction to Christ or oppose the works of God against the Word of God lest in stead of followers as dear children we be found fighters against him as desperate enemies the first day of the week was a common day when it was made at first Gen. 1. but since it is made again and made a solemn day a day of holy worship Psal 118.24 therefore no working day now but to such as have no God to worship or no hearts to worship him God the Father wrought upon the first day of the week yet Israel must not work on this day once a year at least Viz. on the day of unleavened bread as often as it fell on this day Numb 23.18 why because it was a day
every puny in Logick is able to resolve for why might not Gods approbation be given forth in the morning or forenoon of the sixth day and time enough left before night for sin to creep into the world To clear this let it be noted See Dr. Willets Hexapla in Exod. 31. That although God was pleased to parcel out his work into six distinct dayes yet he measured not every dayes work by the hour-glass of time as we creatures do but what he did on each day was done in an instant He did but speak the word and it was done he commanded and it was created Psal 33.9 Psa 146.5 This is evident from principles of reason as well as from the forementioned places of Scripture for creation is the production of something out of nothing or that which is as much as nothing Now betwixt the being of something and nothing there can be no intermediate state and consequently no imaginable space of time but an imperceptible moment Hence that received maxime that Creation is in an instant Now to accommodate this to the work of the sixth day consisting of man and beasts certainly the forming of these creatures being momentaneous in the sense above mentioned took up but little of the day I can see no colour of reason to the contrary but our first Parents might be created and the whole creation compleated in the fore part of the sixth day And doubtless as soon as the creation was ended the divine approbatiom was added And God saw that it was good For surely as soon as the creature was the Creator saw what it was and he saw it to be good for he made it good And although the conclusion of the day be presently added yet 't is without dispute that many other things were transacted though not expressed in the first Chapter before the close of the sixth day as the naming of the creatures the joyning of our first parents together in marriage and disposing of them in the garden yea the giving of the Law and in all likelyhood the breaking of it too And so the first knot is untied Whereas he adds Answer 2 That as soon as the sixth day ended and the seventh began God rested and sanctified the Sabbath I answer This Assertion is built upon a very uncertain if not a false supposition viz. That the order of the words and Chapters is exactly answerable to the order of the things done Whereas in the judgment of the learned here is a manifest dislocation or misplacing of the sacred story as to the order of things for if we regard the exact order of things done the second chapter of Genesis would begin at the fourth verse as learned Junius affirms And the second and third verses would come in at the end of the third Chapter Junij Praelect in Gen. 2. and so the mention of the Sabbaths institution would follow the description of Adam's sin as an acute * De. Lightfoot's Harmony of the Old Testa and he gives this solid reason why the words stand as they do and why the mention of the Sabbath is set down before Adams fall viz. because the Holy Ghost would dispatch the general history of the first seven daies together without the interposition of any particular story Writer of our own hath observed But because the adversary will say these are but humane fancies let us see whether they have not sure footing in the Word it self To this purpose let the Reader turn to Genes 2. and view the texture and composure of the whole Chapter In the three first verses you have an account of God's finishing the heavens and the earth as also his resting on the seventh day From the third to the eighth verse you have the creation of Vegetables herbs and plants which was the work of the third day From ver 8. to ver 15. you have the planting of the garden and adorning of it with trees and rivers which if it were a work of creation was done before the seventh day though it be not mentioned till after it Again ver 7. you have the forming of the man and from ver 18. to 22. the framing of the woman as a also the creating of birds and beasts and the naming of the creatures which you see are all mentioned after the seventh day yet all or most of them done on the sixth So that should we strictly cleave to the letter In Scriptura non est prius posterius The order of time is not alwaies kept in Scripture but sometimes that is placed first which was done last contrà and believe that all things were done in the same order as they are here set down we must believe that herbs and plants birds and beasts man and woman were all created after the creation was ended and God had rested the seventh day Yea if the literal and historical order of the words must be maintained how will T.T. make good his Mount-paradise-notion For according to the order of the words Paradise was not planted till after the Sabbath How then could Adam keep his first Sabbath in Paradise Viderit ipse Hitherto therefore he must of necessity yield a transposition that is that although these things be mentioned after the seventh day yet they were done before it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec est un◠de regulis ad intelligendam Scripturam sanctam necessariis Luth. loc com p. 75. and here set down by way of Postscript Now let us see what may be said for that which follows ver 16.17 compared with the three last verses you have the woman given in marriage to the man and the Creators Law touching the forbidden fruit given in charge to both and that all this was done on the sixth day will be readily granted Well then Chap. 3. you have the story of the Serpents temptation the transgression of our first parents their conviction in the cool of the day and lastly their expulsion out of Paradise and the juncture of all this lying so close to the story of the sixth day Chap. 2. that unless you purposely loosen the connexion you may rationally look upon it as one and the same daies work And verily methinks the Serpents first on-set sounds as if there were very little distance of time between God's giving the Law and Satan's tempting the woman to break it Gen. 3.1 Yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden a very abrupt motion if it had not been made immediately upon the giving of the Law The words are as one observes a form of speech used by one who standing aloof and over-hearing what was forbidden Mr. Walker Doctrine of the Sabbath doth presently step in and ask if it were not so as he took it to be and besides the woman's answer as was hinted before being in the future tense we may or shall eat hereafter implies that they had scarce eaten as yet So that all
no congruity in that passage of T.T. where he reasons thus against reason p. 54. Certainly if Adam were a follower of God as a dear child he must needs keep the Sabbath with his Father With his Father how then could he follow him Certainly God went before if Adam followed him as a dear child I cannot conceive how he could possibly keep a Sabbath that God himself had not first blessed and sanctified to that end I may upon better grounds suppose with a late renowned Champion in this controversie that God alone kept the first Sabbath as Christ alone the first Lord's day that he might afford Adam an example Mr. Cawdrey's Sab. rediv. p. 3. cap. 1. as of working six daies by his being exercised six daies in the work of creation so of resting the seventh in it's next weekly return and so successively week after week But it will be said if Adam were bound to keep the first Sabbath we are bound to believe he did keep it Therefore a word or two of that 2. If he were bound I demand quo jure by what Law By the Law written in his heart why then was he bound to keep a Sabbath before there was a Sabbath to keep for the Law was graven in his heart on the sixth day as a branch of that * Eph. 4.24 Col. 3.10 divine image of God concreated with him Whereas the Sabbath to be sure was not instituted till the seventh day if then Besides the Law written in the table of Adam's heart was the same in this Authors judgment which was afterwards written in Tables of Stone that is the fourth Commandement which if we take his and Mr. Brabournes Comment upon it prescribes six daies for labour before a seventh of rest Now this order Adam could not possibly observe for the first week being created but on the sixth day He must therefore look out some other Law and where he will find it I cannot see unless in Gen. 2.3 and he must be very sharp-sighted to find any thing there that looks like a Law binding our first Parents to observe the first Sabbath For let the words be well pondered And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it Gen. 2.3 Opened becase in it he had rested from all his works which he had created and made Whence we may clearly gather 'T is not said because he should rest but had rested that God's resting on the seventh day was in order of time before his blessing and sanctifying of the day as those words ver 2. On the seventh day God rested from all his works which he had made See Mr. White of Dorchester Gen. 2. imply the making of the works before God's resting so ver 3. He blessed and sanctified the seventh day because in it he had rested must needs intimate that God's resting on the seventh day went before his sanctifying of the day or setting it apart for a Sabbath Not long before I grant As Chap. 1. where Moses relates God's six daies works as finished by him then followeth the blessing upon them So in the 2. Chap. he makes the blessing to follow upon Gods resting as before upon his working but evidently long enough to discharge our first parents by virtue of those words from any obligation to keep the first Sabbath And whereas T.T. argues that the Sabbath was made for man and if Adam were a man the Sabbath was made for him I grant the whole argument onely with this distinction That although it was made for man yet it follows not that it was made for man as soon as man was made Neither has he alledged any one text of Scripture Valeat quantum valere potest of sufficient evidence to support his grand conclusion That the seventh-day-Sabbath was instituted and observed in pure Paradise Which if it b Yet I grant it not should be granted him yet his feeble cause would receive no invincible strength by it For although it would prove a Sabbath and a weekly Sabbath one day in seven to be moral and perpetual which I deny not and herein I could joyn issue with the contrary-minded yet what is this to the perpetuity and immutability of that old seventh day since in the judgment of all Interpreters both antient and modern except Jews onely one day in seven or a seventh part of weekly time is here perpetually established that old seventh day onely temporarily and during the state of the old world So Chrysostome Here saies he from the beginning God has intimated to us this doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 19. in Gen. 2. instructing us to set apart one day in the circle of every week for spiritual exercises Note by the way he saies not it is expresly determined here that is left for the fourth Commandement but it is intimated and implied here And the like saies Junius But to draw to a conclusion I suppose it is more then probably demonstrative If I may so speak without a Soloecism that the old Sabbath was instituted though in the beginning yet after the Fall in man's corrupt estate when he had put off his publick capacity as the representative of mankind and was looked upon as a single person yea a sinful person and one that stood in need of a Redeemer and so the day must needs be alterable as shall be shortly argued and evinced However if we should suppose the date of the Sabbaths institution to be utterly uncertain as the institution of Sacrifices is I see not but this may argue as to the day mutability stamped upon it It is true the solemne worship of God is unalterable as long as there is a God to be worshipped but the old way of worship by Sacrifices was mutable from the very first original of it Thus I grant the time of worship Rom. 12.1 Chrys in Hebr. Hom. 11. Basil in Isai c. 20. the Sabbath it self being an inseparable adjunct of solemne worship is perpetual but the old day the seventh from the Creation was made mutable in the first institution of it Indeed in some sense we have sacrifices still spiritual sacrifices and we have a Sabbath still yea * Mat. 24.20 a literal Sabbath But old Sabbaths and old Sacrifices being twins though both honorable and serviceable in their generations yet like Hippocrates twins they lived together and died together and let both together in God's name be buried in the grave of Christ so as never to rise again 2 Cor. 5.15 17. But let our Gospel-worship and Gospel-Sabbath take life from our Saviour's Resurrection which brought with it a new Creation a new World making all things new as the Apostle speaks 2. That the old seventh day was made alterable in the first institution will further appear if we consider the Law or command by which it was instituted which is no where to be found but in Gen. 2.3 As for the Law written in Adam's breast it is
were given before the fall and should undoubtedly have bound Adam and all his posterity if he had not fallen Gen. 2.17 yet now it binds none neither should it if the tree were known So also that positive law of keeping and dressing the Garden Mr. â—â— Strange which to Adam was a binding precept yet now it is wholly abrogated in the letter of it or else as one sayes we must all tag and rag turn gardeners True there was something moral and of the law of nature in that precept Yates Model of Divin Haec lex naturalis est conjunctam habens designationem diei ceremonialem quia verò partim naturalis partimque ut loquuntur Scholae positiva est Propterea discrimen oportet in eo ordine adhiberi quod enim naturale est puta diem septimum quemque Deo sacrum esse illud permanet quod positivum nempe illum diem qui septimus est creationis esse Diem Sabbathi hoc mutatum est Juni prae'ec in Gen. 2. p. 27. man must alwayes be exercised and imployed the earth his store-house must also be his work-house Idleness and happiness could never consist together But that his imployment must be limited to the culture of a Garden that was meerly positive The like may be said for the Law of the Sabbath supposing not granting it had been given in paradise that man should celebrate a Sabbath was moral and perpetual but that it must be on the seventh day from the Creation was meerly positive temporary and alterable at the law-givers pleasure And this may serve as a proper Engine to undermine that grand argument founded on the institution of marriage P. 155. The Sabbath is a precept saith he as ancient as Vniversal as marriage both were instituted in paradise for Adam and all his posterity Ans We grant that the institution of marriage was made in pure paradise which ever since has made it honorable amongst all men Heb. 13.4 And thus far we also grant the first institution is a perpetual obligation viz. That one man is bound to one woman yet I hope no man is tyed by that first institution to make choice of this or that particular woman but he is at liberty to marry whom he lists provided it be in the Lord so also admitting the Sabbath to be instituted in paradise yet I can see no reason why it should limit us to that particular day but that notwithstanding we may observe any other day that shall appear to be of the Lords appointment as the first day of the week infallibly is and therefore it bears the Lords name being styled the Lords Day by way of eminency Indeed now the day is fixed and we cannot chuse another nor change it to another Psa 118.29 Rev. 1.10 for reasons hereafter to be rendered But enough is said to prove the command whatever it was whereby the old Sabbath was instituted to be but temporary though it had been given in Innocency A positive precept given in innocency might suffer much alteration by mans apostasie Mr. Sheph. Thes 17.19 For to borrow the words of a reverend Author the sin of man made the Lord repent that ever he had made man and consequently that ever he made the world for man which might be a sufficient ground of the Law-givers pleasure to alter and change the day stated upon the worlds Creation to another day stated upon the worlds Redemption of which the Lord will never repent Now if a precept or institution given before the fall might be mutable at the Law givers pleasure how much more this of the seventh day which was rather imposed since the fall as the institution of Sacrifices the prohibition of blood c. Gen. 9.4 3. That the old seventh day was made alterable in the first institution of the Sabbath is most of all evident from the ground or occasion upon which it was instituted and this is hinted unto us in those words Gen. 2.2 See Ainsworth annot in Gen. 2.2 On the seventh day God ended his works which he had made and rested the seventh day wherefore he blessed and sanctified it Now it much concerns us to enquire in what sense the Lord is said to have ended his works on the seventh day since we must not imagine with Hierome and Catharinus that God made any new creatures on the seventh day for doubtless the creation was finished on the sixth day How then it is said on the seventh day God ended his works Why without resting and torturing the words as some do we may understand it in one or both of these two respects either 1. In respect of Providence or 2. In respect of the Promise 1. In respect of Providence So judicious Mr. White in Gen. 2. and why may not this be the meaning of the holy Ghost That on the seventh day God was pleased by a signal hand of Providence to perfect his works of Creations either by establishing them to continue as they do this day or at least by manifesting their accomplishment in his rest and cessation from creating-Creating-work Take the word Ended in this sense and so it informs us that the ground of Gods sanctifying the seventh day was not simply his rest upon that day but also the reason of that rest Heb. 4. v. 3.4 namely the finishing of his works witnessed by his resting as the Author to the Hebrews plainly intimates And not only that but also the result and consequent of both namely the dignifying and honouring of that day above all other dayes for the time being by crowning it with the accomplishment of the greatest work then made or manifested to be made perfect Isa 58.3 Hence the seventh day was styled The Honorable of the Lord not that in it self one day is more honorable and observable then another but that which differences the one from the other and dignifies one above another is Gods casting honour upon it by some memorable work of Providence either begun or finished upon that day Upon which account most of the Jewes Festivals were instituted as their Passeover in the 14th of Abib Lev. 23.5 Esth 9.21 the Feast of Purim on the 14th of Adar like our Gunpowder-treason-day on the 5. of November because the noble acts of God have been done upon these dayes And this was a main ground of their weekly Sabbath upon the seventh day being a day crowned with the greatest work then visible a work manifested to be finished on the seventh day by Gods resting on that day Yet this must be noted that the finishing of Gods work did not make the day more honorable then others by any natural necessity but only by positive right and equity There was no necessary and natural cause why the seventh day on which the work was declaratively ended should be more honorable then the sixth day on which it was really ended and finished only it was Gods will and pleasure to have
