ADVERTISEMENT There is 〈◊〉 Printed a Book Intituled A Treatise of the Holy Trinunity in two Parts The First asserteth the Deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the Vnity of Essence with God the Father The Second in Defence of the former answereth the chiefest Objections made against this Doctrine By I. M. Chap. I. THe Case is briefly stated Chap. II. Sheweth that there is but one God the Creator and Former of all things Chap. III. Asserteth a Plurality of Divine Subsistences Chap. IV. Of the Father Chap. V. Proveth the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ 1. By his Names 2. That God in the Old Testament in divers Places is Christ in the New 3. By seven particular Texts of Holy Scriptures 4. That Christ pre-existed his Incarnation in his Divine Nature and is no Angel incarnate but is Coeternal with the Father 5. His Deity is proved by his Works And 6. By Divine Worship given to him Chap. VI. Proveth the Deity of the Holy Ghost 1. That he is a Divine Person 2. His Deity is asserted from several Texts of Scripture 3. By his Works 4. By Divine Worship given to him Chap. VII Proveth the Unity of the Holy Trinity Chap. VIII Containeth some Explications of the Holy Trinunity 1. Of the Essential Being of God 2. Of the Divine Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit 3. Of the Distinctions of the Divine Nature and the Persons and some Shadows by way of Comparison of the incomparable and inconceivable Being of God and of the Union of Christ's two Natures PART II. Chap. I. Answereth Objections against the Scriptural Proofs of Christ's Deity Chap. II. Answers to Objections drawn from several Texts of Scriptures Chap. III. Answers to several Arguments against the Deity of Christ Chap. IV. Answers to several Objections against the Scriptures that prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost Chap. V. Answers to some Objections drawn from divers Scriptures to disprove the Deity of the Holy Spirit Chap. VI. Answers to some Scriptures from whence our Adversaries assert that the Father only is the true God With a general Answer and Conclusion Price bound one Shilling A REPLY TO Doctor Wallis HIS DISCOURSE Concerning the Christian SABBATH By THO. BAMPFIELD LONDON Printed for Thomas Fabian at the Bible in Cheapside near Bread-street End 1693. A REPLY TO Dr. WALLIS's DISCOURSE Concerning the Christian Sabbath SIR A Little after the Printing the Enquiry Whether the Lord Jesus Christ made the World and be Jehovah and gave the Moral Law And whether the Fourth Command be Repealed or Altered There was Reprinted a Tract of Mr. Chafies on the Fourth Command I think as Answer to that part of the Enquiry which referred to the Fourth Command and then another by one Mr. G. T. both which I had no sooner Examined but another was Published by John Wallis D. D. Which Discourse of the Doctor 's as containing the strength of what is said for the First Day I hold my self principally concerned to consider I find the Doctor p. 1. would not on the account of the Day whether the Seventh or the First give any Disturbance to the Peace or Practice of the Church where he Lives so that a Sabbath be duly observed tho' perhaps not upon what Day he should choose What Day he would choose I know not but hope it would be the Day the Lord hath Chosen and Blessed But the Question is not what Day he would choose to rest upon but what day we ought to choose and I am willing to hope he would choose that Day which after the best Judgment I can make upon his Book I think is the Seventh Day and that he means that Day by that otherways Doubtful Expression And I think the Word is the Rule of Worship c. And not the Practise of the Church where we live Nor know I certainly what Church may be meant for that he and I live in an Age wherein there are variety differing a little from one another nor am I willing to disturb the true Peace of the Churches of Christ but if in any thing they be defective in their Judgment or Practice their Peace lies in their returning to their Obedience which is better than Sacrifice 1 Sam. 15. 22. And till the Lord bring that about I see little likelyhood the Sabbath should be duly observed or have the full Blessing bestowed on it which is annexed to it Nor do I think the true Sabbath is so hard to be found as he supposes to whom I may say as Moses to the Israelites Deut. 30. 11 12 13 14. This Commandment is not hid from thee neither is it far off 'T is not beyond the Seas that we should need to go round the Earth to fetch it as the Dr. p. 79. pleasantly adviseth but the Word is very nigh unto thee in thy Mouth and in thine Heart that thou mayst do it He says also p. 1. That he does not know whether Sunday be a first or second a third or a seventh Day in a continual Circulation of Weeks from the Creation or from Christ's time and if so he is at a great uncertainty and I do not wonder if he be yet to choose his Day which Expressions in his first Page may give some Light to state this Question for if he does not know from Christ's time which Day of the Week Sunday as he calls it is I see very little reason why he should observe it He adds And what it is impossible for him to know he thinks will be no Cirme to be ignorant of and if he do not know what Day of the Week Sunday is and much more if it be impossible for him to know it I see no reason at all why he should write a Book for the Observation of a Day impossible for him to know All the Christian and Hebrew Churches in the World I think are agreed that Sunday is the first Day of the Week which Day I presume by the rest of his Book the