bow to me Rom. 14. 9 10 11. Which is taken from Isa 45. 21 22 23 where Christ is named Jehovah a Just God and a Saviour Heb. and the Messiah or Christ Look unto me and be ye saved for I am God Isa 45. 22 23. Phil. 2. 9 10 11. Which is to the Glory of God the Father v. 11. And you have Father Son and Holy Spirit 2 Cor. 13. 14 and in many other places which I had collected but omit And no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit of God 1 Cor. 12. 3. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son 1 John 5. 10. The Witness i. e. the Holy Spirit Some have preached and printed another Jesus and another Spirit and another Gospel 2 Cor. 11. 4. and not Jesus the Lord 1 Cor. 12. 3. and Phil. 2. 11. And have preached another Spirit not the Lord the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 17 18. And another Gospel not the true Gospel by the Grace of Christ Gal. 1. 6. Some pervert the Gospel and are under that Curse and Anathema Gal. 1. 7 8 9. Christ Jesus the Lord was that Christ whom Paul preached 2 Cor. 4. 5. Paul an Apostle not by man but by Jesus Christ Gal. 1. 1 2. Christ Jesus is said to be equal with God Phil. 2. 5 6 11. Christ is our life and is all in all Col. 3. 4 11. And whoso denieth the Son hath not the Father 1 John 2. 23. Let those who deny the Son consider well that word Christ Jesus the Lord in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2. 2 3 6 9. a very full expression of his Godhead God our Saviour 1 Tim. 2. 3. God manifest in the flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. The living God the Saviour of them that believe 1 Tim. 4. 10. God our Saviour Tit. 1. 3. 2. 10. Looking for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us Tit. 2. 13 14. Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3. 6. Some false Teachers there were then who privily brought in Damnable Heresies denying the Lord that bought them and some will follow them 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. Deceivers who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh such have not God and if any come to you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your house nor bid him God-speed 2 John 3. 7 9 10. Gr. Chairein to rejoice There is no ground that I know to desire Joy to such There are certain men crept in corrupt Worshippers denying the Only God and Master our Lord Jesus Christ Jude 4. To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty dominion and power v. 25. The Son is the brightness of the Father's Glory of whom God saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1. 1 3 6 13. And we are to worship God not Angels Rev. 19. 10. 22. 8 9. Unto the Son the Father saith thy Throne O God for ever and ever Heb. 1. 8. His Son Jesus Christ he is the true God and eternal life 1 John 5. 20. The first and the last who was dead and is alive Rev. 2. 8. The son of God who searcheth the reins and heart and who will give to every one according to his works Rev. 2. 18 23. And to conclude this point in the close of the Scriptures the Prayer of John unto Christ Come Lord Jesus and for his Grace Rev. 22. 20 21. do also prove the Deity of Christ which is my present point Some defend this Truth from the Opinion of ancient Doctors and learned Fathers whereof I have seen a great collection for whom I have due reverence yet satisfaction to the Conscience coming in ordinarily by the Word of God I have rather chosen this familiar way by the Scriptures Q. 3. The third Question proposed is Whether after the Creation the Lord rested on the seventh day and whether The Seventh-day Sabbath instituted by Christ the seventh-day Sabbath was sanctified and so instituted by him and was observed by him who made the World Answ 1. He that made the World rested on the seventh day for which we have these full Authorities Thus the Heavens and the Earth were finished and all the Host of them Gen. 2. 1. And on the seventh day God Heb. Aelohim the Mightys he ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made Gen. 2. 2. For in six days Jehovah he made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and he rested the seventh day Exod. 20. 11. My Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a sign between me and you A sign whereby his People were distinguished from the rest of the World It is holy unto you a perpetual Covenant For in six days Jehovah made Heaven and Earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed Exod. 31. 13 14 15 16 17. And God did rest the seventh day from all his works Heb. 4. 4. Which is also a farther confirmation of the Deity of Christ Answ 2. He that made the World sanctified or made holy the seventh-day Sabbath After God Heb. Aelohim ended his work it is said expresly and God Heb. Aelohim he blessed the seventh day and he sanctified it Gen. 2. 1 3 4. Wherefore Jehovah he blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it Exod. 20. 11. Blessed and sanctified it and so instituted it In the first Question it appears that the Lord Jesus Christ made the World and in the second that Christ is Jehovah Ans 3. And Jehovah who made the Earth and the Heavenâ— he rested on the seventh day and he blessed it and he sanctified it So we have here the Lord Jesus Christ who made the World resting on the seventh day that is observing it and blessing and sanctifying of it i. e. giving the institution of it and this to Adam and in Adam to Jews and Gentiles to all Mankind without distinction who then were all in Adam's Loâ—â—s and that before the Sin and Fall of Adam So this part of the Moral Law was in Adam given to him and to all his Posterity And this recorded for the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ which some pretend to greaten by dedicating another day to him which he never blessed sanctified or observed that I can find nor has any where in the Scriptures either blessed sanctified or commanded Comparing this with what was before offered That the Lord Jesus Christ made the World and that he is Jehovah I think this one Authority in Gen. 2. 1 2 3 4 sufficient to prove that he rested on the seventh day that he blessed the seventh day and sanctified and so instituted it and no other day of the week And to this Institution I think
Olivet but a Sabbath days Journey from Jerusalem and from the two Angels prophesie That that same Jesus should so come in like manner as they saw him go into Heaven and that this was when Christ and his Apostles were assembled and come together and Christ preached to them and promised to them the Holy Spirit Acts 1. 4 5 6 11 12. it is somewhat probable to me that his Ascension might be and that his Coming may be upon the Seventh-day Sabbath though some from the number of Forty days wherein he was seen by the Apostles Acts 1. 3 make some doubt thereof But by no Account I can make can I assign the Ascension on the First day nor can I see why that is so expresly said that Mount Olivet where Christ ascended and whence the Disciples returned to Jerusalem was but a Sabbath-days Journey Acts 1. 12. but because it was the Sabbath day And yet in this also I may not be positive because it is not positively written when it was otherwise than as above that Christ and his Disciples were then assembled and Christ preached and that Mountain was but a Sabbath days Journey from Jerusalem Acts 1. 12 which was as great a length of way by the Law of Exod. 16. 29 and Josh 3. 4 as was commonly thought by the Hebrews they might travel upon a Sabbath day which is held by divers to be about two miles for which I know no certain Scripture Some say Mount Olivet was but about a mile from Jerusalem but be the Sabbath-days Journey more or less 't is recorded here to be but a Sabbath-days Journey from Jerusalem and if this was the Sabbath day it may be thus expressed to answer an Objection As if our Lord by this Walk and his Disciples by accompanying him and by their return to Jerusalem had after his death broken the Sabbath for we find the Jews during his life watching him and his Disciples for some Pretence to charge him and them with breaking the Sabbath as we find Mat. 12. 1 2. Mark 2. 24. Luke 6. 2. And so might also be at the same wrangling and objecting work upon his Ascension But however that were for the main point which is the Sabbath does dot depend thereon it is undeniably certain that after the Ascension of the Lord Jesus into Heaven Acts 1. 9 and after the giving the Holy Spirit Acts 2. 1 2 3 4 Barnabas and Paul who were sent forth by the Holy Spirit Acts 13. 4 and their Company went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and after the reading of the Law and the Prophets which were then read every Sabbath day Acts 13. 27. upon the desire of the Rulers of the Synagogue of the Jews Paul stands up and preaches Christ at large Acts 13. 13 to 41. and when the Jews were gone out of the Synagogue the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them not the next morning upon the First day of the week but the next Sabbath This Authority in Acts 13. 14 42 44 is full where both the Jews and Gentiles hear the Word upon the Sabbath day which no man can deny and is granted by all to be the Seventh-day Sabbath Acts 13. 42. And the next Sabbath day came together almost the whole City to hear the Word of God Acts 13. 44. So that Barnabas and Paul and his Company and the Jews and Gentiles at Antioch observed the Seventh-day Sabbath after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and Paul preached Forgiveness of Sin and Justification of all Believers by Christ to the Jews and upon the particular request of the Gentiles to the Gentiles also not upon the First day of the week which had been more grateful to the Gentiles who generally dedicated the First day to the adoration of the Sun whence we still corruptly call it Sunday whereof more afterwards if that had been grateful to the Apostles but upon the seventh-day Sabbath whereupon the Jews contradict and blaspheme Acts 13. 45 but many Gentiles believed Acts 13. 47 48. so that here were also many converted to Christ upon the seventh-day Sabbath and this in a time after the Holy Spirit was promised to come and promised to guide the Apostles into all Truth John 16. 7 13 and after that Promise performed in the actual giving of the Holy Spirit Acts 2. 4 which taught them all things 1 John 2. 27 by which Holy Spirit Barnabas and Saul were sent forth and which Holy Spirit as I humbly think plainly led them to this Work and into this Truth and this affirmed by the Holy Spirit in the Word of Truth as the Word is called John 17. 17. and this after Christ's Resurrection and Ascension and all this as it seems to me a plain Matter of Fact affirmed by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures with which Holy Spirit the Apostles were now filled Acts 2. 4. 4. 31. 6. 3 5. 7. 55. 8. 17. 10. 44. 11. 15. 13. 52 and which sent them forth Acts 13. 2 4 9. Which Testimony of the Holy Spirit and the Writer or Writers of this Book of the Acts that the Seventh day was still the Sabbath day by whose Inspiration this Book as the other Scriptures 2 Tim. 3. 16 whereunto give heed 1 Pet. 1. 19 was undeniably written I insist upon as that which no man ought to deny And for any to pretend that Barnabas and Paul did herein Judaize and only humour the Jews for a season I take it to be a meer groundless Surmize to say no worse of it without any word from the Scriptures for such Conceit But this is not all the same Holy Spirit doth further witness that Paul did not only keep the seventh-day Sabbath once or twice or now and then after Christ's death but continually for at Thessalonica where was a Synagogue of the Jews Paul as his Manner was went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them Acts 17. 2 3. or preached to them being the same Greek word with that much as I think distorted place Acts 20. 7 where the same word is rendered preached to them It was Paul's constant Use Manner and Custom to preach Christ upon the seventh-day Sabbath And this also is a Matter of Fact which no Christian man can deny and 't is remarkable that we have the same certain Evidence that it was the Custom of Paul Acts 17. 2. and this also after Christ's Resurrection and Ascension as before that we have of Christ's keeping the Sabbath Luke 4. 16 there being in those two Scriptures the like Greek Phrase for both and he that denies Paul in his measure his continual keeping of the Sabbath after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and after his being declared the Son of God with Power and after the solemn giving of the Holy Spirit and the whole Work of Man's Redemption by Christ absolutely finished must deny this express Scripture which is hard for any Christian
