their pretended reason is frivolous lest the Heathen should think mistaking the phrase that Aelohim did work upon the Seventh-day-Sabbath Whereas he had finished the whole and every part of his creating work upon the several six foregoing days of this one week of the created world Only he did that on the Seventh-day which was proper Sabbath-Work As the making of the Seventh-day the resting from other Functions upon it to institute and observe Sabbath-duties employments and priviledges the blessing of it the sanctifying of it together with his preserving of the Creatures which he had made on the six foregoing days and with his and his Fathers providential working to the upholding of them in their Being Those who do call the First day the Seventh day and the Seventh day the sixth day making the First day to be both the First and the Seventh day and so do alter the names of the number of all the rest do invert the Order of nature in the First Creation For although in consistent quantity such as Extension of parts one beyond another there is not one second third fourth and so on or not one first and another last put into the nature of that created Being because these are not really in the confistent Nature thereof it being consistent altogether and so the first part may be the last part or the last part the first part according to mens common notion and reckoning and appointing of it to be so the LORD not having instituted herein any such Order of Numbring where we are to begin and how to go on and where to end yet in quantity successive as in duration and in time this is of a different consideration both in the nature of the thing and in Aelohims institution For this is really such in existence truly subsisting whether we imagine it or not neither is it left in our power to our disposal to put them into any other Order than the creating Messaiah hath so far as doth respect his established times and his instituted Seasons There is one day a second day a third day a fourth day a fifth day a sixth day and a seventh day in the several successive natures and durations of every one of them Here is part after part by temporary succession in a most direct line and in its proper Partitions and terminating points by an unchangeable Law and well-setled-order of the standing Creation The Work of the six foregoing Days Aelohim did rest from leaving man an example to follow him herein on the Seventh-day-Sabbath The Seventh-day is to be remitted unto Workers who laboured in their several lawful Functions on every day of the week before and therefore Aelohim blessed this Seventh-day because he himself rested on it and sanctified it unto Adam the Sabbath was made for Adam for all mankind in him He hath made he doth he will make it a blessed day in its weekly returns unto the due diligent observers thereof in obedience to his Command in obsequiousness to his Will in Conformity to his Example in Faith on his Truth Power and Promise For this Day hath he severed unto his own service along That Expression For-tomake or to-do doth not so appear to belong unto he had created as to relate unto he will sabbatize or ceasingly rest The preceding Hebrew accent doth somewhat teach this which doth often distinguish so that it signifies that Adam and his posterity ought to do this to observe the Seventh-day-Sabbath as holy and consecrated to Jehovah Aelohim it is their bounden duty to do the same The like phrase we find elsewhere in the Hebrew to make or to do the Day of Sabbath or the Sabbath Which is to observe to keep or to celebrate it The expression is full noting that that Instituted-Seventh-day-Sabbath-work may not be left undone for that time or put off to any other season either before or after Having thus somewhat explained and applyed the Expressions concerning the Weekly-seventh-day-Sabbath in its primitive Creation and unchanged Institution I am now to make a little way for the giving the Reader a more particular distinct full Account according to the Scriptures of Truth why I do judge that the Seventh-day which is the last day in every week in the weekly Returns of it is alone that particular peculiar day in every Week which is the Weekly Sabbath-day to be kept Holy unto Jehovah Aelohim in obedience to his command as such that is to say as the alone weekly Sabbath-day If any man hereafter will engage by Writing or Printing in this Controversie against me whereby to endeavour to build up if he could his first day on the ruines of the Seventh-day-Sabbath let him take notice and remember that I mention my Judgment on this as in other cases Subject-matter to be according to the Scriptures of Truth and that I expect both he and I should submit our Judgment and Practise unto the Autoritative decisive Judgment of the Spirit of Christ in the word of Truth Those that do resolve such cases of Conscience about Duty or Sin into other Authorities do judge but according to appearance That judgment which is righteous judgment is such as is according to the Scriptures Words of Rightness O how powerful are they As for other arguing it hath not that Efficacy of convincing Pauls way of reasoning was out of the Scriptures and his Method of proving was from the Scriptures and Apollos took the same course to convince the erroneous They are the Scriptures that we are to search which those of Berea did daily even when a Paul was the Speaker to them which did evidence them to be a good kind of Christians and Believers These Holy Scriptures are the Scriptures of Truth The Word of Christ is the Word of Truth It is The Truth If any bring a Doctrine or a Reproof or a Correction or an Instruction they should have whatsoever things were written aforetime to be written for these the whole Scripture must be shewn to be profitable for these it was given for such an end That the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works We may not add unto the Word which Jehovah doth command us neither are we to diminish ought from it that we may keep his Commandments who is the God of his people which he doth command us These Holy Scriptures are they which are able to make us wise to Salvation Though eminent Apostles or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto us than we have received we should carry our selves towards him as towards one excommunicate If any let him be what he will though he have never so great a name for Learning and for Religion do teach otherwise and come not up to wholesom Words the Words of our LORD Jesus Christ these are nourishing healthy food other words not agreeing with these are empty Chass and to the Doctrine which is according to right Worship we
the week as the weekly-Sabbath-day but only against and upon such as observed not the seventh-day as such If it be thus then how nameless how Commandless how promiseless how threatless is the first day of the week as to this matter of the weekly-Sabbath-day Examine and search we the Scriptures in this case All the Scriptures through where the holy spirit speaks of a weekly-sabbath day the name and thing thereof that is of such a weekly-Sabbath-day is given only to the seventh which is the last day in the week in the weekly returns of it and to no other day of the week as a weekly-Sabbath-day On the seventh-day the seventh-day the seventh-day Aelohim Sabbatized he Sabbatized The seventh-day the seventh-day the seventh-day the seventh-day the rest of the Holy Sabbath a Sabbath the Sabbath the Sabbath the People rested on it The seventh day is the Sabbath in it thou shalt not do any work The seventh day is the Sabbath in it thou shalt not do any work In the seventh is the Sabbath of rest The seventh day a Sabbath of Rest The seventh day the Sabbath of rest Scores of times in the Scripture of the old testament the seventh day is called the Sabbath Several times also in the new Testament about threescore times The LORD Christ himself speaking Prophetically cals it the Sabbath-day Divers times in the Historie of the Acts of the Apostles after Christs Ascension to his Father Every Sabbath Paul reasoned in the Synagogue as his manner was No other day in the week is called the Sabbath-day This some of the most Learned amongst the adversaries of the seventh day having been convinced of and finding their labours fruitless in searching after the name Sabbath to be given to the first day of the week which is no where done they rather oppose the name Sabbath as not fit to be used now under the new-Testament-administration of Grace as applyed to the weekly seperated day for Holy rest and worship they reject it themselves that others too might the more abhor it by giving it an ill name miscalling it the Jewish-Sabbath So that these Enemies themselves being Judges they confess that all Churches do call the seventh day alone by the old name Sabbath It was the seventh this seventh day it is double-Articled on which God rested from all his works Consider further there is not all the Scriptures through any command given for the observation of any other day in the week asthe weekly-Sabbath-day but only the seventh which is the last day in the week in the weekly return of it At the first Creation of this seventh day It was instituted for Adam to do it and observe it as the weekly Sabbath day Thus before the Law was proclaimed how long refuse ye to keep my Commandements and my Laws Jehovah hath given you the Sabbath Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day for to gather Manna or to do any other servile work So the People rested on the seventh day Thus at the time of Promulgation Remember or to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Six daies shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God In it thou shalt not do any work It expresseth both a precept what to do and a prohibition what not to do Keep the Sabbath to sanctifie it as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee Six daies shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God In it thou shalt not do any work So express is this word