Apprehension if besides sundry other invincible Reasons that lye against it I did not find that God had alwayes before in all States of the Church from the foundation of the world invariably required the Observation of one Day in seven and I know no Reason why what had been observed all along so far upon his own Authority he would have observed still but no longer on his Command but on the Invention and Consent of men Had the Religious Observance of one Day in seven been utterly laid aside and abolished it would and ought to to have been concluded that the Law of it was expired in the Cross of Christ as were those of Circumcision the Sacrifices and the whole Temple-Worship But to have this Observance continued by the whole Church in and under the Approbation of God whereof none ever doubted by a Reassumption of it through the Authority of the Church after God had taken off his own from it is a most vain Imagination § 39 I dispute not of what the Church may appoint for good Orders sake to be observed in Religious Assemblies But this I dare say confidently that no Church nor Churches not all the Churches in the World have Power by common Consent to ordain any thing in the Worship of God as a Part of it which God had once ordained commanded and required but now under the Gospel ceaseth so to do as Circumcision and Saorifices But this is the State of the Religious Observance of one Day in seven None can deny but that formerly it was ordained and appointed of God And it should seem according to this Opinion that he took off the Authority of his own Command that the same Observance might be continued upon the Authority of the Church Credat Apella Neither do the Footsteps of the Occasion of any such Ecclesiastical Institution appear any where on Record in the Scripture where all things of an absolute new and Arbitrary Institution whether occasional or durable are taken notice of There is indeed mention made and that frequently of the first day of the Week to be set apart for the Assembling of Believers for the Worship of God and a solid Reason is insinuated why that especial day in particular ought so to be But why one Day in seven should be constantly observed to the purpose mentioned no Reason no Account is given in the New Testament other than why men should not lie or stea ' Nor hath any man a Ground to imagine that there was an Intercision of a Sabbatical Observance by the interposition of any time between the Observation of the seventh Day and of the first of the Week for the same Ends and Purposes though not absolutely in the same manner If there be any Indications Proofs Evidences that the first Churches continued without the Observation of one Day in seven after they desisted from having a Religious Respect unto the seventh Day before they had the same regard to the first of the Week unto this purpose I wish they might be produced for they would be of good weight in this matter but as yet no such thing is made to appear For if the Obligation of the Precept for Observing one Day in seven as a Sacred Rest to God may be suspended in any change of the outward State and Condition of the Church it cannot be esteemed to be Moral I speak not of the actual Observance of the thing commanded which for many causes may occasionally and temporarily be superseded but of the obliging force and power in the Command it self which if it be Moral is perpetual and not capable of Interruption Now Testimonies we have that sundry persons not sufficiently instructed in the Liberty of the Gospel and the Law of its Obedience observed both the Dayes the seventh and the first yea it may be that for a while some observed the one day and some the other but that any Christians of old thought themselves de facto set at liberty from the Religious Observation of one day in seven this neither is nor can be proved This Practice then was Universal and that approved of God as we shall see afterwards and farther in another Discourse now more than once directed unto Now what can any man conceive to be the ground of this unvariableness in the commanded and approved Observation of one day in seven in all states conditions and alterations in and of the Church but that the Command for it is part of the Moral unchangeable Law Hereby therefore it is confirmed unto us so to be And indeed if every State of the Church be founded in an especial Work of God and his Rest thereon and complacency therein as a Pledge or Testimony of giving his Church Rest in himself as elsewhere shall be fully confirmed a Sabbatical Rest must be necessary unto the Church in every state and condition And although absolutely another Day might have been fixed on under the New Testament and not one in an Hebdomadal Revolution because its peculiar works were not precisely finished in six Dayes yet that season being before fixed and determined by the Law of Creation no Innovation nor Alteration would be allowed therein § 40 There is yet remaining that which is principally to be pleaded in this cause and which of it self is sufficient to bear the weight of the whole Now this is the Place which the command for the Observation of a Sabbath unto God holds in the Decalogue Concerning this we have no more to enquire but whether it have obtained a station therein in its own Right or were on some other occasion advanced to that Priviledge For if it be free of that Society in its own Right or on the Account of its Origine and Birth the Morality of it can never be impeached if it had only an Occasional Interest therein and held it by a lease of time it may ere this be long since disseized of it Now we do not yet dispute whether the seventh Day precisely be ordained in the fourth Commandment and do take up the whole nature of it as the only subject of it and alone required in it Only I take it for granted that the Observation of one Day in seven is required in the Command which is so because the seventh Day or a seventh Day in a septenary Revolution is expresly commanded § 41 It is indeed by many pretended that the Command firstly and directly respecteth the seventh Day precisely and one Day in seven no otherwise than as it necessarily follows thereon For where the seventh Day is required one in seven is so consequentially And they who thus pretend have a double Design the one absolutely contradictory to the other For those do so who from thence conclude that the seventh Day precisely comprizing the whole Nature of the Sabbath that day is indispensibly and everlastingly to be observed And those do so who with equal confidence draw their conclusion to the utter Abolition of the whole Sabbath and
