THE DOCTRINE OF THE SABBATH. Wherein the first institution of the weekly Sabbath, with the time thereof, the nature of the Law binding man to keep it, the true grounds, and necessity of the first institution, and of the observation of it, on the several day in the Old Testament, and also of the removing of it to the first day under the Gospel, are laid open and proved out of the Holy Scriptures. ALSO Besides the special duties necessarily required for the due sanctification thereof, these two profitable points are proved by demonstrations out of God's Word. First, that the Lord Christ God and Man, is the Lord of the Sabbath, on whom the Sabbath was first founded, & by whom it was changed from the last to the first day of the week; and is on that day unchangeably to be kept by all true Christians, until they come to the Eternal rest in Heaven, after the general resurrection. 2. That the faithful under the Gospel are as necessarily bound to keep the weekly Sabbath of the Lords day, by virtue of the fourth Commandment, as the Fathers under the Law were bound to keep the seventh day. Delivered In diverse Sermons by GEORGE WALKER B. of Divinity and Pastor of St. john Evangelists Church in LONDON.  LEVIT. 19.30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary: I am the Lord. 
Printed at Amsterdam, in the year 1638.   

To the Christian Reader.  
THe Author of this Treatise being much importuned, to publish his Sermons concerning the Sabbath (preached in his own Parish-Church to his own Flock) not only by diverse of his Christian Hearers; but also by others both Preachers and godly people, who had heard by report the manner of his large handling and expounding of this Text, did yield at length to their Requests, and composed this Treatise, which contains in it the whole sum and substance of the matter more largely delivered. The Copy whereof written with his own hand, he gave to be imparted from hand to hand, and transcribed by such as did desire to make use of it, for their own satisfaction, and the instruction of their own private Families and Christian friends. Which coming to my hands, I thought fit to publish and impart i● to the English Church's in those C●u●tries on this other sid● of the S●as; being credibly informed, that the Author ●s not unwilling to submit his Doctrine to the judgement of the true Reformed Church●s of Ch●ist, according to that saying of the holy Apostle, 1 Cor. 14. 3●. The spirits of the Prophet's are subject to the Prophets. Let those things which berein seem most of all to savour of novelty, be read without prejudice and sinister affection, & weighed by the shekel of the Sanctuary, and I doubt not but such as are judicious, will ●i●de them to be ancient truths like pure old gold newly brought to light out of the old treasure of the sacred Scriptures, in which m●ny profitable truths fit for these last times remain, yet to be more clearly revealed. Which God w●ll undoubtedly bring to light, by such as d●gge deeper in those mines than others formerly have done, and labour to ●raw st●ll more Waters of comfort out of those Wells of Salvation. To that God only immortal, and infinite in goodness and wisdom, and to ●he wo●d of his grace I commend you, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.   
THE DOCTRINE OF THE SABBATH.  Gen. 2: 2.3. 
And on the seventh God ended his work which he had made, and he rested the seventh day from all his wo●ke which he had made. 3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.  

CHAP. 1.  
IN the unfolding of this Text, and handling of this main and necessary point, I will observe the Method and order which is most agreeable to the order of the words.  
First, from these words, (And on the seventh day) I will observe, and declare the time of the Institution of the weekly Sabba●h, even the very day wherein the first occasion was given for the sanctification of it, and God did first sanctify it, and command that it should be kept holy  
Secondly, I will show the true ground and occasion of the institution of it, laid down in the next words: God ende● his work which he had made, and he rested the seventh day from all his work which he had made, and God blessed the seventh day.  
Thirdly, I will declare what is the blessing, and sanctifying of the seventh day, where I shall have occasion to speak of the Law and Commandment by which God separated it from other natural days to holy Heavenly and supernatural use. And of the duties which that Law requires at the hands of all God's people in all ages to the end of the World on the most blessed day of all the seven in every week, even the weekly Sabbath-day. Under these heads diverse subordinate points will ●ffer themselves to be handled, and diverse necessary questions will come to be answered and explained.  
First, concerning the time of the institution, there are several opinions among learned Writers of former and later times.  
First, some Heathen Writers, as justine & Tacitus, with others, have grossly and absurdly erred, as in the time, so also in the Author and in the occasion of the institution, though they had perhaps read the the writings of Moses; yet it seems they believed him not concerning the fi●st institution of it by God; but finding the first express Law, concerning the keeping of the Sabbath given by Moses at mount Sina, written in Tables of stone, and afterwards recorded in the the Books of Moses; they make Moses the first Author of the Sabbath, and that upon this occasion, because wand'ring with the Israelites out of Egypt in the wilderness, and finding no sustenance, but being forced to fast six days, at length coming to mount Sina with the people, there found meat, and rested, and upon this occasion did appoint it to be kept weekly for a Sabbath or day of rest.  
But all true Christians, who believe the Scriptures to be the sacred infallible Word of God, being thereby better instructed, do with one consent hold, confess, and constantly teach, that God the Lord jehovah, the only true God, is the Author and Ordainer of the Sabbath, and that he first ordained it upon the ground and occasion mentioned in this Text, and expressed in the words of the Law. But yet in the time they much d●ff●r among themselves; Some in the time of the first institution concur with the infidel Heathens before mentioned; though they differ much concerning the Author and the occasion▪ For they hold that the Sabbath was neither commanded by God, nor known to the Fathers and patriarchs, nor observed by any before the coming of Israel with Moses to mount Sina, and that the first institution of it was in the fourth Commandment given by God among the ten from Mount Sina, both by word of mouth, in the audience of all Israel, and also in Tables of stone written with his own finger.  
justine Martyr, Tertullian, Irenaeus, and others of the Ancient, seem to have given the occasion of this opinion, 
Justin. Dialog. cum Triphone. Tertull. adversus Judoeos Irenaeus lib. 4. c. 20  where they make it a question, whether Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Melchizedeck, or any of the holy Fathers kept the seventh day for an holy Sabbath, and affirm that Abraham believed and was justified, and called the friend of God without circumcision or observation of Sabbath; For from their words, which are but doubtful, some late writers, both 
* Tostatus Pererius Gomarus.  Papists and Protestants, do go about to prove that the Sabbath was not instituted by God until the giving of the Law by Moses on Mount Sina.  
And although the words of this Text, written by Moses, do here plainly affirm the contrary, and tell us that on the seventh day God ended his work, rested and sanctified the seventh day; Yet thus they wrangle and wrest the Text by a Childish forged sense and meaning; First, they grant the first words, that on the seventh day God ended his work, and rested; But they deny that he blessed and sanctified the Sabbath on the same day, they say that here by way of Anticipation, Moses mentions the blessing and sanctifying of the Sabbath, not as a thing at this time done; but as a thing which was first done in the giving of the Law on Mount Sina, many ages after, and that upon this ground which is here mentioned, to wit, his ending of his work, and resting on the first seventh day of the World. And here Moses his purpose was, to show not the time, but the equity of the institution; not the beginning but the ground of that Sabbath. The paraphrase of the Text in their sense was thus: And on the seventh day God ended his work, and rested; and upon this ground he many ages after at Mount Sina instituted the seventh day to be kept by Jsrael for an holy Sabbath of rest. But though some men of learning, and diverse out of effected error and mal●ce stand for this opinion; yet indeed there is no ground for it in the Scriptures, but many plain proofs to the contrary. First, this Text (●f we take the words as they run) shows most manifestly, that on the seventh day, even th● next after the six days of the Creation, God ended or perfected his work, and on that day he rested, and also blessed and sanctified it to be his Sabbath. Secondly, there is no c●l●ur of reason for any man to think, that God should lay the ground and foundation of the Sabbath on the first seventh day of the World, and suffer it t● lie void, and of no use, and never go about to build on it till so many ages after, God cannot endure to do any thing in vain nor to suffer any thing to lie void, & to be of no use, which of itself is very useful. Surely, as he loved & chos all the holy Fathers from the beginning, 
Heb. 11.10.16.  & promised to them the eternal rest of heaven, which they looked for, and sought in t●e everlasting City, which hath sure foundations, and in the Country above in the World to come. So he kept not back from them the outward sign●, seal● & pledge thereof, his holy Sabbath, which was both a motive to make them bend their whole course towards that rest, & a means to further them in their way & journey to it also.  
Thirdly, the Lords own words which he spoke from Mount Sina in the commandment of the Sabbath, are most clear, and do show that God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath in the beginning, on the first seventh day wherein he ended his wo●k and rested. For he doth not say, I the Lord rested on the seventh day from works of creation, and therefore I now bless and sanctify every seventh day of every week hereafter. But the Lord rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath, and sanctified it, that is then of old in the beginning when he rested, he blessed and sanctified it.  
Fourthly, the Sabbath-day was kept and observed by the Israelites a month before they came to Mount Sina, Exo. 16.25.26. And Moses and the people knew that the seventh day after that God began to rain Manna from Heaven, for to be their bread, was the Lord's Sabbath, as his words do plainly show, and that the Lord before that time hath by his word appointed it to be the rest of the holy Sabbath. Ve●s. 23. And the words of the Lord to Moses, when some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather Manna, do plainly show, that God had before that time given them Commandments and Laws concerning the rest of the seventh day; For in the 28. Verse he saith: How long will ye refuse to keep my Commandments and Laws? Intimating that their going out on the seventh day was a refusing to k●ep his Laws, which of old he had given, and before this had revealed to them. For otherwise they could not be said to transgress: Laws cannot be refused to be kept before they be given; Wherefore it is a vain praetence and shift, which some use to decline this Argument, viz. that the ceasing ●f the Manna on the seventh day, and Moses his admonishing of the people to rest that day, was but a praeludium of the fourth Commandment, and a preparation to God's promulgation of it; For the words of the Text show most plainly, that the intermission of Manna was an evidence of the Sabbath already sanctified by the Commandment of God; the resting of the Jsraelites was observing and obeying of the Law already given, & the going out of some to gather Manna on the seventh day, was refusing to keep God's Law given in the first institution.  
Now, for Justine Martyr, Tertullian, Jraeneus, their words do not prove any thing for the maintaining of this opinion; Tertullian denies only the perpetual morality of the Law, concerning the jewish Sabbath, and calls into question▪ not the institution of it in the beginning, but the observation of it by the first Fathers and patriarchs. justine Martyr and J●aeneus say, that Abraham was justified without circumcision and observation of Sabbaths, that is, of the Ceremonial Sabbaths commanded by God in the Ceremonial Laws given by Moses, not without observation of the weekly Sabbath, as the word, Zabbaton, 
Origen.  of the plural number which they use, doth clearly declare: That the weekly Sabba●h was instituted from the beginning, 
Hierom. trad. in 2 Gen. Austin in Psal. 80.  the best learned of the Fathers affirm, as Origen, Hi●rome, Austin, and others. And although the Scriptures which briefly run over the lives and acts of the Fathers, make no express mention of their observation of the weekly Sabbath; Yet we have diverse places which minister very probable Arguments for this purpose. In Genesis, cap. 4.3. It is said, that at the end of days, Cain brought his offering to the Lord, that is on the Sabbath, which was the end of the week and the last of the days. The Hebrew words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signify at the end of days, and howsoever they are taken to signify in process of time, by some Learned Translators, yet in no other place of Scripture do I find, that they signify any other end of days, but of a certain set number of days, either of thirty or for●ie, or many days; Or of the days of a whole year, as 2 Sam. 14.26. where it is said at the end of days, according to days, t●at is of every year. Absalon polled his head. And 1 King. 17.7. at the end of days, that is of a year (●s Tremellius translates the words) the brook dried up. Now, I see no reason why we should understand by the end of days, the end of the year, that Cain and Abel did only at the end of the year offer to God, or after a long time; but that on every seventh day of the week, which is the weekly Sabbath, they sacrificed to God; undoubtedly their Father Adam, who taught them to sacrifice (which Worship God first instituted on the seventh day) he also taught them the day of God's holy worship even the Sabbath which God had sanctified, and this was the end of the days of the week.  
Also in the same fourth of Genesis in the last verse, it is said, that when Seths' Children began to increase, that then men began to call on the name of the Lord; that is as learned junius well expounds the words, they began to assemble themselves together in public assemblies to pray unto God and worship him, even all Seths' seed who were God's people. and were called by the name of the Lord, that is the Children of God, as we see Gen. 6.2. Now, as they had solemn and set meetings, so undoubtedly they had a set time, even every Sabbath or seventh day, and set places or Churches; for without set time and place there can be no solemn invocation or worship in solemn assemblies, as common sense teacheth.  
And that Noah when he came out of the Ark began to observe the rest of the Sabbath, and did offer a sacrifice of the rest that is of the holy Sabbath, and that God was well pleased with it. Me thinks the Hebrew words in the original Text teach very plainly; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  for it is said, that God smelled a savour of the rest; that is he accepted it as a pleasing Sabbath sacrifice, 
Gen. 8 21  the Hebrew emp●raticall and demonstrative particle here added to set forth a special rest, implies so much. And the word which is in the Hebrew, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  rest, is of the same note and original with the word which Exod. 20.11. in the fourth commandment is used to signify Gods resting on the seventh day.  
Now, all these things well weighed and laid together do show that this opinion, though held by some learned men, is but a mere dream and idle fancy. And indeed the very first words in which God gave the fourth commandment, to wit, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, are of themselves alone a sufficient argument to prove, that the Lord did not in giving the Law from Mount Sina first institute the Sabbath day; but only did renew the memory of it, and of the first institution thereof by renewing and receiving his old commandment, by which he on the first seventh day of the World did sanctify it.  
There is another opinion which diverse both ancient and modern Christians do hold upon a better ground; for they do gather & conclude with one general consent from the plain words of this Text, that God in the beginning immediately after the creation ended, did give the law of the Sabbath, and did bless and sanctify the seventh day of the first week of the world, and every seventh day of every week following, and commanded it to be kept an holy Sabbath, in memory of his rest on the seventh day.  
But howsoever, they all agree in the general; yet in diverse special and particular things they do much differ.  
1. Some hold, that the law of the Sabbath was given to man in the state of innocency, before his fall on the sixth day, and that it was written in man's heart, that he ought to keep the seventh day holy; and that if man had continued in his integrity, he would have kept the seventh day of every week an holy rest unto the Lord his God.  
2. Others hold, that the Sabbath was instituted not in the state of innocency, nor before man's fall, which happened towards the end of the sixth day; but that on the seventh day when God rested from the work of Creation, he then did bless & sanctify that & every seventh day and appointed it to be a weekly Sabbath, & the law by which he instituted the Sabbath: was no other but such as was written in man's heart in the creation, & that man by the instinct of nature would have obeyed that law and kept the Sabbath in the state of innocnecy, if he h●d stood & continued therein.  
3 A third sort are of opinion, that the Sabbath was instituted and the Commandment for the keeping thereof given in the state of innocency, and yet not till the seventh day: for they imagine that man stood more than one day, and did in his innocency keep the Sabbath, and if he had continued would have always kept it; not by any instinct of nature or light of natural reason created in him & moving him so to do, but by a positive law and Precept given by God: of the same nature and kind with the Commandment of abstaining from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  
In all and every of these opinions I find some failling, and no consent and perfect agreement with the word of God.  
First they all go too far, and have not one word in scripture to warrant their opinion: that Adam in the state of innocency should and would have kept every seventh day for an holy rest, & that God would have required it at his hands. For all Scriptures which mention the Sabbath do speak of it as of an holy sign looking altogether towards Christ and towards the state of grace and glory in him, and not towards the state of innocency. It is most certain that man in that state was perfect with natural perfection, at all times equally disposed to obey God & to serve him, and to remember his Creation and to honour his Creator. He needed no observation of any day to put him in mind of any thing which he had before known, & which god had revealed to him, his memory was perfect, and he knew whatsoever was needful for him to know or do in that present state. And his will was every moment ready to do whatsoever he knew to be right, he needed no sign to admonish him of his duty, or to move him to do it in due seas●n. He did not labour nor weary himself, every day was to him a da●e of delight and pleasure of rest and recreation, and in every creature which he did see or meddle with, he did behold & take notice of the wisdom & goodness of God, In a word: his whole life was a constant & obedient service of God, and there was no inequality nor less worship of God in one then in another, for he fully served God at all times: Whosoever denies this must needs deny therein man's perfection & constant conformity to God in the state of innocency. For where one day is kept better than another, there is inequality, and no constant uniformity in himself nor conformity to Gods will.  
In the Second place, they who hold that the Sabbath was first instituted after man's fall, & yet that it was written in man's heart in the state of innocency, and he then was bound to keep it: they fall into many absurdities.  
First that a man was bound to keep a Sabbath before ever it was instituted.  
Secondly, that God did by his word & commandment teach má in vain that which he was fully taught already & had written in his heart.  
Thirdly, that God gave to man a law in vain after his fall when he knew he was become unable to keep it.  
3. They who hold that the Law of the Sabbath was not written in man's heart, but was a positive Law given in the state of innocency, of the same nature with that Commandment of man's not eating of the tree of knowledge, They do make this Commandment of the Sabbath utterly void by man's fall, even as that of not eating is now void, and was not to be renewed after man's fall. But of the unsoundness and vanity of these opinions I shall speak more fully, when I come to show what kind of law that of the Sabbath is, and how that commandment binds men.  
Now because I cannot find any solidity, or satisfaction in any of these opinions, I have left humane writings even of the best learned, and have betaken myself wholly to the searching of the Holy Scriptures, Gods most pure infallible W●rd, and what light I find therein for the manifestation of the truth I will not hide nor cover, but set it before you openly. And for the time when God first instituted the Sabbath, I conceive it to have been not in the state of innocency, but after man's fall immediately, & yet upon the seventh day wherein God rested from the work of the creation, as my text here saith, and although this may seem to cross the order of the History as is here laid down by Moses, because man's fall related a while after his sanctification of the Sabbath, even in the third Chapt. Yet let this move no man, for Moses doth not set down all things in order as they were done in this & the next Chapter, but first he speaks of the finishing of Heaven and Earth, and all the host of them, and then of God's rest, and of the sanctifying of the seventh day, & then returns to speak of things which were done before: as the planting of the garden in Eden, which was a work of the third day, and the making of the woman and forming her of a rib taken out of man's side, and man's naming of all living creatures before the woman was made, which things were done on the sixth day. Also in this chapter the forming of the man is related before the planting of the garden and the watering of it with a river which was divided into four Heads, though it is most evident that before there was a man to till the ground, God made every plant & tree that was pleasant to the eye and good for food, to grow out of the ground, that is all the trees of the garden amongst the rest ver. 5, Wherefore we must not cleave strictly to the order in which Moses sets things down in this Chapter, nor take all things to be first done which are here first related, for than we should believe that plants, herbs, trees, man and woman were all created after that the works of creation were finished, and after Gods resting one the seventh day. But to pass by all needless doubts, let us come to the proofs of this point which prove strongly that God's institution of the Sabbath was not in man's innocency but af●er his fall▪  
First, the very words of my text affirm that the Sabbath was instituted on the seventh day, for first it is said in express words, that on the seventh day God rested & blessed & sanctified that day.  
Secondly, the things which gave God occasion to sanctify the seventh day; & upon which the first institution of the Sabbath was grounded came not to pass, neither were they in being until the seventh day, that is God's perfecting of the work and resting from all he work which he had made: the words of the text are very plain On, or in the seven●h day God ended his work and rested, and because of this resting he blessed and sanctified the seventh day, And therefore the sanctifying of the seventh day which was the institution of the Sabbath, cannot be before the seventh day; The building could not be before their was ground to build on, neither could the work go before the cause and occasion of it.  
Thirdly, it is against all reason to think that God actually blessed and sanctified the seventh day, and made ●it his Holy Sabbath before it came into being. Now this ground being very clear, that the Sabbath was instituted on the seventh day from the beginning of the creation & not before. I proceed to a second ground, to weet: that man did fall towards the end of the sixth day, even on the same day in which he was created, which being fully proved, It well necessarily follow That the fi●st institution of the Sabbath was after man's fall and not in the state of innocency.  
First that man did fall upon the very day of his creation the sixth day, I prove by plain Scriptures and by strong arguments grounded on them. The first testimoney is that speech of David, Psalm 49.12. Man being in honour lodged not a night therein, but became like the Beasts that perish. So the words run in the original text, & we cannot without wresting of the words from their proper sense in the Hebrew, expound them of any other person but of the fir●t Adam, & of his fall, the word which is in our translation (man) is Adam in the Hebrew, and the words which we read in our Engglish (abideth not) Bal-jalim, and in the Hebrew signify, lodged not a night therein: as appeareth by other Scriptures, in which it is continually used to signify lodging or tarrying for a night, viz. Exod. 23.18. & 34.25. Deut. 16. 4. where God forbids the Israelites to let the fat of their Sacrifice, or any part of the fl●sh of the Paschall lamb: lodge with them all night till the morning. and 2 Sam. 17.8. where Hushai saith to Absalon of his Father David, that he was a man of war, and would not lodge with the people. And 2 Sam. 19.8. where Joab saith to David, there will not one abide with thee one night. And Psal. 30.5. where it is said, that weeping may lodge for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And so in all other Scriptures this word is used. And the learned Hebrews who best know the propriety of the phrase: understand this place of Adam and of his falling on the day of his Creation, and not continving one night in the honourable state of innocency· The Second testimony is that speech of our Saviour joh. 8. 44. where he saith that the Devil was a murderer of man & alier from the beginning & abode not in the truth. By the beginning is meant the first day of man's Creation, & it is never absolutely used in any other sense but for the time of the first Creation. Now if the Devil did lie & deceive & murder man by drawing him to sin from the first day, of man's being, it follows that man did fall the sixth day, on which was the day of his creation. The third proof is grounded on the words which passed between the woman & the serpent T; he serpent's speech implies that as yet they had not eaten of any tree, & that he set upon the woman immediately after that God had given them commandment not to eat of the tree of knowledge; the words which he useth (Y●a, or is it even so) they are a form of speech used by one that standing aloof and over hearing what was forbidden, doth immediately step in and asks the party to whom the commandment was given if it were even so as he conceived. And the woman's answer is in such a word as is of ●he future tense in Hebrew, and signifies not an act past or present, 
Gen. 31.2.  but a power & liberty to eat hereafter when they should have occasion, and the true translation of her words is: we may or will hereafter eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. Alsoe it is very likely that if they had eaten of the fruit of any tree of their own accord before their temptation & fall, their reason will, and appetite would have led them to the tree of life, which was near at hand even in the midst of the garden close by the forbidden tree Ver. 9 The very name whereof was amiable, and unto which the natural desire of man did of itself chiefly carry him, as God's words do intimate Chapt. 3.2. But that they had not yet re●ched forth their hands to take and eat of that tree, that speech of God shows Chap. 3.23. where he saith that he will cast Adam out of the garden. Lest he put forth his h●nd and ●ake and eat of the tree of life, which was the state of natural life; Now this had been too late if they had already before eaten of it.  
Fourthly, so soon as God had created the woman, and given her to the man, he gave them the blessing of fruitfulness, and the desire of procreation of children which is most natural to man, & he did bid them increase and multiply, so we read Chapt. 1.28. & undoubtedly they would not have neglected the blessing of multiplying and increasing mankind, but if they had continued in their integrity one night, the woman by companying with the man would have conceived a pure seed without sin, for there was no barrenness of the womb in innocency, that came in as a curse after the fall. Chapt, 3.16.  
F●ftly, the v●rity of God threatening, and the strictness●●f his justice required that in the same day wherein man sinned, in the same should the sentence of death, be executed, the words of the law are very peremptory ver. 17. In the day that thou erst thou shalt surely dye. Which sentence was fully and truly executed, though not on Adam himself, yet on Christ the second Adam man's surety. The fi●st Adam all his posterity are the same day made subject to death, wherein they act or partake actually of this transgression, & Christ the second Adam who undertook to satisfy the Law for this sin and to suffer the punishment due to it and all sin w●ich spring from this root, did certainly die on the same day, & at the same hour of the day in which the first Adam transgressed, so Irenaeus & diverse of the ancients & other acute writers do hold, & they well observe, that on the sixth day of the week on which day Adam was created and after the ninth hour of that day, that is in the afternoon and towards the end of the day Christ suffered both a cursed bodily death on the Cross, and also the agonies and pains of t●e second death, as he showeth by his crying out My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me. And by his word Consummatum est, that is the fullness and utmost extremity of torments is come, or now is the utmost extremity of my painful suffering. And therefore it is very probable and cannot without scornful wrangling be denied, that Adam's fall was about the same time of the sixth day, which doth make good the word of God and show the verity of his threatening law, and his admirable wisdom and providence in thinking of man● Redemption before he would suffer man to fall.  
Sixtly if Adam had stood any while, even one day or night or more until he had eaten of the tree of life, which seems to be aseale of the first Covenant of life by works of natural righteousness, it is likely that he could not have fall'n, nor the Devil been suffered to tempt him, or if after the taste of the sweetness of the tree of life, and the sealing of the covenant of life by his own works of obedience, he had fallen: surely his fall had been more desperate, even total and final apostasy: for which God alloweth no Sacrifice to be offered nor prayer to be made, 
Heb. 10.26. 1 joh. 5.16. Heb. 6·6.  & from which there is no recovery nor renueing by repentance. The Devil being created with the Angels amongst the supernatural host on the first day, and having seen the glory of God and tasted of the Heavenly joys all the sixth days of the creation until man was created and all the frame of the world finished, and Lordship given to man over all inferior creatures, he then after this taste falling away and not abiding in the tru●h but leaving his first estate, did sin more disperately & rebelliously against the light, and his sin is so hateful to God, that he will not accept of any satisfaction for it, neither could the Son of God under take for him. But man's fall being at the first before he had tasted of the tree of life & the full sweetness & fruision of earthly fellicity, and springing not Originally from himself, but from the Devil who deceived him, therefore there is mercy with God for him, Gods giving of Christ, and Christ's undertaking for man, is an argument that Adam did fall in the day of his creation before he had tasted of the tree of life, and that he was made, ma●d, form and deformed in one day, as the Greek writers speak.  
Lastly, it seems by diverse other Reasons very probable, that man did fall on the sixth day before he had eaten of the tree of life, which if he had been left to himself, and if he had not been prevented and seduced by the Devil he would have done.  
First because the Covenant of life by man's own works of obedience, being sealed by his eating of that tree which was the seal of that Covenant: as appears by God's speech Gen. 3.23. Man had been confirmed in that natural life & estate wherein God created him, and the Devil could have had no power either to seduce him or to prevail by his temptations.  
Secondly the things which Adam did after his creation and before his fall: could not be done orderly and distinctly in less than a good part of a day. First God brought all living creatures before him, and he took notice of them and gave to every kind of creature fit names, before the woman was made, as appears ver. 20. Then God cast him into a deep sleep and took one of his ribs, and form it into a woman and brought her to him. After that God gave them the blessing of fruitfulness, and said be fruitful and multiply, he also gave them rule and dominion over all creatures, and appointed them all Trees bearing fruit, and Herbs bearing seed for their meat, and set man to keep and dress the garden, and withal he gave them the commandment to abstain from the tree of knowledge of good & evil, before they were tempted & drawn into sin & transgression. Therefore their fall must needs be towards the end of the day, after the ninth hour, at the same time of the day in which Christ suffered death and gave up the ghost: as the Gospel shows Math. 27.46. and so the day and hour of man's first sin, was the day and hour of death for sin according to Gods threatening ver. 17.  
Thirdly after their fall & the sight of their nakedness, they sewed fig leaves together & made them Aprones, & by this time we may suppose that the sun did set & the cool of the day approached, even the breathing wind which commonly blows af●er the setting of the sun & did blow in the night of the seventh day, at which time they heard God's voice walking in the garden, which was tirrible unto them, partly by reason of the darkness of the night, and partly through the conscience of their sin, and the shame of nakedness which sin brought upon them, & hereupon they hid themselves from God's presence among the trees of the garden, which shelter was too vain & foolish no way able to hide them from God's pure eyes. Therefore certainly they did sin and fall towards the end of the sixth day in which they were created. And justly might Adam have cursed the day of his creation, if Christ had not immediately betimes on the seventh day been promised, and had not actually and openly undertaken to become the seed of the woman, and began to be an actual mediator for man's redemption.  
And thus I have by the help & light of Scriptures made it plain and manifest, that man's first sin and fall was on the sixth day. And that the first institution of the Sabbath being upon the seventh day, must needs be after man's fall and not in the state of innocency.   

CHAP. 2.  
NOw this proving & demonstrating of the first point in my text, ●o weet: the time of the first institution of the Sabbath, doth lead us directly as it were by the hand unto the second main point, that is, the ground upon which the Sabbath was founded, and the true outward moving cause and occasion of the first institution of it.  
First we may hence collect that the ground of the Sabbath is not any thing revealed or done on the six days of the creation, & therefore there was no use of the Sabbath nor place for it in the state of innocency, neither is it a commemoration of any thing then brought into being, but rather of Gods resting from creation and ceasing to proceed further in perfecting the world by way of creation.  
Secondly, that the true ground must be sought and found among the things which came to pass on the seventh day, and after the state of innocency which ended at man's transgration and fall, now this we will seek in the next words of the text.  
The ground of the Sabbath.  
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and on the seventh day God rested from all his works which he had made, and God blessed the seventh day.  
In these words we may observe three distinct things concurring on the seventh day.  
First Gods ending or perfecting of the whole work or business of the creation.  
Secondly Gods resting from that work and ceasing to proceed that way, and ●iving over to uphold the world & to repair man & other creatures (which were ●rought under corruption & through his fall made subject to vanity) by the mere work of creation.  
Thirdly God's blessing the seventh day by revealling therein agreat blessing, far a 'bove all the good which he showed in the sixth days of ●he creation.  
That these are the true grounds of the Sabbath, and that God because of these concurring & coming together on the seventh day, did sanctify it & made it an Holy Sabbath, to be kept by man for an Holy rest, the words following immediately do show where it is said God did sanctify the seventh day, because in it he rested from all his work of creation, and from dealing & doing that way. These three points, I will therefore prove and explain out of the words of the text in there order.  
First for Gods ending or perfecting of his works which he had made, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  that is, expressed in the first words. [God ended his works which he had made.] the words in the Original Hebrew text are these; Vaiecal Elchim melacht● asher gnassah, which are diversely translated and expounded by the learned translators and expositors of this text.  
The Uulger Latin runs thus: Cumplevitque D●us opus suum quod fecerat. That is, God finished his work which he had made, or God made his work complete on the seventh day, The Greek Septuagints render the words thus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That is, God perfected his work on t●e sixth day.  
The Caldee paraphraseth thus. On the seventh day God delighted in his work which h● had made. Trem●llious & Junious and many other learned expositors do read the words thus: That before the seventh day God had ended his work, & had finished it on the se●enth day that is, when the seventh day come he had ended the creation.  
The words thus diversely translated seems to have several meaning and may be taken in diverse and several senses. The Uulger Latin which is all one with our English translation seems, to make this the sense of the words. That on the seventh day God made an end of his work, which till then was not fully finished, and that in memory and for joy of the finishing of his work and making it fully complete on the seventh day, he sanctified that day to be his Holy Sabbath.  
The Caldee paraphrase seems to make the joy & delight which God took in viewing all the work of creation on the seventh day, to be a ground & cause of Gods sanctifying that day for his Sabbath  
Tremellius and the learned who agree with him, seem to hold that God had before on the sixth day ended all the works of the creation. And all Being finished when the seventh day came, that was the only day of the week in which God had no work left to be finished, nor any thing to make, and therefore he made this his Holy day and day of rest. This also seems to be the meaning of the Greek Septuagints, who for this purpose have changed the Hebrew text, and instead of the seventh day, put in the sixth day for the ending of the week, and the seventh day they make the day only of Gods resting.  
Now of all these translations taken in these Uulgar senses, there is not any on which can give full satisfaction and remove all doubts and scruples: Yea if we receive and grant them all, some difficulties will still remain; A●d therefore, for the removing of all doubts & full manifestation of the truth, I will endeavour to search and dive further into the words of the Original Hebrew text, and to find out a further sense and meaning; by comparing them with other Scriptures which give more light unto them, and in so doing I will make use of these several traslations & senses, to gather some light and strength from them, and from the difference which is among them for the more full manifestation of the truth which I shall commend unto you.  
First for the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translalated, Ended, Perfected, Finished, it signifies in the first and most proper and full sense, to bring a thing to the full end of it, so that now it hath all which belongs to it in any kind. Some times it is used in Scripture to signify the beginning of a thing to the last end of it, either by consuming of it, and bringing it to an ●nd of being & well being which it had before job. 4.9. By the Breath of God's Nostrils the wicked are said to be consumed, & Isa. 1.25. or by ceasing to continue it if it be a trans●et action or speech: as Gen. 17.22. God ended his speech or talk with Abraham, that is: ceased to continue it, and Exod. 34.33. & 1 Sam. 10.13. & 2 Sam. 6.18. 1 King. 7 40. where mention is made of Moses his ceasing to speak, of Saulls making an end of prophicieing, and D●vid of offering Sacrifice, & Hiram of his working. This sense is in no case to be admitted.  
First because God consumed not the works which he had made before, neither did God bring his working and making of creatures to an end by ceasing to continue it, for that was the sixth day when he had made the woman the last creature which h● made, than he ceased from his working and brought it to an end.  
Secondly because consuming and destroying of creatures, can be no good ground of blessing and sanctifying the day and time in which it is done.  
Some times this word is used to signify the bringing of a thing to the full end of perfection, either by adding to the last & utmost thing which belongs to the nature, kind and being of it, so that now it wants no perfection which it ought to have in that kind, thus the word is used 2 Chro. 7.11. where it is said that Solomon finished the House of the Lord, & Exod. 40.33. Moses finished all the work of the Tabernacle. Or else by adding to it more than naturally belongs to it: even some supernaturll and extraordinary perfection, thus the word is used Ezech. 16.14. where it is said that God made Jerusalem perfect by his beauty which he put upon his people whom he placed to dwell therein: even David and other holy men whom he beautified with supernatural & saving gifts & graces. In this last sense I conceive the word to be especially here used. For it is most certain that God brought all things to the full end & natural perfection on the sixth day when he created man and woman, and gave them rule & dominion over all living creatures, and appointed all things which he had made to serve for their use, and so much the last words of the first Chap. show, where it is said: God saw every thing which he had made, & behold it was very good, & this was before the end of the sixth day. And therefore that giving of full natural being and perfection cannot be this which is here said to be on the seventh day. If we should here understand that perfecting and finishing of the work; we must either with the 70 Greek Translatours corrupt the text, and for the seventh put the sixth day; or else with Tremelius and others, strain the plain words of the text, and make this the sense of them; In the seventh day (that is before the seventh day) God ended, that is: God had ended his work & already finished it before, to weet: on the sixth day; which being granted▪ It will hereupon follow, either that this perfecting of God's work is no ground of the Sabbath at all, or else that the sixth should rather be the Sabbath, because it was the day and time in which God brought the created work to perfection.  
But here in the original text, the Hebrew words are Beiem hashebingi. In the seventh day, that is within the compass of that day God perfected his work which he had before made and created on the six days, and therefore I do verily conceive and believe, and dare be bold to affirm for a certain truth, that on the seventh day, God gave to the which he had before made very good and perfect, with natural & mutable perfection, (& which the Devil by man's fall had marred and defaced) now another second and greater, even supernatural perfection by promising Christ the blessed seed of the woman for the restauration of the work defaced, and by Christ his undertaking not only to redeem us from all evils which entered in by man's sin, & from that mutability of estate in which we were all created: but also to exalt us to a far more excellent state and condition, even to the state of immutable grace here; & of eternal life a●d glory in the sight and fruition of God in Heaven hereafter in the world to come.  
That Adam did sin and fall on the sixth day which we call Friday, & in all liklihoode towards the evening about the same hour in which Christ died on the Cross to redeem us from that sin and all sins which thereby entered into the world, I have proved before. That after man's fall and discovery of his nakedness, and sowing of fig leaves together for aprons, God's voice was heard walking in the garden in the cool of the day, that is, after the sun was gone down & the seventh day begun, & that Adam hid himself the words of the text affirm plainly in the third Chapter. Also that after the conventing examining and arraigning of the man & the woman, and cursing of the serpent, and also of the earth; & passing sentence of punishment on the persons of the man and woman to weet: sorrows & labours in this life, & in the end thereof bodily death and returning to durst, God for a comfortable remedy of all these evils, promised Christ to redeem man kind from them all and to purchase for them eternal life and glory, the history as it in the same third chapter laid down shows most clearly, and I do verily believe that all reasonable men, especially all true Christians, will most freely confess and willingly grant: That Christ in the day wherein he was first promised, and did actually undertake to redeem the world, brought in a greater perfection unto the work of creation, or the things created, than they had before given to them on the six days in there creation, to were: supernatural grace; and heavenly and spiritual gifts of holiness, which exalt man to estate immutable and eternal.  
Now seeing it is a truth most manifest, that in the seventh day (God the Father promising the blessed seed Christ to destroy the works, and to break the head and power of the D●vill the Old serpent, and the Son of God actually undertaking man's redemption, and beginning to mediate for man: And God the Holy-Ghost inspiring by the promise and through Christ grace and faith into both the man & the woman to believe that out of her who was the instrument of death to man; should Christ spring, who is the life and light of men, and so she should become, Chavab, that is: the living one, or mother of all living) there was a supernatural perfection brought into the world. And God brought his work which he made to a better estate, and showed a further end of things created. Surely it should be too much perverstnes in us, and too gross resisting of our own reason, guided by the text itself. If we should deny or refuse to believe, that this perfecting of God's work is here meant in this place, and is the true ground of blessing the seventh day to be the Lords holy Sabbath.  
And thus I hope I have fully discovered the true sense & meaning of the first words, & showed how we are to understand this which is here said, to weet: And on the seventh day God ended or perfected his werke,  
I proceed to the next words, And on the seventh day God rested from all his work which he had m●de, to which I ●dde the repetition of the same w●rds with some addition in the later end of the third ver. namely that he rested from all the work which he created, even from making any more, so the words in the Hebrew do run. Now for the word rested, it is in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shabath of which the name of the Sabbath is derived, and it doth not signify a resting of God for to refresh himself: as being weary, nor resting from all working absolutely and simply, but ceasing from making any more kinds of creatures: for God doth always as a provident Lord and Father work in the continual generation of particular creatures; & in multiplying, preserving, ordering, and disposing of them, as our Saviour shows john 5.17. Here therefore we are to understand, that on the first sixth days the Lord showed his good will and pleasure in making every thing very good and perfect, with natural perfection. So in the seventh day he rested wholly fro making any new kind of creature by way of former creation: And man being fallen and having brought confusion into the world, and corruption and vanity upon the creatures, Christ is promised and actually undertakes and begins to enterceede for man, and to be his redeemer and Saviour, and by this means God may be said to rest diverse ways.  
First whereas the rigour of justice required that man should dye and perish in the same day wherein he sinned, and the creatures made for his use should together with him be destroyed, & so should God have been busied in execution of justice & destroying his former work, & in making a new world of creatures: the eternal word the Son of God undertook man's redemption, brings rest to God by that means from destroying the former and making a new or second work of creation, which is truly called resting from all the work which he had made.  
Secondly the natural estate and b●st being and perfection which man and other creatures had by creation, showing itself mutable by man's fall so appearing, If God should have proceeded and gone on in the same manner of working as he had done in the sixth days of the creation, there should have been no rest nor end of his work of making & remaking. But Christ undertook the work of redemption and as an alsufficient Saviour to perfect for ever them that are sanctified by the communion of his spirit & spiritual & supernatural grace, & to renew them after his heavenly Image of true & unchangeable holiness, doth this way bring rest to God from the work or business of creation, & sets on foot a new & more admirable work in which God resteth, and on which he taketh much delight, and by which his creatures are reconciled, and made pleasing and acceptable to him.  
Thirdly Christ who was promised to become the seed of the woman for man's redemption, b●ing the eternal wisdom and mighty word of God, and able to bear up the palace of the earth, when it and all the whole tents thereof were dissolved, and the first foundations thereof were out of course, as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 5.3. & 82 5.8. God doth justly settle his rest on him and commits to him the ruling, governing, and judging of the world, as he is medidiatour and the Son of man. So our Saviour himself affirms john 5.22.27.  
Now that on the seventh day God did not barely rest from his work of creating and making creatures; but also that in and by Christ promised on that day, he found rest and rested the several ways before named, the holy Scriptures and also common reason do plainly show.  
First a bare resting from creation and not working is not a matter of such moment & benefit, that it should be the ground of blessing and sanctifying of one day in seven every week to the solemn memory of it. Holy days and feasts mentioned in the Scriptures have always been appointed by God, and set apart for the commemoration of some great extraordinary works, & delivering Jsraell out of Egypt, giving of the Law and such like.  
Secondly, that Gods resting on the seventh day was more than this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shabath which is here used, and doth properly signify in any other places of Scripture where it is used to set forth other ceasing and resting from work. The Holy Scriptures themselves do fully show. Also that God found rest in Christ: even of refreshing, and se●led his delight in him the Redeemer, and in his work of redemption, and committed the world to be Ruled, judged, Ordered and disposed by him as mediator, upon the seventh day and from that forward until the eternal rest of heaven comes in, and the kingdom be delivered up to God his Father, that God may be all in all. As for example Exod. 20.11. where God in giving of the law, and mentioning the ground of his sanctifying of the seventh day, to weet: his resting, doth use the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Janach, which signifies not a bare resting from work, but such a rest as is full of sweetness & delight, and Exod. 31·17. where it is said that on the seventh day God rested and was refreshed, that is: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  he did not only cease from creating and rest from works of creation, but he found also great delight, that is in Christ undertaking to be the Saviour and redeemer of the world, he found great pleasure and delight in his kind: such as men in their kind do find in things which delight and refresh their soul, so much the words imply. And the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles speaking to the same purpose: justify this sense and meaning, where they tell us, that Christ the Mediator is Gods righteous Servant in whom his soul delighteh. Isa 42.2. Math. 12.18. And that in him God settles his rest and is well pleased Math. 2.17. And makes his elect acceptable in his beloved Ehe. 1.6.  
Thirdly the keeping and observing of every seventh day for aholy Sabbath, which God requires of us, consists not in bare resting from ordinary works and labouring in worldly affairs which concern this life: but also in sanctifing of the day by holy and religious exercises, which concern the heavenly life, and in making it our delight to honour the Lord; as appeates both in the words of the law Exod. 20.8. Deut. 5.22. And also in the Prophets Isa. 56.4. And 58.13. Now such as the observation is, such must the ground thereof be on which it is founded. And therefore undoubtedly Gods resting on the seventh day includes his resting and delighting in Christ who was the promised redemption.  
Thus much for the opening & expounding of the second clause, & the discovery of the rest of God by which he rested on the sevē●h day, which is the second ground of God's blessing and sanctifying that day, and making it a holy Sabbath of r●st.  
The third ground remains, and that is: God's blessing of the seventh day, laid down in the next words. And God blessed the seventh day, ve●s. 3.  
This blessing of the seventh day consists in two things  
The first is: God's blessing of it, by giving and revealing to man on that day the greatest blessing which was made known to the Sons of men during the time of the Old Testament, while the Sabbath of that seventh day was to be in use and the law thereof enforce that was, the giving of C●rist by promise to be the Redeemer of the world; this belongs to the ground of the Sabbath.  
The second is, God's blessing of the seventh day by setting it apart to be kept and observed of men as a day most blessed in memory of of that blessing, that is of the promise of Chrst and his undertaking and beginning to mediate for man kind, this belongs to the in sanctifying of the Sabbath which is the third main thing observed this text.  
First I will speak of blessing as it is a ground of institution, and after in the next place, I will handle it, as it is a part of the institution of the Sabbath, & concurres with sanctifying of it.  
Blessing (as it belongs to the ground of the Sabbath and signifie● Gods giving and revealing on the seventh day a blessing above the blessings of all the other six days by which that day became more honourable) must needs be Gods giving, either of some natural blessing tending to outward prosperity, and to natural perfection and temporal felicity in this world; or of some gift and blessing supernatural tending to heavenly happiness & eternal blessedness.  
1. God's blessing with natural & temporal blessings is declared in the Scriptures to be two manner of ways.  
F●rst by giving all sorts of temporal blessings and natural gifts in general, thus God is said to bless Ishmaell Gen. 17. ●0. and to bl●sse the Jsralites in all their affairs and in all the wo●kes of their hands Deut. 14.29.  
Secondly, by giving some special worldly blessing; success; and prosperity either in respect of their Corn, Wine, M●ate, & Drink, Exod. 23.25. or in respect of their cattle, or the fruit of their body or worldly goods, p●ssessions and the like Deut. 28.3.  
2 Gods blessing with spiritual and supernatural blessings and gifts is his making of men to grow and prosper in grace and in all heavenly blessings as Gen. 12.3, & 28, 4. where it is said that in the blessed seed of Abraham & jacob that is in Christ. All the nations & families of the earth shall be blessed, and thus God is said to bless us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly things in Christ Ephess. 1.3. & of this blessing David speaks Psal. 67.1. where he saith, God b● merciful unto us and bless us.  
3. God is said to bless in a full and perfect sense with all blessings of prosperity and happiness both temporal and spiritual, that is: by giving all saving graces needful to salvation and good increase and growth in them, and all outward prosperity and all things thereunto requisite, together with his favour and a sanctified use of them, thus God promised to bless Abraham Gen. 12.2. & Jsaac Gen. 26.3. & Jacob Gen. 28.3. & Joseph Gen. 49.25. with blessings of heaven a 'bove and deep beneath. And his people & inheritance Psal. 28.9. Now the thing here to be inquired after & sought out, is what blessing is meant in this place: where God is said to Bless the Seventh day. For it it most certain, that this blessing wherewith God blessed the seventh day, did not consist only in Gods giving of any natural and temporal blessings to that day, or to man and other creatures on that day, or in annexing and tying any such unto it. For God had before ceased and now rested from all works of creation, that is both from creating any kind of creature, & also from adding more natural goodness or perfection to any thing created. We never read that God made the seventh day blessed a 'bove the other six, either in clearer light of the sun, or in more fair and seasonable weather, at any time, or in any age from the beginning, or that he blessed it with any such blessing which belongs to nature, or to the natural use of the creature.  
Secondly for spiritual and supernatural blessings which tends to eternal life and blessedness in heaven, we never read of any proceeding from God, but only through the eternal son incarnate and made man: even Christ the mediator. The Apostle affirms that God blesseth us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Ephe. 1.3. And that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Act. 4.12, If any man hath ascended higher than Saint Paul was rapt, far a 'bove the third heaven, & hath t●●re heard of spiritual blessings which God intended to bestow, or did bestow upon Adam in the creation before Christ was promised, or did openly undertake to be man's mediator; he goeth far beyond my line and measure of faith, I dare not be wise a 'bove that which is written. It is enough for me to know and believe that C●r●st is the only true way to heavenly and supernatural happiness, and that he is the truth and the life joh. 14.6. And that none can come to the Father but by him, & that in his name the Father gives the spirit ver. 26. And through him sheds the Holy Ghost abundantly on all that are sanctified and saved Tit. 3.6. And that as Christ only makes way into the holy of holiest Heb. 10.20. so in him is all fullness, & from him all grace proceedeth by which God makes us accepted Ephe. 1.6. I know that God created all things, and man in his own Image; perfect in his kind, but Yet mutable. I confess and believe that man by his perfect obedience performed to God in his own person, according to the first covenant of works, might have continued in that natural life and earthly happiness wherein he was created: But that he had any supernatural or spiritual power given before the promise of Christ, whereby he was fitted for heavenly happiness, ot that any such life and happiness was promised in the first covenant, or any grace tending thereunto, I cannot be persuaded.  
First because the Scriptures are utterly silent in these pointes·s  
Secondly because it is against all reason to think, or conceive of God, who is the fountain of all wisdom & doth nothing in vain. That if there had been a more near way then Christ, more ready for him to reveal and communicate all his goodness and glory to mankind, even the way of man's own personal obedience to the first covenant of works; Surely God would never have suffered man to fall, nor have given his son to descend from heaven & to humble himself to such base ignominous painful and cursed sufferings as he did, and all to bring man so far a bout to the fruition of himself in heavenly glory.  
Thirdly, whatsoever hath or shall certainly come to pass concerning man's happiness or misery, that God decreed, foresaw and purposed, and that only he intended, and that from the beginning, even from all eternity; though God laid upon man no impossibility of standing in innocency, nor any necessity of falling, but man was able to do Gods will according to the first Covenant, and if he had done it, he might & should have lived & enjoyed an earthly felicity: Yet certainly God foreknew what man would do when he was tempted, and did willingly permit him to break the first Covenant, intending to make a more sure Covenant in Christ, and to establish it with better promises Heb. 8.6. and that none of all man kind should be saved but only they who are in Christ and under this Covenant. Now these things being thus: If the blessing wherewith God blessed the seventh day, be any spiritual blessing, it must needs be in, and under Christ promised: Yea it must needs be either the promise made to man one that day that Christ should be his Redeemer, and Christ his undertaking openly to be man's surety and Mediator, or else some special blessing which comes by Christ's mediation, as the gift of the spirit, and spiritual grace given to man to believe in Christ, to rest on him, and in him, to seek eternal rest, or God's acceptation of Christ for man's surety, and God resting on Christ's satisfaction and righteousness. In very deed, let others think what they please, for my part I can see no reason either in this text or any other text of Scripture to persuade me that this blessing was any, but the supernatural and Heavenly blessing, even God's gracious favour, kindness and love than first showed to man in Christ, by promising him to become the seed of the woman, accepting him for man's surety, and resting in his mediation, & alsufficient satisfaction, which blessing brings with it, and includes in it many, yea all natural blessings which are true blessings indeed, and end in eternal happiness. For by Christ who then was first promised and revealed, man hath naturally life continued to him, and right and rule over the creatures restored and given in an higher degree, and in a more excellent kind: He had power given to him in the state of innocency to rule over cattle and all living creatures, and to order and command them for his delight and pleasure. But in Christ he hath power given to kill and sacrifice, and to eat them and use them for his profit. In the creation God gave to man as his steward rule over all cteatures & right in them; but in Christ he gave man the right of a son and heir, and made all creatures man's inheritance, which is a firm and unchangeable right, and now all the blessings temporal which the elect & faithful have and possess by faith in Christ and by a true right in him, are blessed and sanctified to them, and are helps and furtherances to their heavenly glory. And this I dare be bold to conclude: That the blessing wherewith God blessed the seventh day, was a blessing a 'bove all blessings natural which God gave to man in the sixth day and to other creatures on other days of the creation. It was the blessing of his kindness and love to man, revealed in Christ promised, which includes in it the restitution of man to all natural blessings, all which all mankind have & enjoy by Christ & through his mediation. So that here is a blessing worthy of an everlasting memorial among all Adam's posterity, which justly bound them all to observe that day of the week to the honour and praise of God, until the coming in of the fullness of that blessing on the day of Christ's resurrection, which is the first day of the week & the eight from the beginning of the creation, which all Christians by verve of the institution of the Sabbath here in my text, are bound to k●ep holy and to solemnize with thankfulness for all blessings in Christ on the seventh day, and on the first day fully exhibited a perfect Redeemer in his resurrection. And thus I have discovered ou● of this text the whole ground upon which the Lords holy weekly Sabbath is founded, which is briefly comprehended in these 3 particulars. 1. God's perfecting of the wo●k created. 2. God's ●est on the seventh day. 3. God's blessing of it. Out of which particulars as I have laid them open: this Doctrine doth arise.   

