affirm with them sayes the Objector That this was the Sabbath Lev. 23. So that to make good his cross conceits he would have Christ Crucifyed two dayes together namely on the Passeover Sabbath and the morrow after it that is Friday and Saturday which exceeds the cruelty of the crucifying Priests themselves Secondly To salve this sore the coyns another conceit namely that the Passeover-day and the Passeover-Sabbath were all one Pag. 83.84 For thus he argues in his first book The Israelites were appointed to bring on the morrow after their Passeover-Sabbath a Sheaf of their First-fruits to be waved by the Priests before the Lord and from that day to count seven weeks And here let the believer who sees all Types ended in Christ with confidence behold his dying Redeemer as the undoubted Sheaf of First-fruits waved upon the Cross by the Crucifying Priests the very morrow after he had eaten the Passeover As if the morrow after the Passeover-Sabbath were all one with the morrow after the Passeover Whereas the Learned Authors whom he cites will tell him That the Passeover-day was no Sabbath but a half-holiday Ainsw Lev. 23.5 But here again he is at odds with himself for in his last book he boasts of his concurrence with the most Learned of this Age saying I affirm with them That the Sabbath Lev. 23. is not the weekly Sabbath but the first day of the Passeover-feast that is the fifteenth day as they affirm therefore it could not be the fourteenth day And if he wikll contradict himself who can help it Thirdly Another gross Error is this That he makes Christ the Anti-type of the First-fruits in reference to his Death and quotes 1 Cor. 15.23 to prove it which speaks expressely of his Resurrection What shameful abuse of Scripture is this The morrow after the Sabbath on which the account began Object 2 is known by three things First by the Sickles entring into the Corn Deut. 16 9. Secondly by the waving of the First-fruits Lev. 23.11 Thirdly by offering the same day a Lamb without Spot Lev. 23.12 Now all these were punctually fulfilled in Christ on the day caleld Good Friday Then the Sickle was put to him to cut him down then he was Waved on the Cros then this Lamb without spot was offered from which day the holy Sabbath is the first of the account and at the end of seven full weeks the same day that began did end the account All this may be answered in a word The Type and the time to use his own language hold no proportion For the Sickle must be put to the Corn the First-fruits Waved and the Lamb offered the morrow after the Sabbath Lev. 23.10.12 Whereas Christ suffered and dyed the day before the Sabbath and not upon that day which he counts the morrow after the passeover-Sabbath for then he must have been Crucifyed upon the Saturday but upon that which he calls the Passeover-Sabbath it self namely the fifteenth day of the Moneth And here let him see how he hath lost his Cause and his Credit too For I hope he will stand to the judgment of Mr. Ainsworth and the English Annotators else why does he cite them now they both affirm That the Passeover Sabbath must be the fifteenth of Nisan and the morrow after it from which they began to reckon must needs be the sixteenth day From which they reckoned Exclusively from the night of the sixteenth day sayes Mr. Ainsworth Law 23.15 Now Christ suffered upon the Friday which was the fifteenth day and the supposed Passeover-Sabbath The next day being the Sabbath was the sixteenth of Nisan from which day namely when the day was ended they must begin to reckon the fifty dayes to Pentecost and so it falls pat upon the first day of the week and thus T. T. reckons in his first book excluding the morrow after the Passeover-Sabbath from being one of the fifty dayes And so against his will he must be forced to begin upon the first day of the week and that day that begins the account must needs end it and so his confidence is utterly dismounted Indeed in his last book he begins to reckon the sixteenth day Inclusively but in the very next page he contradicts himself again leaving out the morrow after the Passeover-Sabbath as none of the number a just jugment of God to make men fight with themselves when they would fight against his Truth The Waving of the First-fruits Answ and putting the Sickle into the Corn are Erroneously and falsely applied to the death of Christ they do both more properly relate to his Resurrection The Resurrection of the Just at the last day is resembled to reaping Matth. 13.39 The Harvest is the end of the world and the Reapers are the Angels Now Christ by virtue of his Resurrection was the First-fruits of that harvest The First-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. The waving of the First-fruits under the Law did Typifie Christs rising from the dead and presenting himself alive before God upon the day of his Resurrection Again the offering of the Lamb without Blemish Lev. 23.12 makes not that day a Type of our Saviours dying day for it was their daily offering and upon the last of the fifty dayes they were to offer seven Lambs without blemish Levit. 23.20 Yet Christ dyed but once and by that one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb 9.28 ch 10 14. But Mr. Jemison has prevented me in this Argument and to give him his due he has done worthily in it as to the substance of what he hath written To conclude after all attempts to the contrary the glory of the Spirit 's Mission rests upon the First day of the week This day the Church of Christ was visited from on high the promise of the Father was sent Acts 1.4 The blessed Spirit came the Disciples were assembled Peter preached thousands converted and Baptized Acts 2. and all this is written for our instruction Why the Church assembled as Mr. Sprint argues why on that day Why the holy Ghost Why Preaching Why Conversion and administration of Sacraments Why the Promise of Christ accomplished all on this day but still to declare the will and Ordinance of Christ in blessing and sanctifying this day to his Church and so marking it out for a day of publick solemn worship as a day in all its Prerogatives superlative above other dayes the day of our Saviours Resurrection by which we are Justified the day of the holy Spirits Descension by whom we are Sanctified Fifthly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Andr. Caesar Another signal mark is the inscription of his royal name upon it whose day it is Rev. 1.10 t is stiled the Lords day Surely 't is some additionall honour to this illustrious day that as it was the first day of time mentioned the beginning of the first book of the Bible so it is the last day of same noted in the beginning of