among Christians redeemed from the earth Obj 2 T.T. p. 61 62. To this I may easily answer without any great study Answ that the constant celebration of two dayes in a week is more then the Law requires or the Gospel allowes More then the law requires for that calls but for one day in seven Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy not Sabbath-dayes Exod. 20 8. Again six dayes shalt thou labour not five dayes Chrysostomes descant upon it is very pithy Tom. 5. p. 5 23. The week contains seven dayes sayes he Now see how the Lord hath distributed these dayes he hath not taken the greatest part to himself and left us the least neither has he taken half and left half requiring three for himself and leaving us but three no the Lord is more liberal he hath given thee six and taken but one for himself So he And indeed the Law saith the same I know it is disputed whether these words six dayes thou shalt labour be preceptive or permissive only but to me it is past dispute that they carry a preceptive force for the injunction of working six dayes is delivered in the same commanding terms v. 9. with the inhibition of work on the seventh day v. 10. T. T s gloss therefore falls to the ground Exod. 20.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 10.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Six dayes shalt thou labour that is God gives thee leave sayes he as if it were but a bare permission Or six dayes thou wilt labour pointing out the creatures earthly inclination as if there were a prediction in the words But let me advise him in the fear of God to read over the Commandement once more not as he would have it but as it is in the Original since he professes skill in the language of Canaan and then I shall ask him whether those words verse 10. On the seventh day thou shalt do no worke be not imperative If so why not also these Six dayes shalt thou labour since the forme of speech is one and the same It nothing helpes him that the word is otherwise translated Exod. 31.15 six dayes may worke be done for whatever the translation be the tense is the same and it may as well be rendred shall as may And so learned Ainsworth reades it And thus his Critical flourish proves but an empty flash For my part I look upon these words Six dayes shalt thou labour as having the force and vertue of a precept and command in them not directly injoyning us to labour upon any day for that belongs rather to the 8th Commandment but injoyning us such a proportion of time Eph. 4.28 Among the Jewes when holy dayes were so frequent there was never any weekly holy day ordained to go cheeke by jole with the Sabbath But their holy dayes were either monethly or yearly Mr. George Abbot p 118. Periculum mortis tollit Sabbathum necessitas non habet ferias six dayes together within the compass of which our labours must be confined 'T is as if the Lord had said Thou shalt not ordinarily labour more nor less then six dayes together nor rest more or less then one in seven ordinarily That God was pleased to appoint the Jews a greater number of holy dayes as Passeover Pentecost c. and so a lesser number of working-dayes was only in extraordinary cases as our fasting-dayes and thanksgiving-dayes are The fourth Commandment was to be the standing rule only for ordinary time both of weekly work and weekly rest And as those words on the seventh day thou shalt doe no work hinder not but souldiers in time of war may fight a battel and Citizens in case of fire breaking out may quench the flames upon the Sabbath day It was never the Apostles meaning nor in their power when God by a perpetual Law had given us six dayes for labour and destined a seventh for rest to turn it into five dayes labour and two dayes rest Idem ibid. the precept interdicting only the servile works of our ordinary callings In like manner these words six dayes shalt thou labour hinder not but in case of extraordinary judgements or unusual mercies we may set apart dayes of prayer and of praise but ordinarily and weekly to keep two dayes of rest and leave but five dayes for labour is utterly inconsistent with the fourth Commandment And here a word with our new Sabbath-keepers at Colchester you are erroneously taught to think you are bound in conscience to rest from labour two dayes every week else you are woful earth-wormes miserable worldlings dunghill drudges and what not Now I beseech you bring conscience to the rule hath not God said six dayes shalt thou labour and will you listen to man contradicting God and telling you nay thou shalt labour but five dayes only What Antichristian usurpation and Tyrannical imposing upon mens consciences is this to tell them in Print as T.T. does It is not one day in seven will serve your turn when the books shall be opened Why p 3. Why what are those books Shall not the book of the law be one of them And what is written there How readest thou Is it not plain six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work Blot this clause out of Gods book Deut. 12.32 or alter the figure and write five instead of six And be sure God will blot out thy name out of the book of life Consider this you that suffer your consciences to be mancipated and enslaved to the dictates of Man Either you must make the week longer by a day or confess in limiting conscience to five dayes only for labour you break the Law under a pretence of keeping it yea you totally make void the Commandment of the living God in subverting the equity of it this is one thing The letter of the Law will bear but one day in seven for holy rest yea the liberty of the Gospel will allow no more ordinarily Rom. 3.21 For do we by faith make void the law God forbid Nay rather we establish the law Yet if we allow but five dayes in the week for labour we must unavoidably make void the law in this particular And besides the observation of dayes legal dayes is disputed against by the great Apostle as contrary to Christian liberty It is but a poor evasion to say Col. 2.16 Gal. 4. â—0 compared with Gal. 5.1 The Apostle speaks only of festival dayes Passeover Pentecost and the like for if these were inconsistent with Gospel-liberty as the adversary grants how much more two dayes every week which amount to more at the years end then all those Jewish festivals twice told The Church in the Apostles time had no other holy day besides the Lords day And the fourth Commandment enjoyns the labour of six dayes Mr. Perkins in Galat. Let him therefore sadly consider the dangerous consequences of his errour forcing him at once both
in force although the particular day in which the Jewes were appointed to fast is abolished viz. f Levit. 16.29 ch 23.27 29. See Dr Downam Christian Sanc. p. 8 9. the tenth day of the seventh moneth And why may not the duty of solemn resting as well as the duty of fasting stand in the fall of the day That which was circumstantial and shadowy is done away but that which was substantial and moral still remaineth And thus we have by Scripture-light found the old Sabbath as to the day alterable and changeable in the first institution of it and have added something by way of overplus for the actual change of the day I shall now conclude this first position with the accommodation of an Historical passage recorded by Ammianus Marcellinus concerning Julian the Apostate Ammian Marâ—â—l Hist lib. 23. it is to this purpose That he the said Julian out of enmity to the Christians projected the rearing up of the Jewish ceremonies that he might supplant the new religion by the old and to that intent he encouraged them to rebuild their Temple at Jerusalem and sent one Alypius into those parts furnished with treasure to forward the work Hocque modo elemento destinatius repellente cessavit inceptum but no sooner had the work-men attempted to lay the foundation then certain balls of fire bursting out from beneath dissolved their work and made them desist from their enterprise I shall personate none in the application of this only this I shall say in general that as the Jews Temple was destroyed on their g Dion fol. 748. Sabbath day so their Sabbath yea their whole Civil and Church-State was dissolved together with their Temple And this grounded confidence I have that whoever shall reare up that antiquated seventh day with a design to supplant the new Sabbath by the old he shall meet with such Sanctuary-fire such Scripture-light and evidence breaking out from under the foundation of the old day as shall either burn his fingers or which is all the hurt I wish him enlighten his conscience that he shall see his error and confesse as h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys quod Christus fit Deus he said of the Temple that no power or policy of man is able to raise what Christ hath razed POSITION II. That the old Sabbath as to the day was further manifested to be alterable in the second edition of the Sabbath I Am not ignorant that as the Sabbaths First Institution is much disputed so the Second Edition as to time and place may be much controverted also But taking it for granted as I do that the first institution lay neer the worlds foundation then the second Edition of it will be found in the wilderness of Sin at the falling of Mannah or upon mount Sinai at the giving of the Law Nehem. 9.13 And here we meet with a double argument to make it further evident that the old seventh day was alterable or liable to change 1. First Because it was never propounded as the substance of any moral Law 2. Secondly It seems to be pointed at as a sign under the ceremonial Law 1. First That the old seventh day from the Creation was never propounded as the substance of any moral law that is so as the day could not be changed but there must also of necessity be a change of the Law in the substantials of it For the clearing of which let it be premised that whereas the fourth Commandment is the only precept in the Decalogue which concerns the Sabbath First I do most freely grant that the fourth Commandment is a moral and perpetual precept yet not moral natural unless it be in the first clause concerning a day of rest in general but rather moral positive and in the substance of it perpetual I say in the substance of it because it is the judgment of some learned and godly that the whole Decalogue as well as the fourth Commandment was in some circumstances peculiar to the Jewes by reason of the time place and people to whom it was delivered But the substance of it is common to all like as almost all Scripture is for substance common and for circumstance proper and peculiar because much of it was written occasionally as Mr. Abbot observes Now that which is circumstantiall and occasional in a moral Law may be mutable and yet the substance of the Law be perpetual as the preface prefixed to the first Commandment and the promise annexed to the fifth being both circumstantially peculiar to the Jews were in that respect mutable yet the Commandments themselves remain immutable and belong to us as well as to them So in this fourth Commandment that which indirectly and occasionally respected the Jews might admit of a circumstantial alteration and yet the Commandment it self in all the substantials of it be as much in force to us as ever it was to them that is for such a numeral day though not the same individual day for one day in seven though not the old seventh which might be and for ought I can see to the contrary is changed upon a double account in respect of the promise upon which it was instituted as a ceremonial at least a temporary ordinance and in respect of the precept by which it was observed as an occasional circumstance In the substance of it And therefore we need not as some do make the Commandment partly moral and partly ceremonial but grant it wholly moral and hold the day mutable as indirectly and occasionally pointed at as the Land of Canaan was in the fifth commandment And thus the change of the day is no prejudice at all to the morality of the Commandment as not being of the substance of it Indeed to have altered the number from one day of seven to one day of ten or from one of seven to two of seven ordinarily had been to wound the precept in the substantials of it and in plain terms to blot out one of Gods ten Commandments not so to alter the day from one seventh to another seventh which was but a circumstantial variation To those that affirm the fourth Commandment to be temporary in reference to the proportion of one day in seven because in that point we grant it positive I have only this to say that we judg it not to be meerly positive but moral positive and so perpetual as the event hath proved it For although the particular day were changed by the refurrection of Christ yet the proportion of one day in seven has been still preserved inviolable by the practise of the Apostles and Churches ever since And as one well observes no other solid reason can be rendred why the Apostles and primitive Churches should weekly celebrate the day of Christs resurrection if it had not been in reference to the fourth Commandment had not their consciences been under the binding power of this precept why might they not have done by
substance of the law I do not say they are abrogable as ceremonies but alterable as circumstances they may be changed for better things and not a tittle of the law annulled but rather fulfilled by it according to that of our Saviour till heaven and earth pass one jot Mat. 5.18 or one tittle shall not pass from the law till all be fulfilled I say the law is not destroyed but rather fulfilled by the varying of some circumstances as by changing their typical deliverance from Egypt into our spiritual deliverance from sin and the land of Canaan meant in the fifth Commandment into England where we dwell And because the fourth Commandment and the fifth are neer neighbours methinks the one may fairly expound the other It cannot be denyed Ephes 6.3 The Apostle in repeating that promise leaves out the words which the Lord thy God giveth thee because they were more appropriate to the Jews and to us the argument is entire without them See Weems Chris Syn. that the promised land intended occasionally in the fifth Commandment was the land of Canaan neither do I deny that the day on which God is said to rest in the fourth Commandment was the seventh day from Creation yet all will grant that the argument or inducement of the fifth Commandment is not to be restrained to that land only for then it were no argument at all to us Now I would ask any rational man why the argument of this fourth Commandment should be limited to that particular day from Creation more then the argument of the fifth Commandment to that particular land of Canaan since both the one and the other are but occasionally insinuated And to limit the inducement of a moral law to an occasional circumstance is the ready way to evacuate and make void the whole law But we shall put it out of all doubt that Gods example here propounded is only for one day in seven directly substantially and properly for the old seventh only consequentially indirectly or occasionally and that by a double consideration 1. Because it is here urged as a reason of what went before 2. Because the reason of this reason is chiefly for one day in seven 1. This example of God in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and rested the seventh day is alleged as a reason of the forementioned clause six dayss shalt thou labour but the seventh is the Sabbath so much is clearly implyed in the connexive or causal particle For six dayes shalt thou labour and rest a seventh For so did Jehovah thy God Now the reason annexed to any rule must if there be any amiguity in it be expounded by the rule the rule must not be interpreted by the reason for the rule is not brought for the reason but that for the rule Therefore as the former receives strength by the latter so the latter must receive light from the fotmer Now the standing rule for the weekly Sabbath is this Six dayes shalt thou labour but a seventh is the Sabbath Here the term seventh is general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indifferently signifies a seventh or the seventh a and the being particles proper to the English tongue are defective in the Hebrew and Latine To supply which defect the schooles distinguish of Diet septimus formaliter and Dies septimus materialiter as was noted before 'T is not said this or that seventh but leftat large And where God has left a latitude we may not dare to put a limitation that were to enclose Gods Common and intrench upon his Royalty Well then the Rule being only express for a seventh day in general the reason or argument here brought to perswade to the observation of such a general seventh is taken from Gods example who also rested a seventh day which although it were the last of seven yet being only alledged as a reason of the forementioned rule it can signifie no more then the rule it self of which it is a reason And so it is clear that the sense of this latter clause in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and rested the seventh must be only according to the sense of the former clause six dayes shalt thou labour but a seventh is the Sabbath that is a seventh in proportion directly And thus the first day of the week is as much the Sabbath of the fourth Commandment to Christians as ever the last of the week was to the Jewes being one day in seven as well as that To dispute for the same day on which God rested and infer a necessity of observing that day because we must observe that proportion is to argue à dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter a well known fallacy For the argument is only direct for such a proportion six for labour and a seventh every week for rest not this or that seventh from any prefixed period 2. Let us look into the reason of this reason and then the case will be yet more clear the reason or equity of any law is the life and strength of the law And it is the design of Gods wisdome in imposing laws upon his creatures to propose such reasons in those lawes as shall make them appear congruous and suitable to those common principles of right and equity Psalm 119.18 Rom. 7.12 Deus ideò leges suas judicia vocat quod aequiffima sunt quae praescribit impressed upon the creature And hence Gods lawes are so often styled Judgments because in all things they are just and equal and certainly that sense of the argument which doth most shew the equity of the Commandment is the best and truest sense Now let us consider the equity that Gods example carryes with it in reference to the aforesaid proportion of six dayes for labour and one in seven for rest As thus if the great God who needs not a moment of time either for work or rest as being neither subject to weakness nor weariness if he I say were pleased when he had work to do even a world to make to take six dayes for his work and one in seven for rest how much more should we men still hold to this proportion who by reason of corporal weakness and spiritual wants need such a competency of time both for secular imployments and soul refreshments Thus there is convincing strength of reason and equity in it But now to argue for the particular day God wrought first six dayes and then rested the last of seven therefore we must first work and then rest has no such argumentative force in it especially to us Christians who living under a Covenant of pure grace do rather work by rest then rest by works and therefoe the Sabbath being suitable to the Covenant we may rather judg it equitable to begin the week with a day of rest and work the six dayes after then to work the six first dayes and then rest the last seventh Even dim-eyed nature judges it most