supposition of a Non-obligation in the Law unto the Observance of the seventh Day precisely and of a New Day to be observed Weekly under the New Testament as the Sabbath of the Lord on what Ground it is so to be observed 12 Whether of the Fourth Commandment as unto one Day in seven or only as unto some part or portion of Time or whether without any respect unto that Command as purely Ceremonial For granting as most do the necessity of the Observation of such a Day yet some say that it hath no respect at all to the Fourth Decalogical Precept which is totally and absolutely abolished with the residue of Mosaical Institutions others that there is yet remaining in it an Obligation unto the Sacred Separation of some portion of our Time unto the solemn Service of God but indetermined and some that it yet precisely requires the Sanctification of one Day in seven 13 If a Day be so to be observed it is enquired on what Ground or by what Authority there is an Alteration made from the Day observed under the Old Testament unto that now in use that is from the last to the first Day of the Week Whether was this Translation of the solemn Worship of God made by Christ and his Apostles or by the Primitive Church For the same Day might have been still continued though the Duty of its Observation might have been fixed on a new Reason and Foundation For although our Lord Jesus Christ totally abolished the old solemn Worship required by the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances and by his own Authority introduced a new Law of Worship according unto Institutions of his own yet might Obedience unto it in a solemn manner have been fixed unto the former Day 14 If this were done by the Authority of Christ and his Apostles or be supposed so to be then it is enquired Whether it were done by the express Institution of a New Day or a directive Example sufficient to design a particular Day no Institution of a new Day being needful For if we shall suppose that there is no Obligation unto the Observance of one Day in seven indispensibly abiding on us from the Morality of the Fourth Command we must have an express Institution of a new Day or the Authority of it is not Divine and on the supposition that that is so no such Institution is necessary or can be properly made as to the whole nature of it 15 If this Alteration of the Day were introduced by the Primitive Church then whether the continuance of the Observation of one Day in seven be necessary or no. For what was appointed thereby seems to be no farther Obligatory unto the Churches of succeeding Ages than their concernment lyes in the Occasions and Reasons of their Determinations 16 If the continuance of one Day in seven for the solemn Worship of God be esteemed necessary in the present State of the Church then Whether the continuance of that now in general Use namely the First Day of the Week be necessary or no or whether it may not be lawfully changed to some other Day And sundry other the like Enquiries are made about the Original Institution Nature Use and Continuance of a Day of Sacred Rest unto the Lord. § 6 Moreover amongst those who do grant that it is necessary and that indispensibly so as to the present Church State which is under an Obligation from whence ever it arise neither to alter nor omit the Observation of a Day weekly for the publick Worship of God wherein a Cessation from labour and a joint Attendance unto the most solemn Duties of Religion are required of us It is not agreed whether the Day it self or the separation of it to its proper Use and End be any Part in it self of Divine Worship or be so meerly relatively with respect unto the Duties to be performed therein And as to those Duties themselves they are not only variously represented but great Contention hath been about them and the manner of their Performances as likewise concerning the Causes and Occasions which may dispense with our Attendance unto them Indeed herein lyes secretly the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and principal Cause of all the strife that hath been and is in the World about this matter Men may teach the Doctrine of a Sabbatical Rest on what Principles they please deduce it from what Original they think good if they plead not for an exactness of Duty in its Observance if they bind not a Religious carefull Attendance on the Worship of God in Publick and private on the Consciences of other men if they require not a Watchfulness against all Diversions and Avocations from the Duties of the Day they may do it without much fear of Opposition For all the concernments of Doctrines and Opinions which tend unto Practice are regulated thereby and embraced or rejected as the Practice pleaseth or displeaseth that they lead unto Lastly On a precise supposition that the Observation of such a Day is necessary upon Divine Precept or Institution yet there is a Controversie remaining about fixing its proper bounds as to its Beginning and Ending For some would have this Day of Rest measured by the first Constitution and limitation of Time unto a Day from the Creation namely from the Evening of the Day preceding unto its own as the Evening and the Morning were said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Day Gen. 1. 5. Others admit only of that proportion of Time which is ordinarily designed to our labour on the six Dayes of the Week that is from its own Morning to its own Evening with the Interposition of such Diversions as our labour on other Dayes doth admit and require § 7 And thus is it come to pass that although God made man Upright and gave him the Sabbath or Day of Rest as a token of that Condition and Pledge of a future Eternal Rest with himself yet through his finding out many Inventions that very Day is become amongst us an Occasion and Means of much Disquietment and many Contentions And that which is the worst Consequent in things of this nature that belong unto Religion and the Worship of God these Differences and the Way of their Agitation whilst the several Parties htigant have sought to weaken and invalidate their Adversaries Principles have apparently influenced the minds of all sorts of men unto a neglect in the Practice of those Duties which they severally acknowledge to be incumbent on them upon those Principles and Reasons for the Observation of such a Day which themselves allow For whilst some have hotly disputed that there is now no especial Day of Rest to be observed to the Lord by vertue of any Divine Precept or Institution and others have granted that if it be to be observed only by vertue of Ecclesiastical Constitution men may have various pretences for Dispensations from the Duties of it the whole due Observation of it is much lost
