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THE 
 
 Fourth Commandment 
 
 Abrogated by the 
 
 GOSPEL: 
 
 O R, 
 
 The Fourth Commandment's en- 
 joining the Obfervance of the Seventh Day 
 of the Week, as a religious ReJ}^ was only 
 obligatory and binding within the Jewifi 
 State. 
 
 BUT 
 
 The Law of the Sabbath being deftroy'd^ 
 the ChristianInstitution au- 
 thorifeth the Chriftian's Obfervance of the 
 Fhift Day of the Week, as an Holy Feftival. 
 
 We are not come to the Mount that might be touched, and that 
 burned with Fire — Nor to the Sound of a Trumpet, and the 
 Voice of Words — which exceedingly terrified Mofes the 
 Mediator — But we are come to Mount Sion — to the general 
 AfTembiy and Church of the Firjl-born — And to Jefus the 
 Mediator of the New Covenant — Hel>. xii. ver. i 8, — 24. 
 
 Let no Man judge (a Judaijing Cbrijlian) in refpeft of an 
 Holy Day, or of the Neio-Moon, or of the Sabbath, which 
 were a Shadow of good Things to come j but the Body is of 
 Chrift, Col. xii. ver. 16, 17. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for J. Roberts at i\\t Oxford- Arms in 
 
 Warwick-Lane. MDCCXXXVI. 
 
 (Price One Shilling.) 
 
T O T H E 
 
 Right Reverend Father in God, 
 
 GEORGE, 
 
 Lord Bifliop of CarUJle. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 THE Freedom I have taken, 
 in throwing thefe few Sheets 
 under your Lordfhip's Pa- 
 tronage, vi^ill, I hope, be interpreted 
 by your Lordfhip, when in the mofl 
 difadvantageous Light, as nothing 
 worfe, than a Piece of Httle Fond- 
 nefs for the Ci^edit and Reputation 
 which will revert on the Dedicator^ 
 from your Lordfhip's being of the 
 fame Name with him. 
 
 A 2 The 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 The Subject herein difcufs'd, is, 
 whether the Seve7ith Day of the 
 Week, as enjoin'd by the exprejs 
 Letter of the Fourth Commandment 
 in the Decalogue^ can any Way o- 
 bhge the Obfervance of Chriftians ; 
 or, whether any fubftantial Reafons 
 are found in divine Revelation^ or, 
 in the Relatio7t of T^hiitgs^ that .will 
 fufficiently juftify the Chriftian's re- 
 ligious Obfervance of the jirjl Day 
 of the Week, and not the Seventh. 
 And as this is a Subjefl', about which 
 every one fhould be fatisfied, who 
 profefies himfelf not to be without 
 Law to God, but under Law toChrift; 
 I imagin'd that it could be no Way 
 underftood, as if defign'd to abet the 
 Intercfl: of any particular Party, neither 
 could it appear in any View unwor-r 
 thy the Confideraticn of fuch who 
 .are in earneft in Reliirion. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 I am acquainted, my Lord, with 
 fome valuable Men, who apprehend 
 that the general Practice of Chriftians 
 is wrong, and accordingly cannot for- 
 bear carrying their Charges to fome 
 Height againft the Ufage of the 
 Churches. Your Lordfhip will per- 
 ceive, that in what I have now wrote, 
 I have had a more immediate and 
 confin'd regard to the Sentiments of 
 thefe Gentlemen, as they are exprefly 
 laid down in two 7nodern Pajnphlets, 
 
 I would therefore humbly prefume, 
 my Lord, that fince the Subjedl in 
 debate is of fome Importance; if I 
 have contributed, altho' in a fmall 
 Degree, to fet it in a plainer Light, 
 or, if I have added any Thing, to 
 what has been already offer 'd in De- 
 fence of the common Practice of 
 Chriftians, touching their religious 
 
 Ob- 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 Obfervance of the jirji Day of the 
 Week ; your Lordfhip, as a PRE- 
 LATE of the Church, will accept, 
 or at leafl excufe the Freedom of this 
 Dedication. 
 
