true That in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision availeth any thing but a new Creature Gal. 6. 15. In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. which Love is the fulfilling of the Law Gal. 5. 14. and the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. And as many as walk according to this Rule Peace on them and Mercy Gal. 6. 16. Upon All whether Jews or Gentiles who believe in Christ and walk by Rule And Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 7. 19. Col. 3. 9 10 11. And upon the whole of this it seems to me the Law was given to Jews and Gentiles And through Christ both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit to the Father Eph. 2. 11 14 18. where you have also Father Son and Holy Spirit 2dly That the seventh-day Sabbath after the promulgation of the Law by Christ at Mount Sinai and that ordinarily was called by the name of the Sabbath and by that name known and observed I think is agreed by all that I know and is so plain throughout the Old Testament that there needs little to be said thereto Six days thou shalt work and on the seventh day thou shalt rest Exod. 23. 12. Upon the seventh day the Lord called to Moses out of the Cloud Exod. 24. 16. which probably was the first Sabbath after the giving the Law Exod. 20. which seventh day is often called a sign for ever between him and his People and a perpetual Covenant Exod. 31. 13 to 17. to distinguish his People from others Where the Law of the Pool's Annot. on Exod. 31. 16. Sabbath is confirmed and established to be perpetual and the reason given for the perpetuity of the Sabbath is such as hath its force till the end of the World and it 's fit and just men should retain this Monument or Memorial of the Worlds Creation even till its Dissolution And this was whilst the Lord was communing with Moses in the Mount and before the giving Moses the two Tables of Testimony Exod. 31. 18. which they were to observe in Earing-time and Harvest Exod. 34. 21. And the seventh day shall be to you an Holy day a Sabbath of rest to Jehovah Exod. 35. 2. which is repeated here and in Exod. 31. 13. before to teach them to remember that Precept above all their ceremonial Observations And the Weekly Sabbaths are called The Sabbaths of the Lord v. 38. in a way of distinction from other days of Rest which also appears in the fourth Command Exod. 20. 8 9 10 11. afterwards we have the Judgment against the Stick-gatherer Num. 15. 32 36. And after the Command renewed for lively fiery and not dead and formal Morning and Evening Word and Prayer Num 28. 3 to 8. Jehovah also repeats the Law for the Sabbath v. 9 10. which Israel prophan'd whereof we read much in the Prophets and Psal 92. is a Psalm for the Sabbath day I love thy Commandments above gold yea above fine gold I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things right Psal 119. 127 128. As if he had said I make not all thy Commands void as some do nor am I partial in approving some and rejecting or altering those I like not which cross my Opinion as others do all thy Commands ever were are and ever will be right Which I take to be the import of the Hebrew leaving out the Verb there and in many other places And he that turneth away his Ear from hearing the Law his Prayer is an abomination Prov. 28. 9. it ever was so is so and will be so an abomination 1 John 3. 22. Thus saith Jehovah My Salvation is near to come Blessed the man that keepeth the Sabbath he will accept their services Isa 56. 1 2 6 7. such ever were are and ever will be blessed Which place referring to Gospel-times is the larger Promise now And it shall come to pass that from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith Jehovah Isa 66. See also Jer. 17. 21. 23 24. And with this that great Gospel-Prophet concludeth his Prophecy The Covenant which Jehovah made with their Fathers which they broke Jer. 31. 31 32. 33. was the Moral Law I will put my Laws in their inward parts and write them in their Hearts called an everlasting Covenant Jer. 32. 40 38 39. Rom. 2. 29. John 1. 47. Rom. 7. 22 Heb. 8. 8 9 10. The Lord charges Jerusalem as having changed his Statutes therefore I even I against thee Ezek. 5. 5 6 8. That the Sabbath was appointed as a sign between him and his People is often mentioned which because they polluted he gave them Statutes not good Ezek. 20. 12 13 16 20 21. 24. My Sabbaths they greatly polluted v. 13. the Lord threatned them not to bring them into Canaan because they polluted his Sabbaths v. 15 16. which should be a sign between him and them v. 20 21 24. Which Weekly Sabbaths were to be a weekly keeping alive their Hopes of an Eternal Rest with the Lord that Rest or Sabbatism or keeping Sabbath in Heaven which remaineth for the People of God Heb. 4. 8 9. of which the seventh-day Sabbath was and is a Pledge and Representation And the prophaning the Sabbath is reckoned amongst the greater sins of Israel whose Ministers hid their Eyes from his Sabbath Ezek. 22. 8 26. 23. 38. After many Threatnings against Aegypt and after the Promises in that Prophet of converting the Jews the Resurrection of the dry Bones the Promise of Christ's Kingdom God's Judgment on Gog and Ezekiel's Vision of the new Temple Thus saith the Lord God The gate of the inward Court that looketh toward the East shall be shut the six working days but on the Sabbath it shall be opened for the Prince to enter and offer upon the Sabbath day Ezek. 46. 1 2 4. and a little after that Prophet closeth his Prophecy and God threatens to cause the Sabbath to cease Hos 2. 11. And when will the Sabbath be gone that we may set forth Wheat Amos 8. 5. By all which I conclude that the seventh day was the Sabbath till our Lord's Incarnation These and other Voices of the Prophets do shew how highly the Sabbath was valued by the Lord who gave it to his People and was ordinarily called by the Prophets and afterwards by the Apostles the Sabbath or the Sabbath day and those terms of the Seventh day and the Sabbath were Synonimous in the Church noting all along throughout the Old and New Testament one and the same Seventh-day-Sabbath And it is very observable that the Old or New Testament do never call the First day the Sabbath Q. 6. If the Ten Commands without any exception of the fourth Command or any part or tittle of it were confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ after his taking our Nature upon him
Ans After the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ Emmanuel i. e. God with us Mat. 1. 18. 23. we find in that famous Sermon of his in the Mountain Mat. 5. 17 18 19. which was about the beginning of his publick Ministry Christ does prevent an Objection of his Hearers who in regard his manner of preaching was different from their Teachers might suspect that he intended to abrogate the Moral Law or to alter it or some part thereof and to bring in another Law and warns them not to imagine that he came to destroy dissolve or loosen the Law but to fulfill it viz. by his perfect Obedience exactly to observe it and by his Word to establish it a standing Rule of Obedience to his Churches and People to the end of the World Till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law Mat. 5. 17 18 19. So that all the Commands have the same Character of the same Divine Authority and do all without excepting one jot or tittle equally bind man Mat. 5. 19. And that this place in Matthew referrs to the Ten Commands I take to be generally agreed by Expositors and by Writers for the First day the first Table whereof contains the method prescribed by Christ how to express our Love to God a part of which first Table is to keep holy the seventh day And the second Table contains our Love to Man Mat. 22. 37 38 39. And agreeable to Mat. 5. 17 18 19. is that of Luke It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail Luke 16. 