Remegius saith that That Sabbath which the Jews were enjoyn'd to celebrate is a sign of future Rest Fol. 141 D Defestis They rested upon the Dominical day And fol. 141 F The Sabbath is holy on which Christ rested in the Grave Rabanus Cent. 11 fol. 144 E De festis That the Feasts received in the former Ages were yet in use is manifest in Authors for they did to that degree abstain from prophane Works upon the Dominical day that it was thought a Sin to make Ditches Teste Cranizio in Metropoli Fol. 210 Michael Bishop of Constantinople and Leo Arch-deacon did blame damnabant the Church of Rome because they used unleavened Bread in the Supper and observed the Sabbath in Lent This in the 11th Century Fol. 291 D E Pope Urban the Second That Mass is to be celebrated upon the Sabbath to the Honour of the Lady-Virgin Mary Nauclerus Lucius Cent. 12 See Balaeus's Acta Romanorum pontificum That Urban the Second one of the Pope's who lived An. Christi 1126 who if we may believe the Historians was a very bad man made certain Statutes wherein amongst other things he dedicated the Sabbath day to the Virgin Mary with a Mass which Dedication I think remains amongst the Romanists to this day Binius 572 fol. 570 571 says Pope Innocent the First constituted a Fast on the Sabbath day which seems to be the first Constitution of that Fast But the alteration of the Sabbath and the turning it into a Fast and dedicating the Sabbath to the Virgin Mary came all from Rome and was made in the XII Cent. or thereabout by Pope Urban the Second Fol. 134 B Thomas I think Aquinas the Precepts of the Decalogue are by divers diversly distinguish'd for Esychius saith The Precept for the observation of the Sabbath is none of the Ten Commands because it is not at all times to be observed according to the Letter yet he distinguisheth four Precepts belonging to God That the first is I am the Lord thy God The second Thou shalt have no other Gods The third Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image The fourth Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain And those pertaining to our Neighbor the first is Honour thy Father and so the Command for the Sabbath is none of the Ten Commands whereof before But he says This seems to be inconvenient that the Precept for observing the Sabbath should be put amongst the Precepts of the Decalogue if it do not at all belong to the Decalogue Fol. 134 F he says afterward as I understand him that in the Precept Thou shalt not make a graven Image and in the fourth Precept the determinate day of the Sabbath are ceremonial And if that be the meaning then the Command against graven Images as well as that for the Sabbath in the Opinion of â—ome were ceremonial Which Opinions agree well with â—ome now Fol. 139 D E F of the Sabbath Thomas Aquinas The Precept of sanctifying the Sabbath literally understood is partly moral and partly ceremonial moral as to this that Man depute some part of his Life to apply it to Divine things and to this he says there is in Man a natural Inclination and sometime to be deputed to Divine things falls under a moral Command but as to the determining a special time so it is a ceremonial Command and that the Command for sanctifying the Sabbath is put amongst the Commands of the Decalogue so far as it is a moral Precept not in what it is ceremonial So Thomas doth not much differ from Esychius I shall add here a few other old Collections about observing the Sabbath Socrates scholasticus in the fifth Book of his Ecclesiastical Socrates Cent. 4. History chap. 21 about the diversity of Observations in divers places touching Easter Fasting Marriage Service with other Ecclesiastical Rites says Touching the Communion there are sundry Observations and Customs for though in a manner all the Churches throughout the whole World do celebrate and receive the holy Mysteries every Sabbath day after other yet Tradition in Cent. IV for the Seventh day the People inhabiting Alexandria and Rome of an old Tradition do not use it The celebrating and receiving the Holy Mysteries I take to be their publick weekly Assemblies for preaching and for their hearing the Gospel preached for Prayer and Praises and for Baptisms and the Lord's Supper which in a manner were celebrated and received by all the Christian Churches throughout the whole World upon every Sabbath day after other yet the Alexandrians and Romans did not use it This was in the 4th Century between the year of our Lord 380 and the year 397. Socrates fol. 353 354 Ann. Dom. 380. This Writer Socrates was born and brought up in Constantinople where he lived and flourished about 412 years after Christ and so lived in that Age and saw with his Eyes many of the things whereof he writ his History ends Ann. Dom. 440 whose Doctrine is acknowledged by Dr. Hanmeâ— who translated him out of the Greek to be sound and the Story faithful that Socrates was learned and his Judgment grave and his Writings of great Antiquity So we havâ— here Socrates a learned faithful Writer positively affirming aâ— the Churches every where throughout the World as every week came about holding their Religious Assemblies and celebrating the Mysteries i. e. administring of Baptism the Lord's Supper Prayer Preaching Singing c. upon the Sabbath day i. e. the Seventh-day Sabbath upon every Sabbath day after other except the Alexandrians and Romans who then refused to do as all the Christian Churches in the World besides did So here also Tradition is for the Seventh day Sabbath for at least 380 years after Christ Alexandria was a City in literal Aegypt Rome a City in mystical Aegypt these two were then famous for making a Separation and Schism in this from the Word and Command of God and from all the Christian Churches in the World besides And so by the Testimony of Socrates the not sanctifyâ—ng the Seventh-day Sabbath was eminently and principally made by Rome And we find by many Writers whereof â—ome are here before-mentioned that Rome celebrated theri Mysteries at this time upon the First day of the week for which they stifly contended Which Testimony of Socrates I take to be the stronger because it was some time before that Constantine appointed a Rest upon the Dominical day by which Name he called it favouâ—ing the Romish Church under which he had his Education whose removing from Rome to Constantinople gave one lift to â—his day And it seems to me that Constantine being bred unâ—er the Roman Church and having there sucked in their Noâ—on of the First day when he went to Constantinople promulâ—ates his Law for observing it where yet it was not for a long â—me received and then he commanded that day to be conâ—ecrated to Prayer and that throughout all the Roman Empire
holy beginning it from the twelfth hour on Saturday until Munday Boethius lib. 13. de Scotis and fol. 357 C D In Scotland An. Dom. 1203 William King of Scotland called a Council of the Principal of his Kingdom there it was decreed That Saturday from the Twelfth hour at Noon should be holy and that they should do no prophane Work and this they should observe till Monday Hoveden says this Council was about the observation of the Dominical So as I take it here are these Witnesses to the Truth of this Story Roger Hoveden and Matthew Paris great Authorities as to the truth of the Matter of Fact Says Binius The cause of celebrating this Council in Scotland seems to be what Roger Hoveden describes ann 1201 in these words The same year Eustachius Abbot of Flay returned into England and therein preaching the Word of God from City to City and from place to place he prohibited using Markets on the Dominical days for he said that this Command under written about the observation of the Dominical day came from Heaven So this Device by the Abbot of a new Command from Heaven was especially used by him to alter the Sabbath day in England Of the observation of the Dominical day an holy Command of the Dominical day which came from Heaven in Jerusalem and was found upon the Altar of St. Simeon which is in Golgotha where Christ was crucified for the Sins of the World and the Lord commanded this Epistle which was taken upon the Altar of St. Simeon which for three days and three nights men looking upon fell to the Earth praying GOD Mercy And after the third hour the Patriarch erected himself and Akarias the Archbishop and stretched out the Bishops Mitre or Label expanderunt infulam and they took the holy Epistle of God which when they had taken they found this written I The Lord who commanded you that ye should observe The Arts used to bring the Dâ—minical day into Scotland and England the Dominical Holy-day and ye have not kept it and ye have not repented of your sins as I said by my Gospel Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Word shall not pass away I have caused Repentance unto life to be preached unto you and ye have not believed I sent Pagans against you who shed your Blood yet ye believed not and because ye kept not the Dominical Holy-day for a few days ye had Famine but I soon gave you Plenty and afterwards ye did worse I will again That none from the ninth hour of the Sabbath so the Abbot of Flay still called the Sâ—venth day the Sabbath and put part of the Sabbath into the First day until the rising of the Sun on Monday do work any thing unless what is good which if any do let him amend by Repentance And if ye be not obedient to this Command Amen I say unto you and I swear unto you by my Seat and Throne and Cherubims who keep my Holy Seat because I will not command you any thing by another Epistle but I will open the Heavens and for Rain I will rain upon you Stones and Loggs of Wood and hot Water by night that none may be able to prevent but that I may destroy all wicked men This I say unto you Ye shall die the Death because of the Dominical Holy-day and other Festivals So the Saints days are hooked in also of my Saints