Doctor observes and if we be right in that as I think we are that Sunday is the first Day it will be no great Task by telling seven to resolve which is the seventh Day But notwithstanding the impossibility for him to know what Day of the Week Sunday is he is sufficiently satisfied that we ought to keep a Sabbath and so am I and I think we may be sufficiently certain which is the seventh Day in the weekly Circulation and am willing to observe that Blessed and Sanctified Day and Time which I think is the Lord's Day and not changed and so not hard to be found And I do not think God has left the stress of a Point whereon his Publick Worship doth somewhat depend upon a thing impossible for us to know by his Word and Works he can make this plain to all First I agree with him that the place of Worship under the Gospel p. 2. is not so material whether this or that John 4.
21 23. 1 Tim. 2. 8. God is a Spirit and his true worshippers did do and shall worship him in spirit and in truth And I know no colour now for the Holiness of Places for which yet as the Dr. p. 3. some are zealous I agree with him that Christmas is of Human Institution which I think he admits by the words so be it p. 3. which I think does also lay aside all other Holy Days which are but of Human Institution and p. 13. about Christmas the Doctor says It is not agreed amongst Chronologies either what Year or what Month much less what day of that Month our Saviour was Born yet he says we keep December the 25th in memory of his Birth as supposing him to have been then Born And p. 45. he says No Man at this Day knows what Day it was and p. 13. That we are at so great uncertainty as we reckon the Year 1692 from his Circumcision to begin the first of January and the same Year his Conception not till the 25th of March after as if his Birth and Circumcision had been a quarter of a Year before his Conception And so the Doctor leaves those days If I mistake not utterly uncertain In p. 12. he tells us The Pascal Tables which should direct us what day to keep Easter on do put us further out then if we had none at all I agree with the Doctor p. 2 3. that our Lord Jesus Christ according to his Divinity was God and is so the true God the God that made Heaven and Earth the God who delivered the Law at Mount Synai and I think those three the father the Son and the Holy Spirit are on Jehovah Deut. 6. 4. 5. Jehovah Aelohenu Jehovah our Mightiest is Jehovah Aechad is one Jehovah was is and will be one Jehovah i. e. the Lord our God is one Lord and Mark 12. 29 30. The Lord our God is one Lord which are the words of Jesus And I agree also that the Blessing and Sanctifying the seventh Day Gen. 2. 3. was by Jehovah the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit which goes far in this Question and I think proves the seventh Day to be the Lord's Day And when he has acknowledged the Father Son and the Holy Spirit to be three yet but one God the Lord Jehovah c. he adds p. 3. But he cannot agree that Christ as God and Man in Contradistinction to the Father and Holy Spirit did all those things for he that is Christ was not then Man Which Words of the Doctor of what he does agree and what he cannot agree insinuates as if I had said that Christ as God-Man did all those things which the Doctor cannot agree whereas he must needs know that is not so for I neither say nor ever thought till that I read it in Mr. G. T. and the Doctor that Christ was Incarnate at the making of the World or at his giving of the Law on Sinai so as the Doctor has not well surmized in this and any Reader may see it is not so for Christ took our Nature on him about 4000 years after the Creation and I find not a word of any Contradistinction between the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Son in the Enquiry but the direct contrary viz. their oneness with the Son in those Works which they both cannot but know And he adds p. 3. what he should rather say about our Lord Jesus Christ's blessing the seventh Day because he was not then the Lord Christ God and Man c. seems to make the Surmize somewhat worse upon which he says that I p. 64. lay great stress for neither I nor any other that I know has said or thought that Christ when he Blessed the seventh Day was then in the Flesh so that in this I think the Doctor blamable But the Doctor does acknowledge that the Son is Jehovah i. e. that he is Lord for which see Enquiry p. 9. 10. c. and I think he does believe that the Son of God is Jesus that is the Saviour the only Saviour and that he is Christ that is the anointed for that Glorious Blessed Work of Redemption that is the Messiah he is called as I think often in the Old-Testament For the Father has chosen us in him before the foundation of the World in him that is in the Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord Jesus Christ as Christ is expresly named Eph. 1. 2 3 4. And in Colos 1. 16. speaking of Christ as he by whom all things were created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth v. 17. and he is before all things he that is Christ is expresly Colos 1. 