The Jews Sabbath Antiquated and the Lords Day Instituted, Position 1

The Jews Sabbath Antiquated and the Lords Day Instituted · Position 1

p. 1POSITION I. That the Old Sabbath (as to the Day) was made Alterable and Changeable in the Firſt Inſtituon of it.

FOr the confirmation whereof we ſhall conſider

1. The Time when it was Inſtituted.

2. The Command by which it was Inſtituted.

3. The Ground upon which it was Inſtituted.

1. Firſt, let us ſoberly examine the time when it was inſtituted; the obſcurity whereof may eaſily be gathered from the variety of opinions and apprehenſions about it. Some think the firſt foundation of it was laid upon mount Sinai, induced thereunto by thoſe words of Nehemiah, Thou cameſt down upon the mount, Nehem 9.13, 14.Neh 9:13Neh 9:14and madeſt known to them thy holy Sabbath by the hand of Moſes thy Servant. Others have travelled a little beyond the mount, and have found (as they ſuppoſe) the firſt footſteps of a Sabbath p. 2in the wilderneſs of Sin, at the firſt falling of Manna.T. T. p. 71. Mr. Tillam, with ſome others, is confident that it was inſtituted before the fall of man, and founded upon mount Paradiſe; not a little abuſing that Scripture to prove it, Pſal 87.1. Gods foundations are in the holy mountaint. Belike he would inſinuate, with Toſtatus and ſome other Popiſh Authors, that Paradiſe was ſome mountainous place (a fancy purpoſely deviſed by them to ſhelter Enoch from the floud:) But this is to build caſtles in the aire; ſuch notions may paſs for glorious truths among Vulgar heads, when judicious pens have branded them as Popiſh Legends. For the opinion it ſelf, viz. That the Sabbath was firſt inſtituted in Paradiſe before the fall of man, we ſhall in due time diſcover the weakneſs of it, and give ſatisfying anſwers to all the ſeeming arguments brought to ſupport it. But firſt I ſhall propoſe, and endeavour to prove a Counter poſition, namely, that it ſeems more conſonant to Scripture, to affirm, that the Sabbath was inſtituted (though in the beginning) yet after the fall, in mans corrupt and vitiated eſtate. The probation whereof depends much (though not altogether) upon the deciſion of that often canvaſſed queſtion, Whether our firſt Parents ſinned the ſame day on which they were created? I ſhall not be ſo peremptory as to paſs a damnatory ſentence upon thoſe that are for the negative; yet after ſome ſtudy and inquiry into Scriptures and Authors about it, I am inclined to undertake the affirmative, namely, That our firſt Parents were created and corrupted,Gen. 1. & 2 ch. compared with chap. 3.1.Gen 1 made and marrd, alive and dead in one and the ſame ſame day; which ſeems very probable by this, that as ſoon as Moſes had ſpoken of their creation, without mention of any other thing conſiderable, he paſſes to their defection. This is no ſingular notion, but the generally received opinion of ancient and modern times.foreign The Greek Churches and Fathers were ſo almoſt univerſally of this perſwaſion, that it is well known to have been their common ſentence, ſpeaking of p. 3Adam, The ſame day he was created he fell. Among the Latines Auguſtine and Bernard were alſo of the ſame mind;Auguſt. de genes. ad lit. lib. 9. c. 4. Bern. l 4.8. and among our own writers, Reverend Mr. Cawdrey, and Mr. Palmer incline this way: Dr. Willet, Mr. G. Walker, Mr. H. Broughton have ſtrenuouſly argued it from Scripture. I ſhall but hint a few of the many Scripture-arguments, that have been and may be alledged to this purpoſe.

1. From the teſtimony of our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt, who hath told us expreſly, that the Divel was a murtherer (or manſlayer) from the beginning, a lyar and the father of lies; John 8.34. foreignJohn 8:34not from the beginning of the worlds creation, but of mans creation, which moſt properly and preciſely implyes the ſixth day, wherein the Serpent beguiled our firſt Parents by lying, and murthered them. That word (from the beginning) is the ſame in the Syriack verſion which is uſed Gen. 1. and it uſually refers to ſome date of time within the creation, as the learned in that Language obſerve. This cannot be denyed, that when our Saviour affirms the Divel was a murtherer from the beginning, we muſt lay it as neer the beginning as we may, without croſſing other texts of Scripture: now it croſſes not a tittle of Scripture to ſtate it on the ſixth day; nay it conſents with other Scriptures; for

2. The verity of Gods threatning ſeems to put it out of queſtion that Adam ſinned and was ſlain by the Serpent on the ſixth day; for let the words be well weighed, In the day that thou eateſt thereof thou ſhalt ſurely dye. Gen. 2.17. Die quo Deus condidit redemit & hominem, i. e. ſexta feria. Bern.Gen 2:17I demand whether this ſentence were fully executed on the firſt Adam in the day that he ſinned? or whether in his and our behalf it were not alſo verifyed on the ſecond Adam in the day that he ſuffered? If the latter be granted (as it cannot well be denyed) then it will rationally follow, that the ſecond Adam ſuffering and dying on the ſixth day of the week, the firſt Adam alſo ſinned on the ſixth day, in which he was created. p. 4aaJohn 29. v. 14, 15, 16. compared with Mat 27.46, 50.Matt 27:46Matt 27:50That Chriſt ſuffered the ſixth day, needs no diſpute.bbRom. 5 14. That the Holy Ghoſt ſpeaks ſo ſparingly of the ſtate of innocency, evidently ſhews that it laſted but a very little while. Mortons three-fold ſtate, ep. to the Reader. In all reaſon (as another ſayes) if Adam had ſtood long, his good deeds as well as his evil deeds had been committed to hiſtory, eſpecially how he kept his firſt Sabbath; which had been an excellent pattern to poſterity. But not a ſyllable of this in Scripture.Rom 5:14 Moſt probably therefore the firſt Adam, the figure of him that was to come (and that in reſpect of this point) ſinned and fell on the ſixth day; and ſo the Divine threatning was punctually fulfilled. The force of this argument cannot without ſhameful wrangling be evaded: For to ſay that this may as well ſtate the fall on that day ſeven-night as on the firſt ſixth day, is to ſay little to the purpoſe. For by the ſame rule you may as well carry it to that day three weeks, or that day monethmonth, yea that day twelve-monethmonth, and ſo in infinitum. I ſhould rather think, that ſince by Chriſts ſufferings it appears that Adam ſinned on a ſixth day; and our Lord affirms that the Devil was a manſlayer from the beginning; that therefore certainly our firſt Parents fell on the firſt ſixth day. Some have not unfitly obſerved a remarkable conformity betwixt the ſin and curſe of Adam, and the ſufferings of Chriſt, in many concurrent circumſtances. As our Saviours agony in the garden, anſwering to Adams ſin in the garden; his bloody ſweat, to the curſe of eating bread in the ſweat of our browes; his crown of thornes, to the curſe of thornes; his ſuffering upon a tree, to their ſin in eating of the tree, &c. a fit ſubject for a devotional pen. But that which I inſiſt upon as argumentative is only the day in which out Lord ſuffered and dyed, which in my judgment doth much help to determine the day in which Adam ſinned.

3. The parley betwixt the woman and the ſerpent inſinuates as much; for both the ſerpents demand and the womans reply ſpeak plainly that as yet they had not taſted the ſweets of Paradiſe:Gen. 3.1.Gen 3:1 Hath God ſaid ye ſhall not eate of every tree of the Garden? The ſerpent had not p. 5been ſubtile to ask whether that might be done which had been done already; and the womans replying in the future tenſe, we may, or ſhall eate hereafter, makes it more probable that as yet they had not eaten.foreign And it is utterly improbable that they would have continued a whole day in the Garden, in the midſt of all that delicious fruit, and not have taſted of ſome. Beſides, the tree of life being ſacramental (as Auguſtine ſayes,Erat homini in lignis aliis alimenium, in hoc verò Sacramentum, Aug. de Gen. ad lit. in other trees there was nouriſhment, in this a Sacrament) may it not well be thought that if Adam had ſtood the firſt Sabbath, he had taſted of the tree of life? Doubtleſs he had obſerved all the ordinances of the day. But that he had not yet touched that tree, is evident from that ſpeech of God, where he reſolves upon his ſpeedy baniſhment out of Paradiſe,Gen. 3.22.Gen 3:22 leſt (ſayes the Lord) he put forth his hand to the tree of life, and eate and live for ever; which had been ſpoken too late, if he had already done it.

4. The policy and activity of Satan in contriving of miſchief may aſſure us that he was tampering with our firſt parents betimes, partly that he might take the advantage to ſhake them before their habits of grace were ſetled and confirmed by exerciſe (as new-planted trees are more eaſily plucked up at firſt, then after they are more deeply radicated;) but principally, that by poyſoning the fountain of mankind before any ſtreams iſſued from it, he might the more eaſily and certainly corrupt the whole current of mans poſterity. Such as have been taught by ſad experience how crafty an adverſary that old ſerpent the Divel is, cannot but ſubſcribe to the validity of this argument.

5. To all theſe I may adde the circumſtance of time when theſe malefactors were brought to the bar, and arraigned for what they had done; viz. in the coole of the day, Hebr. in the wind of the day, Gen. 3.8.Gen 3:8in the wind after midday, as Hierom renders it, or in the Even-tyde,aaAdverſus haereſes lib 5. cap. 15. ad fin. as Irenaeus. Now it is very obſervable (ſayes a late Worthy) p. 6that this is the firſt evening mentioned after the creation of Adam, Mr. Roberts myſter. & medulla. Bibl. p. 39.and the covenant made with him. Adam was arraigned and ſentenced towards the evening of the ſixth day, therefore he ſinned the ſame day.