but when the type should give place to the truth the day also which went along with the type must necessarily expire with it At least our spiritual Redemption by Christ being much more glorious then their typical and temporal deliverance from Egypt must needs eate out the memory of the Creation and so translate the day by antiquating the argument of it viz. the indirect force of Gods example in resting upon that day I do not say the direct and principal force of the example for one day in seven is evacuated But rather that this number and proportion being still observed by the Apostles in a new day strongly argues that the inserting of the forementioned argument instead of Gods example does only make void the circumstantial force of the example for the old seventh day not the substantial and moral equity of it for one day in seven Quod orat respondendum As for the Hebrew Article or Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with which he makes such a noyse Answ 3 By the same rule we must in the next verse translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those heavens and that earth as though there were some others Num. 18.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who knows not that it is more frequently a cypher then a figure serving rather for ornament then for argument and to fill up the sentence then to form the sense Mr. White of Dorch has given many clear instances where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prefixed to a numeral notes nothing at all and if need were I could adde twice as many more let these two suffice the tithes or tenth part has ha set before it yet it signifies indefinitely one part of ten b Ezek. 5. v. 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bp. White p. 183. So Ezek. 5. it is no less then four times prophets hair without any Emphasis at all denoting only one part of three and I see no reason why it might not also signifie one day of seven in the Commandment I wonder T.T. will trouble the world with such common cirtifismes sure he cannot be ignorant that this was Bp. Whites notion long before it was his And the truth is that unhappy proverb may be written upon many of his arguments The Bishops foot hath trodden here yet this is the man that cyres down Bishops as every coward will draw his sword upon a conquered enemy when there is no truth in me if the weapons with which he fights against the truth be not the very same which they formed against their Puritant adversaries What shameful hypocrisie is this But suppose the Particle ha in this place be Emphatical yet why must it needs point out the day on which God rested Why not rather such a day in proportion Therefore instead of ending all cavils this is but a meer cavil Oh but he blessed it and sanctified it says the Objector Ans This is either an ignorant or an impudent cavil for there is but one it in the clause and that refers to the word Sabbath and not the seventh day and so I make bold to retort his own words with a little addition Take heed of adding to the commandement of the living God to serve your own turn or putting seventh day instead of Sabbath day for feare of being left speechlesse at the day of Judgment As for those that suppose a seventh day is the morality of the fourth Commandement T. T. Obj. 4. p. 47. they will never help themselves by it for if it be a seventh it cannot be a sixth or an eighth or any other number This shaft seemes to be taken out of T. Bs. or James Ockfords Quiver who argued at the same rate Answ and are sufficiently answerd by others The summe of what hath been said is this That the Lords day ay in one account be termed the first day of the week or the 8th day As 2 Pet. 2.5 compared with 1 Pet. 3.20 Noah is stiled the 8th person as one that made up the number of eight although in respect of dignity he was the first person and yet in another account the seventh day And it is a pithy saying of Mr. Shepheard If the Lords day may be styled the first day of the week in one respect and yet the eighth day in another respect why may it not in a third respect put on the name sevent day and so Mr. Cawdrey seconds him as Adam says he excepting but the first seventh day might be said to worke the first six dayes and rest the seventh so supposing Christ kept the first Lords day we may be sayd ever after to work six days and rest the seventh And that thus it was says another in the account of the primitive Christians appeareth 1. Cor. 16.2 upon the first day of the weeke let every one of you lay be him in store as God hath prospered him to wit So Mr. Sheph. Octavus dicitur quod cum aliis septem servatus fuit Beze in locum So also Act. 20 6.7 where no day but the first of the week is thus disposed of to be the seventh day G. A. in the six foregoing work dayes In a word although our Christian Sabbath be the first day of the week in order yet it is still the seventh in number having six working dayes going before it in one weeke and following it in another continually and this satisfies the Commandement The like may be sayd for that notion of a seventh part of time which they confess to be purely moral T.T. Ob. 5. p. 47. If so then no other but simply the seventh part must from week to week be devoted to Gods worship for when ever the seventh part of time is altered p. 117. the morality must needs be destroyed Which is thus pieced up in another page The wisest Christian in the world cannot contrive a change of the day but he must destroy the morality of the law This Objection was long ago started by Mr. Primrose in his zeal against the English Puritans part 2. ch 7. p. 162 for let him change it to a sixth day and that cannot be a seventh part of time let him translate it to the eighth day and then seven days passe without any one Sabbath let him keep the seventh or the eighth or first at his change of the day and then he keepes two Sabbaths within the compasse of seven dayes This is his Gordian knot but we need not cut it it is easily untyed For A seventh part of time which here he derides as a notion Answ 1 when as a p. 43. little before it was his own concession we grant indeed to be morall yet not morall natural if he intend that by purely moral but we say it is moral positive And to grant him as much as we can If moral natural be taken for that which is known by the light of nature without revelation so one day in seven is not purely moral But if it be taken
the Law is abrogated I look upon them as words ' of course which in a Controversie weigh no more then a feather yea as beggerly fallacies for they all along begge the question taking that for granted which hath been soundly whipt with a denyal by sundry learned pens viz. that the seventh day from the Creation was ever an express tittle of the Commandment a seventh day in a week indeed is more then a tittle of the Law and this number is still continued in the observation of the Lords day all the Christian world over And I doubt not but it shall continue to the end of the world although the old day be changed as in the celebration of the Passeover the precise order of time was sometimes altered for whereas the fourteenth day of the first moneth was the time appointed at first Exod. 12.18 yet Hezekiahs great passeover was kept on the fourteenth day of the second moneth 2 Chron. 30.5 Where you see the precise individual day altered upon occasion yet the number the fourteenth day still observed See this illustration further cleared by Mr. G. Abbot p. 37. and Mr. Walker p. 49. So upon a greater and better occasion the Sabbath is altered as to the day yet the seventh day in number still kept intire in this as the fourteenth in the other And so the Sabbath now as well as the Passeover then for substance preserved notwithstanding the circumstantial and occasional change of the day And thus through the conduct of my gracious Guide leading me by Scripture light and the foot-steps of my dear companions in the cause of Christ I have safely passed the pikes of opposition and vindicated this royal law from the false glosses and erroneous discants of the adversary carrying this conclusion all along before me as a truth triumphing over all contradiction That the old seventh day was never propounded as the substance or special subject of any moral law I shall but touch upon the second 2. That it seems to be pointed at as a sign under the ceremonial law yea it does more then seem so if the text be impartially viewed Exod. 31. from v. 13. to v. 18. where we find a special charge imposed upon the Jews to observe the Sabbath and that upon sundry considerations 1. From the end of it Verily my Sabbath ye shall keep for it a sign between me and you V. 13. throughout your generations to know that I am Jehovah that sanctifieth you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the words run in the Hebrew And this is farther explicated v. V. 14. 14. ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore for it is holy or holiness to you thereby expounding what was meant by his sanctifying of them in the verse before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if the Lord had said the keeping of my Sabbaths shall be a distinctive badge and cognisance of your Covenant-holiness Sabbathum est signum quod Deus Israclem sanctificat ut Sabbathum sanctifionvit scil segregando eosex Gentibns profanls in peculiarem sibi popnlum Lavat in Exek Hom. 26. a sign that I do sanctifie you and separate you to my self above all the people of the earth for an holy and peculiar people for as the Lord is said to sanctifie the Sabbath so also to sanctifie Israel that is by separating it from all other dayes and them from all other nations to be holiness to himfelf And this is the first special reason why they should keep the Sabbath throughout their generations as a sign or mark of distinction to difference them from the rest of the profane world 2. From the perill of profaning it v. 14.15 Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death for whosoever doth any work therein that soul shall be cut off from amongst his people c. A law shortly after executed in the letter of it by stoning to death one that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day Numb 15.36 which rigour for ought I can find to the contrary lasted no longer then the Israelites peregrination in the wilderness where as one sayes an extraordinary strict rest was imposed upon them because they were extraordinarily accommodated for it Being as the Saints in heaven are immediately at Gods finding having Mannah without means daily provided for them and hence it is said Numb 15.32 While the children of Israel were in the wilderness they found a man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath day and stoned him to death Note the Phrase while they wore in the wilderness not elsewhere for when they were out of the wilderness we never read of the like punishment inflicted It seems then that this strict kind of rest and rigour was restrained to that time and place only 3. Another argument to inforce their observation of the Sabbath is taken from the moral equity of it verse 15. Six dayes may work be done but the seventhis the Sabbath As if the Lord had said ye may well afford me one day in seven since I have given you six in seven And this again is reinforced by Gods example in the latter part of v. 17. For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and rested the seventh day Now it concerns us to inquire in this context what was proper to the Jews and what common with them to us What is moral and perpetual what judicial or ceremonial and temporary For that morals and judicials are here mingled together none can deny and the difficulty will be how to sever the one from the other and to shew in what sense the Sabbath was made a sign what the significancy of it was and especially what kind of sign whether a permanent sign as the Rain bow or a transient sign as the cloudly pillar in the wilderness There are sundry sorts of signs spoken of in Scripture I shall onely instance in those that are of prime note and pertinency to resolve the case in hand 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Josh 4.6 7. So also the Passeover was and the Lords supper is a sign being both memorative Exod. 12.26 Mat. 26.26 1 Cor. 11.24 There are remembrancing signs as the twelve stones taken out of Jordan for every tribe one were set up as a sign to after-ages for a memorial to the childen of Israel that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark And such a kind of sign it is commonly thought the Sabbath was a memorial of the Creation But that it is so propounded or intended here cannot easily be proved since the Lord does not say I have given you my Sabbaths as a sign that I created the world but for a sign that I the Lord do sanctifie you And although it be added v. 17. It is a sign betwixt me and the Children of Israel for ever Ainach majoris distinctionis pausae est accentus Buxtorf Thes Gram. for in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth c. Yet it
is not said it shall be a sign that in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth For there is a notable pause in the middle which divides the sentence and the sense also The seventeenth verse containes two distinct arguments or reasons why they should keep the Sabbath 1. Because it was a sign 2. Because it was set apart upon the occasion of Gods work and rest in the beginning 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 2.3 1 Joh. 3.18 There are indicating or evidencing signes such are the Characters of saving grace But neither can this be the sense of the word sign in this place It is a sign that I the Lord do sanctifie you What savingly why then all were Israel that were of Israel for the Sabbath was given to all neither was it so much their keeping the Sabbath as Gods giving them a Sabbath to keep which is here made a sign Witness Ezekiel Moses his interpretor I have given them my Sabbath for a sign Ezek. 20.13 to know that I the Lord do sanctifie them Therefore 3. There are distinguishing or differencing signs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as do visibly mark out a people for Gods peculiar select and sanctified ones above all other people of the earth And in this sense the Sabbath is here given the Jews as a sign a sign of his sanctifying them that is in one word as Calvin speaks a sign of his segregating and singling them out from the rest of the nations as his peculiar people Siquis un◠verbo reddere vellet sanctificare est segregare Cal. Praelec in Ezek. 20. Ita Simler in Exo Levit. 21.8 ch 2.32 So also Simlerus and to the same effect is that of Lavater aforementioned The Sabbath was a sign of Gods sanctifying them as the Sabbath it self was sanctified that is separated from other common dayes and set a part for holy ends and uses And so the Word sanctifie is usually if not only taken in Scripture when it is applyed to the whole bulk or body of a people as here it is Well the Sabbath was given to the people of Israel as a sign of Gods sanctifying them but how long throughout their generations That is during the Oeconomy of the Law as long as the people of Israel should be the only peculiar people of God Exod. 12.14 The very same Phrase is used concerning the Passeover ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations by an ordinance or ever which clearly speaks it a temporary ordinance But Secondly We must distinguish of Sabbaths as well as of signes very briefly the Word Sabbath signifies one of these three things either 1. The moral duty holy rest or 2. The penal rigour of that rest or 3. The precise day of rest Now 1. It cannot be meant of the moral duty simply considered since that extends beyond their generations for there remaineth a rest Heb. 4.9 10. or keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God still neither 2. Can itwell be understood of that penal rigour resting from all work upon pain of corporal death for this in all likelihood lasted not out half their generations being calculated chiefly for their wilderness estate as was saidbefore Therefore 3. It must be the precise day of rest the old seventh-day-seventh-day-Sabbath or nothing which is here set as a sign throughout their generations and this I take to be the true intent of the Holy-Ghost both here and Ezek. 20. The case seems clearly to me to be stated in this wise The old seventh day was at first given to Adam and his posterity as the only true Sabbath during the pre-eminency of the Creation and Christ in the promise and that it was conscientiously kept by the holy Patriarchs for some ages after I doubt not though some of the Ancients seem to deny it but to be sure in tract of time the sinful race of Adam forsaking the true God did also forget the true Sabbath Now when it pleased God out of that degenerate lump of mankind to form Israel or the seed of Abraham a peculiar people to himself he gave them his old Sabbath again in a new Edition That among other ends it might be a visible sign to distinguish them from the rest of the world Other nations no doubt had their Sabbaths as well as their gods but as Israel must serve the only true God so they must also observe the then only true Sabbath Ezod 31.13 So much is implyed in the text Verily my Sabbath ye shall keep saith the Lord. The Word my is Emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it points at the precise day of Gods appointment the seventh and last day of the week therefore this and mainly this was made a sign of Gods sanctifying the Jews throughout their generations which being so how evidently doth it follow that the day was design'd for change and that now it is certainly changed by the will and appointment of God For if the Jews generation be extinct and they that were once the people of God have now a Lo-ammi written upon them Ho. 11.20 1 Thes 2.15 16. Ye are none of my people how shall that day any longer stand as a Sabbath wich was given them as a sign of their being the peculiar people of God and that for a season only till their generations were expired Maledic domine Nazarais Lord curse the Christians is one of their daily imprecations vid Trapp in Hosea Either let the adversay say the blaspheming Jews who powre out daily curses instead of prayers are still the Covenant-people of God in so much as still they retain that Saturday-Sabbath And then he shall speak like a true Jew indeed or let him confess their saturday-Sabbath which was once the crown of their glory is now no better then the badge of their blasphemy whereby they would make the world believe that they are still the sanctified people of God though they trample underfoot the blood of his Son whereby they should be sanctified I speak not this as insulting over the misery of the Jews but as lamenting the sin of apostate Christians who take up that day as a badge of their Saintship which the infidel Jews wear as a badge of their blasphemy and enmity against Christ and Christians Indeed it was once an illustrious sign of their sanctification but it was limited to their generations as the Passeover was and therefore if the one be expired so is the other upon the same account And in this respect I dare boldly affirm and I doubt not to maintain it that it is every whit as lawful for a Christian to celebrate that old Sacrament the Passeover as to observe the old Sabbath For the one was as well a sign as the other and the one was ordained for a season as well as the other There are a few feeble objections to face this argument but the bare repetion with the premises will be
Act. 3.8 so ch 14 10. There was therefore certainly more in this Command then what did barely refer either to the confirmation of the miracle or the publication of Gods glory in that sense supposed and what it was the above mentioned Author does thus resolve us namely that it was See Dr. Lightf Harm of the 4 Evang. p. 3. in John 5. Partly in respect of the man Partly in respect of the day In respect of the man it was to trye his faith and obedience whether upon the bare word of Christ he would venture upon so hazardous an action In respect of the day it was to shew Christs power and authority over the old Sabbath that as elsewhere in restoring the man sick of the Palsy he not onely shewed his power over the disease in healing it but also over sin in forgiving it So it pleased him here at one and the same time to shew his Divine power over the distemper in curing it and his soveraignty over the Sabbath in dispensing with it and disposing of it as he thought good 'T is objected against this by T. T. whose usuall trick it is to clamour where he cannot answer That in argueing thus we joyn with the blasphemous Pharisees in charging our Saviour as a Sabbath-breakere Obj But we easily cleare opur blessed Saviour and quit our selves of this false and injurious charge affirming That our Lord could be no more taxed for Sabbath breaking in requiring this man to beare his bed on the Sabbath-day then God himself in Commanding Joshuah to march about Jericho seven times on the same day He did not hereby transgress the Law but shewed his soveraignty over the day which will the better appeare if we consider What he sayes to the Jewes in answer to their cavils about it In the sequel of the Chapter where all along we may observe how he justifies his act by asserting his power He tels tehm verse 17 that he had the same authority over the Sabbath that the father had The Father worketh hitherto and I work This answer refers cheifly to that part of the objection which lay against his healing on the Sabbath day and it is continued to verse 20. Then he answers more directly to that other part of their accusation his supposed violation of the Sabbath in giving the man a dispensation to carry his bed verse 20 The father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that himself doth yea he will shew him greater things then these that ye may mervel Greater workes then these why as the forementioned Authour speakes they were great things that our Saviour had now done in curing a desperate disease and dispensing with the Sabbath but he must do yet greater Workes then these v. 16. namely raise the dead and change the Sabbath that Jewish Spirits might mervel The Jewes persecuted him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day that is healed the man and commanded him to carry his bed So the word judgment is used Psalm 9.11 Psalm 94.15 Isai 28.6 Jerem. 33.15 John 8.16 Now in answer to these two particulars he tels them that the Father would shew him greater workes then these for verse 21. As the Father raiseth the dead so the Son And verse 22. The father judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgment to the Son that is government or Legislative power about the affaires of men and in particular about the disposall of the Sabbath which was now under dispute They carped and cavill'd at his present carriage towards the Sabbath He tels them that he had authority to do what he did yea and more then that came to for all judgement was committed into his hands to do some greater things then barely to dispense with the Sabbath and something at which the Jewes should marvell and for which all should honour the Son as they honour the Father Verse 23 That as the Father was honoured in giving the Law so should the Son be honoured in giving the Gospel and as the Father was honoured in appointing the old Sabbath so should the Son in ordaining a new Sabbath not in confirming the old as T. T. would have it for so the Son is not honoured even as the Father was honoured pa. 145. For the Father was honoured as the institutor of a Sabbath therefore so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even so must the Son be honoured The argument is very ponderous if we consider the scope of our Saviours oration which was to justifie what he had done on the Sabbath-day To this purpose he pleades his designment to do greater things then these and some greater thing in reference to command and disposall over the Sabbath which was the thing in question And this plea he proves by his power to raise the dead and to dispose of all things in a way of judicature or government under the new Testament as the Father had done under the Old and to this intent that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father which being spoken with reference to the Sabbath and to his present dispensing with it doth plainly speake his intention to alter and change it Again here is one thing more observable namely that Christs power to raise the dead and his power to dispose of the Sabbath are carryed along both together in this discourse And the one is made an argument of the other plainly intimating the change of the day upon the resurrection upon his own resurrection in the first place which is hinted at verse 26. and others with himself at his resurrection according to that ancient prophecy Thy dead men shall live Isai 26.19 Mat. 27.52 53. together with my dead body shall they arise which was fulfilled when our Saviour rose from the dead So that all things considered here is a most pregnant Scripture to prove that it was our Redeemers purpose to alter the Sabbath And therefore as in Preface to such a thing he both gives the man a commission to carry his bed on that day and pleads for what he had done by his divine authority as beginning to shake the day which within two years after was to be unhinged and actually changed for another at least it speaks his power to alter it And he that shall dare deny this must make Christ Jesus the Lord inferiour to David the servant for even David had power to alter a circumstance in the Law of Moses 1 Chron. 23.24 25 26. ordaining that the Levites should officiate at twenty years old Numb 4.3 Numb 8.24 when as Moses had appointed that they should not officiate till 25. or 30. yet when the reason of the Mosaical ordinance ceased and the Ark had rest you see David changes that order And if David who was but a meer man though a King and a Prophet might alter a circumstance about the Priesthood Isai 9.6 Revel 15.3 Mat. 28.18 how much more might the Lord Jesus who is