 1 muft confefs that I never had the 
 Happinefs nor even the IIo7wur of a 
 perfonal Acquaintance with your 
 Lordfhip; neverthelefs, I have been 
 well inform'd that a truly chrijlian 
 'Temper (v/hicli can only give a real 
 Grace to the Mitre) influences and 
 direds your whole Condud ; and 
 hence it is, that I think myfelf fecure 
 in w^hat I have done. 
 
 I am indeed appreheniive, my Lord, 
 that I fhall not efcape the Cen- 
 fures oi .many, to whom my Cir- 
 cumftances and Charadter are known. 
 Some of thefe may perhaps alledge, 
 that I have gone out of my Province, 
 
 and 
 
VEVICATION. 
 
 and have mifemploy'd my Time, as 
 being only a Lay-Ma?z who have the 
 Affairs of a large Family to attend : 
 Neverthelefs I imagine that this Charge 
 will not fix very heavily upon me till 
 it is prov'd, that vvhilfl: I was com- 
 pofing thefe SheetSy I had an Oppor- 
 tunity of doing fomet hi ng elfe which 
 would have been beneficial to myfelf^ 
 or mine. 
 
 But, as one little concern'd about 
 the Cenfures of others in thefe Re- 
 gards, I fhall venture to recommend 
 thefe Sheets to the Public, humbly 
 begging your Lordfliip's Patronage ; 
 and do at the fame Time moft ear- 
 neftly intreat this Favour, both of the 
 Public, and of your Lordfhip, that if 
 I have ill executed Vv^hat I have done, 
 it may, with fome Calmnefs, be put 
 afide among the Produdions of others 
 who have alfo miftook their V/ay ; 
 
 nor 
 
-DEDICATION. 
 
 nor let me be denied the Benefit of a 
 general Pardon. 
 
 To avoid Impertinence, I fliall on- 
 ly add this humble Requeft, viz. That 
 your Lord {hip would be perfuaded, 
 that I think it my incumbent Duty to 
 pray for your Profperity, as a Patron 
 of true Liberty, or, in other Words, 
 as a fincere Lover of Men. I am, 
 
 My Lordj 
 
 London, 
 Jan. 12. 1736. 
 
 Your Lordjlnp^s 
 
 Mofi Devoted Hiimhle Servant^ 
 
 Caleb Fleming- 
 
THE 
 
 Fourth C O M M A N D xM E N T 
 
 Abrogated by the 
 
 GOSPEL, 
 
 PART First. 
 
 IF we take a view of that part of the world 
 where chriftianity is profefs'd, we fliall rea- 
 dily conclude from the univerfal and uniform 
 practice of chriftians that they are agreed in the 
 religious obfervance of one day in feven, and noc 
 only fo, but that they have fixed upon iht firji 
 day Ox the week as that day : Notwithftanding 
 this, if we take a more particular and minute 
 furvey we fhall find that there are fome who o- 
 penly diflent from this genera] obfervance, and 
 imagine that the feventh day fahbath is yet in force : 
 So that a religious keeping of the firji^ and not 
 the feventh^ they efteem co be no lefs than an 
 open violation of a divine command, and a mere 
 human innovation ^. 
 
 I mud freely own that I have conducted myfelf 
 for n>any years under thofe prejudices I imbibed 
 from education in favour of a religious obfervance 
 of the frji day : But in order to fix my obfervance 
 on a rational foundation, I have endeavoured to 
 examine the controverfy with an unbiafs'd mind ; 
 
 B By 
 
 ^ See to this purpofe, two trails, viz. Mr. Cornth'wait'i Re- 
 flexions on Dr. PFrighrzTxQTiU'k on the Lord's Day, and one 
 publifhed in the Year, 1735, called, the Seventh Day of th« 
 Week the Chriilian Sabbath. 
 
[2] . 
 
 Sy fuch examination I have canvafied the argument 
 to my Own fatisfadion, and tlierefore it is, tliat I 
 now venture to expofe it to public cenfure. 
 