2 3. there named the Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord Jesus Christ who v. 19. created all things and Christ is named our Lord Jesus Christ in every Epistle from Rom. to the Heb. for so far I searched a little and that frequently and sometime after also Mr. G. T. whom the Doctor in this Objection seems to follow writes of this great Mystery in two or three places under the like and greater mistakes and so at present I leave him But for the Doctor to impose upon his Readers herein as he does p. 2 3. seems blameable And why he thus begins in a Case which relates to the Deity of Christ with such Insinuations for which he has no colour that I know from the Enquiry wherein Christ's Deity and his being Jehovah is directly affirmed unless it be at first to infuse some Prejudice I am not willing to conjecture And as to this if the Holy Spirit by Paul names Christ the Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord Jesus Christ in whom the Father hath chosen his before the foundation of the world by whom all things were created and who was before all things I see no reason why Mr. G. T. and the Doctor should vary from the Apostles expressions and divers other Scriptures And such Artifices the Reader may discern afterward I agree also with the Doctor That God who made the world in six days rested the seventh day Gen. 2. 2 3. Exod. 20. 11. And that he blessed the sabbath day and hallowed or Sanctified it Doctor p. 3. and here he does read it not a seventh bue the seventh Day the same Hebrew word here in Gen. 2. 2 3. Hashebigni which is used in Exod. 20. 10 11. which some would render there a seventh and the Reason and Sence of Gen. 2. 2 3. does require that it be rendered as the word signifies the Seventh Day for no man that I know does imagine that the Lord Gen. 2. 2 3. Blessed and Sanctified any other Day of the Week for Rest but that only on which he Rested and that was expresly not a but the Seventh and no other day of the Week and so I think for all after Seventh days in the Circulation of after Weeks and Christ in the time of his Incarnation kept not a Sabbath
but the Sabbath and surely he understood his own Institution and was not mistaken in the Day And the Doctor p. 4. says The Words he Blessed and Sanctified it may be a strong Intimation for Mankind ever after to observe the Seventh day c. But he says is not expresly said And that the Seventh day Blessed and Sanctified Gen. 2. 2 3. is not only a strong Intimation as the Doctor but does include the Seventh day of every Week afterward in a continual Succession or Circulation of Days and Weeks I think is proved by the Words of Blessing and Sanctifying or making Holy the Seventh day which are comprehensive Words and from Exod. 20. 10 11. as that day of every Week which Men were and are to remember to keep Holy And God's Sabbatizing on the Seventh day was as I think that Man might keep the Sabbath day in the continual Circulation of Weeks in a Spiritual Rest And in this Scripture Gen. 2. 2. we have the Foundation for the Seventh day Sabbath where the Words are And on the seventh day God had ended his work which he had made and he rested or sabbatized on the seventh day from all his work which he had made Heb. 4. 4. Where it is said he spake of the Seventh day in this wise and God did rest the seventh day from all his works and Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his works which God created and made Gen. 2. 3. And from God's Sabbatizing here it is That the seventh day is called the sabbath Exod. 20. 9. 11. And throughout the Old and New-Testament from the Heb. root Shabath he kept Sabbath And the Lords Blessing the Seventh day Gen. 2. 3. makes it a day of his distributing the greatest heavenly Blessings upon all that obey his Voice And his Sanctifying the Seventh day shews it to be Consecrated and so separated from all common Works and earthly Employments and shews it to be Dedicated and Sanctified by him to his Worship as an Holy day and as his day i. e. the Lords day to be used in Holy Solemn Exercises of Religion as long as the World lasts till Believers come to that Sabbatism in Heaven which remains for the People of God Heb. 4. 4 8 9. And he that doubts the Seventh day Gen. 2. 2 3. does not include every Seventh day in the continual Succession of Weeks may see by comparing Exod. 20. that this Institution is not mentioned in Exod. 20. as then first given but as that which God had Instituted upon his creating the World and the keeping the weekly Sabbath was as absolutely necessary for the Spiritual good of those Believers and others who lived in the first Ages of the World after the Fall and of Adam and Eve also if they had not fallen as it is for us at this day to Contemplate his infinite Excellencies and mighty Works And p. 3. from Gen. 2. 2 3. and Exod. 20. 11. he does agree that God hath appointed after six days of ordinary Labour Man should observe a Seventh day of Holy rest and this in a continual Succession which I think goes far to resolve this question not a but the Seventh day only being first instituted Gen. 2. and afterward observed as a Sabbath throughout the Scriptures And if he agrees as he does p. 3. that it was the Seventh day that was Blessed and Sanctified Gen. 2. 3. and that this is a clear and ancient Testimony for the Holiness of time as he doth then till another Sanctified Day of the Week and another weekly time can be found which is Blessed and Sanctified by the Lord we are for ought I can see to rest or keep Sabbath upon the Seventh day as our Lord did by whom we have no other weekly Day or Time Consecrated or observed as Holy but only the Seventh day and the Doctor 's opinion of the Holiness of this time has confirmed and as I think established my Thoughts of the Holiness of the Seventh-day-Sabbath I agree also with him that the Law of the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commands Exod. 20. and am not only willing to think as the Doctor but am satisfied it was a Law before and that not only because we find it observed Exod. 16. before the Law given at Sinai Exod 20. in which Exod. 16. 