in the notation of it for John 20.1 having spoken of the first day of the week verse 19. he reduplicates it most emphatically saying the same day then in the evening that day being the first day of the week as if he would be loth to be mistaken in that point of time and though for the present the Apostles might be ignorant of their own practise what it tended to as Mary was when she poured the box of ointment on our Saviours head that she did it for his burying yet afterwards by Christs second apparition that day seven-night they were better instructed witness their after-assembling on that day Acts 2. and Acts 20. to conclude this why our blessed Saviour should neglect the Jewes Sabbath and afford his-glorious presence in Christian assemblies on the first day of the week thus often and thus eminently but to establish the day for sacred assemblies and to teach us on what day especially we may expect his presence and blessing I confess I am to seek And although this mark may seem obscure to persons possest with prejudice yet the objectors attempts to deface it are utterly invalid he ha's indeed trampled upon it with the Prelates old shoes for his objections are the very same which the Prelatical party so much defied by himself urged long ago but he cannot tread out the divine impression which Christ ha's stampt upon it The apparitions of Christ on this day do further tend to mark out the day especially in a joynt consideration with the next scripture-mark viz. 3. The gracious speeches actions and transactions of Christ at his several appearings tending partly to prove his Resurrection the ground of our hope and the hinge of the day to this purpose we may observe how sweetly our gracious Redeemer condescended to his poor doubting staggering disciples manifesting himself even to all their senses to their hearing by his heavenly voice to their seeing by his visible presence yea to their feeling by offering his sacred body to be touched and handled by them and partly to dignify his Resurrection-day distinguishing it from all other dayes by Sabbath-exercises As 1. By his heavenly instructions opening the Scriptures Luke 24.46 and preaching peace to his disciples and to us as well as them having slain the enmity by his Cross Eph. 2.16 17. he came and preached peace and this day he came with his Olive branch in his mouth saying peace be unto you 2. By giving forth commissions to his Apostles John 20 19. As my father hath sent me so send I you whose sins ye remit they are remitted c. And then breathing upon them the Holy Ghost 3. By convincing demonstrations of his Resurrection to strengthen the faith of Thomas John 20.26 to which some add 4. His celebration of the sacred supper according to that promise I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine Mark 14.25 untill that day I drink it new in the kingdom of God That is after I rise from the dead which therefore t is like that then he did Yea then he brake bread and was known of the disciples in breaking of bread as he sate with them Luke 24.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not at meat as we read it the word only implyes his gesture of siting However his first and second apparition together with the forementioned great transactions of instructing inspiring blessing sending his Apostles on this day and performing most of these at their solemn meetings do argue more for this day than any other that it is the day which Christ ha's selected and sealed for the religious assemblies and Sabbath-exercises of his Church in all future ages to the end of the world But I must contract 4 Another indeleble mark of honour fix'd upon the first day of the week is The mission of the Holy Ghost or sending the promise of the father as a princely largess or royal gift of Christ upon his Coronation-day Luke 24.40 John 15.26 Acts 1.4 ch 2. 33. such a gift as was never given before but when God gave his Son Jesus Christ God so loved the world that he gave his son and Christ so loved the world that he gave his spirit And as Christ was given according to the fulness of the promise upon the day of his Resurrection so was the blessed spirit of promise upon the day of Pentecost And the same wonderful providence that ordered the Resurrection of Christ to fall upon the first day of the week did also take order for the sending of the spirit on the same day For that the day of Pentecost Acts 2.1 was the first day of the week as it is generally taken for granted by Christian writers so it may be evidently proved by the Scriptures I shall not puzle the Reader with perplexing intricacies nor lead men into labyrinths to find out the truth Let plain Scripture determin the matter look to the statute-lawes of Moses concerning the feast of Pentecost Exod. 34.21 22. Six dayes shalt thou work but on the seventh day thou shalt rest both in earing-time and in barvest and thou shalt observe the feast of weekes of the first-fruits of Wheat-harvest Levit. 23.10 11 12 15 16. When ye be come into the land which I give you and shall reap the harvest thereof then ye shall bring a sheaf of your first-fruits of your harvest unto the Priest and he shall wave it together with the offering of a lamb without blemish on the morrow after the Sabbath he shall wave it and ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath from the day that yee brought the sheaf seven Sabbaths shall be complete even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath ye shall number fifty dayes So Numb 28.26 and more fully Deut. 16.9 Seven weekes shalt thou number unto thee begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the Corn. From the harmony of which four texts it appeares that this feast had three significant names which were all made good at that solemn Pentecost Acts. 2. 1. Deut. 16.10 It was called the feast of weekes or of sevens because from the waving of the sheaf thehy reckoned as many weekes to this feast as there be dayes in the week namely seven weekes Which evidently shadowed out some weekly Festival under the Gospel the day whereof was denoted by that dya of Pentecost Acts 2. 2. Exod. 23.16 Levit. 23.10 It was called the feast of first-fruits and of harvest because as they began their harvest upon the first of the fifty dayes when they offered the sheaf of first-fruits so they had ended it upon the fiftieth day which was properly the Feast-day upon which they offered the wave-loaves and indeed these fiftie dayes or seven weekes Levit. 23.17 were the appointed weekes of their harvest by the offering of the sheaf at the beginning of their harvest there after fruits were sanctified and the
correspondent to the change of the Covenant it self and accordingly such a change of the Sabbath I do here assert not in respect of the substance or duty holy rest but the circumstance of time the day upon which that duty was formerly fixed and stated And that such a change of the Covenant there is and such a change of the Sabbath by one and the same Christ i Hebr. 12.24 mediator of the Covenant and k Mark 2.28 Lord of the Sabbath and both these occasioned by the exhibition of a new and a better Covenant upon his glorious resurrection from the dead we come now to demonstrate To this purpose we shall reflect upon the old Covenant in a threefold Covenant-expressue of it and shew what a visible change Christ has made in it and how inseparably the change of the Sabbath is interwoven with it 1. In the mandatory part of it I mean the Decalogue or law of the ten Commandments that this was a l Jep 31.31.32 Deut. 5.2 ch 29.1 1 Kings 8 9.21 2 Chron. 