 The general defign of this trad, is exprefs'd 
 m the two following particulars : 
 
 Firft, I fliall attempt to prove, that the fourth 
 commandment, or that precept in the decalogue 
 given to the Jews^ which refpedls the obfervation 
 of the fevefith dayfahhath, is not of any moral ob- 
 ligation ; but v/as a merely pofitive precept, and 
 only binding to the Jews. 
 
 Secondly, 1 fhall fhew the great propriety and 
 fitnefs of the chriftian*s obfervance of the firft 
 day of the week as an holy fejiival. 
 
 The fr/l propofition I fliall endeavour to clear 
 under the following views, 
 
 1. By confidering the defign and purport of 
 the precept, together wiih the force of the ar- 
 gument in the reafons annexed. 
 
 2. By fhewing that it does not appear to have 
 been in force, or obferv'd 'till the time of Mofes, 
 . 3. That it was difpenfed with among the Jews^ 
 even by divine direction. 
 
 4. And was alfo difpenfed with by Jefus Chrifiy 
 and his difciples. 
 
 Argumtnt I. That the fourth commandment 
 in the decalogue, as it refpe6l:s the obfervation 
 of the feventh day fahhaih, is not of moral or 
 immutable obligation, but a merely pofitive 
 precept, will appear by confidering the pur- 
 port of the precept itfelf •, Remember the fab- 
 hath day to keep it holy^ fix days Jhalt thou la- 
 hour, and do all that thou hafi to do, hut the fe- 
 venth day is the fahhath of the Lord thy God \ in 
 it thou fJjalt do no manner of work, thou, nor thy 
 fon, tior thy daughter, nor thy man fervant, nor thy 
 maidfervant, nor thy cattle, &c. Hence it is evident 
 that the purport of the precept as given to the 
 3 Jews 
 
[3] 
 
 Jews was, that they Jhould refl from labour^ in or- 
 der to give eafe, and refrefhment ^ to themfelves, 
 their flaves or I'ervants, and their cattle : All of 
 which were properly employed in fervile work 
 the other fix days, in order to contribute to the 
 fupply of their exigencies, or wants ; fuch as of 
 food, raiment, and other conveniencies. See Exod. 
 xxxiv. ver. 2 1. Six dap thou /I? alt "juork^ but on 
 the feventh day thou /halt refi ; in earing time^ and 
 in barveji thou /halt reft. Altho' theie were fea- 
 fons in which they might fometimcs have pleaded 
 a fort of necelTity for labour. 
 
 Exod. xxiii. ver. 12. Six days thou /halt do thy 
 work^ and on the feventh day thou Jh alt reft; that 
 thine ox, and thine afs may refl \ and the f on of 
 thine handmaid^ and the firanger may he refre/Ioed, 
 
 POOLE on this laft text remarks, that the 
 Jews had three forts of fabbaths. Firfi^ Of days. 
 Secondly, Of years, viz. the feventh year, or year 
 of releafe,^xod. xxi. ver. 2. If thou buy an Hebrew 
 fervant, fix years he fhall ferve, and in the feventh 
 he fJjall go out free ^ Deut. xv. ver. i, 2, 3. At the 
 end ^ of every feven years, thou fhalt make a re- 
 leafe, even of thy debtor, if a Jew. Nay, it was 
 to be a fabbath, or re§f unto the land ; a fabhath 
 for the Lord, Lev. xxv. ver. 4. And, thirdly, 
 there was a fabbath of weeks of years, viz. the 
 Jubilee, which was every fiftieth year. Lev. xxv. 
 from ver. 8. to ver. 21. it was to be the year 
 following every feventh fabbath of years. All of 
 which inftitucions appear to have been adapted 
 to the circumftances of the Jews -, in the obfer^ 
 vance of which they were itridly enjoined the 
 exercife of piety, and mercy. 
 
 B % Having 
 
 ^ Exod. xxxi. ver. 17. So Cod is fliid to have kept the feveuth 
 day, that on it he relied, and was refreflied. ^ At the end 
 
 of every feven, i. e. in the laft year of the feven, comp. ver. 9. 
 Deut. xiv. ver. 2S. yJt the end of three years, is faid to be> i^ 
 $be tbv--^ '"^ - bap, xxvi. ver. \z. 
 