As for that of the Pſalmiſt, Adam being in honour loàged not a night, Pſa. 49.12.Ps 49:12but was like the beaſts that periſh (for ſo it is in the Hebrew word for word) although I will not reſtrain it to the firſt Adam, for (as learned Ainſworth obſerves) it may be meant both of the firſt man Adam, who continued not in his dignity,Annot. in locum and his poſterity alſo; yet it doth moſt ſingularly point at him, and is moſt pregnantly applicable to him, as being in the greateſt honour that ever man was in upon earth, Lord of all the lower world, and father of all mankind.ccExod. 23.8. Deut. 19.4. 2 Sam. 17. Pſal. 30.5.Exod 23:8Deut 19:42 Sam 17Ps 30:5 And the word baal jalin does properly ſignifie to lodge or tarry for a night. What if it be in the future tenſe, as. T.T. ſuggeſts, yet asddDr. Twiſs great a Rabbin as himſelf has told us that it is nothing ſtrange for the future tenſe (the ſtructure of the words requiring it,foreign Aſſimulatus fuit. as here it does, the next word being of the preter tenſe) to ſignifie the time paſt. Again, what if the context does not in every circumſtance ſuit with Adam? Is it any unuſual thing (eſpecially in the book of Pſalms) for one and the ſame ſentence to point at ſeveral perſons? How often are David and Chriſt both intended in the ſame place; yea, where every thing ſpoken of the one does not agree to the other? The adverſary might therefore have ſpared that paſſage, that this text cannot be applyed to Adam, becauſe tis ſaid, v. 19. He ſhall go to the generation of his fathers, unleſs I could ſhew him what fathers Adam had to go to.p. 10. I will anſwer his Dilemma with another; when he himſelf ſayes, that innocent Adam had all the Ten Commandments written in his heart, let him tell me, what father and mother had Adam to honour in a ſecond. Table ſenſe? But to let that paſs, enough is ſaid (if this text was ſilent) to make it more then probable, that the tranſgreſſion of our firſt parents preſently followed p. 7their creation, i.e. the ſame day. To be ſure there is more evidence of truth in it then all his objections to the contrary are a ble to obſcure. Indeed his confidence is great, but we ſhall now ſcan his evidence, and accordingly judg of his confidence.

He argues, [That man,T.T. Obj. 1. yea and the Angels alſo ſtood in their integrity with the clo ſure of the ſixth day, for then all things were very good, Gen. 1.31. And no ſooner did the ſixth day end, and the ſeventh begin, but God reſted, and ſanctifyed his holy Sabbath, and was refreſhed, and exceeding well ſatisfyed with the goodneſs of his creatures, which muſt needs precede ſin.

This great argument has many little ones in the belly of it, and accordingly I ſhall return ſeveral anſwers to it.

Whereas he dictates, Anſw. 1 That man had not ſioned in the cloſure of the ſixth day, for then all things were very good: I anſwer, the word then is an addition to the text; And therefore the whole weight of his argument hanging upon this wooden pin of his own making, muſt needs fall to the ground. 'Tis a concluſion founded upon a fallacy, which the Logicians call a Fallacy of compoſition, when thoſe things are jumbled together which ought to be taken aſunder; for the detection whereof let it be conſidered, that in the text alledged, Gen. 1.31. there be two diſtinct clauſes; firſt, Gods approbation of his works, He ſaw every thing that he made, and behold it was very good. Secondly, the concluſion of the day; and the evening and the morning were the ſixth day. Now to take theſe two clauſes conjunctly, which are related diſtinctly, and to argue (as this Author does) that man had not ſinned on the ſixth day, for then all was very good, is a meer ſophiſme, ſuch as every puny in Logick is able to reſolve; for why might not Gods approbation be given forth in the morning or forenoon of the ſixth day, and time enough left before night p. 8for ſin to creep into the world? To clear this, let it be noted,See Dr. Willets Hexapla in Exod. 31.Exod 31 That although God was pleaſed to parcel out his work into ſix diſtinct dayes, yet he meaſured not every dayes work by the hour-glaſs of time as we creatures do, but what he did on each day was done in an inſtant. He did but ſpeak the word and it was done, he commanded and it was created.Pſal. 33.9. Pſa. 146.5.Ps 33:9Ps 146:5

This is evident from principles of reaſon as well as from the forementioned places of Scripture; for creation is the production of ſomething out of nothing, or that which is as much as nothing. Now betwixt the being of ſomething and nothing there can be no intermediate ſtate, and conſequently no imaginable ſpace of time, but an imperceptible moment: Hence that received maxime, that Creation is in an inſtant. Now to accommodate this to the work of the ſixth day, conſiſting of man and beaſts; certainly the forming of theſe creatures being momentaneous in the ſenſe above mentioned, took up but little of the day. I can ſee no colour of reaſon to the contrary, but our firſt Parents might be created, and the whole creation compleated in the fore part of the ſixth day. And doubtleſs, as ſoon as the creation was ended, the divine approbatiom was added; And God ſaw that it was good. For ſurely as ſoon as the creature was, the Creator ſaw what it was, and he ſaw it to be good, for he made it good. And although the concluſion of the day be preſently added, yet 'tis without diſpute, that many other things were tranſacted (though not expreſſed in the firſt Chapter) before the cloſe of the ſixth day: as the naming of the creatures, the joyning of our firſt parents together in marriage, and diſpoſing of them in the garden, yea the giving of the Law, and in all likelyhood the breaking of it too. And ſo the firſt knot is untied.

Whereas he adds, Anſwer 2 That as ſoon as the ſixth day ended, and the ſeventh began, God reſted and ſanctified the Sabbath; I anſwer, This Aſſertion is built upon a p. 9very uncertain, if not a falſe ſuppoſition, viz. That the order of the words and Chapters is exactly anſwerable to the order of the things done. Whereas in the judgment of the learned here is a manifeſt diſlocation or miſplacing of the ſacred ſtory, as to the order of things; for if we regard the exact order of things done, the ſecond chapter of Geneſis would begin at the fourth verſe, as learned Junius affirms: And the ſecond and third verſes would come in at the end of the third Chapter,Junij Praelect. in Gen. 2.Gen 2 and ſo the mention of the Sabbaths inſtitution would follow the deſcription of Adam's ſin; as an acute**De. Lightfoot's Harmony of the Old Teſta. and he gives this ſolid reaſon why the words ſtand as they do, and why the mention of the Sabbath is ſet down before Adams fall, viz. becauſe the Holy Ghoſt would diſpatch the general hiſtory of the firſt ſeven daies together without the interpoſition of any particular ſtory. Writer of our own hath obſerved. But becauſe the adverſary will ſay theſe are but humane fancies, let us ſee whether they have not ſure footing in the Word it ſelf. To this purpoſe let the Reader turn to Geneſ. 2. and view the texture and compoſure of the whole Chapter. In the three firſt verſes you have an account of God's finiſhing the heavens and the earth, as alſo his reſting on the ſeventh day. From the third to the eighth verſe you have the creation of Vegetables, herbs and plants, which was the work of the third day. From ver. 8. to ver. 15. you have the planting of the garden, and adorning of it with trees and rivers; which (if it were a work of creation) was done before the ſeventh day, though it be not mentioned till after it. Again, ver. 7. you have the forming of the man, and from ver. 18. to 22. the framing of the woman; as a alſo the creating of birds and beaſts, and the naming of the creatures, which you ſee are all mentioned after the ſeventh day, yet all, or moſt of them done on the ſixth. So that ſhould we ſtrictly cleave to the letter,In Scriptura non eſt prius & poſterius. The order of time is not alwaies kept in Scripture, but ſometimes that is placed firſt which was done laſt, & contrà. and believe that all things were done in the ſame order as they are here ſet down, we muſt believe that herbs and plants, birds and beaſts, man and p. 10woman were all created after the creation was ended, and God had reſted the ſeventh day. Yea, if the literal and hiſtorical order of the words muſt be maintained, how will T.T. make good his Mount-paradiſe-notion? For according to the order of the words, Paradiſe was not planted till after the Sabbath. How then could Adam keep his firſt Sabbath in Paradiſe? Viderit ipſe. Hitherto therefore he muſt of neceſſity yield a tranſpoſition; that is, that although theſe things be mentioned after the ſeventh day, yet they were done before it,foreign, Haec eſt un… de regulis ad intelligendam Scripturam ſanctam neceſſariis. Luth. loc. com. p. 75. and here ſet down by way of Poſtſcript: Now let us ſee what may be ſaid for that which follows, ver. 16.17. compared with the three laſt verſes; you have the woman given in marriage to the man, and the Creators Law touching the forbidden fruit given in charge to both; and that all this was done on the ſixth day will be readily granted. Well then, Chap. 3. you have the ſtory of the Serpents temptation, the tranſgreſſion of our firſt parents, their conviction in the cool of the day, and laſtly their expulſion out of Paradiſe; and the juncture of all this lying ſo cloſe to the ſtory of the ſixth day, Chap. 2. that unleſs you purpoſely looſen the connexion, you may rationally look upon it as one and the ſame daies work. And verily methinks the Serpents firſt on-ſet ſounds as if there were very little diſtance of time between God's giving the Law, and Satan's tempting the woman to break it, Gen. 3.1. Yea, hath God ſaid ye ſhall not eat of every tree in the garden? a very abrupt motion, if it had not been made immediately upon the giving of the Law. The words are (as one obſerves) a form of ſpeech uſed by one who ſtanding aloof, and over-hearing what was forbidden,Mr. Walker, Doctrine of the Sabbath. doth preſently ſtep in and ask if it were not ſo as he took it to be: and beſides, the woman's anſwer (as was hinted before) being in the future tenſe, we may, or ſhall eat hereafter implies that they had ſcarce eaten as yet. So that all circumſtances conſidered, it more then probable, that this third Chapter is nothing p. 11but an hiſtory of what was done on the ſixth day. And ſo the mention of the Sabbath in the beginning of the ſecond Chapter, may well enough (in order of things) take place at the end of the third, and then it will roundly follow, That the firſt ſin went before the firſt Sabbath.