of the Law-giver himself After the proclaiming of this Law six daies thou shalt do thy work and on the seventh day thou shalt rest Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep said Jehovah ye shall keep the Sabbath six daies shall work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest Six daies thou shalt work but on the seventh day thou shalt rest In Eating-time or Plough-time and in Harvest thou shalt rest during the seventh-day-Sabbath If any time had more colouraable plea for working than other the Ploughing-time and the Harvest-time were the seasons the one to prepare the Ground and to cast in the Seed the other to reap and gather in the Fruit and increase Tillage was necessary for Harvest Harvest was necessary for sustenance yet the holy rest of the Sabbath must not be broken for these The prohibition reached in the very letter of it against these times Again these are the words which Jehovah hath commanded that ye should do them six daies shall work be done but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day a Sabbath of rest to Jehovah If any handy-work were to be spoken for as an exception to this general rule Tabernacle-work was the work yet this Law of the seventh-day-Sabbath must not be transgressed for the carrying on of such work for the preparing finishing and erecting of the Tabernacle though it were the appointed place under that dispensation of Grace for the publick Instituted worship and service of God Ye shall keep my Sabbath again ye shall keep my Sabbath and a third time in Leviticus ye shall keep my Sabbaths the like we have in the Books of the Prophets carry not forth any burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work but ye shall hallow the Sabbath day according as I commanded your Fathers said Jehovah by Jeremiah to the People of God in his time much the same we have in Ezekiel bringing in the LORD thus bespeaking his People I Jehovah your God walk in my statutes observe my judgments and do them and Hallow my Sabbaths The same Prophetically in another place thus saith Adonai Jehovah the gate of the inner Court that looketh towards the East shall be shut the six working daies but on the Sabbath it shall be opened But the gate shall not be shut until the Evening The Prince shall offer the burnt Offering on the Sabbath-day Thus after the return from the Babylonish Captivity Zealous Nehemiah reproves the transgressors of this law and Command of the seventh day-Sabbath what Evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Sabbath-day I commanded and charged saith he This he did in pursuance of Jehovahs Express command and charge that no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day I said unto the Levites that they should cleanse themselves and come and keep the gates to sanctifie the Sabbath-day The same is mentioned in the New-Testament the holy Women had Rested on the Sabbath-day according to the Commandement They who were no friends to Christ could yet acknowledge this in the Principle for the matter of Right though they misjudged in a matter of Fact in point of practise and in a particular Case there are six daies in which men ought to work and not
several of the Ecclesiastical Historians have been examined by me upon this subject matter and I have some Collections by me about it enough to shew how little credit is to be given unto those kind of Authorities which are so fallible and sometimes so self-contradicting and so altogether unsatisfying when the matter of Right comes to be Inquired after and determined any further than they do speak the mind of Christ in his word For either in these Cases of Conscience they write and speak according to the word or not If they do let these Scriptures be particularly pointed to with which they accord If not they are not to be received or followed Yet in regard that my design is to bring all to the Scriptures of truth referring this and all else under Aelohim to their Judgment I shall therefore now debate the Principle with this objector So much of matters of fact as do relate to matters of right and as are necessary for us to believe in order unto Salvation is Recorded in the word of truth Whereunto the whole Scripture is profitable which is enough for us if no more were written by me concerning this particular question in hand For that Scripture referred to is proper and pertinent to this purpose about Christ and his Resurrection and his appearing to his Disciples and his Blessing of them and conference with them as is plain in the foregoing part of the same Chapter and other Scriptures collated and compared with this do evidently speak it But we have yet much more to say about this To assert the perfection of the Scriptures is one of the great truths of the present Age The forces of Earth and of Hell are now joyning together and putting forth their strength to assault and to attempt the overthrow of this useful Doctrine As it was in the daies of Christs Flesh when he was familiarly Conversant here on Earth the Roman Power the Grecian Wisdom the Jewish Traditions Ethnick Philosophers and Diabolical possessions all the humane and devilish Force and Art and invention was called together to War against Christ and against his word So in the latter daies the Worldly might Old and New Philosophy Institutions and Impositions Histories and Traditions Inventions and Authorities of men unwritten pretended necessary verities Generall Councils sayings of those whom they call Fathers Articles of Faith composed by men Confessions and practise of Protestant Reformed Churches the judgment and practice of Learned and Godly men these and such like Extra-scriptural places are the swaying Authority with many whereby Antichristianism and Antiscripturalism in a many of particulars are still held up and maintained against the LORD and against his word who in this Providential day is pouring contempt upon all Flesh upon men and upon their sayings bringing a Blast upon them so far as they are contrary to sound Doctrine and do oppose the mind of Christs Revealed in the written word and is putting a Crown on Christ and an Honour upon his word the Testimony of men may be and often is in Fact Erring and Fallible uncertain and lying self-contradicting and unsatisfying Into which therefore the Christian Doctrine Faith and Religion is not to be resolved either in whole or in part For the word of Jehovah is like himself who is the Author of it of invaluable veracity and of unchangeable truthfulness He truth it self and his word The Truth He a God that is true and that cannot lye and his word That which is truly purely such the word of truth His Law is the truth The asserters of the Seventh day to be the Weekly Sabbath for which we have the whole Scripture are charged with Errour because we will not be resolved by humane Authorities to own the First day in the Room of it Whereas if men do err greatly err it is therefore because they know not the Scriptures nor the Power of God put forth in a word-way To assign somewhat else for a cause of this which is not a cause is a by-way of paralogizing-deception of sophistical-arguing and of Fallacious disputing The LORD Jesus Christ doth not in his word and where else as from him shall we look for it assign this as a cause of mans erring that they do not know the magistral dictates of humane Rabbies It is the proud Arrogance of the Antichristian usurper to impose his own placits upon the Churches as if he were imperial Dictator to mens Souls and vniversal Monarch over their Consciences Neither is their Erring from hence that they know not the Antient Records of uncanonicall Church Histories which do sometimes write Contrary to themselves and to one another as those do understand who have been faithfull diligent comparers and collectors of such passages and this both in matters of Fact and in matters of Right and this Objector himself doth confess he Judgeth that some of the writings of these Antients are spurious and corrupt And how few are there of those to whom the Gospel is preached and upon whose Hearts that word of Grace and of Truth doth take most saving holds to which word the LORD himself doth bear witness are versed and read in this kind of Ecclesiastical History And which way shall they be ascertained that it has been all of it read over by others by their Guides and teachers particularly or that the report is faithfully brought to them or if that were whether they ought to be swayed by it Were Church-Histories unerringly inspired Who is so bold as downright to assert this Or if any were so daring how can he prove it Who of our plain Converted People had humane Histories in his thoughts when he was thorowly Regenerated and gratiously visited from Christ and from the Father of Christ by the Spirit of Christ in the word of Christ What a kind of Faith is that which doth ultimate it self into humane Church Histories He that would have judged of the state and Case of Jehovah's Church and people in the daies of Ezra by making search in the book of those Ecclesiastical Records and have judged according to what was Historifyed there would have brought in an hard Charge of Rebellion and of Sedition against them and have been ready to have irritated the powers that were over them against them as their Adversaries did Neither do men therefore err because they know not the Tradition of the Elders which has long obtained by common Custom and by little Controlled usage so as to plead prescription unscriptural Customes and Tradition is a part of that Redemption which our LORD has wrought out for his People And it is a choice Mercy to be throughly delivered from them For in the event and effect they would un LORD Christ and the word of Christ of his and of its due Autority For which he condemned those Scribes and Pharisees of his daies who would have obtruded these upon him and upon his Disciples but he confutes them by his
