eminent and answered Gods Rest from his own 2 Satisfaction in his works and the glorious product of them as those which had an impression on them of his Love and Grace Psal. 16. 7. § 23 It remains only that we enquire into his Entrance into his Rest both how and when he did so even as God entred into his on the seventh day for this must limit and determine a Day of Rest to the Gospel-Church Now this was not his lying down in the Grave His Body indeed there rested for a while but that was no part of his mediatory Rest as be was the founder and builder of the Church For 1 It was a part of his Humiliation Not only his Death but his abode and continuance in the state of Death was so and that a principal part of it For after the whole Humane Nature was personally united unto the Son of God to have it brought into a state of Dissolution to have the Body and Soul separated from each other was a great Humiliation And every thing of this nature belonged unto his Works and not his Rest. 2 This separation of Body and Soul under the power of Death was poenal a part of the sentence of the Law which he underwent And therefore Peter declares that the pains of Death were not loosed but in his Resurrection Act. 2. 24. Whom God saith he hath raised up loosing the pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it Whilst he was held of it he was under it penally This therefore could not be his Rest nor any part of it Nor did he in it enter into his Rest but continued in his Work Nor 2dly did he first enter into his Rest at his Ascension Then indeed he took actual possession of his Glory as to the full publick manifestation of it But to enter into Rest is one thing and to take possession of Glory another And it is placed by our Apostle as a consequent of his being justified in the Spirit when he entred into Rest 1 Tim. 3. 16. But this his entrance into Rest was in by and at his Resurrection from the dead For 1 Then and therein was he freed from the sentence power and stroke of the Law being discharged of all the Debts of our sins which he had undertaken to make satisfaction for Acts 2. 24. 2 Then and therein were all Types all Predictions and Prophesies fulfilled which concern the work of our Redemption 3 Then therefore his work was done I mean that which answereth Gods creating work though he still continue that which answers his work of preservation Then was the Law fulfilled and satisfied Sathan subdued Peace with God made the Price of our Redemption paid the Promise of the Spirit received and the whole Foundation of the Church of God gloriously laid on his Person in his Works and Rest. 4 Then and therein was he declared to be the Son of God with power Rom. 1. 4. God manifesting unto all that this was he concerning and unto whom he said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Acts 13. 33. § 24 Thus did the Author of the New Creation the Son of God the Builder of the Church having finished his works enter into his Rest. And this was as all know on the morning of the first day of the week And hereby did he limit and determine the Day for a sacred Sabbatical Rest under the New Testament For now was the Old Covenant utterly abolished and therefore the Day which was the pledge of Gods and Mans Rest therein was to be taken away and was so accordingly as we have shewed As the Rest from the beginning of the World had its foundation from the works of God and his Rest which ensued thereon which was determined unto the seventh Day because that was the Day wherein God ceased from those works which Day was continued under the legal administration of the Covenant by Moses so the Rest of the Lord Christ the Son of God is the foundation of our Rest which changing the old Covenant and the day annexed unto it he hath limited unto the first Day of the Week whereon he ceased from his works and entred into his Rest. And hereby the Apostle compleats the due Analogy that is between the several Rests of God and his people which he hath discoursed of in this Chapter For as in the beginning of the World there was first the work of God and his Rest thereon which made way unto a Rest for his people in himself and in his worship by the contemplation of his works that he had made on whose finishing he rested and a Day designed determined blessed and sanctified to express that Rest of God whence mention is made of those works in the command for the observation of that Day seeing the workship of God in and on it consisted principally in the glorifying of him by and for those works of his as also to be a means to further men in their entrance into eternal Rest whereunto all these things do tend and as at the giving of the Law there was a great Work of God and his Rest thereon in his establishing his Worship in the Land of Canaan which made way for the peoples entring into his Rest in that Worship and Countrey and had a Day of Rest enjoyned unto them to express the one and the other as also to help them to enter finally into the Rest of God so now under the Gospel there is a Rest answering all these in and by the instances which we have given § 25 And this is that which the Apostle affirms as the substance of all which he hath evinced Namely that there is a Sabbatism for the people of God v. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word is framed by our Apostle from an Hebrew original with a Greek Termination And he useth it as that which is comprehensive of his whole sense which no other word would be For he would shew that there is a Sabbatical Rest founded in the Rest of God remaining for the Church and therefore makes use of that word whereby God expressed his own Rest when he sanctified the seventh Day for a Day of Rest thereon That Day of Rest being removed and another on a new foundation namely the Rest of Christ upon his works introduced he calls it a Sabbatism or a Sabbath-keeping He doth not do this only and separately averring the necessity of a Sabbath-observation in the first place distinctly from a Spiritual Rest in Christ with an Eternal Rest ensuing thereon but in the manner and Order before laid down wherein the necessity of such a Day is included And besides the evidence that ariseth from the consideration of the whole Context there are two things which make it undeniably evident that our Apostle asserts an Evangelical Sabbath or Day of Rest to be constantly observed in and for the Worship of God under the Gospel For first without this design
expounded in the next words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seven times seven years seven years being called a Sabbath of years because of the Lands resting every seventh year in answer to the Rest of the Church every seventh Day see the Targum on Isa. 58. 13. Esth. 2. 9. Moreover because of the Rest that was common to the Weekly Sabbath with all other Sacred Feasts of Moses's Institution in their stated Monthly or Annual Revolution they were also called Sabbaths as shall be proved afterwards And as the Greeks and Latines made use of this Word borrowed from the Hebrew so the Jews observing that their Sabbath Day had amongst them its Name from Saturne Dies Saturni as amongst us it is still thence called Satterday they called him or the Planet of that Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shabbetai And even from hence some of the Jews take advantage to please themselves with vain Imaginations So R. Isaac Caro commending the Excellency of the seventh Day sayes That Saturne is the Planet of that Day the whole being denominated from the first hour whereof afterwards He therefore saith he hath power on that Day to renew the strength of our Bodies as also to influence our minds to understand the Mysteries of God He is the Planet of Israel as the Astrologers acknowledge doubtless and in his portion is the rational soul and in the parts of the earth the house of the Sanctuary and among Tongues the Hebrew Tongue and among Laws the Law of Israel So far he who whether he can make good his claim to the Relation of the Jews unto Saturne or their pretended advantage on supposition thereof I leave to our Astrologers to determine seeing I know nothing of these things And on the same Account of their Rest falling on the Day under that Planetary Denomination many of the Heathen thought they dedicated the Day and the Religion of it unto Saturne So Tacitus Histor. lib. 5. Alii Honorem eum Saturno haberi Seu Principia Religionis tradentibus Idaeis quos cum Saturno Pulsos conditores Gentis accepimus seu quod c septem syderibus queis mortales reguntur altissimo orbe praecipua Potentia stella Saturni feratur ac pleraque coelestium vim suam cursiem septimos per numeros conficiant Such Fables did the most diligent of the Heathen suffer themselves to be deluded withal whereby a prejudice was kept up in their minds against the only true God and his Worship The Word sometimes is also redoubled by a pure Hebraisme 1 Chron. 9. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shabbath Shabbath that is every Sabbath and somewhat variously used in the conjunction of another form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 16. 23. Chap. 35. 2. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 31. 15. Levit. 25. 4. We render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Rest the Rest of the Sabbath and a Sabbath of Rest. Where sabbaton is preposed at least it seems to be as much as Sabbatulum and to denote the entrance into the Sabbath or the Preparation for it such as was more solemn when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Sabbath an High Day ensued Such was the Sabbath before the Passeover for the Miracle as the Jews say which befell their fore-fathers that day in Aegypt The time between the two Evenings was the Sabbatulum This then was the Name of the Day of Rest under the Old Testament yet was not the Word appropriated to the denotation of that Day only but is used sometimes naturally to express any Rest or Cessation sometimes as it were Artificially in numeration for a Week or any other season whose Composition was by and Resolution into seven though this was meerly occasional from the first limitation of a periodical Revolution of Time by a Sabbath of Rest of which before § 11 And this various Use of the Word was taken up among the Grecians and Latines also As they borrowed the Word from the Jews so they did its Use. The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meerly the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or perhaps formed by the Addition of their usual Termination from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence also our Apostle frames his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Latine Sabbatum is the same And they use this Word though rarely to express the last day of the Week So Suetonius in Tiber. Diogenes Grammaticus Sabbatis disputare Rhodi solitus And the LXX alwayes so express the seventh Day Sabbath and frequently they use it for a Week also And so in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 18. 