6.11 Psalm 105.11 piece of the old Covenant promulgated upon Mount Sinai I suppose none will question And that even this has undergone not only mitigation but some kind of mutation by our glorious Gospel-law-giver none need to question only we must state it warily and soberly not affirming with the blundring Antinomians hand over head that the law of Moses is out-lawed and abrogated without any distinction This were to coyn a lye to confirm the truth of God for it is certain that those lively m Acts 7.38 Oracles n Ex. 20.1 propounded by God himself upon Mount Sinai and afterwards expounded by Moses and the Prophets in the Old Testament by o Mat. 5.21 to the end Christ and his p Rom. 7.12 14 ch 13.8 9 10. Ephes 6.1 2 3. James 2.8 9 10 12. 1 John 2.9 10 Apostles in the New are still in force under the Gospel not onely as declarative of the law of nature but as positively preceptive also in the matter and substance of them yea as perpetually directive as a rule of life and obedience both in respect of duties to be performed and sins to be avoided As to have the only true God and no other to be our God to worship this only true God with his own prescribed worship and no other to use his holy name most reverently and religiously to sanctifie his holy Sabbath to honour Father and Mother to avoid Idolatry Blasphemy Murder Adultery Theft c. These are as much duties and sins under the Gospel as ever they were under the Law and in this sense the Moral law is q Rom. 3.31 1 Cor. 9.21 established by Christ and r Mat 5.17 18. Christus finisest legis Rom. 10.4 sed finis persiciens non intersiciens August in John tract 55. Tom. 9. ratified even to a tittle You will ask me then wherein les the change I answer not in the substance but in some circumstantials peculiar to those times and appropriate to that people the Church of the Jewes for as I hinted before almost all Scripture had some circumstantial peculiarity and propriety to those times and that people to whom it was immediately given and so had the Decalogue 'T is true in the substance and morality of it it was equally calculated both for Jewes and Christians yet some particulars in it in regard of circumstance either direct or indirect were proper to the Jewes onely as the preface to the first Commandment I am the Lord which brought thee out of the land of Egypt which in the letter of it concerns not us for literally and properly we were never in Egypt not in bondage there so also the promise annexed to the fifth commandment which in the particularity of it belonged to the Jewes only pointing at the land of Canaan The like may be said for the positive part of the second Commandment touching Gods worship as then by ceremonial observances as also the positive part of the fourth Commandment which occasionally and indirectly prescribed the celebration of the Jews seventh day and that with this additional circumstance within thy gates all these were adjuncts of the old Covenant and appropriate to the Jews Now the new Covenant taking in ſ Isai 2.3 See Mr. Roberts on the Covenant and Mr. Abbot against Broad Gentiles as well as Jewes must necessarily vary these circumstantials in the moral law by construing them in a new Covenant-sense to accommodate it to these new confederates as thus by changing their temporal deliverance from Egypts thraldom into out spiritual deliverance from the thraldom of sin and Satan the land of Canaan into any other part of the earth where the heirs of the promise shall dwell their legal worship into our Gospel-worship their gates into our jurisdictions in a word their seventh day into our seventh day which analogically at least is as much intended by seventh day in the fourth Commandment as England by Canaan in the fifth Commandment If it be demanded when and by whom this change was introduced I answer by the blessed Mediator of the new Covenant and that immediately upon his resurrection from the dead for then he was given both for a t Isal 42.6 light and a Covenant to the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mas. 28 19 20. Mark 16.15 Luke 24.47 John 20.23 then was the Churches Charter formerly confined among the Jews graciously extended to the Gentiles then it was that our Lord was pleased to issue forth that high commission as one calls it for the discipling of all the Gentiles by Baptisme and so bringing them into Covenant requiring his Apostles to tender the whole Covenant to them both in the promises and the precepts of it and the fore as the Prophet Jonah shortly after his resurrection went to Nineveh so Jesus Christ after his to Galilee where according to fore-appointment he gave his disciples a solemn meeting and laid a solemn charge upon them to teach the Gentiles to observe whatsoever he had commanded them Now if the precept of the Sabbath were included among the rest of those commands as 't is like it was it must be in such a sense as would comport with their new Covenant-state which must needs exclude the old seventh day since that was a branch of the old Covenant peculiar to the Jews and urged upon them by such a reason or inforcement as in the letter of it concerned not the Gentiles at all viz. their deliverance out of Egypt Deut. 5.15 Mystically indeed it concerned us as well as them as implying out Redemption by Christ but in that sense it quite carries away the Sabbath from their old seventh day in as much as the accomplishment of our Redemption fell upon the first day of the week viz. by the glorious resurrection of our Saviour but for which we had remained still in the Egypt of our u 1 Cor. 15.17 sins as the Apostle witnesseth
this last book of the Bible to the praise of him who is our Alpha and Omega the very name speaks Christ the Author of it if not his Resurrection whereby he was declared both Lord and Christ the occasion of it The antients had it in singular esteem for the very name sake 't is an elegant and pious poem which I find written upon it by Sedlius an antient Christian Poet who was but a few years * Vid. Sixti Senesis Biblioth sanct p. 308. Jerome's Junior Caeperat intereà post tristia Sabbata felix Irradiare dies Libr. 5. Carm. Culmen qui nominis alti A domino dominante trahit primusque videri Promeruit nasci mundum atque resurgere Christum In English thus After sad Sabbaths th' happy day'gan dawn Whose lofty name from Lord of Lords is drawn A blessed day that first was grac'd to see Christs Rising and the worlds Nativity But we have more antient Records than this appropriating the title of Lords day to our Christian Sabbath Omnes ferè sacrae Scripturae interp etes tam veteres quam Recentiores de primo dïe hebdomadis intelligunt Wallaeus dissert de 4. prae cap. 6. p 150. Ignatius who lived in St. Johns time makes it a weekly holy day of the Christians observed in the room of the Jewes Sabbath So Tertullian Atharasius Hierom Austin who not By this title we may trace it down from the Apostles times through the Ocean of the Fathers Councills Schoolmen to this present age wherein we live And to come to Scripture there seemes to be much in that which Beza observes out of an antient Greek manu-script wherein that first day of the week 1 Cor. 16.2 is expresly called the Lords day and the Syriack translation tells us * Institut Theol loc 48. de cana Dom. that the Christians meeting together to receive the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.20 was upon the Lords day And Bucanus saith this Sacrament is called the Lords Supper as in respect of the institutor and the end of it I had rather interpret the Lords day by the Lords Supper than as