Jehovah forgivest the iniquity of my sin To this agreeth that of Isaiah who brings in Jehovah himself thus speaking I I for my self blot out thy transgressions and remember not thy sin And the same Prophet doth record it of Hezekiah that he thankfully acknowledged this Thou O Jehovah hast cast behind thy back all my sins And that was the same which Isaiah had experienced in his own case Thus speaks the Prophet Micah in an holy triumphing manner Who is a mighty God like unto thee Forgiving iniquity and passing by the transgression of the remnant of his Inberitance Thou wilt cast all their sins into the bottom of the Sea And long before him this was revealed to Moses when Jehovah proclaimed this to be part of his Name He who forgiving iniquity and trespass and sin How often was this Truth preached over in the Sacrifices for Sin offerings and in their Typical Washings and Purifications and such like which held forth this in the spiritual meaning of them And Christ appointed some who in their Function by Office were to teach Jacob his Judgments and Israel his Law to shew them what those Truths and Things were that were so shadowed out by those Figures Thus also was not the Sanctification or Holiness of a Covenant-people The Declared Will of Jehovah Aelohim Is not the Command express in Moses's Book Ye shall sanctifie your selves and be holy for I Jehovah your God And ye shall keep my statutes and do them I Jehovah who sanctifie Ye shall set to it to be holy and ye shall be holy for I holy Has he not put that honour upon them by calling them Saints His Saints An holy People in Covenant with him How many ways did he preach this Doctrine to them The Priests must be Holy the Levites Holy the Prophets Holy the People Holy the Convocation Holy the Sabbath Holy the Place of Worship Holy the City Jerusalem is named Holy the House Holy the Mount Holy the Land Holy the Garments Holy the Tabernacle Holy the Temple Holy the Scriptures Holy the Law Holy the Covenant Holy Did not their whole Burnt-Offerings call upon them to be sanctified throughout their whole intire Spirit and Soul and Body to be kept unblamable Did not the Precepts to abstain from prohibited Pollutions and to use prescribed cleansings in case of contracted uncleanness speak the same Truth Was not the Law of the ten Words a comprehensive perfect Doctrine of all Holiness and Righteousness And are not the Sermons of the faithful Prophets full of Dehortations from sin and of Exhortations to Holiness If thou wouldest be instructed in the Doctrine of the Resurrection Did not the LORD Christ himself prove and teach this out of the saying of Jehovah Aelohim unto Moses in the Bush I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but the God of living From whence he doth infer that though Abraham Isaac and Jacob were dead as to their body yet they were still alive in their Spirit and Soul which bodies were parts of them and therefore their bodies should in time rise again For hereby it was evident that there is another life after this is ended which those departed Saints that were dead as to this life had their shares and parts in So that God not only was heretofore but still now is and will be their God after their death The Bodies of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob shall rise and therefore the bodies of the dead shall rise they shall live again whereas now they are dead and therefore they shall arise For he is their God now they are dead and therefore they shall live again though now they be dead For God is not the God of the dead who are so dead that they shall never live again So that he declaring himself to be their God ever since they were dead it must unanswerably follow as convincingly concluding that their bodies shall live again With what a clear judgement and holy confidence doth Job speak the same truth I know said he that my Redeemer living and that the latter one shall rise upon the dust Therefore after I shall awake and that the worms have digged through this yet in my fiesh I shall see God Whom I shall behold to me and mine eyes have seen and not a stranger My reins are consumed within my bosom Was not Christ's Resurrection plaintly taught in the sixteenth Psalm Where Christ himself doth thus express his sure hope of rising again from death the third day My flesh shall dwell in considence for thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol Thou wilt not give thy gracious Saint to see corruption doth not Peter so interpret this And did not Paul so explain and apply this And if the head be raised must not the members of that body to which the head is so nearly related in union and in fellowship be raised also Hath not David left behind him a lively Testimony of his firm belief of this in his day and time When he set out the different apprehensions that he had concerning his expressed happiness in another better hâ—â— and world from what the unbelieving men of this World had They those mortal men of this transitory World they counted their good things to be their part and portion here in this life I saith he as if he all past into this this was his Belief this was Hope this his Portion this his Happiness I in justice shall view thy faces shall be satisfied when I shall awake with thy image There would be a day when he should awake out of the dust of the Earth from the sleep of death when he should see and know plainly and perfectly and bear the Image of the Heavenly The Psalmist speaks of a Morning when those that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake and rise He believed that Aelohim would redeem his soul from the hands of Sheol because he would receive him A glorious Testimony of his belief of a Resurrection Daniel in his Prophetick Spirit speaks of a time when many of them that sleep in the dusty Earth shall awake some unto everlasting life and some unto reproach and shame everlasting Which doth also point to a Day of Judgement following of this Resurrection Though Daniel in this place doth not seem to speak of the last general Resurrection yet hereby insinuating the Doctrine thereof According as Enoch also the seventh from Adam is recorded by Jude to have Prophetyed Behold the LORD hath come with his holy ten thousands to do judgement against all and convincingly to reprove all those corrupt Worshippers of them concerning all those their works of corrupt worship which they have impiously done and of all their hards which they have spoken against the LORD who sinners worshiping corruptly The wicked shall not stand up in judgement as is
Which is a standing unchangeable Rule of Life uniform and always one and the same They were written once and a second time in Tables of Stone by Jehovah Christ which doth shew amongst somewhat else their renewed durableness It was the Writing of Aelohim and the Record of them is to remain for ever So that a due difference must be put between this weekly Seventh-day Sabbath as it is such a standing established Rule of Life in created Nature one of the ten Words and between some Typical Institutions and superadded Rites and Figuring Shadows afterwards annexed to this Sabbath There is a plain evident difference between these two sorts of Laws Let Moses be heard concerning this in what he said to the Israelites Jehovah declared unto you his Covenant which he commanded you to do the ten Words observe these are distinctly expressed and severed from the Figuring Laws and he wrote them upon two Tables of Stone and Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you Statutes and Iudgements that ye may do them in the Land whither ye are going over to possess it May we not discern here that Moses doth put a clear difference between the Laws of the ten Words which were publickly openly spoken and given by the LORD Christ in his own Royal Person from his Father to all the people and were written with the Finger of his own Spirit between these and those other shadowy Ordinances which were privately spoken to Moses only and by him and by his Ministery brought to the people and written by him These figuring Statutes admitted of a change and yet the Law of the Seventh day Sabbath doth remain unchangeable a perpetual Law And if any think that there is yet further any thing significative annexed to this day by Jehovah's Institution of Christ's second coming and of the heavenly Sabbatism then let that so far when any will clear it up from Scripture stand firm and unmoved till that time If the naturalness and self evidence of the Law of the ten Words were to receive a change because of superadded Institutions fitted to that Dispensation particularly as to Signs then the naturalness and self evidene of every one of them by this kind of arguing were to receive a change Was there not a Law for Fringes by the Institution of Jehovah Aelohim himself throughout the Generations of the Israelites for this end that they might see and remember all his Commandments This outward Rite was a memorative Sign or a religious Sign to help their memories and to further their sanctification To lead them unto a continual remembrance and practice of all the Law of the ten Words Thus also their Phylacteries were for a Sign upon their Hand and for a Memorial between their eyes that Jehovah's Law might be in their Mouth This was a Typical Memorial or Monument Which is the proper meaning of the Original Word By this outward Sign Jehovah Aelohim would have them to apply all their serious study and all their careful practice unto the keeping of all and every of the Laws of the ten Words All the outward Rites of the Ceremonial Laws were Signs typical Figures and significant Shadows instituted of God as Seals and Pledges to assure Believers of Christ and of those good things which his Faithful Obedient Perswadable ones have in and by him A due difference therefore should be put between Signs and Figures Signs and Shadows For although in the general and in common there be somewhat of a Sign in Figures and Shadows yet every Sign is not a Figure and Shadow but has somewhat particularly specially distinct A Figure doth set out and foreshew some Truth Duty Grace