14 17. where our Saviour shews the scoffing Pharisees that he taught no new Doctrine contrary to the Law but that Heaven and Earth should pass away before one tittle of the Law should pass The Interpretations of the Law by the Jews were mistaken but the Law shall remain as a sound and certain Rule to his People until the World should have an end Where I take it also as agreed that Christ spake of the Ten Commands As he does also when the Lawyer asked him which was the Great Commandment in the Law Christ answers Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart And the second is like unto it Love thy Neighbour as thy self Upon which two hang all the Law and the Prophets Mat. 22. 35 to 40. And Mark 12. 28 29 30 31. where Christ confirms the Ten Commands and both Tables thereof whereof the Law for the seventh day is a part which seventh day those who set up and substitute the first day so far lay aside The Romanists leave out the second Command against Images and a late learned Protestant Writer excepts against a word or two in the second Command and what he meant thereby I cannot say certainly but if he think it lawful to make such Pictures as of a Glorious Light from which occasion may be taken of good Thoughts of God he seems to me under the specious colour of that good Intention to break in directly upon those words in the second Command Lo tagneseh leka temunati asher bashamajim Thou shalt not make to thee any likeness that is in Heaven above and to go very near the borders of Idolatry that God is Light 1 John 1. 5. is true but we may make no Image or Picture thereof for any such purpose Light is as I take it one of the words opening the Essence of God and to make any Likeness of his Essence seems to be of the Likeness of God which I think is forbidden in the second Command To say nothing of the word As in the Parenthesis which seems something a kin to an c. nor can this be excused by the good intention before of taking up thence good Thoughts of God which surely must be from making and looking upon that pictured Light to the end above so dangerous it is to sit loose in Principles from the Obligation of the Moral Law or any part thereof And to this looseness from the Commands and to the not observing of them I think I may assign the great Transgressions of this Age against all the rest of the Commands but I forbear And how much farther such Great Learned and Worthy men may go unless God convince them or restrain them I know not who by his Word and therein by Promises of his Holy Spirit hath furnished all Believers with sufficient matter for Good Thoughts of God And those take away these words out of the fourth Command the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God which has not only many Iotaes and Tittles i. e. Letters and Vowels but Words and is a whole Paragraph but I think will not so pass away Conformity to which Commands is the Perfection of the Nature of Man Consider also how very much is said in the New Testament against Anomie that is Lowlesness Acts 2. 22 23. Mat. 13. 40 41. Mat. 23. 28. Mat. 24. 12. Rom. 6. 19. The Mystery of Anomie did work in the Apostle's time 2 Thes 2. 7. Until he that letteth be taken out of the way and then that lawless one that anomous one shall be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth v. 8. Looking for our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Anomie Tit. 2. 11 to 14. which Anomie the Lord Jesus Christ hates Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Anomie Heb. 1. 8 9 10. One great Article of the new Covenant is I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts which includes the whole Moral Law And another Article is Their Anomies I will remember no more Heb. 8. 10 12. Heb. 10. 16 17. And of old the Lord commanded That whatsoever he commanded his People they should observe to do it Thou shalt not add thereto nor dimish from it Deut. 12. 29 30 31 32. This Law is framed for the good of all and if all the Laws of all the Kingdoms of the World were lost the Ten Commands rightly understood in their true Extent and Latitude as explained in the Old and New Testament would revive and preserve the Duties men owe to God and due Bounds between Kings and their Subjects Ministers and People Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants Parents and Children and all Superiors Infeâ—iors and Equals whatsoever Which Law the Lord will magnifie â—nd make honourable Isa 42. 21. And the Ten Commands as â—hey are opened in the Scriptures do in general or particular Rules with great Justice and Equality resolve Cases as far beyond â—he Laws of Men as the Treasures of Wisdom in Christ are beâ—ond the depraved Wit of fallen Man And here I had thought to have inserted That See Charnock's Attrib fol. 612. â—he true Law of Nature in Adam is the Ten Comâ—andments A Preface to which Ten Commands commemorating and celeâ—rating the wonderful and famous Deliverance of the
so to overturn the commanded day and to lay it aside and then to set up another Day of Rest every week which as has been said we do not find commanded by the Lord when they certainly know that the Day observed in obedience to the Fourth Command by the Israelites and Proselytes was the Seventh day and no other and the Sabbath and Seventh day did both result in the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath and both relate to the first Sabbath Gen. 2 ordained by Christ which they know was the Seventh day and no other day of the week And whosoever not over-prejudic'd does read this Command I think will find this strongly there enforced viz. That the weekly day the Creator rested on is the very day to which this Command referrs and that all the World who have and receive the Word do know and confess was not the first nor sixth but the seventh day of the week and that day only and no other day and upon this I do insist And here I commend to the Reader Heb. 8. 10 where the Lord promises to put his Laws into the Minds of his People and to write them in their Hearts which is called a new Covenant v. 8 with which we may compare Jer. 31. 33 which Law promised to be written in our Hearts I think is the Moral Law which Moral Law is the Ten Commands whereof the Fourth is one And with how many Distinctions must the Word the Promises New Covenant and Command be mangled to be accommodated to such a new sence of the First day Which change of the day well considered may be one cause of the Israelites standing off from Christ Who will be converted grafted into Christ and saved by him Rom. 11. 7 26. And I hear some of late in defence of the First day have positively affirmed that the First day of the week is the Seventh day of the week and so the very day which the Letter of the Command requires by which Rule that which the Word calls the Seventh day should then become the Sixth and the Sixth the Fifth and so all the days in confusion and all the Jews and Christians hitherto in the World out in their reckoning of Seven Whilst I was considering this Question a learned Manuscript was sent me from an unknown Author who to maintain the First day of the week to be the Seventh day by the Fourth Command says to this effect That we ought to invert the Days i. e. to reckon them backward and then that which the Scriptures call the Seventh day is the First the Sixth the Second the Fifth the Third the Fourth the Fourth the Third the Fifth the Second the Sixth and then the First is the Seventh so great contrariety there is and must needs be in defending a Paradox Obj. and Ans Some farther object That the Sabbath was a Type and withal acknowledge it a Type of that Rest which is above with Christ in the upper World which we shall easily admit provided such will admit also what we think cannot be denied to Types that the Sabbath which is the Type continue till Heaven the Antitype do come Obj. and Ans Those who build the whole of this Change upon the Authority of the Church and not upon the Word which Word is against them who are very eminent may take this short Answer That if the Church have Power to change one of the Commands the Consequence is plain why may not the Church change more If any one of them be left to the Discretion of the Church certainly all are exposed as was said before Obj. and Ans Some Objectors there are who misunderstanding certain general Expressions in Paul s Epistles about the Law misapply them against the Ten Commands and so lay aside all the Moral Law which general Expressions are evidently meant of the Ceremonial Laws and may sometimes be written against some then erroneous Conceits of Justification by obedience to the Moral Law And others taking advantage of some incautelous Writings about the Privileges purchased by Christ have that way attempted to throw down the Ten Commands a Doctrine which would surely please many in this debauched licentious and erroneous Age if it would hold and some of these with the Law take away the Old Testament Obj. and Ans One thinks the Decalogue is not at all in force to the Gentiles and thinks the Preface to it Exod. 20. 