separation was the old Sabbath whereby the Jewish Nation was distinguished from all other people in the world as we shewed before out of Exod. 31. Now the Lord Jesus came to take down this separation wall and to make up a Union betwixt Jew and Gentile and this he did partly by his death blotting out the hand writing of Ordinances or law of Commandments contained in Ordinances and partly by his e Acts 4.11 Ephes 2.20 resurrection where he was made the corner-stone of his Fathers house to unite both parts of he building together that all might be d Gal. 3.28 one in Christ Jesus This I take to be the sense of the place But the Prelates have perverted the Text Obj. 3 T. T. for unto the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which only signifies Sabbaths they have deceitfully added dayes as though there were no Sabbathe but Sabbath dayes they have destroyed the Apostles scope by their addition of dayes The pious and judicious Translatours have rightly rendered it Sabbath-dayes for so the word is used in all those other texts above mentioned p. 136. Answ yea when there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned with it and the like I have observed in e Dialogue with Trypho Justine Martyr f Hom. de semente Athanasius and other expert Grecians who do generally dispute against the Jews weekly Sabbath under the term which is here used therefore this Author does most unworthily and wrongfully charge those worthy instruments who made the Scriputres speak true English with fraud and deceit God will one day require an account of these hard speeches yea scoffs and impious slanders But he has not done yet Whereas by this bold and absurd addition some would cast off the seventh day as Ceremonial Obj. 4 who yet plead strongly for the morality of the Sabbath it is very considerable that this Text toucheth not the day at al but the duty that is the Sabbath for the Apostle mentions not the day or time as a shadow but Sabbaths None but a bold and absurd Anabaptist would call this an absurd addition Answ 1 for it is the usual and proper Translation of the word elsewhere and if he should read it thus let no man judg you in meat or drink or in respect of a festival day or a new Moon or the Sabbath day it were no wrong to the Text for so we read the same word Mat. 12.1 Understanding it of the old Sabbath day Answ 2 The duty of holy rest in general is not here intended at all for that is usually intimated in a word of the singular number and stands firm in the fourth Commandment as also g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 24.20 'T is only the particular day or the respective limitation of the duty to that day that is here reckoned among the shadows of things to come look how their festival dayes are called shadowes so is their Sabbath not the moral duties required on those dayes as solemn h 2 Chron. 30 21 22. Neh. 8.6 worship praise and thanksgiving for then it were a sin to keep a day of thanksgiving but the set dayes together with the ceremonial duties which they were accustomed to a re here discharged and the like I may say of their weekly Sabbath And therefore his conclusion will not hold That we may as warrantably reject the moral law upon that expression of the law being changed as the seventh day upon this word of Sabbaths being a shadow The distinction of moral and ceremonial may as well be applied to Sabbaths as lawes and till he can prove that the old seventh day is excepted from these shadowy Sabbaths as we can prove the moral law to be from that which was mutable he must confess it was but a shadow and so either abrogated or altered or both as the ceremonial i H. br 7.12 law and the priest-hoods were and if so let him judg whether the Apostles rule ought not to be regarded Let no man judg you in respect of shadowy Sabbaths and let T. T. timely bethink himself how he will answer the breach of this rule at the Barre of Christ when his own book shall without repentance be brought in as a bill of indictment against him for judging censuring condemning not only faithful Ministers and Christian-people but Magistrates Princes Parliaments charging them with little less then the sin against the Holy-Ghost because forsooth they disown the brat of his brain p. 50. and reject the Saturday-Sabbath let this unjust judg take heed he be not judged with a witness I shall ere long read him a sharp sentence out of Justin Martyr But first I shall endeavour to convince him by two or three Arguments more That the Sabbath is certainly changed from the last to the first of the week and that by Divine Authority Christ ending his work Arg. 3 ad hominem and entring into his rest layes the foundation of a new Sabbath upon the day of his rest But he ended his work and entred into his rest upon the first day of the week by his resurrection from the dead Therefore then and thereby he laid the foundation of a new Sabbath upon that day of his rest Both feet of this argument stand upon Scriputre-ground or the grant of the adversary as shall appear in the prosecution of it First That our blessed Redeemers ending his work and entring into his rest laid the foundation of a new Sabbath seemes to be the Apostles conclusion Hebr. 4.9.10 There remaineth therefore the keeping of a Sabbath as the Tranlators render it in the Margin to the people of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he that hath entred into his rest that is Christ hath ceafed from his workes as God did from his own workes That it is spoken of Christ T. T. plainly grants p. 141. yea peremptorily determines in these words It is Christ only whose intrance into rest is here intended and therefore there remaineth the keeping of the Sabbath to the people of God A Sabbath I should rather say I may lawfully proceed upon his own grant and so wound him with his own weapon For however he wrests this Scripture and uses it as a sheild to defend his Saturday-Sabbath I believe upon trial it will be found a sword to destroy it Which will the better appear if we look into the contents of the third and fourth Chapters and withall have an eye to the scope of the whole Epistle which will be an excellent key to unlock this intricate Text. Breifly to touch upon the general scope it is very probable that these Christian Hebrews were about casting off the Ordinances and worship of the New Testament and revolting from Christ to Moses for the prevention and cure of which Apostacy St. * For if the cloth may be known by the lâ—st as M. Ward was wont to say the Epistle is most likely to be his the phrase and
ch 37.25 David who dyed many hundred years before Christ cannot be the same David who is promised to be a Prince amongst Christians So here the day or rest of which David speaks being to come and not then entred into could not be the rest of the old seventh day since that was entred into long before even from the foundation of the world This is the true and genuine sense of those words although and again Although is a discretive term * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a note of distinction importing thus much that albeit there is mention made of a day of rest in the beginning of the world yet it is as another distinct day and rest that is here intended So also this Adverb again is to be taken of another rest-day then that which is mentioned in the former verse for although the old seveuth day were spoken of by Moses as the first and most famons rest in the beginning yet now again so many thousand years after that David speaks of another rest if not another rest-day and if any Sabbath or day of rest be here intended either by David or Paul it will certainly prove fatal to the old Sabbath for I would humbly propose this quere to the consideration of the learned Whether the Psalmists intimation that there should be a day of solemn worship under the Gospel and the Apostles assumption that it could not be meant of the old seventh day will not amount to this conclusion that the old seventh-day-Sabbath is to be no day of rest or solemn worship under the Gospel If T.T. quarrel at this conclusion let him thank himself for the premises one of them at least for he grants a moral rest or Sabbath to be here meant and I will thank the Holy-Ghost and S. Paul for the other for they have assured me that the seventh day from the Creation could not be meant by David no nor Secondly The rest of Canaan neither in the sense above mentioned for although that be sometimes termed the * Deut. 12.9 Josh 1.15 rest which God gave Israel under the conduct of Jesus or Joshua yet sayes the Apostle v. 8. If Jesus had given them rest that is if he had given them the rest of which David here speaks then would he not afterward have spoken of another day where note by the way t is a day of rest which the Psalmist seems to scope at else why should the Apostle thus interweave the one with the other If Joshuah or Jesus had given them rest then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day Note again the same Argument is here used against the supposed place of rest that was urged before against their conceived time of rest the old seventh day both these were entred into long before Davids time whereas he spake by the spirit of prophecy concerning things to come a long time after and hereupon the Apostle concludes There remaineth therefore a rest or the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God distinct and different from the old Sabbath yet not much unlike it in respect of the ground of it for he that hath entred into his rest hath ceased from his works as God did from his own works And this is spoken only of Christ sayes T.T. Be it so then I hope our proposition will not offend him that when our blessed Lord Jesus ended his work and entred into his rest he laid the foundation of a new Sabbath on that day of his rest only t is like this word new Sabbath will stick in his stomach yet it needs not for we cannot put the old Sabbath into the Apostles conclusion because he himself puts it out of the premises But we shall not wrangle about words by new Sabbath I mean only a new Sabbath-day and for peace-sake I am content the proposition should pass in these terms The day on which Christ ended his works and entred into his rest must be our Christian Sabbath day The assumption followes Secondly That Christ ended his work and entred into his rest by his resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week for proof whereof we may proceed upon another of the Adversaries Principles for thus he argue Christs entring into his rest on the seventh day T.T. p. 144 145. Our dear Redeemers soul was no sooner separated from his body but his better part immediately entred into glory and soon after his blessed body was laid to rest in the grave Where although I cannot but mind him of his gross mistake about the cricumstance of time for t is evident that as our blessed Redeemers soul entred into Paradise on the sixth day the same day that he dyed witness his words to the dying theef this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise so also his sacred body was interr'd the same day even a Mark 16.42 Luke 23.53 54. the day before the Sabbath not on the seventh day as this sophister would make silly people believ e yet I shall take him at his word in the main of his argument namely that when our Saviour entred into his glory he entred into his rest But I assume By his resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week our Lord entred into his glory and for this I have his own word more then once or twice in the 24 of Luke he overtakes the two Disciples going to Emmaus and as they were talking together with sad hearts about the sufferings and the death of Christ and also relating what they had heard but could hardly believe concerning his resurrection he takes them up with a sharp rebuke b Luke 24.25 26. O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory to enter into his glory you will say that is to be understood of his ascention into Heaven nay verily he spake it of his resurrection from the dead where their chief doubt lay and so himself expounds it for the same day at night he appears to the rest of his Disciples and these among them preaching the same Doctrine and saying c V. 46. Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day this was that he had so often inculcated before his death d Math. 16.21 ch 17. 23. Mark 9.31 ch 10. 34. Luke 9.22 ch 18. 31 32 33. That he must go up to Jerusalem and suffer and die that all things which were written in the prophets concerning him should be accomplished that he should be delivered up to the gentiles that they should crucifie and kill him and that the third day he should rise again according to the Scriptures so that what one Text speaks of his suffering and entring into glory others interpret of his dying and rising again the third day and that Christ by his resurrection entred into his glory
Oracles of God Observation does imply obligation And how can this stand with the soveraignty of God But I suppose his meaning is that God rested the seventh day what then Therefore it was no rudiment had nothing Typical or ceremonial in it It followes not Psam 132.8 2 Chron. 6 41. How often is God said to rest in Types of Christ is not the Tabernacle stiled Gods rest And the Temple and the Temple Worship are not t Gen. 8.21 Exod. 29.18 Numb 15.3 Sacrifices and oblations called a Savour of rest unto God not that Gods soul rested in any of these rests properly nor the people of God neither But he rested in Christ and so did they in these things only as Types or prefigurations of Christ to come And thus he is said to rest on the seventh day We have proved before that man sinned and fell the sixth day and that Christ was promised and actually invested in the office of Mediatorship before the Sabbath was instituted And hereupon God rested the seventh day not only from the work of Creation but from the weight and burthen of Adams sin For God complains of sin as a heavy u Isai 1.14 Amos 5.2.13 burthen and as the sins of the old world are said to * Gen. 6.6 grieve him at his heart so no doubt did the sin of Adam But Christ interposing to make reconcilation God rested the seventh day and was refreshed Exod. 31.17 That the old Sabbath was instituted after the fall besides what has bin formerly alledged appears plainly from that of our Saviour x Mark 2.28 The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath For man that is for man in misery not man in innocency for the context speaks of necessitous indigent man man subject to hunger and thirst and want T is spoken upon the occasion of the hungry disciples plucking the ears of Corn and eating out of pure necessity on the Sabbath day The Pharisees presently censure them as Sabbath breakers Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath day having power to dispose of it at his pleasure but sayes the Lord of the Sabbath you quarrel without cause For the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath That is the Sabbath was made for the good and benefit of man in misery Principally for the good of his sick and sinfull soul but partly for the support of his weak and frail body also that it might rest and be refreshed with convenient food Physick and the like which clearly argues that the Sabbath was made ordained and instituted after man was in necessity and misery namely after Adams fall and therefore t is said That God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it Gen. 2.3 Blessed it how not with natural blessings that the Sun should shine brighter or the weather be fairer that day then another No the blessings of the Sabbath were of another nature spiritual blessings such as were suitable to the state of fain man such as God has pronounced Fallen man blessed withall otherwise the institution had never concerned any one man since the fall How could it if the blessings contained in it had bin nothing but Paradise blessings But we shall not inculcate former arguments only add one consideration more to make it further manifest that Gods rest on the seventh day was partly if not chiefly in relation to Christ the promised Messiah T is a saying of the Hebrew Doctors and it agrees well with the a Heb. 2.10 Rev. 5.11 12 13. Scriptures that the world it self had not bin made but for the Messiah For all things were made by him and for him and he is the b Heb. 1.2 heir of all things and that as Mediatour and we have reason to think that Gods heart were more set upon Christ when he set up this visible frame of Heaven and earth then upon all the world besides How unlikely therefore is it that the glorious Creator should set apart a day of rest till the grand design upon which his thoughts had run from all eternity and which was chiefly in his eye when he made the world the glorifying of himself in his Son by investing him with the government of the world and putting him as heir of all things into actuall possession of his hereditary Dominions had some actual inchoate existence 'T is cleare that God did not rest from his other works of Creation till he had made man because till then he had not attained his subordinate end of making the rest of his creatures and t is credible that he would not rest after he had made man till he had made Christ Mediatour and put the government of all upon his shoulders because till then he had not attained his ultimate end for which he made man and all the rest of the world besides Certain it is that the Creation was made but mutably perfect at first and therefore it cannot be conceived how God could keep a setled rest the seventh day till he had setled and established the Creation on Christ the rock c Deut. 32.4 whose work is perfect And this I conceive to be the true and undoubted sense of that saying Gen. 22. On the seventh day God ended Finished or perfected his work namely by establishing it upon Christ that sure foundation 1 Peter 4.18 hence he is styled a faithfull Creator in that he did not leave his work of Creation in a mutable estate as Masons and Carpenters when they have built their houses leave them without any further care what becomes of them but as a faithful Creator * God was not the author or approver of mans falbut only the orderer and over ruler of it to bring good out of evill he over ruled the Fall of Adam for a greater good namely for the establishment of his mutable work by bringing in Christ the right heir setting him as e Ps 8.6 He. 2.8 1 Cor. 15.24 Lord over all the works of his hands puting all things under his feet making him f Josh 3.11 Neb. 9.6 Dan. 10.14 15. Acts 10.36 Lord of the whole world and of all things therein to whom doth appertain the Dominion of the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens the earth and all that is therein Thus on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made or perfected his work which he had made That which he had made perfect at first with mutable perfection he now perfected again by a further degree of supperadded perfection namely by the promise of Christ and his personall undertaking as Mediatour by whom all things g Col. 1.16 consist And accordingly God rested the seventh day not in the changeable Creature but in Christ the rock and so the Sabbath was stated on the seventh day upon the account of Christ in the promise upon the performance of which promise the seventh day ceases to be any longer a day of rest But
