22. Thus, then, were the foundations of the old world laid, and the covenant of man’s obedience established, when all the sons of God sang for joy, even in the first rest of God, and in the expression of it by the sanctification of a sacred rest, made to return unto him a revenue of glory in man’s observance of it. And on these grounds I do affirm that the weekly observation of a day to God for sabbath ends is a duty natural and moral, which we are under a perpetual and indispensable obligation unto,—namely, from that command of God, which, being a part of the law of our creation, is moral, indis- pensable, and perpetual. And these things, with the different ap- prehensions of others about them and oppositions unto them, must now be further explained and considered; and that we now enter
348 OF THE CAUSES OF THE SABBATH. [ EXERC. III.
upon,—namely, the consideration of the judgment and opinions of others about these things, with the confirmation of our own.
23. In the inquiry after the causes of the Sabbath, the first ques- tion usually insisted on is concerning the nature of the law whereby its observation is commanded. This some affirm to be moral, some only positive, as we have showed before. And many disputes there have been about the true notion and distinction of laws moral and positive. But whereas these terms are invented to express the con- ceptions of men’s minds, and that of moral, at least, includes not any absolute determinate sense in the meaning of the word, those at variance about them cannot impose their sense and understanding of them upon one another; for seeing this denomination of moral, applied unto a law, is taken from the subject-matter of it, which is the manners or duties of them to whom the law is given, if any one will assert that every command of God which respects the manners of men, that is, ofall men absolutely as men, is moral, I know not how any one can compel him to speak or think otherwise, for he hath his liberty to use the word in that sense which he judgeth most proper. And if it can be proved that there is a law, and ever was, binding all men universally to the observation of a hebdomadal sacred rest, I shall not contend with any how that law ought to be called, whether moral or positive. This contest, therefore, I shall not engage into, though I have used, and shall yet further use, those terms in their common sense and acceptation. My way shall be plainly to inquire what force there is in the law of our creation unto the observation of a weekly Sabbath, and what is superadded there- unto by the vocal declaration of the will of God concerning it.
24, And here, in the first place, it is generally agreed,—so that the opposition unto it is not considerable, nor any way deserving our notice,—that in and by the light of nature, or the law of our creation, some time ought to be separated unto the observance of the solemn worship of God; for be that worship what it will, merely natural, or any thing superadded by voluntary and arbitrary institutions, the law for its observance is natural, and requires that time be set apart for its celebration, seeing in time it is to be performed. When there was but one man and woman, this was their duty; and so it continued to be the duty of their whole race and posterity, in all the societies, associations, and assemblies whereof they were capable, But the first object of this law or command is the worship of God itself; time falls under it only consequentially and reductively. Wherefore the law of nature doth also distinctly respect time itself; for we are bound thereby to serve God with all that is ours, and with “the first fruits of our substance” in every kind. Somewhat of whatever God hath given unto us is to be set apart from our own
SECT. 23-25. ] OF THE CAUSES OF THE SABBATH. 349
use, and given up absolutely to him, as a homage due unto him, and a necessary acknowledgment of him. To deny this, is to con- tradict one of the principal dictates of the law of nature; for God hath given us nothing ultimately for ourselves, seeing we and all that we have are wholly his. And to have any thing whereof no part as such is to be spent in his service, is to have it with his dis- pleasure. Let any one endeavour to assert and prove this position, ‘No part of our time is to be set apart to the worship of God and his service in a holy and peculiar manner,’ and he will quickly find himself setting up in a full contradiction to the law of nature, and the whole light of the knowledge of God in his mind and con- science. Those who have attempted any such thing have done it under this deceitful pretence, that all our time is to be spent unto God, and every day is to bea Sabbath. But whereas, notwithstand- ing this pretence, they spend most of their time directly and imme- diately to themselves and their own occasions, it is evident that they do but make use of it to rob God of that which is his due directly and immediately; for unto the holy separation of any thing unto God, it is required as well that it be taken from ourselves as that it be given unto him. This, therefore, the law of our creation requires as unto the separation of some part of our time unto God. And if this doth not at first consideration discover itself in its directive power, it will quickly do so in its condemning power, upon a contra- diction of it. Thus far, then, we have attained.