applying the duties and services of a Sabbath unto it hath also been demonstrated And that this was owned from the Authority of the Lord is declared by John in the Revelation who calls it the Lords Day Rev. 1. 10. whereby he did not surprize the Churches with a new name but denoted to them the Time of his Visions by the name of the Day which was well known unto them And there is no solid Reason why it should be so called but that it owes its pre-eminence and observation unto his Institution and Authority And no man who shall deny these things can give any tolerable account how when or from whence this Day came to be so observed and so called It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords Day the Day of the Lord as the Holy Supper is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11. 20. the Lords Supper by reason of his Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Day of the Lord in the Old Testament which the LXX render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies indeed some illustrious Appearance of God in a way of judgement or mercy And so also in the Person of Christ this was the Day of his Appearance Mark 16. 9. So was it still called by the ancient Writers of the Church Ignatius in Epist. ad Trall ad magnes ect Dionysius of Corinth Epist. ad Rom. in Euseb. Hist. lib. 4. cap. 21. Theophilus Antioch lib. 1. in 4. Evangel Clemens Alex. stromat lib. 7. cap. 7. Origen lib. 8. con Cels. Tertul. de Coron milit cap. 3. As for those who assign the Institution of this Day to the Apostles although the supposition be false yet it weakens not the divine original of it For an Obligation lying on all Believers to observe a Sabbath unto the Lord and the Day observed under the Law of Moses being removed it is not to be imagined that the Apostles fixed on another Day without immediate direction from the Lord Christ. For indeed they delivered nothing to be constantly observed in the worship of God but what they had his Authority for 1 Cor. 11. 23. In all things of this nature as they had the infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost so they acted immediately in the Name and Authority of Christ where what they ordained was no less of divine Institution than if it had been appointed by Christ in his own person It is true they themselves did for a season whilest their Ministery was to have a peculiar regard to the Jews for the calling and conversion of the remnant that was amongst them according to the election of grace go frequently into their Synagogues on the seventh Day to preach the Gospel Act. 13. 14. Chap. 16. 13. Chap. 17. 2. Chap. 18. 4. But it is evident that they did so only to take the opportunity of their Assemblies that they might preach unto the greater numbers of them and that at such a season wherein they were prepared to attend unto sacred things Upon the same ground Paul laboured if it were possible to be at Hierusalem at the Feast of Pentecost Act. 20. 16. But that they at any time assembled the Disciples of Christ on that day for the worship of God that we read not § 29 We may now look back and take a view of what we have passed through That one Day in seven is by virtue of a divine Law to be observed Holy unto the Lord the original of such an observation Gen. 2. 2. the Letter of the fourth Commandement with the nature of the Covenant between God and man do prove and evince And hereunto is there a considerable suffrage given by learned men of all parties The Doctrine of the Reformed Divines hereabouts hath been largely represented by others They also of the Church of Rome that is many of them agree herein It is asserted in the Canon Law it self Tit. de Feriis cap. licet where the words of Alexander the third are Tam veteris quam novi Testamenti pagina septimum Diem ad humanam quietem specialiter deputavit where by septimus Dies he understands one Day in seven as Suarez sheweth De Relig. lib. 2. cap. 2. And it is so by sundry Canonists reckoned up by Covarruvias The Schoolmen also give in their consent as Bannes in 2a 2a g. 44. a. 1. Bellarmine contends expresly decultsanct lib. 3. cap. 11. that Jus divinum requirebat ut unus Dies Hebdomadae dicaretur cultui divino So doth Suarez de dieb sac cap. 1. and others might be added We have the like common consent that whatever in the institution and observation of the Sabbath under the Old Testament was peculiar unto that state of the Church either in its own nature or in its use and signification or in its manner of observance is taken away by virtue of those Rules Rom. 14. 5. Gal. 4. 10. Col. 2. 16 17. Nor can it be denied but that sundry things annexed unto the Sabbatical Rest peculiar to that Church-state which was to be removed were wholly inconsistent with the spirit grace and liberty of the Gospel I have also proved that the observation of the seventh Day precisely was a pledge of Gods Rest in the Covenant of works and of our Rest in him and with him thereby so that it cannot be retained without a re-introduction of that Covenant and the Righteousness thereof And therefore although the command for the observation of a Sabbath to the Lord so far as it is moral is put over into the Rule of the new Covenant wherein Grace is administred for the duty it requires yet take the seventh Day preeisely as the seventh Day and it is an Old Testament arbitrary institution which falls under no promise of spiritual assistance in or unto the observation of it Under the New Testament we have found a new Creation a new Law of Creation a new Covenant the Rest of Christ in that Work Law and Covenant the limiting of a Day of Rest unto us on the Day wherein he entred into his Rest a new Name given unto this Day with respect unto his Authority by whom it was appointed and an observation of it by all the Churches so that we may say of it This is the Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it as Psal. 118. 24. § 30 These foundations being laid I shall yet by some important considerations if I mistake not give some farther evidence unto the necessity of the Religious observation of the first Day of the Week in opposition unto the Day of the Law by some contended for It is therefore first acknowledged that the observation of some certain Day in and for the solemn publick Worship of God is of indispensible necessity They are beneath our consideration by whom this is denyed Most acknowledge it to be a Dictate of the Law of Nature and the Nature of these things doth require it We have proved also that there