Bucan does the Lords Supper by the Lords day so also in respect of the day on which it was wont to be administ viz. The Lords day citeing that Text Acts 20.7 and hence also the antients stiled it Dies panis the day of bread because the Churches of Christ ever used to break bread on this day But to end all disputes if Scripture may be safely interpreted by Scripture and dark places by plain ones then let us expound the Lords day Rev. 1.10 by the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.20 Here let the reader take notice that the blessed Spirit of God who had his choice of words and never spake any thing but upon admirable reason never vouchsafed this title of honour in the new Testament but only to the Supper and the day the Lords Supper and the Lords day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 1.10 Neither can any third Text be produced where this Epithet is applyed to any thing else Now the phrase being the same and thus singular the sense must needs be the same Look therefore in what notion the Supper is the Lords Supper in the same sense is the day stiled the Lords day The supper is the Lords because the Lord Christ instituted it yea and substituted it in the room of the Passeover and why not the day His * So Mr. Perkins in his cases of conscience because he instituted and substituted it in the room of the old Sabbath T is evidently a day of Christs institution a day of the Lords own making and with reference to his Resurrection he made it such a day of the week not such a day of the year as we proved before in a word let any other day be set up in constitution with the first day of the week for the title of Lords day and we shall easily non-suit it Our Saviours birth-day bids fair for it Obj. 1 T.T. Answ Then it must be a day of divine institution which I hope he will not say But I answer further if the day of Christs nativity or any other day besides the first day of the week had been devoted to Christ and intended by John in this place he had spoken very obscurely to say I was in the spirit on the Lords day he would rather have said I was in the spirit on one of the Lords dayes Annot. ad loc But to put this fancy to flight observe the day here dignified with this magnificet title must needs be some noted day the circumstances of time place and person are set down as Beza observes the better to conciliate credit to the truth of these heavenly visions therefore all but that of the place have an eminent badge of cognizance upon them John was a known person and the Lords day with an emphatical Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a well-known day doubtless he that relates to others such a thing done such a day presupposes the day sufficiently and certainly known for a doubtfull circumstance darkens a story and drawes a curtain in stead of opening a casement to give light to the matter now let us put it to the question what day was more eminently and unquestionably known in all the Churches of Christ than the first day of the week Which the Secretaries of Christ all the four Evangelists had so exactly noted and the Psalmist so prophetically extolled as a day of the Lords making St. John could not but know that these seven Churches knew the first day of the week to be Christs Resurrection-day and neither he nor they could be ignorant that Christs Resurrection-day was the day which the Lord had made and what 's that but the Lords day As for our Saviours Birth-day although it were a day of wonderful mercy yet it is left in great obscurity not one of the Evangelists marking it out by name neither can it be so clearly resolved either what day of the * Unless the adversary will grant Mr. A. that it was the first day of the week week or what day of the month or what month of the year nor hardly what year of the world our Saviour was born in but it may be matter of controversie See divers disputes about it in Dr. Willets Hexapl. on Dan. chapter 11. If John intends any single day t is most likely to be the seventh day which was antiently stiled the Lords holy day Obj. 2 Isai 57.6 and is declared by Christ to be his day Mark 2. last and no other day throughout the Gospel does he declare to be his This he and Mr. Braburn in contradiction to the whole Christian world would fain perswade us that the Lords day which St. John speaks was the old Sabbath But He may as well say that the Lords Supper which St. Paul speakes of was the old Passeover Ans
with titles of preheminence To perfect this Catalogue Let us take in the Testimony of that renowned Austin yea his judgement too Augustine 12. 't is worth the while to take a view of each his testimony touching the Lords day is plain d Vos in dic quem dicunt Solis solem colitis ficut autem nos cundem diom Dominicum dicimus in eo quòd non solem sed Resurrectionem Domini veneramur Contra Faust Manich. lib. 18. cap. 5. You saith he speaking to the Manichees on the day called Sunday worship the Sun but we call the same day the Lords day because therein we honour not the Sun but the Lords Resurrection and how sound his judgement was in the Doctrine of the Christian Sabbath appears by that which he speaks of the divine Authority of it he assigns this as the reason why it is called the Lords day c Per Christum Factus est Dies Dominicus Ep. 86. because as it is in the Psalm the Lord hath made it and it was made the Lords day by Christ Jesus the Lord And that upon the occasion of his Resurrection as he telleth us twice over f Dies Dominicus Christi Resurrectione sacratus est De Cir. Dei Ep. 119. ad Januar The Lords day was consecrated saies he by the Lords Resurrection and concerning the Jews Sabbath he is as plain and peremptory quisque illus diem observat tanquam litera sonat carnaliter sapit who ever keeps that day as the letter soundeth he savoureth of the flesh And again Christs doctrine is the same with Moses's concerning the Sabbath but the time or day is different It were easie if it were not needless to add any more here is a complete Jury already yet let it not be thought superfluous if one Witness more be called in Eusebius by name Eusebius 13. whose Testimony concerning the universal observation of the Lords day all the Christian world over is worthy to be filed We have it towards the end of his Oration of the praises of Constantine where magnifying Christ above all the gods and grandees of the Heathens he speaks thus g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who of all the gods or Heroes of the Gentiles hath prescribed to all the Inhabitants of the world by sea and land that coming together into one place every week they should celebrate as Festival the Lords day and appointed that as they feed their bodies with food so they should refresh their soules with divine instruction Thus he testifies the Observation of the Lords day all the world over and that by theh appointment of Christ But does he not also tell us of some as the Ebionites who had a religious esteem of the Saturday-Sabbath still and accordingly kept both days Yes but he writes them down in the black Book among the Hereticks of that age and so does Epiphanius too Haeres 30. Let us a little attend Eusebius in his Historical description of these Hereticks he observes that their name was given them from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies poor Lib 3. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the poverty of their understandings h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the men being very silly and their Heresie very senceless for they did saith he entertain very mean and poor thoughts and opinions of Christ holding that he was but a meer i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a common man Observe it well The high opinion they had of the Saturday-Sabbath was founded upon a low opinion of Jesus Christ I wish the new Ebionites of this age do not still build upon the same foundation Could men but see the Godhead and glory of Christ through the veil of his flesh me thinks the change of the Sabbath should be no such paradox to them especially to such as have felt his divine power in the change of their hearts But to close all let us briefly examine the opposite authorities produced in favour of this Ebionitish errour The first is Clemens Romanus or he that writ the constitutions called Apostolicall who is thus presented in great pomp by our Antagonist That blessed Clement saies he whose name is written in the book of life that elect vessel speaks thus Let us keep holy the Sabbath in memory of the Creation and the Lords day in memory of Christs Resurrection lib. 7. c. 24. Answ 1 The Author of those Constitutions was not that blessed Clement mentioned by Paul but some bastard Clement of a later extraction as our learned Dr. Fulk tells the Remish Annotators 'T is true the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians is generally repoted the Legitimate issue of that elect vessel But let not this Author be angry if I let the reader see his Legal-demain in ascribing the book of Constitutions to the same Clement which none but Papists do our * Vide Chmenis de lectione patrum Perkins to Demont Praep. of the ptobl Protestant writers I am sure are of another mind 'T is a pitifull forlorn cause that flies so often for sanctuary to the Bulwarks of Popery But If he will needs build upon the authority of these constitutions let him take what followes in the same book Answ 2 Hebdomas una est insignis annus septimus mensis septimus Sabbatum c. iis omnibus praestat Dies Dominious Const lib. 7 c. 36. and much good may it do him Por ch 36. this elect vessel as he calls him prefers the Lords day before the Jewes Sabbath and all other Jewish Festivities whatsoever and herein he concurred with the rest of the antients whereas his Doctrine about the seventh day was but one Doctors opinion The next Testimony objected against us is that of Eusebius who reports a decree of Constantine the Emperour to establish the Lords day as the great holy-day Obj. 2 which the objector calls a presumptuous decree Year Anti-Christ prevailed with Constamine as he would make silly people beleive to change the Sabbath time into the first day Page 113. The Lord rebuke thee thou false tongue Answ That the day was changed by a greater than Constantine even Christ himself and his holy Apostles we have I think made good by Scripture-Argument and that this change was visible in the Church's practice long before Constuntine was born we have manifestly proved by the testimony of the most antient Fathers and eminent Martyrs What if the renowned Emperour Constantine made a decree to establish the Lords day Was he therefore the Author of the day or of the change Sozomen tells us that this Christian Emperour as a tender Nursing Father to the Church of Christ did also by a publick Edict establish the Christian religion in all his dominions Sozomen ib. 1. ch 7. But will any man in his right wits draw such a crack-braind Conclusion from hence viz. That therefore Constantine was the Author of the Christian Religion Understand presumptuous
man that as the Christian religion was professed so the Christian Sabbath was practised when there was no Christian Magistrate in the world and that all the Christian world over long before Constantines time Which one would think were enough to put to silence lying lips O Obj. 3 but Merator and Dr. Hen in tell us that in the Aethiopick Churches both dayes are still observed True Answ but they tell us also Dr. Heylin I am sure does that both dayes are observed as Sabbaths and accordingly called For they call the Saturday the Jewes Sabbath and the Lords day the Christian Sabbath so that what ever their practice be 'T is none of their pinciples that the Saturday-Sabbath is the Christian Sabbath And as for their practice 't is little to be regarded considering their corruption For together with the Saturday-Sabbath they observe * Mr. Breerwoods inquiries circumcision too on the eighth day with many other Jewish and Anti-Christian customes Blessed be God for that better light which shines in the Churches of Europe The testimonies taken out of Socrates do only prove that in his time namely 400 years after Christ some Churches did meet together and break bread on the old Sabbath Which we deny not only we say that the Lords day had stil the preheminence and that in four things as learned Dr. Young ha's observed 1. That the Saturday-Sabbath was never the day of solemn assemblies in all Churches for the constom of holding assemblies on that day never obtained in the Churches of Rome and Alexandria as Sozomon testifies lib. 7. c. 19. Whereas all Churches had their Church-meetings on the Lords day not one excepted 2. The Saturday or old Sabbath was never kept as a solemn Festival for in many Churches it was a weekly Fasting-day and once a year in all Churches namely Easter-Eve Constit lib. 7. c. 24. and lib. 5. c. 15. being the day of Christs greatest abasement while he lay in the grave and under the sorrowes of death whereas every Lords day throughout the year was held a solemn Festival Constit lib. 7. c. 31. 3. All Ordinances were never administred with that uniformity on the old Sabbath as on the Lords day August ep 118. Socrates lib 5. c. 22. as the Ordinance of the Lords Supper which in the purest Churches was appropriate to the Lords day which was therefore called the day of bread as we noted before Athan. Apol. 2. Hence that memorable passage of Athanasius who being accused for Breaking a Communion-cup clears himself thus That time instanced by his accusers was no Communion-time for it was not the Lords day 4. Their conventions on the old Sabbath were ever arbitrary not urged as of necessity unless by Ebion and his followers who were therefore condemned as Hereticks But the observation of the Lords day was ever held a Christian duty and never were any stigmatized with that black brand of Heresie for observing of it nay it was the badge of Christianity I am a Christian I dare not intermit it to all these I may add 5. The old Sabbath was never the Christian Sabbath or day of rest but a working-day So in Ignatius's time Anno 314. he counselled Christians to work upon it and the Council of Laodicea made a decree to this purpose That Christians ought not to Judaize and to rest from work on the Sabbath-day but to prefer the Lords day before it and to rest thereon from labour In which words as Mr. Cawdrey well observes this Synod did but expound the sentence of of holy Ignatius I might instance also the Council at Eliberis Carthage Arragon Mascon