As to that which is further alledged, Exod. 31.17. Anſ. 3 That on the ſeventh day God reſted, and was refreſhed. I anſwer, It is onelyonly a Metaphorical expreſſion; for we may not think that the everlaſting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth fainted, or was weary in the works of the Creation, or that he needed any reſt or reſpiration. But when the Holy Ghoſt ſpeaks to us men, he delights to ſpeak after the manner of men, reſpecting more the weakneſs of our capacity, than the exactneſs and propriety of the Phraſe. In a word, ſuppoſe God's reſting and being refreſhed on the ſeventh day intimate ſome delightful ſatisfaction, like that which men take in things that refreſh their ſouls, yet it follows not that this ſatisfaction was taken in the creatures, but rather in Chriſt, who had now undertaken God's ſatisfaction for man's tranſgreſſion. And this indeed is a ſweet refreſhing (as to a guilty creature) ſo to an angry God: and in this ſenſe the Scriptures do ſweetly harmonize,Iſai. 42.1. Mat. 3.17. Mat. 12.18.Isa 42:1Matt 3:17Matt 12:18 unanimouſly teſtifying that our bleſſed Redeemer is the perſon in whom the eternal God delighteth, in whom the Father is well-pleaſed. As for the other Scriptures which T.T. crouds in for company-ſake in his Margin, as Job 38.7. Luke 2.13. the one ſpeaking of the Angels ſong at the Creation of the earth, the other of their joyful Hymne at the birth of Chriſt, I wonder how they make for his purpoſe, to prove that man had not ſinned before the Sabbath. But impertinent quotations are no rarities in his book; he would make a glorious ſhew of Scripture, to dazle the eies of the ſimple, when the Scriptures he cites are neither in ſenſe nor ſound applicable to his purpoſe; which if it be not packing ſophiſtry, let the world judg. Well, his firſt tripartite argument is weighed, and found to light. And hitherto (for ought appears p. 12to the contrary) the firſt Sabbath was not before ſin.

I proceed to the ſecond.

2.T.Ts. Argum. [Some time (ſayes he) muſt be allowed for the ſin of Angels and after that for the parley with the woman; and it was no little ſpace wherein Adam gave ſignificant names to the creatures.]

For the Angels ſin, Anſ. 1 to gueſſe preciſely at the time of it, is neither eaſie nor neceſſary: And in diſputes of this nature we muſt be wiſe to ſobriety, not to curioſity;aa1 Tim. 3.6.1 Tim 3:6 pride was a principal ingredient in their ſin, andbbJob 4.18.Job 4:18 God charged them with folly for their pride; how much more folly ſhall ſinful man be found guilty of, who in the pride of his fooliſh heart ſhall preſume to be wiſe above that which is written?Some think that place, Luke 10.28. may refer to the firſt fall of the Angels, being mentioned as a check to the diſciples, ready to be lifted up with pride at the ſucceſs of their miniſtry. Ne factis miraculis ſuperbirent diſcipuli, adduxit Domiuus exemplum Satanae, &c. Stella in loc.Luke 10:28 However it is moſt conſentaneous to Scripture, and Reaſon to conceive that the Angels (being ſpiritual ſubſtances) muſt in their actings, whether good or evil, be proportionable to their beings. And ſin being a ſpiritual evil, how quick a progreſſe it might make in ſuch creatures, let any man judg who can but compare things ſpiritual with ſpiritual. To me it is no great difficulty to apprehend, that in a very few moments, by an aſpiring thought, legions of Angels might become legions of Divels. Eſpecially being (for ought I know) linked together in a conjoyned apoſtaſie.

For Adam's naming the creatures, this alſo might ſoon be diſpatched, Anſw. 2 conſidering that not every individual creature (as T.T. would have it) but onelyonly the birds and beaſts were made to paſs before Adam; of which there are not many kinds,Primi parentes inſignes Philoſophi. Luther, in G…n. Cap. 1. and not many of a kind created at firſt. And doubtleſs it coſt Adam no ſtudy to impoſe ſignificant names upon them. He had natural Philoſophy enough concreated with him to know the properties and qualities of the creaures;1 Kin. 4.33, 341 Kgs 4:331 Kgs 4:34 and he needed no dictionary to find out ſuitable names for them. If Solomon after the Fall were ſo well p. 13read in the book of the creatures, that he could write a complete Commentary upon it from the Cedar to the Hyſop, what ſhall we think of Adam before the Fall? But to put all out of doubt,Dr. Twiſſe moral of the Sabbath, p. 51. that the naming of the Creatures took up no long time is evident; for they were all named before Eve was formed, Gen. 2.19, 20. So as all this might be done before noon, and time enough left before night for the acting of that fatal tragedy, the Fall of Man, as a judicious Writer concludes.

For the parley betwixt the Woman and the Serpent, Anſw. 3 we have no reaſon to judge that long, when the Scripture cuts it ſo ſhort. Queſtionleſs the Serpent was not onelyonly a ſubtile but a nimble diſputant; and it was his policy to be as quick as he could, that the woman might be conquered before ſhe had time to recollect her ſelf. Beſides, in the judgment of moſt Interpreters, ſhe began to ſtagger and give ground at the firſt aſſault. So that all this Authors conjectures laid together are too weak to bear the weight of that confident concluſion, Nothing is more certain then that the Higheſt himſelf did both ſanctifie and celebrate the firſt Sabbath, and that before ſin. p. 11.I may well ſay, nothing is more uncertain. I have given ſome Scripture-arguments already to make it more then probable; I ſhall add more in the third branch, to make it little leſs then infallible, that man fell on the ſixth day. For the preſent I ſhall onelyonly caſt in one Argument againſt the ſuppoſed inſtitution of the Sabbath in Paradiſe,

If the Sabbath was inſtituted in Paradiſe, Argu. then Adam did obſerve, and was bound to obſerve the firſt Sabbath in Paradiſe: But neither of theſe can be proved from Scripture: Therefore, &c.

1. That Adam did unqueſtionably obſerve the firſt Sabbath in Paradiſe, cannot be demonſtratively proved from Scripture. This is undeniable, that whenever, or where-ever he kept his firſt Sabbath, he did it in imitation of God's example: Now how could he reſt a whole day by God's example, till God had fully completed the firſt ſeventh p. 14dayes reſt for his example?Eph. 5.1.Eph 5:1 Imitation of God being a ſubſequent, not a concomitant act, a following of him as dear children, not a fellow-acting with him. I can therefore ſee no congruity in that paſſage of T.T. where he reaſons thus againſt reaſon;p. 54. Certainly if Adam were a follower of God as a dear child, he muſt needs keep the Sabbath with his Father. With his Father! how then could he follow him? Certainly God went before, if Adam followed him as a dear child. I cannot conceive how he could poſſibly keep a Sabbath that God himſelf had not firſt bleſſed and ſanctified to that end. I may upon better grounds ſuppoſe (with a late renowned Champion in this controverſie) that God alone kept the firſt Sabbath (as Chriſt alone the firſt Lord's day) that he might afford Adam an example,Mr. Cawdrey's Sab. rediv. p. 3. cap. 1. as of working ſix daies, by his being exerciſed ſix daies in the work of creation, ſo of reſting the ſeventh in it's next weekly return, and ſo ſucceſſively week after week. But it will be ſaid, if Adam were bound to keep the firſt Sabbath, we are bound to believe he did keep it: Therefore a word or two of that.

2. If he were bound, I demand, quo jure, by what Law? By the Law written in his heart? why then was he bound to keep a Sabbath before there was a Sabbath to keep? for the Law was graven in his heart on the ſixth day, as a branch of that**Eph. 4.24. Col. 3.10.Eph 4:24Col 3:10 divine image of God concreated with him, Whereas the Sabbath (to be ſure) was not inſtituted till the ſeventh day, if then. Beſides, the Law written in the table of Adam's heart was the ſame (in this Authors judgment) which was afterwards written in Tables of Stone, that is, the fourth Commandement: which (if we take his and Mr. Brabournes Comment upon it) preſcribes ſix daies for labour before a ſeventh of reſt. Now this order Adam could not poſſibly obſerve for the firſt week, being created but on the ſixth day. He muſt therefore look out ſome other Law, and where he will find it I cannot ſee, unleſs in Gen. 2.3. and he muſt be very ſharp-ſighted to find any thing there that looks like a Law binding our firſt Parents p. 15to obſerve the firſt Sabbath. For let the words be well pondered, And God bleſſed the ſeventh day and ſanctified it, Gen. 2.3. Opened.Gen 2:3becaſe in it he had reſted from all his works which he had created and made. Whence we may clearly gather,'Tis not ſaid becauſe he ſhould reſt, but had reſted. that God's reſting on the ſeventh day was in order of time before his bleſſing and ſanctifying of the day: as thoſe words ver. 2. On the ſeventh day God reſted from all his works which he had made, See Mr. White of Dorcheſter Gen. 2.Gen 2imply the making of the works before God's reſting; ſo ver. 3. He bleſſed and ſanctified the ſeventh day, becauſe in it he had reſted, muſt needs intimate, that God's reſting on the ſeventh day went before his ſanctifying of the day, or ſetting it apart for a Sabbath: Not long before I grant,As Chap. 1. where Moſes relates God's ſix daies works as finiſhed by him, then followeth the bleſſing upon them. So in the 2. Chap. he makes the bleſſing to follow upon Gods reſting, as before upon his working. but evidently long enough to diſcharge our firſt parents by virtue of thoſe words from any obligation to keep the firſt Sabbath. And whereas T.T. argues, that the Sabbath was made for man, and if Adam were a man, the Sabbath was made for him; I grant the whole argument, onelyonly with this diſtinction, That although it was made for man, yet it follows not that it was made for man as ſoon as man was made. Neither has he alledged any one text of Scripture (Valeat quantum valere poteſt) of ſufficient evidence to ſupport his grand concluſion, That the ſeventh-day-Sabbath was inſtituted and obſerved in pure Paradiſe. Which if itbbYet I grant it not. ſhould be granted him, yet his feeble cauſe would receive no invincible ſtrength by it. For although it would prove a Sabbath, and a weekly Sabbath, one day in ſeven to be moral and perpetual (which I deny not) (and herein I could joyn iſſue with the contrary-minded) yet what is this to the perpetuity and immutability of that old ſeventh day? ſince in the judgment of all Interpreters, both antient and modern (except Jews) onelyonly one day in ſeven, or a ſeventh part of weekly time is here perpetually eſtabliſhed, that old ſeventh day onelyonly temporarily, and during the ſtate p. 16of the old world. So Chryſoſtome; Here (ſaies he,) from the beginning God has intimated to us this doctrine,foreign, Chryſoſt. Hom. 19. in Gen. 2.Gen 2 inſtructing us to ſet apart one day in the circle of every week for ſpiritual exerciſes. Note by the way, he ſaies not it is expreſly determined here, (that is, left for the fourth Commandement) but it is intimated and implied here. And the like ſaies Junius. But to draw to a concluſion; I ſuppoſe it is more then probably demonſtrative (If I may ſo ſpeak without a Soloeciſm) that the old Sabbath was inſtituted (though in the beginning) yet after the Fall, in man's corrupt eſtate, when he had put off his publick capacity as the repreſentative of mankind, and was looked upon as a ſingle perſon, yea a ſinful perſon, and one that ſtood in need of a Redeemer; and ſo the day muſt needs be alterable, as ſhall be ſhortly argued and evinced. However, if we ſhould ſuppoſe the date of the Sabbaths inſtitution to be utterly uncertain, as the inſtitution of Sacrifices is, I ſee not but this may argue (as to the day) mutability ſtamped upon it. It is true, the ſolemne worſhip of God is unalterable, as long as there is a God to be worſhipped; but the old way of worſhip by Sacrifices was mutable from the very firſt original of it. Thus I grant the time of worſhip,Rom. 12.1. Chryſ. in Hebr. Hom. 11. Baſil. in Iſai. c. 20.Rom 12:1Isa 20 the Sabbath it ſelf, being an inſeparable adjunct of ſolemne worſhip, is perpetual; but the old day, the ſeventh from the Creation; was made mutable in the firſt inſtitution of it. Indeed in ſome ſenſe we have ſacrifices ſtill, ſpiritual ſacrifices; and we have a Sabbath ſtill, yea**Mat. 24.20.Matt 24:20 a literal Sabbath: But old Sabbaths and old Sacrifices being twins, (though both honorable, and ſerviceable in their generations) yet like Hippocrates twins they lived together and died together, and let both together in God's name be buried in the grave of Chriſt, ſo as never to riſe again.2 Cor. 5.15, 17.2 Cor 5:152 Cor 5:17 But let our Goſpel-worſhip and Goſpel-Sabbath take life from our Saviour's Reſurrection, which brought with it a new Creation, a new World, making all things new, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks.