25 26. the Seventh day is called a Sabbath to the Lord i. e. the Lord's day but especially as the Doctor acknowledges for that Gen. 2. 3. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his Work and I do with the Doctor think this a clear Testimony and as ancient as the Creation for the Holiness of Time i. e. as far as I can possibly discern for the Holiness of the weekly Seventh day for there was no other weekly Day then or since made Holy that we can find in the Word but the Seventh day only and this alone will go very far to resolve and settle this question I agree also with the Doctor that the Law of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments tho' then given to Israel is binding to us also p. 3. 4. And I think we have sufficient Evidence from the Scriptures that the Sabbath was observed from the Creation to the Flood tho' he thinks in the short History Moses gives of that time there be no mention made of such Observation from the Creation to the Flood For First on the Seventh day God Heb. Elohim had ended his Work which he had made and he Sabbatized on the Seventh day from all his Work which he had made Gen. 2. 2. The Example of God's keeping the first Seventh-day-Sabbath is one undeniable Evidence of the Seventh-day-Sabbath kept after the Creation For Gen. 2. 1. The heavens and the earth and all the Hosts of them were finished before the seventh day and so the Seventh day was kept after the Creation and before the Flood A second Evidence is the same repeated Gen. 2. 3. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his Work which he had Created and Made Which Repetition of God's resting the Seventh day does strongly inculcate and inforce our Duty and certainly prove that God had rested the Seventh day after the Creation and before the Flood A third Evidence from the Case of Cain and Abel Gen. 4. 3. And in process of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord and v. 4. Abel also brought his offering In Process of Time Heb. Mikketz Jammin at the end of Days or at the cutting off of Days Enquiry p. 23. Which end or cutting off of days so far as God hath revealed seems to be the end of the Days of the Week when the reckoning of Days was cut off and after the Seventh day ended they were to begin to reckon again 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and 't was the Seventh day the last day
Prudence to interpose and of tacit Limitations implyed I doubt reserves a liberty inconsistent with the Word and Law of God and very hard to be defended For with those Limitations and if Humane Laws shall determine the Divine Laws in some Parts of the World bad Men may find Pretences for the rankest Atheism Theism Arrianism and Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit notwithstanding the First Command for the foulest Corruptions and Invasions on Christian instituted Spiritual Worship notwithstanding the Second for the highest Prophanations of the Name of the Divine Majesty notwithstanding the Third as well as for polluting the Sabbath notwithstanding the Fourth and for Rebellion Murder Adultery Stealing False-witnessing and Covetting notwithstanding the other Six And so it seems to me such Limitations c. have need of many Cautions to correct them Now before I answer the Doctor 's two Expedients I first Reply to somewhat more I find in Mr. Chafie's Learned Tract Mr. Chafie in p. 2. of his Epistle says That Christ the Son of God hath taken away the Jews Sabbath and Established another contrary to what God the Father instituted c. Now tho I hope he was a very Good as well as a Learned Man yet he seems not to have then had clear Apprehensions of Christ as creating the World and then resting nor of Christ as instituting the Sabbath Gen. 2. 2 3. nor of Christ confirming the Moral Law at Synai c. Exod. 20. nor of Christ making it perpetual in Matth. 5. 18. Luke 16. 17. And in that Tract Mr. Chafie speaks of one Sabbath at the Creation another in Exod. 16. and another at the Resurrection of Christ by which Notion he makes to have been three Sabbaths from whom I think the Doctor takes up if I mistake him not the like opinion of three Sabbaths wherein I think they are both out as before And hereafter for Mr. Chafie's Notion of one Seventh-day-Sabbath at the Creation and another Seventh-day Sabbath in Exod. 16. I doubt would make two Seventh-day-Sabbaths in one Week of seven Days which seems to me inconsistent and would make the First day more uncertain also besides the uncertainties of the Doctor Mr. Chafie's opinion p. 19 20. That God hath not bound men to any set time to begin their Week and chap. 8. p. 18. he says The Law-giver himself hath plainly pointed out unto us in this Law that is in the Fourth Command which is the Lords Day or Sabbath of the Lord and that is the day following the six days of Labour with Men and that in every nation however they begin their Week the Seventhday thereof is the Lords p. 20. l. 9. p. 44. l. 6 7. and his Epistle p. 7. l. 4. and that the Seventh day is not to be reckoned from the six days of God's Labour but from the six days of Labour with Men and so also in his Postscript but doth acknowledge chap. 11. p. 35. it hath been the general opinion not only of the Vulgar but of the Learned also which opinion of the Learned I think is right that the Seventh day commanded us in this Law hath Relation only to the six Work-days of the Lord God and not to the six Work-days with Men which opinion of Mr. Chafie's for Mans Day is I think contrary to Gen. 2. 