enough is said to shew the discharge of the old seventh day from obligation under the new Testament We shall only remove some of the Adversaries chief objections and then lay down our grounds for the Christian Sabbath He objects Obj. 1 The Fathers institution of the seventh day which makes it as perpetual as the Ordinance of marriage But This is fully answered in the first Position Answ where we have proved that the Fathers institution of the old seventh day was upon such grounds as exposed it to alteration Thither I referr the Reader and shall follow the objector to his next Argument From the Sons confirmation of the seventh day Obj. 2 Christ has confirmed it sayes he 1. T. T. p. 72. to p. 79. By his words 2. By his works By his words more generally among the rest of his royal Lawes which he hath ratified even to a point or Tittle Math. 5.18 Teaching his Apostles to do the like Rom 3. James 2.10 More particularly by proclaiming himself Lord of the Sabbath day Mark 2.28 As if he had said the Sabbath is mine I am Lord of it I made it for Man and having given him a precept and pattern to sanctifie it I shall not make my self a president to profane it Now that which Christ layes claim to as Lord must needs be confessed his Therefore do we celebrate the holy Supper because t is the Lords Supper Again Math. 24.20 He instructs his disciples to pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath day namely forty years after his death at what time all Ceremonies were abolished by Apostolical proclamation And as thus he has owned the seventh day Sabbath by his words so he has also crowned it by his workt c. This is the main strength and force of his Argument But alas it is to feeble to fetch life into a dead Sabbath that has lain sixteen hundred years in the grave we shall discuss every particular in it and return several answers to it We grant indeed that the Lord our Lawgiver has ratified his royal Moral Law even to a point or a tittle Answ 1 inasmuch as he came to fulfil the Law not to dissolve and destroy it But how is every tittle to be taken Not strictly and graphically for every vowel point and prick of a letter in the Law but for the substance and least matter of it the least Commandment in it so our Saviour expounds himself Matth. 5.19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and teach men so shall be least in the Kingdome of God teaching us that by jot or tittle of the Law verse 18. he meant the least Commandment of the Moral Law v. 19. Thus also St. James ch 2.10 He that shall offend in one point is guilty of all By one point he means any one precept or Commandment in the Decalogue He explains himself by the reason rendred verse 11. For he that said Do not commit adultery said also Do not kill As if he had said the same God that gave one Commandment gave all therefore when any one point or precept is violated the contempt reflects upon the whole Law the least sin being an affront to Gods soveraignty So then the sense of both places is the same the least point or precept of the Moral Law is in force under the Gospel and if the least much more the fourth Commandment which indeed is none of the least But what of all this The fourth Commandment is established by Christ therefore the seventh day in weekly succession from the Creation the Consequence is infirm For that day was never directly stated in the Commandment the fourth Commmandement sayes not Thou shalt keep holy the last day of the week and not the first but a seventh day Sabbath or one in seven the old seventh day may be and is repealed and yet the Commandement ratyfied to a tittle in the matter yea in the very letter of it evangelically considered to wit as it is explained by Christ according to the will of God though not the carnal reasonings of men But of this formerly That Text Mark 2.28 rightly interpreted makes nothing for the old Sabbath but much against it For these words The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath day do speak Christs power to alter and change it not his purpose to establish confirm it under the Gospel 't is a title much like that Math. 21. where he stiles himself Lord of the vineyard as having power to let and lease it out to other Husbandmen Mark 12.9 Dominus rectè dicitur alicujus rei qui in illam jua potestatem habet extollendi immutandi Aretius in Luc. 6. Christ was Lord of the Sabbath that is had power to change the day Engl. Annot. in Mar. 2. Luke 20.15.16 And thus he was Lord of the Sabbath having authority to alter and adjourn it to another day the Sabbath was the vineyards Land-mark or the Churches distinctive limit he that had power to transplant the vineyard had no less power to transpose the Sabbath He was Lord of the vineyard and Lord of the Sabbath in a like notion Suppose it spake as the objector speaks I am Lord of the Sabbath the Sabbath is mine yet still the same sense recurres is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own As our Lord speaks in another case Math. 20.15 The Temple was his as well as the Sabbath Mal. 3.1 and styled his a Ps 132.14 rest forever and his b Isai 56.7 house of prayer for all people more then I remember was ever said of the seventh day Sabbath yet the Temple is destroyed and as Christ never meant to tye up his Gospel worshippers to that typical place of worship so neither to that typical time of worship He was Lord of both while they lasted that he might dissolve both when their season was expired that he might legally and ex officio give his people a discharge from both As for the Authors crafty collation of these two expressions Lord of the Sabbath day and Lords Supper whereby he would insinuate the equall authority and perpetuity of that Legal Sabbath with this Evangelical Sacrament it savours of more sophistry then solidity of Argumentation let the unlearned know that as the terms are different in the Greek so the phrase in our English Dialect imports different things 't is one thing to call Christ Lord of this or that another thing to say t is the Lords to say he was Lord of the Sabbath and that before his death is nothing so much as to to say this is the Lords Supper and that after his resurrection The former imports the office or authority of Christ the latter implyes his Ordinance And let the objector know that this Epithet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is never used but twice in the new Testament namely for the Lords Supper the Lords day Rev. 1.10 The Holy Ghost
never vouchsafed to honour the Saturday Sabbath with this Evangelical title But of that in convenient time and place we are now discussing Mark 2. where Christ while the old seventh day was in force professes himself Lord of it which plainly intimated his Lordship Dominion and soveraignty over it that he had authority to displace it and dispose of it as himself thought good the Coherence carries it clearly this way The disciples through the Pharisaical carping and misprision of their adversaries were condemned for Sabbath-breaking because they had pluck'd a few eares of corne and dressed them for their dinner on the Sabbath day which was a work of mercy and pure necessity hunger and emptiness constraining them to it and so no breach of the Sabbath Hospin de orig Fest cap. de Sab. But the malicious Pharisees whose traditions had taught them that to crop an herb to pill an onyon to rost an apple to kill a flea Metens vel tantillum reus est vellere spicas est species Messionis Maim Ichabb vide Lightf Horae Hebraic in Math. 12. much more to pluck ears of corn and rub them in their hand which they look'd upon as a kind of reaping threshing were unlawfull and sinful actions on the Sabbath day presently take occasion to condemn the disciples for Sabbath-violation Well our Saviour justifies his disciples and wipes off the charge of their accusers by this argument ver 27. The Sabbath was made for man that is miserable fallen man not man for the Sabbath Therefore the Son of man the Messiah is also Lord of the Sabbath day as if he had said Cùm post lapsum institutum fuit Sabbaturn lege conditione quae Christum jam promissum hominisque lapsum respexerit non potuit Sabbatum non sub potestate domini filii hominis id est seminis promiss◠subjici ab co ordinandum disponendum prout ip si visum ac provisum fuerit Idm. Ibid. 't is your error to think that all workes of mercy and necessity are unlawfull on the Sabbath day for the Sabbath was made and instituted at first for man subject to necessity and misery namely by such a law as related to the fall of man and the promise of the Messiah therefore the Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath day That is it falls under my dominion and disposal as the Son of man The phrase is observable he sayes not The Son of David but The Son of man the Mediator pointed out in the promise made to Adam the first man even he is Lord of the Sabbath day or has dominion over it being at first the foundation of it This is the most probable interpretation if we take the Son of man here for Christ But very many Learned Writers take it for man or mankind in general as it is sometimes used Filliue hominis i.e. homo Zanch in praec 4. Psal 8.5 Isai 65.2 And then the meaning may be this that in case of urgent and pungent necessity as extreme hunger perill of life health or the like every or any son of man is Lord of the Sabbath day having liberty to dress or prepare food to take physick to refresh and repaire nature Filliue hominis tam de Christo quà m de quovis Christiuno homine intelligi potest Gualter in Loc. item Ravanel in verb. dominus necessity as we use to say knowes no law that is no positive Law provided it be not a necessity contracted by idleness or improvidence This is the exposition of some very learned and godly and it seemes to suit well with the case of the disciples as also the context v. 27. The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath Therefore viz. in case of pure necessity the Son of man or mankind is Lord of the Sabbath day Take it in which sense we will it makes nothing for the Saturday Sabbath The objectors notion is altogether incoherent both with the sense of the Text and scope of the context but to proceed Touching that Text Math. 24.20 Ans 3 Pray that your flight be not in the Winter nor on the Sabbath day I have two things to answer 1. By way of supposition supposing it were meant of the Jewes Sabbath it would signifie no more but this that it would be superstitiously kept among the unbeleeving Jewes forty yeares after our Saviours death as it is to this day and therefore pray that your flight may not be either in the winter when it will be doleful dirty or on the Sabbath when it will be dangerous travelling through the coasts of Judea and bring you into peril of persecution by your own countrey-men which was one of Pauls perils 2 Cor. 11.26 For although by that time the disciples were sufficiently instructed in their Christian liberty that their flight was as lawfull on that day as another and therefore they could not flye with scruple of conscience yet the superstitious Jewes to whom such flight might be offensive in all reason would Shimei-like barke at such harmless passengers if not bite and snap them And whereas it is objected T.T. p. 78. That it cannot be rationally conceived that the Jewes instead of securing themselves should trifle away their time in persecuting the Christians This objection is answered by himself in the very next words almost For sayes he the Jewes were so superstitious that they durst not fight for their life Then I may well inferre that t is most likely they were also so zealous that they would persecute any who should flye for their life if they themselves would rather dye then flye or fight for their lives as he suggests much more would they hinder the flight of others So that if the old Sabbath were intended by our Saviour it was rather with a note of dislike then approbation as foreseeing that through the superstition of the Jewes it would be an occasion of persecution to his servants as it had often been to himself Supposing I say for I grant it not that the Jewes Sabbath was here meant it must be construed in such a sense namely that they are counselled to deprecate their flight on that day for the better avoiding of bodily calamities for in reference to that day we cannot so much as suppose any soule distress incident to the disciples by reason of such flight we cannot conceive how they should be straightned in conscience out of any religious respect to that day at the siege or sacking of Jerusalem since the adversary himself confesses That all ceremonies were then abolished by Apostolical proclamation For which he cites Colos 2.16 17. Which Text does irrefragably prove the repeale of the old Sabbath as was said before And thus he is caught in his own trap But 2. By way of affirmation I assert That these words of our blessed Saviour pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath are to be understood of our Christian Sabbath
the fourth Commandment which as the above mentioned Author at whose torch I have lighted my candle observes is a thing worthy of special note any may afford a satisfying reason why there is no expresse institution of the first day of the week in the new Testament viz. Because the vertue of the fourth Commandment doth of it self fall upon that day the former being void being the only day capable of keeping up Gods proportion perpetually determined in the Commandment yet I confess as formerly that the Commandment does not directly institute the day but falls upon the observation of it and supposes the institution neither do I urge it directly for the designation of the day for the first day of the week is not expresly mentioned in the fourth Commandment no more is the last day of the week neither but a seventh day is which although as I said before it could not be restrained to one day more then another yet my meaning was and is that it could not be so tyed to the last of seven as not to be applyed to the first of seven if God so pleased Briefly this argument concludes rather for the observation than the designation of the first day day of the week as the only day upon which in the vacancy of the old Sabbath God has set his mind in the Law And good reason For 2. This is the day upon which above all other dayes Christ has set his mark his special signall characteristical mark in the Gospel to mark it out for a day of weekly solemn worship under the new Testament A seven-fold mark he has set upon it which the malice of men and divels shall never be able to obliterate As 1. His glorious Resurrection upon this day 2dly His several veral Apparitions 3dly His gracious actions and speeches at those apparitions 4th The Mission of his Holy Spirit on this day 5th The inscription of his own blessed name upon it 6th His Apostles and Apostolical Churches observation of it 7th Their prescription about it Of which I shall treat in order as they lie answering all objections that oppose themselves against this conquering truth of Christ 1. What a mark of honour yea what a crown of glory is it to this day that it had the favour above all the dayes of the week to be Christs resurrection-day The Sun in the firmament arises and shines upon other dayes as well as this but the Sun of righteousness never arose upon any day but this and if we will beleeve the Holy Ghost the institution of the day had its foundation here Psalm 118.22 23 24. For the discovery whereof I shall once more desire the Reader to turn to that Text Psam 118. The stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone of the corner So 1 Pet. 2.7 this is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes This is the day which the Lord hath made c. The Apostle Peter expounds this Text and applies it to Christ Acts 4.11 where speak to Caiaphas and the rest of the Councill who went for builders he boldly tells them This is the stone which ye builders refused which is become the head of the corner he speaks it of Christ and of Christs resurrection for v. 10. he had spoken of their refusing him in his Crucifixion and Gods exalting him in his resurrection Whom ye crucified and whom God raised from the dead Thereby making him both a corner-stone and head of the corner Head of all principality and power Coloss 2.10 head or Lord of the living and the dead yeas head of Heaven and earth having all power in Heaven and earth then given to him Matth. 28.18 Thus of Davids prophetical prediction Next let us consider his application of it 1. In respect of the deed done 2. In respect of the day on which it was done 3. In respect of the duty of that day 1. The deed or work done the raising of Christ from the dead he magnifies as the Lords own act his marvelous stupendious act This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes v. 23. No wonder for indeed this was the greatest wonder the ever was wrought in the world concerning which we may say as Moses in another case Ask now of the dayes that are past which were before thee Deut. 4.32 since God created man upon the earth and ask from the one side of Heaven to the other whet her there hath been any such things as this great thing is or hath been heard like it That one by his own power should raise himself from the dead no history no chronicle can paralel it So wonderful was our Saviours resurrection that it challenges wonder even from his enemies behold ye despisers and wonder Acts 13.41 Sayes the Apostle wonder at what Why at Gods raising Christ from the dead of which he had treated before verse 36 37. 2. The Psalmist applies it further to the day on which this work of wonder was wrought This is the day which the Lord hath made and mark the connection the day depends upon the deed or work done Factum domini as one sayes facit diem domini The Lords deed makes it the Lords day Here the institution of the day is undeniably founded upon the resurrection of Christ upon this account 't is stiled the day which the Lord hath made because the stone cast aside of the builders Christ crucifyed was made the head of the corner that is raised from the dead as St. Peter expounds and as Christs resurrection was the Lords own doing so the Psalmist foresaw that the resurrection-resurrection-day would be a day of the Lords own making If it be objected So is every day I answer but not every day alike For look as it was in the works of Creation all were Gods works all of his making but man the master-piece more especially of whom it may be said with an accent this is the creature which God had made so here all the dayes in the week are of Gods making but this in the Text above all the Holy Ghost sets an Emphasis upon it This is the day which the Lord hath made Made 1 How made not by was of Creation so 't was made before Gen. 1. But by way of institution The day which the Lord hath made What has he made it A working-day so it was before if therefore he has made it any thing it must be a holy solemn day a day more solemn and sacred then all the dayes that God ever made before And so the word signifies not only to makes but to magnify 't is equivalent to sanctifie 3. The Psalmist proceeds to the prophetical delineation of the duties of this day Let us be glad and rejoyce therein Yea he brings in the Church shouting and singing Hosanna's to Christ on this day v. 26. a Math. 21.9 Blessed is he that cometh to us in the Name of the Lord As when the b