2 I the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt out of the House of Bondage was to shew that it only concerned the Jews Whereas if we consider that the Church then in Aegypt was the Church of Christ and that Deliverance was of the whole then visible Church of Christ in the World amongst whom there were also many Gentiles as well as Jews I think it may be allow'd that the Preface concerns all Christians and that Deliverance expressed in the Preface as before ought to be celebrated in all After-ages by all Christians in the World whereof there is often mention in the Psalms and other Scriptures and so that Consideration from the Preface does not lessen the Obligation of the Decalogue upon the Gentiles but strengthen it And for the Obligation of the Decalogue when I find Christ so directly confirming the Law Mat. 5. 18 and Luke 16. 17 by which Law is understood the Decalogue I think I ought not to be over-ruled by any man's contrary Opinion whatever esteem I have of those who thus write and of many useful things written by them Mark 10. 19 and John 14. 15 If ye love me keep my Commands By which Commands the Decalogue is generally understood I do believe that Text Blessed are they who do his Commandments Rev. 22. 14 relates to the Ten Commandments And those general Expressions about the Law in the Acts and Epistles will be better understood if we reflect upon the occasion of them In Acts 15. 1 certain men taught the Brethren Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved Where it was Circumcision and the Ceremonial Law that was in question not the Moral Law the Ceremonial Laws were as a burthen lain aside by the Death of Christ and by the Holy Spirit as is plain in that Chapter And when Paul Acts 21. 17 18 21 came to Jerusalem some told him that many Thousands of the Jews who believed were zealous of the Law i. e. of the Ceremonial Law and were informed of Paul that he taught the Jews which were among the Gentiles to forsake Moses that is the Ceremonial Laws given by Moses saying They ought not to circumcise their Children neither to walk after the Customs and then they advise Paul to purifie himself to remove that Objection to whose Advice Paul yields v. 24 25 26 which occasion'd the Commotion v. 27 28 Crying Men of Israel help this is the man that teacheth all men every where against the Law i. e. the Ceremonial Law of Purifications and
do referr the words of our Lord The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath Mat. 12. 8. Mark 2. 28. Luke 6. 5. He instituted it and was best able to give a true and right Interpretation of it whereof more hereafter Q. 4. If the seventh day Sabbath was kept by Believers The Sabbath kept till the Law given from the Creation till it was repeated at Mount Sinai Exod. XX It is at least probable from the words Mikketz Iammim the cutting off of days and the graciousness of Abel and the respect the Lord had to Abel and his Offering Gen. 4. 3 4. who obtained witness that he was righteous Hâ—b 11. 4. that Abel kept the Sabbath and that Enoch kept the Sabbath who walked with God Three hundred years Gen. 5. 22 24. who had this Testimony that he pleased God Heb. 11. 5. The like I may say of Noah a just man and perfect in his Generation who walked with God and found Grace in his eyes Gen. 6. 8 9. and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith Heb. 11. 7. And that Abraham kept it Gen. 13. 2 4 5 6. from the word Lashebet to dwell or sabbatize together but especially from that Testimony the Lord gives him Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my Charge my Commandments my Statutes and my Laws Gen. 26. 5. General words which include whatsoever God had commanded and two of those words are applied to God's Commands in general and particularly to the Sabbath Exod. 16. 4 5 28 29. which Commands were committed to writing upon Mount Sinai Exod. 19. 18. 20. 1 2 3. which Commandments we have And that Moses and the Israelites in Aegypt kept the Sabbath appears from Pharaoh's Answer Behold the people of the land are many and you Moses and Aaron make them sabbatize or keep the Sabbath or rest from their burthens Ex. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. Vehishbattem from the Root Shabat he rested or kept the Sabbath mentioned in Gen. 2. 3. And that Moses Aaron and Israel kept the Sabbath after their deliverance out of Aegypt appears in Exod. 16. 5 22 23 25 26 27 28 30. which was before the promulgation of the Law at Mount Sinai Exod. 20. Q 5. Whether the Ten Commands were given by Christ to Jews and Gentiles And whether the same weekly seventh-day Sabbath after the giving the Law at Mount Sinai was observed during the Old Testament That the Commands were spoken by Christ eminently I think appears under the second Head Answ 1. That they were given by him as well to the Gentiles as to the Israelites may appear by God's creating Man in his own image Gen. 1. 27. Which Image and Likeness eminently consists and remarkably appears in the Soul whose Nature is spiritual and ordinarily invisible whose Faculties wherewith GOD in Man's Innocency had enriched it were a clear understanding of his Creator's Mind and a rectitude of Will to observe his Laws and we find Paul chiefly placeth this Image of GOD in Man in Knowledge Col. 3. 10. and in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4. 24. After the Fall of Adam the Understanding was darkened and the Will and Affections corrupted and so they remain to this day until Man be regenerated by Christ and his Holy Spirit and so that first Image of God wherein Man was created according to our measure be by Grace restoâ—ed which brings converted Men and Women about again to much of that original Light and Knowledge of the Will of God and to those good Inclinations to keep his Laws wherewith the Soul of Adam was first beautified which Conversion of Man is called the New Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. and a Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. Which does teach and strongly dispose the Hearts of gracious persons to observe God's Commands which Knowledge in Col. 3. 10 may referr to the Will of God in both Tables and the Holiness in Ephes 4. 24. may referr to conformity to the Laws of the first Table and the Righteousness there to Obedience to the second Table Now the Gentiles as well as the Hebrews at first were all in Adam's Loins and there was no such Difference till the time of Heber Gen. 10. 21 24. and Abraham was of Heber's Posterity and Christ in the Genealogy is said to be the Son of Abraham Mat. 1. 11. Luke 3. 34. in whose Genealogy who was the second Adam we find of the Gentiles And if we look into this Case we may see that as now when the Lord shall by Conversion renew his Covenant with the lost Sheep of the House of Israel those branches broken off above sixteen hundred years shall be grafted in again Rom. 11. 5 to 33. and they shall mourn over him whom their Fathers pierced Rev. 1. 7. So it was then with us Gentiles the Bought with Money which were not of Abraham's Blood at the institution of Circumcision were to be circumcised as well as his own Seed Gen. 17. 12. and Strangers as home-born passed alike under the Discipline of the Church Exod. 12. 19. which shews they were in Fellowship with Israel and Strangers if circumcised might keep the Passover at its first institution one Law was to the Stranger and to the home-born Exod. 12. 