is ours and with the first fruits of our substance in every kind Somewhat of whatever God hath given unto us is to be set apart from our own use and given up absolutely to him as an Homage due unto him and a necessary acknowledgement of him To deny this is to contradict one of the principal Dictates of the Law of Nature For God hath given us nothing ultimately for our selves seeing we and all that we have are wholly his And to have any thing whereof no part as such is to be spent in his service is to have it with his displeasure Let any one endeavour to assert and prove this Position No part of our Time is to be set apart to the Worship of God and his Service in an holy and peculiar manner and he will quickly find himself setting up in a full contradiction to the Law of Nature and the whole Light of the knowledge of God in his mind and conscience Those who have attempted any such thing have done it under this deceitful pretence that all our Time is to be spent unto God and every day is to be a Sabbath For whereas notwithstanding this pretence they spend most of their time directly and immediately to themselves and their own Occasions it is evident that they do but make use of it to rob God of that which is his due directly and immediately For unto the holy separation of any thing unto God it is required as well that it be taken from our selves as that it be given unto him This therefore the Law of our Creation requires as unto the separation of some part of our Time unto God And if this doth not at first consideration discover it self in its Directive Power it will quickly do so in its condemning Power upon a contradiction of it Thus far then we have attained § 25 Moreover men are to worship God in Assemblies and Societies such as he appoints or such as by his Providence they are cast into This will not be denyed seeing it stands upon as good yea better Evidence than the Associations of mankind for Ends Political unto their own Good by Government and Order which all men confess to be a Direction of the Law of Nature For what concerns our living to God naturally is as clear in that Light and Conduct as what concerns our living among our selves Now a part of this Worship it is that we honour him with what by his Gift is made ours Such is our Time in this world Nor can the Worship it self be performed and celebrated in a due manner without the Designation and Separation of some Time unto that purpose and thereby secondly this Separation of Time becomes a branch of the Law of Nature by an immediate natural and unavoidable consequence And what is so is no less to be reckoned among the Rules of it than the very first notions or impressions that it gives us concerning the nature of any thing Good or Evil. For whatever Reason can educe from the Principles of Reason is no less Reason than those Principles themselves from whence it is educed And we aim no more from this discourse but that the separation of some Time to the Worship of God according to the Ends before insisted on is Reasonable so that the contrary in its first conception is unreasonable and foolish And this I suppose is evident to all I am sure by most it is granted Could men hereupon acquiesce in the Authority and Wisdom of God indigitating and measuring out that Portion of Time in all seasons and Ages of the Church there might be a Natural Rest from these contentions about a Rest Sacred and Holy However I cannot but admire at the Liberty which some men take positively to affirm and contend that the Command for the Observation of the Sabbath when or however it were given was wholly umbratile and Ceremonial For there is that in it confessedly as its Foundation and that which all its concernments are educed from which is as direct an Impression on the mind of man from the Law of Creation as any other Instance that can be given thereof § 26 Upon this Foundation therefore we may proceed And I say in the next place that the stated Time directed unto for the Ends of a Sacred Rest unto God by the Light and Law of Nature that is Gods Command impressed on the mind of man in and by his own Creation and that of the rest of the Works of God intended for his Direction in Obedience is that it be one day in seven For the confirmation hereof what we have discoursed concerning the Law of Creation and the Covenant ratified with man therein is to be remembred On the supposition thereof the Advancement or Constitution of any other Portion of Time in the stead and to the Exclusion thereof as a Determination and Limitation of the Time required in general in the first Instance of that Law is and would appear a contradiction unto it God haveing finished his Works in six Dayes and rested on the seventh giving man thereby and therein the Rule and Law of his Obedience and Rewards for him to assign any other measure or portion of Time for his Rest unto God in his Solemn Worship is to decline the Authority of God for the sake of his own inventions and to assign no portion at all unto that End is openly to transgress a principal Dictate of the Law of Nature as hath been proved Neither this Direction nor Transgression I confess will evidently manifest themselves in the meer Light of Nature as now depraved and corrupted No more will sundry Instances of its Authority unless its voice be diligently attended unto and its Light cultivated and improved in the minds of men by the Advantage of Consequential Revelations given unto us for that purpose For that by the Assistance of Scripture Light and Rational Considerations thence arising we may discover many things to be dictates of and to be directed unto by the Law of Nature which those who are left unto the meer Guidance and Conduct of it could not discover so to be may be easily proved from the open Transgression of it in sundry Instances which they lived and approved themselves in who seemed most to have lived according unto it and professed themselves to be wise in following the Light and Conduct of Reason in all things as was before at large discoursed The Polutheisme that prevailed amongst the best of the Heathens their open profession of living unto themselves and seeking after their Happiness in themselves with many other Instances make this evident And if Revelation or Scripture Light contributed no more to the Discovery of the Postulata of the Law of Nature but by a removal of those Prejudices which the manner and fashion of the world amongst men and a corrupt conversation received by Tradition from one Generation to another had fixed on and possessed their minds withal yet were the Advantages we have