2. for on the seventh day God ended his work c. and rested the seventh day from all his work so as t was the six days God wrought which were the six Working-days and the Seventh day God rested when he ended his Work which was and is the Holy and Blessed Sabbath which first appointment of the Lord I find no where changed and so Exod. 20. 9 10 11. Six days shalt thou labour but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord in it thou shalt not do any work c. For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy and so it seems very plain that the six Working-days are those on which the Lord wrought and the Resting or Sabbath day that which the Lord made Holy and Blessed and on which he Rested And Mr. Chafie in chap. 12. says God by his Law tyeth all Nations that at what time soever they begin the Week they work not on the Seventh day but sanctifie it Which would be true if men began the Week as the Lord directed in Gen. 1. but else by that Rule of Mr. Chafie's Friday in Turkey being their weekly Sabbath the Christians living in Turkey are bound by the Fourth Command to sanctifie Friday i. e. the sixth Day of the Week as the Lords Sabbath day because the Turks there so do And by the same Rule those Christians who live in any Heathen Nation where they Worship the Sun and observe Sunday there they must keep Sunday and Sanctifie it because the Heathens where they live so do And those Christians who live in those Christian Provinces who keep the Seventh day must keep the Seventh day as the Lords Day because others so keep it and for that reason And the like of those who live in any part of the World amongst the Israelites And those Christians who live in those Christian Countries where they keep the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath and the First day also must keep I know not which of them by Mr. Chafie's Rule And I take it as agreed we are not to keep two Days in a Week and that there are some such people of these sorts see Enquiry p. 119 c. Which Rule of Mr. Chafie's to resolve which is the Sabbath day commanded by the Practice of the Country where we live and that God hath not bound men when to begin their Week is to set up Mans Day as it seems to me against the Lords Day and I think the Doctor writes by for he seems to take it as he finds it Which Rule I doubt will agree neither with the letter or meaning of Gen. 2. 2 3. or of the Fourth Command What Mr. Chafie objects That by the different Horizons where-ever Paradice was which p. 17. he says is unknown no man can tell in the place where he liveth when to begin the Day of Gods resting at the Creation I Answer if our Sabbath did begin at the same instant of time that Gods first Rest did and Men were obliged to that instant then that were an hard objection But I know no place in the Word where it is said that every Sabbath afterward was to begin the same moment or time that the first Sabbath began in Paradice or at Synai c. Nor do I remember any thing so offered in any Writer But that the Sabbath then did and that Sabbaths afterward were to begin in the Evening everywhere as Time was distributed into Days at the Creation I think is before shewn and that every Day of the Week began in the Evening and lasted from Evening to Evening and that the
to keep A but The Sabbath during his Life and the Women and others kept it whilst his Body rested in the Grave whilst he was in Paradice that is in Heaven not only on what they called the Sabbath as the Doctor p. 50. which I think not well surmised by him as if they or rather the Holy Spirit there called a wrong day the Sabbath but on what was the Sabbath and that some of the Disciples travelled upon the very Resurrection day and that Paul and other Christians did not only seem to which are the Doctor 's words and I think are hard words but expresly and actually did observe not only what they called the Sabbath but what was the Sabbath the true Seventh day-Sabbath not only after Christs Resurrection but after his Ascension and after the Holy Spirit given and that that was Paul's manner and of others every Sabbath day as before these Repetitions I am forced to Which I think do prove that Christ and the Apostles did then take not A but The Seventh day to be the Christian Sabbath as it was or why else doth the Holy Spirit so very often in the four Evangelists before his Death and Resurrection and in the Acts after his Resurrection and Ascension and after the pouring out the Holy Spirit name it not A but The Sabbath not only what they called but what was the Sabbath Yet the Doctor p. 51. thinks Paul's Preaching upon the Sabbath days to be occasional by which if he means as it there seems occasional only I know no word he has from God in the Scriptures for his Sence of occasional and I think Paul's constant Practice to Preach upon the Sabbath days was according to the Duty of a Minister of Christ and in Obedience to Christs express Command Matth. 28. 19 20. by which Command I think all other his Ministers are obliged And as to the Passover and all Sacrifices and other Ceremonials that they are abolished by the Death of Christ I think certain and to what is said in the Enquiry as to that I add this That the Passover sacrifices are all set aside by that word Luke 22. 19. and 1 Cor. 11. 23 24 25 26. This do in remembrance of me and so the Passover c. are laid aside by the Lords Supper by which Ordinance of the Supper we declare that Christ was sacrificed for the Sins of his People and by this we declare his Death till he come in Glory to judge the Quick and Dead and there was or is no further need of Sacrifices or Types to represent Christs Death And so the Passover and all other Sacrifices to be at an end by these words This is my body which is given for you or which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me Which Lords Supper was then instituted and immediately succeeded the Passover which Passover then ceased Matth. 