48 49. And so for Offerings of a sweet savour to the Lord there was but one Law for the Strangers and for the Jews As ye do so he shall do and as ye so shall the stranger be before the Lord Num. 15. 14 15 16. which Passover and Offerings were all before giving the Law at Mount Sinai Exod. 20. So that the Law in Exod. 20. was given to both And the Lord would not have the Son of the Stranger who joyned himself to him to say The Lord had utterly separated him from his People and those Strangers who joyn themselves to him to serve him and to love the Name Jehovah who keep his Sabbaths he will make them joyful in his House of Prayer and accept their services Isa 56. 1 to 7. And not only Israel but the Stranger were alike established a People unto him Deuteron 29. 10 11 15. And in the fourth Command 't is said of the seventh-day Sabbath neither thou nor thy stranger shall do any work therein Exod. 20. 10. So that before the Moral Law given one Law was to the Jews and Gentiles as Exod. 12. 48 49. Exod. 15. 14 15 16. and we may say What Difference was there then or is there now between them and us Those of the Jews or Gentiles then living and dying impenitently had not Salvation by the Messiah those of them or the Gentiles then who joyned themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name Jehovah which as I take it was to love Christ had Eternal Life by him and so all such now have and will have to the end of the World And altho' Circumcision in its season were a good Institution yet in the sence above it ever was and will be
Church of Christ by the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit out of Bonage in and under literal Aegypt we have in Exod. 20. 1 2. I had also thought upon the first Command to have shewn â—hat Faith in Christ though it be the Gift of Faith a Duty â—od Eph. 2. 8. as every other Grace is is a â—uty commanded This is his Command That we believe in his Son Rom. 16. 26. 1 John 3 23 24. And by our Lord Jesus Christ Faith is said to be one of the weightier matters of the Law Mat. 23. 23. The People asked Jesus What shall we do that we may work the works of God Jesus said This is the work of God that ye believe on him which he hath sent John 6. 22 28 29. And the Righteousness by the Faith of Jesus Christ is witnessed by the Law and the Prophets Rom. 3. 21. Which may also pass for a further Proof That the Moral Law still obliges under the Gospel I had also prepared a few Sheets upon the second Command to enquire Whether Forms of Worship graved printed or written not instituted by the Lord but invented by Man are Good Right True Spiritual Christian Worship and Whether forbidden by the Letter of the second Command in the word Pesel about which good Worship there is much in the Old and much in the New Testament As also If the Lord's Prayer were not for Secret Prayer Enter into thy Closet shut thy Door pray to thy Father in secret thy Father who sees in secret shall reward openly Mat. 6. 6 9. All in secret but the Reward which should be open As also about Right Singing from Eph. 5. 18 19. And to have enquired after the import of those words there Psalms If that mean Psalms in the Word Hymns if that mean occasional Singing by such as have that excellent Gift And Spiritual Songs if that mean Songs composed of Spiritual Matter for which the Scriptures are full to furnish the meanest Minister of Christ and others also and all without Rhime And something concerning the horrible Prophaners of God Name by swearing and cursing against the third Command Thâ— Lord will not hold them guiltless I had prepared also some Thoughts about the rest of the Commands and in particular about the fifth Command and thereiâ— about Monarchy but finding I have much to do to recover thâ— word Seventh i. e. one word in the fourth Command I haâ— at present left it out Now seeing Mat. 5. 17 18 19 and Luke 16. 17. do so confâ— the Decalogue how is it that it confirms all the Ten Commanâ— without exception and not the Seventh day which is a part the Decalogue and is a seventh part of Time and one Day of tâ— Week And why should we so hotly oppose it God has plaâ—ly prescribed that day why do we alter it The best Reaâ— that I can give is the marvellous Corruption that is in our Nature which doth incline us to be as Gods and to give Rules to the Divine Majesty and to all the World and puts us upon Pretences to be wiser than God And the earnestness which I find in some for the First day I ascribe to the looseness of others who were for the First day and for Sports and Pastimes also upon it and much to the force of Example and Education we have been long trained up in the observation thereof and so entertained strong Conceits that we are in the right and cannot yet be put out of it though when we are asked we can assign no Command from Christ or his Word for it and yet fiercely contend for it Which shews plainly that it is God's Work to convince the World of this Sin yet means may be used It has been acknowledged that the Advocates for the First day generally mean well but should remember that good Intentions when they run in any Channel besides the Word have been the occasion of bringing in Monkery many Ceremonies great Controversies Errors Divisions and some bloody Wars and many Mischiefs which from the Primitive Times to this day have afflicted and shaken the Churches from which after some years consideration I think there can be no deliverance but by a profeâ—â—ed returning to be ruled in all cases by the plain Word of Christ And Learned Excellent Commenius the only surviving Bishop Commenius if he be yet alive Bishop of Bohemia in his printed Exhortation to the Churches of England upon the Restitution of Charles the Second Ann. Dom. 1660 prophesies our Ruine upon this Rock whilst Christ in his Word teaches one thing and men teach another where he brings in the Lord protesting against us all as no Christians because we keep not the Commands of Christ and when he shall vouchsafe to raise up some Repairers of the Collapsed state of the Church he would haâ—e them give God this Honour to do nothing but according to the Prescript of his Will Exod. 25. 40. all to be after the Paâ—tern in the Mount and to take that for an everlasting Rule â—â— was not thus from the Beginning Mat. 19. 8. and to have a caâ—e that what is not of Divine Institution but contrary thereunto be taken away as a Plant not of the Father's planting Mat. 15. 13. and whatever is instituted by GOD but through Carelesness of Man neglected or hath by Guile been changed be restored Mat. 5. 17 18 19. This Book of Commenius was printed about 1660 upon the occasion of the late King's Restitution wherein as I think he plainly intimates the restoring the Instituted Sabbath by Guile changed but in such terms as Quarrelers might have no certain Advantage he drives at a more thorow Reformation than hitherto hath been in the Churches and to bring us back to the Times of the Apostles wherein consists the true Glory and Happiness of the Churches although Commenius in that same Book fol. 51 52 53 54 says The Custom of the Bâ—hemian Churches was to keep the Dominical day As for those Laws which we call Ceremonial I take them to teach and Command Faith in Christ who was veiled and hid under Typical Ordinances as Sacrifices and Altars which in their very Nature ceased to be farther literally observed when Christ the true Antitype was sacrificed for his People and Circumcision the Passover and the then Priesthood were by his Death taken away and Baptism the Lord's Supper and another more excellent Gospel-Ministry instituted Mat. 28. 19 20. And the Epistles especially that to the Hebrews do open much of the Mysteries of Christ and the many Benefits Believers in him do receive by the several old and new Ordinances now explaining one another and I suppose may be of use for convincing the Jews when their time of Conversion comes and the Law of Sacrifices does discover how Man was justified from the Guilt contracted by transgressing any of the Commands viz. by Christ typified by the Sacrifices and his Righteousness As the Judicials did shew how Transgressors