p. 172. That the old ſeventh day was made alterable in the firſt inſtitution, will further appear, if we conſider the Law or command by which it was inſtituted; which is no where to be found but in Gen. 2.3. As for the Law written in Adam's breaſt, it is too dark to ground an inſtitution upon. We muſt have a Law written in God's book. And there is no other that I know of but Gen. 2.3. which if I grant the Adverſary to be a command (for ſome do ſtiffly deny it) yet I muſt be bold to tell him, it is but a conſequential command: For although it be ſaid, God bleſſed the ſeventh day, and ſanctified it; yet it is not ſaid, Let man ſanctifie it. Here is included God's example, but no expreſs command. And if the New Teſtament do not afford us as much warrant for the Lord's day as this amounts to, I will yield the Cauſe. But of that hereafter. Let the Reader onelyonly take notice (by the way) how mortally T. T. hath wounded his own cauſe,Pa. 36. by exclaiming ſo bitterly againſt Conſequences. He calls it Philoſophie, and the deceit of men to eſtabliſh Ordinances by Conſequences. Why let me ask him, Was the Patriarchal Sabbath for above two thouſand years together an Ordinance of God? for my part I never doubted of it. But he can never make it good without a Conſequence, he muſt make a new Bible firſt; for expreſs command there is none, onelyonly God's example, which without a precept is not alwayes binding. And ſo (to uſe his own words) the Lord hath diſappointed the devices of the crafty, and ſnared him in his own wiſdom, he digged a pit for the Lord's day, and his Saturdays Sabbath is fallen into it, help it out how he can. For his life he can find no more in Gen. 2. then an implicit command for that old ſeventh day. And now the next queſtion will be, Whether it be a temporary, or a perpetual precept? If perpetual, it muſt be moral. But that it cannot be by his own rule; for he has fairly granted, That a Moral Law is not meerly good becauſe commanded, but therefore commanded becauſe it is good: underſtand it of a Moral natural Law. Now I beſeech you, Sir, what natural goodneſs was there p. 18in the ſeventh day more then in the ſixth or fifth? Is one day in it ſelf any better then another as to God? And as to man, if any day had been naturally or morally good above the reſt,Gen. 1.28. Pſal. 8.56.Gen 1:28Ps 8:56 in all reaſon it had been the ſixth day, on which God made man, crowned him with his bleſſings, and gave him dominion over his creatures; or the firſt day, in which he made the heavens, the Angels, and the elements. Therefore his threefold myſtery to the ſeventh-days morality, is but a threefold miſerable miſtake, to make the beſt of it.

1. That it was written in innocent Adam's heart; for which he cites Rom. 2. where there is not a word of any ſuch thing.…. 10.11.

2. That it was afterwards written in Tables of ſtone; for which he quotes Gal. 3.19. as little to his purpoſe as the other.

3. That it is alſo written in the fleſhly tables of renewed hearts: which the experience of almoſt all renewed hearts in heaven and earth does contradict. For to ſpeak in the language of Eliphas, Job 5.1. S. Paul Col. 2.16, 17.Job 5:1Col 2:16Col 2:17Call now if there be any that will anſwer thee; and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn? either Scripture-Saints,Cyprian cp. ad Fidum. 59. Chryſo. Tom de Res. or Church Saints? Ask S. Paul, S. Cyprian, S. Chryſoſtom, S. Auguſtine, and they will tell you that your antiquated Sabbath was ſo far from being written in their hearts, that they have written againſt it with their pens.Auguſt. de lit. & Spir. c. 14. Turn over the works of the eminent Fathers, whoſe books neither you nor I are worthy to bear, and their writings are ſo voluminous that we are not able to bear them.Mr. Cawdrey. Mr. Palmer. Mr. Sheph. Mr. Byfield. Mr. White of Dorch. and the whole Aſſembly of Divines Confe. of faith. Chap. 21. Add to theſe, the moſt judicious, pious and zealous Miniſters and Martyrs of Chriſt, who have lived and died within the compaſs of theſe ſixteen hundred years; and moſt, if not all of them, will tell you, That they never owned your Saturday-Sabbath; they lived without it, dyed without it, and are (I doubt not) gone to their everlaſting reſt in heaven without it. Beſides, how many faithful witneſſes of late years has the Lord raiſed up to bear teſtimony againſt it? of whom I ſuppoſe the greateſt part p. 19are yet alive, though ſome are fallen aſleep. In a word,God has promiſed to write his laws in the hearts of all his people. Jer. 31.33. Hebr. 8.10, Char. 16. But not one of ten thouſand has the Saturday-Sabbath written in his heart; therefore it is now none of Gods laws.Jer 31:33Heb 8:10 how many precious, gracious and pious Chriſtians are yet upon earth, men and women redeemed from the earth, and crucified to the world (of whom the world is not worthy) who look upon your Sabbath as a cypher? can freely labour and travel upon it, buy and ſell upon it, and that after accurate inquiries about it; and to this day their conſciences never reproched them, their hearts never ſmote them for it? what will you ſay all theſe are Hypocrites, unrenewed, unſanctified ones? This were to condemn the generation of Gods Children, and Canonize your ſelf, with your few miſled aſſociates, for the only Saints in Chriſtendome; which I would hope you dare not do, though I know you dare as much as another.

Well, the adverſary is brought to this Dilemma; Either God has no people in the world but ſuch as are of his perſwaſion, or his moral and immutable Laws are not written in their hearts, or the Saturday-Sabbath is none of thoſe Lawes. The laſt is the likelieſt in the judgment of any indifferent Reader; let his cauſe be tryed where he pleaſes, either at Natures tribunal, or the throne of Grace in the hearts of believers, and he will be caſt at both. Nature is both blind and dumb in the buſineſs; and if he plead the law of Grace (which is rectifyed and refined nature) the whole Chriſtian world will give in evidence againſt him. A Sabbath, a day of holy reſt, indeed it will own, and one day of ſeven in proportion; but the particularity of the day, the ſeventh from the Creation, it utterly diſclaims. And where he will find advocates for it, but either among the unbelieving Jews, or a few misbelieving Chriſtians Judaizing, I know not. Therefore ſurely it is no ingredient of Gods moral and immutable Lawes. The concluſion then is, that it was but a temporary precept by which it was eſtabliſhed, which ſome call ceremonial, others had rather term it poſitive, but none perpetual, unleſs ſuch as are more apt to ſay anything then able to prove it when then have ſaid it. We deny not the fourth p. 20Commandement to be a perpetual precept; but we are now ſpeaking of Gen. 2. which at moſt is but a poſitive Law; and poſitive precepts are alterable at the law-givers pleaſure: yea, though they were given in Paradiſe, as the precept concerning the forbidden fruit, though it were given before the fall, and ſhould undoubtedly have bound Adam and all his poſterity if he had not fallen;Gen. 2.17.Gen 2:17 yet now it binds none, neither ſhould it if the tree were known. So alſo that poſitive law of keeping and dreſſing the Garden,Mr. … Strange. which to Adam was a binding precept, yet now it is wholly abrogated in the letter of it, or elſe (as one ſayes) we muſt all tag and rag turn gardeners. True, there was ſomething moral, and of the law of nature in that precept,Yates Model of Divin. Haec lex naturalis eſt conjunctam habens deſignationem diei ceremonialem, quia verò partim naturalis partimque (ut loquuntur Scholae) poſitiva eſt. Propterea diſcrimen oportet in eo ordine adhiberi, quod enim naturale eſt, puta diem ſeptimum quemque Deo ſacrum eſſe illud permanet, quod poſitivum, nempe illum diem qui ſeptimus eſt creationis eſſe Diem Sabbathi hoc mutatum eſt. Juni prae'ec. in Gen. 2. p. 27.Gen 2 man muſt alwayes be exerciſed and imployed, the earth (his ſtore-houſe) muſt alſo be his work-houſe; Idleneſs and happineſs could never conſiſt together. But that his imployment muſt be limited to the culture of a Garden that was meerly poſitive. The like may be ſaid for the Law of the Sabbath (ſuppoſing not granting it had been given in paradiſe) that man ſhould celebrate a Sabbath was moral and perpetual, but that it muſt be on the ſeventh day from the Creation, was meerly poſitive, temporary, and alterable at the law-givers pleaſure.

