Moreover, in this worship it is required, by the same law of our being, that we should serve God with all that we do receive from
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him. No man can think otherwise. For is there any thing that we have received from God that shall yield him no revenue of glory, whereof we ought to make no acknowledgment unto him? Who dare once so to imagine? Among the things thus given us of God is our time. And this falls under a double consideration in this matter:—First, As it is an inseparable moral circumstance of the worship required of us; so it is necessarily included in the command of worship itself, not directly, but consequentially. Secondly, It is in itself a part of our vouchsafements from God, for our own use and purposes in this world. So upon its own account, firstly and directly, a separation of a part of it unto God and his solemn wor- ship is required of us. It remains only to inquire what part of time it is that is and will be accepted with God. This is declared and determined in the fourth commandment to be the seventh part of it, or one day in seven. And this is that which is positive in the command; which yet, as to the foundation, formal reason, and main substance of it, is moral, And these things are true, but yet do not express the whole natwre of the Sabbath, which we must further inquire into.
9. And, first, it must be observed, that wherever there is men- tion of a sabbatical rest, as enjoined unto men for their observation, there is still respect unto a rest of God that preceded it, and was the cause and foundation of it. In its first mention, God’s rest is given as the reason of his sanctifying and blessing a day of rest for us, whence also it hath its name: Gen. i. 3, “ God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, N2¥ i2 ‘2,’—“ because he sabbatized thereon himself.’ And so it is expressed, and the same reason is given of it, in the fourth commandment. God wrought six days, and rested the seventh; therefore must we rest, Exod. xx.11. The same is observed in the new creation, as we shall see afterwards and more fully in our exposition of Heb. iv. Now, that God may be said to rest, it is necessary that some signal work of his do go before; for rest, in the first notion of it, includes a respect to an antecedent work or labour. And so it is everywhere declared. God wrought his works and finished them, and then rested; he made all things in six days, and rested on the seventh. And he that is entered into rest ceaseth from his work. And both these, the work of God and the rest of God, must in this matter be considered. For the work of God, it is that of the old and whole creation, as is directly expressed, Gen. ii, 1-3, Exod. xx. 11, which I desire may be borne in mind.
And this work of God may be considered two ways:—First, Naturally or physically, as it consisted in the mere production of the effects of his power, wisdom, and goodness. So all things are
332 OF THE CAUSES OF THE SABBATH, [ EXERC. III.
the seventh day, above all other ordinances of worship whatever, even of the gospel itself, but whether with sufficient warranty we must afterwards inquire. At present I shall only observe, that this observation of the seventh day precisely is resolved into the sove- -reignty of God over us and our times, and into an occasion respecting purely the covenant of works; on which bottoms it is hard to fix it in an absolute, unvariable station.
7. It is the second opinion, for the substance of it, which I shall endeavour to explain and confirm; and therein prove a sacred sab- batical rest unto God, of one day in seven, to be enjoined unto all that fear him, by a law perpetual and indispensable, upon the account of what is moral therein. The reason, I say, of the obligation of the law of the Sabbath is moral, and thence the obligation itself uni- versal; however, the determination and declaration of the day itself depend on arbitrary revelation and a law merely positive. These things being explained and confirmed, the other opinions proposed will fall under our consideration. }
To obtain a distinct light into the truth in this matter, we must consider both the true notion of the sacred rest, as also of the law of our creation, whereby we affirm that fundamentally and virtually it is required.
8. The general notion of the Sabbath is, “a portion of time set apart, by divine appointment, for the observance and performance of the solemn worship of God.” The worship of God is that which we are made for, as to our station in this world, and is the means and condition of our enjoyment of him in glory, wherein consists the ulti- mate end, as unto us, of our creation. This worship, therefore, is required of us by the law of our creation; and it is upon the matter all that is required of us thereby, seeing we are obliged by it to do all things to the glory of God. And therefore is the solemn expression of that worship required of us in the same manner; for the end of it being our glorifying him as God, and the nature of it consisting in the profession of our universal subjection unto him and dependence upon him, the solemn expression of it is as necessary as the worship itself which we are to perform. No man, therefore, ever doubted but that by the law of nature we were bound to worship God, and solemnly to express that worship; for else wherefore were we brought forth in this world? These things are inseparable from our nature; and where this order is disturbed by sin we fall into another, which the properties of God, on the supposition of transgressing our first natural order, do render no less necessary unto his glory than the other, namely, that of punishment. :