CHAP. 3.  

Doctrine.  THat the first institution of the Sabbath on the seventh day of the first week of the world was grounded upon Christ, and occasioned by the promise of him to be man's mediator, and the world's redeemer. And the true & proper grounds of the sanctification of the weekly Sabbath, upon which it stands perpetually to the world's end, and to the eternal rest in heaven, are Gods perfecting of the created world by bringing in redemption by Christ, God's rest delight and pleasure in Christ's mediation, and God's blessing the seventh day with a blessing far a 'bove the blessings all of other days even the giving of Christ a perfect Saviour for mankind. This point is most plain and manifest by that whih I have before delivered. But yet for the better settling of our Judgements and confirming of our hearts in the knowledge and belief of this truth It will not be amiss to add further proofs and reasons grounded on the sacred Scriptures.  
First that which is the ground of Gods sanctifying the seventh day above all the other six days of the week must needs be something which came to pass one that day, 
1 Reason  which far excelled the works created on the six days. For the holy Scriptures and the common practice of all nations do concure in this, that all holy days whether weekly monthly or yearly are observed and were first instituted in memory of some notable and extraordinary thing which on those days of the week, month, and year happened & came to pass, witness ●he passover, Pentecost, the feast Purim; and dedication, the feast of Christ nativity, resurrection, ascension, our fif●h of November a●d many others. But there can be nothing imagined greater than the works of creation which were all finished on the six days, but only the promise & relation of Christ the redeemer & the work of Redemption by him the eternal Son of God, on that day openly undertaken and begun as I have before proved.  
First for Gods ceasing from his works of creation, and his bare rest from them, it being a doing of nothing & not making of good things, cannot in any case be esteemed better than the works of the six days wherein God created all things good and perfect with natural perfection. For doing of good is better in the judgement of all reasonable men, then doing of nothing.  
Secondly, for Gods perfecting of the creation by bringing man and woman the last and chiefest of his creatures into being that wa● on the sixth day, and his making of every creature complete and perfect in his kind, that was done on the several days in which they were severally created, they cannot be any ground of sanctifying the seventh day but rather of the six days of the week. Wherefore it remains that Christ promised ● perfect redemption on the seventh day of the world beginning actually to mediate for man & to communicate his spirit & supernatural grace & faith to our first parents is the ground of the institution of the we●kly Sabbath on that day·  
Secondly; a supernatural effect cannot proceed from a natural cause, 
2 Reason  a spiritual building cannot be surely settled on a natural ground and foundation. If the effect be supernatural the cause must be such, and if the building be spiritual, the foundation also must be spiritual on which it is settled. Now the sanctification of the Sabbath as it is God's work in the first institution, it is a separating of a day from natural, to heavenly, spiritual, and supernatural use, and to works which tend to such an end as cannot be obtained by creation, but only by the mediation of Christ, and sanctification of the Sabbath as it is a work and duty which God requires of a man, is wholly exercised about things which concern Christ, & which have relation to him, and which none can rightly perform without the communion of the spirit of Christ, and the saving gifts and graces of God in Christ. The Hebrew word Kad●sh signifies only such works in all the Scriptures wheresoever it is used, & never any thing is said to be holy or sanctifying but in, for, and by Christ, wherefore that ground of the Sabbath must needs be something in Christ, or indeed Christ himself on the seventh day first promised and revealed a perfect and alsufficient Redeemer and mediator to gather all things to God.  

3 Reason  Thirdly that which hath no proper or principal end or use, but such as presupposeth Christ and his mediation, and is subordinate to him promised and to the revelation of redemption by him, must needs be grounded on Christ, and receive the first institution and Original from the promise of him, or him promised. This is a certain truth which with no culour of reason can be denied, For God doth nothing in vain, he makes allthings for there proper end & use, and brings nothing into being before he hath a proper end & use ready before hand, for which it may serve. Now the proper principal end & use of the Sabbath for which the Lord is said in the Scriptures to institute & give it to his people, is such as presupposeth Christ and his actual mediation, and is subordinate to the promise of redemption by him.  
First God himself testifieth both in the Law Exod. 31, 13. also in the Prophet's Ezech. 20.12. that he gave his Sabbath to his people for this end and use, Tha● it might be a perpetual sign between him and them, to confirm them in this knowledge & belief, That he is their God who doth sanctify them.  
Secondly, another main use for which God instituted the Sabbath is, that it might be a sign and pledge to his people of the eternal rest or Sabbathisme which remains for them in heaven, and until they come to that rest, they are bound to keep a weekly holy Sabbath to put them in hope of that eternal rest, so much may be gathered from the Apostles words, Heb. 4.3.9.  
Thirdly, the Sabbath is for that end and use that by keeping it holy, & by sanctifying our selus to the Lord, and delighting our selus in him, and in his holy worship, we might grow up in holiness without which none can come to see, and enjoy God, and so might draw still more near to God till we be fully fitted to see and enjoy him in glory, and to come to his eternal rest in Heaven. Now all these principal ends and uses of the Sabbath do presuppose the promise of Christ and his mediation.  
For first in him alone as he is our mediator, God becomes our God, who doth sanctify us, and without Gods shedding of the holy Ghost on us through Christ, we can never be truly sanctified as appears Rom. 8.9: Tit. 3.6. & 1 Cor. 1.30, And in Christ we are called to be Saints and sanctified, 1 Cor. 1.2.  
Secondly, there is no thought or hope of eternal rest in heaven but in and by Christ, he brings us into that, and by going before us makes way for us Heb. 6.20. & 9, 24. It is that which never entered into the heart of man, his reason conceives it not till God doth reveal it by his spirit given though Christ 1 Cor. 2.9.10.  
Thirdly, no man can have access unto God but in Christ, there is no approach to the throne of grace but in him Heb. 4.16. It is Christ alone who for his people's sake sanctified himself, that they also might be sanctified joh. 17.19. And there is no growing up in grace & holiness but in him and by union and communion in one body with him as our head Eph. 13·16. upon these infallible premises it follows necessarily, that the proper end and use of the Sabbath presupposing Christ, the first institution thereof must needs be grounded on Christ also.  
Fourthly, 
4 Reason  if Christ as he is the Son of man united in one person unto God, and so our mediator, be the Lord of the Sabbath, so that the alteration and change of it from one of the seven days to another, is only in his power and depends wholly on some change in him; then the institution of it is grounded one the promise of him and upon his mediation. Now the Antecedent is manifest by our Saviour's own words, Mat. 12.9. where he calls himself Lord of the Sabbath day. And by his resurrection and becoming the head stone of the corner, the Sabbath is changed from the day of him promised unto the day of the full exhibition of him aperfect actual redeemer in his resurrection, as David foretold Psal. 118. And the practice of the Apostles in all Churches of Christian Gentiles doth abundantly declare, Act. 20.7. and 1 Cor. 16.2. wherefore undoubtedly Christ promised, was the first ground of the institution of the Sabbath, & as our Saviour in that place of the Gospel Mat. 12.9. affirms. it was made for man, that is not only for men's use but also for him, the son of man: & upon the promise & undertaking of him to become man & the seed of the women, for man's redemption & for destroying the works of the Devil.  

USE.  
This Doctrine thus fully proved & confirmed, is a Doctrine of special use to work in the hearts of all true Christians, who have all their hope & confidence in Christ, an high & holy reverence & esteem of the Lords holy weekly Sabbath, & to provoke & stir them up to a careful conscionable & diligent observation thereof, in all their generations, for the promoting & propagating of piety, & for the increase of devotion and advauncement of Religion, in all succeeding ages. If the observation of the weekly Sabbath were but a dictate of nature, written in man's heart in the creation; then were the chief end and aim of it no more but an earthly felicity, and the fruition of a natural life in an earthly paradise. It should be no better than one of the duties which belong to the old couvenant of life, & justification by man's own works; which is abolished and made void by man's fall. And It is wholly frustrated of the proper end & use of it, which was justification, & life by works of a man's own doing. And so being not a part of the wisdom, which is from above, it should be of less esteem and of common and ordinary account with holy Christian Saints. Or if the Sabbath were a legal rite and ceremonial ordinance only, such as were sacrifices, burnt offerings, circumcision and legal purifications, which were shadows of things to come, then should it be abolished by the full exhibition of Christ, and the observation thereof among christians of the beleeveing Gentiles, were no better than setting up of abominations which make desolate by cutting men of from Christ.  
But here we are taught better things concerning the Lords holy weekly Sabbath, to weet: that it is an holy Heavenly, evangelical ordinance, wholly grounded upon Christ and depending only upon him▪ first instituted upon the promised Christ, & limited to the seventh day of the week, in which he was promised to be man's redeemer, did undertake, & in some measure begin actually to mediate and to intercede for man with God, and commanded to be kept only on that seventh day, during the time of the old Testament while Christ was only promised, & the fathers sought salvation in him to come:  
And now ever since the full exhibition of Christ a perfect redeemer in his resurrection, necessarily imposed on all Christians, and limited by virtue of the first institution and foundation of it upon Christ, to that day even the first day of the week, which is the greatest day of Christ appearing in the nature of man on earth, that is the day of his resurrection to glory and immortality, and the day of his complete victory and triumph, in his own person over sin, death, the Devil & all the powers of darkness.  
So that though the particular days of the weekly Sabbath, that is the seventh of the week in the old Testament, and the first in the new; and under the Gospel may truly be called temporarye and caeremoniall, because they have their set times and seasons; the one the time and season only under Christ promised; the other the time and season under Christ fully exhibited, that is the whole time of grace under the Gospel until we come both in souls and bodies to the etternall Sabbath and rest in heaven, when (Christ Mediator having destroyed all enemies and delivered up the Kingdom to God his father) God shallbe all in all:  
Yet they are such ceremonies as are holy in their seasons, not by signification and consecration to holy and supernatural use only, as legal shadows were: but also materially and in respect of the very duties, which are performed in observation of them; yea and effectively because the due observations of them properly tends to begitt and increase true holiness in God's people.  
Besides if we consider the observation of a weekly Sabbath simply in itself without limitation to a particular day, so it is a perpetual ordinance of God which binds all mankind to the end of the world.  
And there is none of all Adam's posterity, but by Gods first institution he is bound to keep the holy weekly Sabbath, upon that very day of the week, which by the word of God and the ground of the institution, appears to be most seasonable in the age and the state of the Church under which thy live and have their being on earth.  
Now these things being, so, how it is possible that any true sincere Christian (who as by one spirit and by a true lively faith, so also in his whole heart and in all holy affections is united unto Christ; and hath all his h●pe & confidence in him as in his only Redeemer Lord & Saviour) should not have the we●kely Sabbath in most high esteem, which was first grounded upon Christ, promised & came in upon the seventh day of the world, together with the word of promise and the glad tidings of the world's redemption by Christ: ●nd with the perpetual commandments of repenting and believing in Christ, which are the great commandments of the Gospel, which Holy and blessed Sabbath hath still continued and gone a long with Christ pr●mised on the seventh day, during the time of the old Testament, and si●ce the full exhibition of Christ in his resurrection; hath advanced forward together with Christ's unto the fi●st day of the week, in wh●ch day he perfected man's redemption, triumphed over death, rose up and was advanced to glory & immortality, Surely they who profess love to Christ, and profane the weekly Sabbath, they are no better than painted Hipocrties, yea rather they are to be numbered among those bold, audacious and scandalous sinners, who presume to pull a sunder those whom God hath inseparably joined together, that is, the sabbath and Christ the Lord of the sabbath, who while they profess Christ in word, do indeed deny the power of true Christian godliness, and do what in them lieth, to turn the public worship of God into sacrilegious profanation, and so to provoke the eyes of his glory. Thus much for the second main thing her● offered in this text, that is the ground of the holy weekly Sabbath.    

CHAP. 4.  
THE third main thing which here offers itself and which I have propounded to be handled more largely, as comprehending in it diverse special points of great weight and moment, as the Sanctifying of the seventh day, ● as God's blessing of it, so far as blessing sign●fi●s Go●s setting of it apart to be kept & observed for a blessed memorial of the promise of Christ, & as it is apart of the fi●st institution of the sabbath.  
F●r God's blessing of a day or any other thing d●th signify. 1. His giving of some notable benefit on that day, or to the thing blessed. 2. his setting of it apart to a blessed end & use, in the former sense it belongs to the ground of the Sabbath and so I have spoken of it before. In the later sense it belongs to God's act of Institution; and as in effect the same with sanctifying of the seventh day, only this I conceive to be the difference that Gods sanctifying of a thing is, his separating of it by his word and commandment, to a supernatural and extraordinary use either profittable, or unprofittable to itself, as h●s separating of things to be his instruments of just vengeance for the destruction of his enemies, and separating men to some holy offce for a time, as Saul to Prophesy, E●●e● sons to be Priests, and judas to be an Apostle, by which office they received no true blessing; but it turned to their greater curse at last. But God's blessing of a day, or any other thing, is his setting of it apart for a blessed use, and his pronouncing and demanding it by his holy powerful word, to be a blessed day or blessed thing, and to serve for holy & blessed use, and so blessing is that special sanctifying which is separating of things to a blessed use, and come here to be handled under God's sanct●fyng of the ●eventh day: For God's sanctifying i● this place, is a blessed sanctifying of the day to a blessed use, and the word blessed is put before to make us clearly see and understand so much. I will therefore insist only upon sanctifying which comprehends blessing in it; and will first open and expound the word and so proceed to points of Doctrine.  
The Hebrew word, Kadash, is never used in any other sense in all the Scriptures, but only to signify separating of things from their ordinary and natural use, to some use more than natural or above nature & the fitting & preparing of them for that use, as for example compining of nations in an holy league against Babel, or other wicked state to execute on them God's just revenge Jer. 6.4. & 12.3. & 22.7. & 51.27.18. and separating some cities for refuge josh. 20.7. whensoever this word is attributed to God in all the Scripture, it signifies ei●her God's separating things or times for holy use, by his word and commandment, or by some holiness showed or some extraordinary holy word done in them as Exod. 9.44. 2. Cron. 7.20. or else Gods infusing of his holy spirit, and of spiritual and supernatural graces' & gifts of hol●nesse into men by wh●ch they are separated from carnal men, and prepared for Heavenly glory as Exod. 31.13. Levit. 20.8. Ezec. 2.12. jer. 1.5. where God is said to sanctify his people, and to make t●em holy, that so they may be fit to come nearer to him. And frequently in the new Testament, the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in this sense as Eph. 5.26. Heb. 2.11.  
Here the word signifies not sanctifying by infusing holiness and making holy, but Gods consecrateing, that is separating the seventh day to an holy, heavenly spiritual, and supernatural use, by h●● word and commandment, or by some holy work done first in it, or some holiness first revealed upon it.  
For this was the day in which God by his gracious promise of Christ, and by the new covenant of life made with mankind in him, did communicate his spirit to our first parents, and wrought in them faith and all holy graces needful to salvation, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  and so of, Ishah, a woman who brought woe to man made our first mother. Chavah. that is the mother of life in Christ to all living.  
This day, God here upon, commanded to be sanctified of men, and kept holy by holy exercises which tend to the honour & praise, and to the solemn commemoration and memorial of Christ promised, and of his own rest in Christ's mediation, and this day he appointed to man to be a sign and pledge of the eternal Sabbath in heaven, after the end of the world which in six days he created.  
Here therefore we see wherein especially Gods sanctifying of the seventh day to be an holy Sabbath of rest, did consist. Which that it may yet appear more fully and distinctly in all the particulars, I will reduce, the sum of all into a few positions, some negative, and some affirmative; which being by evident testimonies of Scripture, and by good arguments grounded on the word of God, proved and confirmed; The truth will be so clear and manifest, that the simple shallbe able to understand the true sanctification, both of the seventh day which was the old Sabbath of the old Testament, and also of the Lords day the Christian Sabbath of the new Testament under the gospel.   

CHAP. 5.  

1. Position negative.  FIrst we must not in any case imagine. That Gods sanctifying of the seventh day was the creating or in●useing of any natural holiness in to it, by which it was distinguished from other days of the week, and made more excellent than any of them. My reasons are:  
First because creating of natural holiness in any thing, is a work of creation: But God rested from all works of creation on the seventh day, and from making any thing which belonged to the natural being of any creature, or to the natural frame and perfection of it, witness the words of my text, and the words of the Lord himself. Exod. 20.13.  
Secondly the Scriptures which are the only rule of faith, and so all Doctrines of this kind do never mention any natural holiness in any creature which God made in the whole created frame of heaven and earth; all though God did create man perfect in his kind, even in his own image.  
Yet I do not read, that this image comprehended any more in it, but natural gifts and endowments only, as light of understanding, liberty of will, most free to good only, and well ordered affections all upright; also a comely frame and excellent temperatur of the body, fit to be the seat, subject & instrument of a living reasonable natural soul and spirit, and to rule over all other creatures. Solomon the wise preacher describing the image and excellent frame wherein God created man, makes no mention of any holiness, but only of natural uprightness. God (saith he) made man upright. We never read of holiness natural to any but only to God.  
Thirdly true holiness is a gift of supernatural grace given only in Christ, and proceeding f●om the holy Ghost shed on men through Christ, and dwelling in them as the immortal seed of God.  
It belongs not to the natural image of God wherein the first earthly Adam was created; but to the spiritual and heavenly image of the second Adam, Christ who is a quickening spirit & the Lord from heaven heavenly, whose image no man can bear but in the state of regeneration, when he is borne of the spirit, and begotten of God to a lively hope, 
1· Pit. 1.3▪  to the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fadeth not a way; as I have largely here to fore proved by diverse Scriptures which appose the image of true holiness, and undefyled righteousness, which men have in Christ; to the image of the first Adam, but that upright image wherein he was first made, and that corrupt image where in to he was transformed by his fall, as appears most plainly. 1. Cor: 15.45.49. & Eph. 4.23.24.  
The thing which deceives many learned men, and carries them to think that holiness was apart of man's natural image in which he was created is this. 
Objection.   
First they take it for granted, that all uprightness & purity of man in heart, soul, life, and conversation, by which he is conformable to the law of nature and to Gods will revealed, and his commandments given to him, is true holiness and is so called in Scripture.  
Secondly, they read that Adam was made by God upright and had that purity & uprightness which made him conformable to God's law and revealed will, and this was God's image in him, & hereupon they conclude, that Adam was created in true holiness.  

Answer.  To this I have heretofore upon another textfully answered, by laying down a plain distinction gathered from God's word, and daily experience, and by applying it to this purpose. For I have distinguished purity and uprightness by which man is conformable to the revealed will and law of God into two sorts. First there is a created natural purity & uprightness founded upon natural principles, which God gave to man in his fi●st creation, by he which was conformable to Gods revealed will, to the law of his nature in the state of innocency, but this uprightness having no other root, or foundation, but man's mutable nature and frame, was also mutable and was quickly defaced and corrupted by the subtlety of the tempter and man's fall. Secondly, there is a renewed or new created uprightness and purity of man in his heart and soul, life and conversation, which is found only in Gods elect & faithful regenerate Children; by which they are here in some measure made conformable to the law and will of God; this although it is much eclipsed and obscured by the remainders of natural corruption which still dwell in God's Saints in this frail life and mortal body, and doth not shine forth in the true brightness of it, yet it proceeds from an eternal fountain, the pure waters whereof spring up unto life eternal, and cannot be defiled but remain pure, though they pass through the dead sea of Sodom, the filthy lake of man's natural corruptions, which dwell still in this body of death, this pure fountain is the spirit of regeneration which God sheds through Christ on the elect, as our Saviour himself teacheth, Joh. 14.4. & 8.38.39. And because this spirit even the holy Ghost which daily renews them, being shed on them in there new birth Tit. 3.5.6. doth dwell in them as the mortal seed of God, & abides with them for ever Joh. 14, 16. and is stronger than the spirit of malice the Devil, which overthrew our first parents and ever since rules in all worldly men, 1 job. 4.4. Therefore it is true purity and uprightness which cannot fail nor deceive us as Adam's did; and this is that which the Apostle calls the new man and the righteousness and holiness of truth, Ephess. 4.24. in the same sense that spiritual, supernatural, and heavenly graces are called the true riches, that is the riches durable and incorruptible, which will neverly unto us: nor by failing deceive us, Luk. 16. As for the created purity and uprightness by which the first Adam was conformable to the law, it is never in all the Scriptures called by the name of holiness, neither is it, or any moral virtue in any unregenerate man, any true holiness, because it proceeds not from the holy Ghost who dwells in the regenerate and works all true holiness in in them. I wish that all the learned would seriously weigh this truth & embrace it with their hearts, and bear it continually in their minds and memories: For this will at one blow raze to the very foundation all pelagian, Popish, Armian Hoeresies, concerning the power of man's fre● will, the efficacy and merit of man's natural works done before regeneration, and the falling away of men regenerate and justified, from the grace of God and from justifying faith and true holiness, also concerning universal grace given to all men, by which they have it in their own power to be saved.  
And if it would please the Lord to open the hearts of our people rightly conceive this difference, between the image of the first and second Adam, and between the created natural uprightness of Adam, and the spiritual uprightness and infused holiness wherein the second Adam was conceived and framed by the holy Ghost. This would ravish their hearts and fill them with admiration of the singular love of God to his elect in Christ, and of the singular excellency of the grace & holiness, and of those high prerogatives which the regenerate and faithful receive and enjoy through him, which indeed so far exceed all that belonged to man in the state of innocency, as Christ the second Adam in his humanity exceeded the first Adam, and immutable grace exceeds mutable nature, and as eternal fruition of God in heavenly grace, excels the fruition of fading pleasures in an earthly paradise.   

CHAP. 6  
Secondly, Gods sanctifying of the seventh day was not the creation or infusing of any spiritual or supernatural holiness into it; by which it did excel all other days of the week. For first all spiritual and supernatural holiness: is created & infused by the holy Ghost, only into reasonable creatures Angels and men, and cannot be in any thing void of reason, understanding, free will and affections. Although things without life, and creatures void of reason, are called holy by way of relation, because they are dedicated to an holy use: Yet nothing is called holy by holiness of qualification, that is by holiness inherent & heavenly grace, quality and perfection, but only man and the holy Angels who are partakers of the holy Ghost; and have him dwelling & working in them. For this holiness is unstained purity and unspotted uprightness, which possesseth and informeth the understanding, will, desires, affections and inclinations of reasonable creatures, & makes them conformable to Gods revealed will and the rule of his law. S●e that to imagine holiness infused into any time, place or any other thing, which hath not reason & understanding and will, is a mere dream, dotage and superstition. Times and places, as holy days, and holy temples, are holy in Scripture not for any holiness inherent in them, which they communicate to God's people, but because these days and places are dedicated to holy use, and in them God is pleased by his spirit working with his word and ordinances, to beg it, increase and stir up holy aff●ctions in men, and to come and enable them to perform holy actions, according to Gods will.  
secondly, all true infused inherent holiness, created and wrought by the holy Ghost, springs from an eternal fountain, and is founded upon a sure rock which can never be removed but standeth firm for ever. Where God's spirit once informeth or taketh possession, and worketh true holiness there he abides for ever, joh. 14.16.  
The Devil and all the powers of darkness cannot prevail, nor dispossess him, for he is greater than they all, 1. joh. 4.4. So that if God had sanctified the seventh day; by infusing holiness, and conforming it with the holy Ghost, it could never have been profaned, polluted and defiled by men, neither could there have been any change, of it from the holy Sabbath to a common and ordinary day of the week, as now we see, by Christ's resurrection: It should have continued Gods holy weekly Sabbath for ever, even as men once truly regenerate and sanctified by the holy Ghost; are by that spirit sealed unto the day of full redemption, Ephess. 4.30.   

CHAP. 7.  
THE affirmative positions wherein I will show how God sanctified the seventh day are three. 
1. Position affirmative  First God did on that day reveal himself to man a most pure and holy God, more than in all the six days of the creation. For in creating all things of nothing, he showed his power: And omnipotency in making all things good and perfect, in there kind. And in setting the heavens and the earth and all creatures in such an excellent & comely order, he showed his wisdom and goodness. And in making man upright in his own image, & giving him dominion over all living creatures to order them according to his will, and to the law written in man's heart, he declared his righteousness. But on the seventh day by promising Christ a perfect redeemer and Saviour, he manifested and revealed his most perfect purity & holiness divers ways. First by his suffering of man to live in his sight, and to approach to his presence when he was corrupted by his fall, and become filthy and abominable, and in the strictness and rigour of justice worthy to be destroyed with eternal death. God did plainly show that he is a God infinitely holy and cannot receive the least spot and stain of man's corruption approaching to his presence, but appears most pure and glorious, and shines forth bejond all measure, by making an holy use of man's uncleanness, and ordering and disposing it to the more full manifestation and communication of his glory & goodness to his elect in Christ: For as the purity of gold doth more appear by abiding most pure and perfect in the midst of consuming fire and a furnace of fire full of unclean ashes, and after the touching of things most unclean. So Gods perfect purity and holiness appears most infinite and unspotted, in that he suffers unclean man, made filthy and abominable by sin to live in his sight and presence, & doth order & dispose his uncleanness to an holy end, & doth meddle with it, & touch it, & yet is no whit diminished or obscured thereby but made more bright and resplendent in the eyes of the world. Secondly God by his promising of Christ to become man, & in man's nature to make a full & perfect satisfaction to justice for man's sin, did show his infinite purity & holy hatred of sin, more than by any work of creation, In that rather than man's sin & filthiness should not be punished to the full, & his justice fully satitisfied, he would give his own Son, a person of infinite value to bear the cur●e & sufferedthe whole punishment of sin in man's nature and so to make full satisfaction for it.  
Thirdly, the revealing of Christ and promising of him to be a second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven heavenly, and a quickening spirit, through whom he doth richly shed his spirit on Adam, and all his elect seed in their generation; which holy spirit doth dwell in their frail earthly sinful bodies, as in a Tabernacle & temple all the time of this frail life, & is not stained nor defiled with their corruptions: but doth abide most pure and holy, and doth overcome, mortify and kill by a long and lingering death the old man of sin in them, and works in them that spiritual purity, and holiness, which though it be not like a grain of mustard seed; yet cannot be destroyed or defiled, but increaseth more and more, and prevaileth against all powers of darkness, this doth above all show the infinite purity and holiness of God and of his spirit. And therefore I conclude that God by promising and revealing Christ, on the seventh day, did then first show himself infinitely pure, and did manifest unspotted holiness, more than in all the six days of the creation: and this is the first point of his sanctifying of the day, to be an holy Sabbath of rest, until the full exhibition of Christ, a perfect actual redeemer, on the day of his resurrection.   