And this may ſerve as a proper Engine to undermine that grand argument founded on the inſtitution of marriage. P. 155. The Sabbath is a precept (ſaith he) as ancient, as Ʋniverſal as marriage, both were inſtituted in paradiſe for Adam and all his poſterity.

Anſ. We grant that the inſtitution of marriage was made in pure paradiſe, which ever ſince has made it honorable amongſt all men, Heb. 13.4. And thus far we alſo grant the firſt inſtitution is a perpetual obligation, viz. That one man is bound to one woman; yet I hope no p. 21man is tyed by that firſt inſtitution to make choice of this or that particular woman; but he is at liberty to marry whom he liſts (provided it be in the Lord;) ſo alſo admitting the Sabbath to be inſtituted in paradiſe; yet I can ſee no reaſon why it ſhould limit us to that particular day, but (that notwithſtanding) we may obſerve any other day that ſhall appear to be of the Lords appointment, as the firſt day of the week infallibly is, and therefore it bears the Lords name, being ſtyled the Lords Day by way of eminency. Indeed now the day is fixed, and we cannot chuſe another, nor change it to another,Pſa 118.29. Rev. 1.10.Ps 118:29Rev 1:10 for reaſons hereafter to be rendered. But enough is ſaid to prove the command (whatever it was, whereby the old Sabbath was inſtituted) to be but temporary, though it had been given in Innocency. A poſitive precept given in innocency might ſuffer much alteration by mans apoſtaſie:Mr. Sheph. Theſ. 17.19. For (to borrow the words of a reverend Author) the ſin of man made the Lord repent that ever he had made man, and conſequently that ever he made the world for man; which might be a ſufficient ground of the Law-givers pleaſure to alter and change the day ſtated upon the worlds Creation, to another day ſtated upon the worlds Redemption, of which the Lord will never repent. Now if a precept or inſtitution given before the fall might be mutable at the Law givers pleaſure, how much more this of the ſeventh day which was rather impoſed ſince the fall, as the inſtitution of Sacrifices, the prohibition of blood, &c.Gen. 9.4.Gen 9:4

3. That the old ſeventh day was made alterable in the firſt inſtitution of the Sabbath, is moſt of all evident from the ground or occaſion upon which it was inſtituted; and this is hinted unto us in thoſe words, Gen. 2.2.See Ainſworth annot. in Gen. 2.2Gen 2:2 On the ſeventh day God ended his works which he had made, and reſted the ſeventh day, wherefore he bleſſed and ſanctified it. Now it much concerns us to enquire in what ſenſe the Lord is ſaid to have ended his works on the ſeventh day? ſince we muſt not imagine with Hierome and Catharinus that God made any new creatures on the ſeventh day; for p. 22doubtleſs the creation was finiſhed on the ſixth day. How then it is ſaid, on the ſeventh day God ended his works? Why, without reſting and torturing the words, as ſome do, we may underſtand it in one or both of theſe two reſpects; either

1. In reſpect of Providence: or,

2. In reſpect of the Promiſe.

1. In reſpect of Providence; So judicious Mr. White in Gen. 2.Gen 2and why may not this be the meaning of the holy Ghoſt, That on the ſeventh day God was pleaſed by a ſignal hand of Providence to perfect his works of Creations, either by eſtabliſhing them to continue as they do this day, or at leaſt by manifeſting their accompliſhment in his reſt and ceſſation from Creating-work? Take the word (Ended) in this ſenſe, and ſo it informs us, that the ground of Gods ſanctifying the ſeventh day, was not ſimply his reſt upon that day but alſo the reaſon of that reſt,Heb. 4. v. 3.4.Heb 4:3Heb 4:4 namely the finiſhing of his works, witneſſed by his reſting, as the Author to the Hebrews plainly intimates. And not only that, but alſo the reſult and conſequent of both, namely the dignifying and honouring of that day above all other dayes for the time being, by crowning it with the accompliſhment of the greateſt work then made, or manifeſted to be made perfect.Iſa. 58.3.Isa 58:3 Hence the ſeventh day was ſtyled, The Honorable of the Lord; not that in it ſelf one day is more honorable and obſervable then another, but that which differences the one from the other, and dignifies one above another, is Gods caſting honour upon it by ſome memorable work of Providence, either begun or finiſhed upon that day. Upon which account moſt of the Jewes Feſtivals were inſtituted; as their Paſſeover in the 14th of Abib; Lev. 23.5. Eſth. 9.21.Lev 23:5Esth 9:21the Feaſt of Purim on the 14th of Adar; like our Gunpowder-treaſon-day, on the 5. of November: becauſe the noble acts of God have been done upon theſe dayes. And this was a main ground of their weekly Sabbath upon the ſeventh day; being a day crowned with the greateſt work then viſible, a work manifeſted to be finiſhed p. 23on the ſeventh day, by Gods reſting on that day. Yet this muſt be noted, that the finiſhing of Gods work did not make the day more honorable then others by any natural neceſſity, but only by poſitive right and equity. There was no neceſſary and natural cauſe why the ſeventh day, on which the work was declaratively ended, ſhould be more honorable then the ſixth day, on which it was really ended and finiſhed, only it was Gods will and pleaſure to have it ſo. Having premiſed this by the way; now let us ſee how the old Sabbath was founded upon the finiſhing of his works: As thus; That day which God hath honoured and crowned with the accompliſhment of the greateſt work, muſt be the day of ſolemn worſhip or Sabbath-day: But the ſeventh day from the Creation was thus honoured and crowned in the Cradle or infancy of the world: Therefore that day muſt be the Sabbath day, viz. till a greater work take place. And then the argument will conclude as ſtrongly for the change of the day, as ever it did for the choice of it.

For we ſhall argue thus; If the ground of ſtating the Sabbath on the ſeventh day were applicable to another day, then the Sabbath in the firſt ground-work of it was alterable to another day: But the ground of ſtating it upon that old ſeventh day was applicable to another day, therefore, &c.

The conſequence is cleere as the Sun; for as it is with duties, ſo with dayes of worſhip; the grounds upon which they are ſetled being applicable to other times and places, the dayes and duties themſelves have alwayes been moveable and circumſtantially mutable alſo; as that duty of reverencing of Gods Sanctuary (which is mated and coupled with keeping his Sabbaths) the ground of it being applicable to the Temple as well as the Tabernacle,Levit. 19.30.Lev 19:30 the duty it ſelf was alſo moveable from the Tabernacle to the Temple, although the firſt were only in being when the precept was given. And the like muſt be ſaid of the Sabbath: The conſequence hath evidence enough in it ſelf to every vulgar eye. If the foundation be moveable, ſo is the building. p. 24If the Aſſumption be queſtioned, viz. That the ground of fixing the Sabbath on the ſeventh day was moveable and applicable to another day, we ſhall thus confirm it; The ground of fixing the Sabbath on the old ſeventh day was Gods honouring and advancing that day above all other dayes (for the time being) by his moſt eminent work of Creation, manifeſted to be accompliſhed on that day; therefore when another day ſhall be crowned with the accompliſhment of a more eminent Creation, the ſame ground and reaſon which caſt the Sabbath on the old day will unavoidably carry it to the new. Now the work of Redemption is a new Creation, 2 Cor. 5.17. and it was long ago propheſied, that as theaaHag. 2.9.Hag 2:9 glory of the ſecond Temple ſhould out ſhine that of the firſt, ſo the glory of this new Creation ſhould excell that of the old, and comparatively eate out the memory of it.bbIſai. 65.17.Isa 65:17 Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, ſayes the Lord, and the old ſhall not be remembered nor come into mind. Not that the Lord would ſimply and abſolutely have the memory of the Creation to be leſſened, but reſpectively and in compariſon of Redemption,; it muſt not be obliterated, but only ſubordinated: retained and remembred it muſt be ſtill, but as a leſſer work then Redemption, and as a leſſer good to us, as the Law is to the Goſpel, or the Old Teſtament to the New. Redemption muſt be owned as the greater and better work, in as much as Spiritual things are better then Natural, and Gods laſt works are his beſt; the firſt being only preparative to the laſt, as Dr. Sibbs excellently obſerves.Mat. 16.26. Mark 8.36.Matt 16:26Mark 8:36 And verily he that ſhall queſtion whether Redemption be a greater and better work then Creation, knows little what a Redeemer is, or what the ranſome of an immortal ſoul is worth.See Mr. Phil. Goodw. Dies Dominic. rediv. pa. 11.12, 13. I ſhould think, as mans gaining the world cannot recompenſe the loſs of his ſoul, ſo Gods creating of the world doth not equalize Chriſts redeeming the ſoul. In creating the world indeed the Lord has done much for me; but in ſhedding his precious blood, in conquering ſin and death, he hath done more then if he p. 25had created another world for me. Let the redeemed of the Lord ſay ſo; yea, the work is not only better to me, but greater in it ſelf too. In creation there was but a words ſpeaking, and the work was preſently done;2 Cor. 5.21. Gal. 3.13. See more in Dr. Gouge Heb. 9. S. 63.2 Cor 5:21Gal 3:13Heb 9 but in Redemption there was doing and dying; God muſt come down from heaven, God muſt be made man, yea, God-man muſt be made ſin and a curſe for me. Here was a work exceeding wonder. Beſides, in the work of Creation there was nothing to with ſtand: But in the work of Redemption here was Juſtice againſt Mercy, wrath againſt pity. In a word, in the Creation God brought ſomething out of nothing, but in redemption he hath out of one contrary brought another, good out of evil, life out of death. Is not thy ſoul raviſhed, Chriſtian, at theſe diſcoveries of wiſdome, grace and power ſhining forth in thy ſouls Redemption? Canſt thou ſee the like in the worlds Creation? Is there not more glory in one Chriſt then in many worlds? What a ſapleſs, unſavory queſtion therefore to a ſoul that knows any thing of Chriſt,Pa. 130. is that which T. T. propounds; Who told thee the work of Redemption was the greater work? A queſtion more beſeeming a Jew then a Chriſtian. But the anſwer is ready at hand; He that hath told me the heavens are the works of hisaaPſalm 8.3.Ps 8:3 fingers, and Redemption the work of hisbbIſal. 52.9, 10. arm, his outſtretched, unbared arm, hath ſufficiently taught me that Redemption is the greater work, a work of greater might, I am ſure of greater mercy. And ſo for his next queſtion, If it be the greater work, who told thee that it deſerves the honour of the day? I anſwer, a wiſer and better man then you or I, that man after Gods own heart, who was moſt likely to know the mind of the Lord, he has foretold it in that 118th Pſalm, when by a prophetick ſpirit foreſeeing the glory of the reſurrection day as a day amongſt the ſeven dayes, like the Sun amongſt the ſeven planets, he accordingly ſalutes it with a magnificent Title, This is the day which the Lord hath made, yea magnified; for the word ſignifies not only to make, but to magnifie and advance above all others:cc1 Sam. 12.6. And ſuch was the power of God in raiſing Chriſt, hat the Pſalmiſt cryes our, it is marvellous in our ſight. Acts 4.10.11. foreign eſt vel imus vel ſummus lapis. Arretius in 1 Pet. 2.7. Mat. 11.11.1 Sam 12:6Acts 4:10Acts 4:111 Pet 2:7Matt 11:11 As by the ſame word the Lord is ſaid to advance p. 26Moſes and Aaron, foreignthat is, to lift them up in dignity and preeminency above the reſt of the people. Thus he foreſaw that the Lord would magnifie and exalt the reſurrection day; and why? Becauſe on this day the moſt glorious work of redemption was to be accompliſhed, the ſtone which the builders reſuſed being made the head of the corner, i. e. to perfect and complete the fabrick of the new Creation. And thus is the reſurrection-day prophetically crowned with honour above all other dayes, Old Sabbath and all: For the work crowns the day, and the greater the work the greater the day. And therefore although the laſt day of the week were the greateſt in dignity during the ſupereminency of the old Creation, yet when a greater work was to be finiſhed, the day on which it was to conclude muſt without diſpute be the greater day. As John Baptiſt being the laſt and greateſt of the prophets, yet was leſſe then the leaſt in the Kingdome of heaven; ſo I may ſay of the Old Sabbath, the greateſt day under the Old Teſtament, yet it muſt vail and ſtoop when the Sun of righteouſneſs ſhines forth in a new day under the New Teſtament. Surely the ſecond Creation muſt have a Sabbath of commemoration as well as the firſt, or elſe God ſhould magnifie his leſſer work of Creation above his greater work of Redemption. And thus I ſuppoſe I have made good my Poſition both Logically and Theologically, that the old ſeventh day was alterable in its firſt inſtitution, ſince the ſame ground of ſtating the Sabbath at firſt upon that day might be a ſufficient ground of tranſlating it to another day, as now it is; and that by Divine Authority, as ſhall be ſeen hereafter.