which ye have not kept I will send unto you Beasts having the Heads of Lions the Hair of Women the Tails of Camels and they shall be so hunger starved that they shall devour your Flesh and ye shall desire to flee to the Sepulchres of the Dead and hide you for fear of the Beasts and I will take away the Light of the Sun from your Eyes and will send upon you Darkness that without seeing ye may kill one another And I will take away my Face from you and will not shew you Mercy for I will burn your Bodies and Hearts and of all those who keep not the Dominical Holy-day Hear my voice lest ye perish in the Land because of the Dominical Holy-day recede from Evil and be penitent for your Evils which if ye do not ye shall perish as Sodom and Gomorrah Now know ye that ye are safe by the Prayers of my most holy Mother Mary and of my holy Angels who daily pray for you I gave you Corn and Wine abundantly and then ye did not obey me for Widows and Orphans daily cry unto you to whom you do no mercy Pagans have mercy but ye have not The Trees which bear Fruit I will make to dry up for your sins the Rivers and Fountains shall not yield Water I gave you the Law in Mount Sinai which ye have not kept by my self I gave the Law which ye have not observed For you I was born in the World and my Festival ye have not known this I think referrs to Christmas-day whereof it seems they were then also ignorant naughty men the Dominical day of my Resurrection i. e. Easter-day ye have not kept So they neither knew Christmas day nor kept Easter-day I swear to you by my right Hand unless ye keep the Dominical day and the Festivals of my Saints I will send Pagans Holy-days to kill you Yet ye take away the things of others and of this ye have no consideration for this I will send upon you worse Beasts which shall devour the Breasts of your Women I will curse those who do any Evil upon the Dominical day I will curse those who do unjustly towards their Brethren I will curse those who evilly judge the Poor and Orphans whom the Earth beareth but ye forsake me and follow the Prince of this World Hear my voice and ye shall have good Mercy but ye cease not from evil Works nor from the Works of the Devil because ye commit Perjuries and Adulteries therefore the Nations shall encompass you round and shall devour you as Beasts Then the Lord Eustachius Abbot of Flay came to York in England and being honourably received by Galfrid Archbishop of York and the Clergy and the People of that City he preached the Word of the Lord and of the transgressing the Dominical day and other Festivals or Holy-days he gave the People Repentance and Absolution under such or this Condition That they hereafter should bestow due Reverence to the Dominical day and other Festivals of the Saints it seems the People here in England had little Reverence for Sunday before this or for Holy-days not doing in them any servile Labour nor should exercise or keep Market of things vendible on the Dominical days but should devoutly employ themselves in Good Works and Prayers These things he constituted to be observed from the ninth hour i. e. our Three of the Clock in the Afternoon of the Seventh-day Sabbath until the rising of the Sun on Monday and the People devoted to God upon his preaching
little Colour some at first by Subtilty making and others by Carelesness letting in that Observation and now finding some Good by the Ordinances then celebrated approve of the day also and have put all their Strength to defend it An Opinion blown up to a wonderful heighth which yet God by his Word can easily take down For the present some have altered and in part abrogated this old Command and set up a contrary one in its stead and so do become in this not God's Subjects but his Law-givers as if they could make a more holy See Charnock's Attrib pag. 75. righteous Law than the Law of God and have so far forsaken God's Law and walked after the imagination of their own Hearts Jer. 9. 31. In this taxing his Wisdom as if he did not understand Job 21. 22 How unreasonable is this to impose any Law upon God and force him to revoke his own Upon the whole to my weak Understanding it seems evident That the World was made by the Lord Jesus Christ and that he is Jehovah who after the Creation instituted the Seventh day rested on it sanctified it and blessed it and that it was observed from the Creation till it was repeated at Mount Sinai and that there the Commands were given by Christ the Redeemer to Jews and Gentiles i. e. to all Mankind and that same Seventh day observed by Moses and the Prophets till his Incarnation that the Ten Commands and therein the Seventh-day Sabbath were confirmed by Immanuel our God and Saviour after his taking our Nature upon him that the same Seventh-day Sabbath and no other day of the week was kept by him during his life here and that perfectly and constantly and when he had finished the Work of Redemption that his Body rested in the Grave the next Seventh-day Sabbath and himself in Heaven as he rested the Seventh day after he ended the Work of Creation and that while he rested in Heaven and his Body in the Grave Believers then rested also according to the Fourth Command and by the Testimony of the Scriptures that the Seventh-day Sabbath was observed by the Apostles and all other Believers after our Lord's Resurrection and that constantly and that the Holy Spirit does call the Seventh day only and no other day of the week the Sabbath throughout the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and that after Christ's Ascension and after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and that there is no Law nor any Word to be found in the Scriptures which do 2 Tim. 3. 17. Acts 20. 32. most certainly and fully contain the whole and perfect Duty of Man which requires the keeping holy the First day of the week and that there is not there one word of Promise made to the Observers of it nor any Promise of Acceptance from the LORD for any person in that Observation and that there is not one word of Threatning or Displeasure there against those who do not observe it Not one word there which constitutes the First day a Sabbath or calls it by that Name and How can it be proved by any man to be of God when the Word of God does not tell us of it Not one word that repeals or alters the Fourth Command in any jot or tittle nor any Power there given to any that ever were are or shall be in the World to make any Alteration therein and Who can tell us the persons authorized from God to do this Which therefore as long as the Heaven and Earth abide seems to me Luke 16. 17. Exod. 20. 10. Matth. 5. 18. unalterable and shews that the Seventh day is the true weekly Christian Sabbath and ought to be observed 〈◊〉 not repeaâ—ed nor altered there and so confirmed by Christ faces their Consciâ—â—â—'s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the 〈◊〉 and throws down all the Batteries raised against it Fain they would find out some colourable Objections to shelter themselves in a continual Violation of it but still that Law rises up and overthrows all Opposition They pray to God to encline their Hearts to keep that Law and yet keep it down what they can but all will not do GOD who has reserved a Tenth of our Substance has reserved but a Seventh of our Time which we should neither alter nor begrudge And indeed it seems to me marvellous that the observation of the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath should be so long laid aside here in a Land of Light notwithstanding so direct and plain a Command and that the First day should so far obtain for which we have so very little Colour some at first by Subtilty making and others by Carelesness letting in that Observation and now finding some Good by the Ordinances then celebrated approve of the day also and have put all their Strength to defend it An Opinion blown up to a wonderful heighth which yet God by his Word can easily take down For the present some have altered and in part abrogated this old Command and set up a contrary one in its stead and so do become in this not God's Subjects but his Law-givers as if they could make a more holy See Charnock's Attrib pag. 75. righteous Law than the Law of God and have so far forsaken God's Law and walked after the imagination of their own Hearts Jer. 9. 31. In this taxing his Wisdom as if he did not understand Job 21. 22 How unreasonable is this to impose any Law upon God and force him to revoke his own Upon the whole to my weak Understanding it seems evident That the World was made by the Lord Jesus Christ and that he is Jehovah who after the Creation instituted the Seventh day rested on it sanctified it and blessed it and that it was observed from the Creation till it was repeated at Mount Sinai and that there the Commands were given by 〈…〉 kind and that same Seventh day observed by Moses and the Prophets till his Incarnation that the Ten Commands and therein the Seventh-day Sabbath were confirmed by Immanuel our God and Saviour after his taking our Nature upon him that the same Seventh-day Sabbath and no other day of the week was kept by him during his life here and that perfectly and constantly and when he had finished the Work of Redemption that his Body rested in the Grave the next Seventh-day Sabbath and himself in Heaven as he rested the Seventh day after he ended the Work of Creation and that while he rested in Heaven and his Body in the Grave Believers then rested also according to the Fourth Command and by the Testimony of the Scriptures that the Seventh-day Sabbath was observed by the Apostles and all other Believers after our Lord's Resurrection and that constantly and that the Holy Spirit does call the Seventh day only and no other day of the week the Sabbath throughout the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and that after Christ's Ascension and after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and