or Priviledge which is afterwards more clearly to be revealed though even then to be known believed done acted and injoyed A Shadow doth give some dark resemblance and it is a betokener of a Body which is to come in the place thereof and is in the appointed season to be exhibited whereas a Sign as it doth in some instances point out somewhat which is yet afterward to be looked for so in other cases it doth assure Believers of somewhat that is already gone and performed and in somewhat else it may stand and be joyned together with that which is signified thereby and be of special usefulness at one and the same present time The Ark wherein was nothing but only the ten Words in two Tables and the propitiatory Covering which was over the Ark were Types Figures and Shadows of Christ So that if Ceremonial Annexes should make void the Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath that way of arguing would lay aside and make void all the other Laws of these ten Words Sanctification is either that which was natural and concreated at the first and is now restored to and inwrought in some a spiritual transforming-Sanctification whereby the LORD doth regenerate and renew his People by the Power and Grace of his holy Spirit The Seventh-day Sabbath duely observed and well filled up having a suitable growing knowledge of and obedience to the rest of the revealed Will of God summarily comprehended in the ten Words would be a notifyingtestifying-certifying Sign of this Sanctification as has been shewn Or it is a Ritual Ceremonial Sanctification whereby under the former Dispensation in the use of some outward Rites and Ceremonies some persons and things which had some ways contracted some uncleanness were sanctified or purified which were typical and significative of in ward spiritual transforming Sanctification and of real inwrought Holiness and Purity Of this sort of Signs were their Blood sprinklings their Water-washings and such like Baptism is such a Sign under the new Dispensation Thus the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath if it be taken under this consideration as it had under the Old Testament Administration divers Ceremonial Laws added unto it both for preparation before and for cleansing in and after in some cases in this respect that which was superadded to it was a Sign of Sanctification to the Israelitish Church beyond any other people unless others came in and embraced the same true Religion and then there was one Law for the Israelite and for the Stranger When the Forreigner or Sojourner did leave the Worship of Idols and other heathenish practices of the Infidel World Thus that people were injoyned some out ward ceremonial Sanctifyings for the reviving of the Law of the ten Words But these Figures and Shadows made no real change upon the fourth Word the Law of the Seventh day Sabbath as neither did they upon any other of the ten Words Or Sanctification is the separating of somewhat from a common use and destinating and setting of it apart for some special singular holy Use Thus in several Scriptures some persons were Sanctified as the Administrators about holy things the Israelitish people which is also applied to the chosen Vessels Sanctification in this sense was applyed to the Tabernacle Temple Altar
spake all and every one of them in a singular emiment manner at the Mount Sinai he spake at other Seasons but this Law was spoken with more solemnity of proclaiming This is that Law which the Apostate Angels were and are trangressors of Satan is the Evil one he sets himself up as a God to be worshiped which is against the first and second he is a blaspheming spirit against the third Word He keeps not the Seventh-day Sabbath and tempts men to profane it against the fourth Words He has broken the Law of his Relation and tempts all both Superiors and Inferiors to break the established order according to the fifth Word Christ calls him a Murderer against the sixth Word An unclean spirit against the seventh Word He is a Thief a Robber a Stealer Robbs men of their holiness and happiness steals away the Word out of their hearts against the eighth Word He is a Lyar against the ninth Word A covetous craver of what is not his own And he sollicits men to covet what is their Neighbours against the tenth Word For this Decalogue is the Rule of Holiness and of Righteousness given to Angelical Natures who were summoned to appear at the solemn promulgation and proclaiming of this Law Even the Holy Spirits are doers of Jehovah's Commandments and they hearken unto the Voice of his Word And what is more yet this Law will be the perfect establish'd continud Law and Rule of Holiness and of Righteousness of the glorified ones for ever in Heaven How great therefore is there ignorance and how gross their mistake and dangerous their errour who daringly assert that this Law was temporay given only to one national people of Israel and some few more as if others were not under the obligation of it at least in part if not in whole Whereas it is a Kingly Law to which all mankind ought to be subject and conforming all being concern'd in this Law all being to be judged by this Law all sin and duty being to be measured by this Law There must an universal regard had to all and to every one of the Commands in the Decalogue both by Prince Minister and People There is a note of universality requiring Obedience to all these Commands and a word of singularity forbidding the breach and violation of any one of them Though Christ have Redeemed his people from the Curse of this Law yet not from the Rule of it the Redemption from the Curse of it doth still establish the Rule of it And as to this particular Law of the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath there was a mixed multitude of others with the Israelites at the very time of proclaiming it And the Stranger yea the very Cattel are expresly comprehended within the bounds and in the very Letter of this Word and natural Reason for the observation thereof And if men will still be so adventurous in this age of clear Light and of shining discovery as to go on to do the labour and work of their particular Functions and Imployments on the Seventh-day there is no Word of God that doth dispense with this neither can any word of man bear them out in it against a direct prohibition The ten words or the Law of the Decalogue being that perfect Image and exact Sampler according to which all Mankind in the loyns of Adam were at the first created in all Wisdom Holiness and Righteousness as their finite Capacities could take in and it being still the Rule and Direction for the renewing and restoring of Wisdom Holiness and Righteousness in any of the sons and daughters of men it is therefore in a proper sense the Law of Nature and it being so it hath some foundation in the Humane Nature and so doth respect all Mankind Jew and Gentile Male and Female no Sex nor Age no Language nor People excepted which Law when proclaimed at Mount Sinai universally concerned all the men and women that then were since have been now are and that shall be in the after Generations the Head and Representative of us all was under the Direction and Obligation of this Law and so are all the Posterity of Adam Sin was in the World from Adam even unto Moses and Death was reigning in the World from Adam even unto Moses and the Law was existing in the World from Adam even unto Moses when it was a new promulgated for where the Law is not in being sin is not reckoned Thus was the first Adam the representing Type of all Mankind who had this complete Law concreated with the Humane Nature This Decalogical Holiness and Righteousness though not the very natural Essence and real Substance of the Humane Nature nor necessarily flowing from the very principles of that Humane Nature yet was a concreated perfection in him and a connatural suitableness to him it was implanted in Adam's heat which Law and Obedience thereunto was the greatest part of his resembling the Image and likeness of his Creators and Makers it being after the same Pattern a Law commanding all Good and forbidding all Evil a Law of hidden ages without limitation of any time place or person serving all times all places all persons being an absolute full Directory both before and since the Fall whether this Law were given outwardly by the Creator to Adam by word and voice is not now the matter of inquiry Let it suffice that it was given to Adam which all his Postery should conform unto It was continued in the Church all along as a Rule of Life so it was to Noah one of the Fathers of the Gentile Nations who was a just man perfect in his Generations walking with Aelohim and finding Grace in the Eyes of Jehovah he was a Preacher of Righteousness a very Holy Righteous Man and an Obedient Believer The Anomous or lawless times of the later days are compared to Noah's days in that corrupt age Thus also to Abraham who was the Father of many Gentile-Nations of a multitude of them this Abraham had an express full Testimony from the LORD himself that he was such a one as obeyed the voice of Jehovah and kept his charge his commandments and Laws which three words are the same that are afterwards used by which to express the ten Commandments the Judgement and the Statutes which God gave by Moses Aelohim knew Abraham how that he would command his sons and his house after him and they should keep the way of Jehovah to do Justice and Judgement Thus also to Moses and to those of his time before the promulgation of this Law of the ten Words at Mount Sinai Jehovah Aelohim by Moses rebuked those who contrary to their LORD's commandment went out to seek food on the Seventh-day Sabbath and he expresseth himself thus in his convincing reproof How long will ye refuse to keep my commandments and laws the same words again implying that that rebellious disobedient people did continue on to be transgressors