Creation is answered by the Rest of the Son of God upon his laying the Foundation of the New Heavens and New Earth in his Resurrection But that the Sabbath Originally and in its whole nature should be a free Institution to prefigure and as in a shadow to represent any thing Spiritual or Mystical after wards to be introduced is not nor can be proved It was indeed originally a Moral Pledge of Gods Rest and of our Interest therein according to the Tenor of the Covenant of Works which things belong unto our Relation unto God by vertue of the Law of our Creation It continueth to retain the same nature with respect unto the Covenant of Grace What it had annexed unto it what Applications it received unto the state of the Mosaical Paedagogie which were temporary and umbratile shall be declared afterwards § 57 But it is yet pleaded from an Enumeration of the Parts of the fourth Commandment that there can be nothing Moral as to our purpose in it And these are said to be three First The Determination of the seventh Day to be a Day of Rest. Secondly The Rest it self commanded on that Day Thirdly The sanctification of that Rest unto holy Worship Now neither of these can be said to be Moral Not the first for it is confessedly Ceremonial The second is a thing in its own nature indifferent having nothing of Morality in it antecedent unto a Positive Command Neither is the third Moral being only the means or manner of performing that Worship which is Moral An. It will not be granted that this is a sufficient Analysis or Distribution of the parts of this Command The principal subject matter of it is omitted namely the Observation of one Day in seven unto the Ends of a Sacred Rest. For we are required in it to sanctifie the Sabbath of the Lord our God which was a seventh Day in an Hebdomadal Revolution of Dayes Supply this in the first place in the room of the Determination of the seventh Day to be that day which evidently follows it in the Order of Nature and this Argument vanisheth Now it is here only tacitly supposed not at all proved that one Day in seven is not required 2. Rest in it self absolutely considered is no part of Divine Worship antecedently unto a Divine Positive Command But a Rest from our own works which might be of use and advantage unto us which by the Law of our Creation we are to attend unto in this world that we may intend and apply our selves to the Worship of God and solemnly express our universal Dependance upon him in all things a Rest representing the Rest of God in his Covenant with us and observed as a pledge of our entring into his Rest by vertue of that Covenant and according to the Law of it such as is the Rest here injoyned is a part of the Worship of God This is the Rest which we are directed unto by the Law of our Creation and which by the Moral Reason of this Command is injoyned unto us on one Day in seven and in these things consists the Morality of this Precept on whose account it hath a place in the Decalogue which on all the Considerations before mentioned could not admit of an Association with one that was purely Ceremonial 3. Granting the Dedication of some Time or part of Time unto the Solemn Worship of God to be required in this Command as is by all generally acknowledged and let a Position be practically advanced against this we insist on namely that one Day in seven is the Time determined and limited for that purpose and we shall quickly perceive the mischievous consequents of it For when men have taken out of the hand of God the division between the Time that is allowed unto us for our own occasions and what is to be spent in his service and have cast off all influencing Direction from his Example of working six dayes and resting the seventh and all guidance from that seemingly perpetual Direction that is given us of imploying ordinarily six Days in the necessary affairs of this life they will find themselves at no small loss what to fix upon or wherein to acquiesce in this matter It must either be left to every individual man to do herein as seems good unto him or there must an Umpirage of it be committed unto others either the Church or the Magistrate And hence we may expect as many different Determinations and Limitations of Time as there are distinct Ecclesiastical or Political Powers amongst Christians What variety Changeableness would hence ensue what Confusion this would cast all the Disciples of Christ into according to the prevalency of Superstition or Profaneness in the minds of those who claim this power of determining and limiting the time of Publick Worship is evident unto all The Instance of Holy Dayes as they are commonly called will farther manifest what of it self lyes naked under every rational Eye The Institution and Observation of them was ever resolved into the Moral Part of this Command for the dedicating of some part of our Time unto God but the Determination hereof being not of God but left un-the Church as it is said one Church multiplyes them without End until they grew an unsupportable yoke unto the people another reduceth this number into a narrower compass a third rejects them all and no two Churches that are Independent Ecclesiastically and Politically one on the other do agree about them And so will and must the matter fall out as to the especial Day whereof we discourse when once the Determination of it by Divine Authority is practically rejected As yet men deceive themselves in this matter and pretend that they believe otherwise then indeed they do Let them come once soberly to joyn their Opinion of their Liberty and their Practice together actually rejecting the Divine limitation of one day in seven and they will find their own consciences under more disorder then yet they are aware of Again if there be no day determined in the fourth Command but only the seventh precisely which is Ceremonial with a general Rule that some time is to be dedicated to the service of God there is no more of Morality in this Command then in any of those for the Observation of New Moons and annual Feasts with Jubilees and the like in all which the same general Equity is supposed and a Ceremonial Day limited and determined And if it be so as far as I can understand we may as lawfully observe New Moons and Jubilees as a Weekly Day of Rest according to the custome of all Churches § 58 The words of the Apostle Paul Col. 2. 16 17. are at large insisted on to prove that the Sabbath was only Typical and a shadow of things future Let no man therefore judge you in Ment or in Drink or in respect of an Holy Day or of the New Moon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the Sabbaths or