prejudice blame those who can find no Command in the Word for the First day if they look a little further as they are weakly able to learn what is the true Will of Christ in this and what he would have his People do and whether it be for his honour that such a Change be made by Men without a Command from him That there are already many Treatises upon this Question is notorious but mostly in favour of the First day whereof two of the fairest I take to be that of Mr. Shepheard and of Mr. Hughes of Plymouth and since Mr. Hughes two learned men have also written upon the same Subject viz. for the First day as it seems to me obliquely to answer what Mr. Hughes yields who moved some Doubts and left many confirmed that there was need of looking further into the Question for what he admits about the Seventh-day Sabbath â—he doth not afterwards answer to their satisfaction since which time except two or three little Tracts for the Seventh day of which no notice is taken by any Writers that I know nothing has past in Print about that matter and so it has for ought I hear rested for some years Now forasmuch as the Advocates for the First day have generally meant well I purpose to avoid Reflections and shall rather offer that little which I think God has given mâ— in this Question with all the Candour I can and leave the Effect with him If we have been generally mistaken in the true Sabbath as I doubt we have 't is high time we return to our Duty And in reading of some learned mens Writings about Sacred things when they reason concerning the Moral Law and Ten Commands in general we may see That they then establish with many excellent words their perpetual Obligation shewing what a Summary the Law of God is of a Christian's Duty That all God's Laws are reasonable That it is a controuling the Divine Wisdom to make any alterations in his Laws That Man's Glory in the World lies in his conformity to Christ and our conformity to him lies in â—ur keeping all his Commands and that the Ten Commands are absolutely confirmed by Christ and frequently by the Apostles in Luk. 16. 17. the Evangelists and Epistles and that they are a settled standing Rule of our Obedience to the end of the world Which are right and sound Expressions But when they write of the Seventh day there they bring in many Distinctions and take a liberty to add and alter and if such liberty were used in the rest of the Commands it would go far to make further alterations in them And whose will admit what is commonly affirmed about the Obligation of the Ten Commands and that God's Commands are unalterable by Man such may in a little time resolve this Question And it is to me somewhat observable that except the Alteration in the second Command about Images by the Romanists and some few others and in the fourth about the Seventh day as I think made originally by the Romanists all the Wit of the World since the Creation has not pretended to mend any other of the Ten Commands Our Question is If they can be abolished or in the least Iota or Tittle altered or amended in any part by Man which we doubt cannot be without Reflection upon the Wisdom of Christ the Law-giver Now that we may find out if possible the Will Q 1. Whether the World was mâ—â—e by Christ of our Lord in this matter let us enquire Whether the World was made by our Lord Jesus Christ This being of weight in it self and in its Consequences as to many things which of late have been controverted about the Deity of Christ and giving Light for clearing the usefulness of the Old Testament and also for proving the second Question That the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah and affording Help as I think to find out the true Day of Rest Let us see whaâ— the Scriptures say by whom the World was made 1st Consider Coloss 1. where Paul writing of giving The World waâ— made by Christ Thanks unto the Father who hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Ver. 12 13 in whom we have Redemption through his Blood i. e. the Blood of Christ v. 14. By him that is by Christ were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible all things were created by him and for him v. 16. By which Scripture of Col. 1. 12 13 14 15 16. I understand Christ as a principal Efficient of all things in Heaven and Earth and that all things were created by him to whom the Creation is eminently and particularly ascribed whom Isaiah calleth Jehovah the Redeemer who maketh all things who stretcheth forth the Heavens alone that spreadeth abroad the Earth by himself Isa 44. 24. 33. 6. Which I think eminently spoken of Christ For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him Col. 1. 16 17. 2d Proof In the beginning of all things that is when the Foundations of the World were laid was the Word John 1. 1 3 10. that is the Lord Jesus Christ who 1 John 1. 1. is called the Word of Life and Rev. 19. 13. the Word of God And the Word was with God and the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God John 1. 2. The Word was made Flesh i. e. the Word that made the World assumed our Humane Nature and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father John 1. 14. All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made John 1. 3. What the Evangelist here calleth all things the Epistle to the Hebrews calleth the Worlds Heb. 1. 2 and Paul calleth all things that are in Heaven and Earth visible and invisible Col. 1. 16 which Moses calleth the Heaven and the Earth Gen 1. 1. These were all made by Christ John 1. 3. Which as I think with others does not exclude the Father from this work who by the Son made the Worlds Heb. 1. 2. Bereshith by the Head Gen. 1. 1. nor the Holy Spirit to whom the Creation is also ascribed Job 33. 4. 26. 13. and Gen. 1. 1 2. and by the word of Jehovah or by the word Jehovah i. e. by Christ were the Heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth i. e. by the Holy Spirit Psal 33. 6. which work is eminently ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ by whom all things were made and without him was not any thing made that was made John 1. 3. In which place viz. John 1. 3 we have an universal Assertion that all things were made by Christ and an universal Negative added to prevent and answer all
Jehovah the Holy Spirit by whom it is that his Countenance and Favour is eminently lifted up upon his People Which may be intimated in the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all 2 Cor. 13. 14 c. And the application of Favour and Peace to the Conscience seems eminently the Work of the Comforter John 14. 26. Ye received the Word with joy of the Holy Spirit 1 Thess 1. 6. Who is called the Eternal Spirit Heb. 9. 14. And the fruits of the Spirit are Love Joy Peace Long suffering Gentleness Faith Meehness Temperance Gal. 5. 22. And he that works these surely must be God these and other Graces are wrought by the Holy Spirit and God is Love 1 John 4. 8 16. Love is the Essence of God and the Holy Spirit works Love Joy Peace c. in Believers for the Holy Spirit is Truth 1 John 5. 6 which I take to be also the Essence of God And those Fruits are not ascribed to Men or Angels but to God the Holy Spirit And the like Blessing to that in Numb 6. 22 23 24 25 26. from the Father Son and Holy Spirit is used by the Apostle The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13. 14. and is used or some like words by the Reformed Ministry of Christ and as I remember by the Romanists also at the conclusion of their publick Work every where And these Blessings may also be noted as Prayers to the Father and to the Son and to the H. Spirit which proves also their Deity And they shall put my Name my Name upon the Children of Israel and I and I will bless them Numb 6. 27. Which may note the Oneness of the Name Jehovah agreeable to that before Jehovah our Aelohim is one Jehovah Deut. 6. 4. and Jehovah is one and his Name one Zech. 14. 9. These Three Mightys are One. And for an Human Authority that the Father Son and Holy Spirit arâ— one God and therefore to be worshipped I shall cite the First of the 39 Articles of the Church of England viz. There is but one Living and True God Everlasting without Body Parts or Passions of Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible and in unity of this Godhead there be Three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And the late Assemblies Confession of Faith Chap. 21. Parag. 2. Religious Worship is to be given to God the Father Son and Holy Spirit and to him alone not to Angels Saints any other Creatures And the Declaration of those of the Congregational Perswasion of their Faith and Order Chap. 22. Article 2. uses the same words And the self-same words we find in the Confession of Faith published by the Antipaedobaptists Ch. 21. Art 2. To what has been said may be adjoyned that of the Lord Jesus whom the Disciples worshipped Mat. 28. 17. Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Mat. 28. 19. 'T is not said In thâ— names of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit but in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit shewing those Three to be One and their Name One which Name in which Believers in Samaria were baptised is said to be the Name of the Lord Jesus Acts 8. 10 and Cornelius and his Company were baptized in the Name of the Lord Acts 10. 48. Which Scriptures considered I think do shew the Father to be Jehovah the Son to be Jehovah and the Holy Spirit to be Jehovah and these Three to be one Jehovah and their Name one And the words Hallowed be thy Name Mat. 6. 9 I take to be the same Name and the Name of the Father is the Name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 3. Gifts are ascribed to the Spirit differences of Administrations ascribed to the Lord Christ diversities of Operations to the Father 1 Cor. 12. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. See also some of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit before Gal. 5. 22 23. which Gifts different Administrations and Operations and Blessings and Fruits before mentioned considered with Passages in the Old and New Testament may help us to discern a little what is peculiar to the Father what to the Son and what to the Holy Spirit although as has been said there is an Oneness as in their Name so in their Operations We find Election is ascribed to the Father Sanctification to the Holy Spirit and Reconciliation and Justification to the Son 1 Pet. 1. 1 2 3. One Spirit one Lord one Father Eph. 4. 4 5 6. Which Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ should be acknowledged Col. 2. 2. 1 Thess 3. 11 13. The comforting their Hearts in Col. 2. 2 is the Work of God the Holy Spirit the Comforter John 14. 26. The Holy Prophets spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit 2 Pet. 1. 21 The Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven one of those things the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1. 12. The Lord the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 17 18. And that the Holy Spirit is Jehovah I think is also fully proved by Jeremiah He whom Jeremiah stileth Jehovah Jer. 31. 31 32 33 34 is declared to be the Holy Spirit Heb. 10. 15 16 17 and if Father Son and Holy Spirit be Jehovah then Christ the Son is Jehovah Numb 6. 25. And here I pretermit divers passages in Joshua Judges Psalms Proverbs and in the greater and lesser Prophets compared with the New Testament which seem to me to prove that Christ is Jehovah 5. Behold the days come saith Jehovah which seems to be Jehovah the Father I will raise unto David a righteous branch and he shall reign King and prosper and shall execute Judgment and Righteousness in the Earth In his days Judah shall be saved and this is his name whereby he shall be called Jehovah Tzidkennu i. e. Jehovah our Righteousness Jer. 23. 5. 6. And you have the like promise near verbatim in Jer. 33. 14 15 16. Which Jehovah Tzidkennu I think is Jehovah Christ whom Jehovah the Father would raise up unto David And Christ Jesus is made unto us Righteousness and Redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30 31 who was to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness Dan. 9. 24 where is a Promise of the Messiah the Prince v. 25 26 who by the Father was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. Which Jer. 23. 5 6 33. 14 15 16 compared as above is my Fiâ—th Proof that