26. 17 20 26. And as they were eating Jesus took bread c. Mark 14. 22 c. And to what is offered p. 54. from Rom. 14 4 5 6. He that regardeth a day regardeth it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it It is not said what was the day there in question but the Doctor thinks it most likely to be that of the Jewish Sabbath What day this was is hard for any Man at this distance of time to determine and more hard to build any certain Doctrine upon it as a certain Day when God has not that I know told us in his Word what day it was but left it wholly uncertain I find nothing in that Epistle about days till Rom. 14. 4 5 6. where one Man esteemed one Day before another another esteemed every day he that regardeth the day regardeth it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it And it is not there said as the Doctor acknowledges p. 54. what was the Day there nor do I now see how possibly to know what Weekly or Monthly or Yearly or Feasting or Fasting or other day it did refer to but of the Sabbath there is no mention and why is it then most likely to be the Sabbath which he confesses is not there said and whatever day it was it seems it was no great matter whether they regarded it or not ver 6. And whatever day that were it was certainly such a day as Paul would not have them judge one another for ver 4. which makes it likely to me that it was not the Sabbath day which Paul so constantly preached Christ upon and observed as before which Sabbath is a part of that Moral Law which Paul was under to God but was such a day whatever day it was as he thought fit at that time and place to leave undetermined As for Gal. 4. 3 8 9 10. In Galatia were some Disciples Acts 18. 1 4 23. In which Chapter it is said Paul preached at Corinth every sabbath to Jews and Gentiles And Paul Gal. 1. 2. directs that Epistle to the Churches of Galatia where probably were some converted and many unconverted And Gal. 4. 3. Paul says When we were children we were in bondage under the Elements or under the Rudiments of the world which seems the Heathen World ver 8. When they knew not God they did service to them who they knew by nature were no Gods which was the case of the Heathens for the Israelites did then and do still Worship Jehovah who is God the true God and so do actually Worship Christ the only Messiah who is Jehovah as in the Enquiry p. 9 c. And the Father Son and Holy Spirit are one Jehovah Deut. 6. 4 5. Enquiry p. 12. But the Israelites don't yet know Christ to be Johovah their Messiah Saviour and Redeemer which Truth upon their Conversion and Restoration remains to be revealed to them So as this place seems specially directed to those who had an Heathenish Education who before served those who were no Gods who after they knew God Gal. 4. 9. were turning again to the weak and beggarly Rudiments to their first Teachings and Heathenish Instruction which Paul there blames ver 10. you observe days and months and times and years ver 11. I am afraid of you least I have bestowed upon you labour in vain What days these were is the Question the Doctor says t is not here said in particular what those days were that are here meant yet he thinks it is most likely and scarce to be doubted to be meant of the Sabbath To which I answer That I think days there cannot be meant of a weekly Rest and if it be it is directed there not to rest upon Sunday which was observed by the Heathens in honour of the Sun as we may see afterward And every Sabbath being observed by Paul and the Sabbath not being that I can find in question days there I think cannot refer to the Sabbath Which the
Doctor thinks most likely to be meant of the Sabbath though he acknowledges it is not said and if it be not so said how can any mans Conscience build upon what is not said in the Word and the Heathens generally observed Sunday and their Princes and Magistrates being Heathens some of those converted to the Christian Faith might in some sort decline giving them offence upon their days whether Feastivals or Fasting days but that tho it might be is conjectural 'T is certain that many do things now which relate to Worship in complyance with those under whom they live and so have done I doubt in former Ages and t is certain they observed days which observation Paul blamed and some of those days might also be Jewish days as Passover New Moons c. as in the Enquiry or days of purim Hester 9. 26. which the Jews observe still as I think in all Nations where they live And t is to me most likely and scarce to be doubted that one of those days blamed by Paul and the principal one was Sunday which the Heathens observed wherein the converted Heathens were by their Heathen Parents who knew not God first instructed before they knew God Gal. 4. 8. which Paul calls weak and beggarly Elements ver 9. which words of weak and Beggarly Elements do certainly not refer to any part of the Moral Law as afterward So that upon the whole of this in Gal. 4. 9 10 11. it seems more likely that Paul blames them for observing the First day if it were at all then observed by Christians And Gal. 4. 12. which is the next verse Paul adds Brethren I beseech you to be as I am who constantly observed the Sabbath day as before As to what is objected from Coloss 2. 