[4] 
 
 Having briefly fliewn, that refl from labour^ was 
 the purport or defign of the precept, it will hence 
 appear that reji from labour could not be immedi- 
 ately fix*d to ihtfeventh da-j^ any more than to the 
 fxth, for any reafon th^t could arife from the na- 
 ture of things, nor would the o.v, or the afs^ or their 
 owner, have been more injured by their reding on 
 th^fixth day of every^ week, had that been appointed 
 rather than on the feventh ; and therefore if it has 
 any morality at all in it refpefling their refi from 
 labour, it can only be founded on a general cal- 
 culation that a feventh part of time was proper 
 and convenient for fuch reft. 1 fliall next confider 
 the reafons on which the obfervation is enforc'd, 
 or recommended •, and they are three, viz. 
 J. An imitation of the Creator's refc. 
 
 2. As a memorial of their deliverance out of 
 
 3. As it was to be a fign of the covenant be- 
 tween God, and the Jews. 
 
 I. The obfervance of \.\\t feventh day, by reft- 
 ing from lal^our is urged from an imitation of 
 the Creator's reft. Exod. xx. ver. 11. For in fix 
 days the Lord made heaven and earth, the fea, and 
 all that in them is, and refted the feventh day : 
 fVherefore the Lord hleffed the fabbath day, and 
 hallowed it. Here, I think, we may obferve, that 
 the Creator's refting, was the reafon of his blefTmg, 
 and hallowing : In order therefore to underftand 
 the force of the reafon ing here made ufe of, we 
 ihould examine in what lenfe reft can be apply'd 
 • to God ; and I find it apply'd in two refpefts in 
 the Mofaic writings, in Gen. viii. ver. 2 r. it plain- 
 ly denotes his pleafure, delight, or approbation; 
 for, after Noah had come out of the ark and of- 
 fered burnt offerings, it is faid, that the Lord 
 fmelled a fweet favour ; the Flebrezv has it, a fa- 
 %iour of reft : So that if we affix fuch a fenfe to 
 
 God's 
 
[S] 
 
 God^s reft, in the fourth commandment, it will run 
 thus. For in Hx days the Lord made heaven and 
 earth — and on the feventh day he fmelled a fa- 
 vour of rejf, i.e. was refrefhed, delighted in, and 
 approved of what he had done ; therefore he blef- 
 fed the feventh day, t?r. Again, by reft apply'd 
 to God, we may undcrfland his cealing from his 
 work ; and this appears to be the primary fenfe 
 of the word reft, as applied to him in the precept, 
 compare GeJi. ii. ver. 2, 3. to which it alludes ; 
 An.d on the feventh day God elided, (or had ended) 
 his work which he had made, and he refted on the 
 feventh day from all his work which he had made. 
 
 That this is not fpoken of the SUPREME 
 BEING, is, I think, evident from St. John'?, gofpeJ, 
 chap. i. ver, 3. In his defcription of the word, or 
 logos, he fays, that all things were made by him, 
 and without hi)n was 7iot any thing made that was 
 made. And the apoftle Faul to the Coloffians., 
 (chap. i. ver. 15, 16.) fays, that all things were 
 created that are in heaven ; and that are in earth, 
 vifihle and ifivifible, whether thrones, or dominions, 
 or principalities or powers , all things were created 
 by and jor this logos ; this image of the invifihle 
 God, this fir ft born of every creature ! In whom it 
 pleafed the Father (i, e. the fupreme Beijig) that all 
 fullnefs fhould dwell ; or that thro"* Chrift,HE, i. e. 
 the FATH ER, fhould poffefs all fullnefs -, having given 
 him, i. e. the Logos, the preeminence among all be- 
 ings, ver. 18, 19. 
 