standing Law for the alteration of the Fourth Command and for the setting up another day of the week to be perpetually observed as a weekly Sabbath by all the World seems all invented and a meer force upon the Text. Nor does the Command and Institution of the Lord's Supper need any Art to defend it for it is plainly and fully given and established Mat. 26. 26 27 28 Mark 14. 22 23 24 Luke 22. 17 18 19 20 which Institution was also observed by the Apostles 1 Cor. 11. 23 24 25. And this I add to avoid Slanders which unless God awe some men by his Word I expect upon every point And upon this place in Acts 20. 7 and upon 1 Cor. 16. 1 2 and Rev. 1. 10 which come to be considered in the next Objection the three Scriptures upon which the great pious and learned Assembly in the 21st Chapter of Conf. parag 7 do as I understand them principally build their Opinion for the First day For the other Texts cited by them as Exod. 20 8 10 11 Isa 56. 2 4 6 7 Gen. 2. 2 3 Mat. 5. 17 18 seem to be against it but what is said in that Paragraph That God in his Word by a positive moral and perpetual Commandment binds all men in all Ages and hath particularly appointed One day in Seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him I think is right and true but for the changing that day to the First day of the week I find not It may be remembred the Greek word Mia signifies One and Eis Mia En is rendered not the First but One in our Translation of the New Testament as I take it about an hundred times and if it were so rendered here One day of the week it would somewhat abate this Objection but I admit that One day probably was the First day And reading this Text according to our Translation the First day of the week I think this is certain from that place that Paul preached to the Disciples which probably was till the Evening after the Seventh day Sabbath and continued his Speech till midnight v. 7 and till break of day v. 11 being ready to depart in the morning which probably was the morning of the First day and then departed v. 11 13. And if Paul departed and travelled v. 11 13 then this also will overthrow the Objection from this place for Travelling and Sabbatizing do not well agree together excepting Cases of Necessity or Mercy which Mercy is also of some Necessity Which I think sufficient Answer to this Objection And however I do say that here is not one word of instituting the First day no such thing as any Command to observe it no such thing as altering the Seventh day And where the plain Light of the Word doth not go before us it is our Wisdom as I think to sit still and be silent Obj. Another Objection is from 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Now concerning the collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye upon the First day of the week Gr. one of the Sabbaths or one day of the week Let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gathering when I come Ans 1. What that Order to the Churches of Galatia was I cannot tell unless it were to Remember the Poor which he was forward to do Gal. 2. 10 and Rom. 15. 26. And when this Collection for the Saints was to be made I cannot tell if it were to be upon one day of the week yearly if that Scripture will bear that sence but of yearly Collections nothing is there that I know expresly written All Husbandmen and most Tradesmen and Merchants some few Cases excepted if they be discrete and diligent may about once in a years time make some probable conjecture how God hath prospered them and accordingly lay by in store for charitable uses And some Callings as Ministers Physicians Lawyers and divers Handicrafts men may weekly make a Judgment what they have gotten and accordingly lay by for such uses though I never yet knew the person that steddily practis'd that Rule Some I have known who have for many years lain aside a tenth part of all they spent as they spent what God bestowed upon them besides voluntary occasional charitable Gifts For instance if they took out Ten Shillings to spend they laid aside One Shilling if Ten Pounds they laid aside One Pound and so proportionably Ans 2. And whether that Order to the Church of Galatia were intended as an Order for all the Churches in the World I find not written Ans 3. And if it was a general Order for a charitable laying aside yet it was no Order to observe the First day Ans 4. And if it be an Order to lay aside upon the First day of the week as the Objectors would have it 't is plainly an Order to cast up their Accounts that day and to tell their Moneys they have got and to reckon how much their Stock is encreased and what can be reasonably spared from their necessary Expences and deducting all Charges which every person must well consider that would discreetly lay aside as God hath prospered him which as I said as I never knew or heard of any man that did upon the first day of the week so I think the Advocates for the First day will hardly allow as proper Work for a Sabbath nor yet is very consistent with an holy Rest upon that day which yet such must do for ought I know and more who make that a general Order such strange Inconveniencies do arise when the Scriptures are strained beyond the plain meaning of them The Order is not to give to charitable uses or to distribute to the Poor that day but that every one lay by him in store which certainly must be upon casting up their Accounts but whatever be the meaning of that place as to Accounts on that day the main drift of it is that every one lay by him in store as God had prospered him that there might be a Stock ready to distribute to the Poor Saints as their Necessities required which in the general sometime or other serious understanding Christians I think do or ought But what one word is there in this 1 Cor. 16. 1 2 for repealing altering or changing the Sabbath or for assembling of the Churches or for assembling any one particular Church or for performing any manner of Worship upon this day Let it be what day some would have it but every one was to lay by him in store i. e. every one as it seems asunder so far is this place from that sence some put upon it Read and Judge Obj. Another Objection is from Rev. 1. 9 10. John was in the Isle Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ and was in the Spirit upon the Lords day Gr. En te Kuriake
years together had walked contrary to the Commands of God yet the Commands are the same and oblige us now just as they did the Apostles and others in Christ's time and after his Death and the contrary Practise of all the World if it were so will not impeach any one of Christ's Commands nor make those Hereticks that observe them 3dly For the clearing up of this Matter of Fact I shall offer some broken Collections which I have made out of the Centuries for the observation of the Seventh-day Sabbath and against it for the First day which I think will answer these two last Objections The Ecclesiastical History printed at Basil 1560. Magdeburgenses cent 1. lib. 1. written by those of Maidenburg in Germany who were Protestants cent 1. lib. 1. cap. 4. fol. 44. they say It is only the Work of God to institute and to abolish a Sabbath which is true and sound Cent. 1. lib. 2. cap. 6. fol. 503 They acknowledge the Apostles and others mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles kept the Sabbath which is true also as before Cent. 4. fol. 410. Sozo lib. 7. cap. 19 shews That in many Cities and Villages amongst the Aegyptians they used to convene the Evening of the Sabbath upon which day that there were publick Assemblies Athanasius â—hews in Lib. de Interpretatione Psalmorum where he names these as the days of their Ecclesiastical Assemblies the Sabbath the Dominical day the Second of the Sabbath which I think was Monday Good-Friday Parasc-even and Quartam Sabbati which I think was Wednesday Good Friday could not be weekly but yearly So I guess this was in Lent but where this was I remember not Cent. 4. Concilii Eliberini Can. 23 constituted a Fast upon the Sabbath day so now the Festival of the Sabbath was by some turning into a Fast Cent. 5. fol. 436 Ambrose said When I come to Rome I fast upon the Sabbath when I am here I do not fast Cent. 5. fol. 477 they say The Ecclesiastical Assemblies at Rome were not upon the Sabbath as in the Churches of other Countries Sozomenus lib. 7. cap. 19 Quemadmodum in aliarum terrarum Ecclesiis So that other Churches in other Countries except Rome did assemble on the Sabbath in the Fifth Century after Christ Which may pass for one Authority against the said Writer's Objections Cent. 5. fol. 647 Those who lived at Constantinople had various times of assembling and without doubt in other Neighbour-Churches yet it is certain there was one day of the whole week constituted in which the promiscuous Multitude once assembled to hear Sermons For so says Chrysostom c. Isychius Presbyter of the Church of Jerusalem in the second Book of Commentaries on the Ninth Chapter of Leviticus In some places of Syria and Egypt Men assembled in the Church upon the Sabbath day fol. 648. This was in the Fifth Century Cent. 5 fol. 685 't is said Those who fasted and those who dined upon the Sabbath lived in Concord and that it was frequent in the same Church to have some dining and some fasting upon the Sabbath day In the Eastern Churches they never fast upon the Sabbath one Sabbath of the whole year excepted which is before the Passover the Western Churches by which I think they mean Rome and thereabout observed the contrary And they quote Augustine as speaking of this Diversity how they fasted at Rome on the Sabbath which if they should say were sinful then they should condemn the Roman Church and many places near to it and farther from it And if they should think it sinful not to fast upon the Sabbath then they should blame many Eastern Churches and the far greater part of the Christian World This as I take it is in Chrysostom's Letter to Jerome and in another Letter to Casulanus where he professedly writes of the Fast upon the Sabbath and plainly shews that fasting upon the Sabbath day was peculiar to Rome and a few Western Churches And if any ask why I transcribe Authorities to prove that for so many hundred years after Christ some Dined and some Fasted upon the Sabbath day 1. I answer to shew that all the Christians in the World did agree which was the Sabbath day and which the First day of the week and that they all agreed to call the Seventh day of the week the Sabbath day which some few now pretend to doubt 2. To shew whence the Alteration was from keeping the Sabbath day as a Festival and turning it into a Fast 3. To shew that this Practice by the Church of Rome and some Western Churches was not followed by the Eastern Churches nor by the far greater part of the Christian World for Five hundred years after Christ nor is it as I think by some Christian Churches to this day as I shall shew afterwards Now that publick Fasting-days as this was were kept holy to God as well as Festivals is known to all Christians who upon publick Fasting days where they have liberty do assemble for the Worship of God in Christ When Christians do agree upon a day to assemble for the Publick Worship of God in Christ there does appear no great difference whether they Feast or Fast upon that day only here seems to be the art of it The Popes of Rome were about to change the Sabbath and it seems devis'd amongst others this medium for one To turn the Sabbath into a Fast before Easter and this was under a specious pretence as for the Honour of Christ and in memory of his Passion as the First day was in memory of his Resurrection and therefore they first contended much about observing Easter upon the First day of the week which was to be a yearly Festival whereof more hereafter and the Sabbath before Easter because of our Lord's Body lying in the Grave to be kept as a yearly Fast and so by degrees every Sunday to be a Festival and kept as a weekly Sabbath and every Sabbath to be turn'd into a weekly Fast and by degrees to be totally laid aside and no more observ'd as the instituted Sabbath but for ever after to be kept only as a weekly Fast as it is amongst the Romanists and some others to this day This Legerdemain seems plain to such as are unbiass'd and have look'd a little into Church-History whereof more hereafter Magdeb. 6. Cent. in Synodo Matisconensi where were convenâ— some French Bishops c. I find by a Canon of that Synod a very great Complaint against the Christian People as contemning the Dominical day and as continually working on it â— upon private days for which they order Country-men to be beaten with Cudgels and if he were a Lawyer he must irrecoverably lose his Cause which was very hard for his pooâ— Client when his Cause was good Cent. 7. In the seventh Century we have two Bishops by thâ— name of Dominicus Fol. 322 387. fol. 160 they say The Sabbath was consecrated a Fast