Chalons and other both Fathers Councills and Christian Emperours but others have prevented me in this kind of Antiquity So much for the fourth Position POSITION V. That the Lords day or first day of the week commonly called Sunday is the Christian Sabbath or day of holy rest THis does naturally result from the premises For the day being changed and yet the law concerning the Sabbath continued and established the new day must needs be a day of rest as it rests on the authority and morality of the fourth Commandment and as it succeeds the old day in Sabbath-solemnity Yet it is not so much the name as the thing that I contend for For although I am fully convinced that as our spirituall exercises are called Sacrifices because they succeed in the place of the Jewes Sacrifices so and much more significantly may our Lords day be termed Sabbath because it * Succeeds I mean not in any ceremonious respect but in relation to the fourth Commandment succeeds in the place of the Jewes Sabbath yet I had rather insist upon the thing than the name because the one being proved the other cannot well be denyed No rational man will stick at nominal respect where there is a real right to it A name of rest will be easily granted due to a day of rest now that the Lords day is without dispute a day of rest appears thus Cum de re constat propier quam vorba dicuntur de verbis non debore contendi c. August cont Acad. l. 3. c. 13. First As it is the day of our Redeemers rest from his painful work of Redemption his rising from the dead was his resting from his work By his Resurrection this day he entred into his rest for hereby as was said before he entred into his glory which will further appear by comparing two texts together viz. John 7.39 with John 20.22 The first tells us That the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified therefore when the Spirit was given surely then Christ was glorified Now the other Text informs us That upon the day of Christs Resurrection the Spirit was given For he breathed on them and said Receive the Holy Ghost Now therefore undoubtedly the Lord of glory was crowned with glory not that he entred into the place of rest and glory upon the day of his Resurrection but into the state of rest and glory the place is but accidental to the state that which I modestly propounded to further inquiry page 128. Namely Whether Christ did not locally ascend into Heaven on the very day of his Resurrection has been since concluded and resolved in the Negative by a Reverend Brother from that Text of Scripture Hebr. 9 12. by his own blood he entred once into the Holy place Which seems to a gue strongly that our blessed High Priest entred once and but once into Heaven To which I do now freely subscribe Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo Secondly The Lords day is a day of Religious Assemblies for solemn weekly worship therefore also a day of religious rest from civil and secular imployments Since 't is impossible for men to meet together about solemn Worship and at the same time to follow their worldly occasions observed as Sabbaths as the Feast of unleavened bread * Deut.
16.8 On the seventh day shall be a solemn Assembly to the Lord thy God thou sahlt do not work therein And as the seventh or last so also the first day of that Feast was to be a day of rest because a day of Convocation On the first day shall be a holy convocation ye shall do no servile work therein saith the Lord. Numb 28.17 18. Now that first day of unleavened bread being a memorial of their Redemption from Egypt was typical of our Christian Sabbath as was noted before And besides there being a moral equity in Gods argument that a day of holy Worship and holy Convocations must be a day of rest it is as applicable to the Lords day as ever it was to any day for we have abundantly proved that this is a holy Convocation-day and 't is a good note that of Mr. Ainsworth on Deut. 16.8 That the Hebrew word Gnat-sereth which we translate solemn Assemblies does also signifie restraint from labour whereby the Holy Ghost would teach us that Holi days set apart for solemn assemblies must be days of holy rest and restraint from work Such is the Lords day to us Christians and no other day but that a day of solemn Assembly it is and has bin from the Apostles days till now yea a day of solemn Worship therfore a day of rest or Sabbath day yea a day of solemn weekly worship therefore the undoubted Sabbath of the fourth Commandment which is the standing rule for a day of weekly worship and but a day ordinarily for the Commandment numbers out six days in the week for worldly business As when a man makes two Wils the last does ipso facto make void the first although there be no express clause to signifie the repeal or revocation and one for religious exercises neither more nor lesse So that supposing there were no repeal of the last day of the week yet the first day being instituted by Divine Authority makes void the last and takes possession of its place by the warrant of the Divine Precept it self Again as the Ministry and the Sacraments appointed by Christ are used by virtue of the second Commandment so the day appointed by Christ must be observed by virtue of the fourth Commandment because this is the general scope both of the second and fourth Commandment that we must observe all the Institutions of God from time to time I might argue further from that prophetical speech of our Saviour Matth. 24.20 where he presignifies to his Disciples that there should be a Sabbath in force long after his death at such time as the old seventh-day-Sabbath was either quite out of doors or out of date at least therefore he spake of the Christian Sabbath which we are obliged both by Law and Gospel to observe The Ancients indeed do seldom apply the title of Sabbath to the Lords day yet sometimes they do They were but too jealous of Judaizing in this particular Orat. in Christi Resurrect Ex illo Sabbato praesens hoc Sabbatum agnosce c. Sic quâ— que ritè sanctificamus Sabbatum Domini Dicente Domino omne â—pus c. Tract de tempore 152. Gregory Nyssen is express for having spoken of the old Sabbath he presently adds from that Sabbath acknowledge thou this present Sabbath the Lords day this day of rest which God hath blessed above other days For in this the only begotten Son of God did truly rest from all his works So also Austin or he that writ the Book De tempore having pleaded the due celebration of the Lords day he concludes with respect to the fourth Commandment concerning the Sabbath so do we rightly sanctifie the Sabbath of the Lord as the Lord hath said In it thou shalt do no work Hence that Royal Edict of Charles the Great published in the year 789. We ordain says he according as it is commanded in the Law of God that no man do servile work on the Lords day To which may be added the decree of King Edgar expresly stiling the Lords day the Sabbath day Diem Sabbati ab ipsa Die Saturni hora pomeridiara tertia usque in Lunaris diei dilaculum festum agitari taking order that the Sabbath should be celebrated from Saturday three a clock in the afternoon till Munday morning at break of day and this was in the year of Christ 959. seven hundred years ago better Antiquity than any can be produced or so much as pretended