Sabbath Dayes which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ. For hence they say it will follow that there is nothing Moral in the Observation of the Sabbath seeing it was a meer Type and Shadow as were other Mosaical Institutions as also that it is absolutely abolished and taken away in Christ. An. This place must be afterwards considered I shall here only briefly speak unto it And 1. It is known and confessed that at that time all Judaical Observations of Dayes or the Dayes which they religiously observed whether Feasts or Fasts Weekly Monthly or Annual were by themselves and all others called their Sabbaths as we have before evinced And that kind of Speech which was then in common use is here observed by our Apostle 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 This being designed for Sacred and Religious Uses other Dayes separated unto the same Ends in general became from their Analogie thereunto to be called Sabbaths also yea were so called by God himself as hath been declared But the Distinction and Difference between these Sabbaths was great The one of them was ordained from the foundation of the world before the Entrance of sin or giving of the Promises and so belonged unto all mankind in general the other were appointed in the Wilderness as a part of the peculiar Church Worship of the Israelites and so belonged unto them only The one of them was directly commanded in the Decalogue wherein the Law of our Creation was revived and expressed the other have their Institution expresly among the residue of Ceremonial Temporary Ordinances Hence they cannot be both comprized under the same Denomination unless upon some Reason that is common to both sorts alike So when God saith of them all You shall observe my Sabbaths it is upon a Reason common to them all namely that they were all commanded of God which is the formal Reason of our Obedience of what nature soever his Commands are whether Moral or Positive Nor can both these sorts be here understood under the same name unless it be with respect unto something that is common unto both Allow therefore the Distinctions between them before mentioned which cannot soberly be denyed and as to what they agree in namely what is or was in the Weekly primary Sabbath of the same Nature with those Dayes of Rest which were so called in allusion thereunto and they may be allowed to have the same sentence given concerning them That is so far the Weekly Sabbath may be said to be a shadow and to be abolished 2. It is evident that the Apostle in this place dealeth with them who endeavoured to introduce Judaisme absolutely or the whole Systeme of Mosaical Ceremonies into the Observation of the Christian Church Circumcision their Feasts and New Moons their distinctions of Meats and Dâ—nâ—s he mentioneth directly in this place And therefore he deals about these things so far as they were Judaical or belonged unto the Oeconomy of Moses and no otherwise If any of them fell under any other Consideration so far as they did so he designeth not to speak of them Now those things only were Mosaical which being instituted by Moses and figurative of good things to come or the things which being of the same nature with the residue of his Ceremonies were before appointed but accommodated by him to the use of the Church which he built 〈◊〉 such as Sacrifices and Circumcision For they were all of them nothing else but an obscure Adumbration of the things whereof Christ was the Body So far then as the Weekly Sabbath had any Additions made unto it or limitation given of it or directions for the manner of its Observance or respected the services then to be performed in it and by all accommodated unto that Dispensation of the Covenant which the Posterity of Abraham was then brought into it was a shadow and it taken away by Christ. Therewith falls its limitation to the seventh Day its rigorous Observation its penal Sanction its being a sign between God and that people in a word every thing in it and about it that belonged unto the then present Administration of the Covenant or was accommodated to the Judaical Church or State But now if it be proved that a septenary Sacred Rest was appointed in Paradise that it hath its foundation in the Law of Creation that thereon it was observed antecedently unto the Institution of Mosaical Ceremonies and that God renewed the Command concerning it in his Systeme of Moral Precepts manifoldly distinguished from all Ceremonial Ordinances so far and in these Respects it hath no concern in these words of the Apostle 3. It cannot be said that the Religious Observance of one Day in seven as an holy Rest unto God is abolished by Christ without casting a great Reflection of Presumption on all the Churches of Christ in the World I mean that now are or ever were so for they all have observed and do so observe such a day I shall not now dispute about the Authority of the Church to appoint dayes unto Holy or Religious uses to make holy Dayes Let it be granted to be whatever any yet hath pretended or pleaded that it is But this I say that where God by his Authority had commanded the Observation of a day to himself and the Lord Christ by the same Authority hath taken off that Command and abolished that Institution it is not in the power of all the Churches in the world to take up the Religious Observance of that Day to the same Ends and Purposes It is certain that God did appoint that a Sabbath of Rest should be observed unto him and for the celebration of his solemn Worship on one Day in seven The whole Command of God hereof is now pleaded to be dissolved and all obligation from thence unto its Observation to be abolished in and by Christ. Then say I it is unlawfull for any Church or Churches in the World to reassume this Practice and to impose the Observance of it on the Disciples of Christ. Be it that the Church may appoint Holy Dayes of its own that have no foundation in nor Relation and to the Law of Moses yet doubtless it ought not to digg any of his Ceremonies out of their Grave and impose them on the Necks of the Disciples of Christ yet so must it be thought to do on this Hypothesis that the Religious Observance of one Day in seven is absolutely abolished by Christ as a meer part of the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances which was nailed to his Cross and buried with him by the constant Practice and Injunctions thereof 4. Herewith fall the Arguments taken from the Apostles calling the Sabbath in this place a shadow For it is said that nothing which is Moral can be