should be proceeded against by Magistrates and by Ministers for there we find many Directions for the Discipline of transgressing Subjects by their Princes and Judges and of Members of the Church by their then Pastors But to return to those who defend the Change of the Seventh day and teach it to others let such have a care of that Threatning Mat. 5. 19 20. for if the Exceptions they make against the Law in that point be not good they are certainly dangerous to those that make them Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5. 19. And how far that least Extends think well of These Ten Commands many call the Moral Law and not to quarrel with Terms Moral signifieth pertaining to Moral Law Manners which being applied to Divine Laws may be said to be a Rule prescribed by the Lord to direct our Thoughts Words and Actions and so does include whatsoever is commanded or forbidden in Thought Word or Deed which our Lord comprehends in the love of God and of our Neighbor Mat. 22. 38 39. a part of which Moral Law all agree was in the time of Christ the Command for the Seventh day And he that will enter into Life must keep the Commandments Mat. 19. 17. Which he that keepeth loveth Christ and Christ will love him and manifest himself unto him John 14. 21. And it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail Luke 16. 17. And surely Christ does not there exclude the Law of the Ten Commands whereof one tittle cannot pass away And let any man shew us what other Law it is that Christ there means And if it be easier for Heaven and Earth than for one tittle of the ten Commands to pass away it will be impossible to take away the Seventh day positively said to be the Sabbath of the Lord And if the Commands and therein the Seventh day stand as long as Heaven and Earth they surely stand now for the Heaven and Earth yet stand And our Lord farther confirms the Moral Law by shewing what Sins they are which defile a man Mat. 15. 3 11 18 19. Evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witness Blasphemies Now Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts and False-witnessing are Sins against the Second Table Blasphemies Sins against the First Table and Evil Thoughts Sins against every Command in both Tables The Scribes and Pharisees there transgressed the Commandments of God by their Traditions v. 3. The Commands Christ there affirms are the Fifth Command v. 4 and the Second Command v. 8 9. which Moral Law they unlorded v. 6. The Command Christ charges them with as making it of no effect or of unlording it Exod. 20. 12. Deut. 5. 16. is the Fifth Command one of the Second Table And that about their vain Worship v. 8 9 was against the Second Command in the First Table and so Christ by those instances affirms both Tables When the young man asked Christ what good thing he should do that he might have Eternal Life Mat. 19. 16 17 18 19 20. Christ answers If thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commands and names some of them as Thou shalt do no Murder and Thou shalt not commit Adultery so that Christ in his Answer referrs him to the Moral Law Charnock's Attributes pag. 612. And so Christ there affirms the Moral Law which I think does fully prove that by the general word of Commands Christ meant the Ten Commands and if Christ meant the Ten Commands and have confirmed and established them by One and much more by so many plain Scriptures what Power on Earth can alter any one of them The great Commission which the Lord gives his Ministers is to teach all Nations to observe all things Christ doth not except the Seventh day whatsoever I have commanded you Mat. 28. 19 20. A very learned Writer in his Annotations on that Text saith It implyeth that his Commands are the Universal Laws of his Catholick Church and no Man or Men have Authoâ—ity to make Laws for the Universal Church on Earth but He and to undertake it is to undertake the Prerogative of Christ and be Vice-Christ by Usurpation be it Pope or Councils Which I think are words of much strength consequence and truth and I may say as Cornelius to Peter We are here present to hear all things that are commanded thee of God Acts 10. 33. But if any speak not according to this Rule we are not to follow Paul further than he follows Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. And as any person is brought to love Christ he takes present care to keep his Commands John 14 15. and Christ shews mercy to those who love him and keep his Commands Exod. 20. 6. And what other way is there to declare our selves the Friends of Christ and good Subjects to him but by doing whatever he commands us John 15. 14. 14. 21 here is no exception of the Seventh day nor elsewhere that I can find in all the Scriptures 't is by this Law of the Decalogue that we have the knowledge of Sin Rom. 3. 20. 7. 7. And we find the Apostle did not make void the Law through Faith but established it Rom. 3. 31. And the Law of Works mentioned in Rom. 3. 27 shews the Law which Faith doth not make void Rom. 3. 31 to be the Ten Commands and speaking of the same Law resolves it to be holy and the Commandment holy just and good and spiritual to which he consented as good and delighted in it after the Inner man Rom. 7. 1 12 14 16 22 25. To which the carnal mind cannot be subject Rom. 8. 7. What Law do Opposers understand by these Scriptures if not the Ten Commands And if these Scriptures mean the Ten Commands as they plainly do how comes one to be changed and mangled and the Seventh day to be excepted Which Ten Commands are called a Royal Law to be fulfilled and a Law by which all Believers shall be judged Jam. 2. 8 12. which Law in the new Covenant is promised to be given into their Minds and to be writ upon their Hearts and that by Jehovah Christ Heb. 8. 18 10 compared with Jer. 31. 33 which is farther Proof that Christ is Jehovah and this without any exception of the Seventh day But if any man sin i. e. break the Sabbath or any of the Ten Commands we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous he is the Propitiation for our sins And hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commands John 2. 1 23. And it is as it seems to me very strange how the World should be so long misled in so discernible a case And this is the love of God that we keep his Commands 1 John 5. 3. And what can that mean if not the Ten Commands And whatsoever we ask we receive
because it is his Holy-day And if it be His day then it is the Lord's day and that which He calls his day and says is his day is certainly his day and we ought to believe and acknowledge it to be his day In which plain Arguments I think there is some strength though weakly expressed 4. Another Argument I take from Mat. 12. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day And the like Mark 2. 28 The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath And the like in Luke 6. 5 Christ saith to the Pharisees That the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath Which places also farther prove Christ's Deity That the Sabbath there in Matthew Mark and Luke spoken of is the Seventh day Sabbath I think is agreed by all Expositors and appears in those Chapters to be the Sabbath which the Israelites then observed which was then and is still the Seventh day of the week And we find in Mat. 12. 5 that the Exception was taken by the Pharisees as if Christ's Disciples by plucking Ears of Corn and eating them had done that which was not lawful to be done on the Sabbath day Mat. 12. 1 2. And surely they did not object against Christ as breaking Sunday i. e. the First day And so it must needs be the Seventh-day Sabbath that this Debate between the Lord and the Pharisees was about And the same may be said of Mark 2. 24 28 and of Luke 6. 2 3 5 in which Scriptures it was the Jewish Sabbath that was in question And that the Son of Man who is there said to be Lord of the Sabbath day is Christ I think also certain for that our Saviour useth this term of Son of Man about sixty times in the Gospel and always of himself and I think never with reference to any other man And Christ is called the Son of Man by John Rev. 1. 