against this appellation If it be objected That this was in times of Popery I answer That even since the Reformation the Lords day hath been frequently called by the name Sabbath Those precious but persecuted Saints To all these might be added the Church of England Can. 70. So Hom. of time and place of prayer the Waldenses in a Catechism of theirs teach their children to call it by this name And the holy Martyr Bp Hooper in his treatise on the ten Commandements uses the same Dialect some scores more might be reckoned if need were But leaving these Authors I return to the Objector who sets all his wits a work to prove the Lords day a working day most sinfully and shamefully abusing the Scriptures to this purpose I am loth to stain my Paper with his profane Sophisms yet lest his ignorant and erroneous Proselites should take them for unanswerable Arguments I shall briefly sum up all into one Objection and return several answers to it Object T.T. p. 14. of his Pamphlet In stead of that honour put upon the first day of the week First The Father wrought upon it Gen. 1. and therefore we should be his followers as dear children Ephes 5.1 Secondly The son travelled upon it Luke 24.13 15. And he hath given us an example that we should do as he hath done John 13.15 Thirdly The Saints cast their accounts upon it 1 Cor. 16.2 And so may we Thus he quotes Scripture to as good purpose as that Arch Sophister did Matth. 4 But we shall answer him soberly though he deserve it not Answ 1. That which was the Fathers working-day at the Worlds Creation was the Sons Rest day from the work of Redemption and we must not be sollowers of God in contradiction to Christ or oppose the works of God against the Word of God lest in stead of followers as dear children we be found fighters against him as desperate enemies the first day of the week was a common day when it was made at first Gen. 1. but since it is made again and made a solemn day a day of holy worship Psal 118.24 therefore no working day now but to such as have no God to worship or no hearts to worship him God the Father wrought upon the first day of the week yet Israel must not work on this day once a year at least Viz. on the day of unleavened bread as often as it fell on this day Numb 23.18 why because it was a day
of holy Convocation and so is every first day of the week to us which as some conceive the Holy Ghost foretold long since by the Prophet Ezekiel saying Ezek. 43.27 It shall be that upon the eight day and so forward the Priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar and your peace-offerings or thank offerings and I will accept you saith the Lord 't is a clear prophecy of Gospel-times if not the special time of Gospel-worship upon the eighth day i.e. the first day of the week Answ 2. Touching our Saviours travelling this day I have answered before That it was without labour such as is the motion of immortal and glorified bodies and therefore no President for us who dwell in these corruptible houses of clay And I add moreover That Christs walking with his Disciples that day was no more an impeachment to the holy rest of the first day than the Fathers working every day to the Sabbatical rest of the seventh day 'T is our Saviours own Argument in answer to a like objection My Father worketh hitherto and I work John 5.17 That I termed this journey to Emmaus a Sabbath-days journey was in reference to the discourse by the way not the length of the way To which upon second thoughts I add this further answer That 't is very uncertain whether Christ travelled all the way on foot to Emmaus and back again The Scripture is silent and therefore we may not speak The Objector indeed has it often up That Christ travelled fifteen miles on his Resurrection-day but he speaks without Book and can never prove it by Scripture for he might overtake the two Disciples near Emmaus and how he came there we read not neither can we tell how he conveyed himself back again to Jerusalem Guesses and conjectures are no arguments Answ 3. That the Saints cast their accounts on this day I utterly deny we have nothing but the bold and bare word of the Objector to prove it and let him not blame us if we look not upon him as such a Pythagoras that his Ipse dixit should carry it More might be added in pursuance and prosecution of this Thesis that the Lords day is the Christian Sabbath but Mr. Cawdrey Mr. Bernard Mr. Ley and sundry others have spared me this labour POSITION VI. That the Sabbath begins in the Morning THis Position hath been also handled and proved abundantly by others chiefly by Mr. Cawdrey and Mr. Pynchon whose Arguments I judge unanswerable 'T is to me an unquestionable conclusion That the Sabbath being a natural day consisting of 24 hours it must begin and end as the natural day it self does Now in Scripture-account the natural day begins and ends at or about midnight that it begins in the dark night is evident from that fore-mentioned place Mark 1.35 Where we read of our Saviours rising in the morning a great while before day or while it was deep in the night Hence also the evening of the natural day is reckoned from about noon or mid-day Matth. 14.13 When the evening was come the Disciples came to Christ The Scripture speaks of two evenings Exod. 30.8 Chap. 16.12 about sending away the multitude to seek their dinner in the Villages and that this was not the sun-set-evening is clear for after the multitude had dined and were dismissed we read of another evening v. 23. so that the former evening all circumstances considered must needs be about mid-day therefore it must have a morning answerable to it which must necessarily begin about mid-night when the a Jonah 4.7 morning-Sun begins to ascend as it does from mid-night till mid-day or b Prov. 4.18 perfect day and then it declines again and the c Jer. 6.4 shadows begin to be stretched out called the shadows of the evening till they fall into the darkness of the night which is deepest at mid-night Against those that begin the natural day and so the Sabbath at Sun-set evening we may object this which they can never answer That by their reckoning Christ must rise from the dead the second not the third day after his burial For 't is clear that he was not buried or inclosed in the heart of the earth till after the sun-set evening Matth. 27.57 Mark 15.42 For Joseph went not to Pilate to beg the body till the even was come namely the later evening which begins at Sun-set and after this there were many things to be done before the blessed body of Christ was laid in the Sepulchre As the (c) Mark 15.46 buying of fine linnen to wrap it in besides the imbalming or perfuming it with d John 19.40 spices and odours as the manner of the Jews was to bury This together with other Funeral rites took up some time so that it must needs be after Sun-set before this sad Funeral was finished Now if the Sabbath had begun with the Sun-set evening Christs Resurrection-day being the morrow after the Sabbath could be but the second day whereas it is a great Article of our faith grounded upon the e 1 Cor. 15.4 Scriptures That Christ rose from the dead the third day to fulfill the type of Jonas Further however the Jews in later times begun their Sabbath at evening as we grant they did superstitiously reckoning their preparation-time part of their Sabbath-time yet it is very considerable that the Holy Ghost keeps a contrary account stating the end of the Sabbath towards the dawning of the day following as Matth. 