there can be no tolerable Reason assigned why he should mention the works of God from the foundation of the World with his Rest that ensued thereon and referr us to the seventh Day which without respect unto another Day to be introduced doth greatly involve his whole Discourse Again his use of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sabbatism which is framed and as it were coyned on purpose that it might both comprise the Spiritual Rest aimed at and also a Sabbath-keeping or Observation of a Sabbath Rest manifests his purpose When he speaks of our Rest in general he still doth it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adding that there was an especial Day for its enjoyment Here he introduceth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sabbatism which his way of arguing would not have allowed had he not designed to express the Christian Sabbath Adde hereunto that he subjoynes the especial Reason of such a Days observation in the next Verse as we have declared And here do we fix the Foundation and Reason of the Lords-Day or the Holy observation of the first Day of the Week the Obligation of the fourth Commandment unto a weekly Sacred Rest being put off from the seventh Day to the first on the same Grounds and Reasons whereon the state of the Church is altered from what it was under the Law unto what it is now under the Gospel And the Covenant it self also is changed whence the seventh Day is now of no more force than the old Covenant and the old Law of Institutions contained in Ordinances because the Lord Christ hath ceased from his works and entred into his Rest on the first Day § 26 Here we have fixed the foundation of the observation of the Lords-Day on the supposition of what hath been proved concerning our Duty in the Holy observance of one Day in seven from the Law of our Creation as renewed in the Decalogue The remaining Arguments evincing the change of the Day from the seventh unto the first by Divine Authority shall be but briefly touched on by me because they have been lately copiously handled and fully vindicated by others Wherefore 1 when the Lord Christ intended conspicuously to build his Church upon the foundation of his Works and Rest by sending the Holy Ghost with his miraculous Gifts upon the Apostles he did it on this Day which was then among the Jews the Feast of Pentecost or of Weeks Then were the Disciples gathered together with one accord in the observance of the Day signalized to them by his Resurrection Acts 2. 1. And by this doth their obedience receive a blessed confirmation as well as their persons a glorious endowment with abilities for the work which they were immediately to apply themselves unto And hereon did they set out unto the whole work of building the Church on that foundation and promoting the worship of it which on that Day was especially to be celebrated § 27 The Practice of the Apostles and the Apostolical Churches owned the Authority of Christ in this change of the Day of sacred Rest. For hence forward whatever apprehensions any of them might have of the continuance of the Judaical Sabbath as some of them judged that the whole service of it was still to be continued yet they observed this Day of the Lord as the time of their Assemblies and solemn worship One or two instances hereof may be called over Acts 20. 6 7. We came to Troas in five dayes where we abode seven dayes And upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech untill midnight I doubt not but in the seven dayes that the Apostle abode there he taught and preached as he had occasion in the houses of the Believers but it was the first Day of the Week when they used according to their duty to assemble the whole body of them for the celebration of the solemn Ordinances of the Church synecdochically expressed by breaking of Bread This they did without any extraordinary warning or calling together for in answer to their duty they were accustomed so to do Such is the account that Justin Martyr gives of the practice of all Churches in the next Age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the Day called Sunday there is an assembly of all Christians whether living in City or the Countrey and because of their constant breaking of bread on this day it was called Dies Panis August Epist 118. And Athanasius proved that he brake not a Chalice at such a time because it was not the first Day of the Week when it was to be used Socrat. lib. 5. cap. 22 And whosoever reads this passage without prejudice will grant that it is a marvellous abrupt and uncouth expression if it do not signifie that which was in common observance amongst all the Disciples of Christ which could have no other foundation but only that before laid down of the Authority of the Lord Christ requiring it of them And I doubt not but that Paul preached his farewel Sermon unto them which continued untill midnight after all the ordinary service of the Church was performed And all the Objections which I have met withall against this instance amount to no more but this that although the Scripture sayes that the Disciples met for their worship on the first Day of the Week yet indeed they did not so do 1 Cor. 16. 2. the same practice is exemplified Upon the first Day of the Week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come The constant Day of the Churches solemn Assemblies being fixed he here takes it for granted and directs them unto the observance of an especial duty on that Day What some except that here is no mention of any such Assembly but only that every one on that Day should lay by himself what he would give which every one might do at home or where they pleased is exceeding weak and unsuitable unto the mind of the Apostle For to what end should they be limited unto a Day and that the first Day of the Week for the doing of that which might be as well to as good purpose and advantage performed at any other time on any other Day of the Week whatever Besides it was to be such a laying aside such a treasuring of it in a common stock as that there should be no need of any Collection when the Apostle came But if this was done only privately it would not of its self come together at his Advent but must be collected But all exceptions against these Testimonies have been so lately removed by others that I shall not insist farther on them § 28 That from these Times downwards the first Day of the Week had a solemn observation in all the Churches of Christ whereby they owned its substitution in the room of the seventh Day
