41. It is, indeed, by many pretended that the eommand firstly and directly respecteth the seventh day precisely, and one day in seven no otherwise than as it necessarily follows thereon; for where the seventh day is required, one in seven is so consequentially, And they who thus pretend have a double design, the one abso- lutely contradictory to the other: for those do so who from thence conclude that the seventh day precisely comprising the whole nature
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of the Sabbath, that day is indispensably and everlastingly to be observed; and those do so who, with equal confidence, draw their conclusion to the utter abolition of the whole Sabbath and the law of it, in the taking away of the seventh day itself. Such different apprehensions have men of the use and improvement that may be made of the same principles and concessions. For those of the latter sort hope that if they can prove the observation of the seventh day precisely, and not one of seven but only consequentially, to be the whole of what is intended in the fourth commandment, by virtue of the apostle’s rule, Col. ii. 16 (to which purpose he often elsewhere expresseth himself), they shall be able to prove that it is utterly abolished. Those of the other sort suppose that, if they can make this to be the sense of the commandment, they shall prevail to fix a perpetual obligation on all men from thence unto the obser- vation of the seventh day precisely, although the words of the apostle seem to lie expressly against it.
42. But the supposition itself that both anes proceed upon is not only uncertain, but certainly false; for the very order of nature itself disposeth these things into that series and mutual respect which can never be interrupted. The command is about the sepa- ration of time unto the service of God. This he tacitly grants, nor will deny, if he be pressed, who contends for the seventh day. Here, therefore, it is natural and necessary that time be indefinitely considered and required, antecedently unto the designation and limitation of the portion of time that is required. This the order of nature requireth; for if it be time indefinitely that is limited in the command unto the seventh day, time indefinitely is the first object of that limitation. And the case is the same with reference unto one day in seven, This also hath, and must have, a natural priority unto the seventh day; for the seventh day is one day of the seven. And these things are separable. Some part of time may be separated unto religious worship, and yet not one day in seven, but any other portion, in a certain revolution of days, weeks, months, or years, if there be not a distinct reason for it. And one day in seven may be so separated, wherein the seventh day precisely may have no interest. And these things the very nature of them doth assert, distinguish, and determine. Whatever morality, therefore, or obligation unto a perpetual observance, can be fancied by any to be in the command as to the seventh day, it is but consequential unto, dependent upon, and separable from, the command and duty for the observance of one day in seven. And this sufficeth as to our present purpose; for I do not yet treat with them who contend for the precise observa- tion of the seventh day now under the gospel. It is enough that here we prove that the fourth commandment requireth the sacred
364 OF THE CAUSES OF THE SABBATH. [ EXERC, IIL.
observation of one day in seven, and that so far as it doth so it is moral and unchangeable.
43. All men, as we have often observed, do allow that there is something moral in the fourth commandment, namely, that either some part of it or the general nature of it is so. I do not, therefore, well understand them and him of late who have pleaded that the seventh day only is required in that command, and yet that this seventh day was absolutely ceremonial and typical, being accordingly abolished. The consistency of these assertions doth not yet appear unto me; for if the whole matter of the command be ceremonial, the command itself must needs be so also. For a relief against this contradiction, it is said that the morality of this command consists in this, that we should look after and take up our spiritual rest in God. But this will not allow that it should be a distinct command- ment of itself, distinguished from all the rest of the decalogue, nor in- deed scarcely from any one of them; for the primitive end of all the commandments was to direct us and bring us unto rest with God,— of the first table immediately, and of the second in and by the per- formance of- the duties of it among ourselves. And of the first precept this is the sum; so that it is unduly assigned to be the peculiar morality of the fourth, instead of the solemn expression of that rest as our end and happiness. Neither is there any way possible to manifest an especial intention in and of any law, that isnot found in this. The words and letter of it, in their proper and only sense, require a day, or an especial season, to be appointed for a sacred rest; and so doth the nature of religious worship, which undoubt- edly is directed therein; the rest of God, proposed in the command as the reason of it, which was on the seventh day, after six of working, requireth the same intention in the words; so doth also the exact limitation of time mentioned in it: all in compliance with the order and place that it holds in the decalogue, wherein nothing in general is left unrequired in the natural and instituted worship of God, but only the setting apart, with the determination and limita- tion, of some time unto the solemn observation of it. Few, there- fore, have ever denied but that the morality of this command, if it be moral, doth extend itself unto the separation of some part of our time to the solemn recognising of God and our subjection unto him; and this in the letter of the law is limited, on the reasons before insisted on, unto one day in seven, in their perpetual revolution. The sole inquiry, therefore, remaining is, whether this precept be moral or no, and so continue to be possessed of a power perpetually obligatory to all the sons of men. And this is that which we are now inquiring into. :