The adverſary has no conſiderable weapons to oppoſe this truth withal, but what have been already beaten out of Mr. Brabourns hands, and are ſufficiently blunted by others; or if any new ones be added, we ſhall now try what mettal they are made of. Obj. 1T.T. p. 7.

The ſeventh day (ſayes he) was ſet apart in memorial of the moſt glorious work of Creation; the benefit whereof being extended to us, p. 69.engageth us to that day ſtill. And p. 27again; The world being created not only for Iſrael but for all people, I appeal to all conſcientious Chriſtians, whether all mankind be not bound to that very day who enjoy the benefit of the Creation. (By the way let me tell him, when I read his inſulting challenge, I expected Scripture-arguments, and not popular appeals.) But to let him ſwim in his own element, the ſum of his appealing (for arguing I cannot call it) amounts but to this, that if the old ſeventh day were ſet apart in memory of the Creation, which every Chriſtian (as a creature) is bound to commemorate, then the day is unchangeable, & perpetually to be obſerved.

But to this I anſwer; The conſequence is ſick and craſie, Anſwer. and therefore it can produce but a weak concluſion. For firſt, the Covenant of grace (I ſuppoſe) is as ancient as the old Sabbath, I am ſure as eminent a mercy as the occaſion of the Sabbath: And doubtleſs to every true-hearted Chriſtian the memory of Gods Covenant is and ought to be as precious as the memory of the worlds Creation; yet I hope he will not ſay that circumciſion and ſacrifices, (the old memorials of the Covenant) are therefore ſtill in force, or ought to be ſtill in uſe among Chriſtians who are intereſted in that Covenant. And the like may I ſay of the Saturday-Sabbath: Let none object the diſparity between the Old Sabbath and circumciſion, for they are both clad in a livery of the ſame colour, in many things they do much reſemble one another. WasaaGen. 17.11.Gen 17:11 circumciſion a ſign betwixt God and the ſeed of Abraham? ſo was thebbExod. 31.17.Exod 31:17 old Sabbath betwixt God and the houſe of Iſrael. WasccGen. 17.7.Gen 17:7 circumciſion a perpetual Covenant with Abrahams ſeed in their generation? So alſo was theddExod. 31.16.Exod 31:16 Sabbath to be kept as a perpetual Covenant throughout their generations.

In a word, waseeGen. 17.14.Gen 17:14 circumciſion ſo exacted, that whoſoever was uncircumciſed muſt be cut off from the houſe of Iſrael? why, ſo alſo was the oldffExod. 31.14.Exod 31:14 Sabbath, whoſoever doth any work therein, that ſoul ſhall be cut off from among the people. Again, let none tax me with incongruity in comparing the old Sabbath and ſacrifices together; for p. 28the Lord of the Sabbath himſelf hath taught me to lay them in an equal ballance, who when the Phariſees clamoured his Diſciples for Sabbath breaking, ſtops their mouths with thatggHoſ. 6.6. Mat. 12.7. Pluris apud De um ſalus mortalium quàmſ crifi. iapecudum. Muſcul. in Loc.Hos 6:6Matt 12:7 Scripture, The Lord will have merey and not ſocrifice: That is, the neceſſities of men relieved, rather then the ſuppoſed letter of the Law obſerved. In my poor judgment it is very conſiderable, that ſuch a perſon, at ſuch a time, ſhould match the Sabbath day and ſacrifices together; for it was not the Sabbath in general, but the Sabbath day which was then under diſpute. Surely there was ſome myſtery in this Divinity of our Saviour. But this may ſuffice for a firſt anſwer; As the Covenant of grace is perpetually to be commemorated, but not by circumciſion and ſacrifices, the old memorials of it; ſo the work of creation is continually to be had in remembrace, but not by the old Sabbaths celebration: For we ſay, as the new Covenant muſt have new ſigns, ſo the new creation a new Sabbath. And

2. A new day might keep alive the memory of the old Creation,Meditatio & celebratio operum Dei non minus alio die quàm ſeptimoficri poteſt. Urſin. although it be primarily intended as a memorial of redemption. And this double honour is put upon the Lords day, as the firſt day of the week, it commemorates the worlds redemption, as the ſeventh day in weekly recourſe it calls to mind the worlds Creation. For in labouring ſix dayes, and reſting the ſeventh weekly, we recognize Gods working ſix dayes, and reſting the ſeventh originally. And here I may as rationally as T.T. appeal to any ingenuous Chriſtian, if the Old Sabbath ſerved the Jews as a means to keep them mindful both of the worlds Creation, and their redemption from Egypt; why may not our Lords day Sabbath be the Chriſtians memorandum, both of the worlds Creation,Deut. 5.15.Deut 5:15 and his Redemption from hell? Of the laſt moſt directly indeed, and that moſt deſervedly, being the greateſt work and the richeſt mercy; For although tis true, to have an earth to tread upon, an aire to breath in, light to look upon, creatures to live upon, are excellent mercies; yet to have an angry God reconciled, a ſinful nature repaired, Death and Hell vanquiſhed, Heaven and p. 29glory purchaſed and aſſured, is infinitely more bleſſed, more beneficial. To conclude; If I muſt conſecrate a weekly Sabbath to the Lord, what day more proper, more ſuitable, more ſignificant, then that which bears a lively inſcriptior of the Lord my Redeemer, not without ſome commemoration of God my Creator?

But the old ſeventh day may ſtill he retained in memory of the Creation, and the Lords day be celebrated too in memory of Redemption (though not as a Sabbath;) both dayes may lovingly live together among Chriſtians redeemed from the earth. Obj 2T.T. p. 61, 62.