12. I fast twice on the Sabbath that is two dayes in the Week And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13. 14. the Day of the Sabbath is that day of the Week which was set apart for a Sabbatical Rest. Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One day of the Sabbaths which frequently occurs is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first day of the Week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being often put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Numeral for the Cardinal § 12 About the time of the Writing of the Books of the New Testament both the Jews themselves and all the Heathen that took notice of them called all their Feasts and Solemn Assemblies their Sabbaths because they did no servile work in them They had the general nature of the Weekly Sabbath in a cessation from Labour So the first day of the Feast of Trumpets which was to be on the first day of the second Month what day soever of the Week it happened to be on was called a Sabbath Levit. 23. 24. This Scaliger well observes and well proves Emendat Tempor lib. 3. Canon Isagog lib. 3. p. 213. Omnem Festivitatem Judaicam non solum Judaei sed Gentiles Sabbatum vocant Judaei quidem cum dicunt Tisri nunquam incipere à feria prima quarta sexta ne duo Sabbata continuentur Gentiles autem non alio nomine omnes eorum solennitates vocabant And this is evident from the frequent mention of the Sabbatical Fasts of the Jews when they did not nor was it lawful for them to fast on the Weekly Sabbath So speaks Augustus to Tiberius in Suetonius Ne Judaeus quidem mi Tiberi tam libenter Sabbatis jejunium servat quam ego hodie servavi And Juvenals Observant ubi Festa mero pede Sabbata Reges And Martial Et non jejuna Sabbata lege premet speaking in contradiction as he thought unto them And so Horace mentions their tricesima Sabbata which were no other but their New Moons And to this usual manner of speaking in those dayes doth our Apostle accommodate his Expressions Col. 2. 16. Let no man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in part of an Holy day any part of it or respect unto it or of the New Moon or of the Sabbaths that is any of the Judaical Feasts whatever then
but the Renovation of the Command when given unto them in the way of an especial Ordinance Exod. 16. and belongs not to the substance of the Command it self Yea take the Command it self without respect unto its explications elsewhere and it expresseth no such limitation though vertually because of the precedent Institution Exod. 16. it be contained in it Hence Thirdly There is a Prescription for the manner of its Observance accommodated unto the state and condition of that people and that two wayes 1. In comprehending things Spiritual under things Carnal when yet the carnal are of no consideration in the Worship of God but as they necessarily attend upon things spiritual Hence that part of the Command which concerns the manner of the Observation of the Sabbath to be kept holy is given out in a Prohibition of bodily Labour and Work or a Command of bodily Rest. But it is the Expression of the Rest of God and his complacency in his Works and Covenant with the Sanctification of the Day in Obedience to his Commands in and by the holy Duties of his Worship that are principally intended in it And this he farther intimates afterwards unto them by his Institution of a double Sacrifice to be offered Morning and Evening on that Day 2. In the Distribution of the people into the Capital Persons with their Relations Servants and Strangers that God would have to live amongst them and joyn themselves unto them In the whole it appears that the Sabbath is not now commanded to be observed because it is the seventh Day as though the seventh Day were firstly and principally intended in the Command which as we have shewed that neither the substance of the Command nor the Reason of it with which the whole of the Precept is begun and ended will admit of but the seventh Day is commanded to be observed because by an antecedent Institution it was made to be the Sabbath unto that people Exod. 16. Whence it came to fall under the Command not primarily but reductively as it had been on another account from the foundation of the World The Sabbath therefore is Originally commanded as one day in seven to be dedirated unto an Holy Rest. And the seventh Day if we respect the order of the dayes is added as that especial Day which God had declared that he would have at that Time his Sabbath to be observed on Now all these things in the Law of the Sabbath are Mosaical namely the Obligation that arose unto its Observation from the Promulgation of the Law unto that people on Sinai the limitation of the Day unto the seventh or last of the Week which was necessary unto that Administration of the Covenant which God then made use of and had a respect unto a previous Institution