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which he hath propounded himself to be our pattern : The Lord rested the Seventh Day, and therefore rest ye also.

The second, from that bountiful and liberal portion of time, that he hath allowed us for the affairs and business of this present life: Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; and, therefore, it is but fit and equitable, that the seventh should be given to God, who hath so freely given the rest to thee.

The third, from the dedication of this day to his own immediate worship and service: The Lord blessed the SabbathDay, and hallowed it. So that it is no less a sin than sacrilege, and stealing of that which is holy, to purloin any part of that time, which God hath thus consecrated to himself; and to employ it about either sinful or secular actions.

I. I shall begin with the COMMAND, Remember the Sabbath-Day, to keep it holy.

The word Sabbath, signifies rest, and cessation from labour: and it is applied unto several things.

First. It signifies the Temporal Sabbath, or the recurring seventh day or year, which we are now treating of. And because this was the most principál day of the week, therefore we find that the whole week is denominated from it, a Sabbath: Luke x. 12. Mat. xxviii. 1.

Secondly. It signifies a Spiritual Rest, a rest from the slavery and drudgery of sin, and those sordid labours which the Devil, our grievous task-master, exacts of us. And of this Spiritual Sabbath, the temporal one is a sign and type. So Exod. xxxi. 13. My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord, that doth sanctify you.

Thirdly. It is used likewise, to signify the Eternal Rest of the Blessed in Heaven, where they rest from all their labours, and from all their sorrows, in the full fruition of the Ever-Blessed God, and of all blessedness in him. So the Apostle: Heb. iv. 9. There remaineth a rest unto the people of God. The word is σabbariuos, there remaineth a Sabbath, or the celebration of a Sabbath, unto the people of God.

It is only of the first of these, the Temporal Sabbath, that I am now speaking.

And, here, neither shall I speak of the Sabbath of Years, when the land was every seventh year to rest from the labour of tillage and husbandry; as we find it Lev. xxv. 4. The seventh year shall be a Sabbath of Rest unto the land; nor yet of the

greater Sabbath of the Jubilee, observed every fiftieth year, at the period of seven sabbatical years, wherein all possessions and inheritances which had been sold or mortgaged, were again to return to the first owners; which Sabbath you have described, Lev. xxv. 8, &c. But I shall only treat of the Sabbath of Days, which this Commandment doth principally respect.

And the general heads upon which I shall proceed, are these Four.

Its Primitive Institution.

Its Morality and Perpetual Obligation.

Its Change from the Last to the First Day of the Week.
The Manner how God hath required it to be sanctified by

us.

i. Concerning its PRIMITIVE INSTITUTION.

When the Sabbath was instituted, there is some difference between learned men.

Some put a late date upon it: and refer its beginning to the promulgation of the Law; or, at farthest, to the sending of manna to the Israelites. And they ground their assertion upon this: that, before that time, we read not in all the history of the patriarchs, and first ages of the world, of any Sabbath that was observed and sanctified by the holy fathers who then lived; which, doubtless, they would not have neglected, had any such command been given them.

Others, who I believe concur with the truth, fetch its original as high as the creation of the world: grounding their opinion upon that unanswerable testimony, Gen. ii. 2, 3. On the seventh day God ended his work, which he had made; And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. Now that there cannot in these words be understood any prolepsis, or anticipation, declaring that as done then, which was done many ages after; appears plainly, because God is said to sanctify the Sabbath then, when he rested: but he rested precisely on the Seventh Day after the creation; therefore, that very Seventh Day did God sanctify, and made it the beginning of all ensuing Sabbaths. So that you see the Sabbath is but one day younger than man; ordained for him, in the state of his uprightness and innocence, that, his faculties being then holy and excellent, he might employ them, especially on that day, in the singular and most spiritual worship of God his Creator. And, although we find no more mention

of the Sabbath, until Moses had conducted the Children of Israel into the Wilderness, which was about two thousand four hundred and fifty years after the creation; yet it is not to be supposed, that, among the people of God, who were very careful, as in observing the Law of God themselves, so in delivering it likewise to their posterity, that the observation of this Law or of this Day utterly failed, but was continued among those that feared God, till it was again invigorated with new authority by the promulgation of it from Mount Sinai.

And, thus much, for the Institution,

ii. Concerning the MORALITY of the. Sabbath, is a greater controversy, and of far greater moment.

Some loose spirits contend, that it is wholly ceremonial; and so, utterly abolished at the coming of Christ: and will not be under the restriction of their liberty, in observing any days or times. Others, again, make it wholly moral; and affirm, that the observation of the very seventh day from the creation, is a Law of Nature, and of perpetual obligation; and, therefore, think themselves bound to keep the Jewish Sabbath.