 We may hence very reafonably fuppofe that 
 at the finiihing that fyftem, to which our earth 
 belongs, in thofe fix days or periods, the grand 
 agent, the logos did take a review of his work ; 
 and at the fame time with pleafure obferve the 
 feveral orders of intelligent beings, who were 
 fpe(5lators of the whole beautiful Ph{?nojnena, all 
 applauding the wifdom, power, and goodneis that 
 
 appear*d 
 
[6] 
 
 appeared in the fiupendous produ(5lion, and in 
 ctiorus offering up their admirations and praife 
 to the FIRST Cx-\USE ! Then it was that the 
 morniKg Jlars fuhg together : Then ail the Jons of 
 
 God Jhouted for jO) I Job xxxviii. ver. 4. 8». 
 
 And then did he aolndlly ceafe froin fuch his work. 
 
 To a feventh part of time thus hallowed or 
 Ian6tify*d, I apprehend the precept refers. Nor is 
 the example of the Lord's rejling to be carried too 
 far ; becaufe it is eafy to obferve, that an imita- 
 tion of his refbig from creation after fix days la- 
 bour, would lead us to labour only one fix daySy 
 he having refted, for ought we know, from fuch 
 his work ever fince. 
 
 n. Another reafon on which the precept is en- 
 forc'd, is that tlie Lord their God had delivered 
 them from a ftate ot Egyptian favery, by a 
 mighty hand, and by an out-Itretched arm, Deut. v. 
 ver. 15. And remember that thou waft a fervant 
 lit the land of Egypt, and t}>iit the Lord thy God 
 hr&itght thee out thence^ thro'' a mighty handy and 
 by a fir etched out arm^ therefore the Lord thy God 
 commanded thee to keep the fabbath day. Which 
 reafon appears with great force, as it laid them 
 under the higheft obligation to fing the fong of 
 Mofes., * the Lord he is our God, we will pre- 
 * pare for him an habitation, our fathers God 
 " we will exalt him, ^c.^ 
 
 From this confideration alfo they were led 
 without the ieaft reludlance to admit of the fah- 
 ifatt/lng or refi of their flaves, and cattle, re- 
 ipembring that this precept was enjoin*d by him 
 who had fo eminently delivered them, or their 
 
 fore- 
 
 ' I am far from i^iagining th.xt this our lyftem of which 
 ^hjes writes, was the nrft fcene of beings and things tha: 
 the Eterni] and .•Almighty F:at had produced : On the contrary, 
 I doubt not but that miiiions of worlds exifted ti\ro' an incon- 
 ceivable number of age? prior to this our earth, as fubjcds of 
 his fpacious empire, and boundltf; do;;iin,ion J 
 
[7] 
 
 forefathers out of the greateft flavery, even an 
 incefiant bondage. I add, 
 
 By the way, it is very natural to fuppofe that 
 this reafon aflign'd for their keeping their fabbath, 
 contained in it a proper direction for their em- 
 ployment on that day, viz. that they fhould noc 
 only contemplate the Lord their God as the Creator 
 of the world, but alfo as their Saviour and Redeem- 
 er^ on whofe providence they did daily depend. 
 
 III. Another reafon aflign'd for the obfervance 
 of their fabbath was, that it fliould be a fland- 
 ing Jign of the peculiar relation they ftood in to 
 God, and he to them, Exod.xxxi. ver. 13. comp. 
 with ver. 16, 17. j^iid the Lord bid Mofes fpeak 
 to the children of Ifrael, fa-jing., Ferily, my fabbaths 
 ye Jhall keep : For it is a fign between me and you, 
 throughout your generations., for a perpetual cove- 
 nant : It is a fign between me and the children of 
 lirael for ever, &c. comp. Ezek. xx. ver. 12. More- 
 over alfo I gave them fny fabbathsy to be a fign be- 
 tween me and the?nK We may obferve, that /or 
 ever., and perpetual, are terms well explained, by 
 that expreffion, throughout their generations. Now, 
 as a very fmall acquaintance with the chriftian 
 revelation is fufficient to convince any man that 
 this covenant of peculiarity is abolifhed, and that 
 the Jews no longer remain the peculiar peopld: 
 of God •, it is hence very plain that the fign of 
 that covenant cannot be any longer in force than 
 the covenant itfelf, whrch ic fignify'd. 
 