CHAP. 8.  
SEcondly, God on the seventh day, did though Christ promised ●●ed the holy Ghost on our first parents, 
2. position affirmative.  begittenth of his immortal then seed, sanctify them and work, faith and all saving graces in them; so that they bele●ved the promise and found rest in Christ. And so this was the day wherein God did first make man actual partaker of his spirit, and did make in him true holiness, and conform him to the Image of Christ, This appears by three things.  
First, by Adam's words, chapt. 3.20. where not withstanding Gods passing of the sentence of bodily death against him, and of his returning to dust in the grave, in the words next before: yet ●e by faith lays hold on one eternal life in Christ the promised seed, and being strengthened with might by the spirit in the inner man, doth call his wife Chavah, which signifieth life, because by Christ promised to be come her seed, she should be the mother of all living, and not only all his natural seed, should by Christ have natural life for a time, and being on earth continued unto them: but also after death his wife and all their elect seed should have life eternal in him. This is a strong argument of a lively faith, and of the quickening spirit given to Adam upon the very day of the promise which was the seventh day.  
Secondly, that our first parents had the holy spirit given them on that day, & by faith were instituted & made partakers of the righteousness of Christ, the coats of skins do show which God fitted to them, & put upon them. For undoubtedly these skins of clean beasts, which God taught and commanded them to kill and offer in sacrifice as tips, figures, and pledges of their redemption, by the death and sacrifice, of of Christ: and these coats made of the skins of beasts sacrificed, and put upon our first parents by God himself, did plainly forshew the covering and clothing of all the faithful with the Robes of Christ satisfaction and righ●iousnesse, & were a token and pledge to them, that they were justified by faith in Christ to come, and clothed with the garments of salvation. For all God's works are perfect: he gives to no men by his own hand immediately the outward pledge & seal without the inward grace.  
Thirdly, adam's teaching of his sons, Cain and Abel to sacrifice, and to bring offerings & first fruits to God, which were tips of Christ, and of God's rest in his mediation and fulls satisfaction, and that, at the end of days, that is the seventh which is the last of the week, & Gods holy weekly Sabbath, these I say do testify Adam's faith in the promise, 
Gen. 4.  his holy obedience to God's commandment of keeping holy the seventh day, and his holy care to teach his Children holy obedience also. Now this being manifest, that of the seventh day God did first sanctify man by his holy spirit, and did bring in holiness into the world among men. we must needs acknowledge this a second point of Gods sanctifying that day, and making it fit to be his holy weekly Sabbath and the day, of his holy worship,   

CHAP. 9  
THirdly the Lord God for a memorial of these supernatural & heavenly things first revealed, & done on the seventh day, 
3 position affirmative  and for a pledge to man of the eternal rest in heaven, did also by his word and commandment, appoint every seventh day to be unto man a day of rest from his own works which concern this worldly life, and to be kept an holy Sabbath, to the Lord his God, and this is the third point of Gods sanctifying the seventh day, and setting it apart for holy and heavenly use, and for holy worship, service, and religious duties which tend to begit and increase holiness in men, and so to bring them to see and enjoy God in the eternal rest of glory. This point because it is of greatest weight and moment, & comprehends in it many of those things which are necessary to be laid open, & made known for the distinct and profittable understanding of the Lords holy weekly Sabbath, & the right observation thereof, together with the duties which belong thereunto, & are therein required. Therefore I will do my best endeavour to handle this point more fully, & to lay open distinctly the special things therein contained, and that in this method & order.  
First I will prove this main point, to weet: That God's blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day, did include the giving of a law & commandment for the keeping of an holy weekly Sabbath, & Gods giving of this commandment was a main & special part of his sanctifying of it.  
Secondly I will inquire & search out the nature of that law & commandment, & how far, & in what manner it binds Adam, and all his posterity.  
thirdly, because every law which God gives to man, doth impose a duty upon man, and binds man to the performance of it, therefore the very words of the text binds me to handlle at large, man's duty which this commandment of God, & this word by which he did bless and sanctify the seventh day, doth impose upon Adam & all his posterity, even their sanctifying & keeping holy the Sabbath day.  
For the proof of the main point, we have three notable arguments: First we have the plain testimony of God himself Exod. 16.28. where he calls this his blessing & sanctifying of the seventh day, by the main of a commandment & law. & tells the Isralites that they not keeping of an holy rest; but going out together Manna on the seventh day, did refuse to keep his commandments and laws, that is his commandments and laws which he had given from the beginning in his blessing and the sanctifying of the seventh day; For of other special laws and commandments given before that time concerning the Sabbath there is no mention at all in Scripture, neither did God give any besides that from the beginning, until he spoke unto them afterward from mount Sinah, and in the fourth Commandment called upon them to remember the Law of old, given for keeping holy the Sabbath, and renewed it again to them.  
Secondly, In all the Law of God and in all the Scriptures we never read of any thing truly hallowed, sanctified and set apart for holy use but by special Commandment of God, and by the direction of his word: the first thing which is said to be sanctified after the seventh day, is the first borne of Israel Exod 13.2. and this was by God's special commandment, and therefore he saith that he hallowed them On that day which he smote the first borne of Egypt, Num. 3.13. The next sanctified mentioned in Scripture is that of the people of Israel when they were to come into the sight and presence of God's Majesty at mount Sina Exod. 19.10. and that was by God's direction and commandment as is there testified in express words.  
The third sanctification mentioned in the Scriptures, is that of the Sanctuary, and the Altar and all the holy Uessels and implements thereof. And Aaron and his sons the Priests with all their robes and vestments, also the sacrifices and all other holy things of the Tabernacle, & they all were sanctified by the special commandment of God, and by direction of his word as Moses in the law testifies in Exodus 40. & diverse other places.  
So the temple in jerusalem and all the Holy things which are consecrated and dedicated to the service of God by Solomon, are said to be hallowed and sanctified by God 1 King 9.3: and 2 Cron. 7.17. that is by God's special commandment & direction.  
And Moses his dedication of all things in the law, is said to be by blood and that by precepts spoken to the people according to God's law Heb. 9 vers. 19.22. And every creature of God is said to be sanctified to the use of the Saints by the word of God and by prayer 1 Tim. 4.5.  
Now if in all God's word every thing is said to be sanctified, by the word and special Commandment of God: And wheresoever in all the Scriptures God is said to sanctify any thing, and to separate it for holy Use: The word (Sanctify) doth necessarily imply a Commandment, and special law of God given for the separating of it.  
It were against all reason and common sense to deny here in this text the words (Bless and sanctify) do necessarily also imply that God gave a special commandment and law for the keeping of his holy weekly Sabbath an holy rest unto him the Lord our God.  
Thirdly, whatsoever is sanctified by God and so dedicated to holy use, that it is not in the power of any creature to alter and change and turn it to another use, without sin and transgression against God, that is certainly established by a spiritual law of God, for where there is no law there is no transgression. Now after that God had sanctified the seventh day, & appointed it to be the rest of the holy Sabbath. It was a sin and transgression not to keep it, or to change and alter it to common use, yea it was transgression against God's commandments as appears in the place before mentioned Exod. 16.23.28. Therefore Gods sanctifying the Sabbath was undoubtedly by giving of a commandment for the due keeping and observing of it.  

Objection.  But from this point thus proved, there ariseth an objection, the answering and removing whereof seems to a matter of some moment. For this being granted, that God in sanctifying the seventh day immediately after the ending of the creation, did give a special law for the observation of the seventh day of every week as an holy Sabbath: And if once consecrared by God's law to holy use, may in no case be turned to common and profane use, and whosoever doth change it, sinneth most greeviousl●e, as appears Exod. 30.32. & Num. 16.38. and also by the destruction of K●ng Belsh●zz●r for turning the hallowed Vessels of the Temple of jerusalem to common and profane use, Dan. 5. It will here upon follow, that Adam's posterity in all ages are bound to keep the weekly Sabbath on the seventh day, and no creature may change it to another day without grievous sin. And the Christian Churches which have changed the Sabbath to the first day of the week; & have made the seventh day a common day wherein they do the works of their private calling & their worldly business; have transgressed God's law in so doing. Neither have they any warrant or ground from this first institution, or the fourth commandment (which the Sabbath of the Seventh day,) to keep their weekly Sabbath on the Lord's day which is the first of the week.  
For the satisfying of this objection, and clearing of this doubt, diverse things may be answered. 
Answer.  First that in the most strict commandment of God by which he binds men to the keeping of holy assemblies, and public solemnities for the performance of religious duties, worship, and service, to his majesties memorable of his extraordinary blessings and benefits, though the solemn duties be limited to some certain and fit days & those particular duties be named in the law. Yet if the substance of the Commandment be kept, that is; the holy solemnity observed and the duties, worship, and service be performed, in all full and ample manner as the law requires, though the particular days of the month, year, and week be changed upon good reason and for weighty consideration; The Lord doth dispense with alteration of that circumstance to another day and time, which appears by good reason, and for just causes to be more convenient, and doth allow and accept that for the right performance of his law. This is manifest by a plain instance and example given by God himself.  
For the law of the passover which God gave to Israel did command them to keep that feast in their generations, upon the fourteen day of the first month, and that under pain of being cut off. Exod. 12.14.18. & Levit. 23.5. And yet upon just occasion, such as God's law approves either of uncleanness of absence from home upon a far jouney, it was lawful to change the particular time, and to keep the passover, on another day more convenient, even on the fourteenth day, of the second month, Num. 9.11. And so Hezekiah and all the people of Israel and judah kept it and changed the day 2 Cron. 30. And hereby the Lord himself teacheth us, that the Laws which command holy solemnities and bind all his people in their generations to the due observation of them on certain set days, such as the law of the weekly Sabbath, & the yearly Passover, may stand in force and be duly observed, though the particular day of the week be changed upon such grounds, as God's law approveth and for such causes and reasons, as make that other day more fit, and excellent for the solemnity, than that particular day of the week, or of the month which is named in the law.  
Secondly, If any object that the law of the passover was ceremonial, 
Object. 2.  and therefore might admit of some changes, but it cannot be so in the law of the Sabbath if it be moral and perpetual, binding all man kind to the world's end.  
To this I answer, 
Answer.  that for the time and season wherein ceremonial laws are in force they are equal (in their obligation and binding of the persons commanded) to laws moral and perpetual, and therefore the argument and answer is good and firm, and cannot with any good reason be rejected and denied.  
Thirdly, diverse positive laws which are moral and perpetual and bind Adam, and all his posterity, in all their generations, though they be firm and immutable in themselves & in their obligation: yet because the Duties of obedience which they impose upon men, and the men up on whom the duties are imposed, are in their state, and condition mutable and changeable, And the changes and alterations of the things commanded in times, places, and other relations and respects, do not at all change the law, nor prove it ceremonial, and changeable. As for example, God's commandment and law given to Israel, was that they should love him the Lord their God, and serve him with such worship as is agreeable to his word. This law binds them and all God's people in all generations unchaungable: It bound all such as lived in the old Testament to serve God with sacrifices, and burnt offerings, and to worship him with their first fruits, and sweet odours and perfumes of incense, and that in the place which he did choose out of all the tribes of Israel. And it binds us still who live under the new Testament: to love God, and to serve him. But with a spiritual woshippe and service, such as is most agreeable to the word of the Gospel, as Saint Paul shows Rom. 12. ●. and our sacrifices are not of bruit beasts, but our own bodies devoted to the obedience of Christ, and sacrifices of thanks and praise which are the calves of our lips Heb. 13.15. for now men are not by the law bound to worship God In jerusalem, nor in the mountain of Samaria. but in every place to lift up pu●e hands and hearts to God, and to worship him in spirit and in truth, john 4.21. And to this worship the same law doth as strictly bind us, as it did the fathers to their bodily sacrafices in jerusalem, though the service in diverse particulars is changed, yet the law is perpetual and stands firm and immutable, and binds all God's people in all their generations.  
So likewise from the first promise of Christ, a redeemer to mankind, Adam and all his posterity are bound to believe in Christ, and to seek, expect, and hope for salvation, and life only in him the promised seed of the woman, that is in him made man, and man's mediator And the law of believing in Christ is perpetual firm, and unchaungable.  
And yet the duty which he requires is changeable, and is changed, now under the Gospel from that which is under the law, in circumstance, for the faithful in the old Testament were bound to except and wait for Christ and to believe in him to come, but we under the Gospel confess Christ and believe in that Christ jesus which is come in the flesh. ●nd whosoever confesseth not Christ which is come, but beleeus Christ to come he is lead by the spirit of Antichrist, 1 Joh. 4.3.  
And even thus the case stands with the law of the Sabbath, which God gave in the beginning when he sanctified the seventh day, for by that law he bound Adam and all his posterity to observe and keep an holy weekly Sabbath, and that one the particular day of the week which is the day most blessed with the greatest blessing above all other days of the week, and wherein the created work of the world comes to greatest perfection, and that is brought into actual being where God especially resteth, and wherewith he is chiefly satisfied & delighted.  
This is the sum and substance of the law which equally binds all God's people perpetually to the world's end. This law, bound the fathers to keep holy the seventh day, and last day of the week, in the old Testament, because that was the day most blessed with the greatest blessing as yet revealed in the world, that is the promise of Christ, & his actual undertaking & beginning to be man's mediator, by which promise of the redeemer & bringing in of supernatural grace, which is spiritual & immutable, the mutable work of the creation was perfected, & in which mediaton of Christ, God rested & took such delight, that he would not go about to uphold the world by way of creation, but committed the reparation of the world to Christ the mediator. But now under the go●pel since the full exhibition of Christ, a perfect actual redeemer, & the perfecting of the work of redemption on the first day of the week, in Christ his resurrection, that first day of the seventh, which is the seventh in the weekly revolution, if we count the day's beginning with the day next following, is now the day most blessed, & wherein the created world is after a better manner, & in an higher degree perfected, & God finds that actually performed wherein he resteth & wherewith he is fully satisfied. And therefore the same perpetual law of the Sabbath binds us to keep this day for our weekly Sabbath, & that not with such service as was, holy under the law, that double bodily sacrifices, nor with assemblies appointed for preaching, reading & hearing of the law, & the promises of a redeemer to come, & for seeking salvation & blessings in Messiah promised & yet not come. But with spiritual worship & faithful prayer & invocation in the name of Christ exhibited, & already exalted, & with reading, preaching, & hearing of the gospel, which declareth Christ jesus already come in the flesh. And thus I hope I have fully answered the objection, & made it manifest, the christian churches in changing the day of their weekly Sabbath, & their form & manner of worship, have not made void, but established the law of the Sabbath, which God gave in the beginning.  
and these changes do in no case prove the law to be ceremonial only and mutable, neither doth the morality and perpetuity of the law require that every circumstance of the Sabbath, and every particular Sabbath duty, should at all times remain the same perpetual & unchangeable   

CHAP. 10.  
BUT that this truth may yet shine forth more clearly, and may so manifestly show itself that no scruples may remain, nor any doubts concerning it or any part of it. I will proceed to the second special thing which is before propounded. That is, to inquire, search out, & discover the nature and kind of this law and commandment of God, concerning the weekly Sabbath: And how far and in what manner it binds Adam and all his posterity.  
And her● I have alarge field to pass through, wherein diverse points offer themselves to our view, which I cannot pass by, nor lead you along without due consideration of them. First here I meet with diverse and several opinions, of the learned concerning the law of the sabbath which come first to be rehearsed and examined.  
Secondly, I find several kinds of laws which God hath given to men; mentioned in the Scripture, and diverse sorts of commandments, which we must severally describe, and distinctly consider before we can determine that which principally is here intended, that is, what kind of law and commandment this of the Sabbath is, and how far and in what manner all man kind are obliged by it, & bound to obey it.  

The several opinions concerning the law of the Sabbath.  The first opinion is, that the law of the Sabbath is natural, moral, & perpetual written in the heat of the first man in his creation. And that as he was bound to keep the seventh day holy to the Lord in the state of innocency. So also are all his posterity bound in all all ages even to the last man to keep the weekly Sabbath. But they who conceive this law to be naturally written in man's heart do much differ & are divided into two opinions. The one sort holds the law to be wholly natural, and perpetually moral both in respect of the rest, and sanctification, & also in respect of the particular day of the week, even the Seventh from the beginning of the creation.  
Thus do judaizing Christians hold, who profess Christian religion, but reject the sanctification of the Lords day and embrace and cleave to the jews Sabbath.  
The other sort do hold that there is a three fouled use of the Sabbath day. 1. Religious and holy, which is the exercise of holy & religious duties. 2. Political or civil, which is rest from worldly weariesom labour of man and beast. 3. Ceremonial or sacramental which is a signification and shadowing of spiritual rest in Christ. That in the two first respects the Law is natural, immortal and perpetual, and that nature requires, that a seventh day of every week should be for rest and refreshing, and for holy exercises of religion, they all affirm: And because the seventh and last day of the week, was the day wherein God rested, having in the sixth days before perfected all the works of the creation, therefore they hold that for the signifying & shadowing forth of spiritual rest in Christ; the seventh day was the fittest of all, & God's people were by God's Law bound to observe it, for their Sabbath until Christ had fully finished the work of redemption, & then rested from it as God did from the work of creation. And that ever since the resurrection the sign and ceremony of Christ's rest being fulfilled. The Sabbath is to be kept by the same law of nature, and commandment of God on the Lord's day the first day of the week, which is one in seventh until the eternal Sabbath and rest in heaven, unto which Christ will bring all his elect at last. This is the Doctrine of many of the best learned heretofore in our Church, and diverse godly divines do rest in this opinion which for the main matter & substance of it, is pious & godly & approved by Aquinas the great Scooleman.  
The second opinion is, that the law of the Sabbath was not natural wr●tten in man's heart, neither did bind man to observe an holy rest the seventh day of every week, & only on the seventh day in which God rested, but that it was a positive law given by God, commanding more than the light of nature did clearly & distinctly show to man, or bare natural instinct move him unto, and that it was like the law by which God forbade man to eat of the tree of knowledge, which his own natural appetite did lead him to eat of, being good for food & to the eye & appetite pleasant and desirable. But God restrained him from it, not but instinct of nature or law written in his heart, but by his own voluntary commandment, to show his authority over man, to teach man obedience, & to make man know, that he might as justly have restrained him from all, or the most part of either fruits, & that the use of the creatures, & the power which he gave to man over them was his free gift, & therefore man ought to love & serve him his creator, as for his whole being, so also for the use & benefit of all other creatures. And so like wise they hold, that by nature all days are alike in themselves, & man by the light of nature can discern no difference in them, b●t yet God to make man mindful of his creation, & of God his creator, did by his word & everlasting commandment given to man, separate one day for the uses before named. 1. For holy use even performance of religious duties only. 2. For civil use, to weet: rest from hard labour. 3. For ceremonial, to signify the rest of Christ after the work of redemption finished, to admonish man of rest from sinful works, & to be a token of eternal rest in heaven. & though any one day in the week is of itself naturally as fit as another, & that it is no matter what day be kept, so that one in seven be for these uses set apart: yet because God rested on the seventh day from his work of creation, therefore in the old Testament he would have that last day of seven to be the Sabbath until the coming of Christ: intending that when the greater work of man's redemption was perfected by Christ; then the day of his resurrection in which he rested from that work even the Lords day, should be the Sabbath of God's people to the end of the world; And so this law & commandment though it be not natural, yet it is moral, & a perpetual, and unchangeable rule of God's canstant will, & of man's duty in this particular: which is the main substance of it, viz, that man do keep one day in seven of every week for a Sabbath of rest ' though●ut all ages of the world, & that it is changeable only in the circumstance of the day, & that only thus far. 1. That while the work of creation was, that work which had the pre-eminence in the eyes of the world, the Sabbath was to be kept necessarily one the last of the seven, in which God did rest from that work, & so this law did bind men. 2. That after Christ had finished his work of redemption, ●ested the seventh day in the grave, & on the first day was risen & entered into his rest, & the work which now hath the pre-eminence under the Gospel, is redemption perfected by Christ's resurrection, the day of his resurrection & rest, should be the holy Sabbath to all christian people, whereby they should be admonished of the eternal rest in heaven, & wherein they should be holy devoted to such duties, as tend to bring them on, to the fruition of rest with Christ in glory. The third opinion is, that the law of the Sabbath is not natural nor perpetually moral at all, but only civil & ceremonial, & some who are of this opinion do hold, that it was given of God in the beginning to be observed only until the coming of Christ, partly in memory of the creation, until the greater work of redemption should come in, & partly to signify things to come by C●rist, & of true rest to be found in him, & that now it is utterly abolished, together with all the festival Sabbaths', of the jews. Others of them hold, that because there was great equity in this law, & also setting apart of one day in the week for religious exercises, is a thing very profittable & useful for the propogation of religion, and for the upholding of order in God's Church: therefore the law in respect of the particular day is abolished, for that was ceremonial, but the equity of the observation of on in seven still remains. And therefore all Christians in imitation of the Apostles, aught to keep one in seven, especially the Lords day which is the last in the week, rather than any other, if the Church so determine it, & if it be observed without any superstitious conceit of more holiness in that day, or annexed to it, rather than any other.  
The fourth opinion is, that the first law for observation of the weekly Sabbath was the fourth commandment, given from mount Sina, & that is did bind only the Isralits' to keep the sevē●h day of the week for an holy Sabbath until the coming of Christ: but now under the gospel it is abolished in respect both of the particular day, & also the strictness of the observation, & only the equity of it remains in the Lord's day, the observation whereof is commended to us by the example of the Apostles, & ●ow the law of keeping it holy is only ecclesiastical & an holy ordinance of the Church· Thus you see while men build upon unsure and unstable grounds, & not upon the certain words of holy Scripture compared together & made to run in a sweet harmony, how various & different they are, & how contrary some of them, in their opinions.  
For the removing of all doubts, & settling of men's judgements in a sure way so far as God shall enable me. I will endeavour to select & single out whatsoever I find in these several opinions, to be agreeable to the truth, & to the sacred word of God: & reject the rest: & will add more over what is wanting to make up a perfect Doctrine, not out of mine own conjections, but out of canonical Scriptures, for that is the sure rule of all necessary saving and sanctified knowledge, & that must be the sure guide when Fathers, Counsels, & Churches do lead us into several & doubtful ways. First for them who hold that the law of the Sabbath was written in man's heart in the Creation, I hold it true insome part, to weet: thus far. That God creating man in his own Image did print this in man's heart That as he had his. whole being from God, especially his reasonable soul, by which he was made able to understand the will of God, revealed to him by his word, so he was bound to obey God and to serve him all his days, with his whole heart, and with all his might. And if God did require of him any part of his time, and commanded him to obsteine from some good and lawful works tending to his natural good and well being, & to do some special works for his Lord's pleasure, in one day or more selected days of the week, or of every month or year, he ought to do it out of duty and obedience to his Lord and Creator. Thus far I consent that the law is natural written in man's heart, to weet: in general and in respect of the common foundation:  
I grant also that the law and commandment of God, enjoining the rest of men, their servants, and cattle from hard labour the seventh day, or one day in every week, is a thing so naturally helpful & needful for the health and wellbeing of men ever since man's fall, and the curse of barenness laid upon the earth, and the punishment of toil some labour and faint sweeting imposed on man kind, that man's own natural reason, will and affection must needs approve it, and move and incline his heart to the obedience of it, and his inward thoughts cannot but accuse him of wrong done to his own body, and to the life of his labouring cattle, and servants, if he disobey it, and in this respect it may be called a law of nature:  
Yea I add moreover that if we take the law of nature in a large sense, as some times it is taken, that is for every law which commands such duties and such obedience, as in there own nature are very useful & profittable to the parties commanded, and which is grounded on such just causes & weighty grounds, as by the judgement of natural reason, are in their own nature well worthy of such observance, than the law & commandment of keeping an holy Sabbath (on the seventh day in the old Testament in thankfulness for Christ promised & for a continual memorial of that great blessing: & one the first day of Christ's resurrection now under the Gospel, in thankfulness for Christ fully exhibited, & the work of redemption by him perfected, which so much excels the promise made on the seventh day, as perfecting of a work excels the beginning & undertaking of it) may both in respect of the particular day & the sanctification of it be called a law of nature that is a law requiring such moral & perpetual obedience, as is in the nature of it most just, and worthy to be performed.  
But that the law and Commandment, which bound the fathers to keep an holy rest one the seventh day of every week, and us under the Gospel to keep it on the first day especially and no other, was in in the creation written & imprinted in the heart of man so distinctly, and expressly, that man had an inbred notion of it, and a natural instinct of himself to observe this law, & to keep a weekly Sabbath on those very days which God hath prescribed both to the fathers & us. This I must needs deny for these reasons following.  
First Gods sanctifying of the Seventh day by his word and commandment, and his institution of the Sabbath by a positive law given, as my text here shows; had been vain and needless, if the law and the Sabbath of holy rest had been expressly, and particularly written in man's heart already. For what man by the instinct of nature, & by his own natural reason, will and affection, is lead and moved to do, that he is vainly & needlessly urged unto by any law or commandment, being of himself without any monitor ready to perform it.  
Secondly, the very word (Sanctify) signifieth the setting apart of this day to a supernatural and heavenly use, even for the performance of such duties as are above the naturalll imaginations and thoughts of man, and which his natural reason would never have revealed to him, not his will lead him to do. If God by his word, and divine & superturall revealation had not directed and moved him. Therefore this law by which God sanctified & instituted the Sabbath is not a natural law, but a divine and supernatural precept.  
Thirdly, in the creation and state of innocency, man was bound to serve God as his creator and the author of all his being, and to be content with that estate wherein God had placed him, and saw to be very good, and to look no higher. It was the inordinate desire of more knowledge and of an higher estate than God had revealed and promised, which made our first parents so yielding to the devils temptations, and undoubtedly it was an occasion of their sin in eating of the forbidden fruit. Now the serving of God as his Lord and Creator was the duty of man every day alike, for the heavens above▪ and the earth beneath, and all creatures in them serving daily for man's natural good & wellbeing, even every day equally did put man continually in mind of his duty. to weet: that he was to love and serve the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength at all times, for this is the righteousness of a man's own works and of his own person, which God required of man in the first covenant in the state of innocency, even his constant obedience to the whole and law and revealed will of God all his days without one days intermission. Therefore the Sabbath which requires service of God and worship, & love of him as merciful a Redeemer, and that upon one day of the week more than all the rest, was not known nor commanded nor observed by nature in the state of innocency.  
Fourthly, the law of nature written in man's heart requires no particular duty, but such as his own natural reason and will did direct & lead him unto in the creation, and which belonged to him in the state of innocency. But the law of the Sabbath from the first institution commands and requires such things, ●nd such works, and duties as did not concern man in the state of innocency. As 1: Rest of man and beast from their wearisome labour for their refreshing upon one day in seven. This man had no need of, neither was their any need of such rest, because the toil and labour of man and beast came in after the fall, when God cursed the earth for man's sin.  
Secondly, it requires in general sanctification of the seventh day, by holy and religious exercises, and in particular by sacrificing to God, by prayer and supplication, and by meditating on heavenly things, and on eternal rest, and by studying all holy duties which might fit men for the sight and fruition of God in heavenly glory. All which & what soever other holy Sabbath duties and works, are mentioned in the word of God, do belong to man, only since the promise of Christ the blessed seed. And in the state of innocency, man had no occasion of any such duties he had no need of sacrificing until Christ, his ransom and sacrifice for sin was promised, he neither could have any thought are meditations of glory in Heaven, or studies to fit and sanctify himself for the fruition thereof until Christ the only way to eternal rest, & glory was promised: what use had he of prayers and supplcations to God for any good thing needful, when he lacked nothing, or for deliverance from evil when as yet no evil was known in the world? What occasion could he have to praise God either for Christ, before he did so much as dream of Christ or had any thought of him at all. As for natural gifts and blessings he was by them admonished and provoked every day alike to love, serve, honour and praise God, wherefore seeing the works and duties of the Sabbath are holy, and tend only or chiefly to the supernatural and heavenl● life, and to the eternal rest which Christ hath purchased in heaven for man, undoubtedly the law of the Sabbath which expressly commands such works and duties every seventh day, is a positive supernatural and divine law, not any dictate of nature imprinted in man's heart in the creation.  
Fiftly, every law of nature is common to all man kind, and is written as well in the hearts of heathen as of Christians, so that the conscience of men who never heard of God or of his word, is a monitor, to admonish them of the duty which that law requires, and an accuser if they transgress that law, and men have no more need to be put in mind of those duties, then of any other which the law of nature requires: But the law of the Sabbath hath no footsteppe of impression in the hearts of barbarous heathen nations. It is quite forgotten among them, and only God's people who have his written law, and word continually read and preached, do keep the Sabbath: And God in giving it to Israel in written tables, & in repeating it often afterwards, still calls upon them to remember it, thereby showing that it is not as the law of nature printed in man's heart, but is a law given by word and writing, and from thence learned, and therefore easily and quickly forgotten.  
Sixthly, If it were a natural law founded upon the creation, and binding man to keep a weekly holy day in thankfulness for his creation, and for the creatures made for his use, than it should in all reason bind man to keep Holy the six days in which God Created all things, and especially the sixth day wherein God made man himself and gave him rule and dominion over all creatures. For holy celebrations are kept weekly or yearly one the days in which the blessing and benefits solemnised and celebrated were first bestowed one men.  
Therefore it is not a natural law grounded on the creation.  
Lastly Christ came not to change the law of nature, nor to take away any part of the obedience thereof, but to establish and fulfil it in every jot and title as he himself testifieth Mat. 5.17.18.  
And yet the law of the Sabbath so far as it requires keeping holy the seventh day, as the fathers were bound in the old Testament is changed by Christ and by his resurrection, in which he finished the work of redemption, and was exhibited a perfect redeemer. And the observation of the seventh and last day of the week is abolished.  
And the first day of the week even the day of Christ's resurrection, is sanctified and substituted in the place of it, and so was observed by the Apostles, & after them by all true Christian Churches for the Lords day, and for the Queen and chief Princess of all days, as the blessed Martyr Ignatius calls it. Epist. ad magnesi●s pag. 31. Therefore it is not a law of nature printed & engraven in man's heart.  
I could allege more reasons, but I hold this perfect number of seven sufficient for this present purpose. I will therefore proceed to the next thing which is the discovery of the several kinds of laws, which God hath given to men, & the brief description of every kind particularly, by which I shall come to demonstrate what kind this of the Sabbath is.   

CHAP. 11.  

The distinction of God's laws  THE Laws of God which he hath given to men, are of two sorts, either laws printed in man's heart which we call laws of nature: Or else Positive laws, which God hath commanded in his word over, and above, or besides the laws of nature.  
Th● Law of nature is that will of God which he as Lord and creator hath imprinted in man's heart in the creation, even that natural disposition which God gave to man, when he made him in his own Image, by which he doth inform man in the knowledge, and move him to the practice of all duties which belong to him, and which he requirs of him, for natural wellbeing & continuance in that life, & good estate wherein he was created.  
The law of nature may be distiguished into two sorts. The one is General and indefinite, which binds man definitly in a general bond. The other is special and particular, which doth define & prescribe special & particular duties & works to men.  
The general and indefinite law is this. That man being God's creature and having his whole being, life, motion and all things from God, of free gift, is in duty bound to obey God to the utmost of his power in all things whatsoever God either by natural light, or by his word either hath revealed, or shall at any time reveal and make known unto him, to be his will that he should do them. The bond and obligation of this law is very large, and reacheth through all laws, & binds men to do whatsoever God commands by any law whatsoever.  
The special definite and particular law of nature, is that commanding will of God engraven in man's heart▪ and in his upright natural disposition, which directs man to know & moves him to perform such special kinds of duties and such particular works, as he ought to do and God reveals to him & declar●s to be his will that he should do them.  
Of these special laws some are primary. And some are secondary laws of nature.  
A special primary law of nature is the will of God, concerning such special duties and particular works, as man's own pure created nature and natural disposition did direct, lead & move him unto, which his natural reason in the state of integrity did show unto him, and his pure natural will and affections did move and stir him to perform. As for example, to know and acknowledge God for his sole Lord and Creator, and one only God, to serve and worship him with such worship and reverence, as his pure reason taught him to be meet for God, to think and speak of God accordingly: to bear himself towards the creatures, and to rule them according to the wisdom which God, had given him, to increase and multiply and to replenish & subdue the earth and such like.  
A Secondary special law of nature, is a rule or precept concerning such special and particular duties and works, as man's own right reason, or God's word discovers unto him, to be in there own nature good, and just, and profittable either for his own natural being, and wellbeing, as the cause now stands with him since his fall, and for any other good end and use agreeable to Gods revealed will. As for example, that men should not live idle, but labour painfully to provide for themselves and families, this is a duty which was known to man before his fall, but ever since the curse wherewith God cursed the earth for man's sin, God's word requires it, and man's own natural reason well informed, and his will and affections well ordered do naturally move him to the performance of it for his natural welbeing.  
So diverse negative precepts which forbid such evils and sinful deeds, as man never knew nor had any thought of them in the state of innocency, but now true natural reason, affection and conscience; teacheth and moveth man to hate and abhor them; they are laws of this kind.  
And if we should extend the law of nature to the utmost, as many do, and bring under it every law which commands duties which are in their own nature just and honest and very useful and profittable to the doers and to others; ●nd serve directly and naturally for God's glory. We might reduce to this kind of natural laws, every positive moral and perpetual precept commanding any just or holy work & duty which is just in itself, though there were no express commandment given for the doing of it. A Positive law of God is that which God in his wisdom & by his word gives to man, by which he binds man to some obedience which he of himself by his own natural wit & reason would not have found out & discerned to be good & just, neither would have done or performed by the instinct of nature, and the motion of his will & affection, for such an end as God hath appointed them unto.  
There are diverse laws and precepts of this kind, all which as they require that which God justly & wisely willeth man to do, & do command things which are in respect of the present state & condition good for man, so they all are after a general manner included in the general law of nature, and binds men to obey them all.  
Of these positive laws there are diverse sorts. Some are Positive commanding things which tend to preserve & maintain good order, society & peace, not only between God the creator and man his creature, but also between man & other creatures, & among men themselves. Such was the law which God gave to man, when he commanded him under the pain of death to obsteine from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, & that for a wise & just end, even to put man in mind that he was not absolute Lord of all the visible creatures, to use them at his pleasure, but that he was a subordinate Lord and ruler under God, and that all other trees berbes & fruits which God allowed him to eat of, were Gods free gift, & also to teach him, that he was chiefly & above all to look to the service of God & obedience of his will, & to omit the serving of his own turn, & the doing of that which his own will might move him to do, when God at any time should call him another way. And of this kind are all the judicial laws, which God gave to Israel by Moses for the well ordering of their common wealth, & all precepts of obedience, which inferiors own to superiors in things lawful and that for peace sake. Some positive laws are evangellical and religious which command works & duties tending to an holy heavenly & supernatural end & use, such are all laws & commandments which God hath given upon occasion of Christ revealed to man, & in & through Christ which require duties, & service due to God as he is man's redeemer, & bind man as he expects benefit by Christ the mediator & redeemer, to such works & such obedience, as come to be of use in respect of Christ. These evangellical laws are of two sorts. 1. Some are universal & perpetual requiring necessary works & duties of all such as are to be saved by Christ. 2. Some are special & temporary, which require some special service & works of obedience, & them of some only, & for some times, & in some condition of the Church. Perpetual & universal evangellical laws, which bind all Gods redeemed ones, & require things necessary to salvation by Christ, are the commandments of God, by which he binds all men to repentance & reformation of life, to godly sorrow, & humiliation for sin, to believe in Christ under penalty of losing salvation, & of perishing for ever, & condemned & cast into hell for their sins. Special or temporary laws are they which bind men, or all men of some ages and in some times to some special service & worship, fit for the present state & condition of the Church, or to so some duties & works which for the time are profittable to guide & lead men to Christ, & therefore are sanctified of God & set apart for that purpose: ●uch are the laws & commandments of sacrificing & bringing offerings & first fruits to God, of oxen & sheep & other clean beasts & birds, & of the increase of the earth, some of which laws did bind all God's people from the first promise of Christ even all the fathers from Adam until Moses, & all Israel until the coming of Christ, such laws were that of Circumcision given to Abraham, as a seal of the covenant wh●ch God made with him & his seed, & that of the passover, and of the first borne, & all levitical ceremonial laws, given to Israel by the hand of Moses, & such are the commandments of Baptism & the Lords Supper, which bind all Christians under the Gospel.  
There are also besides these several kinds of laws, some mixed laws, & of these some are partly & in some respects natural, because they bind men to some duties unto which nature binds them; & in some respects civil, for they require things which tend to civil order & government; & partly in some respects also evangellical commanding things which tend to salvation in Christ. Some are partly moral & perpetual in that they require moral duties which are necessary & useful at all times to the end of the world; & partly ceremonial & temporary in that they require obedience in things which are useful only in some cases and at some times. As for example the law which God gave from mount Sina, & wrote it in tables of stone it doth bind men not only to all moral duties which engraven in the creation, to weet: all duties which man did owe to God as to his only creator, & to men as fellow creatures; but also to such further duties & degrees of obedience as man doth owe to God his only Saviour & Redeemer in Christ, & to men & Angels as his fellow servants brethren & members of one & the same spiritual body under the same head Christ.  
And therefore God presseth and urgeth obedience to that law, at the giving thereof upon this consideration, and for this reason, because he is the Lord God the Redeemer and deliverer, who as he delivered the natural Israel from Egyptian bondage, so by that typical deliverance did foreshow and prefigure the spiritual redemption of all the spiritual bondage under sin, the world and the Devil.  
To love God above all, and a man's neighbour as himself, to honour Parents, and to speak truth of every one, to give leave to every one freely to enjoy his own, and many such duties requited in the ten commandments are natural, and nature bound man to them in innocence, and in respect of them that law is nature.  
But to believe in God as a Redeemer, to visit and comfort the sick, and distressed, to honour parents, pastors, superiors, as fathers in Christ, and diverse duties of neglative precepts, as not to make images of God; not to pollute God's name by vain swearing and such like, the knowledge and thoughts of which man had not in his heart by nature in the creation, which come into the world by natural corruptions, and man was not subject to them, until he was seduced and fallen and brought into bondage by Satan, they are posituallie moral, and as the law commands them, it is a positive moral law, yea in respect of some of them Evangelicall. And as reverence and respect to civil Magistrates and men of higher place, as they are superiors and men of greater power and authority (which difference and equality came in by man's fall, and flows from God's distribution of his common gifts in a different manner & measure) as I say this honour given to them as civil rulers, ruling for our Good and the good of the common weath, is commanded in this law so it is civil. And lastly as all ceremonial & religious ordinances, and outward significative, & worship sanctified by God, and appointed as most fit for the time and season, receive their original authority and first strength from that law given from mount Sina, especially from the commandment which binds man to obey God, as his creator & Redeemer in all ordinances, so far as he requires, so and in this respect this law is Ceremonial and binds to obedience temporary, fit for the season, & opportunity.  
In like manner the commandment which the Lord Christ hath given in the Gospel, for Baptising of Christians and for the administration and receiving of the Sacrament, of his body and blood, as they command an outward sacramental washing with water, and abodily eating of bread and drinking of wine which have been of use only since the coming of Christ, and not from the beginning, so they are ceremonial and temporary. For whatsoever ordinances are in use in the Church of God for a season only, that is during the time of the true and proper signification of the world Ceremonia: which is compounded of the Gr: words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies a set time or season, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, whice signifies only, or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to abide or remain. But because the time of the Gospel is perpetual unto the end of the world, and they are commanded to be observed of all Christians at the time of the Gospel, in this respect these Commandments may be called universal and perpetual. And as in these and all other Ceremonies, ordained by God, there are required besides the outward bodily rites & actions, many spiritual duties, as inward reverence and holy affections of the heart faith in Christ & the blessed Trinity believing of the covenant, commemoration of Christ & his benefits, confession of three persons in one God, and the eye of faith looking chiefly to the spiritual things signified, so the commandment and law enjoining them may justly be esteemed positively and Evangellically moral. Thus much for the diverse and several kinds of God's laws which he hath given to men.  
I proceed to that which is the main thing here intended, that is to show what kind of law the commandment of the Sabbath is, & under which of these several kinds it is comprehended. And in a word I hold it to be of the last kind, to weet: a mixed law that is partly natural, and partly positive, both civil and evangellical, and not only universal and perpetual but also special & ceremonial, and so indeed it takes part of all kinds of laws which God hath given men, and which are mentioned in the Scriptures, which thing because the learned have not heretofore observed nor well considered, but some have cast their eyes upon the common ground of this law printed in man's heart in the creation, and finding it among the ten commandments which are generally held to be the sum and substance of the law of nature, do call it a law of nature.  
Others have considered it as a special commandment given by God immediately after the creation by word of mouth and not written in man's heart, and do call it a positive moral law. Others have considered it as it commands rest one the seventh day, now altered by Christ, which rest was a sign of Christ's rest from the work of redemption & is a token & pledge of eternal rest in heaven, & there upon hold it to be a ceremonial law: and hence ariseth the diversity among Christians, and almost civil war between the Pastors of several Churches, yea & among learned preachers of one & the same Church: Whereas indeed they all hold the truth in part but not wholly: They all err in this, that they limit it every one, to that special kind of law, which he hath hath chief in his eye and upon which he hath set his conceit: Now make it a mixed law & prove it manifestly, & there needs no more contention, except some men will contend without cause & against reason out of a spirit of contention & contradiction.  
First, this law as all other laws is indefinitely comprehended in the general law of nature, for the general law written in man's heart in the creation, binds him to attend the will of God, & to be ready to obey God, his Creator in all things whatsoever he either had already declared, or should at any time to come reveal to be his will, and to be a duty which he required of man. And therefore the observing & keeping of a weekly holy Sabbath, & devoting of a seventh part of every week to religious exercises & to rest from bodily labour & common worldly business, being expressly commanded by God, & declared at several times & upon several occasions to be his will, man is by the general of nature bound to perform it, & in this respect we may truly say that the law of the Sabbath is a law of nature, included indefinitely in that general law & dictate of nature written in man's heart in the creation.  
Secondly, though I cannot conceive that the keeping of an holy Sabbath weekly, was a thing so distinct written in man's heart in the creation, that man of himself by the instinct of his nature, or by the light of his reason & motion of his will, would have set either the seventh day or any other of the seven days of the week apart for rest, or other duties of the Sabbath, which God in the first institution required, & commanded also in his law given from mount Sina: Yet because the keeping holy of a weekly Sabbath upon such grounds as are mentioned in this text, & for such ends & uses as God hath ordained, to weet: commemoration of God's mercy & bounty in promising Christ, preserving the knowledge & memory of the covenant of eternal life, & rest in Christ, training up of people in religion, the fear & worship of God, & in holiness, by which they are made fit to see & enjoy God in glory, because I say, the keeping holy of a weekly Sabbath is in these respects a thing very good & profittable, yea & necessary for the help of man and for the repairing of his nature corrupted.  
Thirdly, if we consider the law of the weekly Sabbath as it was given by God in the first institution, & in his blessing & sanctifying of the seventh day, & again renewed & inserted among the ten commandments given from mount Sina: & at other times upon diverse occasions repeated by Moses and by the Prophets from God's mouth, If we also consider that never the Sabbath itself nor the ground; reason, & occasion of it, (to were: Gods perfecting the creation by promising & revealing redemption in Christ, & the rest which I have before proved & demonstrated) were written ●n man's heart in innocency, but were after man's fall revealed by God, & thereupon the holy rest commanded to be kept on that day which God above other days hath blessed and sanctified. We may truly affirm that the commandment of the Sabbath in these respects is a positive law of God, & not a law of nature requiring such particular duties as man of himself without God's positive commandment would have observed. Yea the word (Memento Remember) so often added to the precept of the Sabbath as appears Exod. 20.8. doth plainly show that the keeping holy of a weekly Sabbath, was not a thing printed in man's heart, for than it had been vain & needless for God so often to use this word Remember & to put them in mind of this duty by Moses & the Prophets, man's own conscience would have been his daily and continual Monitor & Remembrancer, & his own thoughts would have been ready to accuse him for every omision & neglect of it. As the Apostle testifies of the work of the law written in man's heart, Rom. 2.15.  
Fourthly, if we consider the law of the Sabbath as it commandeth man together with his children, servants & labouring cattle to rest from their wearisome labours & bodily pain; which came in by sin, & by man's fall, together with servile subjection & difference of the Master & servant, which weekly rest & intermission from toil & labour granted to servants & cattle by their Masters: as well as to themselves, makes very much for good order in every state & common wealth, & for peace & society among men, & in every family, & serves for an excellent civil & political use, so it is in the judgement of many learned & godly Divines, not without good reason hold to be a civil and political law.  
Fifthly, if we consider. First the time of God's first institution of the Sabbath, as it falls under Chest, even upon the seventh day of the world, in which Christ was, promised to redeem man who was fallen in the latter end of the sixth day as is before showed. Secondly, if we consider the ground and reason of God's institution of the Sabbath and sanctifying the seventh day, even Christ promised the seed of the woman, & to break the serpent's head, by whose actually undertaking & beginning to mediate for man, God did perfect the mutable work of creation, & settled the world in an higher estate of the perfection supernatural, & did rest in Christ's mediation, being that which was able to give full satisfaction to his justice.  
Thirdly, if we consider that in the first institution, the Sabbath day was sanctified & blessed above the other six days: that is, was set apart to heavenly & supernatural use; which cannot be imagined but in & under Christ in whom all things are sanctified. We must needs know & confess that the commandment of the Sabbath even in and from the first original and institution, is a law Divine and evangellical, commanding such an observation and service, as is of use only in and under Christ, and mainly tends to lead men to salvation in him.  
Sixtly, if we consider the necessity of resting, one whole day in every week, from all our worldly affairs. First that with one consent the Church and congregation of God's people may all generally meet together in their set places of holy assemblies, to hear and learn the Doctrine of salvation and word of life, and to honour God with public holy worship and service, and with joint prayers to call upon him in the name and mediation of Christ for all blessings. Secondly, that every man may instruct his family in private also at home, and by constant exercising of them a whole day together in religious duties every week, may make them to grow and increase in grace and religion and in knowledge and skill to order and direct all their week days labours, to God's glory, their own salvation, and the comfort and profit of their Christian Brethren. Without which religious observation once every week at the least, especially upon the particular day of the week, which God hath blessed with the most memorable work belonging to man's redemption, it is not possible for people to be well ordered in a Christian Church, nor Gods holy worship to be either generally known or publicly practised, nor the vulgar sorts of Christians to be brought to the knowledge and profession and practice of true religion neceessary to salvation. These things I say considered, we must necessarily grant that the law of the Sabbath is an evangellical universal and perpetual law▪ such as the commandments of believing in Christ, repenting from dead works, reforming of our lives, worshipping and invocating of God in the name & mediation of Christ, and by the motion & direction of his holy spirit, all which Commandments bind all God's people of all churches and ages from the first day wherein Christ was promised in one measure or other. So that without obedience in some degree unto these evangellical laws, it is not possible for any man to be and to continue a true child of God, and to attain salvation in and by Christ.  
And this law thus far and in these respects considered, can no more be abrogated and abolished, than God's covenant of Redemption of salvation made with mankind in Christ. But all mankind even every one who seeks salvation in Christ, is at all times & in all ages bound to observe this law of sanctifying a seventh day in every week, and of resting from all worldly affairs, that they may serve and worship and seek God in Christ.  
Lastly, if we consider the Lords Sabbath, as it is a significative éven a sign to us of the eternal Sabbath in Heaven, and as it is in respect of the particular day of the week and some ceremonial worship used in it, changeable and mutable according to the changes and motions of Christ the foundation and Lord of it, and according to the several estates of God's Church, and Gods several dispensations of the mysteries of salvation, and several ways of revealing Christ in the old Testament, and before and after the coming of Christ in the flesh. We must of necessity confess, that the law of the Sabbath is in these respects a Ceremonial law, commanding things which are temporary and mutable and fitted for some times and seasons only.  
First as it commanded the seventh day of the week to be kept holy, as the most holy day because therein Christ was promised to be the redeemer of the world, and God rested in his creation, and perfected the creation by bringing in redemption, which was the greatest blessing of the old Testament. And as it required hallowing of the day by sacrifices and other outward service and worship which were tips and figures of Christ to come, and by preaching and rehearsing the promises of Christ out of the law and Prophets, believing in the Saviour in heaven. So it was a ceremonial and temporary law, and did stand in force and bind all God's people to the observation of the last day of the week, all the time of the old Testament until Christ was fully exhibited a perfect Redeemer in his resurrection. And it was not in the power of the Church to change the Sabbath to any other day of the week that power rested in Christ the foundation and Lord of the sabbath. It also bound the faithful of these times, to the ceremonial sanctification, and to that tipical service unhich looked towards Christ to come, as well as to the seventh day only and no other, during ●hat nonnage of of the Church.  
Secondly, as the law of the Sabbath (which requires that day to be kept for an Holy rest in which God hath revealed the greatest blessing & so hath blessed it above all other days of the week) doth now ever since the perfecting of the work of redemption in Christ's resurrection, bind all God's people to keep for their Sabbath the first day of the week which by Christ's victory over death obtained fully in that very day, became the most blessed day above the seventh day and all other days of the week. And as under the name of hallowing & keeping holy the Lord's Sabbath, it enjoines such worship as God requires of his Church in her full age & more perfect estate, to weet: spiritual sacrifices of praise & thanksgiving, preaching & teaching faith in Christ crucified & fully exhibited, aperfect redeemer, praying unto God in the name & mediation of Christ, & seeking access unto the father in him by one spirit. And as this law imposeth this holy weekly Sabbath, to be a pledge to the faithful, of that Sabbathisme of eternal rest in heaven which remaineth for the people of Gods as the Apostle testifieth. Heb. 4.9.  
So this law is like the commandments of Baptism, & the Lords supper. It is ceremonial commanding such duties to be performed, & such a day to be observed as are fitted to the time & season of the Gospel, & yet it is so ceremonial, as that it is also perpetual, binding all Christians during the season & time of the Church during the time in the new Testament & under the Gospel that is perpetually to the end of the world, until we come to the eternal rest in heaven. And as there shallbe no changes in Christ, nor of the state of the Church until Christ shall come in glory to receive us into that eternal rest. So there shallbe no change of the Sabbath to any other day of the week, neither hath the Church or any other whatsoever any power to alter either the day or the sanctification & observation of it, no more then to bring in such an other Change in Christ, and such an alteration of the estate of the Church, as that was from Christ promised and obscurely revealed in the old testament, to Christ fully exhibited.   

