ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. Ill
had a sovereign, right to change and alter it to what day he pleased. But,
(6.) Sixthly, Consider that according to the Lords mind and com- mandment, and the direction of the Holy Ghost, the apostles in cdl the Christian churches ordained that they shoidd keep the holy Sabbath upon the first day of the iveek : 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2, ' Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay hy him in store, as Cod hath prospered him, that there be no gathering when I come.' In which words you may observe these five things.
[1.] First, That the apostles ordained this day to be kept holy; therefore it is of a divine institution.
[2.] Secondly, That the day is named the first day of the week ; therefore not the Jewish seventh, or any other.
[3.] Thirdly, Every first day of the week, which sheweth its per- petuity.
[4.] Fourthly, That it was ordained in the churches of Galatia, as well as of Corinth, and he settled one uniform in all the churches of the saints ; therefore it was universal : 1 Cor. xiv. 33, ' For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.'
[5.] Fifthly, That there should be collections for the poor on that day, after the other ordinances were ended. Now why should the apostles require collections to be made on the first day of the week, but because on that day of the week the saints assembled themselves together in the apostles' time ? And in the same epistle he protesteth that he delivered them no other ordinance or doctrine but what he had received from the Lord : 1 Cor. xi. 23, ' For I have received of the Lord that which also I dehvered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread : ' 1 Cor. xiv. 37, ' If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the command- ments of the Lord.' Now mark, he wrote to them, and ordained among them to keep their Sabbath on the first day of the week, there- fore to keep the Sabbath on that day is the very commandment of the Lord. But,
(7.) Seventhly, Consider the apostles on that day ordinarily dis- pensed the holy ordinances, John xx. 1 9-26. Acts xx. 7, ' And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight.' 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2, and xi. 23. But,
(8.) Eighthly, Consider such things as are named the Lords in Scripture, are ever of the Lords instiiution : as ' the word of the Lord,' 1 Tim. vi. 3, ' the cup of the Lord,' 1 Cor. xi. 27; 'the supper of the Lord,' 1 Cor. xi. 20 ; and so 'the Lord's day' : Kev. i. 10, ' I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.' Now why does John call it the Lord's day, but because it was a day known to be generally kept holy, to the honour of the Lord Jesus, who rose from death to life upon that day, throughout all the churches which the apostles had planted, which
112 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
St John calls tlic Lord's day, that he mi,2:ht the better stir up Chris- tians to a thankful remembrance of. their redemption by Christ's resurrection from the dead ? But,
(9.) Ninthly, Consider that a rigid sanctifying of the Sabbath is one of the best signs in the Bible that God is our God, and that his sanctifi/ing icork is passed in 2^oicer iipon us : Ezek. xx. 20, ' And hallow my sabbaths ; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.' So Exod. xxxi. 13, ' Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths shall ye keep: for it is a sign between me and you through- out your generations ; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.' i Look, as circumcision and the passover were signs that the Jews were in covenant with God ; so likewise was the Sabbath, Ezek. xxxi. 13 ; and because it was a sign of the covenant between God and tliem. Ver. 16, 'Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout the genera- tions for a perpetual covenant.' God tells them that they nmst observe it for a perpetual covenant ; and hence it was that when they violated the Sabbath, God accounted it the violation of the covenant between him and them. The sanctifying of the Sabbath in the primitive times was the main character by which sincere Christians were dif- ferenced from others; they judged of men's sanctity by their sanctifying of the Sabbath. And, indeed, as there cannot be a greater argument or evidence of a profane heart than the profaning the Sabbath, so there cannot be a greater argument or evidence of a gracious heart than a right sanctifying of the Sabbath. But,
(10.) Tenthly, Consider a right sanctifying of the Sabbath will be a most sure and certain pledge, paicn, and earnest of our keeping of an everlasting Sabbath ivith God in heaven : Heb iv. 9, ' There remaincth therefore a rest to the people of God' — Gr. ' A sabbatism, an eternal rest, a Sabbath that hath no evening.' Now mark, if this Sabbath be a sign and pledge of heaven, then we must keep it till we come there. For if we lose the pledge of a benefit, we lose the evi- dence of that benefit whereof it is a pledge. A man that is in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Rev. i. 10, he is in heaven on the Lord's day. There cannot be a more lively resemblance of heaven on this side heaven than the sanctifying of the Sabbath in a heavenly manner. What is heaven but an eternal Sabbath ? And what is a temporal Sabbath but a short heaven, a little heaven on this side heaven ? Our delighting to sanctify God's Sabbath on earth gives full assur- ance to our faith, grounded upon God's infallible promise that we shall enter into God's eternal rest in heaven ; for so runs the promise : Isa. Iviii. 14, ' Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' The foimer ])art of the verse relates to earthly bless- ings ; but these words, ' I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father,' that is, with a heavenly inheritance; for what is the
' When the primitive Christians had this question put to them, Serrasti Domini- cumf Ha.st thou kept the Lord's day? they answered, Christianus sum, omittcre nun fOMtim; I am a Christian, I cannot but keep it.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 113
heritage of Jacob, but Canaan in the type and heaven itself in the antitype ? But should I thus sanctify the Sabbath, should I be sure of going to heaven ? Yes ; for so it roundly follows in the next words, ' The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' But,