 ^i. Since this precept ftood in the midft of 
 nine more which were confefiedly of a moral na- 
 ture -, if this was not fo, how can we account for 
 fuch its fituation ? 
 
 Anfw. I have not intended by this eflay to prove 
 that the etjd and defign of the labour of fix days 
 
 en- 
 
 * Let it beremark'cl, that x\\\5f.gn was to let them know, that 
 it was the Lord that landify'd ehem, or feperated them from 
 the idolatrous nation*. 
 
[8] 
 
 enjoin'd, and the reft upon the feventh, aS ca- 
 pacitating men for a(5bs of juftice and mercy to 
 themfelves, and fellow creatures, as well as their 
 pious and becoming regards towards God, was 
 not of a moral tendency : No ; my fole view is 
 to prove that the inftitution of they^-i;*?;///^, rather 
 than the fixth or firft day of the week, was of a 
 purely pofitive, and not of a moral nature ; and 
 that therefore this precept, in the fenfe contended 
 for by thefabbaiifts, is really different in its na- 
 ture from the other nine : And yet I own, that 
 even pofitive inftitutions given by divine authority, 
 are to be regarded by us, fo far as they are appa- 
 rently helpful to virtue, or morality ; and that it is 
 dangerous for us, in this view, to defpife them. 
 
 But more diredly, it appears to me from the 
 genius, and difpofition of the Jeivs^ that this pre- 
 cept given to them, was in every view well cal- 
 culated to preferve their due regard of thofe fe- 
 veral relations they flood in to God, and one 
 another -, and therefore was not improperly placed 
 in the very heart of the decalogue. In like man- 
 ner has the difpenfation of Jefus Chrift adopted 
 baptifjfiy and the eucharifty and placed the obfer- 
 vance of them among the moral and eternal laws 
 of piety, juftice, and benevolence •, as being help- 
 ful unto, and promotive thereof. 
 
 Argument II. I Ihall next attempt to prove, 
 that iht feventh day of the week vvas not obferv'd 
 as a fabbath till the time of Mofes. 
 
 This appears to be the ftate of the cafe, from 
 the very face of the precept -, and from the filence 
 of Mofes the hiftorian. 
 
 From the face of the precept, which plainly re- 
 fers to that individual fingle feventh day on which 
 the Creator refted, having finifhed his fix days 
 work, for in fiv: days the Lord made heaven, and 
 earthy the fea^ and all that therein is, and refted. 
 
 ths 
 
[9] 
 
 the feventb clay^ by which refting, he hlejfed and 
 hallowed it, i. e. that day on which he refted : 
 Nor do I apprehend that it can intend any more, 
 than a reafon ofFer'd by way of anticipation, in- 
 afmuch as we cannot find a prior oblervance of 
 it mentioned in any one of the rehearfals of this 
 law of the fahbath, or in any additional or ex- 
 pletive laws concerning the obfervation of it: But 
 one might, methinks, have very naturally expected 
 that Mofes would have urged the example of the 
 good old Patriarchs, at fome time or other, 
 when he exhorted to the obfervance, or cen{ur*d 
 for the non-obfervance of the fabbath -, for it is 
 well remarked in a late pamphlet s that the ob- 
 fervance of the fabbath requir'd only four hands 
 to convey the tradition of it from Adam to Mo- 
 Jes, viz. Methufelah*^, Shetn's, Ifaac\ and Am- 
 ram\ -, which had this been the cafe, viz. that 
 the fabbath had been obferv*d by them, methinks, 
 Mofes would have taken fome notice of it. Lee 
 me add, that he is wholly filent about any fuch 
 obfervance quite thro* his hiftory ; nor does he 
 affert that one of all the great or good men 
 who make up the thread of his hiftory to his 
 own time ever obferv'd it. I fhall particularize 
 fome of his moft important charaflers, 
 