and fol. 140 That amongst thâ— days for publick Assemblies the Dominical day is mostly named also amongst some the day of the Sabbath is found â— was the Sabbath day the third hour when the People were oppressed in the Church by Grimoâ—ldus in the Popilian Markeâ— which was in Rome it self Sabelicus Eâ—eadis 8. lib. 2. So thâ— in Rome it self in this seventh Century some kept the Sabbath for which they were oppress'd and yet for ought I find in aâ— other respects were free from all Exception And fol. 161 they say The Dominical day was solemn â—â— Christians but amongst other Festivals religiously observeâ— they say Isid de Officiis remembers or makes mention of thâ— Sabbath And fol. 185 they say When they did assemble and hoâ— often is not expresly written but the most mention is made â— the Sabbath and of the Dominical day as it is written of Coâ—stance the Emperor in libro Pontificali that coming to Roâ— quarta feria which I take to be our Wednesday that same dâ— he went to the Temple of St. Peter and upon the Sabbath dâ— to St. Maries and upon the Dominical day to St. Peter's Churcâ— which probably was in Lent Cent. 8. In the Eighth Century fol. 1 they say That the Faâ— of the Church of God was deformed and sad being miserabâ— afflicted with two Antichrists the Saracens addicted to the Bâ—phemies of Mahomet and the Popes of Rome Antichrist sittiâ— in the Temple of God Fol. 377 378 they say That the Monks in His Island and the Picts began to celebrate the Sabbath in the Romish manner Ann. Dom. 716. Beda lib. 5. cap. 23. Cent. 9. In the Ninth Century 'tis They kept holy the Dominical day and Synodus Moguntina i. e held at the City Mentz in Germany says We have decreed that all Dominical days be observ'd with all Veneration I find little more of the Dominical day or Sabbath in that Century How far the Canons of that Synod at Mentz were influenc'd from Rome or how far they reach'd in their Power I know not Cent. 10 fol. 365 54 we find that servile Works are not to be done upon the Dominical day Cent. 11 fol. 287 44 Leo the Ninth endeavoured to obtrude a Fast upon all the Sabbaths of the whole Year ever in Lent upon the Eastern Churches c. But Niceâ—as saith That only in the Year is to be observed the Lord's Burial and that a Fast Fol. 289 we have four Columns of Festivals above forty Festivals Fol. 290. 59 Urbane the Second in a Synod at Claremont ordain'd that the Office of Mary i. e. St. Mary should â—e solemnly celebrated upon Sabbath days Diebus sabbathiâ—is Fol. 341 On the Sabbath William the Conqueror in the princiâ—al Feast had magnificent and sumptuous Banquets Malmesb. â—b 3. cap. 52 which they call a Prophanation of the Sabbath Which of the days this was I cannot certainly say but I think â— was the Seventh-day Sabbath Fol. 542. 10 Pope Urbane the Second decrees the Mass to be â—elebrated upon the Sabbath day to the Praise of the Lady-Virâ—in Mary Dominae virginis Mariae So now at Rome the â—ord's Sabbath day was the Lady Maries day so wanton in this â—ey were in that Age. Cent. 12 fol. 911. 17 de Festis They kept holy the Dominiâ—al day and they say that it is the Christian Sabbath Fol. 216 The Sabbath is a Figure of the Passion of Christ â—nd now we must celebrate the Dominical day because of the â—esurrection of Christ Fol. 999. 10 Prophanation of the Sabbath â—hat Slaves and â—xons upon every Dominical day frequenâ—â—â— Market forum â—unense neglecting Divine Worship which Bishop Gerold by â—e Word of God prohibited Cent. 13. The Thirteenth Century brought forth the famous Dominicus by whom afterward the Order of Dominicans was instituted fol. 556. 30. Fol. 320. 44 Estius says The Precept for observing the Sabbath is none of the Ten Commands yet distinguisheth four Precepts as belonging to God the first I am the Lord thy God the second Thou shalt have no other Gods before me the third Command he says is Thou shalt not make to thee any graven Image the fourth Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain And he says There are six pertaining to our Neighbour the first of these is Honour thy Father and Mother c. And so the Sabbath was none of the Ten Commandâ— such wild Conceits have some had about the Moral Law and to lay aside the Seventh day And Fol. 331. 32 one Thomas saith The Precept of the Sabbath literally understood is partly moral and partly ceremonial moral as to this that Man should depute some part of his Life to give his Mind to Divine things But as to this Commands determining a special time in sign of the Creation of the World so the Precept is ceremonial Thus he determines that a special time in the Fourth Command is ceremonial and that this Command is only moral as to some part of Man's Life and says not what part And Estius says that the Fourth is none of the Ten Commands LUCIUS ' s Ecclesiastical History which he gathered out of the Magdeburgenses and out of the oldest and best Historians and Writers printed at Basil 1624. COntentions were stirred up by Anicetus and Victor Cent. 1. lib. 2. Bishops of Rome about celebrating the Passover upon the Dominical day fol. 387 A B C. Cent. 4 fol. 41 The Emperor Constantine commanded that the Dominical day should be free from hearing Causes and doing Business à judiâ—â— negotiis except Tillage and as holy to be observed by all fol. 230 A â— D E. See Magd. 4th Cent. fol. 224 D Sozomenus shews in many Cities and Villages amongst the Egyptians they used to assemble the Evening of the Sabbath on which day that there were publick Assemblies Athanasius signifies also where he names these days of Ecclesiastical Assemblies viz. The Sabbath the Dominical day the Second of the Sabbath Parasceven i. e. a Preparation or Good Friday and the Fourth of the Sabbath or week i. e. Wednesday I think this was in Lent They say Sozomenus has delivered down Tradidit that at Constantinople and almost amongst all the Christians did assemble upon the Sabbath and also Unâ Sabbati upon the First day of the week but at Rome and Alexandria not so Fol. 248 Can. 23 Concilii Eliberini constituted a Fast upon the Sabbath day Fol. 268 F G of the Rights or Customs of the Church of Rome Publick Assemblies 't is said That the Ecclesiastical Assemblies at Rome were not upon the Sabbath as in See Mâ—gdeb 4th Century the Churches of the rest of the World So that the rest of the World kept the Seventh day Sabbath in the fourth Century Sozomenus seems to shew sol 271 D E that a Fast upon every quocunque Sabbath day was peculiar to the Church of Rome Socrates saith At Rome they fast every Sabbath Fasting in Lent upon the
vowed to God that hereafter they would neither buy nor sell any thing upon the Dominical days unless perhaps Food and Drink to such as passed by They vowed also That of all things which they sold of the value of Five Shillings de singulis quinque salidatis rerum they would give a Farthing or a fourth part to buy a Lamp or Candle for the Church and for the burial of the Poor And for the collecting of this the aforesaid Abbot ordained to be made an hollow piece of Wood in all Parish Churches under the Custody of two or three faithful men where the People should cast in the fore-mentioned Brass The aforesaid Abbot also ordained that an eleemosynarie or Alms-dish or Platter should be daily had to the Table of the Rich in which they should send part of their Meats to the use of those who were Indigent who had not prepared for themselves Which in part was a very charitable Appointment And the same Abbot prohibited That none should buy or sell any thing or litigate in Churches or in the Church-Porch or Church-yardâ— Then the Enemy of Mankind envying these and other Admonitions of this Holy Man put into the Heart of the King and Princes of Darkness so it seems the King and Nobility of England did not keep Sunday at that time that they commanded That all who should keep or observe the aforesaid Traditions and chiefly all who had cast down the Market for things vendible upon the Dominical days should be brought to the King's Court or to the King's Examination to make satisfaction or purge themselves about observing the the Dominical day But our Lord Jesus Christ whom we ought to obey rather than men who illustrated or made famous and as exceedingly renowned dedicated unto himself this day which we call Dominical or Lord's day by his Birth and by his Resurrection by his Coming and by the sending the Holy Spirit upon his Disciples he raised up Miracles of his Virtue and thus manifested it upon some Transgressors of the Dominical day Upon a certain Sabbath after the ninth hour a certain Carpenter in Beverlac making a Wooden Pin against the wholsome Admonitions of his Wife being struck with a Palsie fell to the Ground And a certain Woman knitting after the ninth hour of the Sabbath i. e. after Three of the Clock upon Saturday whilst she was very anxious to knit out part of her Work falling to the Earth struck with a Palsie she became dumb And at Nasfortun a Village of Master Roger Arundle a certain man made for himself Bread baked under the Ashes upon the Sabbath day after the ninth hour and eat of it and reserved to himself part until the Morning which when he brake upon the Dominical day Blood came out of it And he that saw it hath given Testimony and his Testimony is true And at Wakefield upon a certain Sabbath when a Miller after the ninth hour endeavoured to grind his Corn suddenly in the place of Meal there issued out so great a stream of Blood that the Vessel put under was almost filled with Blood and the Mill wheel stood immoveable against the vehement impulse of the Water and those who saw marvelled saying Forgive Lord forgive thy People And in Lincolinsiria whether he mean Lincolnshire or what place else I cannot tell a certain Woman had prepared Dough or 〈◊〉 or Pudding pye which carrying to the Oven after the 〈◊〉 â—ur of the Sabbath she put it into a very hot Oven and 〈◊〉 she had drawn it out she found it not baked and she put it again into the Oven made very