SECT. 28, 29. OF THE LORD’S DAY. 425 ?
weakens not the divine original of it; for an obligation lying on all believers to observe a Sabbath unto the Lord, and the day observed under the law of Moses being removed, it is not to be imagined that the apostles fixed on another day without immediate direction from the Lord Christ; for indeed they delivered nothing to be constantly observed in the worship of God but what they had his authority for, 1 Cor. xi. 23. In all things of this nature, as they had the infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost, so they acted immediately in the name and authority of Christ, where what they ordained was no less of divine institution than if it had been appointed by Christ in his own person. It is true, they themselves did for a season, whilst their ministry was to have a peculiar regard to the Jews, for the calling and conversion of the remnant that was amongst them according to the election of grace, go frequently into their synagogues on the seventh day to preach the gospel, Acts xiii. 14, xvi. 13, xvii. 2, xvill. 4; but it is evident that they did so only to take the oppor- tunity of their assemblies, that they might preach unto the greater numbers of them, and that at such a season wherein they were pre- pared to attend unto sacred things. Upon the same ground Paul laboured if it were possible to be at Jerusalem at the feast of Pen- tecost, Acts xx. 16. But that they at any time assembled the dis- ciples of Christ on that day for the worship of God, that we read not.
29. We may now look back, and take a view of what we have passed through. That one day in seven is, by virtue of a divine law, to be observed holy unto the Lord, the original of such an observa- tion, Gen. ii. 2, the letter of the fourth commandment, with the na- ture of the covenant between God and man, do prove and evince. And hereunto is there a considerable suffrage given by learned men of all parties. The doctrine of the reformed divines hereabout hath been largely represented by others. They also of the church of Rome, that is many of them, agree herein. It is asserted in the canon law itself, Tit. de Feriis, cap. Licet., where the words of Alexan- der the Third are, “ Tam Veteris quam Novi Testamenti pagina sep- timum diem ad humanam quietem specialiter deputavit ;” where by “ septimus dies” he: understands one day in seven, as Suarez show- eth, de Relig., lib. ii. cap. ii. And it is so by sundry canonists, reckoned up by Covarruvias. The schoolmen also give in their con- sent, as Bannes in 2a 2, g.44,a. 1. Bellarmine contends expressly, de Cult. Sanct., lib. iii. cap. xi, that “Jus divinum requirebat ut unus dies hebdomadz dicaretur cultui divino.” So doth Suarez, de Dieb. Sac., cap. i, and others might be added. We have the like common consent, that whatever, in the institution and observa- tion of the Sabbath under the old testament, was peculiar unto that state of the church, either in its own nature or in its use and signi-
426 OF THE LORD’S DAY. [ EXERC. V.
fication, or in its manner of observance, is taken away, by virtue of those rules, Rom. xiv. 5; Gal. iv. 10; Col. ii. 16,17. Nor ean it be denied but that sundry things annexed unto the sabbatical rest, pe- culiar to that church-state which was to be removed, were wholly inconsistent with the spirit, grace, and liberty of the gospel. Ihave _ also proved that the observation of the seventh day precisely was a pledge of God’s rest in the covenant of works, and of our rest in him and with him thereby; so that it cannot be retained without a re-introduction of that covenant and the righteousness thereof And therefore, although the command for the observation of a Sabbath to the Lord, so far as it is moral, is put over into the rule of the new covenant, wherein grace is administered for the duty it requires, yet take the seventh day precisely as the seventh day, and it is an old testament arbitrary institution, which falls under no promise of spiritual assistance in or unto the observation of it. Under the new testament we have found a new creation, a new law of creation, a new covenant: the rest of Christ in that work, law, and covenant: the limiting of a day of rest unto us, on the day wherein he entered into his rest; a new name given unto this day, with respect unto his authority by whom it was appointed; and an observation of it by all the churches; so that we may say of it, “This is the day which the Lorp hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it,” as Ps. exviil. 24.
30. These foundations being laid, I shall yet, by some important considerations, if I mistake not, give some further evidence unto the necessity of the religious observation of the first day of the week, in opposition unto the day of the law, by some contended for. It is, therefore, first acknowledged, that the observation of some certain day, in and for the solemn public worship of God, is of indispensable necessity. They are beneath our consideration by whom this is de- nied. Most acknowledge it to be a dictate of the law of nature, and the nature of these things doth require it. We have proved, also, that there is such a determination of this time unto one day m seven, as it must needs be the highest impudence in any person, persons, or churches, to attempt any alteration herein. And not- withstanding the pretences of some about their liberty, none yet have been so hardy, from the foundation of the world, as practically to de- termine a day for the worship of God in any other revolution of days or times, to the neglect and exclusion of one day in seven. Yea, the light hereof is such, and the use of it is so great, that those who have taken up with the worst of superstitions instead of reli- gion, as the Mohammedans, yet, complying in general with the per- formance of a solemn worship to God, have found it necessary to fix on one certain day in the hebdomadal revolution for that purpose. And, indeed, partly from the appointment of God, partly from the