 It does not appear from the Mofaic account, 
 that ADAM kept the feventh day as more holy 
 than any other day -, it is true from that account 
 that he was formed on the fixth day, and there- 
 fore it follows that the feventb muft have been 
 the firfi entire day of his exiftence : Nor, does 
 the contrary appear from that hiftory, but that 
 the employment which firft aftually engaged Adam, 
 was his furveying the creatures, and giving them 
 names ; which having done, and difcerning here- 
 upon the difference of fex wanting in his own 
 
 C fpecieSj' 
 
 » Mr. R. Cornthwaifi Reflcdl^ p. 1 1. 
 
fpecles, it tells us, ihat he was caft into a deep 
 fleep, and that then the Lord God formed the 
 woman out of him. The very next overt-acl 
 the hiftorian mentions, was his eating of the for- 
 bidden fruit ; nor have we the lead intimation of 
 any particularly diftinguifhed time which he ve- 
 ligioLifly obferv'd, or even fo much as the me- 
 thod, or mode of his worfhip. 
 
 Befides, I am apt to imagine that whilft y^dam 
 continued in his paradifaical ftate, the Jaw of the 
 feventh day fabbath would have been unfuitable, 
 or at leaft unnecefluiry •, for that labour which 
 produced the fweat of the brow, by which man 
 was to get his bread and on which the reafon. 
 is founded for rell, appears to have been part of 
 the curfe, which was denounced on his tranfgref- 
 fmg : And therefore the rejl from fuch labour 
 could not be wanted, 'till fuch labour became 
 the lot of man ; confequently the law of the fe- 
 venth day fabbath could not be enjoined /^dam in 
 innocency. 
 
 And on the other hand, had it been after the 
 fall, as what his tranfgrefTion had render'd ne- 
 cefTary, it could not be fuppofed, but that fuch a 
 provifion made for fuch his changed circumftan- 
 ces, would have had fome mention made of it ; 
 but as no mention is made of fuch provtfion, I 
 am ready to conclude that it was ncedlefs, efpe- 
 cially as fuch an inftitution is more fitly fuited 
 for ibciety, than for a fingle perfon, or family. 
 
 ' In Ge:-i. chap. iv. we are told of C/f/iV and 
 ' ABEL facrificing, ver. 3. And in frocefs of 
 
 * time it came to pafs that Cain brought of the 
 
 * fruit of the ground : In tht Hebrew it is, at the 
 
 * end of dap ; which word days is often put tor 
 
 * years, as. Lev. xxv. ver. 29. within a full year 
 
 * may he redeem it. So i Sam. i. ver. 3. And 
 ' this man went up yearly out of his citv to 
 
 '- worlliip i 
 
* worfhip -, in the original ic is, from days to days. 
 ' I Sam. xxvii. ver. 27. And the time that Da- 
 
 * vid dwelt in the country of the Philijlines., was 
 ' a full year ; in the original it is, a year of days ' 
 See POOLE on Gen. iv. ver. 4.. Which readings 
 may be underftood as intimating the particular 
 or proper feafons of the year in which Cain 
 brought \m fir ft fruits-, and Abel i\it fir ft lings of 
 his flock, but by no means prove a feventh day 
 fabbath. 
 
 The next inftance we have of worlhip is in 
 Gen. iv. ver. 26. After Seth\ fon Enos was born, 
 then began men to call on the name of the Lord ; 
 calling on the name of the Lord, was a term 
 made ufe of to fignify fome kind of worfhip, 
 compare Gen, xii. ver. 8. — And there Abram 
 built an altar unto the Lord, and called on the 
 name of the Lord. Gen. xxvi. ver. 25. And Jfaac 
 built an altar unto the Lord, and called on the 
 name of the Lord. But their beginning to call on 
 the name of the Lord, after the birth of Enos, 
 I prefume, will not prove their having before 
 kept the feventh day labbath ; nor does it with 
 much more clearnefs intimate that they then be- 
 gan to keep fuch a fabbath. 
 
 But further, fome have imagin'd, that by 
 'NOAH'% fending the dove out of the ark, three 
 feveral times at feven days diftance, or intervals, 
 is intimated his keeping the feventh day fabbath"". 
 
