A Demonstration of Family Duties, Proposition 5 – Proposition 8
V. PROPOSITION. The direction or paterne of religious worſhip and ſervice unto God, conteined in the holy Scripture, is propounded & ſet down in a various methode or manner viz. Somtimes ſome parts of i… are directly expreſſed in Precept & Doctrines; and ſomtimes ſom… parts of it are only implyed, and to be gathered by good conſequence from Promiſes, Threat… nings, Examples, &c. mentione… & hiſtorically related.
PROOF. I. The books of Moſes, a… the Prophets doe in great part conſiſt of P… cepts and doctrines: See Exod. 20.1. &c. conteining the Decalogue. See alſo Math 5. & 6. & 7. cap. conteining Chriſts ſermon on the mount, &c.
II. The Scripture aboundeth in precious Promiſes unto the conſcionable obſervers of ſome religious courſes, that are not expreſſely commanded. An inſtance hereof is in Revel. 1.3. Bleſſed is he that readeth, & they that heare the words of this prophecie, & keep thoſe things which are written therein: Albeit there is no expreſſe commandement to read the booke of the Revelation, and to obſerve the contents of it: yet the bleſſing promiſed to the reading, hearing, and keeping, implieth that ſuch courſe is wel-pleaſing to God, & conſequently that he willeth and requireth the ſame.
III. The holy Scripture is full of Threatnings of judgments and curſes to be inflicted and executed on people in caſe of ſome courſes omitted, which yet are not expreſly commanded to be practiſed. An inſtance hereof is in Ierem. 10.25. Powre out thy fury upon the families that call not upon thy Name. Howbeit there is no where in Scripture an expreſſe Precept given to families to call upon Gods Name, yet this propheticall imprecation or threatning of Gods fury to families for omiſſion or contempt of ſuch courſe, implieth that God requireth families to call upon his Name: For God in puniſhing any doth alwaies proceed juſtly. Gen. 18.25. Shall not the Iudge of all the earth doe right?
IV. Sundry books both in the old and new Teſtament, are in great part hiſtoricall and exemplary, conteining divers examples of imitable practiſes, which have no expreſſe commandement. An inſtance hereof is in Act. 14.23. When they had ordained Elders in every Church, &c. This hiſtoricall example implieth, that although there is no expreſſe direction to ordaine Elders in every Church, yet notwithſtanding that every Church ought to have Elders.
I. REAS. Becauſe if the directions in the holy Scripture ſhould not be aſwell gathered and drawne by juſt conſequence from Promiſes, Threatnings, and Examples, as from Doctrines and Precepts, then it would follow, that ſundry portions of the Scriptures, could not be applied for common inſtruction: which yet is a principall end of all Scripture. See Rom. 15.4. For whatſoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. 1. Corinth. 10.11. Now all theſe things happened unto them for enſamples, & they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
II. REAS. Becauſe ſuch directions as are implied by good conſequence in the holy Scriptures by way of Promiſe, Threatning, or Example, may be ſaid to be the expoſition or intimation of ſome commandements, the which are not directly expreſſed: As namely the obſervatiō of the Lords day, or firſt day of the weeke, inſtead of the ſeventh day, or Sabbath of the old Teſtament, Revel. 1.10. Act. 20.7. 1. Corinth. 16.2. The baptiſing of womē aſwell as men, Act. 16.15. &c. For our Saviour Chriſt after his Reſurrection, & before his Aſcention ſpake unto his Apoſtles of things perteining to the kingdome of God, as it is written, Act. 1.3. So that doubtleſſe things practiſed by them afterwards, which are mentioned in the Acts of the Apoſtles, were obſerved by vertue of ſuch his direction. And whereas it is ſaid, 1. Iohn. 3.4. Sinne is the tranſgreſſion of the law; The meaning ſeemeth to be extended thus farre, that the law is tranſgreſſed not only in ſinning againſt expreſſe precepts: but alſo againſt implied commandements in any of the forementioned waies of Promiſes, Threatnings, or Examples recorded in the Scriptures.