of this holy Law of the ten Words particularly to be breakers of that Law of the Seventh-day Sabbath so that these Laws were well known to the Church and people of God by a long continued handing of them down by Posterity from Age to Age though practical Anomy or lawlessness had too much crept in and corrupted them of that Generation who neglected and broke them especially whilst bond-slaves in Egypt Afterwards when this Law was proclaimed and commanded at Mount Horeb where was a great mixture a miscellaneous multitude of Israelites and Gentiles who were present at that Mount and the stranger is expresly named in the very Letter of the Fourth Word or Command so that he also was under the obligation to yield obedience unto the Law of the Seventh day Sabbath The mind of man having by sin covered over with thick darkness ignorance errour and long diâ—use evil inclinations to Vice having much depraved and blinded the Understanding The LORD in words of his own mouth proclaimed this Law that it might be a manifest Testimony to mankind that natural Notions and Novelties of the Law concerning the difference between Good and Evil Duty and Sin were divinely ingrafted into the Nature of Mankind and were consentaneous unto this Eternal Rule of Holiness and of Righteousness which is in Aelohim He instaurs and restores the intire knowledge of his Will in his Law by this solemn promulgation that those old Letters of it which were much worn and defaced in the decayed Monuments of corrupt hearts might be more deeply ingraven and more plainly read again that what men had observed he by his own speaking Voice and writing Finger might rightly explain thus interposing his own Royal Authority to beget an inward testimony in their own consciences for the justness and equity of his holy righteous Law that all Mankind might be convinced of their sin and misery and might thereby be awakened to make out after a remedy otherwise they would be left altogether without excuse Upon the second of the Trumpets at Mount Sinai all Mankind was bound to make diligent inquiry after that which the LORD who is the King of Nations there spake so that they are all under his Law and are all bound thereunto being all concerned to take notice of the promulgation thereof by Royal Proclamation though more especially given forth at that place of Sinai It is not unworthy of serious consideration what a tonourous loud voice that was which not only all the Israelites did hear who yet were about six hundred thousand men a multitude that took up a great space of ground when Aelohim spake all the Words of the Decalogue This voice was also accompanied with a sound of Trumpets so exceeding loud as that the Lord could make all Mankind then alive to hear it such a sound shall go forth in the last day Besides all this what tempests were there at that solemnity what smoke what fire yea what thunderings and what an Earth-quake Such as might shake all the Inhabitants of the Earth at once and make them take notice of it For not only did Mount Sinai or Horeb quake greatly but that expression of Mount Sinai also doth shew that other parts of the Earth were shaken too The Earth was then shaken as the Earth shall be shaken at Christ's coming in the later days when all Nations shall be shaken or moved or made to tremble all and every one of them so shaken as the Heavens then will all of them at once All the Earth is bid to rejoyce at Jehovah's reigning which is described by his solemn giving of the Law which the Church is to rejoyce at and this is applyed unto Christ all the inhabited World was then enlightned all the Earth saw and trembled he then and their declared himself to be LORD of the whole Earth in giving forth this Kingly Law Thus this glorious Law-giver himself descended from Heaven with a shout his Charriot being twice ten thousand thousands of Angels the LORD being with them at Sinai in the Sanctuary and when he ascended to on high he led captive a Captivity he had taken Gifts unto Adam observe so is the Original word or in Adam which Paul doth explain to be men all Adam's posterity particularly from that time and also the rebellious to dwell with that God This Law universally concerneth all for in Christ all are one and whoever they were of the Heathen Nations that came into the Church of God in that day and were obedient unto all the Laws of Jehovah they had a part with Israel in all the holy things of God the Strangers themselves were under a Promise of having an allotted Inheritance in the Holy Land together with the Tribes of Israel There were the same privileges to the Obedient to the Stranger as to the Home-born The same judgments executed upon Transgressors of the Law of the Ten Words were he the one or the other All Nations under Heaven heard report of Israel and of the LORD 's appearing for them and giving them his holy Law Let the Reader further observe how it was afterwards when Solomon built the Temple at his dedicating of it he put the Stranger into his Prayer as well as the Israelite And this wise just Judge especially whilst his heart was right with the LORD judged according to this Law of the ten Words and the judicials annexed thereunto Solomon had his Dominion from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Land they that dwelt in dry places kneeled before him and his Enemies licked the dust The Kings of Tharshish and of the Isles rendred an oblation the Kings of Sheba and Seba offered a present and all Kings bowed down to him all Nations served him he reigned over all Kingdoms who were someways under his subjection being herein a Type of Christ so that Solomon was a kind of Universal Monarch upon Earth ruling and governing by Jehovah's Laws Consider what the Office and Work of the Prophets was after Solomon's time even to preach Commentaries and Sermons upon this Law of the ten Words directing transgressors unto the Messiah to procure pardon and reconciliation And these Prophets especially some of them had not only the Israel of God put into their Embasse and Commission but also the Gentile Nations and Kingdoms and People let Jeremiah be one eminent instance of this when the LORD did set over the Nations and other the Kingdom according unto that Word which he brought or sent to them from Jehovah and according as they yielded obedience or not unto this Law of Jehovah so they were either built and planted or plucked up and broken down spoiled and destroyed All those Nations unto whom Jehovah sent Jeremiah with a word of Prophety were many not Jerusalem and Judah the Kings thereof the Princes thereof but also Pharaoh King of Egypt and his Servants and his Princes and
on the Sabbath In obedience to this Law and Command of Christ it was that Paul preached and the People heard the word of God on this Sabbath-day some years after Christ was Ascended up into Glory Whither can the Observers of the First day as the Weekly Sabbath-day go to find out Commands in the whole Scripture for their day One of the adversaries of the seventh-day-Sabbath who appeared in Writing against a Letter of another to him upon his own desire which conteined some reasons and Scriptures for the weekly-seventh-day-Sabbath He in delivering his Judgment concerning the First day upon this Question whether there be any Express word for the Institution of the first day of the week to be observed as the Lords-day the day for his Weekly Sabbath has these passages we might say that it might be Instituted though it be not Recorded he meaneth in the Scriptures When and where and again t is acknowledged saith he we have no express word in so many letters and Words or Syllables for the Institution of the First day of seven And a Third time what if it should be said that he that is that Jesus Christ the Mediator did according to his Power actually change the day though when and how it be not recorded And a Fourth time why might he not Institute this he intends the first day although it be not expressed when or where and though it be not recorded Observe here thou who readest this with a desire to have the mind of Christ in this matter Suppose in the serious tenderness of thy Heart thou shouldest enquire of this Answerer whether there be any Institution of the First day of the week to be Observed as the Weekly Sabbath-day under the New-Testament in the Room of the weekly seventh-day-Sabbath and he should say there may be an Institution of the First day of the Week as the Weekly-Sabbath-day though it be not recorded Suppose thou shouldest further ask when for the time might this Institution be if it were at all And he should reply there might be an Institution though it be not recorded when for the time Put case thou demand of him further where for the Place might this supposed Institution be And he should tell thee there might be an Institution though it be not Recorded where for the place Upon this thou further propoundest this to him how is this pretended Institution for the occasion or manner that I might be somewhat Directed in my practise if it were manifested to be my Duty to observe the first day as the weekly Sabbath-day To which he should return thee these words there might be an Institution though it be not recorded how for the occasion or manner Can such answers as these give thee any Convincing Demonstration or satisfying Evidence What After all thy Trading in Sabbath-Religion wilt thou at last be sent thou knowest not whether to pretended unwritten verities for thy Religion Art thou under any Obligations of Conscience in these matters to beleive further than what is written Can thy spiritual Appetite savour in such Cases what is not written As for any other Framed Fancyed Forged Grounds of Instituting the First day as the weekly Sabbath-day from pretended practise of the Apostles for this end in this or any other Author I meet with or from what other Reasons Conjecturally unscripturally suggested it will be spoken unto in its place Only here is one part of the fore-mentioned passage which I would write somewhat about lest the force of the answerers Arguing should be thought to be passed by unobserved which is that