28.1 in the end of the Sabbath which dawned towards the first day of the week Now if the Sabbath ended at the dawning towards the next day then it must needs begin about the same time the day before and as the old Sabbath began and ended in Gods account so must the Lords day In a word how preposterous is it and incongruous both to Scripture and nature to begin the day at evening how ill does this agree with those Texts of Scripture that make the morning the first part of the day and evening the last The Angels we know are called f Job 38.7 morning stars not evening start because they were created in the beginning of the Creation and the days of the Gospel are called g Zech. 14.7 evening in the evening it shall be light because they are the last days according to the common Dialect of Scripture h Psal 5.3 Psal 143.8 Gen. 49.27 morning time is first evening last and evening never signifies early but late because it is the later part of the day But others have sufficiently cleared this truth already to add any more were but to light a candle to the Sun A word or two in answer to the Objections and we have done First Object 1 T. T. p. 56. We are told that Gen. 1. the day began at evening for the darkness went before the light and this darkness with the ensuing light saies the Objector made the first day and
stood by the Sepulchre and seen the Sun of righteousness covered with a cloud before shining forth most gloriously in the morning of the Resurrection-day how would this have raised and ravished thy heart How glad were the Disciples when they saw the Lord so glad that 't is said They beleeved not for joy O the day of Christs rising from the dead was a day of joy and gladness John 20.20 Luke 24.41 No day like this when our surety was released the Covenant and sure mercies of David confirmed hope revived heaven and eternal life assured In the midst of these thoughts who can but cry out with the Apostle O that I may know him and the power of his resurrection Phil. 3.10 That I may feel the working of that mighty power which God wrought in Christ Eph. 1.19 when he raised him from the dead O that the same * Rom. 1.4 and 6.4 5. spirit of holiness which quickned Christ from the dead this day and so made the day holy would also quicken my soul from the death of sin to the life of holiness that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so I also might walk in newness of life being planted into the likeness of his resurrection as also of his death Our hearts being thus tuned by meditation how should our tongues shew forth the praises of our precious Redeemer Let him have the praise and the glory of the whole work of our Redemption Awake my glory utter a song Sing that Psalm of John the Divine Vnto him that loved us Rev. 1.5 6. and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Thus give unto Christ the glory of his death yea the praise of his Resurrection say with Peter Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.3 4. who acording to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled reserved in heaven for us Surely God requires a thousand thousand Hallelujahs for this blessed work of our Redemption he calls upon all creatures to join with us in rejoycing upon this account Isai 44.23 Sing O ye Heavens for the Lord hath done it shout O ye lower parts of the earth break forth into singing ye mountains O forrest and every tree therein for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob Let us therefore devote our selves more solemnly to this Angelical service begin the day with prayer and end it with praise not only in publike but in private O that every house were in this respect a temple that the songs of the Temple might be heard in all our tabernacles on the Lords day that the streets might ring with our praises even the high praises of our Creator and Redeemer 'T is Scripture counsel That we should speak to our selves in Psalms Ephes 5 19. and Hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord and singing with grace in our hearts grace in the heart as one saies well is the best tune to every Psalm We must sing with the Spirit as well as pray with the spirit And therefore we should labour to be with S. John in the Spirit on the Lords day In a word Christian prudence should direct us to chuse out sutable Psalms for such a solemn day Psal 118. is very proper and pertinent The stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner this is the Lords doing and it is marvellons in our eyes This is the day which the Lord hath made we will be glad and rejoyce in it God is the Lord which hath shewed us light c. Thou art my God and I will praise thee Thou art my God I will exalt thee O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Thus much in brief concerning the prime duties of the day I shall conclude all with the words of that Prince of English Poets HERBERT O day most calm and bright The week were dark but for thy light The other days and thou Make up one man whose face thou art Knocking at heaven with thy brow The working days are the back-part The Sundays of mans life Thredded together on times string Make bracelets to adorn the wife Of the eternal glorious King Thou art the day of mirth And where the work-days trail on ground Thy Flight is higher as thy birth O let me take thee at thy bound Leaping with thee from seven to seven Till that we both being toss'd from earth Fly hand in hand to heaven FINIS Books sold by John Rothwel at the Fountain in Goldsmiths Row in Cheapside THe Use and Practise of Faith or Faiths Universal usefulness and quickning influence into every kind and degree of the Christian life Delivered in the Publike Lectures at Ipswich by the late eminent and Faithful Servant of his Lord Mr. Matthew Laurence Preacher to the said Town 4o. Festered Conscience new lanced The Good Masters Plea and the Evil Servants Cavil Orthodxal Navigation by Benjamin Hubbard The Saints Rest in an Evil day both in their dependance upon God and assistance from him Together with Bowels of Mercy interceding for the Saints in danger Or Sacred Sympathy unsealed by Alex. Pringle late Minister of the Gospel at Georges Southwark The Universal Character by which all Nations in the World may understand one another Conceptions reading out of one common Writing their own Mother-tongues an invention of general use the Practise whereof may be atteined in two hours space observing the Grammatical Directions which Character is so contrived that it may be spoken as well as written By Cave Beck M. A. The same Book is also Printed in French for the use of that Nation The Reign of Gustavus King of Sweden son of Ericus collected out of the Histories of those times and offered to the service of these A Sermon preached at the Funeral of Mr. Samuel Collins Minister of Braintree in Essex By Matthew Newcomen Minister of Dedham in the same County The Saints Delight in the Spring of Salvation Or Christ saving Delivered in a Sermon at Gregories by Pauls the day of their solemn Weekly Lecture there by Alex. Pringle late Pastor of Georges Southwark