the Manner of its Observance suited unto that servile and bondage frame of mind which the giving the Law on Mount Sinai did ingenerate in them as being designed of God so to do the ingrafting it into the systeme and series of Religious Worship then in force by the double Sacrifice annexed unto it with the various uses in and accommodations it had unto the Rule of Government in the Commonwealth of Israel in all which respects it is abolished and taken away § 12 God having disposed and setled the Sabbath as to the seventh Day and the manner of its Observation as a part of the Covenant then made with that people he thereon makes use of it in the same manner and unto the same Ends with the residue of the Institutions and Ordinances which he had then prescribed unto them This he doth Exod. 31. 13 14 14 15 16 17. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Speak thou unto the Children of Israel saying Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your Generations that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctifie you Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death for whosoever doth any work therein that soul shall be cut off from amongst his people Six Dayes may work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath of Rest holy to the Lord whosoever doth any work on the Sabbath Day shall surely be put to death Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their Generations for a perpetual Covenant It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever For in six Dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth and on the seventh Day he rested and was refreshed This is the next mention of the Sabbath amongst that people wherein all that we have before laid down is fully confirmed God had now by Moses appointed other Sabbaths that is Monthly and Annual Sacred Rests to be observed unto himself With these he now joyns the Weekly Sabbath in Allusion whereunto they have that Name also given unto them He had sufficiently manifested a Difference between them before For the one he pronounced himself on Mount Sinai as part of his universal and eternal Law The other he Instituted by Revelation unto Moses as that which peculiarly belonged unto them The one was grounded on a Reason wherein they had no more concern or interest than all the rest of mankind namely Gods Rest on his Works and being refreshed thereon upon the Creation of the World and the establishment of his Covenant with man the other all built on Reasons peculiar unto themselves and that Church State whereinto they were admitted But here the Sabbaths of both these kinds are brought under the same Command and designed unto the same Ends and Purposes Now the sole Reason hereof lies in those temporary and Ceremonial Additions which we have manifested to have been made unto the Original Law of the Sabbath in its Accommodation to their Church State with the Place which it held therein as we shall see yet farther in particular § 13 The Occasion of this Renovation of the Command was the Building of the Tabernacle which was now designed and forthwith to be undertaken And with Respect hereunto there was a double Reason for the Repetition of this Command First Because that Work was for an holy End and so upon the matter an holy Work and whereon the people were very intent hence they might have supposed that it would have been lawfull for them to have attended unto it on the Sabbath Dayes This therefore God expresly forbids that they might have no pretence for the Transgression of his Command And therefore is the Penalty annexed unto it so expresly here appointed and mentioned Secondly As the Tabernacle now to be built was the only seat of that solemn instituted Worship which God was now setting up amongst them so the Sabbath being the great Means of its continuance and performance this they were now to be severely minded of lest by their neglect and forgetfulness thereof they might
yet surely there is nothing for it In the things that are so we have ground to expect the Assistance of the Spirit of Christ to enable us for their right observation to the Glory of God and our own edification or increase in Grace But it is a meer Precept of the Old Law as such And what the Law speaks it speaks unto them that are under the Law In all its Precepts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it exerciseth a severe Dominion over the souls and consciences of them that are under it And we have no way to extricate our selves from under that Dominion but by our being dead unto its power and Authority as such through the Death of Christ or an interest by Faith in the Benefits that through his fulfilling and satisfying the Law do redound to the Church But what is required of any one under the notion of the formal and absolute power of the Law is to be performed in and by that spirit which is administred by the Law and the strength which the Law affords and this indeed is great as to conviction of Sin nothing at all as unto Obedience and Righteousness Do men in these things appeal unto the Law unto the Law they must go For I know not any thing that we can expect Assistance of Gospel-Grace in or about but only those things which are originally moral or superadded unto them in the Gospel it self to neither of which Heads this observation