CHAP. 12.  
NOW having discovered the several kinds of laws, and commandments which God hath given to men, and having showed what kind of law this is which God hath given for the observation of the weekly Sabbath, and how and in what manner it binds the sons of Adam in all ages, some in one kind, and some in another, and Adam and all his posterity in some respects. There remains yet for all that hath been said before, one special point to be more fully proved. That is concerning the Change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day, what ground and warrant we have for it, and how the law of God (by which God set apart the seventh day in the first institution, and still in the fourth Commandment and other repetitions of that law by Moses mentions on the seventh day for the weekly Sabbath) can bind us Christ ans to keep holy the Lord's day, or warrant us to make it our Sabbath.  
For the more full manifestation and proof of this point, and satisfying of all doubts: I will by the light of God's sacred word, and by the helps which I shall find in the writings and sayings of the best learned both ancient and modern Christian divines, do my best endeavour to show and prove that the Lords day, which is the first of the week, and the day of Christ's resurrection, the fittest day of all the seven to be the holy weekly Sabbath of Christians. That God before and in the first giving of the law of the Sabbath, did intend and foresee the change & the grounds of the change of it to the first day, that God by Christ hath changed it. And that the law of the Sabbath in the main duties which it requires is more fully and in a better and more excellent manner obeyed by Christians in there observation of the Lords day; and keeping it for the holy rest; than it was by the fathers of the Old Testament; in their keeping of the seventh and last day of the week; for their holy rest and weekly Sabbath,  
First to prove the conveniency & fitness of the Lords day to be the Sabbath under the Gospel, above all other days, we have diverse arguments.  
The first I frame thus. That day which is the first of days, & the first fruits of time especially of the time of grace, is the fittest to be the Lords holy day above all other days of the week in & under the time of grace. The Lord himself teacheth this for a plain truth requiring the fruits of all things for an holy offering to himself under the law, & from the beginning when he taught Adam, & Adam did teach his sons Cain, & Abel, to bring sacrifices of firstlings & first fruits for offerings to him. Gen. 4. Now the Lords day which is the first day of the week is the first of all days in the world. In it God began the creation, the highest heavens which is the place of blessedness & the heavenly host, also the common mass & matter of the whole visible & inferior world, & the chiefest & most gracious element, the light, that is the fiery heavens with the first beginning of the creation, this day began, & so it is the first fruits of all times created, & although in the creation & during the state of innocency the first fruits were no more holy than the rest of the lump, or mass, & sanctifying of things to holy use, came in by Christ & with the first promise of him▪ & the first time of Christ revealed being the seventh day was to be the holy Sabbath all the time in which Christ was only promised & not given.  
Yet now seeing by the resurrection of Christ, in which Christ wa● exhibited a perfect redeemer, and became the first fruits of them that sleep. The first day of the week and of the world which was only the first fruits of time before, is by God's providence become the first day & firist frvites of the time of grace under Christ a perfect redeemer. Therefore the first day which is now the first fruits of time both in the creation and under perfect redemption, which doth perfect and sanctify the creation, is now the fittest of all the days of the week to be the Lords holy Sabbath. And it is against all reason for any to think any other day so fit to be offered up for the first fruits of every week, and of our times to God, as this day which is the day of the Lord Christ, who is the true first fruits of all creatures, and doth sanctify the whole mass and lump of mankind and all other creatures which are gathered unto God in him. In which day Christ arose from death and became the first fruits of them that sleep: that by the virtue of his resurrection he might sanctify the very grave to them that sleep in him, & might raise them up as to grace in this life, so also to glory at the last day in the general resurrection.  
Secondly that day wherein the place of eternal rest and of the everlasting Sabbath which after this world ended, remains for the people of God, was created and brought into being, and wherein eternal rest was purchased, and the way opened into that rest, must needs in the judgement of reasonable men be the fittest day for the weekly Sabbath, which is to all god's people a sure sign and pledge of eternal rest and of their everlasting Sabbath in heaven, which weekly Sabbath is to be kept holy and sanctified by mediations on Heaven and Heavenly rest, & by such Holy exercises of religion, as do fit and prepare us for the life of glory in Heaven. Now the first day of the week is the day wherein God created the place of eternal rest, even the highest Heavens, which are from eternity decreed and ordained to be the place in which his elect shall keep rheir eternal Sabbath after this life.  
In this day also Christ arose from death perfected redemption, and rested from that work by which he procured eternal life and Heavenly glory for God people, upon this day he opened the way to the Holy of Holies, and made his first entrance both in his own flesh, & also for all his members into that life eternal and that rest which they with him shall enjoy in the Heavenly mansions. Therefore undoubtedly: this day of all the days of the week most fit and and worthy to be kept an holy Sabbath of rest and to be sanctified with mediations on heaven and heavenly glory, and with other exercises of religion which fit men for eternal rest in heaven.  
Thirdly, that day wherein God first created the light of this inferior visible world, and wherein the light of the visible heavens did shine forth, when it is once blessed with the rising up of a greater and more glorious light, even the Sun of righteousness: It is of all days become the fittest & most worthy to be the Lords holy weekly Sabbath, which is to be hallowed by meditating upon the inheritance of the Saints in light, and by such holy exercises as tend to make men meet to be partakers thereof. Now the first day of the week, the Lords day is the day wherein God first created the light of the visible world, even the fiery heavens which shine forth ever since, and give light to the inferior world, so it is testified Gen. 1.3. And on this day Christ the Lord, the sun of righteousness did rise up, and did bring to light immortality & eternal life, and became the great and glorious light of the world.  
Therefore this day is the fittest and most worthy to be the holy weekly Sabbath, and to be spent in meditation upon, & seeking for the inheritance of the Saints in light.  
Fourthly, that day which hath not only the same grounds and reasons in it, upon which God first founded the Sabbath, and sanctified the seventh day, but also diverse additions of the same kind which make the grounds and reasons more forcible and excellent. This is most fit and worhy to be the holy weekly Sabbath, and such is the first day of the week and hath been, ever since it became the Lords day, by the Lord Christ his resurrection. For proof whereof consider the grounds and reasons upon which God sanctified the seventh day. 1. God's ending or perfecting his created work. 2. God's resting from that work. 3. God's blessing of the seventh day by revealing on it the greatest blessing, far above any given in the creation. These are the grounds here laid down in my text, which are rehearsed again by God in the fourth commandment of the law. And another reason drawn from the end and use of the Sabbath is also added Exod. 31.13. Ezech 20.12. to weet: that the Sabbath might be a sign and token from God that he is their God who doth sanctify them, that is: by giving his Holy spirit with all saving graces in this life unto them in Christ, doth fit them for the fruition & sight of his glory in the eternal rest in Heaven, & so makes the weekly Sabbath a pledge of the eternal Sabbath in the world to come also. Now the godly learned heretofore who had no thought of founding the Sabbath on Christ promised on the seventh day of the world, they do understand Gods ending of his work, to be either the finishing of the creation on the seventh day by adding some perfection or natural blessing to the creatures more than he had given, on the sixth days. Or else that God had already ended & perfected his work before the seventh day, & for this cause blessed & sanctified the seventh day for a memorial of the creation of the world, and all things therein made perfect and complete & so appearing on that day. And by Gods resting on the seventh day from all his work which he created & made, they understand nothing else but God's rest of mere cessation, & because this was the day wherein God having finished his work, & made all things good, had no occasion to work any more by way of creation, but rested from making more kinds of creatures. Therefore God commanded man to rest after his example every seventh day, and to keep it for a weekly Sabbath. And by God's blessing of the seventh day, they do understand Gods sanctifying of it to be a sign & pledge of the eternal rest.  
These being the grounds & reasons (in the opinion of the learned) upon which God sanctified the seventh day, are in a more excellent measure to be found in the first day of the week, on which day the Lord Christ rose from death· For first the Lord Christ on that day, who is the Lord of the sabbath. ended a greater work than the creation, even the great work of redemption which on that day he did perfect and finish, by the last & highest act of it, even his resurrection in which he got the victory & triumphed over death the last enemy, & over him who had the power of death that is, the Devil, and did show to the world that he had fully paid the ransom & price of man's redemption, satisfied justice, & wrought & fulfilled all righteousness, sufficient to justify all that believe in him & to settle them in God's favour for ever. So that here is a better ending & finishing of a better work, then that of the creation was, which did perfect the mutable work of creation, & so here is a better ground of sanctifying the day in which it came to pass, as dive●s learned writers have rightly observed.  
Secondly, on this day the Lord Christ entered into a better rest, than any from the creation can be: he rested from all his labours, pains, & sufferings, & all works which Gods infinite justice required for man's redemption by way of satisfaction, Heb. 4.10.  
And he took possession of eternal rest for himself as the head, and for his body the whole Church & for every elect member thereof.  
So that this resting is a more far excellent ground & reason of the sanctifying of this day to be the weekly Sabbath. Yea though I do by Gods perfecting of his work, understand his perfecting of the work which was marred & defaced by man's fall, even the work of creation, & his making of it more perfect and complete, by his promising of Christ, and by Christ's undertaking & beginning his actual Mediation, & first bringing in of supernatural perfection. And by Gods resting I understand his resting so fully & wholly in Christ's mediation, & in his satisfaction undertaken for the repairing & perfecting of the world, which man by his fall had brought under vanity & corruption, that he put from him all thoughts & purposes of going about any new work of creation for the repairing thereof, and so is said to rest, as I have before fully proved: Yet I must confess that on the Lords day, which is the first of the week, in which Christ did rise from death. God did more fully & excellently perfect all his work & brought in a rest, which doth so far excel that perfecting of his work & resting from creation on the first seventh day, as the actual performance of a promise, & giving and fulfilling of a good thing promised, undertaken, & begun, doth excel the promise & the undertaking & beginning of it. And therefore I will be bold upon these grounds & premises to conclude with the best learned both of the Ancient fathers and modern Divines. That there is more conveniency and fitness in the Lord's day, the first day of the week to be the Lords holy weekly Sabbath now under the Gospel. And there are more excellent grounds and sure reasons for the sanctifying of it, than any which are named or can be found in the seventh day which was the Sabbath of the old Testament: yea this day by means of Christ's resurrection to glory in it, is the surest pledge and token which outwardly can be given to God's Church and people, that God who raised him up, is by him fully appeased, satisfied and reconciled to his people, and is the Lord who doth sanctify them & will bring them to glory.  
And thus I pass from the conveniency and fitness of the Lords day, which is the first of the week, to show the change of the Sabbath unto that day both in God's intention and purpose from the beginning, & also actually in the fullness of time by the glorious resurrection of the Lord Christ up on that day.  
Where by God's assistance I shall make it appear. That this change of the Sabbath to the Lords day is no humane invention, or Ecclesiastical tradition, but a thing which God the lawgiver did purpose and intend from all eternity, and foretold by the Prophets, and by diverse signs foreshowed of old, and in fullness of time did by his Son Christ the Lord of the Sabbath, command and actually bring to pass.  

serm. 251. de tempore.  First Saint Augustine and diverse other learned men have heretofore observed. That God by some notable things which he in his wisdom made to concur in the first day of the ceration, did plainly foreshow in the beginning before the seventh day was sanctified, or the law of the Sabbath given, that it was his purpose and will, and he in his eternal counsel had determined to advance in fullness of time, that day above all other days of the week to the honour of the holy weekly sabbath, to a day of meditation on the eternal rest in heaven, and a pledge to his people of the everlasting sabbathisme, which there remains for them, and the first fruits of their time offered unto God in Christ and sanctified in him.  
Those notable things are the three things before named. 1. That God made that day the first fruits of all time. 2. Created in it the place of eternal rest the highest Heaven, in which the blessed saints shall enjoy their blessed Sabbath whereof the weekly Sabbath is a sign and pledge to them in this life. 3. In it he created the light of this visible world, which things concurring in one and the same day: (God in his wisdom so ordering it, who doth nothing in vain but every thing for some wise purpose) and being good reasons to prove and grounds to make that day the fittest to be sanctified in Christ, & made the Christian Sabbath, as I have before noted, the learned from thence do gather, and not without good reason: That from the beginning God intended for this day the Honour of his weekly Sabbath, in the time of the glorious Gospel.  
Secondly, diverse of the Ancients have observed. That God raineing Manna first from Heaven to Israel on the first day of the week in the wilderness: as we read Exod. 16. did therefore foreshow that this was the day which he had appointed to be the day of the Lord Christ, even the day wherein he who is the Heavenly Manna and bread of life should be given from Heaven in his incarnation, and the day in which he should come out of the furnace of fiery afflictions, and made a strong bread & nourishment by his resurrection able to feed our souls spiritually to life eternal. And from hence they infer, with the approbation of diverse grave Divines and schoolmen of later times, that God did of old intend and purpose to make this day, in the times of the Gospel after Christ fully exhibited and given unto us, to be the bread of life, & heavenly Mann●, his Holy weekly Sabbath and day of spiritual provision, wherein Christians should make their weekly provision of spiritual food, and heavenly Manna to feed their souls.  
Thirdly, diverse of the Ancient fathers have observed, and diverse both Schoolmen and godly learned writers of the reformed Church therein conse●t with them. That the Lord did of old by his spirit-speaking in the Prophets, foretell the change of the Holy Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, the Lords day, and day of Christ's resurrection. The blessed Martyr Jgnatius who lived and was grown in the knowledge of Christianity in the time of the Apostles, and before the death of St. john the Evangelilist as he himself testifies, doth in his Epistle to the M●gnesians not only affirm that the Lords day is the Queen and supreme Lady of all days, but also endeavours to prove, that God from the days of old had ordained it to be the true Christian Sabbath, and did foreshow so much by the words of the Prophet David in the title of the sixth Psalm, wherein it is called a Psalm unto the eighth day, that is in honour of the Lords day, which as it is the first of the week counting from the creation every week severally by itself, and the seventh if we begin our account with the next day after the Lord's day, as the jews did with the next after their Sabbath.  
So if we reckon forward from the beginning of the creation into an other week it is the eight day. And also learned Augustine and others of the fathers, as also diverse late writers do in this point concur with him, and affirm that God moving David to make such Honourable mention of the eighth day, did foreshow his purpose and will, to change that day by Christ's resurrection in to his Holy Sabbath. Some also from God's institution of circumcision one the eighth day after the birth of the child which was to be circumcised, do gather that the eight day, after the birth of the world, to weet: the Lord's day was before ordained of God to be not only the day of Christ's resurrection & victory over sin & death by which sin should be cut of & destroyed, but also the Christian sabbath and so both a special day of Circumcising their hearts to the Lord in the state of grace, and also a pledge of the fullness of mortification and sanctification in the day of the last resurrection & of entrance into the eternal Sabbath in heaven. For this purpose also Saint Austen & many other learned men in all ages since even to this day, 
serm. de tempore. 136.  do allege the plain words of David, Psal. 118.24, where having Prophetically foretold the glorious resurrection of Christ. Thou after that the jews had crucified & put him to death, he should rise up to be the head corner stone even the rock & foundation of the Church, (for so our Saviour Mat. 21.42. & the Apostle Act. 4.11. do expound David's words) he immediately affirms, that this is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice, and be glad in it. That this is the day of the Lord Christ as St. john calls it Revel. 1.10. which the Lord hath made. That is, in his degree hath already appointed to be his holy day, we (that is in the time of the Gospel when this stone is become the head of the corner) will rejoice & be glad in it: that is, rejoice before the Lord with all joy & serve him, be glad in him with Sabbatical & holy solemnity, & if we consider well the matter and substance of the 92. Psalm, which is entitled a Psalm for the Sabbath, we shall see that it is most fit for the day of Christ's resurrection, setting forth the fruits thereof plainly and after a lively manner, to weet: the sole joy of God's people, and the flourishing state of the righteous in God's Church, and exalting of the horn of Christ the true M●ssiah and King of the Church.  
Fourthly, if we consider the diversity and difference of things which are commanded in the law of the Sabbath, and are to be observed in the weekly Sabbath as it was instituted by God at the first, and again revived in the fourth commandment, if we call to mind that the law is a mixed law commanding some things which concern the very substance and being of the Holy Sabbath, unto which it binds men perpetually, such as are a fit proportion of time one day in every week, rest and cessation, from common works of this life, and sanctification of it by religious exercises and devoting it to public assemblies and holy worship. And other things it commanded which were typical, and ceremonial, and were to have there full accomplishment in Christ, and to be in force only until the full exhibition & revelation of Christ, a perfect Redeemer, all which I have largely showed before, and the best learned have ever held. It will upon these grounds necessarily follow, that there must be a change of the Sabbath from the seventh day, and in respect of the tipical and ceremonial worship, at the full exhibition of Christ, into aday and a worship more fit for Christ given and revealed, and for the times of the gospel.  
First it is generally held by the best learned. That God by sanctifying the seventh day and commanding his Holy Sabbath to be kept every week on the seventh day, did thereby show, that in his wisdom he saw it fit and necessary for man to observe this proportion of time, & to devote one day in every week, both to bodily rest and a total cessation from his own worldly labours, pleasures, and delights, and also to Holy and Heavenly meditations, and to religious exercises, and Holy assemblies. And in these respects they call the law of the Sabbath natural, moral, and perpetual, and they prove it thus.  
First because nature itself and common reason and experience do teach, that ever since man's fall it is naturally necessary for man's health and wellbeing, and for the preserving and upholding of the life & strength of his labouring and ●oyling cattle, that he, his servants & cattle should have one day's rest in seven. And that without this proportion of time dedicated to Holy assemblies, and exercises of piety, the saving knowledge of God, and true religion and piety cannot well be upheld, frail men would by little forget God, become ignorant of heavenly things, and so of the way to eternal rest; if it were left in man's power to choose his own time; some would choose none at all, the rest for the most part would differ that time which some thought fit. Others would refuse as inconvenient, and so there would be no set ordinary assemblies, Gods worship would grow out of use.  
Secondly, true piety teacheth us; that we ought to think ourselves bound in conscience to give and devote so much of our time at the least to pious exercises, as God, in whose hand we and our times are, did require of his people in the obscurer times of the Old Testament, for the keeping of religion and his worship on foot, for preserving of the knowledge and memory of his goodness, and benefits, and for the sanctifying of their weekly labours of his creatures to their use and of themselves to him, that they might be fitted to see him in glory, for the abundance of grace shed on us by the Gospel; is a bond and obligation to us of much more service and obedience which we owe to God. Now God required of them every seventh day to be kept holy, and that was the least which any of them in any age were bound to dedicate to his worship. And therefore true piety binds us much more to keep an holy weekly Sabbath.  
These are arguments and proofs, sufficient to satisfy any man who doth not perversely resist, and rebel against the law of nature. But let me here give a cave at by the way: That when the learned call the sabbath and the law of it natural, we are not to conceive that by natural, they mean a thing written in man's heart in the creation, which man was made to perform and obey simply as a reasonable creature and natural man (For man was made for the Sabbath Mark 2.27.) Neither did he toil and sweat or need a set weekly rest: Neither did he need a weekly solemnity, to help his memory, or to stir up his affections, as I have before proved. But that they understand by natural, that which the very light of natural reason shows to be most convenient and necessary for men now corrupt, and which so soon as it is commanded and revealed by God's word appears so necessary in the very nature of it, both for men souls and bodies, that without it they cannot have ordinarily any well being on earth, nor escape hell & come to Heaven after death. This exposition learned Zanchyus, gives of his own and other learned men's speeches, 
Zanch. lib de De Calog. thes, 1.  when they call the law of the Sabbath natural. If, saith he, it were so natural as things written in man's heart in the creation, than the Heathen Gentiles would have felt themselves bound by it, and would have showed it in their practice in some measure more or less. Nevertheless the conclusion of Zanchyus, and other learned Divines is firm and sure, upon the former premises, to weet: That God's first commandment of the Sabbath doth perpetually bind all God's people to the world's end, to keep a weekly Sabbath even a seventh day in every week Holy to the Lord.  
Secondly, it is a thing universally held by all true Christian writers, that the Sabbath as it was limited to the seventh day of the week, and was to be observed by bodily sacrifices morning and evening, and by worship which consisted in outward rites which were tips and figures of things which have their accomplishment in Christ, so it was ceremonial temporary and changeable. The common ground of the sanctifying of the seventh day and tying the Sabbath to it, is held commonly to be God's rest on the seventh day from the work of creation. And this is such a ground as in the fullness of the time was to give place and did give place to a better rest arising, and brought in by the finishing of a more excellent and glorious work of God's goodness and bounty even the work of man's Redemption. The worship of God on the Sabbath of the seventh day in the old Testament, by double sacrifices & such ryts were but vanishing shadows the substance of them was Christ, & therefore they were to cease when the body & substance came in. And the particular day itself and the rest tied to it was a type and figure of the death of Christ, and of his rest in the grave, and of the rest and ease which Christ by his death should bring to all God's people from the burden of legal rites, and from the guilt of sin and horror of conscience, which as an heavy load did press them down, and from the mass of corruption like a weight hanging fast one them, all which Christ abolished by his death and redemption, and so put an end to the Sabbath as it was tied to the last day of the week.  
This being commonly held for a certain truth by the learned Fathers and writers of all ages after them until this day, proves so far as their authority and reason will reach: that though the keeping holy of a weekly Sabbath is a perpetual day, to which all God's people are bound in all ages: yet the particular day was mutable, and another special day was to be appointed and consecrated by him who is the Lord of the sabbath, wherein an holy rest fitter for the time and state of the new Church must be kept, with better service and solemnity. Instead of bodily sacrifices, there must be offering up of spiritual sacrifices of praises, prayers, alms, & works of piety, & charity: for-slaughtering of beasts, there must mortifying of corruption by holy contrition, and killing of all brutish lusts and carnal pleasures and delights, by separating ourselves and sequestering our minds from them. Instead of dark shadows of the law, and obscure promises of Christ to come; there must be the light of the Gospel shining in the Church & preaching of Christ crucified, and raised up and set at God's right hand, and there must be seeking of God's face in his name and mediation, and of access unto God in him by one spirit.  
Now what day can any man conceive in any reason so fit as the Lords day, the first of the week: wherein we christians keep our weekly sabbath? This undoubtedly is the most fit and convenient of all days as I have largely before proved. Yea that this undoubtedly is the only particular day which Gods law binds us to keep holy all the time of the Gospel, even until we come to the eternal rest in heaven. I will as briefly as I can prove and demonstrate, in the last place, and so conclude this point of sanctification of the Sabbath, as it is the work of God the lawgiver, and is distinguished from man's duty and work of sanctification.   

CHAP. 13.  
THE First which is the main foundamentall argument, is drawn from the foundation upon which God hath from the beginning builded and surely settled the weekly Sabbath. 
1 Argument.  It is a thing most certain and undeniable, that whatsoever things are inseparably joined & cleave fast together, they stand & move together, the one cannot move to any place, but the other of necessity must move with it.  
Whatsoever is firmly settled on a rock and inseparably fastened to it, & founded on it, must needs move with the rock and cannot move to any place but where the rock is moved, upon which ground I argue thus: That which is from the beginning founded upon Christ, and so surely settled and firmly builded vp●n him by God, the founder of all things, that cannot be separated, it must needs move and change the place with Christ, and cannot be moved, nor change and remove to any place but only to that which Christ is removed. The weekly Sabbath from the first institution is founded by God, firmly builded and sure settled upon Christ the redeemer, and is in seperably joined to him. Therefore it cannot move nor change the place, nor be removed from the seventh day to any other day of the week, unless Christ the Redeemer change his day and move together with it, and if he doth change his solemn day, it must needs be changed and removed with him to the same day. The proposition is undeniable: the assumption also I have fully proved before, in the laying open the grounds of the Sabbath: and therefore the conclusion is a most manifest truth. That whensoever Christ changeth his day and chooseth another, the Sabbath must needs be changed to the same day. Which conclusion fully proved I lay it down for a good ground and argue thus upon it.  
That day which Christ leaveth and passeth from it unto another, which he chooseth for his special and particular day. From that day the Sabbath also is changed and moved, and the other day which Christ hath chosen becomes also immediately the particular day of the holy weekly Sabbath. Now the seventh day which was the special day of Christ in the old Testament, because on it Christ was promised a Redeemer of the world, and did first undertake openly and actually to mediate for man, is now ceased to be Christ's peculiar day, he hath left it, & hath chosen the first day, and made that his special and peculiar day above all other days of the week, when in it he got the victory over death, and by his resurrection entered into his glory and eternal rest; and of a redeemer in promise, became a redeemer indeed & fully perfected man's redemption. Therefore ever since hath the weekly Sabbath been removed to the first day, and that is the peculiar day of the weekly Sabbath.  
Secondly, that God did from the beginning purpose in himself, 
2 Argument.  and by many evidences did declare his intent, to change the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day, & also in the first institution of the Sabbath, and in the giving of his law for the keeping of it, did intend to bind us under the Gospel to the keeping of our weekly Sabbath on the first day of the week, as he bound the fathers to the seventh day in the Old Testament. I prove from the determinate counsel and forknowledge of God concerning the changes which he foreknew and determined to bring to pass, in the foundation, grounds, and prerogatives of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week: It is a thing which all men who have any true knowledge of God must needs know and acknowledge for an undoubted truth: that God whose wisdom is infinite, and his wife providence ordereth and disposeth all things, doth never any thing in vain, he never lays the foundation in any place but there also he intends the building, he never brings in the proper causes any where, or in any time, but then and there he intends to bring in & to produce the proper effects of them, and whatsoever commandment God gives to men to perform some special duty upon some special grounds, and for some singular causes, occasions & reasons, by that commandment he binds them to perform the duty whensoever and whersoever he shows the grounds and reasons to them, and gives and offers the causes and occasions.  
So that if it be made to appear unto us, that now under the Gospel, God had according to his own determinat counsel and forknowledge changed the foundation of the weekly Sabbath, and removed it & all the grounds, reasons, accasions, and praerogatives of it, from the seventh day to the first which is the Lords day, we must needs see and acknowledge, that it was the Purpose, mind, & will of God to make the Lords day our weekly Sabbath, and in his giving of the first law of the Sabbath, which in the main substance of it is perpetual, to bind all his people after the full exhibition of Christ to the last resurrection to keep the Holy weekly Sabbath on that day only.  
Now these things may sufficiently appear by the opening and proving of diverse things before, which I have observed out of this text, & by urging & pressing them home to this present purpose a little more fully here again I shall put them out of all doubt and question, and make them manifest & clear to all who do not wilfully shut their ears against the truth. First, that the foundation of the Sabbath is Christ the Redeemer, & that all the true & proper grounds, reasons and occasions, of keeping one day in every week Holy to the Lord, are only to be found in Christ and came in with him, as I have before fully proved. And as God first promised Christ to come the seed of the woman, for the Redemption of mankind, & Christ did undertake for man to mediate for him on the first seventh day of the world, and thereupon that day was sanctified to be the weekly sabbath: So God had in his immutable counsel determined to exhibit Christ a perfect Redeemer, & by him to perfect man's redemption on the first day of the week, and so to remove Christ the foundation from the seventh day of the week, to the first day, together with all other grounds, reasons, occasions & prerogatives of the Holy Sabbath. What greater change could be or ever was hard of in Christ the main foundation both of the Sabbath & of the universal Church, then when of a redeemer promised on the seventh day, and so continuing all the time of the old Testament while the fathers believed only in him promised & not yet come. He became a Redeemer fully exhibited in his resurrection on the first day of the week & changed the state of the Church: and bringing her from the Nonnage and childish estate of bondage under the rudiments of the world, and legal rites, & carnal ceremonies, to the fullness of her time which God had appointed, & to her full age in the new testament. And hereby that first day of the week became the chiefest day of the Lord Christ, even his special & particular day, & came to have all the subordinat grounds & high prerogatives of the Sabbath. For in it God perfected his work which he had made in the creation by the work of redemption, not promised & undertaken only, as in the seventh day, but by a better kind of perfecting and ending, even by redemption fully finished, on that day Christ rested from that greater work of redemption, & declared by his resurrection, that he had made full satisfaction for mankind to the justice of God, & that God rested in his satisfaction, now actually made & performed, by a more excellent manner of resting then that wherewith he rested on the seventh, in that satisfaction only undertaken & promised, on that day Christ got the victory over death, hell, sin, the world & the Devil, and becoming immortal not subject to die, or suffer any more, entered into the glorious state of exaltation and into his eternal rest, and made way for men to that eternal rest whereof the Sabbath is both a lively pledge, & also a powerful means to fit men for it. And in all these respects God blessed the first day of the week, with a blessing far above his blessing of the seventh day, for that was the promise & undertaking only, this was the performance & perfecting of redemption: & therefore so far excels that, as the giving of a great gift & perfecting of a work exceeds the promise of that gift & undertaking of that work. Now that that this removing of the main foundation of the weekly Sabbath, together with the subordinat grounds, occasions & prerogatives of it, from the seventh day to the Lords day; the first of the week, came to pass by the determinate counsel, foreknowledge and providence of God, and that from the beginning and in the first giving of the law of the weekly Sabbath, God did purpose and intend this change, it appears most plainly by diverse reasons. First because God is no idle spectator, but the provident Lord & disposer of all things, which come to pass in the world, & nothing can come to pass but so as he hath appointed, and in the time & season which he hath determined.  
The flood and general deluge by which the old world was destroyed, came to pass in the very year and day which God had prefixed, & did for tell to Noah one hundred and twenty years before. The end of Jsraell peregrination and servitude in Egypt, came to pass just at the end of four hundred and ●hirty years, in the same day which God had determined, & foretold to Abraham. Exod. 12.41. and so the deliverance of the Isralites out of captivity, and the decree for their return came out at God's appointed time, which he had foretold by jeremiah the Prophet. Dan, 9.2 23. And the particular time of Christ's satisfaction and atonement for sin, and bringing in of eternal righteousness, was determined by God, and came to pass at the end of the seventy sevens of years, as it was revealed to Daniel in the same Chap. 24. ver. And in a word the very time of Christ's resurrection, by the virtue whereof we are fully redeemed and shall in our very bodies be raised up to life eternal, and rest in glory, as the Apostle testifies. Rom. 6.5. 1 Cor. 15.13.21 Philip. 3.10. & 1 Pet. 1.3. It was determined by God before the foundation of the world, as the words of St Peter do show. 1 Pet. 1.2. Secondly; God in the very creation & from the first beginning of the world, did foreshow that he had a purpose to honour the first day of the week above all the other days, and to make it the Lords day and Christian sabbath by the resurrection of Christ. In that he made it the first fruits of time, and in it created the highest heaven, the place of the eternal Sabbath, and brought forth the light of this inferior world, by which natural prerogatives he made this day the fittest of all days of the week, to be the day of Christ's resurrection, wherein he the sun of righteousness & light of the world, rose up with healing in his wings, and became the first fruits of them that sleep, and by virtue whereof he will bring the faithful into the eternal rest, whereof the weekly Sabbath is a pledge & will make them partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light, as the Scriptures testify 1 Cor. 15.20. & Coloss. 1.12.  
Upon these premises before proved at large, and here again pressed home to the purpose. The conclusion followeth necessarily: That it was the purpose, intent and will of God to make the first day of the week, the Lords day and the Christian Sabbath, and in the first institution of the Sabbath. and by his first law of the Sabbath (which in the main substance of it is perpetual) to bind all his people in the time of his glorious Gospel, to observe that day only for their holy weekly Sabbath; until they come to that whereof the Sabbath is a lively pledge, even the eternal rest of glory in Heaven.  