I. OBSERVAT. The ten commandements being exceeding broad: Pſal. 119.96. cannot be interpreted according to their juſt latitude, unleſſe their expoſition be extended unto Promiſes, Threatnings, Examples, &c. throughout the Scriptures, implying the true and full meaning of them in ſundry particulars: As is moſt evidently to be ſeene in the affirmative part underſtoode, of the ſecond and third commandements of the firſt table.
II. OBSERVAT. The Examples regiſtred in the holy Scriptures may be ſaid to be imitable, or that ought to be imitated, againſt which no juſt exception can be takē, nor any good reaſon given, why they ſhould not belong & apperteine unto all the people of God indefinitely, aſwell as to them themſelves which have ſo walked and practiſed. True it is, God did ſome things, which men cannot imitate, neither is it lawfull for any to ſeeke to enterpriſe. Chriſt likewiſe being God, & the Meſſias, did ſuch things, which Chriſtians neither may attempt, nor can effect. The Patriarchs, Prophets, Jews, Apoſtles, & Evangeliſts, did ſome things as Patriarchs, as Prophets, as Jews, as Apoſtles, & as Evangeliſts, wherein it is not lawfull to imitate them. Magiſtrates, Miniſters, Parents, Maſters, &c. have done, and may doe ſome things, which their inferiours ſubjected to them may not doe. But in ſome other things, God, and Chriſt, and the Patriarchs, and the Prophets, and the Jews, and the Apoſtles, and the Evangeliſts, and the Magiſtrates, Miniſters, Parents, and Maſters may & ought to be followed, being of generall or of ſpeciall concernment for all, or ſeverall ſorts of perſons. See Epheſ. 5.1. 1. Corinth. 11.1. Iames, 5.10. Hebr. 6. 11, 12. & 12.1. Philip. 3.17. Ioſh. 24.15.
VI. PROPOSITION. One important direction, and ſpeciall concernment which God requireth in the holy Scripture, is, That his people ſhall worſhip and ſerve him, in ſome religious performances every day, in the whole courſe of their naturall lives.
PROOF. Zachary, the father of John the Baptiſt, filled with the holy Ghoſt in his prophetical ſong, thus expreſſeth this leſſon, Luk. 1.74.75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enimies, might ſerve him without feare; In holineſſe & righteouſneſse before him, all the daies of our life. And thus indeed the godly Iſraelites were wont to approve themſelves, as the Apoſtle Paul teſtifieth on their behalfe occaſionally, Act. 26.7. VntoUnto which promiſe our twelve tribes inſtantly ſerving God day & night hope to come.
I. REAS. Becauſe every day through Gods moſt wiſe diſpenſatiō & government, doth ſerve the Lord in its kinde, miniſtring cauſe and occaſion unto his people, to ſerve him daily. See this in Pſal. 19.2. Day unto day uttereth ſpeech, and night unto night ſhewed knowledge.
II. REAS. Becauſe God is the ſame every day, unchangeable in his power, in his will in his juſtice, and in his mercy, and other his divine attributes. See Malac. 3.6. I am the Lord, I change not. Hebr. 13.8. Ieſus Chriſt the ſame yeſterday, and to day, and for ever. Lament. 3.22, 23. His cōpaſſions faile not; They are new every morning. And therefore his people ought every day in their meaſure to walke anſwerably; for ſo they ſhall walke worthy of the Lord unto all pleaſing. Col. 1.10.
III. REAS. Becauſe Mans ſhort life is reckoned by daies. See Job 14.1. Man the is borne of a woman is of few daies. This is foure times in one ſentence mentioned by the Patriarch Iacob, Gen. 47.9. Iacob ſaid unto Pharaoh, The daies of the yeeres of my pilgrimage an… an hundred and thirty yeeres: few and evill have the daies of the yeeres of my life beene, and have not attained unto the daies of the yeeres of the life of my fathers, in the daies of their pilgrimage. Moreover no man knoweth whether he ſhall live till to morrow, James. 4.14. Nor yet what a day may bring forth; Prov. 27.1. And therefore it greatly behooveth to redeeme the time, Epheſ. 5.16. for otherwiſe we may be ſurpriſed by the comming of the Lord, in a day when we looke not for him, and in an houre that we are not ware of. Math. 24.50.