hot and on the morning and on Monday when she thought to have found the Bread baked she found the Dough or Pudding-pye unbaked Also in the same Province when a certain Woman had prepared her Dough willing to carry it to the Oven her Husband said to her It is the Sabbath and the ninth hour is now past let it alone until Monday and the Woman obeying her Husband did as he commanded and wrapt the Dough in Linnen and in the morning when she went to look to her Dough lest it should exceed the Vessel because of the Leaven put into it she found by the Divine Will Bread made thereof and well baked without material Fire This is a Change of the Right Hand of the Most High and although the Almighty Lord by these and other Miracles of his Power did invite the People to the observation of the Dominical day yet the People fearing more Kingly and Humane Power than Divine and fearing those more who kill the Body and can do no more than Him who after he hath killed the Body can send the Soul to Hell and fearing more to lose Earthly things than Heavenly and Transitories than Eternals Oh sad as a Dog to the Vomit returned to keep Markets of things saleable upon the Dominical days Haec ille This referrs to England so Scotland did not receive the Change till 1203 and the King and Princes of England would not then agree to change the Sabbath or keep Sunday by this Authority This was I think in the time of King John against whom the Popish Clergy had a great Pique as not favouring their Prelacy and Monks by one of whom he was poysoned So we have here an Authority and for Matter of Fact undedeniable for ought I know or can find of a Council held in Scotland for initiating that is for the first bringing in there the observation of the Dominical day i. e. the first day of the week or Sunday and the King Princes and People of England were then against observing Sunday That Kingdom of Scotland was Christian very early and generally received the Christian Religion about Ann. Dom. 435 as before and has this Honour that they were one of the last in this part of the World which admitted the First day and that was not till 〈◊〉 thousand Two hundred years after Christ And to Binius 〈◊〉 Hoveden and Matthew Paris and to the Records of that Kingdom of Scotland where so great a Transaction cannot probably be lost further Enquirers are referred Which Matter of Fact strikes off One thousand Two hundred years out of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland from the Sixteen hundred years universal Concurrence so confidently affirmed as before And take out 1201 out of 1690 and there remains 489. Which is a Prescription much too modern and weak to alter and lay aside a lesser matter than the ancient establish'd Law of God I may safely leave any Reader to make his own Inferences in so plain a case only there being here and afterward mention made of Judgments inflicted on such as violated the Dominical day this I may say of that though I doubt many supposed Judgments are mistaken wrested and misconstrued and the Instances before given may be better applied to Breakers of the Seventh day Sabbath than of Sunday they being Instances of Facts done about the ninth hour upon
observed Dominicam diem non colendam and this was An. 1555 in the sixteenth Century but they if it be true what is written of them by Popish Writers were otherwise Heretical as in their sence all Dissenters from them are And if they were Hereticks yet this will disprove part of the Assertion before mentioned but frequently the most Orthodox were by them called Hereticks as they are by them and others to this day In Lucius's Thirteenth Century f. 264 B and fol. 357 C D of introducing the Dominical day into Scotland we have before in the Story of the Abbot of Flay and the King's Council of Scotland An. Dom. 1203. Fol. 385 a Synod was held at Oxford An. 1223 by Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury where they determine That all Dominical days be kept with all veneration and a Fast upon the Sabbath c. So that how far some part of England then followed the Example of Scotland is worth further enquiry which is about Twenty one years after that of the Abbot of Flay And this is the sum of what I have collected out of those Books As for the Books quoted by Binius by the Magdeburgenses and by Lucius I had very few of them where those Passages probably would be found more at large which such as are furnished with or have the use of a better Study may collect if they please and give a more exact account thereof But these Writers as to Matters of Fact written by them I take to be of Credit although one of them viz. Binius were a profest Romanist and Canon of the Virgin Mary at Collen and writ permissu superiorunt But the Magdeburgenses and Lucius were Protestants and are generally allowed for ought I know as persons of Fidelity in their Collections So that as to the Matters of Fact which I have brokenly gathered from them some for and some against my Opinion I think there remains little doubt Inferences from what I have collected I leave to the impartial Reader Binius's 13th Century King John about Ann. Dom. 1208 and the Tenth year of his Reign upon occasion of a Popish imposing upon his Prerogative in a Case of Conge-de-lier was excommunicated by the Pope and his Kingdom interdicted which bred so great Troubles at home and abroad as at last forc'd him to lay down his Crown at the Feet of Pandulphus the Pope's Agent After he was humbled by that Excommunication and Interdiction this King An. 15. of his Reign by Writ removes the Market of the City of Exon from the Dominical or first day of the week on which it was formerly held to Monday Prinn's History of the Pope's Usurpations part 3 fol. 17. So that Exon kept Markets on Sunday above 1200 years after Christ And the Market of Launceston was from the first to the fifth day of the week And in the 2d and 3d of Henry III the next King succeeding King John K. Henry III removes another Market in Devon and Ten more in other Counties from the First day to other days of the week Which alteration of Markets which we find before in the Case of the Abbot of Flay King John would not then admit And 6 Hen. III Prinn's Jurisdiction of Courts fol. 153 there is the King's Writ Ballinis de Hastings to answer before the Justices for removing Markets from one day to another without the King's Licence unless it be from the Dominical day It seems some then held Markets on that day but might remove them to another day without the King's Licence And those who desire and need such Presidents may probably there find many more like these these coming to hand upon the perusal of a few Leaves of that voluminous Book In our Records we find by the Writs to summon Parliaments that they were of old appointed to meet upon Sundays Elsyng's Method of holding Parliaments fol. 91 92 in the time of Edw. I Edw. II and Edw. III which Edw. I. succeeded Henry III who succeeded King John But 5 Rich. II. who was deposed by his Popish rebellious Subjects and Clergy and who succeeded Edward III. the Parliament appointed to meet upon Sunday met that day and adjourned till Monday Prinn's Jurisdict of Courts fol. 4. From which time of 5 Rich. II. Prinn says no Parliaments have been summoned to meet on the Dominical days And Prinn thinks Modus tenendi Parliamentum was compiled after 5 Rich. II. for many ancient Parliaments of Edw. I Edw. II and Edw. III were summoned to meet on Sunday on which day the Modus c. says Parliaments ought not to be held but upon all other days that excepted So that it seems in Edward the Third's time Sunday was not much if at all observed by that King and the Civil Government of England See his Jurisd fol. 42 and his Register fol. 10 11 15. England which one lately in his Defence of the First day calls a barbarous and remote Corner of the World had the Gospel here preached in the First Century as Historians say and it was afterward generally entertained for some hundreds of years before they received the Change of the Passover to the Dominical day and by the best Collection I can make with my few Books about 1200 years or more before they received the observation of Sunday and yet had a weekly day of Rest which all the Records of old yet extant and down along to this day did then and do still call the Sabbath day And having once received the Gospel they did not so soon receive Alterations in Religion for the worse as other places nearer to Rome as appears by the Case of the Passover the change of which from the 14th day of the first Moon to the first day of the week was not here admitted as I take it till the Sixth or Seventh Century and then also but in part as appears in the Passage of Bishop Coleman which Alteration Scotland then refused And for the First day it seems to be introduced by the Popes and their Agents by degrees but not generally to obtain in England nor at all in Scotland till the beginning of the 13th Century and without any Law that I can recollect made by the King and Parliament till Edward the Sixth's time 5 6 Edw. VI cap. 3 which Act was made about 150. years since where Sunday and many Holy-days the Feast of All-saints and of Holy Innocents are established Festivals and jumbled all together it seems then esteemed much alike Which Act provides that it shall be lawful for Husband men Labourers Fishermen and all others in Harvest or any time of the year when Necessity shall require to labour ride fish or work any kind of Work at their free will and pleasure upon any of the said days So that the Civil Government of England did never that I find give Countenance to Sunday by any Act till about 150 years since and then allowed a Liberty so large as shews what Esteem they had of