Zech. 4.7 Temple was finished the head-stone was brought forth with shouting crying grace grace thereunto So here when the work of our redemption should be finished and Christ exalted as head and corner-stone of his Church by his triumphant Resurrection the Holy Ghost intimates the solemn gratulation and publick praise that the Church should offer on that day So we are to understand the next words were as c Isal 56.7 Mal. 1.11 usually New Testament-worship is set forth in an old Testament-dress v. 27. God is the Lord which hath she wed us light light indeed when the Sun of righteousness arises he has made it a day of light and gladness to poor self-condemned sinners therefore bind ye the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar That is offer to the Lord the sacrifice of publick praise and thanksgiving verse 29. Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good his mercy endureth for ever So that t is evident a day of solemn worship is here intended and Christs resurrection day is principally pointed at as a day which the Lord would institute and a day which the Church should celebrate Saying This is the day which the Lord hath made let us be gland and rejoyce therein What a plain Scripture-proof is this of Divine authority of the Lords day So plain that the adversary is forced to grant it page 61. It must needs be meant of Christs resurrection-day saies he and when he wrote his first book he excited Christians to the weekly celebration of it Whereas in a late railing pamphlet since he seekes to smother the light and evidence of this Text by a silly evasion that the Psalmist speaks not of every first day of the week but Easter-day as may be conjectured But I shall easily shake off this slight exception Away with conjectures let us search the Scriptures what day does the Holy Ghost in Scripture call Christs resurrection-day Ask Matthew Mark Luke and John they 'l tell you Math. 28.1 Mark 6.2 Luke 24.1 John 20.1 19. t is the first day of the week the day of the year is never mentioned nor the day of the month on which Christ arose but the day of the week only to teach us doubtless that Christs resurrection-day must be no yearly or monthly but a weekly solemnity Good reason that the work of Redemption should have as frequent a commemoration as the work of Creation had Now ponder this good Reader and the Lord print it upon thy heart the day of the Saviours Resurrection prophetically extolled in the old Testament as the day which the Lord hath made is historically noted down in the New Testament as the first day of the week and now we shall draw an argument which I hope will be an arrow of conviction to the contrary-minded the rather because it comes out of Gods own quiver thus the day of Christs resurrection is the day which he Lord hath made for duties of solemn worship but the first day of the week is the day of Christs Resurrection therefore the first day of the week is the day which the Lord hath made for duties of solemn worship The proposition is warranted by the Testimony of the Psalmist the assumption is confirmed by the harmony of all the four Evangelists the conclusion therefore will stand as long as the world stands namely that the first day of the week is a day of divine institution mark'd out by the finger of God the spirit of Christ for a day of solemn weekly worship under the Gospel For as I hinted before the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy * Acts 1.16 2 Tim. 3.16 1 Pet. 1.11 and ch 3.19 Rom. 15.4 It was by the spirit of our great Prophet that all the Prophets of old did speak Like stars they all borrowed their light from this Sun they were irradiated and inspired by Christ and when a holy Prophet foretels such a thing shall be we may as confidently build upon it as if Christ himself had said I will have it so For indeed it is the voice of Christ that speaks in the old Testament as well as in the new And possibly this may be one reason why the Lord Christ has spoken so little in the Gospel concerning some new Testament-ordinances as the Lords day for one namely because the Prophets had spoken so much before and Christ would not take off his people from the study of the old Testament upon which the authority of the new does so much depend Me thinks as to the controversie of the Christian Sabbath this should abundantly satisfie any sober Christian that the day of Christs resurrection was prophesied of by David and others as a day which the Lord would make and institute and accordingly practised by the inspired Apostles upon the first day of the week and this practice perpetuated by the Church of Christ the Catholick Church in all ages since for above sixteen hundred years What can be objected with any colour of reason against so clear a truth Christ hath not left one syllable for the institution or celebration of this day T.T. p. 120. Answ Not one syllable Why did he not grant before that Psalm 118. compared with Acts 4. Must needs be meant of the resurrection-day and does not the spirit speak expresly Mr. Perkins in his cases of conscience argues for the Christian Sabbath from this text Cyprian Austin and Ambrose and all the ancients who have ever cited or saluted this place Psalm 118. do expound it and understand it of the Lords day See Mr. L. strange This is the day which the Lord hath made Is it a day of the Lords making and will he make nothing of that What else can be made of it but a prediction of a Divine institution which is equivalent to a precept especially when expounded by Apostolical practice as this has been Let it be seriously considered in what other sense can a day made long before in respect of Creation be stiled the day which the Lord hath made than in respect to a divine institution An institution then it is and the occasion of it Christs resurrection which was the concluding act of our Redemption and what an impression of glory does this stamp upon the day above all the dayes that God ever made the seventh day and all As some * years are crowned with Gods goodness above others so dayes also The work crownes the day as I have often said and the greater the work the greater the day now that work in which God is most glorified in all his attributes must needs be the greatest work such is the work of Redemption Quasi hactenus nullus fuerit in orbe dies Mollerus in Loc. therefore the day set apart in commemoration of it must wear away the crown from all other dayes Such is Christs resurrection-day therefore Emphatically stiled The day which the Lord hath made as if there had never been
at his own house in the poores box c. At his own house Answ How then could it be avoided but there must have been gatherings at Pauls coming Which the Text forbiddeth The Apostles care was to have their collections ready i. e. in a publick stock or bank against his coming lest haply they of Macedonid coming along with him to whom it seems he had boasted of the Corinthians forwardness should find them unprepared * 2 Cor. 9.3 4. and so both he and they should be ashamed of his boasting That phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated by himself may as well be rendred of himself that is Answ 2 sponte sua of his own accord And so Musculus interprets it when t is said Puta illud in Graco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non esse positum pro apud se seponat sed hoc sensu quisque vestrûm suapta sponte i. e. in caetu sacro thesaurizans cui proposito nonsatisfecisset si quisque aqud se domi reposuisset etjusmodi namque reposita tum demum collidenda essent cum ipse ad eos venisset quod vitari volehat Wolph Museul ad Loe. let every one lay by treasuring up in store t is not meant let every one lay by himself apart and privately but at your publick meetings casting it into the publick treasury of the Church and that freely of his own good will That there may be no gatherings when I come whereas if every one had laid by in private onely at his own house there would have been need of gatherings at his coming the thing which he takes special care to prevent it seems the Apostle came but seldom and could not tarry long when he came for he had the care of all the Churches upon him especially the Gentiles the world through 2 Cor. 11.28 His work was to gather and govern Churches he must not therefore spend his time in gathering moneyes or going from house to house to call for every mans weekly contribution this had been a leaving the word of God to serve tables as the other Apostles said in a like case Acts 6.2 The survey the Apostle exhorts every man to take of his own estate that he might give thereafter Obj. 3 does notably overthrow the conceit of a first-day-Sabbath for he orders every man to lay by in store as God hath prospered him that is according as his yearly revenue increaseth or his weekly trade proves more or lesse gainful If the first day had been a Sabbath the Apostle knowing the proneness of our nature to mind earthly things would never have put them upon the consideration of their outward estates That the first day of the week is a Sabbath Ans 1 or day of rest is no conceit but a Scripture-truth as it shall ere long appear to the shame of such reviling adversaries 2. That upon this day they must take a survey of their estates because they must give according to their estates and incomes is a conceit indeed there is no colour of consequence in it for I hope they might take their survey on the Saturday night no necessity of deferring it to the Lords day Suppose a Minister of Christ should urge this Apostolical ordinance still as I am informed Mr. White of Dorchester did pressing his people to contribute and lay up something in a common stock every first day of the week for the releif of the poore and that according as God should blesse and prosper them in their callings the week before Does it follow that therefore when the people are assembled together on the Lords day they must make the Church their Counting-house or before they come there turn over their shop-bookes in stead of their Bibles What a ridiculous inference were this Good huâ—â—ands I should think would end the week and their work together good Christians to be sure will do so and not make the Lords day their counting-day a recounting-day indeed they may and must make it to recount the blessings of providence in a way of praise and thankfulness and this is a Sabbath-day duty as appeares by that * Psalm 92. Psalm for the Sabbath But further to dash this dream of the adversary let him consider that in effect as much is * Ez. 46.5 6. said of the Sabbath in the old Testament as here of the Lords day and it may be t is meant of the Lords day-Sabbath T is further objected That Pauls Epistle was read in these Churches on the Sabbath-day Saturday he means and then the Apostle exhorted them to Charity and would have it to be their first work the next day while the sweet sense of the Epistle was upon their Spirits c. But This is frivolous For Gal. 4.10 The Apostle had utterly condemned the saturday-Saturday-Sabbath among the rest of those legal dayes and that he should build again the things he had destroyed we are not so much as to suppose Now take the sum of all On the first day of the week our Saviour was raised from the dead on this day he often appeared after his resurrection sent his holy Spirit on this day after his ascension and stampt his own blessed name upon it on this day the Saints assembled the Apostles preached the Sacraments were administred Charities Collected and concerning this day the Holy Prophets prophecyed what day was ever markt out with more shining and illustrious Characters The Best Antiquity for the Change of the day TO this Scripture-evidence for the change of the day we shall now add something by way of Testimony from the Records of Antiquity I may truly say 't is the glory of this truth that besides Scripture authority it ha's the most luculent Testimony in the writings of the Antients of any paralel-truth controverted in these disputeing times we may trace it all along from age to age ever since the Apostles times and with much contentment behold how providentially it hath pleased the Lord to guide the pens of his faithfull Martyrs and Ministers in their witness-bearing to this sacred truth especially in the first five hundred yeares after Christ wherein we shall find enough to silence the vain glorious vapourings of the adversary who affirms That the spotless spouse of Christ in her primitive purity and while she was decked with the Diadem of infallibility T. T. p. 62. and 106. namely during the first three Centuries did constantly observe both the seventh day and the first day of the week yea for the first 400. years if he may be beleeved By the way let the reader take notice of two considerable grants here First That the Church was decked with the Diadem of infallibility as he calls it for the first three hundred years Secondly That the Lords day was constantly observed during this state of the Church's infabllility For both dayes were observed saies he The Lords day was indeed besides his bare word I will bring sufficient witness for it But the
Jewes Sabbath was not at least not as a Sabbath nor with equal solemnity as the Lords day nor as of necessity so it was ever condemned and the Lords day was ever preferred before it if not observed without it in the purest Churches for the first two hundred years after Christ to say no more Let us examin witnesses in order as they come First Ignatius Let us hear what Ignatius saies who lived some thirty years in the Apostles times and in his Epistle to the Magnesians in the Vulgar Edition is brought in speaking to this purpose * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us therefore no longer keep the Jewish Sabbath as rejoicing in idleness for it is written He that will not labour let him not eat and in the sweat of thy browes shalt thou eat thy bread But let every of us keep Sabbath spiritually not in bodily ease but in the meditation of the Law not eating meat drest yesterday or drinking luke-warm drinks or walking out a limited space nor in dancings and sensless sportings but in admiration of the workes of God And setting aside the Sabbath let every one that loves Christ keep holy the Lords day the Queen of days the Resurrection day the highest of all dayes I do the rather insert this Testimony though Dr. Vsher except against this Edition of Ignatius his Epistles because T. T. cites it also for the Saturday-Sabbath only he mangles and misinterprets it dealing with Ignatius as men use to deal with Mag-pyes slitting their tongues to make them speak what they would have them Just thus he deals with this renowned father severing the last clause from the rest of the sentence and singling out a little piece of it to serve his own turn for he insists only upon the last branch and mistranslates it too his words are these Next after the Sabbath-day let every friend of Christ make the Lords day a Solemn festivall As if Ignatius had preferred the Jewes Sabbath before the Lords day but by his favour this clashes with the context for in the foregoing words Christians are counselled no longer to keep the Jewes Sabbath but to work upon it for it is written He that will not labour let him not eat Whereas on the contrary all that love Christ are charged to keep the Lords day a solemn Festival Exam. Concil Trid. de dieb Fest p. 257. being the Queen and princess of dayes Besides these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are well rendred by setting aside the Sabbath So learned Chemnitius and others translate them If any desire further satisfaction I referr them to judicious Mr. Cawdrey who ha's dexterously discuss'd this Testimony The more * Approved by Dr. Twiss after it had been compared with a latin translation found in Caius Col. library in Cambrig and two other Manuscripts in Oxon the one in Magdal the other in Balliot Coll. Library correct copy of Ignatius ' Epistle to the Magnesians presented by Dr. Vsher as agreeable to the citations of Eusebius Athanasius and Theodoret ha's this material and remarkable passage in it The Blessed Martyr speaking of the Jewes converted to the Faith of Christ in his dayes gives this most Christian Character of them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Magnesian That they did no longer keep the Sabbath but led their life according to the Lords day in which our life arose in which words First He expounds what St. John meant by the Lords day Rev. 1.10 namely the day of our Saviours Resurrection and that not as an anniversary but a weekly holy-day contradistinct to the Jewes Sabbath Seconly He acquaints us with the practice of the Church in those Apostolick times which was to observe the Lords day in stead of the old Sabbath If the converted Jewes did thus how much more the Christian Gentiles Therefore blessed Ignatius his preface to this discourse shall be my conclusion by way of caution to my Christian brethren a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem Suffer not your selves to be carried about with diverse and strange doctrines for if we shall still live according to the Jewish Law we deny that we have received grace And a litle after b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ibid. Since we are become the disciples of Christ let us learn to live according to Christianity For it is absurd to profess Christ and Judaize For Christianity ha's not beleeved into Judaism but Judaism into Christianity As for Ignatius's Epistle to the Philippians which the adversary glories it is rejected as spurious and counterfeit and indeed there is nothing of an Apostolical spirit breathing in it See Mr. Perkins Praep. to the dem of the problem Our next witness is Justin Martyr who lived in the very prime of the primitive times about a hundred and fifty years after Christ's Nativity Justin Martyr at * Vide Alfied Chron. Patr. p. 450. what time he wrote a learned Apology for the poor persecuted Christians to Antoninus pius the Emperour wherein among other things he mentions the manner of their publick meetings on the Lords day which he calls Sunday because he had to do with a Pagan Emperour his words are these Vpon the day called Sunday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Apol 2. ad Cal◠all that abide within the cities or the villages do meet together in some place where the Records of the Apostles and the writings of the Prophets as much as is appointed are read unto us The reader having done the Priest or President ministreth a word of Exhortation that we do imitate those good things which are there rehearsed then standing up together we send up our prayers to Heaven which being ended there is delivered unto us bread and wine with water Water to mingle with their Wine in those hot countries of which as he sayes a little before none are allowed to partake but baptized persons Beleevers and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as live according to the rule of Christ After this the Priest or President offers up as much as in him is our prayers and thanksgivings to God and all the people say Amen then those of the richer sort every one as his good will is contribute something towards the relief of the poorer Brethren c. What an excellent pattern is here for after-ages and how agreeable to the practice of the Apostles themselves here we have publike assemblies prayer preaching reading the Scriptures breaking of Bread distributing to the poor and all this upon the day called Sunday that is the Lords day and why upon this day rather than any other let Justin himself resolve this as he doth in the next words * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. On the Sunday saies he we all make a publike Assembly in as much as it is the first day in which God who changed the darkness and the first matter made the world and because on this day Jesus Christ our Saviour arose from