expression according to his Power whereby the answerer intends that Jesus Christ as Mediator had Power to Change the Weekly Sabbath from the Seventh which is the last day to the First day of the Week What Power the LORD Jesus Christ as Mediator has received I thankfully acknowledge and through Mercy and Grace purchased by him for me and freely richly given from the Father to me in the supplies of the holy Spirit I have been for several years an applyer of a liver upon and somewhat an Improver of though I find great cause to be deeply humbled for that I have put it to no better use As for the Power of Christ considering him as mediator we have it from his own Mouth in his life time that the Father had given all Judgment unto the Son That the Father hath given unto Christ Power to do Judgment because he is the Son of Man that the Father hath given all things into his hand And a little before his death that the Father gave him power of all Flesh And after his Resurrection that unto him all Authoritative Power was given in Heaven and on Earth This is my Faith and my Food Yet withal it must be considered that Christ as Mediator was one put into Office by his Father and sent by him in a delegated Function having his proper work assigned him And thus his Power was Limited Let us search whether the whole Scripture be profitable for this In the Law of Moses there is a Prophesie that Jehovah the Aelohim of his People would raise up unto them a Prophet meaning the LORD Jesus Christ as is manifest by a collation of those other Scriptures which do so interpret this from the midst of them of their Brethren like unto Moses unto him they were to hearken and I said Jehovah the Father will give my words into his Mouth and he shall speak unto the People all that I shall Command him And it shall come to pass that the Man who will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him Remark here It was the Father who raised up Christ to this Office of being a Prophet they were the Fathers words which were given into Christs Mouth and Christ was to speak unto the People all that which the Father should Command him They must be the Fathers words and it must be in the Fathers Name that Christ was to speak To this Clause in the Commission must Christ keep close And accordingly so he did In the Book of the after-Prophets you may read Jehovah the Father thus speaking concerning his Son Christ behold my servant whom I uphold mine Elect my Soul delighteth I have given my spirit upon him he shall bring forth Judgment to the Nations Christ as Mediator was his Fathers Servant he took upon him the Form of a Servant and the Servant must keep close to the will and word and Command of him whose Servant he is especially in this case where all and every of the words and wills and Commands of the Father are Holy just and good And it is fore told of Christ that he would when he had a bodie Prepared for and taken to him thus bespeak his Father I take pleasure O my Aelohim to do thy well-pleasing thy will as Christ else where in the history of
successive courses are as the daies and week of that one Created week were At the First Creation was this Law given to Adam in respect of his humane Nature and in him given to all the World of Humane Creatures Even adversaries themselves in their Writings against the seventh-day-Sabbath have confessed that the Law given to Adam from the beginning is unalterable and therefore remains still in full force so that all men to the Worlds end are bound to yield obedience thereunto and that the Rest of the seventh-day-Sabbath was entred into from the Foundation of the World Christ himself the Creator rested the seventh day from all his works and that Aelohims resting on that Seventh-day-Sabbath doth necessarily imply Mans Resting on that day as well as Gods resting God's entring into that rest being the ground of Man's rest at the same time which they prove from Heb. 4. 3 4. The created nature of it as the seventh day and the cogent reason of it as the Weekly Sabbath-day not being peculiar to the Israelites but common to the Gentiles the Command is not proper to one of these only excluding the other but doth belong unto both the LORD 's resting on it which gave such occasion to his Blessing and Sanctifying of it has an Universal preceptive respect to Adam and to his whole Posterity it is a common Instruction and a general Command unto all men in all ages to labour in their particular callings functions and employments on those six fore-going days of the Week wherein Jehovah Aelohim made the Heavens and the Earth and to cease and rest from such labour on the seventh-day because in it He Sabbatized or rested from all his work This Law was made and it came with Authority in the beginning of the Created World and it shall continue and last to the end of the World Adam the Father of Nations and of Generations was put under the obligation of it and so are all his Off-spring from first to last throughout all Nations in all Generations Every Man has a teaching light and law of Nature which he doth carry about with and in him and is born and bred together with him There are still some reliques and remainders as dark Letters in an old Monument of those Holy Just Good and spiritual Laws of the Ten Words still to preserve and keep alive the memory of Man's first created Honour and Dignity His Rectitude and Uprightness as also for some other ends Though those seeds are corrupted now Natural right reason will teach men that seeing all men in all Nations do measure their time by Weeks and their Weeks by seven days they should besides what part they separate of their time as due unto God every day set apart one whole day of every week unto their Maker who has allowed them so liberal a portion of time wherein to provide for themselves and for their families there being no other proportion of time that can so well provide both for the worship and service of God every day as Evening and Morning of every day and every week as the whole Seventh which is the last day and also for the necessities of all Families as that which remaineth of the several six fore-going days of the Week and that is so well fitted to all functions and Callings and Employments There is that in every man who has the due exercise of his right reason that will directly answer unto this especially when compared with these created beings and more especially yet when having the advantage of Scripture-revelation The light and law of Nature when cleared up will tell men that all mens labour and motion being in order to Rest and Rest being the perfection and end of Labour into which labour and work and motion do pass that therefore the seventh which is the last day in every week is the most fit and proper whole day for a weekly religious rest unto the Creator for his Worship service and honour The natural reasonableness of this Command for observing the seventh-day-Sabbath doth suggest That Man and Beast should have his Resting-day every week The Ass that poor beast so much used to burdens and drudgery on other days must rest and the Stranger be refreshed on the weekly seventh-day-Sabbath That word in the Original which doth set our conventions for Worship to those who do understand it and who will make a diligent observation and due improvement of it would inform them that they may with their own eyes discern something of this in the motion of those Heavenly lights which would instruct men that set times of their Creator's appointing for solemn Assembling and for his instituted Service are directed to and pointed at by those Great Luminaries which the All-wise Aelohim hath set up in the Heavens As for many other good purposes so also particularly for this Great and Holy end This naturalness of the Weekly-seventh-day-Sabbath should make all the judgments and wills of grown reasonable Creatures to bend and to bow before it and should for ever stop the mouth of all gain-sayers never more to speak or write or print a word against that which is so Legible in its own created Existence Pure Primitive nature in Scripture is put sometimes for the essence of a being or for the Essential Properties of it Thus the Goddy-nature is His Essence His unchangeable Being a lively resemblance unto which communicable properties in Him such as His Wisdom Goodness Truth Holiness and such like are impartable to rational creatures especially to new creatures For otherwise as for His very Essentiality This is incommunicable to any meer Creature Hence as to Creatures Nature is put for the person or thing it self Indeed or In-truth really so For the essence and being of a Creature for that which is Concreated born with a Creature Connatural with it For that which is proper Genuine and Innate For the Natural Law particularly Aelohim will not change what He did create to be pure and good naturally essentially so It is the Seventh-days proper nature to be the Weekly-Sabbath This Seventh-day and the Weekly-Sabbath were Concreated It was so made and ordained according to pure Primitive Creation When the first pure created state of what Aelohim made was defaced by sin much of his doing in the World is to bring back to that Original purity and goodness Therefore the work of Redemption is set out by Creation and for the same reason it is called a renewed Creation So is his work of Preservation of and of Providence over his creatures So will his work of Regeneration and of Conversion still be Thus also his constituting of his Church Thus also his work of Instauration and of Renovation of the Heavens and of the Earth This work of first Creation by the creating Messiah is the rule and Standard the pattern and exemplar to which all must be brought It is as to the final cause