alter one day of the week and the World of Christians be thereby concluded and bound to observe such alterations I know no Bolts or Locks strong enough for such a Door to keep it from letting in upon the Churches of Christ whatsoever pleaseth those in Power in any part of the World whether it do concern God's immediate solemn Worship or Matters of Doctrine Discipline or Conversation Men may as well take the other six as one day as the Romanists for many weeks in the year do and they may as well make any other alteration in the Essentials of Christianity if such Gapps be laid open and by the like reason lay as great Burthens upon the Christian Churches as were upon the Jews of old or as are now upon the Romanists such as are utterly inconsistent with all Instituted Worship and all true Liberty wherein Christ by his Word has made his Churches free in which Liberty we are to stand fast Gal. 5. 1 which Liberty eminently consists in a Freedom not only from the Ceremonial Laws of old contained in Ordinances which are laid aside by Christ which Liberty is purchased by him but also in a Liberty not to be entangled with a new Yoke of Mens Devices and Inventions whereof there is no end Christ has left Laws enough for the well governing of his Churches to which Laws of his if we yield entire subjection we have certainly no need farther to trouble our selves and whilst no man has yet shewn us from the Scriptures any Institution of the First day nor any Alteration of the Seventh after One thousand Six hundred and Ninety years elapsed I do not now expect it for places have been already searched by many Writers and not being yet found I think we may conclude that Change never will be found Obj. This change of the Seventh day to the First some have endeavoured to find in John 20. 19 26. In the 19th Verse it is said That the same day at Evening viz. the Evening after his Resurrection being the First day of the week when the Doors were shut Jesus stood in the midst and said unto them viz. to the Disciples Peace unto you Whence some gather because Christ rose upon the First day and appeared to the Disciples in the Evening therefore we must observe the First day And in the 26th Verse it is said And after eight days his Disciples within and Thomas with them came Jesus the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said Peace unto you Now say some after eight days signifieth here the Eighth day from the Resurrection counting the day wherein Christ rose for one as we call those third days Agues which have but one days intermission Tertians and those Agues which have but two days intermission Quartans and so the Disciples having met on the Resurrection day met again that day Sevennight Answ 1. All which if we do admit here is no Institution of the First day nor any pretence of laying aside or altering the Seventh which I take to be an Answer sufficient to all the Objections that I ever met with upon this Question viz. The First day has no Word-Institution Answ 2. But more particularly the First day John 20. 19 26 is understood by Expositors to be the same day mentioned in Luke 24. 13 29 where two Disciples travelled to Emmaus and Christ with them which Emmaus was about seven miles and an half according to our computation from Jerusalem and so more than a Sabbath-days Journey which they say was about two miles So then these two Disciples did not observe the First day the day of the Resurrection nor assemble to worship nor rest upon it but travelled as far as does appear to us about their ordinary occasions upon the same day that Christ rose Luke 24. 1 13. and Christ travelled with them also upon the same day and how that day was observed by him or them as a day of Rest and Travel too that is to journey and to rest at the same time is very hard for me to conceive Obj. And as to that in John 20. 26 where Jesus is said to come again after eight days when the Disciples were within with Thomas Answ First It is not said they were assembled about any Religious Worship whatsoever is affirmed of that nature is meerly guessed it 's said only that they were within with Thomas with them it 's probable the Persecution against them being then hot upon the crucifying of our Lord they lay concealed from the Jews and locked the Doors and were seldom abroad and at that time were certainly within when Christ miraculously stood in the midst and appeared to them But then Secondly That this second appearing was upon the First day of the week is gratis dictum freely said but is not there written the Text says It was after eight days say these Objectors It was the Eighth day including the former First day that is the day sevennight after his Resurrection So the Text says it was after eight days say they 'T was after six or seven days which seems to me impossible for let any man tell eight upon his Fingers and if he do not find that day after eight days to be Monday or Tuesday as we now call the days then I misreckon and this being an account easie to be cast up I leave it But for men to say that after Eight is after Seven or Six days and must be so understood because some would fain have it so and thereupon to build this Change seems to me contrary to all Sence and further Answer to this I think needless And as to that which they offer from Mark 8. 31 I find divers learned Expositors understand that Mark reckons the time from his first being betrayed and apprehended and that Matthew speaks only of the time that he lay in the Grave which was but part of three days other Answers are given but this part of the Objection seems not to be over-ingenious for that those who make it seem to go about to shake the day of his Resurrection if they could rather than want some Pretence for the First day weekly But however this or that in John 20 be understood yet here is no Institution of the First day nothing of the Worship the Disciples were met about either the one or the other of these Days and consequently little Colour for such a Conceit And as to the Resurrection it is so fully proved by many Eye-witnesses throughout the New Testament as I need to add no more to that Obj. Some fancy the day which Christ says to the Jews that their Father Abraham rejoyced to see and saw and was glad John 8. 56 was the day of the Resurrection and therefore the First day of the week as the day of the Resurrection must be for ever kept holy Ans Which day that Abraham saw others think referrs to the day of his Incarnation and thence inferr the Observation of Christmas-day
To which Objection from John 8. 56 some Answer may be from John 9. 4 5 where Christ says to his Disciples I must work the Works of him that sent me whilest it is day the night cometh when no man can work Where day referrs to the time of Christ's Life and publick Ministry and shews the day of Christ Abraham rejoyced to see John 8. 56 to be the time of Christ's preaching the Gospel which was in part whilst Christ's Life in this World lasted and so John 9. 4 is explained John 9. 5 As long as I am in the World Their Father Abraham joyfully believed the Promise of the Messiah and so by Faith foresaw Christ's Coming and was glad The Jews gloried much in this that they had Abraham to their Father Abraham their Father by Faith foresaw Christ's Coming into the World his preaching the Gospel his dying upon the Cross Abraham saw this by Faith in the Promise which was made to him That in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed Gen. 12. 3 22. 18 Abraham saw this in the Type of Isaac's being offered Heb. 11. 17 18 19. This Abraham saw by the Light of Divine Revelation he saw Christ's coming in the Flesh his dying for Sinners typified by the Ram sacrificed instead of Isaac and typified by other Offerings and Sacrifices and he saw by Faith upon the coming of Christ the publication of the Gospel of Christ to the whole World by which means all the Nations of the Earth both Jews and Gentiles are become blessed in his Seed and Abraham was glad with the joy of Faith which gives the Soul a clear view of a certain promised Blessing and Good at a distance as if it were present Heb. 11. 1 13 and so I think John 8. 56 evidently referrs to those Gospel Times which Abraham by Faith in the Promise saw afar off But that day which Christ says Abraham saw being mentioned as a day in general some would fain hook in as one day in every week and so by a narrow understanding of what Abraham saw by Faith would restrain it only to a particular day of the week by their Conjecture Obj. Some guess that Psal 118. 22 24 This is the day the Lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it is the Resurrection day And so they say of the day Psal 2. 7 and Acts 13. 33 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and to that of Psal 118. 24 they joyn Rom. 1. 4 where Christ is said to be declared the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the Dead Ans Now that the Stone which the Builders rejected Psal 118. 22 is meant of Christ is agreed as also that Christ is the Son of God Psal 2. 4 and that he is declared to be the Son of God with Power by his rising from the Dead Rom. 1. 4. But the day mentioned Psal 118. 24 I take as before to be the time of preaching and promulgating the Gospel of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ did plainly declare him to be God the true Messiah and Saviour of all that believe in him But to graft upon these places any thing of an institution of a weekly new Sabbath or of repealing the Seventh day I take to be a meer Conjecture and has no Foundation but in mens Fancies Others guess the day mentioned Psal 118. 24 to be the Incarnation day either of which Conceits if I could but find somewhere written in the Scriptures I hope I should believe but finding none of these there written to me they do but seem to prove the Shifts and Windlaces some are driven to use to patch up such Conceits And some of the Ancients are said to understand by Psal 2. 7 and Acts 13. 33 the eternal Generation of the Son of God Which some referr to the Resurrection others to the Incarnation of our Saviour The Gospel-day before mentioned is a day of glad Tydings for the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled in Christ Acts 13. 32 33 the glad Tydings of our Deliverance from Sin and Hell by the satisfaction made to the Justice of God by the Merits and perfect Obedience of Christ Obj. Some object from Heb. 4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. Ans Where the rest spoken of v. 1 I take to be the everlasting Rest in Heaven and the day spoken of v. 7 to be the same day spoken of Heb. 3. 13 15 compared with Heb. 4. 2 the day of preaching of the Gospel to which it concerns us much that we hearken lest we be hardened through the deceitfulness of Sin and do not hear the Voice and Call of Christ that so by believing we may enter into everlasting Rest v. 3. of which everlasting Rest the Seventh day on which God rested from all his Works was a Type v. 4 into which everlasting Rest the Hebrews who did not believe in Christ should not enter v. 5 6 who by his own Mouth and the preaching of his Apostles and Ministers did first preach the Gospel to the Jews and warned them to day to hear his voice and not to harden their Hearts which Jews understood the rest formerly promised to referr to a Rest in the Land of Canaan and overlooked that everlasting Rest which was typified by God's giving that Country of Canaan and by the weekly Sabbath Which everlasting Rest Joshua who led them into Canaan did not give them but there remaineth a Sabbatism v. 9 an everlasting Rest to the People of God which those who did believe in Christ upon the preaching of the Gospel in the day and time of preaching of it called another day v. 8. should enter into v. 5 6. Which everlasting Rest it concerned the Jews then and concerns all the World to labour to enter into lest any of us should come short of it v. 1 7 8 9 10 11. Which Sence of that place seems to me not hard to â—e apprehended by a plain understanding without any farther quarrelling about it But for any word there to lay aside the Seventh day which is a Type of Heaven and of everlasting Rest there until we come to Heaven which is the Antitype thereof or for any word there for instituting the First day of the week as a weekly Sabbath after the Resurrection of Christ and in remembrance thereof to be observed by the Churches of Christ in all after Ages I find not The great Sabbatism or Rest then and before promised to the People of God is yet to come This Sabbatism or Rest is all the state of the Churches Deliverance and eternal Felicity by Christ incarnate and glorified which in the First-fruits is all the Grace which he giveth his on Earth but in the proper full performance is the state of Glory that great glorious final anâ— everlasting Life Love Peace Light and Rest in Heaven Anâ— the 9th and 11th