A Threefold Treatise of the Sabbath, Chapter 15
CHAP. XV. How this day is to be kept holy, morally, as the an…ient Sabbath was kept.
FOr the better ſatisfaction of moderate minds, and to cleare this point, let us conſider how the ancient Sabbath was kept morally, how our Lords day was kept in the time of the holy Apoſtles, how to be kept by the ſtabliſhed authoritie of our Church, and how Emperours, Kings, Councels, Synods, Fathers, and others would have it kept, yea God himſelfe from profane pollutions.
Concerning the firſt, the ancient Sabbath was kept in reſt and in the employing of that reſt unto religious duties; which what they were, ſee at large in the other Treatiſe, Section 25.
For the Ceremoniall and Leviticall Services on that ſeventh day, they are abrogated; ſo all the Jewiſh ſuperſtitition, brought in by mens vaine Traditions, are condemned, likewiſe thoſe acceſſorie precepts for the more ſtrict reſt on that day, belonging only to the Iſraelites for a time, are taken away and doe nothing concerne us, and are not to be imitated of us. But the ancient people of God are to be followed of us, as farre as the fourth Commandement bindeth us in the naturalitie thereof, in the ſpiritualitie, and in its morallitie, as the holy people of God then kept it, in ſuch common duties, as wee are, as well as they were bound to performe for Gods ſervice, and for the benefiting of their owne ſoules, in the uſe and exerciſes of his heavenly ordinances on his holy day. This is farre from any Judaizing at all, ſo much laid in the diſh, and reproachfully caſt upon many in theſe times, but without cauſe at all: if the matter be well weighed, and they rightly underſtood, as it were to bee wiſhed.
Their Service was both in the forenoone, and in the afternoone every day, Num. 28. 3. Exod. 29. 38. then much more on the Sabbath day: For in the morning of their Sabbath, they had the Service in the Tabernacle and Temple, and their Sacrifices doubled. Num. 28. 9. and alſo burning of incenſe in the morning, Exod. 30. 7. So in the afternoone both Sacrifices and burning of incenſe, and thus every day continually, Exod. 29. 38. & 30. 7. 8. To this David alluded in Pſal. 141. 2. This afternoone Service was about three aclock, and called the ninth houre of Prayer, Acts 3. 1. what time the godly uſed to pray, Dan. 9. 21. and which Eliah obſerved in the offering of Sacrifice, 1 King. 18. 29. and we read while the incenſe was offered, the people were devout in their prayers, Luk. 1. 10. Preaching was alſo in the Temple, for there Chriſt preached, Matth. 26. 55. Mark 12. 25. Luk. 19. 47. John 7. 28. of which, as of any ſtrange thing, the chiefe Prieſts and the Elders did not aske him, but of his authoritie ſo to doe, Matth. 21. 23. Luk. 20. 1. 2. And into the Temple earely in the morning, came hee to teach, John 8. 2. and the people to heare, Luk. 21. 38. whither the Jewes alwayes reſorted, John 18. 20. Here alſo the Apoſtles preached, Acts 3. 1. 12. & 5. 21. 23. 42. And in this place, no doubt was it, in which the Scribes and Phariſes ſate to teach the people, Matth. 23. 2. It is moſt certaine that on the Sabbath day in the Synagogues, there was conſtant reading and preaching, Acts 15. 21. & 13. 27. In the morning, Chriſt went in to preach, Mark. 6. 2. in other places it is not ſo evident what time it was, whether in the forenoone, or afternoone, when hee came into their Synagogues, Mark. 1. 21. Luk. 4. 16. & 13. 10. nor what time of the day the Apoſtles went into the Synagogues, Acts 13. 14. & 14. 1. & 17. 2. 10. & 18. 4. 19. nor is it certain, whether they did depart home a while, and came againe; It may be they held out from the beginning to the ending, and to the breaking up of the Congregation, as it ſeemeth probable in Acts 13. 43. ſo Nehe. 8. but it is certaine that upon their dayes of faſting, they did hold out and continued together, from the beginning to the end, Nehem. 9. 3.
Whatſoever they did for the time, they holily begun their Divine exerciſes with a bleſſing, Nehe. 8. 6. and ended with a bleſſing, Num. 6. 23. 26. Lev. 9. 22. 2….