13 but three Verses from Rev. 1. 10. from whence this main Objection is taken And Rev. 14. 14 Christ is again called the Son of Man so that the Son of Man in Matthew Mark Luke and John who writ the Revelation is the Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord of the Sabbath day As for those who would interpret the Son of Man in those places of Matthew Mark and Luke to be ordinary Men and so give ordinary men a Lordship over a Moral Law as no such thing is written so I take that Interpretation to be wholly unscriptural and exploded by all sound Expositors and would give Men a Lordship over the Moral Laws which would be a very loose Interpretation And I take it to be plain that by the Son of Man in Matthew Mark Luke and John is meant the Lord Jesus Christ Then supposing the Sabbath mentioned by Matthew Mark and Luke to be the Seventh-day weekly Sabbath and the Son of Man mentioned by Matthew Mark Luke and John to be the Lord Jesus Christ which day then if the Scriptures may be Judge is the true Lord's day Whence I may thus reason That day whereof Christ the Son of Man is Lord is the Lord's day but the Seventh-day Sabbath is that day whereof Christ the Son of Man is Lord therefore the seventh-day Sabbath is the Lord's day And if the Scriptures may and must resolve the Case and the seventh day be the Lord's day sure then there is an end of this Objection I know some put a very wrong Gloss as I think upon these three plain Texts of Mat. 12. 8 Mark 2. 28 Luke 6. 5 and pretend that the Son of Man's being Lord of the Sabbath imports that Christ the Son of Man hath power to change the Sabbath by which Gloss they do acknowledge that the Son of Man there is Christ and that by the Sabbath in those Texts is meant the Seventh-day Sabbath and that Christ is Lord of the Seventh-day Sabbath which also farther proves Christ to be Jehovah which no Christian man can deny but that there was any Thought of changing it there is not a tittle written And if Christ's words had had that meaning and the Jews to whom he spake had so understood him they would surely have taken greater Offence at such Doctrine whereof there is not a word in those Texts where the Case was this in short The Jews by misunderstanding the true meaning of the Fourth Command thought Christ broke that Law by working miraculous Cures on the Seventh-day and that his Disciples broke it by plucking and rubbing Ears of Corn for their necessary Food upon the Sabbath day This Mistake of the Jews Christ who gave the Sabbath and who was and is Lord of it and so best understood the true scope and meaning of the Law which he himself gave reproves and rectifies by a clear Exposition of that Law When the Pharisees Mat. 12. 1 2 and Mark 2. 23 24 25 took exception against Christ's Disciples for plucking Ears of Corn c. as doing that upon the Sabbath which was not lawful Christ referrs them to what they read about David's eating Shew-bread which was only lawful for Priests but in case of necessity was lawful for David to do v. 4. And Christ for farther answer referrs them to the Case of the Priests in the Temple who upon the Sabbath day did divers acts of much servile Labour as offering Sacrifices and many other things which in their sence would have been a Profanation of the Sabbath yet being Labour appointed by the LORD and about his then instituted Worship the Priests in doing of it were blameless v 5. And Christ farther tells them that if they had known what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice Hos 6. 6 they would not have condemned the Guiltless And when in the Case of the man with a withered Hand they asked Christ Whether it were lawful to heal on the Sabbath day Mat. 12. 10 and Mark 3. 1 2 5 Christ answers What man having a Sheep fallen into a pit on the sabbath day will not lay hold of it and lift it out Ver. 11. This they themselves would do and they also knew that the Life or Good of a Man was to be preferred before the Life or Good of a Beast and so Christ appeals to them as condemning themselves in a Case which they allowed that it was lawful to do well on the sabbath day v. 12 and cures the withered Hand v. 14. see also his curing and defending the Cure of the Woman who had an Infirmity eighteen years on the Sabbath Luke 13 10 to 17 where all his Adversaries were ashamed of their false Glosses upon the Law of the Sabbath v. 17. We have also Christ curing and defending that Cure of the man who had a Dropsy by the case of an Ass or Ox fallen into a Pit on the Sabbath day Luke 14. 1 2 5 and of a man who had an Infirmity thirty eight years on the Sabbath John 5. 5 to 9 and v. 16 at which
confirmed â—hat the vulgar Opinion for the First day is a vulgar Error which wants nothing to remove it as I humbly apprehend â—ut only the time when Christ will by his Spirit give an efficaâ—y to his plain Command and Word which First day has this Evidence of its weak Foundation that while some of the most â—earned do what they can by Writing and Practice to support â— they often beget new and confirm old Doubts about it and â— discover the Dust they raise to darken the Question to be â—ut Dust and shew the Sandiness of the Ground upon which â—hey build that Change And one sure way to convince an impartial enquiring Mind who has leisure enough is to read Mr. Hughes and Mr. Shepherd's Treatises about it wherein a plain Mind may discern so large Concessions about the Obligation of the Moral Law as seem to me to answer all Objections besides the great Contrariety there is amongst the Writers for the First day wherein he that will observe the Order of Time wherein their Books are written may find especially now of late that the last Book printed for the First day is ordinarily a tacite Answer to that which was last printed before it for the First day as two eminent Writers for the First day as it seems to me in answer to Mr. Hughes without naming him and to one another do shew whereof somewhat before by which 't is evident they think some hurt the Cause they write for and no two that I know of the many that have written have yet agreed upon the Grounds of its Observation And now at last it is openly avowed by one of the greatest of all the Writers for the First day that it is not instituted by the Scriptures By which words I think he gives up this Cause for if it be not instituted by the Scriptures and consequently not by Christ or by his Apostles or by the Holy Spirit there by whom when and where was it instituted Who but Christ has Power to institute a Sabbath day or to alter his Institution To whom has Christ given any Authority to alter one Iota or Tittle of the Moral Law Who are they that are bound to observe a weekly day not instituted by Christ in the Scriptures or are bound to lay aside what he has there instituted because of Private Mens Sayings and Writings And how this Law for the First day being an Universal Law and endeavoured to be imposed on the Universal Church can be excused from an high Usurpation of the Divine Authority and from an accusing Christ as if he had not sufficiently done his Work I know not And whatsoever some write for Obedience to their Inventions I cannot imagine they think any shaâ— be condemned or blamed by Christ at last for not doing whaâ— he has not required in his Word or that they would have uâ— live by the Rule of Tradition when they know and acknowledgâ— we must be judged by another Rule viz. by the Word Anâ— that the Word of God which we have is the Rule by which aâ— Worship Doctrines Conversation Discipline and all Mankindâ— are to be tryed in this World and shall be finally judged at laâ—â— I take to be the great Christian Principle as to this and thâ—â— which as far as I can recollect is generally avowed by all the sound Protestants that I have read or known in the World And I shall not wonder if some men under the colours of Tradition usurp the Divine Authority against the First Command and if such write and plead for what I think I can shew is forbidden in the Second Command and if they break in upon all the Commands for all which Men may easily plead Tradition all Ages more or less having brought forth some Transgressors of all the Commands which to such Arguers are Historical Evidences for such Practices But follow no man farther than he follows Christ And there is no Principle more evident and universally confessed by all the Reformed Christians than that whatever God commands us in his Worship or otherwise that we are to do be the things themselves in our Eye great or small And when Men can bind God's Promises of Assistance and Acceptance to their Inventions whether they be days or any thing else in his Worship or other Duty of Man then and not before they may appoint a new day of Rest Obj. And whereas one learned Writer for the First day thinks we cannot make good any one single Verse of the Scripture without Traditions Ans I had thought to have shewn in a Sheet or two that the sound Protestant Divines do generally agree that a Christian may be infallibly certain of his Faith by the Scriptures the Certainty whereof the Lord by his Spirit seals upon the Hearts of his Converts John 16. 