they are not or when according to his Judgment and affirmation they are redundant When messengers were sent to John to enquire whether he were that Prophet They did not mean such a true Prophet only as Isaias Jeremiah Ezechiel Daniel and such like Prophets as they were but in the most special restrained Sense whether he were that particular Eminent Prophet who was Antiently promised to the Church and People of God whom the Beleivers among the Jews expected with so great desire should come even the Messiah foretold of in Moses Writings that certain individual Christ for which cause the Article is there Prefixed lest that speech should have been taken by John in an Indefinit sense of every if a true Prophet and otherwise Johns answer had not been according to truth when he denied it saying not as if he had said I am not that Prophet no I would not have you to give way to one thought of this as if I were that same Prophet so spoken of by other Prophets No though I am honoured with being a Prophet He doth not say that he was not any Prophet at all but that he was not that signally-eminent Prophet Who also in other Scriptures has the same Article Prefixed to Prophet that Prophet and sometimes another Pronoun demonstrative added that same Prophet or that Prophet he noting one certain Excelling Individuum And as for the denoting and pointing out of a particular person so also of a particular thing As the Field of the Potter which the Cheif Priest and Elders after counsel given and taken thereabout which they bought for the burial of Guests doth note a certain determinate Field even that particularly and no other which by a Prophetical Spirit Zachariah had foretold of And this doth the Article there plainly point out The same you may find in other Scriptures compared as that way is that particular way of Discipleship to Christ So this is the same particular Priest Christ who was a Priest confirmed in his Office by Oath I shall referr the discerning Reader for further Instances to the Scriptures cited in the Margin where he may find that the use of this prepositive Article is significantly noting some one or somewhat certain by an emphatical pointing out I could give a multitude of more Instances in the Greek new Testament acknowledged so in the Judgment of the most accurate discerning Greek Lexicographers and Grammarians But I keep close to the matter in hand The First place in the Scripture which treats of the seventh day Sabbath in the History of the Creation is referred to by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews which place I shall afterwards have occasion to clear from a wrong interpretation put upon it by this same Learned Man where there are two Articles prefixed that day That Seventh designing a signated and definit and Individual day which was and could be no other than that Seventh which was the Last day in the First Created Week and will ever remain so to be unchangeably whilst weeks do continue The like is observed in other Scriptures where the Article is doubled to point out that eminent Seventh-day-weekly-Sabbath O who will give that all Mens hearts particularly that learned mens Hearts did more stand in Awe of every word of Jehovah Christ who is so tender of every Consonant and of every Vowel therein especially in the Ten words of his own hand writing where he will not suffer any one Iod or Chirek to be Injuriously altered or left out not the least letter or any point or part belonging to it They that do otherwise do so far diminish from the word O how great has Christs care herein been that no man might take any other day of the week for the weekly Sabbath-day in the Hebdomadal revolution but only the Seventh which is the last in Created order of succeeding time So choice an excellency hath the Creating-Redeeming-Mediator put into the essence of this Seventh-day-Sabbath As for the particular Instances in Scripture which this learned man doth give where he Judgeth this Note and prefix of demonstration to be redundant without assigning any the least Reason why he so deemeth I have examined every one of them and find them to be Notificative Of which I shall give the Reader some short account His first instance is in one of the Psalms where those wicked ones spoken of are evidently pointed out to be the same prvaricating-wickedly-revoltingones that are expresly set out in a former verse of the same Psalm So that the note is Anaphorical designing such persons of whom mention was made before being opposed unto those who must withdraw from them if they would make happy progresses or Blessed goings on with a strait foot which is the sweet significancy of the First word in that Psalm Those wicked ones are fingered out to be such whose Counsels are very bad whose way is so greatly erring and whose seat is so full of Scorn such an accursed race of Profane ones as of all sorts of sinners shall be left unfruitful and fading Chased away and condemned And least the learned man should think I am alone in this matter besides the self evidence of it upon the very place I refer him in the Margin to a skilful Hebrician that asserts the emphaticalness of that prefix in this place His next instance is in Ecclesiastes where unto a seriously Considering and a deeply-pondering-mind The Notificativeprefixes do manifestly set out the Opposition and difference that is between an Eminently wise man and one notoriously foolish with respect to that particular-subject-matter there in hand There is one of such a raised sort of wise men in such an elevated degree as his movings are more in the Light he is such a one as has his Eyes in his Head as sees his way plain before him one circumspect and heedfull in his goings one wary and watchful in his steps One that has and keeps his eyes open and walks in the light of Holy Scripture and of Spiritual illumination holding on with an even strait Foot foreseeing and forecasting as he passeth along To which other Scriptures do agree setting out a Wise Walker by one that hath his eyes open to choose and mind his way that he may not mistake and wander or stumble and fall There are also two Pronoun Affixes which do further Demonstrate this And the Opposition doth set out a Foolish one of all Fools one of the veriest Fools an inconstant Fool who walks in darkness either not using his eyes but winking and shutting his eyes when Light is before him or taking a time to walk in when it is dark so that he cannot find out the right way A rash inconsiderate Fool that knows not whither he goes nor at what he stumbles Besides the proverbial Antithesis here doth declare and commend the excellingness and Preference of the wise
others those full Treasuries of useful Arts and Sciences of all wisdom and knowledge that were in Christ and in his word and warns them of the Danger of that vain affectation of human wisdom which would seduce and carry them away for a prey though the Philosophick World were very fond of this and cryed it up much and had given it a great Name of Honour yet it was that which was but a Falsly-called-Science and which would turn them away from the Faith Nor yet do men therefore greatly Err because they know not the Innate or acquired Powers of mens own Rational Intellect and will How many Millions have been seduced by the Aristotelian way of self ratiocination which not only misled some in his time but has also misguided such multitudes of men of Choice Wits and of pregnant parts for so many Ages since Let Pauls Judgment according to the word be hearkened to in this case the Animal-man the Souly-man the Victuoso-man that hath no other Light than what is now Corruptedly natural no higher Reason than what is meerly humane no better wisdom than what is attained in Schools of Philosophy This man Comprehends not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him and he cannot understand them because they are Spiritually judged The true Critical-distinguishing-differencing-discerning of these is from a Spiritual principle in a Regenerate new Heart in one that has the mind of Christ in his word Self idolizing has brought in Idolatrous Worship when men think themselves to be wiser than God and they will be making to themselves and for others new and after-kinds and Forms of worship and of service according to their own understanding shaped with their Art and dressed with their skill Wrong conceiving that Aelohim was and would be altogether like themselves They confide in their own forming though it be but a teacher of lying a brutish folly an instruction of vanities It is the Powerfulness of God to throw down this worldly wisdom and humane eloquence and Reputationed-reasonings and high imaginations and will-worshippings that do so lift themselves up against the Knowledge of God and to lead Captive every thought to the Obedience of Christ We should cease from hearkening to such Institutions of Learning as would cause us to err from the true words of Scripture-knowledge Errour also doth not arise from hence that men do not know Natural experiments and fleshly sensations The Epicurean Religion is a doctrine of falshoods and of Errours Solomon in his Book called Ecclesiastes doth treat of this Subject-matter at large about natural History and experimental Philosophy openly acknowledging to the Church his Errour and folly his sin and madness in not improving of that wisdom which Aelohim gave him in answer to his choice and request in a word-way but giving himself over to the studie of Philosophy to try whether he could find out some exacter knowledge in this kind of Learning and whether it were not a necessary adapted meanes for the attaining of the chiefest God as the great end of Rational Creatures and therefore towards the close he adviseth his Son to take heed of Philosophick Sophies no end of making many Books of such humane Learning and much studious reading of them would but weary him and waste his time and therefore it would be true wisdom in him to keep close to word-revelations and to seek saving enlightning there for this was all Adam whilst Adam reteined his integrity till he sought many humanely invented Arts and Sciences besides that which Aelohim had put into Created Nature and Revealed word The sum and the argument the Subject and the matter the drift and the Design the Scope and