this matter with the Blessing that attended it was that which multitudes now at Rest do bless God for and many that are yet alive do greatly rejoyce in Let these things be despised by those who are otherwise minded to me they are of great weight and importance § 32 Let us now a sittle consider the Day that by some is set up not only in competition with this but to its utter exclusion This is the seventh Day of the week or the old Judaical Sabbath which some contend that we are perpetually obliged to the observation of by vertue of the Fourth Commandment The Grounds whereon they proceed in their Affertion have been already disproved so far as the Nature of our present undertaking will admit and such evidences given unto the change of the Day as will not easily be everted nor removed The consequences of the observation of the seventh Day should the practice of it be re-assumed amongst Christians is that which at present I shall a little enquire into when we have summed up somewhat of what hath been spoken 1 It was not directly nor absolutely required in the Decalogue but consequentially only by way of Appropriation to the Mosaical Oeconomy whereunto it was then annexed The command is to observe the Sabbath-day and the blessing is upon the Sabbath-day God blessed the Sabbath-day And the mention of the seventh day in the Body of the command fixeth the number of the Dayes in whose Revolution a Sabbatical Rest returns but determines not an everlasting Order in them seeing the Order relating to the Old Creation is inconsistent with the Law Reason and Worship of the New And if the seventh day and the Sabbath as some pretend are the same the sense of the command in the enforcing part of it is but the seventh day is the seventh day of the Lord thy God which is none at all 2 The state of the Church and the Administration of the Covenant whereunto the observation of this day was annexed are removed so that it cannot continue no more than an House can stand without a Foundation 3 The Lord Christ who was the Lord of the Sabbath and by assuming that Iitle to himself manifested his Authority as to the disposal of the Day whereon a Sabbatical Rest was to be observed hath in his own Rest from his works limited unto us another day of Sacred Rest called from his appointment of it the Lords-day his Day who is the Lord of the Sabbath 4 The Day so introduced by his Authority hath from the Day of his Rest been observed without interruption or any such difference about it as fell out among the Churches of God about other Feast dayes whose observation was introduced among them they knew not well how as of the Pascha and the like And whereas the due observation of it hath been enjoyned by Councils Edicts of Emperors Kings and Princes Laws of all sorts advised and pressed by the antient Writers amongst Christians and the practice of its observance taken notice of by all who from the beginning have committed the Affairs of Christianity unto posterity yet none of any sort pretend to give it any original but all mediately or immediately referr it unto Christ himself The observation then of this Day First is an evident Judaizing and a returnal unto those Rudiments of the World which the Apostle so severely cautioneth us against I know not how it is come to pass but so it is faln out that the nearer Judaism is unto an absolute Abolition and Disappearance the more some seem inclinable to its revival and continuance or at least to fall back themselves into its antiquated observances An end it had put to it morally and legally long ago in the coming Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we may say of it what the Apostle said of Idols when the World was full of Idolatry we know that Judaism is nothing in the world no such thing as by some it is esteemed The actual Abolition of it in the profession of the present Jews by the removing of the Veyle from their Hearts and Eyes and their turning unto God we hope is in its approach And yet as was said there seems in many an inclination unto their Rites and servile observances It is apparent in the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles especially that to the Hebrews that at the first preaching of the Gospel there were very many Jews who came over to the faith and profession of it Many of these continued zealous of the Law and would bring along with them all their Mosaical Institutions which they thought were to abide in force for ever In this weakness and mis-apprehension they were forborn in the patience of God and wisdome of the Holy Ghost guiding the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ. In this state things continued unto the destruction of Hierusalem and the Temple when the chiefest cause of their contests was taken away In the mean time they carried themselves very variously according to the various tempers of their minds For it is apparent that some of them were not content themselves to be indulged in their opinions and practices but they endeavoured by all means to impose the observance of the whole Mosaical Law on the Churches of the Gentiles Their Circumcision their Sabbaths their Feasts and Fasts their Abstinences from this or that kind of meats they were contending about and thereby perverting the minds of the Disciples Some stop was put to the evil consequences hereof in the Synod at Hierusalem Acts 15. which yet determined nothing concerning the Jews own practice but only concerning the liberty of the Gentile-Believers After the destruction of Hierusalem City and Temple these professing Jews fell into several distinct wayes Some of them who as is probable had despised the heavenly warning of leaving the place took up their lot amongst their unbelieving Brethren relinquishing the profession of the Gospel which they had made not it may be with any express renuntiation of Christ but with a dis-regard of the Gospel which brought them not those good things they looked for of which mind Josephus the Historian seems to be one These in time became a part of that Apostate brood which have since continued in their enmity to the Gospel and into whose new and old superstitions they introduced sundry customes which they had learned among the Christians Some absolutely relinquished their old Judaism and compleatly incorporated with the new Gentile Churches unto whom the promise and Covenant of Abraham was transferred and made over These were the genuine Disciples of our great Apostle Others continued their profession of the Gospel but yet still thought themselves obliged unto the observation of the Law of Moses and all its institutions Hereupon they continued in a distinct and separate state from the Believers and Churches of the Gentiles and that for some Ages as some say to the dayes of Adrian These it may be were they whom Eusebius out