16. where Paul says Let no man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbaths Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Doctor p. 55 56 57 58. understands of Sabbaths and so of the Seventh-day-Sabbath and p. 59. does not think it by the Fourth Command to be so determined to this day that is the Seventh day as to be unchangeable to after Ages And when Christ or his Apostles by direction from him did put it into a new order this new order doth as well suit the words of the Fourth Command as that former all which are postulata and I reply if it be not changed then the Doctor cannot change it and if it be settled in the Word that the Seventh day is the Sabbath as I think it is then it is unchangeable and the Doctor cannot suit the Command to his Sense and when the Doctor or any other produceth any such new order from Christ or from his Apostles to change the Seventh to the First day he will say somewhat and I hope all Christians will obey it but I see not yet any such new order produced In the General I acknowledge this of Coloss 2. 16. at first seemed the most colourable Objection that I knew Colosse is said to be in Phrygia and the Inhabitants Heathens this Epistle Coloss 1. 1 2. Paul directs to the Saints and faithful Brethren in Christ which are at Colosse which it seems were converted Heathens and it may be some persecuted and converted Jews ver 9. 10. Paul prays for them that they may be fruitful in every good work of which good work the law of God is a rule and ver 13 14 15 16. Paul tells them that the son of God the redeemer created all things whom ver 3. he calls the Lord Jesus Christ to whom those who were enemies by wicked works which wicked Works I think were Works against the Moral Law were then reconciled to present them ver 22. holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight free from all Immoralities and present them perfect in Christ Jesus whom as they had received so they should walk in him which good Works Perfection receiving Christ and holy Walking I think were true Conversion sincere Repentance Faith Holiness and new Obedience to the Word of God and Moral Law And Coloss 2. 8. Beware least any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the World and not after Christ The Philosophers who are thought to have been Platonists would then as others now have brought the Doctrine of Christ and Laws of his Kingdom to be judged by their Reason who were Heathens who would have put a cheat upon them by their Traditions to withdraw them from Christs institutions after the Rudiments or first Teachings of the Heathenish World which were corrupt The Heathens had other Objects as Sun Moon and Stars c. and ways of Worship contrary to Christ and his Laws Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the sabbaths or weeks Coloss 2. 16. Let no man judge or censure you or impose upon you that as necessary which is not after Christ and his Laws there were Feastivals among the Jews which were Typical and Ceremonial and amongst the Heathens which were Idolatrous Against which Rudiments of the World ver 8. Paul speaks more from ver 20. to 23. to which Paul would have them dead and not as tho living in the World which was there Heathenish to be subject to Ordinances after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men of Heathenish Men which things have indeed a shew of Wisdom in Will-Worship Which second Chapter seems mainly aimed against the Philosophical Heathenish World and their Will Worship after the Commandments and Doctrines of Heathenish Men. Though some Learned Men have also thought that it refers to the inclinations of some there to the Ceremonial Laws abolished by the Death of Christ Now that the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sabbaths does signifie Week or Weeks I refer to the Enquiry p. 70 71 72 73. John 20. 1 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 24. 1. the like 16. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 28. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the plural number doth signify Sabbaths or Weeks and in the New Testament is used for Week and for Sabbath whether it be put there for Weeks I cannot now examine nor do I see it necessary seeing the plural number does ordinarily signifie more then one What I offered in the Enquiry p. 70. that the word Sabbaths in the New Testament is never applyed to the weekly Seventh-day-Sabbath was mistaken by me and the word never should have been left out or the Expression otherways cured and Enquiry p. 136. that God who reserved a Tenth of our Substance reserved But a Seventh of our Time But should have been left out Both which with other Errata's before I read it in any Printed Book I gave particular order to amend in a Printed Paper of Errata's and upon a question which requires such
but according to the pleasure of men as I think the First day is whereas the Seventh day is appointed by the Lord and the Conscience and whole life of man ought to be governed by the commandments of God without adding or diminishing Deut. 12. 32. Matth. 15. 6 9. Which commandments of men have indeed a shew of wisdom in will-worship Coloss 2. 23. Worship which some men imposed on themselves and others as if they could do and teach better and wiser then God had commanded which it seems is an old and humane Infirmity Mr. Cawdrey and Mr. Palmer in their Treatise of the Sabbath pag. 50. say That the Apostle in Col. 2. 16. speaks of the other Holy days and Sabbaths and not of the weekly Sabbath Mr. Sheppard in his Doctrine of the Sabbath pag. 166. Thes 181. speaking of Gal. 4. 10. Rom. 14. 4 5. Col. 2. 