That I may clearly state this obscure and difficult question, I shall only premise *, That those things are said to be Moral and of the Law of Nature, which are in themselves rational and fit to be done, although there were no express command to enjoin them. So that, where there is a great equity in the thing itself, enough to sway a rational and honest man to the doing of it, that is to be accounted Moral, and authorized by the Law of Nature. That is of Positive Right, which is observed, only because it is commanded; and hath no intrinsical goodness or reason in itself, to commend it to our practice, but obligeth us only upon the injunction and authority of another. As, for instance: It is naturally good to obey our parents, to abstain from murder, theft, adultery, &c. to do to others as we would be content to be dealt with: these things we are obliged unto by the very light of reason and the principles of nature, although there had been no written Law of God to impose them. But then there were other things, to which God obliged some of his people, that had nothing to commend them besides the authority of his command: and such were the various ceremonies

* Ratio profecta à rerum naturâ, & ad recté faciendum impellens, & à delicto avocans, non hinc denique incipit lex esse cùm scripta est, sed tum cùm Orta autem simul est cum mente divinâ. Cic. de Legib. lib. ii.

orta.

under the Law; yea, and in innocence itself, that prohibition given to Adam not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The former sort are moral and natural commands; the latter, positive and instituted. The former are commanded, because good: the latter are good, because commanded.

1. Certain it is, that a convenient portion of our time is due unto the service and worship of God by natural and moral right. For, certainly, it is but fit and just, that he should have a large share of our life and time, who hath given us life and time here upon earth, and hath created us to this very end, that we might serve and glorify him Yea, had it been propounded to ourselves how much we would have allowed for God, could we, without shame and blushing, have set apart less time for his service from whom we have all, than himself hath done? This I think is by all agreed to.

2. The Law of Nature doth not dictate to us any particular stated days to be set apart for the Worship of God, one more than another. For, indeed, there can be no natural reason, why this day more than that; why every seventh day, rather than every sixth, or fifth, or fourth: for all days being in their own nature alike, reason can find no advantage to prefer one of them before another. But that, which is obligatory by the Law of Nature, ought to be plain and evident to all men; or, else, evidently deducible from some natural principles. Now if we lay aside the positive command of God, there is no one day in itself better than other: and, therefore, there is a memento prefixed to the Command, (Remember, that thou keep holy the Sabbath-Day) which is not added to any other precept; intimating to us, that the observation of a special day is not a dictate of nature, but only an imposition of God, which he requires us to remember and bear in mind.

3. That the Seventh Day should be especially consecrated to the service and worship of God, is from his positive will and command: and therefore is as binding and forcible, as if it were a Law of Nature engraven on our hearts; unless the same authority alter it, that did first enjoin it. For this, being a positive law, is therefore good and necessary, because commanded. And if it had not been revealed to us, we should never have been obliged to this observation; nor made obnoxious to punishment, for failing in it.

Yet, again,

are.

4. This declaration of the will of God concerning the sanctifica tion of the Sabbath, is attended with a moral reason: and, therefore, is not merely and barely positive; as Ceremonial Laws Which reason is, that God rested on the Seventh Day; and, therefore, we ought so to do. Now, although this reason carries not such a natural evidence in it, as to have obliged us, unless it had been revealed: yet, being revealed, we may discern a certain aptitude and fitness in it to oblige us to the observation of the Seventh Day, rather than any other; since piety and religion require, that we should imitate God, in those things, wherein he would have us to imitate him. So that I account this Command to be Moral-Positive: moral, in that it requires a due portion of our time to be dedicated to the service and worship of God: positive, in that it prescribes the Seventh Day for that especial service, which the Light and Law of Nature did not prefix: and mixed of both, in that it gives a reason of this prescription, which hath somewhat of natural equity in it; but yet such, as could not have been discovered without special and divine revelation.

Now, because the observation of a Sabbath hath thus much of morality and of the Law of Nature in it, it is most certain that we are bound to keep a Sabbath, as much as the Jews were; although not to the circumstance of the duty.

For,

(1) This Command was obligatory, even in Paradise itself, in the State of Innocency; and, therefore, contains nothing in it unworthy the state of a Christian, It is no ceremonial command; nor to be reckoned amongst those things, which were typical, and prefigured Christ to come in the flesh and, therefore, neither was it abolished at his coming; but still there lies a strict and indispensable obligation upon us, to observe a Sabbath holy unto the Lord.

:

(2) The Reasons of this Command are all of them Moral and Perpetual; and, therefore, such is the obligation of it, to us Christians. The equity is the same to us, that it was to them: viz. that we should allow one day in seven to the worship of that God, who so liberally allows us six for our ordinary affairs: the ease and refreshment of our bodies from the labours of our callings, is as necessary as then it was; and we are still as much obliged, with thankfulness to remember and meditate upon the great mercy of our creation, as they were. And, therefore, if

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