the End of this Book is to set out the vanity and unsuccesfulness of Philosophick Learning and opinions about the cheifest good of man discovering and confuting their mistakes by an induction of particulars in the way of their own Logical Method Detecting the fallaciousness of their arguing and the carnality of their principles and the corruptness of their Tenets shewing that mans happiness is found in the saving knowledge sound Faith holy Fear and perfecting Obedience of and to Jehovah Aelohim and his will revealed in his word and not in the mishapen-monstrous-fancyed felicities of Ethnick Philosophers nor in a skilfulness in their Arts and Sciences whether more speculative metaphysical ones to gratify the unmortified voluptuousness of a wanton intellect or more practical ones suited to an animal appetite a sensitive itch and a sensual life immersed in fleshly disquisitions and in carnal delight Solomon had been long Conversant in Paganish knowledges and doth now manifest the vainness of its vanity introducing the several Sects pleading and disputing for their way and party And then answering their Arguments and bewraying the Captious deceitfulness of them So that it would much improve usefull learning to point out exactly and particularly through this Book when it is that an Ethnick Philosopher doth Logically Syllogize and Rhetorically perswade For what is the Logicians Major is the Rhetoricians Proposition what is the Philosophers Minor is the Orators Assumption and what is the Sophisters Conclusion is the Perswaders Complexion or Inference and when it is that a Theological Christian Preacher doth Spiritually confute and convincingly disswade self evidencingly prove and demonstratively argue I therefore propound this Disquisition to the Studious and ingenious as a further augment of profitable Learning When men do ask Counsel of unscriptural Philosophy it is a Spirit of Whoredome that causeth them to err Sensuality bringeth forth errour Inordinate love after creature-knowledges and enjoyments seduceth them from the faith Wizardly-Philosophy was Balaams Errour and too many are still wandering in that by-way of his That is the best Religion with the most that is accommodated to their peace and plenty which will cloath their backs and fill their bellies which will take them off from self-denyal and from cross-bearing and although divers are not so drencht in sottishness and sensualities but are sober Scholars and chast Students yet the unscriptural way they take in their researches into natural Histories and experimental Philosophy will never so attain its useful end for the true advance of profitable Learning till more studied in the Book of Scriptures and suiting all experiments unto this word-knowledge Neither yet do men therefore Err because they know not the unscriptural Impulses of speculative Enthusiasts Here the Platonists did err by conceiving of strange Ideas of things and then nursing up their monstrous bratts It is one choice part of experimental Christianity and which needs much of spiritual discerning to know what manner of Spirit we are of Even a James and a John two of Christs eminent Disciples were rebuked by Christ for that they did not discriminate wisely in this matter Their revengeful Spirit at that time would have commanded fire from Heaven to consume the unkind Samaritans they must have it come down at their
not the lips of Knowledge go we from him his foolishness is deceitful Sophistry deceptory fraud But the Wisdom of the Acute is to understand his way of practical business Philosophical Folly has too long been made an Hereditary Possession one Generation to another Inâ—pt Opinions have been pertinaciously reteined But the Wittily-ingenious who take up with naked Truth in naked Souls they crown themselves with Knowledge and they put a Crown upon Knowledge Wisdom is their rich and royal Ornament The tongue of the Wise maketh knowledge good grateful commendate renders it amiable adapting of it and opportunely using it to time place person and case Speech when according to the Laws of the Heavenly Apothecary-Art salutiâ—erously compounded of proper Scripture Ingredients is Healthfulness curing the unsoundness the grief of mind There is healing Medicine in such a tongue The lips of the Wise do sow Science they winnow it first sever it from chaffy Philosophy and then sow it pure That is the true good Knowledge which the Wisdom of God doth teach in the Word The best Intelligence is that which is grounded upon the Word To this should we attend and bend our mind referring all our study hither especially the teachers of others they of all men should be in these written Words They are then in their proper Studies and Places it should be their Being and Life This makes men wise in heart it doth prudentiate and intellectuate them The suavity the sweetness of the lips will add Doctrine by a commodious aptness of savoury Expressions and by a pleasing elegancy of winning Eloquence we should be Lords Masters Possessors of this The heart of savoury wise ones will make their mouth to understand it will suggest to the tongue what how when where and to whom to speak A more inner understanding of a Truth or Thing doth much help the Faculty of Speech about that Truth and Thing New noble Conceipts will still be under-begotten It expedites the lips when the Rule of all is this Word Savoury knowledge may be seen and read in the faces of such prudent ones It puts a placidness modesty right-composedness upon their Countenance which is an Index of their Wisdom Such are Cool of Spirit Moderate placid sedate not hot and hasty and rash to pour out Words Those who have all their desire and delectation in this to find out in a way of searching all solid Science and useful Wisdom they withdraw themselves from Philosophick and over-worldly Diversions to immix themselves in those Holy Studies that do bring in durable Essence Their Understanding has depth of living Waters and their Vein is flowing over with it To be without the knowledge of the Soul or for the Soul to be without Knowledge not good this How can such an one govern his Actions and order his Affairs with judgment and discretion That is Wisdom which will be found and acknowledged to be Wisdom at the last in thy last or utmost end Cease we therefore from erring and straying out of the way of those written words of Wisdom O prize we this for the lips of Wisdom are Gold and a multitude of Gems and a precious Vessel Vain affectation of Humane Wisdom is drossy strawy broken and earthy He that wanders out of the Way of Understanding from this prescript word of the LORD will in the end remain in the Cougregation of the incurably-dead To keep the words of the Wise in the belly is sweetly delectable they will be aptly put together in the lips Study Wisdom that thou maist trust in Aelohim he makes known Wisdom to thee to this for this end They are his written Words that do teach it In the Scripture are those excellent Counsels that do tend to true and to sound Knowledge The Counsels and Knowledges that are found here are the Justness or Rectitude of Truth or certainty of the words of Truth every way true It is the truth that is here learnt To make to return words of truth to those who send thee words truth when others do send their Questions and propound their Cases to thee for resolution and satisfaction We should make our heart and our ears to enter into Discipline into the Words of Knowledge The seat of Wisdom is in the heart when that doth rejoyce to see and to hear others to be wise the whole man rejoyceth The reins of a Teacher do rejoyce when the lips of a Scholar do speak Rightnesses When the prescript word and not our own or others carnal corrupt reason is followed we shall make a blessed progress in holy Sciences Here is truth which we should acquire into our possession the right knowledge of Naturals and Spirituals not parting with it upon any terms That is Wisdom Instruction and Understanding which is Scripture-Truth He who is thus wise is manly in strength A man of Knowledge has fortifying Prowess It doth increase his inner and outer vigor These Word-wisdoms are unreached heights 100 sublime for and to an evil-fool lofty excellencies which he cannot come at whilst such But to know these is to the inlightned Soul as honey or the distillings of the honey-Comb sweet and nourishing what natural causality honey may have this way for the sharpning quickning clearing of Ingeny let others inquire If thou have found it it shall be a last reward It would be the Glory of Kings to search out a Word in all their warlick and civil as well as Religious transactions to inquire after those treasured senses of Scripture which would direct them in this It would teach all to word their words over its circumstance or Modes aptly opportunely as if it moved aright upon Wheels No answers but are Scriptural concordant thereunto are sapid Counsel or savoury Advice judicious Reason returned to inquirers Those who in this way do seek Jehovah shall understand all whatsoever it be that doth belong to their Office and Duty A Prince a Leader in State or Church or Field of all men should not want understanding in Scripture Sciences in word acts He should be well skilled in all sorts of useful Learning otherwise their imprudent misgovernment will put them upon oppressing and misguiding their people O love we this Wisdom and this way of VVisdom The Primitive Understanding of Adam which he had concreated with him is not now to us we are corruptly bruitish as to the answering of difficult Questions it is only to be had from Christ in the Word who is able and willing He the God-man For the knowledge of holy Ones Angelical heavenly Ones is not so with us now not so born and bred with us of our own but is a gift from him who is all VVisdom Reades let thine eyes therefore be now up to him that thou mayst be one of the God-taught Ones that thy knowledge may even whilst thou art here on Earth more grow up to answer the knowledge of those