of the seventh Day as such can be referred It is therefore a meer legal Duty properly so called and in a bondage frame of Spirit without any especial assistance of Grace it must be performed And how little we are beholding unto those who would in any one instance reduce us from the liberty of the Gospel unto bondage under the Law our Apostle hath so fully declared that it is altogether needless farther to attempt the manifestation of it Of the Lords-Day The Sixth Exercitation 1 Practice the end of Instruction and Learning 2 Practical observation of the Sabbath handled by many 3 Pleas concerning too much rigour and strictness in directions for the observation of the Sabbath 4 Extreams to be avoided in directions of sacred duties Extream of the Pharisees 5 The worse extream of others in giving liberty to sin 6 Mistakes in directions about the observation of the Lords Day 7 General directions unto that purpose proposed 8 Of the beginning and ending of the Sabbath The first Rule about Time 9 The frame of spirit required under the Gospel in the observation of the Lords Day 10 Rules and Principles for its due observation 11 Duties required thereunto of two sorts 12 Preparatory duties their necessity and nature 13 14 Particular account of them Meditation 15 Supplication 16 Instruction 17 18 Publick duties of the Day it self 19 What refreshments and labour consistent with them 20 Of private duties § 1 IT remains that something be briefly offered which may direct a practice suitable unto the principles laid down and pleaded For this is the End of all sacred Truth and all instruction therein This that great Rule of our blessed Saviour both teacheth us and obligeth us to an answerable duty If you know these things happy are ye if you do them Joh. 13. 17. words so filled with his wisdome that happy are they in whose hearts they are alwayes abiding The End then of our learning Scripture-Truths is to obtain such an Idea of them in our minds as may direct us unto a suitable practice Without this they are to us of no use or of none that is good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledge without practice puffeth not buildeth up For as Austin speaks with reference unto those words Con. Faust. Man lib. 15. cap. 8. Multa quibusdam sunt noxia quamvis non sint mala Things not evil yea good in themselves may be hurtfull unto others And nothing is usefull but as it is directed to its proper End This practice is unto sacred Truth § 2 I confess our endeavours herein may seem less necessary than in the foregoing Discourses For there are many Treatises on this part of our present Subject extant in our own language and in the hands of those who esteem themselves concerned in these things With some they meet indeed with no other entertainment than the Posts did that were sent by Hezekiah through Ephraim Manasseh and Zebulun to invite them unto the Passeover they are laughed to scorn and mocked at 2 Chron. 30. 10. But wisdome is justified of her children Unto some they are of great use and in great esteem And for the most part in the main of their design they do agree So that the Truth in them is established in the mouthes of many witnesses without danger of dividing the minds of men about it But yet I cannot take my self to be discharged hereby from the consideration of this concern also of a sacred Rest under the Gospel the nature of our design requiring it And there are yet important Directions for the right sanctifying of the Name of God in and by the due observance of a Day of sacred Rest which I have not taken notice to have been insisted on by others and whereas a due improvement may be expected of the peculiar principles before discussed I shall go through this part of the Work also § 3 Besides there are not a few complaints and those managed at least some of them by Persons of sobriety and learning pretending also a real care for the preservation and due observance of all duties of Piety and Religion that there hath been some excess in the Directions of many given about the due sanctification of the Lords Day And there is no small danger of mistakes on this hand whilest therein is a pretence of zeal and devotion to give them countenance Of this nature some men do judge some rigorous prescriptions to be which have been given in this matter And they say that a great disadvantage unto Religion hath ensued hereon For it is pretended that they are such as are beyond the constitution of humane nature to comply withall of which kind God certainly requires nothing at our hands Hence it is pleaded that men finding themselves no way able to come unto a satisfaction in answer unto the severe Directions for duties and the manner of their performance which by some are rigorously prescribed have taken occasion to seek for relief by rejecting the whole command which is duely interpreted in such a condescension as they were capable of a compliance withall they would have adhered unto On this account men have found out various inventions to colour their weariness of that strict course of duty which they were bound unto Hence have some taken up a plea that every Day is to them a Sabbath that so they might not keep any Some that there is no such thing as a sacred Rest on any Day required of us by the Authority of Christ and therefore that all