To this I may eaſily anſwer without any great ſtudy, Anſw. that the conſtant celebration of two dayes in a week is more then the Law requires, or the Goſpel allowes. More then the law requires; for that calls but for one day in ſeven; Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, not Sabbath-dayes.Exod. 20 8.Exod 20:8 Again, ſix dayes ſhalt thou labour, not five dayes. Chryſoſtomes deſcant upon it is very pithy:Tom. 5. p. 5 23. The week contains ſeven dayes (ſayes he;) Now ſee how the Lord hath diſtributed theſe dayes; he hath not taken the greateſt part to himſelf, and left us the leaſt, neither has he taken half, and left half, requiring three for himſelf, and leaving us but three; no, the Lord is more liberal, he hath given thee ſix, and taken but one for himſelf So he. And indeed the Law ſaith the ſame. I know it is diſputed whether theſe words (ſix dayes thou ſhalt labour) be preceptive or permiſſive only: but to me it is paſt diſpute that they carry a preceptive force; for the injunction of working ſix dayes is delivered in the ſame commanding terms, v. 9. with the inhibition of work on the ſeventh day, v. 10. T.Ts. gloſs therefore falls to the ground,Exod., 20.9. foreign Exod. 10.10. foreignExod 10:10 Six dayes ſhalt thou labour, that is, God gives thee leave (ſayes he;) as if it were but a bare permiſſion. Or, ſix dayes thou wilt labour; pointing out the creatures earthly inclination, as if there were a prediction in the words. But let me adviſe him in the fear of God to read over the Commandement once more, not as he would have it, but as it is in p. 30the Original (ſince he profeſſes skill in the language of Canaan;) and then I ſhall ask him, whether thoſe words verſe 10. (On the ſeventh day thou ſhalt do no worke) be not imperative? If ſo, why not alſo theſe (Six dayes ſhalt thou labour) ſince the forme of ſpeech is one and the ſame? It nothing helpes him, that the word is otherwiſe tranſlated Exod. 31.15. ſix dayes may worke be done; for whatever the tranſlation be, the tenſe is the ſame; and it may as well be rendred (ſhall) as (may.) And ſo learned Ainſworth reades it. And thus his Critical flouriſh proves but an empty flaſh. For my part I look upon theſe words (Six dayes ſhalt thou labour) as having the force and vertue of a precept and command in them; not directly injoyning us to labour upon any day (for that belongs rather to the 8th Commandment;) but injoyning us ſuch a proportion of time,Eph. 4.28. Among the Jewes when holy dayes were ſo frequent, there was never any weekly holy day ordained to go cheeke by jole with the Sabbath: But their holy dayes were either monethly or yearly. Mr. George Abbot. p 118. Periculum mortis tollit Sabbathum, & neceſſitas non habet ferias.Eph 4:28 (ſix dayes together) within the compaſs of which our labours muſt be confined. 'Tis as if the Lord had ſaid, Thou ſhalt not ordinarily labour more nor leſs then ſix dayes together, nor reſt more or leſs then one in ſeven ordinarily. That God was pleaſed to appoint the Jews a greater number of holy dayes, as Paſſeover, Pentecoſt, &c. and ſo a leſſer number of working-dayes, was only in extraordinary caſes, as our faſting-dayes and thanksgiving-dayes are. The fourth Commandment was to be the ſtanding rule only for ordinary time both of weekly work and weekly reſt. And as thoſe words (on the ſeventh day thou ſhalt doe no work) hinder not but ſouldiers in time of war may fight a battel, and Citizens in caſe of fire breaking out may quench the flames upon the Sabbath day;It was never the Apoſtles meaning, nor in their power, when God by a perpetual Law had given us ſix dayes for labour, and deſtined a ſeventh for reſt, to turn it into five dayes labour, and two dayes reſt. Idem ibid. the precept interdicting only the ſervile works of our ordinary callings: In like manner theſe words (ſix p. 31dayes ſhalt thou labour) hinder not but in caſe of extraordinary judgements, or unuſual mercies, we may ſet apart dayes of prayer and of praiſe: but ordinarily and weekly to keep two dayes of reſt, and leave but five dayes for labour, is utterly inconſiſtent with the fourth Commandment. And here a word with our new Sabbath-keepers at Colcheſter; you are erroneouſly taught to think you are bound in conſcience to reſt from labour two dayes every week, elſe you are woful earth-wormes, miſerable worldlings dunghill drudges, and what not? Now I beſeech you bring conſcience to the rule; hath not God ſaid, ſix dayes ſhalt thou labour? and will you liſten to man contradicting God, and telling you, nay, thou ſhalt labour but five dayes only? What Antichriſtian uſurpation and Tyrannical impoſing upon mens conſciences is this, to tell them in Print, (as T.T. does) It is not one day in ſeven will ſerve your turn when the books ſhall be opened? Why,p 3. Why, what are thoſe books? Shall not the book of the law be one of them? And what is written there? How readeſt thou? Is it not plain, ſix dayes ſhalt thou labour, and do all thy work? Blot this clauſe out of Gods book,Deut. 12.32.Deut 12:32 or alter the figure, and write five inſtead of ſix. And be ſure God will blot out thy name out of the book of life. Conſider this, you that ſuffer your conſciences to be mancipated and enſlaved to the dictates of Man. Either you muſt make the week longer by a day, or confeſs, in limiting conſcience to five dayes only for labour, you break the Law under a pretence of keeping it; yea, you totally make void the Commandment of the living God, in ſubverting the equity of it; this is one thing The letter of the Law will bear but one day in ſeven for holy reſt; yea, the liberty of the Goſpel will allow no more ordinarily.Rom. 3.21.Rom 3:21 For do we by faith make void the law? God forbid. Nay, rather we eſtabliſh the law: Yet if we allow but five dayes in the week for labour, we muſt unavoidably make void the law in this particular. And beſides, the obſervation of dayes, legal dayes, is diſputed againſt by the great Apoſtle, p. 23as contrary to Chriſtian liberty. It is but a poor evaſion to ſay,Col. 2.16. Gal. 4.…0. compared with Gal. 5.1.Col 2:16Gal 4Gal 5:1 The Apoſtle ſpeaks only of feſtival dayes, Paſſeover, Pentecoſt, and the like; for if theſe were inconſiſtent with Goſpel-liberty (as the adverſary grants) how much more two dayes every week? which amount to more at the years end then all thoſe Jewiſh feſtivals twice told.The Church in the Apoſtles time had no other holy day beſides the Lords day. And the fourth Commandment enjoyns the labour of ſix dayes. Mr. Perkins in Galat. Let him therefore ſadly conſider the dangerous conſequences of his errour, forcing him at once both to break the bonds of Chriſtian unity, and the bounds of Chriſtian liberty; yea, to render the golden yoke of Chriſts Goſpel heavier then the Iron yoke of Moſes Law. But his wretched deſign is viſible, in preſſing two dayes in a week he would ſuppreſſe one. The old ſeventh day muſt be kept as a Sabbath, the Lords day only as a Church holy-day, or State holy-day rather, for he calls it mans Sabbath. But I beſeech you, what has man to do to appoint a weekly holy-day, contrary to Gods expreſſe command of ſix dayes for labour? If the Lords day be of mans making, you ſin in keeping of it.Pſalm 118.24.Ps 118:24 But if it be a day of Gods making (as the Scripture ſayes) then you ſin in keeping any other weekly day beſides it. And to cloſe all, let me adde this which will not eaſily be anſwered; To keep the old ſeventh day as a Sabbath in memory of the Creation, and the Lords day only as a leſſer holy-day in memory of Redemption, is to place the greater honour upon the leſſer work, and to profeſſe that we are leſſe ingaged to Chriſt for ſhedding his blood to redeem the world, then to God the Father for ſpeaking the word to create the world; which how it can ſtand with that Goſpel-precept of honouring the Son as we honour the Father,John 5.23.John 5:23 let any ſober Chriſtian judg. Thus we have conſidered the ground of the Sabbaths inſtitution in the firſt ſenſe, as Gods ending his work may be underſtood in reſpect of Providence. But

2. Secondly and chiefly, God may be ſaid to have ended his work on the ſeventh day, in reſpect of the promiſe then p. 33manifeſted to have been given by Chriſts actual undertaking the work of his Mediatorſhip, and the Fathers reſt or complacency in that bleſſed undertaking of the Son. And here I doubt not but we ſhall make it appear by the light of Gods candle ſhining in the Scriptures, that the firſt inſtitution of the ſeventh day was founded not ſo much upon the memory of the Creation, as upon the firſt publication of Chriſt in the promiſe; and then it will undeniably follow, that the day was made mutable in the firſt foundation of it. For a day fixed upon the making of a promiſe muſt needs be changed upon the making good of that promiſe. To make way for the framing of my argument, I ſhall premiſe theſe ſeven conſiderations:

1. That man ſinned and fell the ſame day on which he was created, as has been already argued, and ſhall be further proved in the cloſe of this poſition: neither ſhould it ſeem improbable or incredible to any, that ſo goodly a building ſhould be raiſed and ruinated both in one day; conſidering the foundation of it ſtood upon the tottering Sands of free-will, not the impregnable rock of free-grace and Chriſts righteouſneſs.

2. As man fell ſuddenly, ſo Chriſt was promiſed ſeaſonably and early. The merciful Lord would not let the Sun go down upon his wrath; but in the cool of the day, while the wound of mans fall was yet freſh and bleeding, he gave him that ſoveraign plaſter in the promiſe,Gen. 3.15.Gen 3:15 The ſeed of the woman ſhall bruiſe the Serpents head.

3. That the fall of man brought corruption and confuſion upon the whole Creation,Gen. 3.17, 18. Rom. 8.21, 22.Gen 3:17Gen 3:18Rom 8:21Rom 8:22 ſubjecting it to the curſe of God, the conſequences whereof are miſery and vanity.

4. That therefore when it is ſaid, Gen. 2.2. On the ſeventh day God ended or perfected his work (for ſo the word may be rendered, and ſo it is, Ezek. 16.14.) it may well bear this conſtruction, that upon the ſeventh day,foreign by the actual undertaking of Chriſt (newly promiſed to bring p. 34about mans redemption,So 2 Chron. 4 12.2 Chr 4:12 and the worlds reſtauration, the creatures were brought into a better ſtate then they were in before,See more of this in that learned Treatiſe of Mr. G Walker, intituled the Doctrine of the Sabbath. as corrupted and defaced by the ſin of man. This is certain, that upon the ſixth day the creation was diſpatched and fully perfected, as to natural perfection. Therefore when it is ſaid, on the ſeventh day God perfected his works, it may well be underſtood of a further and higher degree of perfection, even that which was ſupernatural, ſhewing a higher and more excellent end of all things created then that which at firſt they were created unto. At leaſt it implyes ſuch a perfection as conſiſted in the creatures reſtauration by the mediation of Chriſt, which made way for the ſetting of all to rights again. A moſt bleſſed and ſeaſonable tranſaction for a ſin-ſhattered world, which had certainly been demoliſhed and laine buried in its own ruines, had not the bleſſed Son of God put to his gracious helpinghand. Theſe are no humane fancies, foraaColoſ. 1.17. Heb. 1.3. Pſal. 75.3.Col 1:17Heb 1:3Ps 75:3 the Scriptures do abundantly teſtifie that the Lord Chriſt is the great ſupporter and repairer of the Creation; without whom we have reaſon to think that the Sun would not ſhine one day, nor the world ſtand one moment. Hence

5. It followes that God reſted on the ſeventh day: That is, not only ceaſed from his work, but found reſt in his Son; he reſted and was refreſhed, Exod. 31.17 that is, with a reſt full of ſweetneſs and delight, ſuch as he finds only in Chriſt in whom his ſoul delighteth, Iſai. 42.2. And hence again it is ſaid,