wants and if we have hearts to weep over our week day sins and stir up our selves to take hold of Christ that we may make peace with God they that have any acquaintance with heart-work find it hard to have to do with a dusty world full of sins and snares and not be defiled or intangled with it earthly things are apt to leave a tincture upon the most holy and heavenly hearts There must therefore be a rubbing off this rust of the world a washing these dirty hearts and hands before we are fit to draw nigh to God in solemn Worship Exod. 19.14 What were those Ceremonial washings of old but emblematical predictions and documents of preparation to Gospel-worship and if I mistake not something to this purpose is prophesied concerning the purest times and Churches in these later days Rev. 15.2 3. Revel 15. We read of those that had gotten the victory over the Beast and his Image i. e. those that had shaken off the yoke of Anti-Christian Tyranny and Superstition standing upon a sea of glass with the harps of God in their hands those harps in their hands speak them in a posture of publike worship But what means their standing upon a sea of glass Why among other things I conceive it alludes to that Laver or * 1 Kings 7.23 sea in Solomons Temple in which the the Priests were wont to * 2 Chron. 4.6 wash when they went to worship and it may teach us thus much that the people of God under the Gospel as well as they under the Law must wash before they worship there must be some preparation Secondly the sanctification of the Sabbath follows and this also consists in two things Holy rest and holy work First we must keep it as a day of holy rest to the Lord resting from our own works our own words and our own thoughts 1. We are bound upon the Lords day to rest and cease from our own works whether works of labour or works of pleasure if I may so distinguish The Lords day must neither be our working-day nor our play-day both these are prohibited by the letter of the fourth Commandment and the analogy of that Text which seems to be written as a Commentary upon the Commandment Isai 58.13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thy own words c. In which words we have the lively Picture and Pourtraiture of a true Sabbath in both parts of it it must be celebrated with rest from our own ways works words pleasures and this rest must be accompanied with a spiritual rejoycing in God and delight in his Sabbath arising from an honourable esteem of the day considering whose day it is namely the Lords Now the scope of this Text is as applicable to our Christian Sabbath as ever it was to the Jews Sabbath ours being first a day of holy rejoycing in the Lord as well as theirs Psal 118.24 Secondly a day which hath the Lord for its author as well as theirs Thirdly a day every whit as honourable as theirs yea a degree above it being instituted upon a more noble account Viz. The most gracious and glorious work of Redemption Fourthly a day in all respects as holy as theirs holy I mean in respect of separation and dedication to holy duties as prayer preaching breaking of bread praise and thanksgiving Acts 2.1 and 20.7 Psal 118.27 28. Therefore it must be kept with rest from accustomed labour and pleasure as well as theirs and that by vertue of the fourth Commandment which requires the sanctifying of one day in seven of divine appointment as a Sabbath with rest from servile works and secular imployments And let it be further considered both the fourth Commandement and the Prophet Isaiah in commenting upon it do first and chiefly call for sanctity Secondarily for rest First Remember the Sabbath to sanctifie it then Thou shalt do no work Sanctification is required as the end cessation from labour as the means the one as principal the other as accessary Now both Prophets and Apostles have markt out the Lords day as a holy day to be spent in holy duties of solemn worship and that weekly therefore by the Law of God and nature we are bound to keep it as a day of weekly rest otherwise we separate the end from the means which cannot be rest from servile work being an inseparable adjunct to a day of solemn worship What then shall we say to those that afterwarning make the Lords day either a common working-day or a sporting day the former I may fitly call the Devils workmen who will one day pay them their wages the other the flesh's Bondmen whose pleasure in the end will prove torment without end The Lord awaken both to repentance better then that of Esau whose sin of the two is greater then his * Hebr. 12.16 there are prophane Esau's under the Gospel and they are the worst of Esau's there is also a sin called * Rom. 2.22 Sacrilege condemned in the Gospel and Sabbath-breaking is very like it when sinners lay sacrilegious hands upon that which is consecrated to the Lord for a sin much like to which Ananias and his wife were once stricken with sudden death and how many such dreadful strokes have been felt and heard in these later days I shall not repeat what has been already committed to record by others Mr. Bernard Mr. Byfield and sundry others have been serious observers of Gods heavy hand in this kind I could say something of what I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears But I shall forbear Numb 10.1 2. when men are struck dead in the very act of their sin as Vzzah in touching the Ark Nadab and Abihu in offering strange fire when the sin and the judgement meet together and do one point at the other surely Gods hand is not to be slighted Mr. Byfield has related many such tremendous strokes upon those that have presumed to work on the Lords day and ended their lives and their work together having no more respit between their sin and their execution or expiration then with trembling lips to tell others the secret reflections of their own guilty Consciences and how many Malefactors have we heard at their execution bewailing their profanation of the Lords day as the leading-cause of all their mischiefs and miseries Now the Conscience of the sinner smarting under Gods revengeful rod is many times like a finger to point out the sin for which God smites as we see in the case of a Judges 1.7 8. Adonibezek To be short the exemplary judgments of God against this sin of Sabbath-breaking falling in so great variety and happening so thick together in many places do call aloud to the
day of the Lord will be as a day of refreshing to some so a stormy day of tempests and terrors to others and a great part of the tempest of that day will fall upon the thoughts and hearts of men for * Eccles 12. ult God will bring every secret thing into judgement we must be accountable not only for idle words but vain thoughts And thus much of the first thing we must keep the Sabbath as a day of rest but we must not rest in this rest we must not make it a Sabbath of idleness but a Sabbath of holiness we must not so much cease from working as change our work servile work for soul work worldly imployments for spiritual exercises That is the next thing 2. To our holy rest we must join holy work and this is either publike or private something indeed must be done in private before the publike our closet-devotions and Family duties common to other dayes must not he omitted this day but rather augmented their Sacrifices under the Law were * Numb 28.9 doubled upon the Sabbath-day and observe it Exod. 3.7 their first service was the burning of Incense before the Lord. Matth. 28.1 Mark 16.2 John 20.1 Now prayer is our Incense let this be our morning exercise in private Seek the Lord O my soul seek him early do as Mary Magdalen did she was early up to seek him whom her soul loved she was last at the Cross and first at the Sepulchre in the dawning while it was yet dark very early in the morning say the Evangelists Oh that our love to Christ could keep pace with hers Shall we love the world better than Christ if we have a journey to go about worldly concernments we can set out betimes oh that we were as wise for our souls as we are for our bodies let not sleep that devourer of time beguile us of our golden hours in the morning in which we are freshest and fittest for converse with God let the sluggard that sleeps with the Sun-beams in his face remember that saying of Austin If the Sun could speak how roundly might it salute thee with this reproof I laboured more then thou yesterday and yet I am risen before thee to day But this is too low an Argument behold the Sun of righteousness is risen and he rose early this day therefore let us not sleep as do others but say and sing with the Church f Isai 26. â— With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Having performed our morning exercises in private how cheerfully should we repair to the publike Assemblies and draw nigh to God in publike Ordinances on this acceptable day this season of grace when Christ sits in State as one speaks scattering treasures of grace amongst hungry and thirsty Saints that are poor in Spirit and wait for spiritual alms at the Throne of grace g Psal 84.1 2. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God And again h Psal 122.1 I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. For the i Psal 87.2 Lord loveth the gates of Zion more then all the dwellings of Jacob and most sweetly the Prophet Isaiah speaking of Gospel-times k Isai 2 1 2. Many people shall go and say Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths A most lively prediction of our Christian solemn Assemblies the select season of which is signified by t he practice of the Apostles and Primitive Saints to be the first day of the week on this day they met to break bread and Paul preached to them Acts 20.7 on this day they were all together with one accord in prayer Acts 2.1 with chap. 1.2 4. and at these meetings the Scriptures were read by the Apostles command Tertul. Apol. cap. 39. Col. 4.16 1 Thes 5.27 to which may be added singing of Psalms usual at their solemn Assemblies 1 Cor. 14. an Ordinance by which God is much glorified and the souls of his people sweetly cheered and refreshed what greater act of honour can we do to the great God here on earth then publikely to praise him in the great Congregation especially on the Lords day Psal 111.1 when all the Churches of Christ in the world joyn consort with us in this melodious duty Hebr. 10.25 Let us not therefore forsake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is while we enjoy publike Liberties and Ordinances let us improve them we know not how soon the songs of the Temple may be turned into howlings and Ichabod may be written upon all our Church-doors the glory is departed from Israel Lam. 1.4 16. the ways of Sion de mourn because none come to her solemn assemblies The Lord forbid that ever we should live to see that woful day wherein we shall desire to see one of the dayes of the Son of man but shall not see it Let not our neglect of the Lords day provoke the Lord to deprive us of it let us conscienciously wait upon God in Sabbath-Assemblies and publick Ordinances lest we be forced for contempt of the publike to seek our bread in secret wandring up and down in caves and dens of the earth destitute afflicted tormented as we read of some better than our selves Heb. 11.38 39. Lastly The publike solemnities of the day being ended what remains but that we return again to our private exercises searching the Scriptures concerning the truths taught in publike as the * Acts 17.11 noble Bereans did to which we may joyn Repetition and Conference to whet the Word upon one anothers hearts let not our souls be weary of sabbath-Sabbath-work only take heed as of resting in the rest so also in the work of the day for what one truly speaks of duties and actings of grace they are good duties and good graces but bad Christs the like may I say of Sabbaths never so well kept they are good Sabbaths but bad Saviours let our rest and confidence be only in Christ and to such as take him for their rest his work is but recreation and so indeed we should esteem it in a spiritual sense not looking upon it as a sowr task or a rigid exaction but calling the Sabbath a delight we should keep it accordingly even the whole day with the whole man as a day of delights to the Lord being transported beyond flesh and the world and having our conversation in heaven as much as is possible for creatures cloathed with flesh To come to a closure There is a double duty to be performed in private on the Lords day which I seriously advise Christians
to make Conscience of namely the spiritual duty of meditation and the celestial duty of praise First how seasonable it is on the Sabbath to meditate not only on the Word but the Works of God appears from Psal 92. which is a Psalm for the sabbath-Sabbath-day How does the Psalmist there search and dive into the wonderful works of God Vers 5. How great are thy works O Lord and thy thoughts are very deep Here we have a large field works of Creation and works of Providence here our souls may wander from sea to land See Mr. Baxter Saints ever-lasting Rest from earth to Heaven from time to eternity yea walk upon the Sun Moon and Stars and enter into Heaven it self the Paradise of God How manifold are thy works O Lord in wisdome hast thou made them all Every creature of God that we cast our eyes upon this day should be as a flower to feed our Meditations I speak of cursory Meditation or that which is occasional one special use whereof is to feed our graces by our senses and as we are Christians to conduct us to Christ by the view of all creatures and actions when we look upon the Sun it bids us look up to Christ the Sun of righteousness every star may mind us of that star of Jacob that bright and morning star if we look upon our houses Christ is the door if upon our bodies he is the head if upon our clothes he is the garment of salvation if upon our friends and relations he is our husband our friend our Lord our Law-giver our King if we walk he is the way if we read he is the word if we eat and drink he is our food if we live Christ is our life that is a holy heart may make this spiritual use of all earthly objects and occasions to contemplate Christ in them and if we improve not our senses this way 't is all one as if we were blind or brutish But besides this there is a more distinct deliberate solemn and set meditation required on the Lords day and the work of Redemption being the occasion of the day how should our hearts work upon this blessed subject Come Christian call in thy thoughts from all worldly concernments and contemplate this rare contrivance of thy Redemption by Jesus Christ ponder it deeply get lively and strong apprehensions of it that it may leave deep and lasting impressions upon thy soul view over the several passages and transactions in this Master-piece of all Gods works view it first in the platform how gloriously was this laid in the eternal projects and a Ephes 1.4 purposes of Gods love yea in that eternal promise past between the Father and the Son b Titus 1.2 In hopes of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began Mark it here was a promise a promise of eternal life made by God by God that cannot lie and that before there was a world or man in the world Oh the everlastingness infiniteness unsearchableness of this love of God! that the everlasting God the Majesty of heaven and earth should take care of me before the world was that he should busie himself and his Son about a worthless wretched worm born out of due time the least of Saints the greatest of sinners O my soul admire adore this first love this free love of God and Christ Next see the early discovery and shining forth of this mystery in the very morning of the world no sooner is man fallen but God reaches out a c Gen. 3.15 promise to him and after many ages sends his blessed Son out of his bosome to fulfil it in the d Gal. 4.4 fulness of time Christ comes we could not come up to him lo he comes down to us O see the King of glory stooping bowing the Heavens to come down and dwell in a dungeon to lodge amongst prisoners and pitch his tent in the rebels camp Think O my soul how did the holy Angels wonder to see the King of Heaven stepping down from his throne to sit on his footstool yea putting off to the view the robes of a prince to put on the livery of a e Phil. 2.7 8. servant and that after treason had been stampt upon it taking our nature I mean after it had been up in arms against God not that he took the sin of our nature he that could make our nature without sin could also and did take it without sin but the shame of it he took in that he took it when it was under a cloud under a blot before God and Angels How does this express the love of Christ a heart full of love to lost sinners q. d. poor soult I cannot keep from you I love your very nature and will joyn it to my self and so I may save you from sin and wrath I care not if I become one with you and dwell in your very flesh My glory shall not hinder I will rather veil it for a while and take the form of a servant and become of no reputation than you shall perish for ever Again how does this speak the unspeakable love of God See Mr. Ambrose looking to Jesus p. 342. as one sweetly observes God did so love the very nature of his elect that though for the present he had them not all with him in heaven yet he must have their picture in his Son to see them in and love them in O meditate much on this admirable strein of love till it melt thy heart and make it burn within thee From the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour we may trace him through the several passages of his life to his death and passion and here with an eye of faith look upon him whom thou hast pierced behold the man as he said even that man of sorrows suffering bleeding dying on that tree of shame and ignominy dwell upon the death of Christ till it put life into thy dead heart then follow thy crucified Lord from the cross to the Sepulchre and by the way ponder deeply the severity of Gods justice the sinfulness of sin the love of Christ and the worth of souls which are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. as a lamb without blemish and without spot Why did the Primitive Saints sacramentally shew forth the Lords death on the Lords day Acts 20.7 but to signifie to us that to contemplate and commemorate the death of Christ is a special duty of the day So also his Resurrection which was the great transaction of the day therefore a proper subject for serious meditation It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again and become the first-fruits of them that slept Consider O my souls the holy triumph of thy Redeemer this day when he trod on the serpents head took from death its sting from hell its standard Suppose thou hadst
28.4 Abraham the father of the faithful then to David and others in after-ages till at last it was fully accomplished by the most glorious resurrection of Christ from the dead whereby he trode on the Serpents head and all to-bruised it This consideration will out deep in the adversaries cause and to set the better edge upon it let it be further considered 7. And lastly the Holy Ghost has fully assured us that Christ in the promise was of the same antiquity with the confessed ground of the seventh dayes Sabbath c Heb. 3.3 4. The Apostle confesses that one ground or occasion of singling out that precise seventh day was Gods ending his work evidenced by his entring upon his rest And when this was done the same Apostle in the same place informs us the works sayes he were finished from the foundation of the world Now hear another Apostle guided by the same Spirit speaking of Christ in the same terms not differing in a tittle d Revel 13.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Observe the difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one signifies from the other before Joh. 17.24 Eph. 1.4 Thus he styles him the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world he does not say the Lomb slain before the foundation of the world as if it intended Christ in the eternal purpose of God but from the foundation of the world which clearly speaks Christ in the promise of Godfrom the beginning Now by the foot-steps of these two Texts compared how visibly may we trace the Antiquity of Christ in the promise and find a Saviour promised before a Sabbath instituted The seventh day-Sabbath was instituted upon Gods finishing of his works now as the works were finished from the foundation of the world so Christ was slain from the foundation of the world slain I say in respect of his Fathers promise and his own personal beginning to undertake that work which he was to perform in a way of suffering and dying so that when the Father ended his work of Creation the Son entred upon his work of redemption and thereby added a further perfection to the first work Whereupon God rested the seventh day and blessed it That is appointed it for a day of spiritual blessings upon the account of Christ the promised and blessed seed All which particulars premised it will be a truth of unquestionable evidence that the institution of the old seventh day was founded and bottomed upon Christ in the promise And now a dim eye may easily discern mutability lying at the very foundation of the day and thus it may be demonstrated A day founded upon Christ in the promise must necessarily be changed when the promise shall be fully accomplished Argum. But the old seventh day was founded upon Christ in the promise as appears by the premises Therefore c. The proposition needs no confirmation or if it does take it thus If the greatest duty founded upon Christ in the promise was to vary and change with the promise how much more the day For instance the great duty of believing in the Lord Jesus It cannot be denyed but one and the same Christ was the object of saving faith in all ages before the law under the law and under the Gospel Heb. 13.8 Rev. 1.8 Christ Jesus the same yesterday to day and for ever being he which was and which is and which is to come And so the faith of Gods elect which was and is and is to come looks to the same object But yet according to the different state of the object the eye of faith has had a different and various aspect Old Testament-believers who went before looked to him that should come after we that come after in the New Testament look to him that is gone before As long as Christ was in the promise they believed in the Messiah to come now the promise is fulfilled we believe and know that the Son of God is come And though still we look for his second coming to judge the world 1 Joh. 5.20 yet his first coming to save the world by his blessed Incarnation his bitter Passion and glorious resurrection we no longer expect as to come but look upon as already come and gone Well then you see how this great duty of believing circumstantially varies and changes with the promise and why because it was founded upon Christ in the promise And verily if the old Sabbath had the same foundation as we have proved then it must admit of the same variation As long as Christ continued in the promise the seventh day from the Creation was the Sabbath day but now the promise is accomplished the * Note that well day must be altered for the first foundation upon which it stood is removed And as we cannot now call that true faith which looks upon the Messiah as yet to come in the sense above mentioned so neither can we count that the true Sabbath which leans upon the promise of a Messiah to come Look to it if you keep the old seventh day you must keep Christ still in the old promise and together with the Jews Sabbath profess the Jews faith the twelfth Article of whose cursed Creed is this I believe with perfect faith that the Messiah is yet to come Buxtorf Synag c. 1. p. 4. And thus deluded creatures may see what they have gotten by siding with forlorn infidels against the principles and practises of the Christian world But I must here resolve a scruple or two and then I shall put a period to this first part You will say if the old seventh day were founded upon Christ in the promise Scrup. 1. then it must have been changed as soon as Christ was manifested in the flesh It followes not Resol 1. for the promise was not fully accomplished when Christ was manifested in the flesh but when he was justified in the spirit by his resurrection from the dead then indeed it was completely fulfilled as Paul and Barnabas do plainly testifie to the Jews at Antioch Act. 13.32 33. Acts 13. The promise which was made unto our fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adimpleoit Arius Mont. in that he hath raised up Jesus again So that the day of Christs resurrection was infallibly the day of the old Sabbaths expiration for then the promise upon which it was founded was fully accomplished of which more hereafter But will not this argument overthrow the duty as well as the day the Sabbath it self as the old seventh day Scrup. 2 Not in the least Resol for a Sabbath or day of rest in general is moral-natural and so perpetual but the fixing of it on that precise seventh day was meerly positive if not ceremonial Therefore the particular day may be and is cashiered and yet the duty Sabbath or holy rest still retained as the duty of solemn fasting is still