7 8 13. And I had thought to give Instances of those converted by Christ and by his Apostles and since by his Ministers by his Word and Holy Spirit as never â—ent nor going to Tradition to assure them of the Divine Auâ—hority of that Word which did convert them which Word â—veth and abideth for ever And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto us 1 Pet. 23. 25 and is settled in Heaven Psal 119. 89 and will stand for ever Isa 40. 8. But thus much â—ay be a sufficient Answer to that Objection The late great and learned Assembly in their Confession of Faith â— 1. par 9 10 say The infallible Rule of Interpretation of â— Scripture is the Scripture it self and therefore when there is â— Question about the true and full sence of any Scripture it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly And parag 10. The supreme Judge of all Controversies in Religion can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures And the Elders and Messengers of the Congregational Churches c. that met at the Savoy Ann. 1658 in their Declaration of their Faith and Order Ch. 1. Art 4 say The Authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be believed and obeyed dependeth not upon the Testimony of any Man or Church but wholly upon God who is Truth it self the Author thereof and therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God See also Art 5 6. And Art 9 't is said The infallible Rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture it self c. As in the Assemblys Confession above cited and Artic. 10. to the same effect with the Assemblys Confession also And the Confession of Faith of the Antopaedobaptists Chap. 1 speaks the same things and in the same words or at least with very little variation of the words As to Traditions for the First day called Sunday the observation thereof amongst some I acknowledge is Traditions for and against Sunday ancient and that the Heathen Nations did oâ— old long before the Birth of our Lord offer Sacrifice to the Sun and worship
of Tyre brought all manner of Ware and sold on the Sabbath to Judah in Jerusalem so here was a notorious general Violation of that Law whereupon he contends with the Nobles of Judah What Evil is this that ye do and prophane the Sabbath day Did not your Fathers thus it seems keeping Markets upon the Sabbath day was before his time and did not our God bring all this Evil upon us and upon this City Yet ye bring more Wrath upon Israel by prophaning the Sabbath And then he commanded to shut the Gates as it began to be dark till after the Sabbath and set his own Servants at the Gates that no Burthens might be brought in on the Sabbath Neh. 13. 15 to 22. Q. 2. If it be prophesied by any of the Prophets that the Sabbath should be changed in times of the Gospel and by whom Ans That other which should rise and be diverse from the first Dan. 7. 24 I find many Expositors think agrees best with Antichrist And who should wear out the See the Dutch Annotaâ— on Dan. 7. 24. Saints of the Most High and think to change Times and Laws and that they should be given into his Hand until a time and times and the dividing of times Dan. 7. 25. Divers learned men understand his wearing out the Saints to prophesie his Prosperity for a Season and his changing of Times and Laws to be of changing the Sabbath which would be given into his Hand and a time and times and half a time to be the Three years and an half elsewhere spoken of Rev. 12. 14. 11. 11 with Dan. 7. 24 25. Compare also Isa 24. 1 5. Hos 2. 11. But when those Three years and an half will end I know not And it seems to be somewhat observable That Ludovicus the Name of a great Prince now in the World has in the numerical Letters of it the exact number of 666 Rev. 13. 18 which Note as I am now of late credibly informed since the writing of these Sheets has been taken notice of 3 or 4 years since by a learned Doctor and Prelate of the Church of England and it may be since by some others And if this be the Meaning of the Holy Spirit in that Place and Context it has many Consequences which much concern the Churches of Christ at home and abroad to consider But that in truth this Change of the Seventh day was introduced by the Bishop of Rome let any man who peruses those few Collections before about that matter judge And if the observation of the First day no where commanded in the Word by the Lord that I could ever find or read or hear of be an Error as I conceive it is Jehovah the Messiah who is Head of the Church who loves it and gave himself for it can by his Word and Holy Spirit cleanse it from this and all other Mistakes which yet remain and will present it a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle that it may be holy and without blemish Eph. 5. 23 25 26 27. Charnock's Attributes f. 755 756 757 758 782 783 414. That no man ought to alter God's Laws and that Disputes against them are intolerable and that it is a controuling of the Divine Wisdom to make any Alteration in his Precepts Charn Attrib f. 400 402 403 404. The wise in Heart will receive the Commands Prov. 10. 8. I have heard Mr. Charnook's Practice was to preach upon the First day but what his Judgment was in the main point I do not remember to have read in those Writings of his which are in my Hand Mr. Pool of whom mention is made before I think might be in Opinion and Practice for ought I know for the First day and of the same Opinion have been and are many other worthy men as has been acknowledged Yet still Sin is the Transgression of the Law 1 John 3. 4. And this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments which are not grievous 1 John 5. 3 nor have any thing in them which Men should be unwilling to keep The Wisdom of God appears in his Laws Charn Att. f. 412. Submit to his Wisdom in this Case f. 413. The Moral Law cannot be abolished or altered in the whole or any part of it without Reflection upon the Wisdom and Righteousness of Christ the Law-giver Charn Att. f. 549. Man's Glory in the World lies in his Conformity to Christ and our Conformity to him lies in our keeping his Commands His Law is holy Rom. 7. 11. Pure Psal 19. 