24, Thus did the author of the new creation, the Son of God, the builder of the church, having finished his works, enter into his rest. And this was, as all know, on the morning of the first day of the week. And hereby did he limit and determine the day for a sacred sabbatical rest under the new testament; for now was the old cove- nant utterly abolished, and therefore the day which was the pledge
SECT. 24, 25. | OF THE LORD’S DAY. 421
of God and man’s rest therein was to be taken away, and was so accordingly, as we have showed. As the rest from the beginning of the world had its foundation from the works of God, and his rest which ensued thereon, which was determined unto the seventh day, because that was the day wherein God ceased from those works, which day was continued under the legal administration of the covenant by Moses; so the rest of the Lord Christ, the Son of God, is the foundation of our rest; which, changing the old covenant and the day annexed unto it, he hath limited unto the first day of the week, whereon he ceased from his works and entered into his rest. And hereby the apostle completes the due analogy that is between the several rests of God and his people, which he hath discoursed of in this chapter. For as in the beginning of the world, there was, first, the work of God and his rest thereon; which made way unto a rest for his people in himself and in his worship, by the contemplation of his works that he had made, on whose finishing he rested; and a day designed, determined, blessed, and sanctified, to express that rest of God,—whence mention is made of those works in the com- mand for the observation of that day, seeing the worship of God in and on it consisted principally in the glorifying of him by and for those works of his, as also to be a means to further men in their entrance into eternal rest, whereunto all these things do tend: and as at the giving of the law there was a great work of God, and his rest thereon, in his establishing his worship in the land of Canaan; which made way for the people’s entering into his rest in that wor- ship and country; who had a day of rest enjoined unto them, to express the one and the other, as also to help them to enter finally into the rest of God: so now, under the gospel, there is a rest answer- ing all these, in and by the instances which we have given.
25. And this is that which the apostle affirms, as the substance of all which he hath evinced, namely, that there is a sabbatism for the people of God, Heb. iv. 9, ca€€ar:eués. The word is framed by our apostle from a Hebrew original, with a Greek termination. And he useth it as that which is comprehensive of his whole sense, which no other word could be; for he would show that there is a sabba- tical rest, founded in the rest of God, remaining for the church, and therefore makes use of that word whereby God expressed his own rest when he sanctified the seventh day for a day of rest thereon. That day of rest being removed, and another on a new foundation, namely, the rest of Christ upon his works, introduced, he calls it a “sabbatism,” or a “sabbath-keeping.” He doth not do this only and separately, averring the necessity of a Sabbath observation in the first place, distinctly from a spiritual rest in Christ, with an eter- nal rest ensuing thereon, but in the manner and order before laid
422 OF THE LORD’S DAY. [ EXERC. V.
down, wherein the necessity of such a day is included. And besides the evidence that ariseth from the consideration of the whole con- text, there are two things which make it undeniably evident that our apostle asserts an evangelical Sabbath, or day of rest, to be con- stantly observed in and for the worship of God under the gospel. For, first, without this design there can be no tolerable reason as- signed why he should mention the works of God from the founda- tion of the world, with his rest that ensued thereon, and refer us to the seventh day, which, without respect unto another day to be intro- duced, doth greatly involve his whole discourse. Again, his use of this word, ca€Cariouss, “a sabbatism,”’—which is framed, and as it were coined on purpose, that it might both comprise the spiritual rest aimed at, and also a sabbath-keeping, or-observation of a sabbath rest,—manifests his purpose. When he speaks of our restin general, he still doth it by xardravors, adding that there was an especial day for its enjoyment. Here he introduceth oa¢€arioués, “ a sabbatism ;” which his way of arguing would not have allowed had he not de- signed to express the Christian Sabbath. Add hereunto that he subjoins the especial reason of such a day’s observation in the next verse, as we have declared. And here do we fix the foundation and reason of the Lord’s day, or the holy observation of the first day of the week, the obligation of the fourth commandment unto a weekly sacred rest being put off from the seventh day to the first, on the same ground and reason whereon the state of the church is altered from what it was under the law unto what it is now under the gos- pel. And the covenant itself also is changed; whence the seventh day is now of no more force than the old covenant and the old law of institutions contained in ordinances, because the Lord Christ hath ceased from his works and entered into his rest on the first day.