16 c. saith If we suppose that these places be meant of the weekly Sabbath and riggidly urge them we may quickly press Blood instead of Milk out of them and wholly abolish as Walleus the Observation of any Christian Sabbath Doctor Owen in his Treatise of the Sabbath pag. 214. speaking of Col. 2. 16 17. saith It is known and confessed that at that time all judaical Observations of Days whether Feasts or Fasts Weekly Monthly or Annual were by themselves and all others called their Sabbaths And that kind of speech was then in common use is here observed by our Apostles it must therefore necessarily be allowed that there were two sorts of Sabbaths amongst them the first and Principal was the Weekly Sabbath so called from the rest of God upon the finishing of his Works and that other day became from their Analogy thereto to be called Sabbaths also But that the difference between these Sabbaths was great The one of them was ordained from the foundation of the world before the entrance of Sin and so belonged to all mankind in general to all Mankind the other were appointed in the Wilderness as a part of the peculiar Church-worship of the Israelites That the one was directly commanded in the Decalogue wherein the Law of our creation the Learned Doctor calls it the Law of our Creation was revived and expressed and that the other have their Institution expresly among the residue of ceremonial temporary Ordinances See to the like purpose p. 215 216 217. Mr. Richard Byfield in his Treatise on the Sabbath p. 130. on Col. 2. 16. saith That the Apostle there speaketh not of the Fourth Commandment because he treateth expresly of those Sabbaths which were of the same rank with the New Moons And that he speaketh as he doth to the Galatians chap. 4. 10. of the Observation of Days Months and Years which pertained to the Servitude and Bondage of weak and beggarly Rudiments as in ver 9. Now saith he that any precept of the Decalogue should be so accounted and reckoned as a weak and beggarly Rudiment was far from the Apostle to think and is abhorred to Christian Ears and Religion Which I think Answer to the Doctor 's Objections from Col. 2. 16 c. Which four Opinons I had from another hand since I came to London and if I had the use of my own persecuted Study and other Books here 't were easie I think to gather many more And upon the whole I find Col. 2. 16. to be against judging of Christians then and there and for ought appears against judging either way and so this place in whatsoever sence we take it makes only against judging in those cases Pag. 59. the Doctor takes the Law for the Seventh day Sabbath to be a new Yoke to the Gentiles because it was given to the Jews as a Sign or a distinctive mark and for a perpetual Covenant Exod. 31. 13 16 17. Ezek. 20. 12 20. But this also will be against him as we shall see by and by That it was then new to the Heathens who observed Sunday I agree T is true it was a sign but such a sign as all Proselytes did embrace and obey till the coming of Christ and by him is made a perpetual law Matth. 5. 18 c. and so a perpetual sign between him and his people And tho Circumcision were a sign yet that is ceased as before and Baptism instituted And the Pascal Lamb tho it were a distinction between the Israelites c. and the Aegyptians yet being a Type of Christ was lain aside by him at his Institution of the Lords Supper as before by the words This do in remembrance of me Luke 22. 19. and ceased at his Death And if it be meerly circumstantial and doth not at all influence Religion whether in the Temple or other place God be Worshipped John 4. 21. as the Doctor p. 60. p. 2. Yet God having so directly resolved that the Seventh day is the Sabbath that is not a new Yoke but an old Institution for the good of all Mankind given at the Creation and commanded in the Decalogue and so given by Christ And with the rest of the Commandments Matth. 5. 18. and Luke 16. 17. made perpetual by him and so I think is Christs Yoke and an easie Yoke for it is only to take the commanded weekly Seventh instead of the First day Matth. 11. 29 30. which the Doctor and others should willingly take upon them Pag. 60. he adds That the Jewish Sabbath so he often calls it and the Word Jewish runs much in his mind seems to be not a continuation of a former Sabbath but rather a new Institution which I cannot find in the Word as he says he has shewed before which upon all the search I have made I cannot find in all his Book and I am loath to observe what I often read therein the great Latitude he takes that way The Doctor p. 60. quotes the Enquiry p. 26. and says I press and put great weight upon it that the Seventh day is a Sign and perpetual Covenant to distinguish his People from other that is saith he the People of the Jews from other Nations which last words the People of the Jews from other Nations are added by the Doctor whereas my words and meaning was and is throughout that the Sabbath was and is a perpetual Sign and Covenant with all true Israelites that is all true Believers of all Nations in all Ages from the beginning of the World to the end of it to distinguish such from the disobedient to Gods Laws And such Artifice to add somewhat of his own to turn what is offered into his own Notion are blameable And for the Doctor to say as he there That Circumcision the Passover and the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath were distinctive Marks and at an end by the Death of Christ is not so 'T is true of Circumcision and the Passover that they are at an end as before but not of the Sabbath So that a particular unravelling the many Allegations which I think are not so would make