3 Argument.  Thirdly whatsoever tends most to the perfect fullfilling of any special law and commandment of God given to men, and is manifestly made known to man to be most agreeable to Gods will revealed in that law, and to the ends and uses which God openly pretendeth therein, that man is chiefly bound to do by that law and commandment. This is a most certain and undoubted truth. For God's general commandment is, that we love him with all our heart, and worship and serve him with all our soul and all our strength. Deut. 6; 5. & Mat. 22.37.  
Now the will of God revealed in this first institution, and sanctifying of the sabbath, and in the fourth Commandment of the law, is often repeated & urged by Moses & the Prophets, is more perfectly fulfilled in the right sanctification of the Lords day under the Gospel, than it was in the observation of the seventh the sabbath of the old Testament, & whatsoever necessary duty God in the law of the sabbath requireth of man from the beginning, Or whatsoever end and use he openly pretendeth, his law of the keeping of the holy sabbath that is more fully obtained, effected, and brought to pass by an holy sanctification of the Lords day, and by keeping it an holy Sabbath to the Lord now under the Gospel. Therefore by the law of the sabbath given at the first, and by the fourth commandment, it is repeated and explained, Christians are bound to to keep the Lords day which is the first of the week for their weekly Sabbath.  
If any man doth make doubt of the assumption in this Syllogism. It is easily proved by a particular enumeration, both of the particular substantial and necessary duties which Gods word requires in the Sabbath: and also of the ends and uses for which God requires an holy sabbath to be kept every seventh day.  
The First main duty from which the seventh day requirs the name of Sabbath, is rest and cessation from all worldly labours, pleasures and delight, wherein man is to withdraw his mind from worldly cares and secular affairs, which concern this frail earthly life, and is to give rest and refreshing to his own body, and to the bodies of his children, servants strangers, and toiling cattle as appears. Exod. 20.10. Isa 58.13.  
And the proper end and use of this rest is. First to admonish man that he must not place nor seek felicity in this world, nor since his fall and breaking of the Covenant of works by his disobedience, hope for any happiness or felicity either here or else where to be purchased by his own works of righteousness, which he either is, or was able in the first creation to perform in his own person. Secondly to show that God's just wrath appeased by C●rist, and the sting of death and the curse and bitterness of man's sorrows, and toilsome labours which God imposed on him for his transgression, is taken away, and God will not have his people to torment their bodies which continual toil, and painful labour, but to ease and refresh themselves with a weekly rest. Thirdly to make men take notice that God hath a provident and fatherly care of his creatures both men and beasts, hates all merciless cruelty, & oppression of their very bodies, and will have them so refreshed & eased that they may last the longer, and go cheerfully through their weekly labours.  
Fourthly, to show that in Christ upon whom the Sabbath is founded, there is spiritual rest and ease and refreshing of the soul, from the heavy burden of sin, and the miser●es of sin, to be found of all them who being heavy laden do flee to him, and in him place their hope and confidence.  
Fif●ly, to put in mind of Gods resting in Christ's mediation from the work of creation, and that he hath wholly given over all purposes and thoughts of repairing the world, and restoring man fallen and corrupted by any work of creation, and hath set his mind on another kind of work, even the work of redemption by Christ, and the new creation of heavenly spiritual and supernatural graces and perfections in men by his holy spirit.  
Sixthly, to be a sign and memorial of Christ his full perfecting of the work of man's redemption, and of his perfect satisfaction made to the justice of God for frail sinful men.  
Lastly to be a token and pledge of the eternal rest in heaven, and of the Sabbathisme which after the labours and troubles of this life, the elect and faithful people of God shall enjoy for ever in the world to come.  
Now there is no day in all the week, in which this first main duty of the Sabbath can be well be performed, for the ends and uses, as on the Lord's day which is the Christian Sabbath. The seventh day never yielded half so much light & helps to God's people in the old Testament for these purposes, as the Lords day doth to us under the Gospel. For the Lords day in which Christ arose from death, and entered into his glory, and perfected the work of Redemption, It discovers Christ the main foundation of all rest, & even of the Sabbath itself more plainly unto us, and in it being bewtified and adorned with so many blessings and prerogatives which Gods word gives to it, we may as in a clear glass see and behold Christ with open face, we see in his resurrection God's justice fully satisfied, his wrath appeased, redemption fully perfected, Gods resting in Christ mediation, eternal rest purchased by Christ for us, and gained to himself, & heaven opened unto us, & sin, death and hell already overcome and conquered. And therefore there is no day by many degrees, so fit as this day of Christ's resurrection to make us rest comfortably in our bodies and minds from worldly cares, and bodily labours, and in our souls and consciences from the burden of sin and the guilt thereof. No day or time can so plainly show unto us, that our fellicity is not in this world, nor to be obtained and purchased by the righteousness of our own works. This sets before us Christ raised for our justification. This shows God's abundant mercy and compassion ●o us, and that he hates all cruelties and oppressions. And this is a special means to bring us to the assurance of the blessed hope and eternal rest reserved in Heaven for us. And therefore the first main duty with all the parts thereof, and the special ends and uses of it, are more fully performed and obtained in the observation of the Lords day for the Holy weekly Sabbath, than they possibly can be now by us, or could be of old on the sabbath of the seventh day, by the fathers in the old Testament.  
The second main duty of the Sabbath is sanctifying and keeping of it holy to the Lord, which comprehends in it many special and particular duties. 1. Setting of their affections even their joy and delight wholly upon God and heavenly things. 2. Honouring & worshipping of God, in their hearts with holy thoughts and meditations, by their lips with holy prayers, praises, and thanksgiving, in their outward actions by preaching, hearing, reading, & repeating of God's word, and solemn commemoration of his promises, mercies and blessings in the word and sacraments. 3. Teaching and learning all holy duties which tend to bring us nearer to God in Christ. 4. Offering spiritual sacrifices to God of sweet savour, such as are almsdeeds & works of mercy and charity, whereby others may be made to taste of God's goodness and stirred up to laud and praise his name.  
All these are comprehended under the main duty of sanctifying the holy Sabbath which the Lord commands expressly in the law, and they are commended to us by the Prophet. Isa. 56.4. & 58.13. And the proper end and use of this duty and all the parts thereof, is. First to make us set our affections on things which are above and not on things below, and to stir us up to seek eternal life and heavenly happiness in Christ only, and in him crucified and raised up.  
Secondly, to continue and increase in frail men the knowledge and memory of Christ, and of the way to eternal life and blessedness in him, which without keeping holy of a weekly Sabbath, would fail & cease among the sons of men.  
Thirdly, to begit and increase true grace and holiness in men by exercising holy duties of religion; and so to bring them by justification & adoption to the right of inheritance in Heaven, and by sanctification to fit them for the possession of it. Now the observation of the Lords day, in which Christ arose is such as may far more powerfully & effectually move men to the performance of these duties, & lead men more directly to the proper end and use of them, than the old Sabbath of the the seventh day, either now can, or of old could do when it was most in force. For it had no other light or life in it, but only from obscure promises, and dark shadows through which Christ was seen as things far off are seen, and in the star light nights. But the Lord's day the first day of the week, hath light and life from the sun of righteousness Christ who in it rose up, and to be the light of life to all nations, & hath brought life & immortality to light by the Gospel, and discovered to us the kindness and love of God & the riches of his goodness, in giving grace and shedding his spirit on us abundantly here, and so fit us for glory hereafter. And therefore this day must needs be of great force and power, far ab●ve the seventh day, to make men set their affections on God and heavenly things, especially upon the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fadeth not away: reserved in heaven for us, unto which God hath begotten us by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. 1. Pet. 1.3. It is also powerful and excellent to incite and stir us up to honour God in our hearts, by the due consideration of his goodness and mercy. Also it much furthereth us to proclaim the high praises of our God, and king, and to make prayers and supplications to him. Besides to make us helpful unto others, in seeking after their salvation. And thus we may see what are Sabbath duties, even the works of piety, mercy, charity, etc. pleasing to God, and by which others may be brought to join with us, in lauding and praising God, and we ourselves fitted for glory.  
Upon ●hese points so fully proved. The conclusion follows necessarily: that the law by which God first instituted the Sabbath on the first s●venth day of the world, doth bind us under the Gospel to keep the Lords day for our weekly Sabbath.  

Argum.  Fourthly, that day which God hath made, most Honourable, and hath given it a most Honourable name and title above all the days of the week, to that he hath given the prerogative to be the weekly Sabbath & hath made it his day of Holy rest. For it is a property of the sabbath, to be the Lords Holy and Honourable day, as the evangellical Prophet Isaiah shows. Jsa 58.13. & making of it Honourable, is making of it the Sabbath. Now the first day of the week is the day which God hath Honoured above all days, by the glorious victory of Christ, over death and over all enemies, and powers of darkness, and to it he hath given the most Honourable, name and title: For the holy evangelist and divine Apostle S. john, who was the intimate, beloved, and bosom Disciple of the Lord, and did best know his mind calls it the Lords day. Revel. 1.10. that is, the day which the Lord hath made the day of great joy & gladness to his people, as David foretold. Psa. 118. which day the Lord Christ hath appropriated to himself, & his honour, & Honoured with his own name, as he is the Lord God, one jehovah with the father. For the Greek word (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) Lord, is in respect of the root from whence it is derived the same in signification, with God's proper name jehovah, and most commonly in the new Testament, is used to express that sacred name. Therefore it is now under the Gospel made by God himself the weekly Sabbath.  
The Fifth argument is grounded upon the words of our Saviour. Math. 12.8. & Mark. 2. 27·28. Where he saith, that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man, for the Sabbath. Therefore he, even as he is the son of man, or God made man, is the Lord of the sabbath.  
The first clause, to weet: (the sabbath was made for man,) notes out unto us two things. 1. That the Sabbath was first instituted for man, even by reason of the son of God promised to become man, and so he is the foundation of it. 2. That it was made for man, that is, for the man Christ, and for the benefit of all mankind in him, for his honour and the advancement of his kingdom among men, and for the good of men, both natural and civil, in respect of weekly rest, and refreshing, & also spiritual, as knowledge, instruction, growth in grace & holiness.  
The second clause (not man for the Sabbath) shows that the Sabbath is not one of those things which man was made to observe in the creatione, neither is the law of it written in man's heart in the the creation: it was the fall of man and his corruption, which caused his to stand in need of a weekly rest, and of holy Sabbath exercises, to work good in him, and to bring him nearer to God. And being made for man's use, he may in case of necessity dispense with outward observations of the Sabbath: & the same must give place to works of necessity which cannot be omitted either without loss of life or some certain loss or mischief  
The third clause (Therefore is the son of man Lord also of the sabbath) doth give us to understand that the use of the Sabbath was founded on Christ promised to be Lord of the sabbath, and was in, & under him made man, and necessary for the profit of man corrupted, not for man in innocency. Therefore C●rist the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath that is, he hath th● true proper right and propriety, in it for to make it serve for his use being the Lord possessor of it, and he hath authority and power over it, so that it is at his command, either to be or not to be in use, either the seventh day or upon some other day of the week. Now we never read, that Christ exercised any Lordship over the Sabbath, as he is the son of man, either to command it or to change it, but only in these two respects. First that he brought it first into the world by undertaking to be the seed of the woman, & the son of man, & so it was settled on the seventh day, in which he was promised during the time of the old Testament, while he was a redeemer pr●mised.  
Secondly, that he by his resurrection in which he perfected redemption, did consecrate the first day and made it the most honourable day, fit to be the Sabbath of the new Testament, and also gave commandment to his Apostles so to ordain in all Churches. Besides this Lordship and power of Christ as son of man over the Sabbath, we cannot conceive or imagine any other. Therefore undoubtedly he hath changed it to the first day of the week, and as Lord of it hath given commandment for this change and alteration.  

6 Argument.  The sixth Arg. is drawn from Gods sanctifying of the Lords day by his son Christ more fully and excellently, than he did the seventh day in the first institution of the Sabbath. For seeing the making of the seventh day to be the Holy Sabbath, is the sanctifying of it as the words of my text show, and also the words of the law. Exod. 20.13. It must needs hereupon be granted. that what day God by his Son Christ, hath in all respects more fully and excellently sanctified, than the seventh day was sanctified when God made it the Sabbath. That day God by Christ hath made his Holy Sabbath, and so it is worthy to be esteemed, and so is to be observed in the new Testament. But now it is most certain and manifest: That the Lord God by his son Christ hath in all respects more fully and excellently sanctified the first day of the week, in which Christ arose from death (as appears by diverse things which I have formerly touched.) First he in that day more abundantly revealed his holiness to the world in that he declared Christ our Redeemer and the head of the whole body the Church, To be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Rom. 1.3.  
secondly, he then opened as it were the floodgates of Heaven, that Holiness might be more abundantly with his spirit poured out upon all flesh, when Christ was raised up and exalted by God's right hand, that he might shed his spirit on all sorts of people of all nations, as we read. Act. 2.33. Yea in that, in the feast of Pentecost which was the first day of the week, and the 49. day after Christ's resurrection, the Holy Ghost was sent down upon the Apostles to sanctify them, and to lead them into all truth, and to give them the gifts of tongues, to preach the Gospel unto all nations which they presently did, and the same day converted 3000. souls, herein he both showed his Holiness more abundantly than before.  
Thirdly; It is piously held by many Divines, that among other things which after his resurrection Christ spoke to his Disciples, concerning the Kingdom of God, that is the Church under the Gospel: this was one, namely, of the keeping of the Holy Sabbath, and holy assemblies, or gathering of the saints together upon the first day of the week: For immediately after, the Apostles observed that day, and all churches in all ages since have followed their example. Therefore it is God who by his Son Christ hath made this first day, that is the Lords day the weekly Sabbath of Christians.  
I might here add for further proof of this truth, an observation of diverse godly and learned writers, to weet: that our Saviour sanctified the first day of the week more than any other day by his promise and example, in that he did most commonly appear to the Disciples after his resurrection, and came amongst them when they were assembled together on that day, and taught and instructed them and breathed on them, so we read. Luk. 24.13.36. & joh. 20.19.26.  
Seventhly That which the Apostle taught by word and writing and ordained in all Churches of Christian Gentiles, 
7 Argument.  and confirmed by their constant practice, is undoubtedly a Commandment which they received from the Lord Christ, so it appears. Act. 15.28. where they profess that what they prescribed to the Chirstian Churches, was the dictate and sentence first of the holy Ghost, and then of them jointly. And our Saviour tells us that the Holy Ghost leads men into all truth by speaking his word only to them and calling it to their remembrance, joh. 16.13.14. therefore it was Christ his word and ordinance, St. Paul also professeth that he delivered unto them, such traditions as be received from the Lord 1 Cor. 11.23. And again he saith 1 Cor. 14.37. If any man think himself to be a Prophet, or spiritual, let him know, that the things which I write unto you are the Commandments of the Lord. Now it is manifest in the Gospel, and in the writings of the new Testament: that it was a constant practice of the Apostles to keep their assemblies with one accord on the first day of the week, so we read: joh. 20.19.29. Act. 2.1.2. and in those their assemblies the Lord Christ presented himself to them bodily, and by the visible appearance and powerful operation of his spirit. Also Act. 20.8. St Paul on that day kept an holy assembly at Troas, and there he preached and administered the sacrament of the Lords supper and performed Holy exercises of the Christian Sabbath. And the same Apostle gave a precept and commandment to the Corinthians, even the same which he there saith he had ordained in the Churches of Galatia. 1 Cor. 16.1.2: to weet: that they should observe the first day of the week, and in their Holy assemblies on that day offer up pleasing Sabbath sacrifices, that is do good & distribute to the necessities of the saints, with which sacrifices God is well pleased. Heb. 13.16.  
Therefore undoubtedly it is the ordinance and commandment of Christ, which the Apostle received from him. That the first day of the week should be the Holy Sabbath, and the day of weekly Holy assemblies to all Christians. 
8. Argu.  The 8. argument is drawn from the blessing of stability wherewith God hath blessed the Sabbath of the first day, the joy and comfort & great benefit which most godly & religious christians find in it, and the tediousness of it to carnal people, & the loathsomeness of it to all such as are opposites to Christ, and from his grace. This is most true which grave and learned Gamaliell gave in the counsel of the high priests and elders of the jews. That which is of men and not an ordinance of God, if it concern religion, it will come to nought, it cannot continue in force, nor prosper any long time. Act. 5.38. And surely if the Christian Sabbath, & keeping holy of the first day of the week were an invention of men, and not the ordinance of the the Lord Christ, it could not prevail and stand in force in all Christian Churches, and in all ages by an uniform consent without interruption. The most godly zealous, and religious Christians, would find no solid joy and comfort in it, nor any blessing from God in their religious observation of it. And the world of carnal men who hate Christ, & his ordinances, would not be so opposite to it, as to hate and loathe it. For the world loveth her own. But all carnal worldlings, and profane persons, do so hate it, as they hate Christ, and it is loathsome and tedious to them, & notwithstanding many and great oppositions of profane persons. Yet we see it stands firm in all ages since the Apostles, and in all Christian Churches. None but Heretics have rejected it, & all godly Christians find solid joy & abudance of blessings in the strictest observation of it. Therefore it is most certainly no humane invention, but Christ's ordinance, It is he who hath made the first day of the week his own Holy day and our weekly Sabbath. The Ninth Arg. is drawn from the manifestation of God's wrath against the open profaners of the Lords day, 
9 Argu.  and from the great & fearful judgements, which God hath in former ages, & doth still execute on the dispicers & polluters of the christian Sabbath. It is certain that the Lord doth not cut of or consume men in wrath, but for some notable scandalous sins & transgressions against some express law & commandment, he makes no men examples of vengeance by sudden and fearful destruction, and notable plagues, but for some notable sin, & all notable sins, are transgressions of God's law, commited against his revealed will & word. Now as the Histories of all ages do afford many examples of fearful judgements suddenly executed & inflicted on wilful profaners of the Lords day in former times. So I could rehearse and relate above 30. examples of God's vengeance, which he hath showed openly in this land within the space of two years, upon such as have showed open contempt of this Christian sabbath, some of which he hath sticken with sudden death by his mediate hand, others he hath devoured with waters, and some he hath cut of by surfeits which they got in dancing & drinking on the Lord's day, and sun he hath fired out of their houses in the midst of their drinking & jollity, & consumed all their substance. And these judgements have suddenly & unexpectedly befallen them in the very act of their transgression, while they were in the midst of their actions, very busy about their own works, sports & pleasure. And these things are as clear as the light, and manifest to our eyes & outward senses, that God is most severe against the profanation of this day, and that it is apparent that his son Christ made this day his Holy Sabbath, and commands all men to keep it. Lastly we have clear testimonies both from the Apostles themselves, that the day wherein Christians keep their Sabbath, even the first day of the week is the Lords peculiar day. Revel. 1.10. And also from all the most ancient fathers and learned Christian writers which succeeded the Apostles in the next ensuing ages, that the Lord Christ changed the Holy Sabbath to this day, consecrated it by his resurrection, & that all Christian Churches from the time of the Apostles kept their holy rest in it, & devoted it to public exercises of religion, and of God's worship & counted it the Queen of days, the supreme Lady & princess, & worthy to be observed & sanctified with Sababaticall solemnities Ignatius calls it. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Epist ad magnesios Justin Martyr 2. Apol. pag. 77. discribes the observation of it in his times, and tells us, that Christians spent it in reading, preaching, prayer administration of the Sacraments, offering of alms, & other public worship of God in their public assemblies, besides private exercises of religion. Tertullian also acknowledgeth this first day's sabbath, & none other lib. adversus Gent. p. 41. & 155.  
Eusebius lib. 4. Eccles. Histor. cap. 22. brings in the profession of Dionysius Corinthius, who saith thus. This day we kept holy the Lord's day. St. Austen in his 119. Epistle and in the 22. book. De Civit Dei. Cap. 30 & serm. de verbis Apostoli. 15. And many other which it would be a tedious thing here to rehearse, especially seeing. I have before mentioned diverse of their testimonies, which tend to this purpose, and shall produce some also hereafter. Now upon all these arguments laid together, I hope we may boldly and confidently conclude against all both jewish Sabbatarians, who retain the old abolished Sabbath of the seventh day, and also unchristian Antisabbatarians who deny the Lords day to be the Sabbath under the Gospel, which Gods people by God's law and Christ's appointment are enjoined to keep Holy to the Lord.  
And that this Sabbath of the Lords day, cannot be changed but must stand firm, and be still in force among all God's people until the end of the world and the last resurrection, I will briefly demonstrate & show by two plain reasons which I hope none will deny, and thus I frame them. The first is grounded on Christ's words. Mark. 2. vers. 28. thus I frame it.  
That which hath Christ, as he is become the Son of man, Lord of it, must needs exist and have a being under him as he is the son of man, that is in the time of the Gospel. The Sabbath hath Christ the son of man Lord of it. Mark 2.28. Therefore it continues in being under Christ.  
Whatsoever ordinance of God is given to his People to be unto them a token and pledge of some great blessing, and future good promised, that God will have them to keep saf● and to hold fast, until they receive the blessing and come to the full possession of it. This is manifest by the tips and sacraments of the law, which could not be a bolished, nor without sin purposely neglected until Christ was fully exhibited, of whom they were signs and pledges and he was the body and substance. And we find by daily experience, that the losing or casting away of the pledge, is the forfeiting or foregoing of a man's right whereof it is a pledge: If we will receive the blessing we must do the condition of it. Now the observing of a weekly Sabbath is not only a sign of eternal rest in heaven, but also a token and pledge if it, given in the beginning, together with the first promise of Christ, and conveyed over from the fathers to us, & settled on the day wherein Christ arose from death, and perfected man's redemption. That it is a pledge of the Sabbathisme which remains for the people of God, the Apostles words imply. Heb. 4.9. And the best learned have ever held it to be our pledge of eternal rest in Heaven. As Aust●n. Tom. 4. Quaest 162. and lib. contra Adimantum. cap. 13. & diverse others. Therefore the holy weekly Sabbath upon the Lord's day must be observed by all God's people, & the law of the Sabbath binds them thereunto perpetually to the end of the world; & to the day of resurrection to glory. And thus I have finished the Doctrine of the sanctification of the Sabbath, as it is the proper act of God, even his seperaing of the seventh day to be an holy rest, by his word & commandment.   

CHAP. 14  
THE thing which now followeth, next in order, 
Of man's sanctification of the Sabbath.  is man's sanctifying the weekly Sabbath & keeping of a seventh day holy to the Lord, which God hath imposed on him for a necessary holy duty, when by his word & commandment he blessed & sanctified it, as here we read in the words of my text. For Gods sanctifying of days, times, & places is not any infusing of his holy spirit into them, as he doth into his saints, even holy Angels & men, but this giving of a law & commandment to men to observe & keep them after an holy manner, & to use & employ them to holy heavenly & supernatural use, even to divine worship & exercises of piety & religion, as I have before proved plainly. And in that Gods sanctified the seventh day, that is: gave a law in the beginning to man to keep & observe it for an holy Sabbath, as my text shows. Therefore it is a necessary duty imposed by God upon man so to observe & keep an holy sabbath every seventh day, or a seventh day in every week, & that duty of man's sanctification & keeping holy the Lord's sabbath, comes now in order to be handled, which is here necessarily implied & included in the word of my text. In the opening & handling whereof, I purpose to proceed in this method & order. First I will show that this duty of sanctifiing an holy Sabbath to the Lord, is imposed by this act of God, on all mankind, & the children of men are bound unto it from the seventh day of the world, after the first beginning of the creation, until that last day of the general resurrection & judgement, in which they shallbe called to an account & reckoning of all things which they have done in this life. Secondly, I will show how far, & upon what terms & conditions men are bound to this duty by God's law, given for that purpose in his act of sanctifying the Sabbath. Thirdly I will show more special, the special works wherein the sanctification and observation of the weekly Sabbath consisteth.  
The duties are of three sorts. 1. Some are common to all God's people in all ages from the beginning, and all states and conditions of the Church, both in the old and new Testament.  
Some are proper to the fathers of the old Testament, while the Sabbath was limited to the last day of the week, and grounded upon Christ promised only. 3. Some are proper to the Church and people of God under the Gospel in the new Testament, when the Sabbath is changed to the fi●st day of the week, even the Lords day, & builded upon the finishing of man's redemption, and Christ fully exhibited, and Gods resting in Christ's satisfaction consummated, which is a more excellent ground. Of all these in order.  
The ●●rst point (concerning the obligation of all mankind to the keeping of an holy weekly Sabbath from the first seventh day of the world, unto the last resurrection, when the elect and faithful shall both in their souls and bodies, enter into the eternal rest in Heaven) may be proved by diverse Arguments.  

1 Argument.  My first Argument is drawn from the law by which God here in my text did first bind man to this duty: & thus I briefly frame it. That duty which God hath enjoined by a commandment given to our first parents, without limitation, exception, or exemption of any, that he hath imposed by his commandment upon Adam and all his seed and posterity in his loins, and they are all bound unto it to the world's end.  
The sanctifying of a seventh in every week, and keeping it an Holy Sabbath, is a duty enjoined by a Commandment which God gave to Adam without limitation, or exemption of any of his seed and posterity. Therefore it is a duty imposed by God upon all mankind, and they are bound unto it in all ages until the end of the world.  
The first proposition cannot with any colour of reason be denied: if any shall object that God gave to Adam upon the promise of Christ a law of sacrificing clean beasts, and offering first fruits which bound him and his seed in his loins: and yet they are not bound by it in all ages but only until the coming of Christ: and his offering of himself a sacrifice which is the substance of all sacrifices, and after that men are bound no longer to that duty. I answer, that though the last of sacrifices, & of other service & worship, which were types & shadows, was given to Adam upon the first promise without express limitation, and reached to his seed in his loins, and as Cain, & Abel, so Noah, Abraham and all the patriarchs, & people of God were bound to that duty until Christ, yet there was a limitation in the things commanded, which being types and shadows only of Christ promised, were of no use, but only while Christ was yet expected, and not actually offered up a sacrifice of perfect atonement, and God's people had need of such types and figures to lead them to Christ. Therefore this Objection doth not touch, nor infringe this proposition which speaks of a law, & of a duty whi●h is of use to all mankind in all their generations.  
The assumption also is manifest. For here we have a law given to Adam, when all mankind were in his loins, commanding a duty even the sanctifying of a weekly Sabbath, which hath been and is, of as great use after Christ as before. For as the Isralites were bound unto this duty by God Exod. 16.23.28. & 20.8. even in all their generations, as appears. Jer. 17.21. so also God's people are bound to it under the Gospel, whether they be strangers which join themselves to the Lord, and lay hold on his Covenant. Isa. 56.6.7. that is, Churches of the believing Gentiles, or natural Isralites after their long hardness, in the last days, converted to Christ the repairer of the breach and builder up of the old waist places after many generations. Isa. 58.12.13.14. And I do not think there is any man professing Christianity dare be so impudent as to affirm, that any of God's people in any age are exempted from the Holy duties by which the Sabbath is sanctified, and a seventh day in every week kept Holy to the Lord, or that we in these evil and perilous times, have not as much need of them, for the upholding of true religion, & for the increasing of grace & godliness in our hearts. Therefore undoubtedly all mankind in all generations and ages are bound to keep a weekly Sabbath.  
My second argument is drawn from the duty itself, of keeping Holy a seventh day weekly to the Lord, and thus I frame it. 
2 Argument.  Every duty imposed on Adam and his posterity by God's commandment, which is in itself perpetually Holy and just, and of as great use to all men in all ages, & as necessarily in all respects as it was in Adam when God first enjoined it by his law. That belongs to all mankind, and all the posterity of Adam are bound thereunto in all ages to the end of the world. The keeping of an Holy weekly Sabbath, and sanctifying of a seventh day in every week, is such a duty. Therefore it belongs to all mankind, and all Adam's posterity are bound to it in all ages to the end of the world.  
The proposition is so manifestly true, th●t there can be no acception against it, to deny it is, to deny that greatest of God's commandments, which saith that God's people ought to fear the Lord, and walk in his ways, & to love and serve them with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their might. Deut. 6.5. & 10.12. For whosoever exempts himself, or others from a duty which is perpetually holy & just, & useful, & necessary for all men, he in so doing, refuseth to serve God with all his heart, soul, & might, and teacheth others to transgress that great commandment. The assumption also is an undoubted truth. For first there can be no time nor age named since man's fall & corruption, which brought all mankind under the bondage of hand & toilsome labour, & eating his bread with the sweat of his face, wherein the rest of one day in every week is not useful profi●table, & needful for men's bodies, & most just & equal to be granted to their labouring servants, & toiling cattle, the very light of natural reason reqiures it for the common good, & wellbeing of all men. He who denies this to himself, and to his children, servants, & cattle, he is an unjust & unmerciful man, not to be numbered among the righteous who are good & merciful to the life of their beasts. Prov. 12.10.  
Secondly, justice & equity require, that seeing the life of man is a pilgrimage on earth, & here on earth there is no abiding place for him, nor any felicity, true rest, or perfection to be found but in heaven, man should not spend all his time, & all his thoughts & studies in, & about the things of this world, but that he should have a set time at least one day in every week, wherein he resting & ceasing from worldly cares; labours, & delights, should wholly devote himself to heavenly meditations, and to holy exercises, which may fit him & prepare him for the place of rest, teach & direct him in the right & ready way thereunto, & enable him to walk wisely therein. Who thinks it to much to consecrate one whole day in seven unto religious exercises which may fit him for eternal life, he is undoubtedly most unequal in his judgement & a judge of unjust things. Thirdly, it is a thing not only good & holy in itself, that man of his own accord, & much more being commanded by God, should devote one whole day in every week to the mediate worship of God, in thankfulness for his creation & redemption, & the use of God's creatures restored to him in Christ; with some advantage: But also very useful & necessary for the seasoning of man's weekly labours with justice & piety, for the continuance & increase of holiness, & religion in his heart and for the enlightening of his mind, rectifying of his will, sanctifying, of his affections, and fitting him to undertake and begin all his weekly labours in the fear of God, to direct them to the right end, and to perfect and finish them happily by God's favour and blessing. If any man shall dare to deny this, we may justly fear that he is rude & ignorant of those heavenly and spiritual things, whereof all God's people have continually experience in themselves. And the constant practice of God's people who in all ages have observed and kept a weekly Sabbath holy to the Lord, and thereby have profitted in all piety and holiness, will convince them of gross blindness stupidity. Adam no doubt did every seventh day devote himself to God's worship, and taught his first sons, Cain & Abel to bring their offerings to God, at the end of days that is: every last day of the week, for that is the most proper sense of the words in the Hebrew text. Gen. 4.3.4. And so soon as the posterity of Seth began to multiply and increase they gathered themselves into a Church & were called the children of God, or God's people, and hereby they were distinguished from the carnal and profane progeny of Cain, & then they began to invocate and call upon the name of the Lord, that is to worship God in public assemblies. Gen 4.26. Whereas Adam, Abel and Seth, had invocated and worshipped God in their own private families only, now the faithful being multiplied did frequent public assemblies, which could not be, but in set places, and at set times surely every week on the seventh day which God had blessed and sanctified.  
Also after that general Apostasy which came in by unequal marriages of the sons of the faithful with the daughters of the profane, & the destruction of the the old world with the flood. Righteous Noah who was saved in the Ark with his family, immediately after began to observe the holy rest of the seventh day, for it is said, that the Burnt offering which he offered on the Altar, of every clean beasts and clean foul unto the Lord was a sweet smelling sacrifice of rest, that is sacrifices, of the sabbath. The Hebrew word in the text there used, with the emphatical particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the most notable rest, even the rest of the holy sabbath, wherein man resteth in memory of God's rest, in the satisfaction of his people the Isralites before the giving of the law from mount Sinah, by Gods own voice, they did observe the Sabbath & were admonished by Moses so to do. Exod. 16.23.  
And they who rested not, but went forth to gather Manna are reproved by God, as transgressors of his laws and commandments ver. 28. And although we do not read of any Sabbath, kept by Abraham and the patriarchs before Moses, because the Church of the faithful was but small, comprised only in their families, which could not keep any great and public Sabbath assemblies, worthy of record in the sacred History: Yet undoubtedly they had their set time as well as set place of God's worship, even a weekly Sabbath according to the law which God gave to Adam when he blessed & sanctified the seventh day. But I shall more fully speak of these things hereafter. And here upon these grounds I conclude, that the assumption of this present argu: is manifest: And the conlusion which thence flows is certain, to weet: that the posterity of Adam in all ages are bound to this duty of keeping a weekly Sabbath Holy to the Lord.  

3 Argument.  A third argument is drawn from the ground upon which God founded the Sabbath, and commanded the duty of keeping it Holy to himself. For if the ground of the duty stand firm, throughout all generations, and do belong to all men of all ages, as well as to Adam who had the commandment given to him, and the duty imposed on him by God. Then the duty also belongs to all men of all ages unto the end of the world. And whosoever do claim any interest in the ground of the duty, and expect profit by it, aught to acknowledge that the duty belongs to them also, except they can show some special dispensation from God Himself. Now the ground upon which God founded the Sabbath and imposed the duty of keeping it Holy, is such as doth equally belong to all men. For if we cleave to the bare letter of the text (as diverse commonly do) and take the ground of the Sabbath to be no more but this, that God finished the work of creation on the seventh day, or having finished it and made every creature good & perfect before on the sixth days, rested on the seventh from creating any things in the world. Then we must withal confess, that this ground belongs equally to all mankind, for all men of all ages have interest in the benefit of Gods creating the world, and making all things so perfect, that he had no more to do but rested on the seventh day. But if that be the true and proper grounds which I have before laid down and proved, to weet: Gods perfecting of the creation, which left all things good but mutable: by bringing in redemption which Christ promised, did on the seventh day, take upon him to perform in man's nature: And God resting in the all sufficient satisfaction which Christ undertook, to make for man, and which saved God the labour of a new creation, & making new creatures, and of repairing by a mediation the breach which man's fall had made in the word; and so made for man's use. This ground doth belong to all mankind in all ages. we now under the gospel have as great, or rather greater interest in it, than Adam or the fathers in the old Testament. And by virtue of this promise of Christ, & by means of his undertaking to be man's Mediator, and of Gods resting in his mediation, all living men, and all creatures made for the use of man do consist, and have them in being in this world. Coloss. 1.17. and God by him (the word of his power being made man and fully exhibited aperfect Redeemer) doth substaine and uphold all things. Heb. 1.3. And although the circumstances of this ground, are with the times and ages of this world mutable, and there is a great change from Christ only promised and undertaking man's redemption, to Christ fully exhibited aperfect Redeemer in his resurrection: Yet the ground itself, even Redemption by Christ, is still the same: the promise of Redemption which was made to our first parents on the seventh day being the greatest blessing, which was revealed to mankind in the old testament, procured to that day the honour of the weekly Sabbath in all ages before the coming of Christ.  
And the full exhibition of Christ, and the perfecting of Redemption in the resurrection of Christ, on the first day of the week, did merit, & procure to that day the honour of the Christian Sabbath in all ages under the Gospel: For God did not rest so much in the undertaking of Redemption on the seventh day, as in the actual performance and full perfecting of it, on the first day of the week, the foresight of the full performance made the promise a ground both of God's rest, and of the Sabbath in ●he old Testament. And if Christ had suffered, died, and been swallowed up of death and corruption in the grave, and had not gotten the victory over death, and all the powers of darkness in his resurrection, than had we remained in our sins, & all our preaching of Christ, and all our faith in him had been vain. 1 Cor. 15.17. It was Christ's resurrection which consummated the great work of man's redemption, and on the day wherein he a rose from death, did he rest from that great work, as God on the seventh day did from the work of creation, and consecrated that day to be the Christian Sabbath. But yet all this while Redemption both promised & undertaken and also actually performed is the same common ground of the holy weekly Sabbath: And Christ is the same Redeemer to all mankind, and the only mediator and Saviour. Yesterday, and to day, and the same for ever. Heb. 13.8. And the duty of keeping an holy weekly Sabbath is grounded on him throughout all ages, who is the common Saviour, and Redeemer of all mankind. Therefore all men of all ages are bound to this duty, & none exempted from it, in any nation age or generation.  
fourthly, that which God hath given to all mankind in Adam, for a perpetual law to them of future benefit, 
4. Argu.  which he hath promised and hath in store for them, that they are bound carefully to keep until they fully obtain the blessing and benefit promised, for if he that hath given a pledge, doth take it away from them to whom he hath given it, this is an evident sign that he hath altered his mind and purpose of giving the benefit to them. And if they do at any time loose this which is the pledge, or wilfully cast it from them, they have no evidence or token any more to assure them of the benefit, nor any witness of the covenant, or sign whereby to challenge the blessing.  
Now the holy weekly Sabbath is ordained of God, and given in Adam to all mankind to be a sign and pledge to them of spiritual and eternal rest in Christ, which they shall never fully obtain until the last resurrection in the end of the world: For the full rest & Sabbatisme whereof the Sabbath is a pledge, doth till then, still remain for them. Heb. 4.9. and they shall not enter into the full possession of it until the last resurrection. And Gods giving of himself unto his people to be their God, which doth sanctify them whereof the Sabbath is a sign, token, and pledge unto them as he himself testifieth. Exod. 31. 13. is not fully manifested, nor perfected until they be fully sanctified both in souls and bodies at the last day, and made fit to see and enjoy God to rest with him in glory for ever. It is true which the ancient fathers have observed and taught, that the old Sabbath as it was limited to the the seventh day of the week, was a sign of the spiritual rest of the faithful from their own sinful works, and of their steadfast rest upon Christ by faith, when they are regenerate and renewed by the holy Ghost, which is shed on them abundantly through jesus Christ under the Gospel. Tit. 3.5.6. and therefore that old Sabbath of the seventh day of the week, is so far fulfilled in Christ, and hath the accomplishment in him: But because the fullness of eternal rest whereof the weekly Sabbath absolutely considered is the sign and pledge shall not be obtained until the last resurrection of the just, when by virtue of Christ's resurrection, their bodies shallbe raised out of the dust and be made like the glorious body of Christ, which they still expect in hope. Therefore the keeping of a weekly Sabbath as a pledge of that perfect eternal rest, still belongs to all God's people, and they are bound to keep it on that day of the week in which Christ arose, which day by his resurrection is made a sure pledge that they shallbe raised up in the perfect image and similitude of his resurrection.  
Fifthly, that which is ordained by him and given to men, to fit them for eternal rest in heaven, 
5 Argument.  & to be a special means to conduct & lead them in the right way thereunto, and which of itself is very good, profittable, and excellent for that purpose. That God's word and will, and every man's reason guided by the word, binds him to observe & keep, and to hold himself constantly and perpetually unto it, until he comes to the end of his race, even the eternal rest in Heaven. This is a truth undoubtedly. For the Scriptures command us to run our race unto the end, and to omit no means which may help to eternal life: and experience teacheth us, that the neglect of the ready way and means of gaining the pledge is the way to lose it. Now the keeping of an holy weekly Sabbath after the best and strictest manner, by resting from all worldly business, so far as our weakness and necessity will suffer, and devoting ourselves to God's holy mediate worship, as prayer, reading, & hearing of God's word both in private and public assemblies, and to serious meditations of heavenly things, is in itself one of the most powerful means, to beg it and increase faith, and all holy saving graces in us, and God hath ordained it, for to conduct and lead men on, in the right and ready way to etenall rest in heaven. Therefore God's word, & will revealed, & every man's own reason guided by the word: binds all men to it in all ages, until they come to eternal rest in heaven.   