the mighty God King of Saints and King of Nations having all power in heaven and earth put into his hands alter a circumstance concerning the Sabbath by translating it from the last to the first day of the week Well if he had power to alter it then it was alterable which was the thing to be proved If it be said the question is not what the Lord could do but what he did whether he did indeed alter the Sabbath as to the day I answer we shall put this question out of question in the next Position POSITION IV. That the Old Sabbath was actually altered and changed from the last to the first day of the week by the authority of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and that upon the noble account of our Redemption manifestly accomplished by his most glorious resurrection from the dead on that day FOR the Confirmation whereof I shall First propound some Scripture-Arguments Secondly Produce some Authentick Records of antiquity both which we shall find harmoniously concurring in all the three branches of this Position First That the day is certainly changed Secondly That this change was occasioned by our Saviours most glorious Resurrection Thirdly That this was done by the Soveraign authority of Christ himself either immediately in his own person or mediately by the prescript and practise of his inspired Apostles either or which will be sufficient We shall begin with Scripture-proof and argument in way of Preface whereunto let it be premised that this truth is not Syllabically and totidem verbis in so many words at length set down in Scripture neither needs it considering the question in not about the change of the septenary number one day in seven but the order only the last for the first of seven and besides it is not the Lords method and manner of speaking in many other New Testament-cases as Church-Government Family-worship and sundry others which were plain enough in the Old Testament to express himself in full sentences but very briefly in short hints and touches here a little and there a little to exercise the ingenuity of believers not to fatisfie the curiosity of Cavillers The Scriptures were no more designed to answer all the cavilling questions of wanton wits then the Sun was made for them to see that shut their eyes yet I deny not the sufficiency of Scripture-light to make us wise unto salvation only we must not presume to give laws to Heaven and teach the Lord how to speak But a Hebr. 12.25 see that ye refuse not him that speaketh from heaven that speaketh I say not only by express word but by his b V. 24. blood or death and so also by his c Joh. 2.19 21. Rom. 1.3 4. resurrection from the dead by the d John 15.26 mission of his Spirit by the unction and inspiration of his Apostles whose writings are his words their counsels his commands their pattern and practise his e 1 Cor. 14.37 precept f Luke 10.16 for he that heareth them heareth him therefore let him that hath an ear hear the voice of Christ yea though he open his mouth in a parable to carnal reason g Psalm 78.1 Mat. 13.9 35. as it seems he does even in some of his Gospel-law yea let us hear Christ speaking by his Spirit I mean the spirit of Prophecy breathing in the Old Testament for h Rev. 19.10 the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophecy nay let us learn to spell his word out of his works for his i John 5 36. ch 10. 25. works do testifie of him In a word consider it is k Luke 11.49 Wisdome it self that uttereth her voice in the written word and she useth to speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much in a little yea to speak by l Mat. 22.32 Acts 14.47 arguments couched in Scripture as well as express affirmations and what those Scripture-arguments are which speak the change of the Sabbath as here stated we come now to shew The first may be taken from the new Creation Arg. 1 or reparation of the world by Christ as thus Incongruum erat veteris Creationis Sabbathum novae Creatimi Lighâ—f Horae Hebr. p. 321. ubi plura The new Creation must have a new Sabbath or set-day of Commemoration now this new Creation came in by Christs resurrection Therefore a new Sabbath The form of this argument I grant is not found in Scripture but the force of it is as shall be seen in the proof of each proposition 1. That the new Creation must have a Sabbath of Commemoration This may not only be gathered from parity of reason but plain Scripture prophecy I might recite that forementioned famous Text in Isai ch 65. 17. Behold I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall no more be remembred i. e. in respect of solemnity for otherwise remember the work of Creation we do and must but not as the greater work for look as the Jews m Isai 43.18 19. Jer. 16.15 16. ch 23. 7 8. deliverance out of Egypt was subordinated by their after-deliverance out of Babylon so is the work of Creation by that of Redemption whereby the world at least the Church was put into a new frame and form Anno Mundi changed for Anno Domini upon the account whereof as the year of the world was worthily changed for the year of our Lord so was the old Sabbath for the Lords day But that which I would further argue from Isai 65. is this The old Sabbath cannot stand with the new Creation therefore it must have a new or none This was touched before Posit 1. that there should be none at all none but old Anabaptists Familists and Atheists will affirm And that the old cannot stand is evident because the foundation on which it stood the memory and celebrity of the worlds Creation is swallowed up by the glory of a greater work Sicuti Sol exoriens stellis eripit suum fulgorem Calv. in Loc. and we cannot possibly retain that old seventh day but we must memorize our Creation above our Redemption our being above our well-being which were expresly to contradict this ancient promise and Prophecy If it be objected that this Scripture is not yet fulfilled because the Apostle sayes 2 Pet. 3.12 we look for new heavens and a new earth viz. at the end of the world I answer Although it shall then receive a further accomplishment in the latter yet inchoatively and sufficiently as to the thing in question it was fulfilled long ago even before the name Jew was laid aside and the name Christian take up Isai 65.15 So ch 62. 2. for let the context be minded vers 15. the Prophet foretels the rejection of the Jews and the change of their name for the Christian name Ye shall leave your name for a curse to my people Ac si Dominus diceret non amplius nomen
of this new creation As to persons it is plain for how is any man a new creature but by being in Christ And how are we in Christ but by h Gal. 2.20 faith And what is the object of this faith Let the same Apostle resolve us l Rom. 10.9 ch 4 24. See DeTwiss p. 97. S. 5. If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Josus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead And so the Argument will hold good back again from persons to things still the resurrection of Christ carries the maine stroke in the work of the new creation which inevitably antiquates the old and introduces a new Sabbath Against this t is faintly objected T. T. Obj. p. 134. True all old sins are passed away and all old Ordinances curses and Covenants but the old Sabbath still remains He has fairely granted what he would have denyed Answ and wounded his cause in seeking to heal it For if all old ordinances be done away as he yeelds from 2 Cor. 5.17 let him shew where the old Sabbath is exempted that being also an old ordinance by his own confession For a conclusion of this argument I shall refer the learned Reader to that little but pithy Tractate of Athanasius concerning the Sabbath and circumcision where he may find the same thing argued in the same form as here for alledging the Scriptures speaking of a double world or a twofold Creation the first ending at our Saviours passion when the Sun without any eclipse went out of it self the second beginning with his resurrection he reasons thus about it As the old Sabbath was appointed to be kept in memory of the first Creation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so do we celebrate the Lords day as a monument of the second reparation b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning which Paul speaks If any man be in Christ he is a new Creation indeed cas long as the first Creation was in force sayes he the Sabbath was observed c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but a new generation succeeding according to that of the psalmist this shall be written for the generation to come it was now no longer necessary that this new people should observe the end of the first Creation but rather the beginning of the second he means the Lords day and what opinion he had of the Divine Authority of this day appears by that which followes d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this cause Christ having repaired the Creation made in six dayes instituted or set apart that day to this reparation that is to the memory and solemnity of it concerning which the Holy-Ghost forespake in the Psalm This is the day which the Lord hath made Thus good old Athanasius whose word I suppose will be of some weight with such as have but read his Creed And thus the first Argument concludes having both the seal of Scripture-Authority and the stamp of venerable antiquity upon it to warrant it for sound and good We proceed now to a second From the new Covenant it may be formed thus Argum 2 The old Covenant in the special at least in all the symbolical and shadowy branches of it was changed by Christ when the new Covenant was fully exhibited But the old Sabbath in respect of the day was a special yea a symbolical and shadowy branch of the old Covenant Therefore it was unquestionably altered and changed by Christ when the new Covenant was fully exhibited viz. at his resurrection from the dead This Argument how new soever it may seem at first upon trial will be found true I doubt not in every material term and tittle of it for that our blessed Lord Jesus has changed the old Covenant I mean the Covenant of grace as to the a Rom. 7.6 ◠Cor. 3.6 oldness of the letter and manner of dispensing it and that by erecting and exhibiting a new and a better Covenant is plainly avouched in the New Testament b Hebr. 8.13 in that he saith a new Covenant he hath antiquated or made the first old c. And that the old Sabbath was a special branch or ordinance appertaining to that antiquated Covenant may be clearly gathered from the old Testament not only as it grew at first out of the root of that old promise Gen. 3.15 but in that afterwards it symbolized with that old Covenant by the accession of a c Deut. 5.15 type and so visibly participated of the nature of it that it had the very d Exod. 31.16 name Covenant imparted to it and that in a e Gen. 17.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So in both places like notion with circumcision For thus sayes the Lord the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath for a perpetual Covenant throughout their generations perpetual as circumcision was throughout their generations only in respect of the particular sign and season throughout all generations in respect of the general substance and thing to wit Sabbath and Sacrament for so still we have the Sacrament of circumcision in Baptisme and the Sabbath of the old seventh day in the Lords day But that which I chiefly take hold of in Exod. 31. the term Covenant here the old Sabbath is called by the name of the old Covenant therefore sure it was neer akin to it a special branch yea a shadowy branch of it as we shall shortly see and being so how naturally will it follow that the Covenant being changed in respect of the form there must also of necessity be a change of the Sabbath in respect of the time or day and that by the same Authority that as the old Covenant had the old seventh day and old Sacrament-seals annexed to it See Widley's Treatise of the Sabb. p. 34. so the new Covenant might have new seals and a new day even as in contracts and Covenants renewed betwixt man and man 't is required that as they be new drawn so also new dated and new sealed To prevent mistakes by the way let this be hinted that I do not here intend any change of the Covenant in respect of the essence and substance of it for I grant that when the Holy-Ghost speaks of the new Covenant as distinct from the old it is not to be understood in respect of the matter and substance but circumstance and manner of expressure as the same Commandment is said to be both e 1 John 2.7 8. old and new and the same way to heaven both f Hebr. 10.20 new and g Hebr. 13.8 Rev. 13.8 old or as the same moon for substance is said to be new or old in respect of accidental changes only this must be added that the new Covenant h 2 Cor. 3.10 excels and out-shines the old in glory as far as the Sun at midday out-shines the moon at midnight and consequently it darkens all the ordinances of the old Covenant yea necessitates a change in them
And here I cannot but note how emphatically the truth answers the type w Deut. 5.15 c. 6.21 9.26 Exod. 24.8 ch 15.1 21. for look as Israel was redeemed from Egypt with a mighty hand not as captives but as conquerours with the ruine and spoll of their enemies so were the elect redeemed by Christ not barely in a way of ransome by the price of his blood but in a way of rescue and conquest by the hand of his power as in the day of his triumphant resurrection concerning which the Prophet seems to speak x Isai 53.13 I will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoile with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death Thus in substance there is an admirable similitude betwixt the type and the Antitype yea the very circumstance of time is considerable for upon search into Scripture I believe it will be found that their deliverance out of Egypt was on the first day of the week in memorial whereof they kept the feast of unleavened bread y Exod. 15.3 4 5. with because they came forth with their z Exod. 12.6 unleavened lumps being thrust out in hast that it was upon the first day of the week appears from the twelfth chap. where the Passeover is fixed upon the a Exod. 12.6 fourteenth day of the moneth then it was first instituted and celebrated now the fourteenth day of the moneth must needs be the second Sabbath of the moneth even of the moneth Abib answering to our March which was here made the beginning of moneths or the first moneth in the year From the Creation of the world till now they began their year with the moneth Tisri or September See Dr. Lightfoots gleanings on Exod. p. 20. but here upon a work greater in figure as representing our Redemption by Christ about the same time of the year the beginning of their year is changed to Abib and the Passeover being killed the fourteenth day at even the midnight following the first born of Egypt were slain But yet still Israel is in Egypt only their longs girt V. 11. and shoones on their feet ready to depart and see how it followes The Egyptians being dreadfully alarum'd by the death of the first-born resolve to be troubled no longer with such fatal Guests and therefore in a great hurry they pack them away intreat and importune them to be gone Pharaoh did not more force them to stay before then now to depart But Israel must not go empty-handed they must be well paid for their hard service some time must be spent in borrowing the Egyptians Jewels by that time they were furnished for their journey we may suppose it was well towards the morning and now all the Armies of the Lord march out of Egypt in the b Levit. 26.4 5. sight of all the Egyptians this was on the c Numb 33.3 fifteenth day of the first moneth the morrow after the Passeover and the fourteenth dcay being the Sabbath this must needs be the first day of the week which was afterwards kept as a solemn Festival and called the d Levit. 23.6 7. Numb 28.17 Deut. 16.3 feast of unleavened bread in which they were to have a holy convocation and to do no work To this the Apostle plainly alludes e 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Christ our Passeover was sacrificed for us wherefore let us keep the feast he points at the feast of unleavened bread Paul was an excellent Critick he understood these sacred mysteries he knew Christs Passion and humiliation was our Passeover which lasted as long as he lay in the grave being under the pains t Acts 2.24 or sorrowes of death and the day of his resurrection answering to the first day of unleavened bread which originally was on the first day of the week here upon he concludes let us keep the feast I will not say here is a precept for the Christian Sabbath but drawing aside the veile from Moses face this I may safely say here is a proof of it and a plain argument for it for Israels Redemption from Egypt and our Redemption from death and hell being both on the first day of the week completed and the former of these in the type being alledged as the reason of the fourth Commandment with a total omission of the Argument drawn from the creation Deut. 5.15 and that in the repetition or second promulgation of the Law seems to speak plainly what I alledg it for that the accomplishment of that type states the Sabbath on the day of Christs resurrection which all the four Evangelists tell us as the first day of the week But 2. Let us passe on to the promissory part of the Covenant and see if some change be not made there also and whether the change of the Sabbath be not necessitated by it I shall only instancei n that fundamental and complexive promise of Christ who was indeed the sum and substance of all the rest for f 2 Cor. 1.20 in him they are all Yea and in him Amen And therefore we must with g Bphes 2.12 Una fuit promissio sed saepius sancita Beza in Loc. promise in the singular number when mention is made of Covenants in the plural to intimate that all the periods and promises of the old Covenant did concenter and meet together in that grand promise of the Messiah He was both the h Gen. 3.15 seed of the Woman the i Gen. 22.18 seed of Abraham the seed k Psalm 122.10 11 12. of David the seed of Mary or son of the l Isai 7.14 Virgin and to say the truth all these after-promises were but as so many Commentaries upon that first promise The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head Now as long as Christ was tendred in that old promise the old Covenant was still in force The old Covenant was a Covenant of promise the new Covenant is Covenant performance and together with it the old Sabbath in ue But the promise being once performed Christ fully exhibited and a new Covenant established the old as to the expressure of it was instantly changed Hebr. 8.13 and together with it the old Sabbath which had neither birth before nor being after it unless for a season in condescention to the infirmity of the Jewes whose weak eyes could not indure the bright Sun shine of the Gospel all at once Now if it be demanded when and where we shall state the accomplishment of that old Covenant and the establishment of the new I answer both upon te resurrection of Jesus Christ the first day of the week For First Then and thereby was the grand Covenant-promise performed As the Apostle assures us in that forementioned Text m Act. 13.32 33 We declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made to our fathers God hath fulfilled the same to us their children