OBSERVAT. In the old Teſtament God inſtituted and ordained that a daily ſacrifice ſhould be offered unto him. See Exod. 29.36, 38. Thou ſhalt offer every day, day by day continually. This his ordinance ſeemeth to ſignify & to teach his people in all ages, that no day ſhould goe over their heads, without performance of ſome religious ſervice unto him; like as they doe day by day continually expect and ſeeke daily bread at his hands. Math. 6.11. Luk. 11.3.
VII. PROPOSITION. The obſerving and ſanctifying of the Lords day wholly in religious exerciſes, publickly & privately, by vertue of the fourth commandement of the morall Law, (viz. Exo. 20.4. Remember the Sabbath day to keepe it holy) doeth not exempt or free the people of God from ſpending ſome time in religious exerciſes every day of the weeke beſides, according to that which hath beene declared in the ſixt Propoſition.
PROOF. David a man after Gods owne heart (1. Sam. 13.14.) that conſcionably obſerved the Sabbath day, as appeareth Pſa. 9… ▪ 1 Title; A Pſalme or ſong for the Sabbath day, &c. was conſcionable alſo of daily ſervice. Pſal. 61.8. I will ſing prayſe unto thy Name for ever, that I may daily performe my vowes. So the Chriſtians in the new Teſtament had reſpect not only unto the Lords day to keepe it holy, Act. 20.7. VponUpon the firſt day of the weeke the diſciples came together to breake bread, &c. but alſo to religious exerciſes daily, Act. 17.11. And ſearched the Scriptures daily.
I. REAS. Becauſe God is the abſolute & ſoveraigne Lord of every day, to order and diſpoſe of it, as ſeemeth good unto the will of his divine pleaſure. Pſal. 74.16. The day is thine, the night alſo is thine; thou haſt prepared the light and the Sunne: And therfore he hath authority to command and appoint ſuch ſervice to be done as he pleaſeth, either in our generall or particular callings.
II. REAS. Becauſe in the old Teſtament there were ſundry times ſet apart unto divine worſhip by Gods owne inſtitution and appointment, beſides the morall Sabbath day. Levit. 23.4, &c. Theſe are the feaſts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye ſhall proclaime in their ſeaſons; viz. The Paſſover, The feaſt of the firſt fruits, of Pentecoſt, of Trumpets, of Tabernacles, the day of atonement, &c. So that the keeping of the morall Sabbath ſhould be no prejudice to religious ſervice at any other ſeaſonable times.
OBSERVAT. The meaning of the argument uſed to perſwade unto the religious keeping of the Sabbath day in Exod. 20.9. Sixe daies ſhalt thou labour, & doe all thy worke, &c. ſeemeth to be, that the works of mens particular callings may & ought to be done only within the ſpace of the ſixe daies of the weeke, and not on the ſeventh, or Sabbath day. But it doth not follow hence, as if men were not allowed to ſerve God religiouſly at any time within the ſixe daies. And this will further appeare, if it be alſo obſerved, that labour in mens particular callings is not commanded in the fourth commandement of the Decalogue, ſith it is in the firſt table, which enjoyneth our duty towards God: but it ſeemeth to be required in the eight commandement, which is in the ſecond table, directing our duty towards our ſelves, and our neighbours.
VIII. PROPOSITION. The worſhip and religious ſe… vice which ought to be perfo… med unto God every day, is, t… Prayer; 11. Some exerciſe in th… holy Scripture, and III. Godl… Meditation.
The Proofes and Reaſons of this Prop… ſition are to be ſeene in the declaration … theſe kindes of religious ſervices diſtinctly as followeth.