8. Holy and pure as it is a Ray of the pure nature of Christ the Law-giver f. 559. though they be never so many and great who are of another Opinion The Law to alter the Seventh day to the First you may see before in the Collections out of the Centuries was by the Bishops of Rome who though they pretended to dispense with the Laws of the Church could not alter or dispense with the Laws of God because no Law can be dispensed with or altered in any point by any Authority but that which is equal to that which enacted it Now no Pope or other men on Earth can pretend to an Authority equal to the Authority of God so as if there be no Divine Precept for any other than the Seventh day then it is certain that no Decrees of Popes or Councils or any Tradition can be of any force to alter that Law God hath declared to be his Law The Apostles have made no new Laws about this as before but left it as they found it And that neither the Pope nor any other Power can dispense with the Law of God I think has been agreed by all the great Protestant Writers and the Reason is evident The Laws of God are above them and no Church or Man or Men can dispense with them in any Case It may be some may secretly wish that this Fourth Command for the keeping holy the Seventh day were not so plain or that it were expressed or that they could somewhere find it altered in the Scriptures because so plain a Command not repealed nor altered there and so confirmed by Christ faces their Consciences answers all the Books and throws down all the Batteries raised against it Fain they would find out some colourable Objections to shelter themselves in a continual Violation of it but still that Law rises up and overthrows all Opposition They pray to God to encline their Hearts to keep that Law and yet keep it down what they can but all will not do GOD who has reserved a Tenth of our Substance has reserved but a Seventh of our Time which we should neither alter nor begrudge And indeed it seems to me marvellous that the observation of the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath should be so long laid aside here in a Land of Light notwithstanding so direct and plain a Command and that the First day should so far obtain for which we have so very
little Colour some at first by Subtilty making and others by Carelesness letting in that Observation and now finding some Good by the Ordinances then celebrated approve of the day also and have put all their Strength to defend it An Opinion blown up to a wonderful heighth which yet God by his Word can easily take down For the present some have altered and in part abrogated this old Command and set up a contrary one in its stead and so do become in this not God's Subjects but his Law-givers as if they could make a more holy See Charnock's Attrib pag. 75. righteous Law than the Law of God and have so far forsaken God's Law and walked after the imagination of their own Hearts Jer. 9. 31. In this taxing his Wisdom as if he did not understand Job 21. 22 How unreasonable is this to impose any Law upon God and force him to revoke his own Upon the whole to my weak Understanding it seems evident That the World was made by the Lord Jesus Christ and that he is Jehovah who after the Creation instituted the Seventh day rested on it sanctified it and blessed it and that it was observed from the Creation till it was repeated at Mount Sinai and that there the Commands were given by Christ the Redeemer to Jews and Gentiles i. e. to all Mankind and that same Seventh day observed by Moses and the Prophets till his Incarnation that the Ten Commands and therein the Seventh-day Sabbath were confirmed by Immanuel our God and Saviour after his taking our Nature upon him that the same Seventh-day Sabbath and no other day of the week was kept by him during his life here and that perfectly and constantly and when he had finished the Work of Redemption that his Body rested in the Grave the next Seventh-day Sabbath and himself in Heaven as he rested the Seventh day after he ended the Work of Creation and that while he rested in Heaven and his Body in the Grave Believers then rested also according to the Fourth Command and by the Testimony of the Scriptures that the Seventh-day Sabbath was observed by the Apostles and all other Believers after our Lord's Resurrection and that constantly and that the Holy Spirit does call the Seventh day only and no other day of the week the Sabbath throughout the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and that after Christ's Ascension and after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and that there is no Law nor any Word to be found in the Scriptures which do 2 Tim. 3. 17. Acts 20. 32. most certainly and fully contain the whole and perfect Duty of Man which requires the keeping holy the First day of the week and that there is not there one word of Promise made to the Observers of it nor any Promise of Acceptance from the LORD for any person in that Observation and that there is not one word of Threatning or Displeasure there against those who do not observe it Not one word there which constitutes the First day a Sabbath or calls it by that Name and How can it be proved by any man to be of God when the Word of God does not tell us of it Not one word that repeals or alters the Fourth Command in any jot or tittle nor any Power there given to any that ever were are or shall be in the World to make any Alteration therein and Who can tell us the persons authorized from God to do this Which therefore as long as the Heaven and Earth abide seems to me Luke 16. 17. Exod. 20. 10. Matth. 5. 18. unalterable and shews that the Seventh day is the true weekly Christian Sabbath and ought to be observed 〈◊〉 not repeaâ—ed nor altered there and so confirmed by Christ faces their Consciâ—â—â—'s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the 〈◊〉 and throws down all the Batteries raised against it Fain they would find out some colourable Objections to shelter themselves in a continual Violation of it but still that Law rises up and overthrows all Opposition They pray to God to encline their Hearts to keep that Law and yet keep it down what they can but all will not do GOD who has reserved a Tenth of our Substance has reserved but a Seventh of our Time which we should neither alter nor begrudge And indeed it seems to me marvellous that the observation of the weekly Seventh-day Sabbath should be so long laid aside here in a Land of Light notwithstanding so direct and plain a Command and that the First day should so far obtain for which we have so very little Colour some at first by Subtilty making and others by Carelesness letting in that Observation and now finding some Good by the Ordinances then celebrated approve of the day also and have put all their Strength to defend it An Opinion blown up to a wonderful heighth which yet God by his Word can easily take down For the present some have altered and in part abrogated this old Command and set up a contrary one in its stead and so do become in this not God's Subjects but his Law-givers as if they could make a more holy See Charnock's Attrib pag. 75. righteous Law than the Law of God and have so far forsaken God's Law and walked after the imagination of their own Hearts Jer. 9. 31. In this taxing his Wisdom as if he did not understand Job 21. 22 How unreasonable is this to impose any Law upon God and force him to revoke his own Upon the whole to my weak Understanding it seems evident That the World was made by the Lord Jesus Christ and that he is Jehovah who after the Creation instituted the Seventh day rested on it sanctified it and blessed it and that it was observed from the Creation till it was repeated at Mount Sinai and that there the Commands were given by 〈…〉 kind and that same Seventh day observed by Moses and the Prophets till his Incarnation that the Ten Commands and therein the Seventh-day Sabbath were confirmed by Immanuel our God and Saviour after his taking our Nature upon him that the same Seventh-day Sabbath and no other day of the week was kept by him during his life here and that perfectly and constantly and when he had finished the Work of Redemption that his Body rested in the Grave the next Seventh-day Sabbath and himself in Heaven as he rested the Seventh day after he ended the Work of Creation and that while he rested in Heaven and his Body in the Grave Believers then rested also according to the Fourth Command and by the Testimony of the Scriptures that the Seventh-day Sabbath was observed by the Apostles and all other Believers after our Lord's Resurrection and that constantly and that the Holy Spirit does call the Seventh day only and no other day of the week the Sabbath throughout the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and that after Christ's Ascension and after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and