CHAP. 15.  
THE First point being thus proved. The second thing before propounded follows: that is, to show how far, and upon what terms and conditions the sons of Adam are bound to the duty of keeping a weekly Sabbath by God's commandment, given in the sanctifying of the seventh day here recorded in my text, where God is said to sanctify the seventh day, that is: by giving man a law to keep it holy. First for such sons of Adam as are borne and live in the Church of God, & have the means to know God's word, & to obey his law: There is no question to be made, it is clear that they are bound to know & to keep this commandment of God, and to separate one day in every week, even that which God hath blessed above all the rest, & to devote it to holy & heavenly exercises, ceasing from all worldly cares, labours, & delights, and so to keep it an holy Sabath. First, as they are Gods creatures, & God hath thus far declared his mind & will, that men in imitation of him their God, who rested on the seventh day, & also for the refreshing of themselves, their children, servants, & cattle in their bodies, should rest from worldly labours: & for the comfort of our souls should spend it in holy & spiritual exercises, & in the worship of him their maker, and preserver: even the general law of nature binds them to this duty.  
Secondly, as God hath revealed himself a Redeemer & Saviour of mankind by promising & giving Christ: So they are much more bound to keep all his commandments to the utmost of their power, especially this of the Sabbath, which God ordained to be a memorial of redemption and eternal rest, to be found only in Christ promised on the seventh day, and in fullness of time given and exhibited. If they believe that Christ is their redeemer, and that they are bought with the price of his blood, and are no more their own, but his, who hath bought them, this binds them to glorify God with their souls, and bodies also which are Gods. 1 Cor. 6.20. And this they cannot do, except some time be set apart, at least one day in every week, to celebrate in holy assemblies, the gracious goodness, bounty & love of God to them in Christ, & to sanctify and fit themselves, for him in all their weekly works, and for the intending and seeking of him in all the labours of their hands, Thus much the Lord shows in his law given & expounded by Moses. Deut. 5.15. Where he tells Israel, that he gave his commandment to them of keeping holy his Sabbath, for this end, that they might remember their slavery in Egypt, & their deliverance by his mighty hand, & stretched out arm. Upon which words we must necessarily infer, that if God bound them by his commandment urging them and pressing often to keep the Sabbath day, for a memorial of their deliverance from temporal & tipical bondage, & thankfulness to him for it, then much more were they & all God's people still are bound, to keep holy the Sabbath day in thankfulness & for a memorial of spiritual deliverance from sin, death, and Hell, and that on the day of the Lord Christ, wherein he is promised or fully exhibited.  
Thirdly, because there is none of all the Sons of men who live in the Church, and know the word & law of God, & discern their own frailty but know how hard it is for them to continue in grace, & in the knowledge of Christ, & in the understanding of the mysteries of godliness, without often exercises of religious duties, as well in public as in private, & without much hearing & public instruction in the word and law of God. Therefore every rational man must needs know & acknowledge himself bound by the light of reason, & his natural appetite of his own happiness, to use all means for continuance & increase of grace & of heavenly knowledge in himself needful to salvation, especially this keeping of an weekly Sabbath which he finds by experience to be ameans to hold him fast to Christ. But if any who live & are borne in the Church, in such times & places wherein they have sufficient means to know Gods revealed will and law for the keeping of an holy Sabbath weekly, do through negligence, & idleness, malice, or perverseness remain wilfully ignorant of this law & will of God, as well as diverse alients. This shall in no case excuse them, neither doth it from the bond of this duty, no more than it doth from the bond of any other laws of which they are wilful ignorant, but God will punish them, both for their failing in this duty, & for their wilful shutting of their eyes & ears and refusing to know his will & law. Now because a great part of mankind even of Adam's posterity do live out for the Church, & many nations for many ages even all pagans and Heathen infidels never heard of the Sabbath, nor of God's word which requires the weekly observation of it. We are in the second place to consider, whether this law of God, and this his blessing and sanctifying, of the seventh day, doth in any respect bind them to this duty. And first that ignorance of the law doth not exempt them from the duty, it is manifest by plain reasons.  
First because they had means from Adam and their first progenitors to know this law, for when the earth was divided into several nations and countries, the fathers and first founders of every nation did know, that God had, in sanctifying the seventh day given this commandment to our first parents and their seed in their loins: But they by wilful neglect of this duty brought the law into oblivion, and their children rejoicing to follow their licentious ways, and to put far from all thoughts of this duty, and all regard of this law, became wilfully ignorant of Gods will, yea they scorn to hearken to God's word if it be brought unto them.  
secondly, no ignorance which is not invincible, but might be avoided by due care & diligence, can exempt a man from any duty which God hath commanded all mankind to perform: Our Saviour tells us, that he which fails of his duty out of simple ignorance, and doth not his Lords will, because he knew it not, shallbe punished and beaten though with fewer stripes. Because God is the Lord of all, every man ought to inquire after & learn his will: And therefore Heathen people though they know not this law, shallbe beaten for neglect of this duty, because they ought to know God, and to learn his will, who gives them life, breath, and all things. And if they who fail though simple ignorance, must be punished though in a less measure, then wilful profaners. It must needs follow, that they are bound to the duty though not so strict lie, nor in that manner and measure as they who live in the Church, & in such times and places, where they know, or may know the law and word of God.  
thirdly, all mankind even the most barbarous and savage nations, as they have their being, and all gifts of nature, from Gods creating hand and power. So they have all these things continued unto them by the mediation of Christ, and by a common and universal virtue of him the Redeemer, they are upheld in life and health and strength in this world: And Christ as Mediator procures all these things to them, after a secondary manner for his elects sake, which are either to spring after many ages out of their loins, or to receive benefit of their labours in subduing the earth, making it habitable and fit for his people to dwell in, and so preparing a place for his Church, or the like. In this respect God is called the Saviour of all men, but especially of them that do believe. Of all, in as much as he preserves them innaturall life, but of the faithful, fully and perfectly in that he saves them from eternal death, and hell, and brings them to life eternal. And hereupon it is, that all things are said to be and to consist in, and by, and for Christ. Coloss. 1.17. and he is said to be a ransom for all men, that is reaching to all in some measure, manner, and degree, even to infidels to obtain common gifts for them, and to the elect perfectly to redeem them. Now they who partake the benefit of the Christ the blessed seed promised to Adam, they are bound to the duty which God requires in thankfulness for it, and for a continual commemoration thereof. Therefore all mankind even the most barbarous are bound to the duty of keeping an holy sabbath weeklie, though they do not know that which binds them to it, and leads them to the performance thereof.  
fourthly, God's blessing of a seventh day, and sanctifying it by his commandment given to our first parents, is as easily to be learned, and known, and kept in memory as many other things of less moment, which Heathen Jnfidels do learn and know, and keep in memory for worldly respects. As for example, to measure the times of the world by Years, and Years by months, and months by weeks, and weeks, by seven days, this because the Heathen find to be very commodious for worldly and civil respects, therefore they are careful to learn and remember it, and all such things. And it is as easily and as possible to to learn and know God's law, concerning a weekly Sabbath, and they would and might learn it, if they were as careful for their souls, and to serve God, as they are for their life, and to serve their own lusts, and this world. And if they would travel, and send abroad into far countries to learn heavenly knowledge and holy bevaviour, as diligently as they do to learn humane knowledge and worldly wisdom, art & skill, they could not be ignorant of God's law, concerning the weekly Sabbath: But they refuse to learn this, as they do to learn true religion, and shut their eyes against it, as they do against the knowledge of Christ. Therefore as Turks and other infidels, who have God's word professed in their Countries, cities and among them: though they cannot rightly call upon God, nor believe in Christ without preaching of the word, which they will not look after but scorn it: Yet they are bound to repent and believe, and shall perish for rejecting and not useing the means to git faith. So it is with other infidels further of, they shall perish for not using such means as are in their power, whereby they might come to know this & other duties which they are bound to perform in thankfulness for God's gracious promise of Christ the redeemer, & for the common benefits which they receive through him.   

CHAP. 16.  
THE Third thing which I propounded concerning man's sanctification so the Sabbath, is the consideration of the duties wherein it doth consist, which are of three sorts. First some are such are common to all God's people in all ages of the world, and they be duties which are necessary to the being of the Sabbath.  
Secondly, some are proper to the Sabbath of the seventh day, while the fathers under the Old Testament did expect Christ promised, and were to keep their Sabbath in memory of the promise of Christ made to our first parents on the last day of the week. Thirdly some are proper to us who live under the Gospel since Christ fully exhibited a perfect Redeemer: & after the burial of Moses, that is the utter abolition of all legal shadows together with the material temple of the Jews.  
The duties common to all such as are necessary to the being of an holy Sabbath at all times, & they are three especially. The first is a rest & cessation from all secular affairs & worldly pleasures, except only such as are necessary for man's wellbeing, & cannot be omitted or deferred without great hurt & danger of man's health, & life, & of the life and safety of the creatures which God hath made for man's use. The second is sanctification of the Sabbath, with such holy exercises of religion & of God's worship as God requires in that age, & state of the Church in which they live. The third is sanctifying of that day of the week which God hath blessed & honoured with greatest blessings, above all other days, & wherein he hath more fully revealed his holiness, & opened the fountain of holiness for the sanctifying of his people. Concerning the first, to weet: rest and cessation from all worldly affairs & bodily delights, there is a doubt made by some, whether it doth equally concern all God's people, as well christians under the Gospel, as the fathers of the old testament. Divers are of opinion that Christians have more liberty & are not so strictly bound to rest from all worldly affairs & bodily delights, as the fathers were before Christ. But for the clearing of this point we are to note three specially things. First that rest & cessation from all secular business, & worldly pastimes is a duty of the Sabbath which generally belongs to all men in all ages who are bound to keep a weekly Sabbath or holy day by virtue of God's sanctification of the Seventh day. For first the very name (Sabbath) which God gave to the day, signifies rest & cessation, & puts us continually in mind of this duty. And whosoever calls it by the name Sabbath, doth thereby acknowledge it to be a day of rest. Secondly, a main ground of God's first institution of the Sabbath, the rest from all works of creation wherewith God rested in Christ the seventh day, who on that day was promised & took upon him to be man's mediator (as hath been proved before out of the words of this text. For Chtist the son of God undertaking to repair the works of creation, which were defaced by man's fall, & to restore all his by another kind of work then creation, even by incarnation, obedience; suffering & satisfaction for sin in man's nature, & for the redemption of the world) did bring unto God the Creator, rest & cessation from any more creation of new kinds of creatures. And upon this ground, even this perfecting of his work of creation, by bringing in redemption, and in memory & for a sign of Gods resting in Christ promised, God sanctified the seventh day to be an holy weekly Sabbath, & bound man to this duty of rest on the Sabbath day from all secular business.  
Thirdly, in all ages whensoever God repeated the law of the Sabbath, or urged the observation of it, either by Moses or the Prophets we shall observe that rest and cessation is enjoined, as Exod. 20.10. The seventh day is the Sabbath, in it thou shal● do no manner of work. & Exod. 31.14. thou shalt do no manner of work therein. & Exod. 33.2. Deut. 5.14. whosoever doth any work on the sabbath shall surely be put to death. They might not gather mana on the sabbath day. Exo. 16.28. they who went out to seek Manna are called trasgressours. And all the Prophets which in after times made mention of the Sabbath, urged rest, & blamed all servile works which concern this life: as Isa. 58.13. Jer. 17.27. Neh. 13.17.  
Fourthly we in these later days, have as much need of rest & more than men in former ages, and the greater hopes and more clear evidences of rest and glory in heaven which we have, do more bind us to rest from worldly cares, and to set our minds on heaven where our hopes are. These are strong arguments to prove that rest upon the Sabbath day, is a duty which generally belongs to all men in all ages, which the first thing serving to satisfy the former doubt & to prove the first general duty.  
Secondly, Gods sanctifying of the Sabbath, and his first commandment given to Adam for the keeping holy of the seventh day: binds all men, in all ages, to keep a weekly Sabbath to the end of the world, as I have before proved, and therefore the duty of rest belongs to all.  
Thirdly, they who hold the law of the weekly Sabbath to be but for a time, and that it is now abolished, they can show no Scriptures to warrant their opinion. That place which they object, Coloss. 2.16. speaks not in the singular number of the weekly Sabbath, instituted here in my text. For though the day be changed upon weighty reasons and good ground.  
Yet the Sabbathisme still remaineth to the people of God, not only the eternal, and heavenly, but also the temporal Sabbath on earth which leads to the heavenly. The words of the Apostle speak of those Sabbaths or holy days of the jews, which were tipical, and shadows of things to be exhibited in Christ, such as were the first and last days of the Passover, Pentecost, and other great yearly feasts. The word Sabbaton, being of the plural number, implies so much, and the nameing of feasts, days, and new moons which were shadows of the law, give us just cause to conceive that the Apostle intends only the festival and not the weekly Sabbaths. Or if we should grant that the weekly Sabbath is meant, among the rest, which the fathers observed on the seventh day: Yet the Apostle calls it a shadow, only in respect of the particular day of the promise of Christ, which day is a bolished, & gives place to the first day, in which the promise was fully performed, and Christ became a perfect Redeemer actually in his resurrection.  
The Anti-Sabbatarians have only two objections which have some show and colour of reason at the first hearing.  

Objection  The first is, that if it had been the mind and will of Christ, that the weekly Sabbath should be continued and removed to the Lords day, under the Gospel, then would he either by himself, or by his Apostles, have given some express commandment to that purpose, which they say, he did not.  

Answer.  To this I answer. First that our Saviour spoke fully to this point, when he said, that he came not to destroy, but to fulfil the law. It remains therefore on their part to show, that the Commandment of the Sabbath is no part of the moral law, or else they do but beat the air and labour in vain.  
secondly, the Apostles themselves kept their holy assembles, & ordained in all Churches of the believing Gentiles that public assemblies should be kept and exercises of the holy Sabbath perfomed ordinarily on the first day of the week, as I have before proved, from. Act 20. & 1 Cor. 16.1, 2. And whatsoever they ordained was the commandment of che Lord 1 Cor. 14. vers. 27. thirdly, while the first temple was yet standing in the days of the Apostles, and Moses was not yet buried and quite taken out of the way: It was not convenient that the Apostles should change the day of the Sabbath among the believing jews. Yea they themselves in judea and all places among the jews, kept the seventh day: among the Gentiles the Lord's day.  
We never read that the Lords day was called a Sabbath in the Primitive times next after the Apostles, nor since, 
Object.  by any but only by jewish Sabbatarians.  
Howsoever these adversaries, put on a bold impudent face, 
Answer.  to colour and countenance this objection: Yet herein publish a manifest untruth. For Igna●ius immediately after the Apostles saith. That the Christians must keep their holy sabbath: not after the manner of the profane jews of those times, with excessive feasting, dancing, and such carnal sports and pleasures, nor on their seventh day: But on the Lord's day, the day of Christ's resurrection, which he calls the Queen and supeeme Lady of days, as I have formerly showed.  
Saint Hilary saith, 
Prologue. in Psalm.  Nos in prima die perfecti Sabbathi festivitate latae mur. i.e. We Christians rejoice in the festivity of our perfect Sabbath on the first day of the week. St. Augustine in the 25. sermon de tempore. Having rehearsed diverse notable blessings and prerogatives which God of old honoured the first day of the week the Lords day, doth there affirm, that upon those grounds the holy Doctors of the Church, to weet: the Apostles. Who were taught by Christ, and inspired by the holy Ghost in all things which they decreed and ordained, have by their decree removed or rather transferred all the glory of the jewish sabbathisme, unto the Lord's day. And immediately he adds this exhortation. Let us Christians therefore observe the Lord day, and let us sanctify it so as of old the Law giver commanded the father's concerning the Sabbath saying. From evening to evening shall ye celebrate the Sabbath. And further he saith, that if we from the evening of the jews sabbath the satturday, to the evening of the Lords day sequester ourselves from all Rural works; and all secular business and devote ourselves only to God's worship, than we rightly sanctify the Lord's sabbath according ●he words of the law: (Ye shall not do any work in it.  
Also Psalm. 32. He affirms that keeping of the Sabbath is one of the things which belong to the love of God, and thus he exhorts every true Christian. Observa diem sabbati non Carnaliter, non Judaicis delicijs, etc. that is observe the day of the sabbath not carnally with judicial delicacies, for they abuse their rest, and rest to naughtiness for indeed it is better that men should dig all the day then dance as they do: But do thou meditate on the rest in God and doing all things for obtaining that rest, abstain from servile work.  
And in his 3. Tract at upon john. He saith, We are more strictly commanded to keep the Sabbath than the jews: For we are enjoined to keep it spiritually. Jews keep it carnally in luxury and drunkenness, and it were far better that their women should be busied in working all the day in will, than dance. The true Christian keeps the Sabbath spiritually, by refraining from servile work. These and diverse other testimonies of the Ancients show sufficiently the falsehood and vanity of this Objection. And that in the judgement of the most godly and learned fathers, the law of God bindeth us to keep the Sabbath holy on the Lord's day weekly. It is true that some part of the seventh day was by reason of great multitudes of jews abounding in all countries, so frequent and so commonly known & called by the name of the Sabbath, & that name was so proper to the Saturday in those times, that if any had called the Lords day by that name, his words would be understood by the hearers of the jews Sabbath, except ●e had expounded his meaning as those fathers before named do in their speeches b●f●re mentioned. And again the jews were so superstitious in observing their Sabbath, ●o contrary to the Christian sanctifying of the Lords day, even with feasting, dancing, and profane pomp, that the name of Sabbath through their abuse of it grew distasteful to godly Christians, even as in our time the old name Catholic; by reason of the Antichristian Papists, falsely usurping and approbria●ing it to their Apostatical Church and false religion, is grown to have an ill sound in the ears of reformed Christians. And therefore t●e Ancients were very sparing in calling the name of the Sabbath, and seldom did they call the holy weekly rest of Christians by that name, except only in case when they opposed it to the Jewish sabbath, and preferred it far before their carnal observation.  
But whereas in this Objection the aspersion and reproachful name of jewish Sabbatarians is laid on all them who call the Lords day the Cbristian Sabbath, and urge the sanctification of it, by the law of God. This is a point of such notable impudence and intemperancy, that it deserves the scourge & whip of Ecclesiastical censure & punishment, to chastise and correct, rather than any arguments of reason or divinity to convince such Raylors. For in the Homilies which are comprehended and commanded in the Articles of our Religion, by law established: the Lord's day is frequently styled by the name of Sabbath, even no less than eight times in one Homily, which treateth of the time & place of prayer.  
And both there, and in the writings of the most godly divines, and builders of our Church, God's people are urged by the law of God, even the fourth Commandment to keep holy the Lord's day, for the Christian weekly Sabbath, and in our divine service after the public rehearsing of that commandment in the congregation, are enjoined to pray in these words. Lo●d have mercy upon us, and incline our hea●tes to keep thy law And this you see the first general duty of the Sabbath, to weet: Resting from worldly affairs clearly proved, and that while their is a Sabbath or weekly day of holy assemblies, either under the Gospel, all men are bound to observe this rest.  
The second general duty necessarily to be performed in the keeping of the Sabbath is sanctification, which is by men's devoting of themselves wholly to divine worship, & such religious actions, as God requirs in the times of the Church in which they live, such as are public assemblies for praising God, praying to him, preaching, reading, expounding, and hearing of his word, commemoration of his great works, and rehearsing of his promises for common edification. Also private praiere, and meditations on heavenly things, domestical instructions and the like. All these are necessary Sabbath duties to be observed of all men, in all ages, both under the old & new testament. First the words wherein Moses here in my text, discribes God's first institution of the Sabbath, prove this fully. For here it is said that God sanctified it, that is, set it apart for holy exercises in the performance whereof men do sanctify it. For sanctifying is either by infusion of holiness into the thing sanctified, or setting it apart to holy use and exercise, but it had no holiness infused into it, as I have else where proved. Therefore it was sanctified, by consecration, that is, setting apart to holy use.  
Secondly, it is called the holy Sabbath, that is: such a day of rest as is to be kept Exod. 16.23. before the giving of the fourth commandment as Moses shows, saying. To morrow is the rest of our holy sabbath to the Lord, that is: this is a rest not of idleness, but from common affairs, that men may be exercised in holy duties only.  
Thirdly, in the giving of the law from mount Sina, God commands expressly, that all his people do remember to sanctify and keep holy the sabbath, which cannot be but by exercise of holy duties, and performance of holy service and worship unto God. Exod. 2●. 9.  
L●stly, in all the scriptures of the law, which speak of the sabbath in the old Testament, it is called the Lords holy sabbath. And sanctification of it, is required as appears, Exod. 31.15 &, 5.2. Deut. 5.12. And in the evangellical Prophets, which speak of the sabbath both of old, and also in the last days of the Gospel, it is called the Lords Holy day. Isa. 58: 13: & 66: 23: and it is said, that all flesh, that is true Christians of all nations Shall from one Sabbath to another come to worship before the Lord & Ezech. 44.24. They shall hollow the Sabbath.  
But here some perhaps will object. That none can truly sanctify the Sabbath, 
Objection  nor perform a●y holy duty, who are wholly carnal, & unregenerate and have not the spirit of God dwelling in them, & sanctifying them, & such are many even in the bosom of the true Church. And therefore sanctification of the Sabbath, cannot be a general duty performed by all men, nor requi●ed of all, but is a special duty proper to the elect Saints, who are truly sanctified, others were never able to sanctify the sabbath and therefore it is not a duty which God can justly require of all in general.  

Answer.  It is true indeed, that as a bitter fountain & corrupt, can send forth no sweet and pure water, so no natural man can perform a true & holy duty. Holiness is a supernatural gift of the holy Ghost, and he it is who enables men to perform all works which are eternally holy: But as there is a two fold sanctification the one internal, which is the wo●k of the holy Ghost in men; the other external, which is the consecrating & setting apart of things natural and artificial to be employed to an holy use, and to supernatural end, so also there are two sorts of holy exercise. Some which are eternally holy, as holy prayers and praises and all works of true piety, which only holy men perform, by the power of the holy Ghost working in them and moving them. Others are only externally holy, by outward consecration & separation, because the are appointed to be done for holy use, & to be used in the worship of God, such are all outward religious duties, as sacrificing and such like performed by Hypocrites and carnal professors in the old Testament, such as Cain, Saul, and Elis wicked sons were. And reading, preaching, set forms of prayer, and gestures of worship performed by Hypocrites both before and under the Gospel. These later are in the power of Hypocrites and unregenerate men, who by a common gift and general grace are enabled to perform far more in this kind than they do, or are willing to do. Now though all men cannot perform the first, yet so far as they are able they are bound to perform the later sort of duties, among which are the external sanctifications of the Sabbath, as frequenting holy and public assemblies, singing of Psalms, joining with the Church in public prayers and the like: which as they are able to do, so they are bound to do, and if they refuse in such things to conform themselves, they are punished both by God for disobedience to his law, and also by the Censures of the Church. The third general duty necessarily required of all in the observation of the Sabbath is: That they keep for their holy Sabbath that very day of the week, whether it be the first or seventh, which God hath blessed above all other days with the greatest blessing, and which he hath sanctified above all other days by more full relation of his own holiness to the world, and opening of a more wide door of holiness for the sanctifying of all his people. Thus I prove. First most plainly from the words of my text, which describe Gods first institution of the Sabbath. First by blessing it above other days with that greatest of blessings even the promise of Christ a perfect Saviour and Redeemer of mankind. Secondly, by sanctifying it in revealing his holiness to man, and sanctifying man by his spirit & the promise and thereupon appointing it to be kept holy. As I have fully before proved.  
Secondly, the Lord God himself, both in giving the law from mount Sina, and often repeating of the fourth Commandment by Moses, still urgeth the observation of the weekly Sabbath upon this ground: because he hath on that day Redeemed them out of the house of bo●dage with a mighty hand & streached out arm. Deut. 5.15. & in other places: for indeed on the Sabbath he redeemed them and sanctified the first borne to himself. Exod. 13. From whence we conclude, that God's blessing of a day above other days with greatest blessings, is a good ground for the keeping of it for his holy Sabbath, and so also is God's sanctifying of it by more special holiness. Thirdly it is manifest, that all extraordinary and yearly Sabbaths' which God commanded Israel to keep holy such as the first and seventh dai●s of the feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, & of Tabernacles were all enjoined to be kept & observed in memory of greater blessings given on those days, and of Gods sanctifying them by more full revelation of his holiness. And therefore much more is the observation of the continual weekly Sabbath grounded upon greater blessings given, & holiness fully revealed on that day of the week which is to be observed for the Sabbath: & in whatsoever age, time, or state, of the Church men do live, they are bound by the first institution of the Sabbath, and by the first law which God then gave for the keeping of it, as to observe an holy weekly sabbath, so to observe on that very day of the week, which God hath at that time and in that age revealed, and declared to be the day which he hath blessed and sanctified above all others days of the week. As for example, while Christ was promised a redeemer of the world, and was not yet given, the day of the promise wherein he was first promised, and did undertake and begin to mediate for man, was the most blessed day which God had sanctified and blessed with the promise, which was the greatest blessing revealed and made known in the Old Testament. But when an other day of the week comes to be blessed with a greater blessing, even the giving of Christ, and the full exhibition of him a perfect redeemer, then is that the day which God hath sanctified above all days, & then the law & the words of the first institutions bind men to keep that for the holy Sabbath. And thus you see the general duties which God requires of all men in general which are necessary to the being of the Sabbath, and with out which there can be no right observation of a weekly sabbath holy to the Lord.   

CHAP. 17.  
THE second sort of duties now follow, to weet: those which were proper to the people of God in the old Testament, unto which the Fathers were specially bound before the coming of Christ while he was yet only promised & not given a perfect Redeemer. They also though they consist in many particulars: Yet may be reduced to three chief heads. First to rest and cessation. Secondly to sanctification. Thirdly to observation of the seventh and last day of the week for their holy weekly Sabbath.  
First concerning rest from all worldly affairs, and cessation from bodily exercises such as delight and refresh the outward man only, and are directed to no other end, there are different opinions among the learned. Some hold that the fathers under the law, were bound more strictly to rest from bodily exercises and worldly affairs on their Sabbath, than Christians are on the Lord's day under the Gospel, Jnsomuch that the strict bond of rest unto which the law tied them, was an heavy yoke, and apart of the bondage under which they groaned.  
Others are of opinion, that their rest being no more but from worldly affairs & bodily exercises: serving only for bodily delight & worldly profit, was the very same unto which all God's people were bound in all ages, and are still under the Gospel. There are reasons brought on both sides: but all Scriptures and reasons being well weighed: I doubt not but they may be brought to agree in one truth: If only one thing wherein both sides agree, and which both mistake, be removed, namely a conceit which both have of a more strict and religious exaction of rest and cessation, than indeed was required in the Sabbath of the Old Testament.  
They who hold the first opinion, bring many testimonies of Scripture, which seem to impose such a strict rest & cessation on the fathers, and the Isralites under the law, as is by common experience found to be an heavy burden, hard to be borne, and even intolerable. As for example. Exod. 9.16.23, Where Moses speaks thus unto Israel. This is that which the Lord hath said. To Morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord, bake that which ye will bake to day, and seeth that ye will seethe, and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning. Hence they conclude that the fathers were restrained from baking or seething any meat on the Sabbath day. Also verse 29. Where Moses saith Let no man go forth of his place, but every man abide in his place on the seventh day. Hence they infer. That the fathers might not walk abroad on their Sabbath. Likewise from the words of the law. Exod. 20.10. In it thou shalt not do any work, they gather that the Isralites might upon no worldly occasion do any work on the Sabbath day, not so much as make a plaster or medicine for a sick and wounded man. And so the learned Doctors of the jews understodd the law, and observed it, as they showed by their reproving of Christ for healing a diseased person by a word only and no other labour. Also Exod. 31.14.15. & 35.23. all kind of work is forbideen under pain of death. Whosoever doth any work therein shallbe put to death, saith the Lord. Yea he forbids to kindle a fire through their habitations on the sabbath day, & Num. 15.35. The man that was found gathering sticks in the wilderness on the sabbath day, was by God's appointment stoned to death by the Congregation. & Neh: 13: 17. It was called profaning of the Sabbath, when men sold any wares or victuals, and when strangers of other nations brought in wares and fish on the Sabbath day to be sold. Also Amos 8.5. They whose minds were so set on the worldly affairs, that they longed, till the sabbath was past, and had their mind on selling corn and wheat. The Lord swears by the excellency of jacob, that he will not forgit to revenge their doings: From these scriptures diverse both of the Ancients, and later divines have concluded that the law of the Sabbath in respect of rest and cessation, which is exacted in the old Testament, with such rigour and upon such grievous penalties. was an heavy and intolerable burden, and therefore is abolished by Christ, in respect of that total cessation and strict rest.  
Others on the contrary do hold, that as Christians have more clear evidence & hope of eternal rest in heaven, and the spirit which makes the more spiritual, shed on them more abundantly through Christ, so they ought to be more restrained from love of the world, & from care of earthly things. And therefore by the law of the Sabbath are bound rather more strictly than the fathers in the old Testament, to rest and cease from all worldly cares, and all labours, and affairs of this life, on the Lord's day, which is consecrated by the resurrection of Christ, to be the weekly Sabbath of all Christians.  
But if these Scriptures be diligently searched, and all circumstances well weighed. It will appear upon good reason, that both sides are mistaken, and that the forenamed Scriptures do not import any such rigorous rest or burden some cessation. For first of all, though the pharisees, and other strict sects, and rabbinical Doctors, and expounders of the law, did of later times alittle before, and at the appearance of our Saviour in the flesh, expound the law so strictly in respect of the carnal and literal sense, that thereby they laid heavy burdens upon men, as our Saviour doth charge them. Matth. 23.4. Yet it was not so from the beginning, but even the Isralites themselves who lived under the law, as under a School master, and under the rudiments of the world, they had liberty to go out of them places, and dwellings a Sabbath days journey, which was, as their Rabins writes two thousand cubits, that is as some take it an Italian mile, & in the opinion of others two miles. And 2 King. 11.6.7. It is recorded the Priests and people went in and out, to and from the house of the Lord on every Sabbath day.  
They did also kindle fire for sacrifices & burnt offerings, which they did offer unto God double, morning and evening every Sabbath day, after they had killed and dressed the beasts, and this according to the strict sense and strained exposition of the Law, which the Scribes and pharisees gave of it, was a breach of the law, and profanation of the Sabbath as our Saviour shows. Matth. 12.5.  
Secondly, the scribes and pharisees did not expound the law, as forbidding all bodily works. For they do circumcise Children, & apply medicines to heal the sores of the Circumcised on the Sabbath, when it happened upon the eight day after the birth of Children, as our Saviour also shows. Joh. 7.23. They led their oxen & asses to the water, and if a sheep, or ox, or ass did fall into a pit they did pull it out on the Sabbath, because these were works of necessity. Luk. 13.15. & 14.5. And the chiefest and strictest of the pharisees did make great feasts & invited many guests, & our Saviour himself amongst the rest, who did not refuse to take part with them. Luk. 14.1. & did observe how the invited jousts did choose out the chiefest rooms ver. 7. Which shows plainly that dressing of necessary and convenient meat was not forbidden by the law on the Sabbath day, neither did the pharisees so expound the law.  
Thirdly for the places of scripture before alleged, let us take a particular view of them in order, and we shall see, that they are much mistaken. First that place Exod. 16.29. doth not enjoin every man to keep his place, and not to go out of their camp to gather Manna on the seventh day, the reason prefixed shows this plainly, to weet: because God gave them on the sixth day Manna sufficient for that day & the seventh. The exposition which some make of the 23. ver. is very idle & ridiculous, namely that the Isralites were commanded to bake and seethe on the sixth day, that which they were to eat on the seventh. And therefore it was not lawful to bake and seethe on the Sabbath. For Moses doth not bid them bake for the Sabbath which was the morrow after, but only that which they were to eat on the present day, and to reserve the overplus, which they did not bake and seethe until the seventh day; and though they did so, and did not bake and seethe it: yet it did not putrify neither were any worms therein, which had it beme sod or baked, for baking and seething do naturally and as an ordinary means preserve things from stinking and putrefaction.  
In the next place the words of the fourth commandment (in it thou shalt not do any work) they do not forbid religious works which tend either to inward or outward sanctification of the Sabbath day, nor works of mercy, charity, or necessity which are necessary, for the safety and preservation of the life of man or beast. Though the perverse Scribes and pharisees out of their Hypocrisy did ●oo strictly expound and interpret the law of the Sabbath against our Savious do, and held it unlawful to Heale the sick on the Sabbath day, though it were but by speaking a word: yet their practice which they received from the fathers of killing and offering sacrifices, circumcising their children, leading their oxen to the water to drink, and drawing their sheep, asses and other profittable cattle out of a ditch: did show that they were taught from the beginning a contrary lesson, of more liberty, which our Saviour approveth, and thereby convinceth them of gross error and Hypocrisy.  
Thirdly, that place of Exod. 3 35. where they are forbidden to kindle a fire in all their habitations on the Sabbath day, is not a general commandment binding all simply at all times. but a particular precept binding in some cases, for they kindled fires and burned sacrifices twice every Sabbath, they also kindled fires to dress necessary and comfortable meat Exod. 12: 16. Where God forbidding all manner of works on the Sabbath of the Passover, which were commanded to be kept as strictly, and to be sanctified with holy assemblies and solemnities, as much as the weekly Sabbath, yet exceps that which is to be done in dressing necessary meat. Wherefore the kindling of a fire here forbidden, is expounded by some Rabbins to be only making of fires to burn malefactors. But indeed if we look to that which followeth, it will appear that Moses being about to summon the people to bring all materials, gold, silver, brass, jron, and other materials, and also silk, purple, and other stuff for the building of the altar, the tabernacle and all things thereunto belonging, doth first call to their remembrance the law of the Sabbath, and doth give them a charge from God that in building of the tabernacle, the place of his worship, they abstain from all work on the Sabbath day under pain of death, and that they do not kindle a fire to melt gold, or silver, or brass, for the Altar or the ark, or any holy thing in the tabernacle. For God abhors the breaking of his law, or profaning his Sabbath under the pretence of building an House, or tabernacle, or altars to him. And this is no more than our builders of the famous Cathedral Church of Saint Paul, in this city, are on our Lord's day the Christian Sabbath, at this time bound to observe, and do abserue very strictly.  
Fourthly the forbidding of all work under pain of death, Exod: 31.14.35.2. And the commanding of him to be stoned who gathered sticks on the sabbath day. Num. 15.35. are not thus to be understood, that every breach of the sabbath by any bodily labour, was to be punished with death in all persons under the law (though indeed before God every b●each of every commandment deserves death.)  
But that the open wilful & presumptuous profaning of the sabbath by any scandalous act, or by a common practice was to be punished wi●h death. This is plain by the words next before going. Num. 15. ●0. 31. where the Lord commands that he who sinneth presump●iously with an high hand, and so reproacheth the Lord. and despiseth his word, be cut of from among his people, against which word and express commandment the man which was found gathering sticks on the sabbath day, did presently sin, and committed wilful transgression presumptuously, not through ignorance nor compelled by necessity, and therefore he was stoned for an example of terror to all presumptuous transgressors. But as for others who did bear burdens, and sell victuals not presumptuously, but either through ignorance or forgetfulness, or drawn by custom and ill example of the multitude in the days of Jeremiah, and Nehemiah, they were not by the law put to death, but compelled by authority and rebukes, and by threatenings of wrath & judgements of God, to desist from profanation of the holy sabbath, as the places before named show. Neh. 13. jer. 17.27.  
As for them whole minds are altogether carried away after buying, s●lling, and worldly games on the sabbath day, Amos. 8. they are threatened with no other woe, then that which belongs to all such as af●er the same manner; unhallow the Lord's day now under the Gospel. Wherefore it is manifest that the fathers in the old Testament, had no heavy burden of strict rest laid on them by the law, but the same cessation from worldly affairs which they are bound unto, is still required of us, and of all God's people in all ages of the world. They were not restrained in time of war from works of necessity, as fight against enemies, taking and destroying their cities, as we see in the compass of Jericho seven days together, one of which must needs be the Sabbath day. josh. 6. They might flee for their lives, and pull cattle out of pits, and do any other work which could not be deferred until the next day, but present necessity required it for their own safety, and for the safety of their cattle and of other good creatures which otherwise were in danger to perish.  
But suppose the opinion of diverse both ancient and late writers were true, to weet. That the Isralites were bound to observe a more strict and burdensome rest, and under greater penalties, then either the fathers before the law, or we who live in the light and liberty of the Gospel: Yet this proves no more but only that this rigour was apart of the bondage and pedagogy of the law; wherewith they are hardly pressed, for this end to drive them to seek ease in Christ, and to long for his coming in the flesh. And this burden and rigour only is abolished by Christ, together with the change of the particular day: But the substance of the Law still remains and binds all men to keep the Sabbath, resting and ceasing from all worldly business, except that which is of necessity & charity, even as the fathers were bound from the first institution. The second principal head of which the second sort ●f special & proper duties which God required the fathers under the old testament, may be reduced, as sanctification. For over and above ●heir resting from secular affairs, they were by Gods first institution of the Sababath bound to sanctify the seventh day, with holy and religious duties, such as God in that state and condition of the Church required, as an holy service and for heavenly and spiritual use, even for begitting and increasing of grace and faith in them, and for the fitting of them for the fruition of eternal rest. The sanctification of the Sabbath in general belongs to all mankind in all ages, and that all are bound to it by a perpetual law. As I have proved sufficiently before. I am now only to show the special and particular duties of sanctification, which God required of his people in the Old Testament.  
The first special duty of sanctification was the solemn commemoration of Christ the blessed seed, and of the promise of redemption by him. Unto this all the fa●hers fro Adam until Moses, & so to Christ, were bound by God's fi●st institution of the Sabbath and sanctifying the seventh day, upon promise made of the blessed seed: For full proof of of this: I argue thus both from Scripture and common experience.  
Whensoever a day is set a part either by God or holy men, to be kept with solemnity because of some great blessing or deliverance given or promised, the chief thing to be observed in that solemnity, is a public & solemn commemoration & rehearsal of the blessing & deliverance with joy & praise. Experience of all ages doth prove this. In the solemn feast of the Passover, the chief duty of sanctification was the commemoration of God's deliverance of Jsraell from bondage in Egypt, by his mighty hand stretched out to smite Egypt, and his destroying Angel passing over all the houses of the Isralites, & slaying all the first borne of ●he Egyptians, & this deliverance was the blessing, because of which God instituted this feast. Exd. 13.5. The solemnity of the feast of tabernacles for seven days together was instituted by God, because of his preservation of Israel in the wilderness forty years together without houses or cities, in booths & tents, & the chief thing which they were bound to observe in this holy solemnity, was the commemoration of that preservation in the wilderness, by dwelling in booths all the time of that feast, whereby occasion was given to them to rehearse unto their children, & their child. were moved to enquir, learn, & bear in mind that blessing of God's preservation Leu. 23.43. & so in all ages we find by experience, that the commemoration of the blessing upon which every feast was first ordained, is the chief duty in all the solemnity, as the commemoration and rehearsal of Christ's resurrection in the feast of Easter, of the coming down of the holy Ghost in the feast of Pentecost, of Christ's incarnation in the feast of the nativity. And in our late yearly festival for our deliverance from the powder treason, the chief duty is the commemoration of that deliverance. So that this proposition is most certain & undeniable.  
Now what the blessing of the seventh day was, because of which God sanctified, it to be the weekly Sabbath of the old testament, & also after by Moses commanded it to be kept holy. As I have largely before proved: even the promise of Christ the Redeemer. And therefore it follows necessarily, that the first and chiefest duty of sanctification of the Sabbath, which the fathers were bound unto, was the commemoration of the promise of Christ & of redemption by him, which was the blessing wherewith God blessed the seventh day, and thereupon sanctified it: And because from Adam until Noah, Christ was promised to be the seed of the woman: And then he was promised to come of the seed of Shem, & afterwards Abraham was singled out of Shems family, & Christ the blessed seed was promised more specially to come of his seed, even of Isaak the son of promise, & of jacob Isaaks younger son. And of all the tribes of Jsraell Judah was nominated. And of all the families of judah David's house was chosen, & David received the promise that he should be the progenitor of Christ. And all the Prophets in all ages in their Prophecies of Christ foretold: that he should be made of the seed of David according to the flesh.  
Therefore the fathers from Adam until Noah, and after him until Abraham, Isaak, & jacob, their seed & posterity in their several families, still made a commemoration of Christ promised to come of them, in all their weekly Sabbaths. And when God had enlarged his Church in all the Tribes of Israel: & had by Moses recorded the promise of Christ, that he should be the seed of Abraham etc. & after the Prophets had foretold that the Messiah was to come of David's royal seed: then they were all bound to preach Christ. and to commemorate the promise of him after a most solemn manner, to their public assemblies on every Sabbath day. And this was a prime duty, and special work of their sanctification of that day. As we read Luk. 16.29. & Act. 15.21,  
The second special duty was offering of Sabbath sacrifices, which were types and shadows of Christ, and of redemption and reconciliation of men unto God in him. For as they did more solemnly rehearse the promises of Christ, so also they did offer more solemn sacrifices, & in a double measure both morning and evening every Sabbath day, this God commanded by Moses to Israel. Num. 28.9. And undoubtedly Cain and Abel being instructed by Adam, did bring their offerings on the seventh day which ended the week, Gen. 4.3. And Noah his pleasing sacrifice was a sweet savour of rest, that is a Sabbath sacrifice. Gen. 8.21. As I have largely before proved.  
The third special duty, was an holy assembly or holy convocation, which they were commanded to keep on all other yearly festival Sabbaths', so every weekly Sabbath day as we read. L●vit. ●3. 38. For although while the Church & people of God, were but a small number, and dispersed in several places and families, as in the family of Melchisedek, and Abraham, and Lot, and afterwards in the family of Ilb, and of the sons of Abraham, and jacob before that Israel grew up to be a nation, there were few public holy assemblies kept either on the Sabbath, or upon any other occasion. The Godly fathers did only call together their household and families by themselves, and did command and teach them to keep the way of the Lord, and to remember this Covenant. as is testified particularly of Abraham. Gen. 18.19. and in another place. Where he is said to build altars and there to worship God. As Gen. 12.7. & 13.4. as also it is said of Job. c. 1.5. That he rose up early and sanctified his seven sons, and offered up burnt offerings according to the number of them.  
Yet it is manifest that whensoever in any age, there was a great increase of God's people, and an enlargement of his Church over a whole nation and country, the Sabbath was by God's appointment sanctified with holy assemblies. After the birth of Enosh when the family of Seth began to increase and multiply, it is said, that men began then to call upon the name of the Lord. Or as some not unfittly do translate the words, than they began to call men by the name of the Lord, that is: Adam and his sons especially Seth & his Children began to separate themselves from the wicked and profane people of Cain's race, and being gathered into a Church, were called the children of God, & God's people, and did assemble themselves together in set places, and at set times every Sabbath day to worship God, and to call upon his name, as appears in the Four●h Chapter of Gen. ver. 26. Thus Luther and junius expound that place, & as the words will very well bear this exposition, so also both Scripture & reason confirm it. For Gen. 6.2. The people of God who were gathered into the Church, & professed pure Religion in their assemblies, are called by the name of God, even the sons of God and by this title are distinguished from the wicked and profane, who are called the sons of Adam, that is carnal earthly corrupt men.  
Secondly, it is manifest that Abel long before Seth and Enosh did worship God and call upon his name, and so undoubtedly did Adam and Seth before this time in their private families, and therefore here cannot be meant the first beginning of men's calling upon God's name, and worshipping him. but certainly the first beginning of God's worship in public assemblies of the Church in set places, and at set times even every Sabbath day. As for them who translate this place, that when Enosh was born men began to profane the name of the Lord, they make way for diverse absurdities. First that calling upon God's name is profanation of it. Secondly, that profanation began in the family of Seth, or at the least by the increase of his posterity.  
Thirdly, that there was no profanation of God's name committed by Cain and bloody Lamech before this time, contrary to that which is recorded before in this Chapter ver. 8. & 24. Where Lamech is brought in scorning of God's threatenings. And as we have some monuments of antiquity which show that holy assemblies were observed as religious duties of the holy Sabbath from the beginning. So after that Israel became a nation, and God set up his Church and tabernacle among them, we have most clear and express commandments of God given by Moses to them and all their posterity, that they should do no servile work, as appears Levit: 23.3.7.8. Num. 28: 18 & 29.1. Deut. 16.8. And that the Priests and Levites together with the people assemble together in the Temple on the Sabbath day, it is recorded 2 King. 11.5. 2 Cron. 23.8.  
But I need not insist upon further proof of this point. For every man of reason must needs confess, that no public holy Sabbath duties can be performed but in public assemblies.  
The Fourth special duty of the Sabbath (unto which Gods people under the law were bound; after the time of the law written by Moses, and the publishing of the promises in the Scriptures of the Prophet's) was the public reading, and expounding of the law & the Prophets, by the Priests and public teachers, and reverend hearing of them by the people. This is manifest by the places before named, to prove asolemne rehearsal of the promise, to weet: Luk. 16.29. & Ast: 15: 21. And that on the Sabbath day. For as those Scriptures do show that the promises of Christ were solemnly rehearsed. And out of Moses and the Prophets every Sabbath day. So also they show that Moses and the Prophets were publicly read, and heard in their weekly holy assemblies, and by this means the people were taught, not only in the promises and prophecies of Christ to believe in him a redeemer to come: but also in all the righteousness and duties of the law moral, and all the judgements; ordinances, & ceremonies of the law ceremonial, w●ich was their Scoolemaister to lead them to Christ.  
We have also to this purpose another plain testimony Luk. 4.16. Where it is said, that our Saviour as his custom was, went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day & stood up to read, and the book of Isaiah the Prophet was delivered unto him. And he read a place which was written concerning himself, and expounded it unto them with the general aprobation of the assembly. Also Ast, 13.15 & 27 verses. It is testified, that the jews in their Synagogues on every Sabbath day, had Moses and the Prophets read unto them publicly: both in foreign countries where they were dispersed, and also at jerusalem and in their own country. And that this was an ancient practice even from Moses, and in the time of the judges, and the Kings of Jsraell and judah, to read the law in the holy assemblies, and to hear it read by the Priests we may gather from Exod. 24.7. Where it is said, that Moses read the Covenant in the audience of the people, & Deut. 31·11. 12. Where the Isralites are commanded to read the law in their assemblies, in the hearing of all men, women & children. I● may also be collected from I●sh. 8.34.35. judg. 18.3. & 2 Cron. 17.7.8.9. & 30.22. & 35.3.  
That it was in use after the Captivity, the History of Nehemiah testifies Nehem. 8.4, & 9.3.  
The ancient division of the five books of Moses into 54 lectures, that th●y might be read over once in every year, by reading one lecture every Sabbath, is a thing so ancient, that we find no mention of the author of it, & therefore it may be supposed to be from Moses the writer of those books. And the reading of a lecture also out of the Prophets every Sabbath, is recorded to be a custom long before Christ's birth begun, by occasion of the Tyrant Antiochus who prohibited the jews to read the law of Moses in their Sabbath assemblies under the pain of death. As we read in the Apocripall History of the Macchabees lib. 1. c. 1.59. 
Lexic● cold.  Whereupon they were forced instead of the Law of Moses to read lectures, out of the Prophets as Elias Levita saith, and ever since that custom is retained and was in use in our Saviour's days Luk. 4.16.  
The fifth special duty of sanctification, was the worshipping of the Lord, which as it is required of God's people in private and upon particular occasion at all times: So public upon the Sabbath day, and in all holy yearly Sabbaths. The duty of worship consists in confession of sins, prayers, supplications, lauding and praising God, singing of Psalms, and offering of free will offering, and the like as we read, Neh. 9.33. Levit. 26.3. Deut. 5.5. Where confession & acknowledging Gods favours is called worship, and set down for apart of it. & Gen. 4.26. & 12.8 & 13.4. and Psa. 79.6. Where the name of invocation and calling upon God by prayer is used by Synecdoche for all worship in in general and Exod. 15.1. jud. 5. Lauding and praising God with singing of Psalms, and holy Songs are rehearsed as a special part of God's worship.  
Now this worship of God by public confession, prayers, and singing of praises, cannot be but in public assemblies, and holy convocations which are especially kept on the Sabbaths, and therefore this worship must needs be a special duty of the Sabbath and one part of the sanctification of it. David also shows this Psal. 42: 3. Where he saith that he was wont to go up to the House of God, among the multitude which kept holy day, with the voice of joy and singing. And the 92. Psalm which is entitled a Psalm for the Sabbath day, doth proclaim it to be a good and necessary duty on that day, To give thanks and to sing praises to the name of the Lord, to show forth his loving kindness and truth from morning to night, to Triumph in his works, to speak of them with admiration. and to declare his mercies and judgements and what a rock he is to rest on. These are the most notable duties which Gods people were bound unto, in their sanctifying of the seventh day in the old Testament.  
The third and last principal head comprehending the rest of the duties. which did belong to the observation of the Sabbath in the old Testament is the day itself which they were bound to keep for their weekly Sabbath, that is the last day of the week even the seventh from the beginning of the creation. That this and no other was to be kept for their weekly Sabbath in the old Testament appears most plainly by three things. First because it was the day which God blessed with the greatest blessing of all which were given and revealed before the resurrection of Christ, to weet: the promise of Christ & of the redemption of the world by him, & Gods entering into the Covenant of grae with man, & Christ's open actual undertaking to be man's mediator & Saviour in whom the mutable work of creation is perfected, and God is well pleased and resteth satisfied: as I have before proved.  
Secondly, because as the fathers and Isralites observed it according to God's commandment in the first institution Exod. 16. before the giving of the law from Mount Sina: So in giving of the law to Jsraell & in the renewing of the Commandment by Moses upon diverse occasions the Lord doth expressly require the keeping of the seventh day for his holy Sabbath: as we see Exod. 20. & 31.35. & Deut. 5. thirdly, because not only as the Prophets and holy men of God urged & taught all men to observe that day until the coming of Christ. But also our Saviour himself all his life time on earth, and after his death kept this Sabbath by resting in the ground. And the Apostles also while they lived among the Jews and the tabernacle was yet standing, and Moses was not yet buried, did observe & keep for order's sake the old Sabbath of the seventh day as appears Luk. 4.16. Ast: 13.13. and diverse other places.   