6. That God bleſſed the ſeventh day and ſanctified it; how did he bleſſe it, but by ordaining it as a day of Grace and ſpiritual bleſſings to the ſouls of his people during the Old Teſtament? Now this kind of bleſſing was utterly inconſiſtent with that covenant of works made with Adam in the ſtate of innocency; there was no Grace, no Chriſt in that Covenant: But all ſpiritual bleſſings flow from Chriſt that fountain of the Gardens.Eph. 1.3. foreign.Eph 1:3 Therefore bleſſed be God ſayes that bleſſed Apoſtle) who hath bleſſed us with all ſpiritual bleſſings in heavenly things in Chriſt Jeſns. Did p. 35the Lord then ordain the ſeventh day to be a day of ſpiritual bleſſings to the ſouls of his people? Why ſtill this ſtrongly argues that Chriſt in the promiſe lay at the bottom of that day in the firſt deſignation of it; for he was that bleſſed ſeed in whom it was all along promiſed that the nations and families of the earth ſhould be bleſſed. I would ask T.T. and his followers whether the bleſſings which they expect by vertue of the old Sabbaths Inſtitution be new Covenant-bleſſings? If ſo, then they cannot deny but the day thus bleſſed was bottomed upon Chriſt, The foundation of the new Covenant.aaIſai. 42.6.Isa 42:6 I ſay upon Chriſt in the promiſe, that renowned promiſe of bleſſed memory, the ſeed of the woman ſhall bruiſe the Serpents head; which promiſe was firſt made to Adam the father of men, Gen. 3.15 and afterwards renewed tobbGen. 12.3. & c. 18.22. & c. 28.4.Gen 12:3 Abraham the father of the faithful; then to David and others in after-ages, till at laſt it was fully accompliſhed by the moſt glorious reſurrection of Chriſt from the dead, whereby he trode on the Serpents head, and all to-bruiſed it. This conſideration will out deep in the adverſaries cauſe: and to ſet the better edge upon it, let it be further conſidered.

7. And laſtly, the Holy Ghoſt has fully aſſured us, that Chriſt in the promiſe was of the ſame antiquity with the confeſſed ground of the ſeventh dayes Sabbath.ccHeb. 3.3, 4.Heb 3:3Heb 3:4 The Apoſtle confeſſes that one ground or occaſion of ſingling out that preciſe ſeventh day was Gods ending his work, evidenced by his entring upon his reſt. And when this was done, the ſame Apoſtle in the ſame place informs us, the works (ſayes he) were finiſhed from the foundation of the world. Now hear another Apoſtle (guided by the ſame Spirit) ſpeaking of Chriſt in the ſame terms, not differing in a tittle,ddRevel. 13.8. foreign. Obſerve the difference between foreign and foreign, the one ſignifies from, the other before, Joh. 17.24. Eph. 1.4.Rev 13:8John 17:24Eph 1:4 Thus he ſtyles him the Lamb ſlain from the foundation of the world: he does not ſay the Lomb ſlain before the foundation of the world, as if it intended Chriſt in the eternal purpoſe of God; but from the foundation of the world, which clearly ſpeaks Chriſt in the promiſe of Godfrom the beginning.

p. 36Now by the foot-ſteps of theſe two Texts compared, how viſibly may we trace the Antiquity of Chriſt in the promiſe, and find a Saviour promiſed before a Sabbath inſtituted? The ſeventh day-Sabbath was inſtituted upon Gods finiſhing of his works; now as the works were finiſhed from the foundation of the world, ſo Chriſt was ſlain from the foundation of the world; ſlain, I ſay, in reſpect of his Fathers promiſe, and his own perſonal beginning to undertake that work which he was to perform in a way of ſuffering and dying; ſo that when the Father ended his work of Creation, the Son entred upon his work of redemption, and thereby added a further perfection to the firſt work, Whereupon God reſted the ſeventh day and bleſſed it: That is, appointed it for a day of ſpiritual bleſſings, upon the account of Chriſt the promiſed and bleſſed ſeed. All which particulars premiſed, it will be a truth of unqueſtionable evidence, that the inſtitution of the old ſeventh day, was founded and bottomed upon Chriſt in the promiſe. And now a dim eye may eaſily diſcern mutability lying at the very foundation of the day; and thus it may be demonſtrated: A day founded upon Chriſt in the promiſe muſt neceſſarily be changed when the promiſe ſhall be fully accompliſhed: Argum. But the old ſeventh day was founded upon Chriſt in the promiſe, as appears by the premiſes: Therefore, &c.

The propoſition needs no confirmation; or if it does, take it thus: If the greateſt duty founded upon Chriſt in the promiſe was to vary and change with the promiſe, how much more the day? For inſtance, the great duty of believing in the Lord Jeſus; It cannot be denyed but one and the ſame Chriſt was the object of ſaving faith in all ages, before the law, under the law, and under the Goſpel.Heb. 13.8. Rev. 1.8.Heb 13:8Rev 1:8 Christ Jeſus the ſame yesterday, to day and for ever; being he which was, and which is, and which is to come. And ſo the faith of Gods elect which was, and is, and is to come, looks to the ſame object. But yet according to the different ſtate of the object, the eye of faith has had a p. 37different and various aſpect. Old Teſtament-believers who went before looked to him that ſhould come after; we that come after in the New Teſtament, look to him that is gone before. As long as Chriſt was in the promiſe they believed in the Meſſiah to come; now the promiſe is fulfilled, we believe and know that the Son of God is come. And though ſtill we look for his ſecond coming to judge the world,1 Joh. 5.20.1 John 5:20 yet his firſt coming to ſave the world by his bleſſed Incarnation, his bitter Paſſion, and glorious reſurrection, we no longer expect as to come, but look upon as already come and gone. Well then, you ſee how this great duty of believing circumſtantially varies and changes with the promiſe; and why? becauſe it was founded upon Chriſt in the promiſe. And verily, if the old Sabbath had the ſame foundation (as we have proved) then it muſt admit of the ſame variation. As long as Chriſt continued in the promiſe, the ſeventh day from the Creation was the Sabbath day; but now the promiſe is accompliſhed the**Note that well. day muſt be altered; for the firſt foundation upon which it ſtood is removed. And as we cannot now call that true faith which looks upon the Meſſiah as yet to come, in the ſenſe above mentioned; ſo neither can we count that the true Sabbath which leans upon the promiſe of a Meſſiah to come. Look to it, if you keep the old ſeventh day you muſt keep Chriſt ſtill in the old promiſe, and together with the Jews Sabbath profeſs the Jews faith, the twelfth Article of whoſe curſed Creed is this; I believe with perfect faith that the Meſſiah is yet to come. Buxtorf. Synag. c. 1. p. 4.And thus deluded creatures may ſee what they have gotten by ſiding with forlorn infidels againſt the principles and practiſes of the Chriſtian world. But I muſt here reſolve a ſcruple or two, and then I ſhall put a period to this firſt part.

You will ſay, if the old ſeventh day were founded upon Chriſt in the promiſe,Scrup. 1. then it muſt have been changed as ſoon as Chriſt was manifeſted in the fleſh.

p. 38It followes not,Reſol. 1. for the promiſe was not fully accompliſhed when Chriſt was manifeſted in the fleſh, but when he was juſtified in the ſpirit by his reſurrection from the dead, then indeed it was completely fulfilled, as Paul and Barnabas do plainly teſtifie to the Jews at Antioch, Act. 13.32, 33.Acts 13:32Acts 13:33Acts 13. The promiſe which was made unto our fathers, God hath fulfilled the ſame unto us their Children, foreign adimpleoit. Arius Mont.in that he hath raiſed up Jeſus again. So that the day of Chriſts reſurrection was infallibly the day of the old Sabbaths expiration; for then the promiſe upon which it was founded was fully accompliſhed; of which more hereafter.

But will not this argument overthrow the duty as well as the day the Sabbath it ſelf as the old ſeventh day?Scrup. 2

Not in the leaſt;Reſol. for a Sabbath or day of reſt in general is moral-natural, and ſo perpetual; but the fixing of it on that preciſe ſeventh day was meerly poſitive, if not ceremonial: Therefore the particular day may be and is caſhiered, and yet the duty (Sabbath or holy reſt) ſtill retained; as the duty of ſolemn faſting is ſtill in force, although the particular day in which the Jewes were appointed to faſt is aboliſhed, viz. ffLevit. 16.29. & ch. 23.27, 29. See Dr Downam Chriſtian Sanc. p. 8, 9.Lev 16:29the tenth day of the ſeventh monethmonth. And why may not the duty of ſolemn reſting, as well as the duty of faſting, ſtand in the fall of the day? That which was circumſtantial and ſhadowy is done away, but that which was ſubſtantial and moral ſtill remaineth. And thus we have by Scripture-light found the old Sabbath (as to the day) alterable and changeable in the firſt inſtitution of it; and have added ſomething by way of overplus, for the actual change of the day: I ſhall now conclude this firſt poſition with the accommodation of an Hiſtorical paſſage recorded by Ammianus Marcellinus concerning Julian the Apoſtate;Ammian. Mar…l Hiſt. lib. 23. it is to this purpoſe: That he (the ſaid Julian) out of enmity to the Chriſtians, projected the rearing up of the Jewiſh ceremonies, that he might ſupplant the new religion by the old; and to that intent he encouraged them to rebuild their Temple at Jeruſalem, and ſent one Alypius into thoſe p. 39parts, furniſhed with treaſure to forward the work;Hocque modo elemento deſtinatius repellente ceſſavit inceptum. but no ſooner had the work-men attempted to lay the foundation, then certain balls of fire burſting out from beneath diſſolved their work, and made them deſiſt from their enterpriſe. I ſhall perſonate none in the application of this, only this I ſhall ſay in general, that as the Jews Temple was deſtroyed on theirggDion fol. 748. Sabbath day; ſo their Sabbath, yea, their whole Civil and Church-State was diſſolved together with their Temple. And this grounded confidence I have, that whoever ſhall reare up that antiquated, ſeventh day, with a deſign to ſupplant the new Sabbath by the old, he ſhall meet with ſuch Sanctuary-fire, ſuch Scripture-light and evidence breaking out from under the foundation of the old day, as ſhall either burn his fingers, or (which is all the hurt I wiſh him) enlighten his conſcience, that he ſhall ſee his error, and confeſſe (ashhforeign. Chryſ. quod Chriſtus fit Deus. he ſaid of the Temple) that no power or policy of man is able to raiſe what Chriſt hath razed.