CHAP. 18.  
I Am come now to the last place, to the special Sabbath duties, unto which all Christians are bound under the Gospel. In the right observation of the Lords day which is their holy Sabbath: And these special duties may be reduced to the common & general heads before named. The first which come here to be handled in the first place, as the ground upon which the rest are builded, is the consideration of the particular day of the week which they are bound to keep for their weekly Sabbath. This is that which is most controverted & called in question among the learned in this age, & therefore comes to be first proved and clearly demonstrated by testimonies and proofs out of the holy Scriptures, which being performed I proceed in the next place to the duty of rest, & will show how far Christians are bound unto it on their weekly Sabbath the Lord's day. And in the last place, I will come to the special duties of sanctification by which that day is to be kept holy to the Lord now under the Gospel.  
First for the day itself. Some are of opinion that it is the same which was from the beginning, that is: the seventh & last day of the week This opinion is grounded upon the bare letter of the law, as it was given both in the institution, and sanctifying of the seventh day, & renewed again in the fourth Commandment, and understood by the fathers in the old Testament. I confess that the words of the law, if we take them as they were limited to the fathers, not considering wi●hall how and upon what grounds and conditions God made the seventh day the weekly Sabbath, they seem to favour their opinion. For if we conceive no mo●e but a mere cessation and rest of God from his works on the six days created, to be the ground of the law, than we may also conceive that the law of the weekly Sabbath binds all mankind to that particular day in all ages, because the ground is the same to all men & equally belongs to all men, in all times to the world's end.  
O●hers are of opinion that the law of the Sabbath, being but a mere ceremonial law is a bolished by the coming of Christ, and binds not us under the Gospel to any particular day. And that it is free for the Church of God, to appoint any day for their holy assemblies, and that Christians have no Sabbath, neither are bound to keep any such rest as the law required in the old Testament.  
Others hold that the law of the Sabbath is naturally simply moral, in the general nature of it as it requires a weekly Sabbath to be sanctified and kept holy, and that the particular determination of the day is an honour and prerogative which belongs to Christ the Redeemer who is the Lord of the Sabbath. And that it was the purpose of God from all eternity and in the first giving of the law, as to consecrate the seventh day in memory of God perfecting all the works of creation, & resting from them on that day, so also to consecrate by the resurrection of Christ; the first day of the week to be ever after the weekly Sabbath in honour and memory of the work of redemption, which on that day was fully perfected by Christ's rising from the dead, and entering into that state of glory, in which he rests for ever, having no more to do for the ransoming and redeeming of mankind. God's justice being full satisfied.  
The first of these opinions being grounded upon a carnal understanding, and imperfect sense of the words of the law, hath but a weak and sandy foundation, and because as the first authors of it were blasphemous heretics which erred in diverse fundamental points of christian faith and Religion: So also the revivers of it, are either cursed Anabaptists, or men who do not rightly understand the law nor the grounds and conditions upon which it requires an holy weekly Sabbath. Therefore it is justly hated and rejected as a Jewish error, & the maintainers thereof have in all true Christian Churches of all ages been branded with the name of heretical and judaical Sabbatarians. And I need not spend any precious time in confuting it, and the frivolous fallacies by which it is maintained.  
The second opinion being too rashly conceived, and unadvisedly professed and held by some godly Divines of the reformed Churches, who in this point do much contradict themselves, also being an unsound opinion and therefore well relished by Popish Schoolmen, malicious Jesuits, licentious Libertines and men of profane hearts, hath no ground in the Scriptures, nor any sound Orthodox writings of any ancient fathers: Yea bringing great confusion into the Decalouge which is the sum of the moral law, and laying a foul stain upon our Church which hath appointed the commandment of the Sabbath, to be read among the ten Commandments, and enjoins the people to pray that God would incline their hearts to keep that law, as well as all and every one of the rest. Therefore I shall not spend any time in the confutation of it: The arguments which are brought for the confutation of the contrary truth, will sufficiently raze and utterly abolish it, out of the hearts of all true Christians.  
The third opinion is most agreeable to the holy Scripture, and the common Doctrine of the Orthodox writers both of ancient and later times, especially of the most godly and learned in the Church of England, who have heretofore written learned treatises of the Sabbath, and expositions of the ten Commandments of the Decalogue. And therefore I willbe bold here again to commend it to you for an undoubted truth▪ which I have abundantly proved & confirmed by many demonstrative convincing arguments already, partly in that large search which I have made before into the nature of the law of the sabbath; and that description which I have made of it, but most fully in that passage where I proved the change of the day by the resurrection of Christ from the seventh to the first day of the week now under the Gospel, and brought diverse arguments to show that the law which God gave for the keeping holy of a seventh day in every week (at the first institution of the Sabbath here in my text; and renewed again on mount Sina, and give ●f●en in charge by Moses to Israel) doth now as strictly bind us to keep an holy Sabbath on the Lord's day in every week, as it bound the ancient people of God in the old Testament to keep the Sabbath of the seventh day.  
But for the confirming of your hearts in the belief of this truth, and in the knowledge of this duty. I will not multiply any new arguments, only that you may more firmly retain it in your memories and still bear it in mind, that you are in conscience bound to keep only the Lords day and none other for your weekly Sabbath in these times of the Gospel: I will briefly touch and explain some principal heads which have been before laid down at large and in ample manner. The sum whereof is this; Namely: That although the law of the Sabbath is not a law of nature in ●hat rigid sense in which some do conceive it, that is a law written in man's heart expressly and distinctly in the creation which by the mere instinct of nature, and direction of natural reason did lead man to keep every seventh day of the week an holy Sabbath to the Lord. But that indeed it came in after man's fall together with the promise of Christ, and therefore is more fitly called a law of grace, and a Positive evangellical law requiring duties of obedience to God which chiefly and especially tend to begit grace & and increase holiness in men. Yet it is not simply Positive. nor so Evangellicallie moral, but that it may in some sense and respect be called natural also. For first it requires some duties of obedience which in their own nature are Good and profittable, though the law giver had not by express commandment revealed his will that they should be done, such is the giving, no wof rest & intermission of bodily labour and toil, to our bodies and to the bodies of our servants and labouring cattle one whole day in every week over and beside that which they have in the time of sleep in the darkness & dead of the night. This is according to natural reason and common equity.  
Secondly, it commands some duties of God's Worship and service which man by the law of nature was bound to perform in his innocency and which are naturally moral, as lauding and praising God, and giving to him all honour and reverence in the most solemn and public manner.  
Thirdly, it commands such holy spiritual works of grace, & such duties of sanctification, as in thei● own nature work to the sanctifying of men more & more, & to make them capable of eternal rest in heaven, & of the full fruition of God. As for example: Meeting upon a set day in every week in holy assemblies, for to hear & read God's word, public instructions, exhortations, & mutual provocations to piety, sanctity & Christian charity. Fourthly, the particular day of the week which the law commands to be kept for an holy Sabbath, is separated upon such a just ground & reason in the first institution of the Sabbath, and blessed by God with such a blessing above other days of the week, that whosoever knows the law & true intent & meaning of it, & rightly understands the ground of the Sabbath mentioned in the law, he must by the light both of nature & grace, he forced to confess & acknowledge the particular day which the law commands to be kept an holy Sabbath both in the old & new testament. For the law doth not command one day in seven to be an holy rest simply & merely for the pleasure of the lawgiver, because he would have it so, & for no other reason: but for very good reason & upon a ground because he dignified the day of the Sabbath & blessed it above all other days with a singular blessing: & our own reason doth tell us, that the particular day of the week, which hath in it the true reasons & the honour & blessing of the sabbath, it ought by the law to be observed for the holy sabbath & none other, while it retains that honour & blessing, & hath the true reasons properly annexed to it. Now it it most manifest to all who read the Scriptures, & are well exercised in God's word & law: That as the seventh & last day of the week was blessed, honoured & adorned by God with the greatest blessing which God gave to the world in the old Testament, to weet: the promise of Christ the Redeemer of the world, & Gods entering into the Covenant of grace & of eternal life & salvavation with man, also Gods perfecting of the whole work of creation, by revealing & giving in promise the work of Redemption, & his resting in Christ's mediation on that day undertaken & begun. And therefore every reasonable man must by his own reason be induced, & lead to acknowledge that day the fittest & most worthy of all days in the week to be the holy Sabbath, & to be spent in thankful commemoration of God's free love & bounty to mankind. During the whole time of the old Testament before the coming of Christ. So likewise God having now under the Gospel transferred this honour to the first day of the week, that is become a blessed day above all other days, being blessed of God with a blessing far more excellent than that of the seventh day, to weet: the actual performance of the promise by giving & exhibiting Christ a perfect actual redeemer in his resurrection without which resurrection all our preaching of Christ, & all our faith in God's promises would prove vain as the Apostle proveth. 1 Cor. 15. Therefore every man must out of common reason & equity conclude, that together with the ground & reason of the Sabbath which God hath now removed from the seventh to the first day, he hath also removed the honour & festival solemnity of the Sabbath. Also his first law which enjoineth man to keep that day for the holy Sabbath which God hath blessed with the greatest blessing, doth bind all Christians to observe the Lords day for their weekly Sabbath under the Gospel: And in a word that it were a thing most unequal & unjust, if a man or any Church should go about to set up for the weekly Sabbath any other day which God hath not dignified & honoured with so great a blessing. Now upon these promised reasons, I hope it appears manifestly. First that though the Commandment of the weekly Sabbath is no dictate of nature: but a positive evangellical law: yet it doth by common natural reason as well as by the light of grace direct every reasonable man to the partilar day of the weekly Sabbath as to the seventh day in the old Testament, so to the first in the new Testament. And no reasonable man can deny it to be the most equal which this law binds men unto, but upon the true grounds of the Sab: well weighed & considered must be forced to confess, that as the seventh day was most worthy of the honour of the Sabbath, & had it before Christ's full exhibition in his resurrection, so ever since the Lords day the first of the week is become the true Sab: of Christians, & none hath power to give that honour to any other day. Secondly, it is here manifest: that though Christ the son of God made also the son of man, & man's redeemer is the Lord of the Sab: & the determination of the particular day of the week depends on him, and none other have the honour & pror●g●tiue to appoint the particular day, but he only. Yet we must not conceive that Christ by his bare will sets down the particular day, & that the day is to be observed only because of his bare will & commandment, & that any other is as fit & worthy as the seventh, & the first if he would be pleased at any time to comm●nd the same. But we are to hold th●● Christ is the Lord▪ of the Sabbath, & hath the determination of the particular day depends on him the Redeemer, only because the ho●y Sabbath is founded and builded upon him, and in him alone are to be found all the mean and essential grounds and reasons both of the Sabbath and also ●f the particular day wherein he requires that it should be observed. If he had not undertaken man's redemption from death and hell, and man's exaltation to eternal rest and glory, there had been neither any place for man's keeping of a Sabbath nor any use of it to fit him for heaven or to be a pledge of eternal rest in heaven. If God had not on the seventh day promised Christ the blessed seed to redeem man from death, to purchase life for him, and to continue to him the benefit of the creatures, and to perfect his creation. Surely it had not been the most blessed day of the week, neither would God have instituted it to be a weekly Sabbath at the first, and so to continue until the coming of Christ. And if God had not raised up Christ on the first day of the week, and so exhibited him aperfect redeemer; and fully performed his promise.  
Then the first day had not been made a more blessed day then the seventh and all other days of the week. And the Lord Christ would never have made that day of the week his Sabbath always after, neither would his holy Apostles by inspiration of his spirit being moved to call it the Lords day, and to observe it, and teach others to observe it for their day of holy assemblies for the performing of all holy Sabbath duties. And thus we see Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, and so determines the particular day of the week, not by his bare will & word, but by bringing in such blessings on the seventh or first day of the week, as made the one of them most worthy under the new testament to be the holy Sabbath, to be kept and observed of all God's people, unto the observation whereof they are justly lead by the light both of grace and nature: And it is not either in the power of man or any other creature or in the just will of God, or agreeable to the will of the Lord Christ and the wisdom of his spirit to appoint any other day for the weekly Sabbath, but only the day of the Lord Christ, that is the day of him promised in the old, and the day of him fully exhibited in the new Testament. The first of which and no other the fathers were bound to keep for their holy rest of old. And the later and no other is our weekly Sabbath and the due observation of that particular, is the first special Sabbath duty of all Christians under the time of the Gospel until the last resurrection.  
The second sort of special duties unto which all true Christians are bound unto, in their observation of the Lords day, which is the christian Sabbath, are the duties of rest & cessation from all worldly affairs which now follow to be handled in the n●x● place. Concerning which I find much diversity both of opinion and practice, not only between true Christians of the reformed Churches, and Antichristian Papists & other heretics, but also in the reformed Churches among themselves. First for the Church of Rome, and all that are of her faction devoted to her superstition and Idolatry, and marked with the mark of the beast which bears up the Romish Babylon, though diverse of their learned Scoolemen have heretofore maintained a very strict observation of rest on the Lord's day. Yet now in later times both in Doctrine & practice they are grown very desolate, especially the Romish Catholics which liue among us, turning the Lord's day into a day of liberty, and spending a great part of it in sports, plays, revelling other bodily exercises which are carnal, fleshly, profane and impious.  
As if so be their irreligious profaneness were at strife with their Idolatrous religion. and at great emulation contending which should out go & over run the other in carrying them with greater speed to hell. Yea to show and make it manifest to the world, that the Romish man of sin is that great Antichrist, which exalts himself above all that is called God, even above the true God, & the Lord jesus Christ whose vicar he in hypocrisy makes himself. The Church of Rome doth teach and urge her Uassals to ke●p yearly holy days most strictly, which are of her own devising, which the pope hath commanded to be observed in honour of his Cananized Saints: & in the mean time opposeth with many great profanations the Lords day, which the Lord hath consecrated by his resurrection. Which day being blessed by God with the greatest blessing above all other days of the week, is by the law which God gave from the beginning, commanded to be kept for the Lords holy Sabbath weeklie.  
Secondly, there are of the heretical faction of the Anabaptists, Antimonians, families & other such profane Sectaries, which make little so● any law of God or man, saving only the dictate of their faniticall spirit. And left the commandment of the weekly Sab: lest they should seem to be subject to Gods law and to be be his (servants which they account slavery) and not absolute Libertines and sons of Beliall which have cast of the Lords yoke. These esteem and observe no day at all, but according to their own fancy, & make the Lords day so far as they dare for fear of men a market day of buying and selling wa●es, & a day of labour, and of bearing and carrying our burdens as they well know who have been at Amsterdam where such heretics and sectaries are tolerated.  
thirdly, among Christians of the reformed Churches there is a difference both in Doctrine and practice. Some of the reformed Churches, who out of their extreme hatred to Popish superstition, and to all Popish rites and Ceremonies, being unwilling to retain any thing which was used in popery, except there be some express Commandment or example for it in the Scriptures, especially of the new Testament, and labouring to overthrow the whole Hierachie and government of the Church by Bishops, & all bodily rites: they do in the heat of their zeal so violently set themselves against Popish superstitious holy days, that they go about to take away all observations of days, and they have proceeded so far, as to deny that any either weekly Sabbath, or yearly set feast, aught to be kept holy by any special law or commandment of God. They teach that the Sabbath as it was commanded to be kept of old, was a mere ceremonial & shadow of things which are accomplished in Christ, and that is now a bolished. But because it is a thing necessary for the having of holy assemblies, and for good order in the Churches, that there should be a set day either a seseventh or sixth day of eight days: And because the law of nature requires that Christian people should have some days of rest from hard labour for the refreshing of themselves, and their servants and cattle: therefore the Church of God m●y appoint any day of the week. And in honour of the resurrection of Christ on that day, hath from the time of the Apostles agreed to keep that day for the Lords day, not out of any opinion that God hath blessed & sanctified it above all other days of the week, but only for good orders sake, and that it is lawful for God's people, after public exercises of religion and some needful rest and refreshing, to use necessary labours and bodily recreations; which in themselves are not sinful and unlawful, neither do hinder public duties of religion and of God's worship.  
But on the contrary it is the common doctrine of the most godly and learned in the Church of England, ever since the reformation of religion held, maintained & taught, that although Christians are by Christ freed from the observation of the seventh day, which was the Sabbath of the old Testament, and from that servile bondage and rigorous rest which the law literally and carnally understood did impose on them, or rather they by their carnal exposition & wresting of the law did impose on themselves, as not kindling of a fire, nor liberty to heal the sick, nor to do any work of charity and necessity on the Sabbath day, which could not without danger be deferred. Yet they are bound by the law which was first given here in my text, and after by Moses and the Prophets, to keep in every week an holy rest, and that on the first day which is the Lords day, because God hath blessed it with a blessing above all other days, even by exhibiting Christ a perfect redeemer in his resurrection, and hath thereby consecrated that day to be his holy sabbath. And that all bodily labours, sports and recreations, and all worldly negociation, are by God's law strictly prohibited now under the Gospel, as they were in the days of the patriarchs, and Prophets, and under the law, Because indeed and in truth they cross the holy purpose of God which he hath manifested in his law, and are impediments of those holy exercises, which are required in the sanctification of his holy day.  
This doctrine and practice I hold to be the best, and this we are all bound to receive and embrace and to cleave unto it, not only because it is the Doctrine of our Mother Church, commended to us in the book of homilies, established by divets laws statutes and constitutions still in force: but also because it is most consonant to the sacred Scriptures, the precepts and practice of the Apostles, and to the common Doctrine of the purest and most holy Orthoxe of the ancient fathers in the Primitive times, and ages next succeeding after the Apostles, as by God's assistance as I shall make clear and manifest.  
In the justifying & proving of this Doctrine, and in laying open the special duties of Christians which concern rest and cessation from all worldly negociation, and bodily labours, on the Lord's day which is the Christian Sabbath: I will show: First of all. That rest and c●ssation from all bodily labours about the worldly business, and from all servile and and earthly works which concern this frail life, is a necessary duty which God requires by his law of all Christians on the Lord's day, which is their Holy weekly Sabbath under the Gospel.  
2. That God's law rightly understood doth in respect of rest from worldly cares, and all bodily works and pleasures, as strictly bind us under the Gospel on the Lord's day as it bound the fathers upon their seventh day in the old Testament. 3. I will show how far God's word & law doth allow of bodily exercises which concern this life, and how far in such exercises we may go with good warrant upon the Lords holy Sabbath, and what exercises are condemned in the word of God.   

CHAP. 19  
FOR the full proof of the first point, there are many strong and invincible arguments grounded upon the word and law of God, upon the general consent of Orthodox divines both ancient and modern, even upon the confession of them who in this point much differ, and seem to deny that the Lords day either is, or aught to be called a Sab.  

1. Argument.  The first Argument is drawn from the words of the law, which forbids all works to be done on the Sabbath day either by man himself, or his children, servants, or cattle, as Exod. 20: 10. Deut. 5.14: where it is said. In it thou sh●lt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy servant nor thy cattle: & Exod. 35.2 Levit. 23.7. Ye shall do no servile work● therein, whosoever doth any work therein shall be put to death. The reasons why the Lord requires rest from all servile work on the Sabbath day are two.  
First because he who is the Lord our God and our Redeemer, hath on that day rested from his work, and him we ought to imitate if we will enter into his rest. Secondly, because he hath blessed the day which is his Sabbath above all days of the week, and wheresoever the causes and reasons stand firm, there the law is still in force. Now this law of the Sabbath doth reach to the Lords day: (As I have proved before) & the reason upon which it requirs rest from servile works are much more to be found in the Lord's day which is the Christian Sab: then in the Old Sabbath of the seventh day. For in it Christ who is God over all blessed for ever, and who is our Redeemer from a greater than Egyptian bondage, even the slavery of sin, death and hell, and the Devil, hath rested from the great work of redemption as God the Creator did one the seventh day from the work of creation. And this day is now by Christ's resurrection in which Christ perfected man's redemption, blessed with a blessing far more excellent than any wherewith God blessed the seventh day. Therefore this is the Sabbath now under the Gospel, & in it God requirs of us by his law a rest & total cessation from all servile works. Secondly whatsoever day is the Lords holy day, & a day of holy convocations & assemblies that is a Sab: of rest from all servile works & worldly business, 
2 Argument.  this is manifest Exod. 12.16. & 31.15. & 35.2: & Levit. 32.3: 7: which places do plainly show, that every day which is holy to the Lord and a day of holy assemblies, is a Sab: of rest, & no work may be done therein. And so likewise in all the law & the Prophets every day which is a day of holy convocation, & an holy day is called a Sab: & day of rest from our own works & pleasures & every Sab: is called the Lords holy day, for these two are termini convertibiles, terms which may be naturally affirmed one of another, as appears Neh. 9: 14: & Isa: 58: 13: Now the Lords day in the time of the Gospel is the chief of all holy days among Christians: It was sanctified & observed by the Apostles for their day of holy assemblies from the first publishing of the Gospel among the Gentiles, on that they did meet together to hear the word & to receive the sacrament of the Lords supper Act: 20: 7: And on that day St Paul ordained that the collections & offerings should be made for the Saints 1 Cor: 16: 12: which were things proper for holy & public assemblies: So St: John calls it by the name of the Lords day: Revel: 1: 10: that is, the day which is universal, sacred, & holy to the Lord in an high degree. For whatsoever things have the Lords name named on them, are such, as all confess & many examples of Scripture prove abundantly: All the ancient fathers & doctors of the Church who immediately & in the ●ext ages succeed the Apostles, do proclaim it to be the chief holy day of Christians; even the Queen & supreme Lady of days: So Ignatius calls it as I have often before noted: also the day of their holy assemblies wherein they did come together to preach, read, expound, & hear God's word, to worship God, to pray & to praise God with their one voice, to receive the Sacramentt and offer up alms. So justin Martyr affirms: The rest of the most learned fathers, as Basill, Nazianzen, Chrysostome, Hyerome, & Austen, do all extol it for the Lords high royal holy day, the chief●, primate, & first fruits of days, as the learned of all sides know & co●fesse, even Calvin, & his followers, who made a doubt & scruple of calling it the Sab: or observing it for a Sab: of holy rest by any warrant from God's law. Therefore none can with any good reason deny, that one main duty of this day is rest from all earthly works. Thirdly, 
3. Argument.  wheresoever there is as much use of holy rest & cessation from all worldly affairs, as there was of old when God first gave, & afterwards repeated and urged the law of the weekly Sab: there a Sab: of rest ought to be kept weeklie even by the Com: of God. This is truth & undeniable. For no laws of God comm●nding things which are but tips & figures, are at any time abrogated, until the things commanded cease to be of use as the Apostle shows in the 8 9: & 10 cap: of Heb:  
Now Christ who is the body and substance of all types and shadows, hath not by his coming so fulfilled the rest of the weekly Sabbath, but there is as great, as holy and as necessary use of it to us Christians, as there was to the people of God in the Old Testament.  
First, we have as much and more need of refreshing our weak bodies, and the bodies of our servants and labouring cattle than they had, by keeping a weekly Sabbath, for we are grown far more weak and feeble, and of shorter life than they were.  
Secondly, we have as great need of separating, sequestering, and recalling our minds and affections from all worldly cares negociations, and pleasures, ●hat we may have pleasure and freedom to worship and serve God, and devote one day in every week to public assemblies for our edification in grace faith and holiness. For we are more full of infirmities, and do decay and grow corrupt more and more, as all the world doth, and have need of all outward helps more than they.  
thirdly, as rest from all works and labours which concern this life was necessary and of great use to Adam, and all the fathers, to withdraw their hearts and mind's from placing their felicity and seeking happiness in this world, and to put them in remembrance, that (being fallen from that integrity in which they were created, and the first covenant of life by man's own works, being broken and made void by the first fall and disobedience) there is no hope of life or of any true blessedness. So it is of no less use, but of much more necessity for us, who are far more eager after the world, more ready to place our felicity in earthly things, and more proud and arrogant, ready to glory in our own merits, & to boast of our own righteousness, ●s we see by common course of the world, which now a days so madly doteth after Popish and Pelagian merits.  
F●ur●hlie, as Gods commanding of a weekly rest to be given to man and beast; and the resting of the fathers on the Sabbath day, from servile works and labour which came in as a curse for sin, were of great use to teach them, and to be a pledge, and token unto them, that God did rest in Christ's mediation, and his justice was fully satisfied, and his wrath appeased towards them, by that satisfaction which Christ had undertaken to make, and that the sting of sin and death, and the bitterness of the curse was taken away by him. So likewise it is of the same use still to us, and we have as much need of the same weekly holy r●st, to make us feel more sensible, and relish more sweetly the virtue of Christ's satisfaction, the sweetness whereof we through our dullness can hardly taste and relish, and many amongst us make a doubt whether there be any such satisfaction of God's justice needful at all, or any appeasing of his wrath by Christ.  
Fifthly, as Gods enjoining of rest was of use to the fathers to testify to them his provident care over his creatures, both men and beasts, and his hatred and detestation of merciless cruelty and unjust oppression: So it is much more useful to us for the same purpose in these last days and perilous times, wherein men are become fierce, cruel, implacable, without natural affection, as experience teacheth, and the Apostle foretold. 2 Tim. 3.2.3.  
Lastlie, as the weekly rest of the old Sabbath grounded upon the obscure promise of Christ, was commanded by God, that it might be a means to stir up the fathers to look for true comfort, ease & refreshing in Christ, if they did by faith flee to him, whensoever they did travel under the burden of their sins, and Satan's temptations, as we read that job did cap. 16.21. and 19.25. So now it is much more useful to stir us up to seek to Christ, when we are heavy laden, and groan under the burden of sin, and of the miseries which come by sin, and of Satan's dangerous temptations. Seeing as Satan doth now ●ore rage like a Roaring Lion, 1 Pet 5.8. And is full of wrath because his time grows shorter Revel. 12. So we have Christ actually given and revealed, and in the Gospel calling and inviting us and promising rest and refreshing for our souls in such causes of distress, if we come to him. In a word, to us the rest of the Lord Christ's day is a more lively pledge of eternal rest by him prepared in heaven for us:  
These things being clear and manifest, the conclusion following upon these praemises it this. That we are as much or more bound by God's law to keep the Lords day as a Sabbath of weekly rest, by ceasing from all affairs of this life, laying aside all worldly cares, and resting from all our own ordinary and common works and labours.  
fourthly, 
4. Argum.  they who are more spiritual and have have lively hope of Heaven, and have the spirit shed on them more abundantly, they are more bound by God's law to sequester themselves and withdraw their minds from worldly cares, and more to mind heavenly things as at all other times, so on the Lords holy day, which is consecrated to heavenly, spiritual and religious worship and service of God, & is a pledge to them of eternal rest with Christ in heaven.  
For to whom God hath given, more of them shall more be required.  
Now it is most plainly testified in the Scriptures. That Christians under the Gospel are more spiritual, and have the spirit more abundantly shed on them through Christ, than the Fathers had Act. 2.17. & Tit. 3.6. The Ministry of the new Testament is the ministry of the spirit not of the letter 2 Cor. 3.6. And we have now more evidence & more assurance of the blessed hope reserved in heaven for us. Colos. 1.5. There is Christ our life and Treasure Colos. 3, 1.2. And there our hearts ought to be, and not on earthly things. We must now be ready if Christ call us to sell all and to give to the poor, that we may have treasure in heaven.  
Therefore we are bound by the law especially on the Lord's day our weekly holy day, to be more sequestered from the world, and to rest wholly from all cares and labours about earthly things, that we may be wholly devoted to heavenly things and to divine meditations.  

5. Argu:  Lastly, though Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church did much condemn in their writings, the observation of the Sabbath after the manner of the later jews, 
Chrisostom in Cor. 16. Augst servant 25 1. the temp: Gregor. Magn Epist: lib: 11.3:  to weet: in idleness, and from resting from all worldly affairs, that they might spend the day in vain sports and delights, and in wanton leaping and dancing, which in the grave judgement of these learned Fathers: Was worse and more profane than ploughing and digging and working in will. Yet notwithstanding they do generally commend the Lord's day as a day of rest to all God's people from all rural works and worldly affairs, that they may be at leisure to exercise themselves in holy duties, and be wholly devoted to the worship of God. And hereupon it is, that the learned of these later times; especially the builders of God's Church in this land, do most frequently in respect of this rest and cessarion from all secular affairs call the Lords day the Sabbath of Christians, as appears in the first part of the Homily of the time and place of prayer, and do affirm that as the Fathers in the old Testament were bound to rest one the seventh day from all manner of work: So also are Christians bound on the Lord's day to rest and that by the law of God.   

CHAP. 20  
THE second position which I have propounded before, which now Comes to be proved is: That God's law rightly understood, doth in respect of this duty of rest from all worldly affairs, as strictly bind us under the Gospel on the Lord's day, as it bound the fathers on the Sabbath of the seventh day in the old Testament. Here some will perhaps imagine, that I go about to say an heavy yoke of Jewish legal bondage upon Christians, contrary to Christian liberty, by which Christ hath made us free. But if they remember, and bear in mind what I have before proved, to weet: That the fathers from the beginning had no such burden imposed on them as is commonly conceived, and that the Scriptures are alleged to prove that they might not kindle a fire nor dress meat, nor go out of their place on the Sabbath day, and that it was death to gather sticks on that day in case of necessity, are much mistaken. They shall be forced to confess that I take away the heavy yoke which many lay upon the Fathers in the old Testament, ra●hen than lay any yoke upon Christians in the observation of the Sabbath. Yea that I require and urge no more, then that which all the learned of best note in all ages have ever since the time of the Apostles, and by tradition from them commended to the Churches of Christ, which also the laws, Canons; and Doctrine of the Church of England generally received and established, do impose on us the light burden and easy yoke of Christ.  
It is true that the Scribes and pharisees those great corrupters of the law, and blind Hypocrites as our Saviour calls them, did lay an heavy yoke on the people of their time, by their false glosses and corrupt traditions, as in diverse other points, so in the observation of the Sabbath. They held it unlawful in case of necessity to pull an ear of corn, or any fruit from a tree on the Sabbath day, and blamed Christ's Disciples for doing so when they were hungry and had no other means to keep themselves from fainting. They accused our Saviour Christ for working a glorious miracle, and doing a work of great charity on the Sabbath, when by his word he healed some that were sick of great infirmities, and sent them away bearing their beds on their backs in open sight of all, which tended much to the honour of God, and made the people glorify Christ and his Gospel. But our Saviour reproves them for this strictness, and convinceth them of error by diverse arguments.  
First, by Scripture which saith, that God will have mercy rather than sacrifice, that is: God is served more acceptably with works of mercy which are moral duties, than sacrifices which are but a service ceremonial, & he delights more in works of mercy & charity then in them, as at all times, so when they are done to his glory on the Sab: day. So that if it was a breach and profanation of the Sab: to do any work of mercy in it, than it must needs be much more a profanation to labour & work about sacrifices in kill beasts, dressing & washing their flesh, & making fires to burn them on the Altar, which were not so pleasing to God as works of mercy. But the Pharisees allowed & approved such works of sacrificing & durst not condemn them. And therefore our Saviour concludes that they ought not to condemn his merciful works of healing the sick on the Sab: day, & shows that by censuring his doings for profanation, they did much more censure the forenamed actions of their Priests even the dressing & burning sacrifices mat. 12.5.6.7. Secondly, our Saviour proves, that by Gods own law they were allowed to circumcise children on the Sab: day, whensoever it happened to fall out on the eight day after the birth of children, and to the Child circumcised they applied healing medicines, and therefore they grossly erred in accusing him for healing on the Sabbath which was a thing pleasing to God and was a less labour than Circumcision, john, 7.22.  
thirdly, he convinceth them of gross hypocrisy and blindness in that they imposed heavy burdens upon others which they themselves would not bear, they did restrain men from pulling an ear of corn, rubbing & eating it on the Sabbath day in the case of hunger & great necessity. And yet they led their oxen to the water, and did pull a sheep or a ass out of a pit on the Sabbath day. Mat. 12.11. Luk. 13.15. & 14.5. By these arguments which our Saviour used against the Scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel it is most clear and manifest, that it was not the law of God given from the beginning, nor the will of God the lawgiver, but only the Hypocritical Scribes and pharisees who by their traditions & devices of their own brains, imposed on the jews that strict and rigorous rest and cessation from all works whatsoever on the Sabbath day, which the learned fathers and Christian writers do call an heavy burden hard to be borne  
Object. But it may be some will object that the fathers in the old Testament were bound to offer double sacrifices on Sabbath day, Num. 28.9. even two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flower For a meat offering mingled with oil, & the drink● offering thereof. Which was more costly & required more bodily labour and care, than any which is imposed on us Chri●●ian● by God's law upon our Christian Sabbath, and therefore their observation of the Sabbath was an heavy yoke & burden harder to be borne, than ●ny which is imposed on us.  
Answ. I answer, that this objection doth strongly prove the point in hand. For if more bodily labour and care was required of the Fathers in their worship (which was more carnal & bodily than ours) on their Sabbath, and we are therefore eased of that yoke, & have a more spiritual worship taught us, and imposed on us by Christ and his Apostles as the Prophets foretold. Then were the Father's less restrained from bodily labours than we are, neither was there so strict and rigorous a Rest and Cessation imposed on them, which serves much for the justifying of our position, to weet: That God's law rightly understood, and expounded according to the will and intent of God the lawgiver, doth as strictly bind us under the Gospel to Rest from all worldly business on the Lord's day, as it bound the father's one the seventh day in the old Testament.  
But to proceed in the further manifestation of this truth: Although I could bring many arguments and proofs both out of Scripture, also out of the writings of the learned, and clear testimonies which show the consent of all Godly Orthodox writiters of all ages: Yet because I will leave no occasion or colour to such sons of Beliall as do intrude into our assemblies, to catch calumniate and report my words safely and to accuse my Doctrine, except they will h●rden their despeand malicious hearts, and put on brazen faces with whorish foreheads to accuse the holy Scriptures, and the Doctrine published in the book of Homilies, and by law established in this Church of England whereof we are members: therefore I will only commend to your consideration the public Doctrine of our Church in the very words of the Homilies, which both by statute law, and Royal prerogative are established in this land and Kingdom, and will show how parfectlie they agree with holy scripture in this point.  
First in the first part of the Homily. Concerning the time and place of prayer, We are taught: that God in the forth Commandment hath appointed the time for his people to assemble themselves together solemnly, when he said. Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath. Secondly, in the same place it is affirmed, that the praecise keeping of the seventh day, and the external ceremonial worship of the sabbath which the law required, as it wa● given to the Jew●s being b●t Ceremonial are ceased to us, and we are not bound by the law so strictly to forbear work and labour in the case of necessity after the manner of the jews. That is as they were taught by the Scribes and Pharisees. But we keep now the first day of the week which is our sunday; and make that our Sabbath, that is our day of rest, in the honour of our Lord Christ, who as upon that day rose from death, conquering the same most triumphantly. These are the words of the Homily. And that the keeping of a set time, to weet: one day in week, wherein we ought to rest from lawful and needful works, Is found in the fourth Command●ment, among th● things which appertain to the law of nature, & is a thing most godly most just, and needful for the setting forth of God's Glory, and aught to 〈◊〉 retained & kept of all good Christian people. So is it there expressly affirmed.  
Thirdly, we are there ●aught. That as by the fourth commandment no man on the six days ought to be slothful, or idle, but diligently to labour in their estate wherein God hath set him. Even so God hath given express charge to all men, that on the Sabbath day which is now our Sunday, they should 〈◊〉 from all worldly and work day labour, and that Gods obedient people should use the Sabbath holily, and so rest from their common & daily business, that they may give themselves wholly to Heavenly exercises of Gods true religion and service.  
Fourthly, in the same Homily all God's people are urged and pressed to keep the Sunday for their holy Sabath. by three Arguments. The first is the commandment of God in the law. The second is, God's examample who rested on the Seventh day, and did no work of creation at all, but blessed and sanctified it, and consecrated it to quietness, and rest from labour. The third is an example of the Apostles, who immediately after the ascension of our Lord Christ began to keep this day of the week, & commended it the first Churches of the Gentiles 1 Cor. 16▪ and called it the Lords day. Revel. 1.10. Sithence which time God's people hath always with out any gainsaying observed it.  
Fifthly, and lastly the Homilies shows that the rest and cessation which God requires by his law one the Lords day, at the hands of us Christians, is the same which the law did bind the fathers unto from the beginning upon this Sabbath in the old testament.  
First, whereas the law commanded the Fathers to rest from all such works, as they are allowed to do on the other common days of the week, that is worldly labours as the express words of the law show.  
In it thou sh●lt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daugther, nor thy servant, etc. Exod. 20.10. And again thou shalt do no servile work therein Levit. 23.7. thou shalt do no manner of servile work. Num. 28.18. So the Homily blames all those people for wicked boldness & careless profanation of the Lords day, who make no conscience of doing their worldly business one that day, though there be no extreme need and necessity.  
Secondly, as the law forbids journeying from home about worldly affairs on the sabbath: Exod. 16.29. bringing in and carrying out loads and burdens jer. 17.27. exercising themeselves in the works of their ordinary calling & trade, as buying, selling, keeping market and fairs on that day. So also the Homily condemns them as transgressors & profaners of the Lords sabbath, who on the sunday which is the Lords day and Christian sabbath, do not spare to ride, and journey, bring and carry, row, and ferry, buy, and sell keep markets and fairs; and so use the Lords holy days and work days both a like.  
Thirdly, as the law and the Prophets commanded God's people in the old testament to rest in holiness, Exod. 31.14. & 35.2. and not pollute the sabbath, by doing their own pleasure, but to honour the Lord, not doing their own ways, nor finding their own pleasure, nor speaking their own words Isa. 58.13. So also the Homily requires of all God's people, the same Holy rest on the Lord's day, in that it condemns them who follow vain and carnal sports, and fleshly pleasures, and all such exercises as cause brawling and railing and tending to wantonness, as a worse sort of people than they that break the sabbath by working and doing all their business in it. For these are the words of the Homily. The other sort is yet worse, for though they will not travel and labour on the sunday, as on the week day, Yet they will not rest in holiness, as God commandeth, but they rest in ungodliness and filthiness praunsing in their pride, pranking, and pricking, pointing, and painting themselves to be Gorgeous, and Gay, they rest in excess and superfluity, in Gluttony and drunkenness, like Rats and swine, they rest in brawling and railing, in quarrelling and fight. They rest in wantonness, ●oyish ●alking, and filthy fleshlynesse. So that it doth evidently appear, that God is more dishonoured, and the Devil better served upon Sunday, than all other days of the week beside. And I assure you the beasts which are commanded to rest one the sunday, honour God better than this kind of people.  
Now by these express words of the Homily we see most clearly, that both this and the former position are not any new Doctrines, or factious opinions of my own devising; as some malicious catchers & false traducers have slanderously reported both of them & me: But the true Orthodox Doctrine of the Scriptures in the law, the Prophets & new Testament, & the divine doctrine pubklickly received in the Church of England, & by law established. For the further confirmation whereof, I could say much besides the strong Arguments which I have brought to prove the former position, which do over and above most strongly prove this also. For 1. If the Lords day be a more blessed day then the seventh day was in the old Testament. 2. If it be a more holy day, & a day of more holy convocations & assemblies. 3. If we have as much, & as manifold use of rest & cessation as they had & more. 4. If we be bound by God's law, & by the Gospel to be more spiritual & more sequestered from the world, because we have more abundant gifts of the spirit, more clear sight & knowledge of heavenly & eternal rest, & more hope of eternal life & glory. Then it must needs follow, that we by God's law are as strictly bound to rest & cease from all worldly cares, & bodily works, sports, and pleasures, as the Fathers were in the old testament. But because slanderous traducers shall have nothing here to object against me in this point, except they can desperately harden their hear●s, and faces to accuse, blaspheme, & wound through my sides the holy Scriptures, and the public doctrine of the Church of England by the law established and royal authority maintained: I will content myself & desire you my hearers to be satisfied with this which I have said & you have heard already. And so I pass to the third point before propounded concerning the duty of rest, even the manner & measure of it, & in what cases God's law permits bodily exercises on the L: day.   

CHAP. 21.  
Howsoever all worldly works and labours are forbidden, and rest From them all is commanded in the law, yet the equity of the law permits some labours and exercises, and in some cases allows such bodily works, as are ordinarily unlawful to be done on the Lords holy Sabbath day. First of all it is lawful for Ministers and preachers of God's word to do some painful and laborious works upon the Lord's day, even all such as are necessary for the better sanctification of the day, and for the edification of the people and flock in public.  
Though they are not allowed to neglect their studies on the six days, but are bound to read, study, meditate, & for help of their memories to write down the heads, points, and proofs of their Doctrine; before the day of assembly? Yet because few or none are so perfect, as to preach public with good order, Method and readiness of speech and memory, that which they have studied, without searching, and reading over the testimonies of Scripture which they have collected and studied, & noting down & writing some which come new & fresh to their mind, & serious meditating upon that which they are to speak, for better imprinting of it in their mem●ries. Therefore their is a necessity laid on them to labour in this kind on the Lord's Sabbath. A●d though it be a great labour of the body to stand up & preach in the congregation, with intention of the voice & earnestness of affection, & doth more spend the spirits, & strength of the body, & makes drops of sweat run down the face more abundantly than the tilling of the ground: Yet the matter in which they deal is holy & all their work is religious, & their labour tends to an holy & supernatural end, & is necessary for a full sanctification of the day: therefore it is not only allowed, but also required & commandment by the law of God. If any doth make a doubt or question of this truth we have very strong proof thereof in the holy Scriptures.  
Th● first Argument is drawn from the hard bodily labours & artificial practices of the Priests which they wer● by the law bound to perform in their double sacrifices & offerings on the Sab: day in the old Testament, they were bound to flealambs & to dress & wash the flesh & the intrals, & to offer them up in sacrifices on the Altar, thy were bound to lay them upon wood on the Altar, to kindle the fire & burn the fat, & some part of the flesh also they were to take a tenth deal of flower to mingle it with oil, & to make the drink offering thereof also, & to offer all to God as we read, Num. 28.9. Now if God by his law allowed & commanded such bodily works on the Sab: day, because they were needful for sacrifices, & Circumcision which were but a ceremonial & tipical service of the Lord, which he in his temple required by a ceremonial law for the sanctification of the Sab. Then much more doth God's law allow & command his public ministers, to labour & sweat & spend their bodily strength & spirits in preaching his word in the holy Christian assemblies, where Christ who is greater than the temple is present by his spirit in many of his members who are so many temples of the Holy Ghost and of God.  
The second argument is drawn from the practice and example of Christ and his Apostles. For as the Priests and learned scribes did of old read and expound the law and the Prophets in all their synagogues every sabbath day. And our Saviour approved this by joining with them in some practice, preaching & teaching in their synagogues in great throngs & assemblies of people, which thronged after him & undoubtedly made him sweat as appears. Mat. 4.13. & john. 5.10. So also the holy Apostles did on the first day of the week the Lords day, labour in the word as we see by the example of St. Paul, who at Troas continued his Preaching till midnight, because he was to depart the next day. Act. 20.7. Now what they did perform as a duty taught by the law and moved by the spirit of God. In that all their faithful successoures are bound to imitate them. Therefore the labours and pains of Ministers and preachers are allowed on the Lord's day, being holy and religious works, and fittest of all for the holy day and holy place.  
A second sort of works allowed to be done on the Lord's day: are bodily works and labours which are so necessary for the fitting and enabling of Christians to sanctify that day, and for bringing them unto holy and public assemblies and places of prayer and of God's worship and holy service, that without such working and labouring even on that day they neither can be so fit and able to serve God joyfully, and to worship him with cheerful hearts, neither can they as the present case stands, come unto holy Sabbath assemblies, to hear the word, to pray and to worship in public. As for example, in places of restreant, and of trouble and persecution where public Sabbath assemblies of true Christians are not tolerated, but in Churches which are remote diverse miles, and in barren countries where the Churches are four or five miles distant from some houses and villages in the parish, men may lawfully ●rauell on foot and ride one horses, or make their horses labour in drawing them to the Church in Coaches. And because men cannot be so Cheerful in the service of God, nor so heartily rejoice before him, not with strength and delight spend the whole day in Sabbath duties, without warm and wholesome food, and plentiful refreshing of their weak bodies. therefore the dressing boiling baking and roasting of meat is lawful on the Lord's day, so far as it more helps than hinders holy duties and the service of God. This is manifest by the words of the law, Exod. 12.16. where the Lord forbidding all manner of work on his holy Sabbaths, excepts labour and work about that which people were to eat, and which was necessary for the upholding of an holy moderate feasting on those days. This was practised by the Ph●rises and by our Saviour and his Apostles who on the Sabbath day came to a feast to the house of a chief Pharise, Luk. 14.1.2. Also the speech of the Shanamite to his wife 2 King. 4.23: doth import, that for the solemn observation of the Sabbath they were wont to ride and travel to the Prophets and to places where they might worship God; and be instructed in the knowledge of his will and worship.  
For when she desired an ass to ride on, and a young man to attend her unto Carmell where Elisha ●he man of God was. Wherefore wilt thou (saith he) got to him to day seeing it is neither New Moon nor sabbath? But here let me give a caution. That Christian people be not too heedless setting their inhabitations in places Remote from the Church for some worldly commodities, when they may with a little less conveniency dwell near. And that they do not by unnecessary feasting and superstitious dressing of meat, hinder, or wholly disable some of their family from keeping holy the Lord's day a fault to common in our days.  
Thirdly, all works & actions of bodily labour which are works of mercy and of Charity which cannot without convenience or danger be deferred, or which may be done without hindering of our souls in Gods public worship, and to the great comfort of our brethren are lawful and may be done on the Lord's day. As for example, visiting of the si●k, and of them that are in prison, or in any great distress, and applying and ministering comfort, and healing medicines to them: offering and gathering of collections for the Relief of poor Saints, labouring to set men at ●nity, and to Reconcile jarring neighbours. These are holy pious works as our Saviour shows, and he accounts such deeds when they come from a sincere heart as if they were done to himself, Mat 25.40: Yea he himself did commonly on the Sabbath day practise such deeds so often as he found occasion as we read, Mat. 12. Luk. 6: Paul by inspiration of the spirit and by Commandment from the Lord Christ doth ordain, and appoint such works to be done on the Lord's day: 2 Cor. 16.1: 2. And from the days of the Apostles, all true Churches of Christ did practise such works of mercy, piety, and Charity as Justine Martyr witnesseth, and diverse others in alter ages. And such works the Ecclesiastical constitutions of our English Church, commanded and commend on the Sundays & holy days of the Lord.  
Fourthly, all bodily works of great, and extreme necessity which concern the life and safety of men, and of their cattle, the preservation of necessary creatures, & other good things of good use, value and moment, serving for man's being and wellbeing, may lawfully be done on the Lord's day. As for example. 1. Fight for our lives and for the safety of our country or city against enemies which invade us, and set upon us, and taking advantage if God doth offer it to us on the Lord's day, as joshua did at Jericho in compassing the City by God's appointment, and (by circumstances it is probable) taking it on the seventh day and offering a bloody sacrifice in fire to God, as a Cherem, or Anathema, devoted and separated to God, for the first fruits of the land of Canaan after they came to Jordan from which no man might without sacrilege detract any thing as Achan did and was cut off for it, Josh. 6. If joshua did compass the City seven days together, (as the text saith) than one of the seventh must needs be the Sabbath, & most likely the last of the seventh, wherein the City was taken and offered up in fire as a devote thing to God. God offering the occasion and giving the advantage by the ruin of all the walls about the City, did impose a necessity upon them to take and destroy the City on that day, and this work was dispensed with and approved by God, and so are all of the like kind: (For necessity hath no law).  
Secondly, by the same rule other works of necessity, as labour in quenching fire, when men's houses are on fire, or the town in danger, or in stopping of a breach when the sea, or some overflowing river breaks through the banks, and is ready to draw some part of the country; and to destroy men and beasts, and there is a necessity of Removing men & beasts, corn & other good creatures that they be not be drowned & swallowed up. And in a word wheresoever God brings men into that necessity, that they cannot be kept in wellbeing without present help by some work done on the Sabbath day, such works are not forbidden on that day. Neither kill of sheep and oxen, nor dressing of them nor grinding corn nor baking bread to refresh an army returned from battle and ready to faint without present sustenance, by dressing and preparing some part of the praey which they have taken: Our Saviour in the Gospel proves this clearly Mat. 12. Where by David's example, who did take and eat the show bread in his necessity he defends his Disciples & their act of plucking ●ares of corn, rubbing and eating them on the Sab: & also alloweth leading of cattle to drink, & the drawing them out of pits, & such like.  
But because occasion is here offered to speak of all kinds of actions which are allowed to be done, & from which men are not bound to r●st wholly on the Lord's day: It will be expected of some, that I should speak of actions and exercises of sport and recreation, whether men be altogether restrained from them, or whether any of them be lawful to be used on the Lord's day: Now because I will not provoke nor exasperate any who seem of contrary judgement, especially men of great place & authority: I will propound my judgement which I conceive to be agreeable to God's word, only in general rules gathered out of the holy Scriptures, which all understanding Christians may easily apply to the particulars. 1. It is acknowledged by all godly learned divines: That nor creations or sports which feed and cherish men's corrupt & carnal affections are at any time lawful, as Idle & Vain jefting, wanton gestures, and dalliance which increase lust and occasion wantonness, and therefore lest of all to be tolerated on the Lord's day: For this is seeking of our own pleasures & polluting the Lords holy day, which the Prophet Jsaiah condemns Isa, 58. 2. Honest and lawful sports and recreations, such as shooting, wrestling and other games of activity, hunting, hawking, angling, and the like, though they be lawful at other times: yet they are not to be tolerated on the Lord's day in any measure if they be found to hinder men from public worship & service of God, and public set duties of piety fit for the day, or to withdraw them from private duties requisite in Christian families, as prayer, reading, meditation, repetition, and examining of Doctrines by the Scripture which have been publicly preached and heard, private instructions, exhortations, and mutual provocations to piety and to praising of God by singing Psalms and the like: Whatsoever sports and recreations do hinder these, and withdraw people from them, they are on the Lord's day impious and profane how lawful soever on other days: In this point all Godly grave and learned Divines do agree. And how sinful profane and hateful to God such sports are on the Lord's day.  
The Lord himself doth continually show and declare by the many examples of dreadful judgements and tokens of his wrath which he hath showed and doth still show in this and in all ages for such doings, dorwning some in their swimming, breaking the backs, arms, legs and necks of other in their wrestling, striking with horrible lameness and with dreadly surfers, and sudden death, lepers, dancers, hunters, hawkers, riders, bowlers, and such like.  
And let every man take heed that his own heart do not deceive him, and that he do not flatter himself in his folly, when it is manifest that such sports are a man's own pleasures condemned by the Prophet, Isa. 58. And are seen and known daily to steal away men's hearts from holy duties, and to turn their affections from heavenly and spiritual things, wherein they ought chiefly to delight.  
Thirdly, as men may not do the lawful works of their calling, neither in providing meat, drink, clothes, or other necessaries on the Lord's day, with a bare respect of natural good and worldly profit, because this is doing of his own ways and works, and not the work of God. Unto which Gods holy day is wholly consecrated and set apart: Except only in case of necessity, when men and beasts cannot otherwise be preserved in life, health and being, or when God's people without such works cannot be made fit, & able to serve God cheerfully as they ought on that day: So also no bodily sports, Recreations and pleasures are to be tolerated or used, merely to cherish the flesh, to refresh the body, and to procure bodily strength, but only such as are in very deed needful in themselves, and used and intended by God's people with this purpose, and ●o this end, that they may with more ability, alacrity, and cheerfulness do the holy works, and perform the holy duties of God's worship and service which are proper to the Lords holy day. First, this is manifest by the words of the Lord: Isa. 58.13. Where he requires of his people, that they turn away their feet from doing their own pleasure on his holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, Honourable, and honour him, not doing their own ways, nor finding their own pleasure. By their own ways and pleasures, we are to understand, not only their corrupt sinful works, filthy words, and vain carnal pleasures which proceed from nature corrupted and naturally tend to increase transgression, (for they are to be abhorred every day and at all times,) but here by their own ways, words, and pleasure we are to understand such as proceed from nature created good, and are only intended to that end, and have none other effect: For such, though at other times lawful and honest, Yet on God's holy day are profane, common and inordinate, as these words imply.  
Secondly, as it is not lawful to use Gods holy word in jesting, nor with it to mingle our own vain talk, nor to play with holy things, because this is taking of God's name in vain. So undoubtedly to use worldly delights, and to sport ourselves with vanishing, earthly natural and civil pleasures, which are neither useful to help and further us in holy devotion, nor intended by us to that end, is a profanation of God's holy day, and an intermingling of our own profaneness with the spiritual, and heavenly observation of the Lords holy day, in which God requires serious sanctification, and grave and sober conversations as our own Ecclesiastical Constitutions do affirm: the reason is the same in both.  
Thirdly, in all other things consecrated by God himself, and by his word and commandment to holy and heavenly use, it hath always been counted a grievous offence to add our own natural inventions and divises to them, or to turn them to common civil and mere natural use, either in whole or part, except in case of necessity. So undoubtedly it is by the same reason a grievous offence willingly and purposely to employ the Lords holy day, or any part thereof to common natural and civil sports and delights. Now the first is manifest by the word and law of God. Nahab, & Abihu, the sons of Aron, were consumed by fire from the Lord when they offered sacrifices with common fire Leu. 10. Because they added to the holy offering that which was common.  
Alsoe the sons of Ely did sin greeviously in turning any part of the consecrated flesh to feed their own bellies 1 Sam. 2. Saul in turning God's sacrifice to a profane use, and forcing himself to do it in ordinately, that he might make the people to stand to him, and keep them from scattering, sinned and lost his Kingdom. 1 Sam. 13. And when the Jews profaned Gods house of prayer; which was the holy place, by buying, selling: and money changing, it was so vile in our Saviour's eyes, and so wicked, that he who in other things was a meek Lamb, being moved with zeal, did like a Lion Roar against them, fell violently upon them and whipped them out with disgrace, john. 2. Now the Lords Sabbath is an holy day sanctified by God immediately after the Creation, and commanded in the fourth Commandment to be kept holy. And our Saviour by his Resurrection hath consecrated & blessed the Lords day above all other days of the week and made it the Lords Sabbath, more holy than the first as have been before abundantly proved. And as all true Christian Churches, so our Church more especially both by Doctrine and practice hath openly approved this for the Lords Sabbath. Therefore no part of this day ought to be turned to nautrall, civil or carnal sports and delights.  
Lastly, though our Churches the places of our holy assemblies, and our communion tables have no particular express commandment for them from God, but only are consonant and agreeable to the houses of God in Israel, and we have no other warrant for them but the example of God's people in the Old Testament, & our own experience, & reason teaching that they are very necessary for public assemblies, and holy service: the plot of ground is chosen by men, and the materials and framing of them and the form of them are all the works of men. God hath neither appointed the place as in the temple of jerusalem, nor the materials & the form, as in the Tabernacle, the Ark & Altars which were built by Moses: Yet we would count a great offence, to turn any part of the Church to be a place for common sports, & plays, or a dancing School, and to play at dice, or Cards, or other profane games, upon the Communion Table. Now then seeing we count it unlawful to profane the places consecrated to holy use by men inimitation of God, and not by express commandment given for the separation of the ground or the place: We ought more to count it unlawful to spend any part of God's holy day in carnal sports, being a time sanctified by his express word, and blessed with the greatest blessing.  
Fourthly, and in the last place, whatsoever recreations and exercises of body and mind, are necessary required for the bettering of our sanctification of the Lords day, & the enabling of us to perform with more cheerfulness strength and courage the holy worship of God, and the work and service of his holy Sabbath, and which are also intended by us only to that end and use them we may use. And so far as they serve to further, and in no wise to hinder Gods holy worship and the immediate works and duties thereof. This is manifest by Gods allowing to his people in the law, dressing of meat, & Cheerful feasting on his Sab: and holy days: Which are needful to cheer up men, and to provoke them to worship him with all thankfulness of heart, also to put on our best apparel; that we may come decently to God's house.  
As these are lawful being directed to holy use, so undoubtedly honest refreshing with recreations which cheer up the heart, & refresh the spirits, are lawful when they are helpful to holy exercises and are directed to that end, as stirring of the body; walking in to gardens or fields, to take fresh air being found very helpful to Preachers, to revive their spirits▪ strengthen their loins, clear their voices, sharpen and quicken their wits, and memories, and being done only to that end are lawful.  
So also walking into the corn fields in ●ommer o● harvest, or into meadows or Pastures in the spring, both to refresh our Bodies & spirits, and to give us occasion to admire God's bounty in clothing the bodies, and his Fatherlye providence in making the earth so fruitful, and to laud and praise him, is lawful for us. And if after public & private exercise we do so walk about, diverse together conferring of heavenly things, & taking occasion by sight of earthly blessings to provoke one another to thankfulness, & acknowledgement of God's love, this no doubt is a recreation fit for the Lords day, and helps much our devotion, and this seems to have been practised by our Saviour who went through the corn fields on the Sabbath day Mat. 12.1. and his Disciples with them.   

CHAP. 22.  
IN the last place I come to the special Duties of holiness by which The Lord's Sabbath is especially said to be sanctified, which I will run through as briefly as I can, so far as brevity may stand with plainness & perspecuity. And first of all you shall see, that the most strict sanctification of the Lords day, which is taught and urged by the godly learned both ancient and modern Christian Divines, Is no Judaisme. I would have you to take special notice, that whatsoever things the jews and natural Isralites were bound by the law ●o perform in the sanctification of the old Sabbath, which were merely tipical and ceremonial, and were ordained and practised only to signify some things, which are fully accomplished in Christ; that we hold to be so abolished and made void, that Christians ought in no case to observe or practise them, on their new Sabbath the Lord's day.  
For they are all removed with the change of the day, & we ought to a void them as much as we avoid the old Sab: which was the seventh day from the beginning of days in the creation. As for example offering the sacrifices of slain beasts, and mear, and drink offerings of fine flower mingled with oil and such like, and incense and gums and spices, they where but tips and shadows of Christ his substantial sacrifice, and in that respect holy by Consecration. And though diverse of them were indifferent and tolerable while the bodily Temple was yet standing. Yet when God hath cast them out by the destruction of the material temple, & the change of the weekly Sabbath, they are grown unlawful to be practised, and the reviving of the practice of them is called abomination, Dan. 12. And apostasy from Christ, Gala. 4 5. & turning again to weak and beggarly elements and rudiments, and becoming slaves to them, Gal. 4.9.  
Wherefore we are now only to observe in our sanctification of our holy weekly Sabbath such holy duties, and exercises as are holy at al● times and in all ages, both before and under the law, and now also under the Gospel, which in their own nature are either truly holy or t●nde to beg it, increase, and cherish holy graces in men. And because God hath by the Gospel shined into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his glory the face of jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6. And hath shed his spirit on us abundantly through him. Tit. 3.6. And so made us more spiritual, because also our Saviour himself hath taught us in the Gospel, that God is a spirit & they are true worshippers who worship him in spirit, john, 4.23.24. Therefore the chiefest duties by which the Sabbath is sanctified, are the most special duties of God's worship, and the more spiritual, the more pleasing to God & more beseeming Christians.  
So that the first rule which is here to be given, and to be observed is this. That all God's people do chiefly labour to stir up, and quicken the grace of God in their hearts, and holy, heavenly and supernatural aff●ctions in their souls, that with pure mind● and spirits they may perform all duties and actions of God's worship and service both public and private. It is true that all times and on all days we ought to keep our whole spirit and soul, as well as our body pure and blameless, to serve God as well with inward affection of heart and purity of spirit, as outward, visible, sensible actions and gestures of body. But because the Lord's day is the most blessed day of the wreak, sanctified & set apart for the holy worship, and immediate service of God, and for public and private service. devotion and Religious duties only, therefore we all ought to have as great care to furnish our souls with spiritual beauties of holiness more abundantly & in greater measure, as we have to make clean and neat our houses, and to deck and adorn our bodies with our best and cleanest holy day apparel, on the Lords day. For though outward & bodily actions, & gestures are required as requisite and necessary in the public worship of God, and without them it is as impossible to do that public duty and service to God, which belongs to mutual edification of Christians in this life, & to the solemn lauding and praising of him in public assemblies, as it is to perform visible & senceable actions of this life by the soul only without the body. Yet bodily service & worship of God, as coming duly & diligently to the house of God to public assemblies, hearing the word withal attentions, and speaking it with great vehemency, Praying worshipping and giving thanks in the best form of words, which can be devised, and with most humble and reverend gestures of devotion, as bowing down the body to the ground, knocking of the breasts, sighing, groaning, lifting up the hands, and eyes to heaven, and the like, they all without spiritual affection and devotion of the heart, are no better than a dead karcast without a soul, yea they are filthy hypocrisy, and mockery of God, and loathsome abomination in his sight as the Lord by the Prophet testifieth Isa. 1 c: 10: to the 16: verse: & 29: 13: And therefore let our first and chiefest care be about the fitting and preparing of our hearts, and filling and, replenishing our souls with spiritual affections, and quickening and stirring up inward and spiritual grace within us; for these are the life and soul of all religious duties. & of all holy worship of God, & without them we cannot in the least measure sanctify God's holy day, nor perform any least duty of sanctification acceptable to God: Now the special means which serve for the quickening of spiritual grace, & kindling of spiritual devotion in our hearts, are diverse: The First is that which I have spoken of before in the duties which concern Rest, to weet: a total sequestering of ourselves from all worldly business, & putting away all earthly thoughts, cares, & delights, that our whole heart and soul, & all our affections being purged from all such dross, may have room for holiness only, and for spiritual devotion and motions of the spirit: For no man can serve two Masters at once, God and the world: Cast out earthly carnal thoughts, and spiritual and heavenly affections will easily enter, and bear sway:  
And because this sequestering of ourselves from cares of the world: must go before true sanctification in order & time, therefore undoubtedly the beginning of the Lords Sab: day, is there where the old jewish Sab: ended, that is in the evening of the Saturdaie: And certainly when men taking their Rest from labour the whole night before the Lords day for sequestering themselves from worldly business, fitting of their souls with spiritual devotion, and stirring up of grace in their hearts, then do they most profittablie begin their Sabbath, for by the means the time of preparation and quitting of the mind from worldly troublesome thoughts, shall go before the time of practice and public assemblies Wherein they are to appear before God, and to perform the main duties of Sanctification and of his holy worship. And her● I cannot pass by without some reproof that evil carnal custom, most worthy to be condemned which is to common among our Citizens, who defer their reckoning with their workmen until the evening and night which begins the Lord's day. Let me here admonish you all to forsake this practice, if you love the Lord, and will honour his holy Sab.  
The second means is to meditate on those things which may stir up our dull spirits, and quicken grace in our hearts, as first upon the greatness, holiness, and glory ●f the Lord, and more specially to present ourselves when the light of the day cometh, & both to speak to him in prayer and praises, to hear him speak to us in his word read and preached. This must needs move and stir up spiritual devotion and affection: as we see by experience in worldly things, how careful we are to trim and fit ourselves when we are to go before an earthly King or some great Nobles. Secondly, to consider what holiness and purity, especially of heart and soul is required in using the public holy ordinances of God, and in approaching near to him, to worship him in his holy place his owns house. As we read Leviticus, 20.7. 1 Peter 1.15.16.  
The holiness that becomes God's house is not vanishing shows, and shadows which pass away in the doing and using of them, as bowing, cringing, and such gestures, but a spiritual and eternal holiness which lasts for ever, and can never be defaced nor perish, as David shows Psal. 93.5. It is better than thousands of Rams Mich. 6.6.7.8, It is putting on of Humility, Mercy, meekness, and all other affections, and departing from all iniquity, 2 Tim. 2.19. It is the Image of Christ in the new creature which is created after God in righteousness and holiness, that is; which cannot lie nor deceive by faiding, but lasts for ever. Ephes. 4.24. Thirdly, to call to mind those Scriptures which require holy preparation as Eccle. 5.1. which shows God's anger against such as come to his house without due furniture and a wedding garment, as Mat. 22.12. Fourthly, to meditate on that whereof the Sabbath is a sign and pledge unto us, even our Resurrection to eternal life, and to the eternal Rest of glory in heaven in the sight and fruition of God, whom none can see without holiness. Thi● is most powerful to stir up spiritual affection and to quicken grace in our hearts.  
The third means is earnest prayer to God for his spirit and increase of his spiritual grace in our hearts, that is of great force if it be importunate Luk. 11.13. & 18.1. and fervent, jam. 5.16. And therefore when the Lords day beginneth in the evening or day going of the Saturday, we must make special prayers for this purpose, as also in the morning when we awake and see the light of the Lords holy day.  
In the next place after we are thus prepared, we must set ourselves wholly to the performance of the duties of holiness, which are required for the sanctification of an holy Sabbath to the Lord, which are either public or private. The first public duty is diligent assembling of ourselves with the congregation of God's people in the house of God the place of public assemblies. This is so necessary that without it there can be no solemn service, nor public worship of God performed by us. This the Lord requires in the law, where he joins these two together, as in separable companions, even holy convocations and keeping of a Sabbath. Ex. 12.16. These our Saviour Christ did frequent though Lord of the Sabbath, as well as the fathers did under the law, as appears Mark. 1.27. And so did his Apostles on the new Sabbath the Lord's day. 1 Cor, 16.1.2.  
The second public duty in the public worship of God, is Prayer, lauding and Praising him, and offering up sacrifices of thankfulness and the first fruits a●d calves of our lips, in a solemn orderly and decent manner and order. This the holy men of God carefully performed in the House of God on their Sabbath in the old Testament: as David shows. Psal. 5.7. & 42.4. And this our Saviour commands to us for an holy duty in God's house, where he calls the house of God the house of prayer Mat. 21.13. that not only to the Jews, but also to all believing nations as the Prophet's words by him cited do show Isa. 56: 7. This the godly at Philippi, where they had no Synagogue nor Church, performed in a public assembly by a River's side, Act. 16.13. This was practised by the first Christians at judaea Act. 2.46.47. and this the Apostle enjoins, Heb, 13.15. This David foretold Psal. 118.24. In a word all Scriptures which teach us, to call upon God, to pray to confess our sins, to humble ourselves before God, to worship him and to give thanks, and do commend these for holy duties, they do much more teach us to perform them on the Lord's day, in our holy assemblies.  
The third sort of public duties are the holy ordinances of God, which tend properly to beget and increase holiness, and to teach Christians Gods holy worship and fear, to weet: the public reading and and expounded of the word of God, and preaching and Catechising on the Miinisters part, and on the people's part, reverend attention & hearing of the word of God. This was a constant practice from the days of old which the Fathers observed so long as the Church of the Jews, and first temple was standing. As appears. Ast. 13.15 & cap. 15.21.27.  
Also by our Saviour's practice. preaching in the Synagogues every sabbath day Luk. 4.16. Mar. 1.31. And this the Apostles practised in holy assemblies which they appointed to be kept on the Lord's day, and this they commanded to be performed by all the Christian Churches, as appears Act. 11.25. & 20, 7. & 1 Cor. 16.1: & 14.23.26. Colos. 4.14 1 Thes. 5.27.  
Fourthly, besides preaching, reading, and expounding, of the holy Scriptures, there is also the administration of the Sacraments, as of Baptism and the Lords Supper, the later of which especially is an holy sab: days ordinance of Christ, first instituted in the assembly of his Apostles, & not to be administered and received ordinarily but in Sab: assemblies, and public meeting of the Church coming together on the Lord's day as we gather from. Act. 20.7. & 1 Cor. 11.20.33. And that public Baptism is most fit to be administered on the Lord's day in the public assembly, these reasons sh●w. 1. Because it is joined with preaching, Matthew, 28.16: Secondly, because it is the receiving of the Baptised into the true Visible Church. Thirdly, in public it may be better perfomed by the joint prayers of the whole Congregation· Fourthly, it may much profit the whole public congregation of God's people by putting them in mind of the covenant made in Baptism.  
The fifth sort of public Sabbath duties, are works of mercy & charity which are fruits of faith working by love. Unto which duties the public Ministers so often occasion is offered, are to excite up the people, and they ought to offer freely and to make collections for the poor Saints. This St. Paul taught 1 Cor. 16. 1: 2: and this was in times and ages next after the Apostles practised, and performed. as justin Martyr testifies Apolog. 2: pag. 77.  
Sixthly, public censures of the Church, and actions of correction are most fitly performed in public assemblies of the whole Church on the Lord's day, such as open rebuke of scandalous, sinners, before all the people, that others may fear Excommunication and casting out, & excluding from outward communion, obstinate and refractory offenders, as heretics, adulterers, incestuous persons, & such like. Receiving into the Church of God such as were cast out, upon their humble confession, and public repentance openly before the whole Church. These are not to be done in corners but in the face of the Church, as St. Paul ordained by commandment from the Lord, & by direction from the spirit of God. 1 Tim. 5, 20▪ 1 Cor. 5.4. & 2 Cor: 2: 6: 7: and as diverse of the ancients have held and showed in their practice.  
Seventhly, ordaining and calling of Bishops, Pastors, and Elders, being of old performed in the face of the whole Church, with public prayers, and laying on of hands, Act. 1.15. & 14.23. 2 Cor. 8.19. As it was of old, so at this day is a very fit duty of the Lord holy weekly Sabbath.  
Besides these public duties, there are diverse private duties which are necessary both to make the public duties effectual, and fruitful, and to testify to the Praise and glory of God the power of his holy ordinances and the work of the spirit by them upon our hearts and souls.  
The first of these is private prayer, either by ourselves alone or in our families with our Children, servants, and others of the household, for if we must pray continually when just occasion, and opportunity is offered as the Apostle teacheth, 1 Thes. 5. then most especially before we go unto, and after we return from the public assemblies, for a blessing upon God's Public ordinances both to ourselves and others: Our Saviour bids us pray in secret, and David exhorts us to commune with God on our beds, and to pray after his example, morning, evening and at noon day:  
The second is meditation of such as are alone, on things heard in the Church, and repetition in the family for the printing of the the word in their minds and memories, and mutual instruction and exhortation, one of another, without which the word will take small effect afterwards and quickly beforgotten: Saint Paul doth intimate the necessary use of this duty; where he commands women to ask and learn of their husbands at home, and not to speak in the Church 1 Cor: 14: 35: & 1 tim: 2: 11.  
This is the holy duty which God commended in Abraham: Gen: 18: That he did command and teach his household & Children which few men can do conveniently on the week days, when every one is about their work, some in one place and some in another, only the Lords day is the fittest. The third is rejoicing, singing of Psalms, and Praising God in our families, this David commends for a duty of the Sabbath. Psal. 92.1. And this Paul and Silas taught us by their example Act. 16.35. Where they two being in prison and in the stocks, are said on the Lord's day at midnight, to pray and sing Psalms with so loud a voice, that the Prisoners heard them. And yet I hope none dare call them Puritants, and Hypocrites, as the profane miscreaunts of our time call all the families in which they hear singing of Psalms on the Lord's day.  
The Fourth is visiting of the sick, & of prisoners, relieving the poor and needy, persuading of disagreeing Neighbours to peace, and reconciliation: These are works of mercy and of Christian love and charity, & have no proper end but to bring honour to God, and to make him to be praised, of his people and his people to be edified in love. And being an holy private service of God, they may be done on the Lord's day, & our Church Doctrine doth teach them, and Ecclesiastical constitutions allow them.  
The last duty is meditating on God's works, magnifying them and speaking of them with admiration one to another, if upon any just occasion, or for necessary refreshing we walk diverse together into the fields. This David mentions in the Psalm for the Sabbath day Psal. 92, 45. Where he saith: thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works, and I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord how great are thy works? Thus much for the special duties both public & private, which Christians are bound to perform on the Lord's day, which is the Christian Sabbath.  
Now the consideration of these several duties, being some public, some private, some more proper for the Sabbath, and some for all days, offer to us somethings more to be observed. First the public duties of the whole Church, together must first be regarded and preferred before private duties at home, and mumbling of private prays with ourselves in the Church, because they make more for God's glory and mutual edification, and do show and declare our Christian unity.  
Secondly, public duties must take up the best, and greatest part of the day, because they are proper to the day, and to public assemblies, which are to be kept weekly on the Sabbath day: Private duties are common to all days of the week.  
Thirdly, the duties of mercy & charity to men, must give place to the mediate worship of God, when there is no urgent necessity, and they may be deferred to another day, without any inconvenience. Men having opportunity before must not put them off, until the Lords day, and then by them shoulder out holy duties of piety and Gods solemn worship. Lastly, by the many and several duties required on the Lord's Sabbath, we see that to him who hath a care and respect of them all, there will be no time left for for idle words, and toyish talking, praunsing in pride and vanity, nor for any carnal sports, pastimes, and pleasures. But God's day willbe found little enough for holy duties which are to be performed. And therefore I dare not allow any liberty for any sports how honest & lawful so ever at other times, except they be holy, and Gods worship be furthered, and no better duties by them be hindered: Which no man can in reason conceive or imagine. If God be to be loved above all, and honoured and served with all the heart and mind, soul & strength as the law commands. I do not see but all God's people ought so to do, especially on the Lord's day, & to be discontent & grieved that they cannot do it so fully as they ought, & not to allow to themselves in these things any liberty which may hinder Gods holy worship. The greatest opposites of the weekly Christians Sabbath, when they have most vehemently disputed, & spent all their arguments, against the observation of the Lords day for an holy Sab: & day of holy rest, are by the clear evidence of the truth so convinced, that will they, nill they, their conscience forceth them to confess: That the spending of the whole day even the space of four & twenty hours of the Lords day, an holy rest & cessation from all worldly thoughts & cares & from all secular affairs, & in holy duties, of God's worship & service, both public and private, is a thing Commendable & praise worthy in them, and pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God. To that one only wise omnipotent, immortal, and eternal God, who in all things and over all enemies maketh his truth to triumph, be all honour, glory, and praise now and for ever.  
FINIS.