 So far am I from apprehending the leafb foun- 
 dation for fuch a conclufion, that I rather think, 
 according to the common interpretation of the 
 fourth commandment in the decalogue, when 
 compared with the circumftanccs Noah was in, 
 he mud rather have kept a quotidian fabbath, all 
 the time he was in the ark. But, left this lliould 
 C 2 be 
 
 » This i remember the honefl Mr. Elu-all to hsve ofisr'd by 
 way of conjedure. 
 
[ 12 ] 
 
 be efleemM inconclufive, I will add a conjefture, 
 which, I think, will amount to a reafon in phi- 
 lofophy, for his fo fending the dove out of the 
 ark. Let it then be confidered, that the feveral 
 diftindt phafes of the moon, in its encreafe and 
 wane, are at about feven days diftance from each 
 other, and that the relation fhe (lands in to our 
 earth, as her fateJlice, is moft intimate: Hence, 
 it we proceed in our enquiries, we (haJl foon 
 find that her fweep^ by her proximity to us, fo 
 influences and effedls a different prefTure of our 
 atmofphere, as to caufe the ebb and flow of our 
 waters: Hence NOAHy no doubt, acquainted 
 with this, obferving the age of the moon out of 
 his little window on the top of the ark, fent out 
 the dove to difcover what degree of influence 
 fhe had had upon the face of the waters in the 
 neap and fpring tides, Gen. viii. ver. 8, lo, 12. 
 This conjecture, I think, much more reafonable, 
 than that of thofe who imagine, that his devo- 
 tions being more folemn on thefe feventh days, 
 he hereupon fent out the dove to fee their efli- 
 cacy. 
 
 Neither do I find any thing like a marking 
 out of the feventh day as a fabbath by any of the 
 Patriarchs ; of whom we might have expe<5led that 
 they would have flopped or refted in their journey- 
 ings on that day : Nor is there the leafl: intimati- 
 on of any fuch obfervance. 
 
 Before I leave this head, give me leave to re- 
 mark, that Mofes feems in his writings to have 
 made ufe of the number feven, fo emphatically 
 as if he efteem'd it a perfect number, or at leafl, 
 a number that denoted perfecftion. See to this 
 purpole. Gen. iv. ver. 24. If C^iin fhall be avenged 
 feven fold, truly Lamech feventy and feven fold. 
 Gen. vii. ver. 2. Of every clean heajl thou fhalt 
 take unto thee hy fevcns, i. e. according to theori- 
 3 g'"^^> 
 
[ 13 ] 
 
 glnal, feven feven^ or leven males, and feven fe- 
 males. I make no applicacion of this, but pals 
 on. 
 
 And fhall next confider when it was that the 
 feventh Jay appears to have been firft marked out 
 lor a fabbath. 
 
 And this I find to be in the time of Mofes, 
 Exod. xvi. ver. 22. * ^nd on the fixth day (i. e. 
 from the time that God had given them manna) 
 they gathered twice as much as they had done on 
 other days ; and all the rulers of the congregation 
 came and told Mofes, ver. 23. Then Mofes inform'd 
 them of the reafon of their fo doing, by telling 
 them that notwithllanding they had on other days 
 criminally made a referve for the following day, 
 out of diftruft of divine providence, on account 
 .of which it ftank and became ufelefs, yet it fhould 
 not be the cafe with regard to the fixth day ; 
 every man might bake and feethe what he want- 
 ed for that day, and the remainder might be 
 kept till the morrow, for the Lord had faid '', 
 that the morrow is the reft of the holy fabbath 
 to the Lord. ver. 24, and 25. And what they had 
 laid up Mofes hade them eat, for, fays he, to day 
 is a fabbath unto the Lord, to day ye fhall not 
 find it in the field, ver. 26. Six days ye fl:) all gather 
 it, hut on the feventh day — the fabbath, in it there 
 fkall he 7wne. ver. 27. Notwichftanding this, the 
 people hadfo little notion of a fabbath, or of 
 what Mofes had commanded them, that there 
 
 went 
 
 ^ Comp. Neh ix. ver. g, 13, 14, 15. And madeft known 
 unto them thine holy fabbaths, and comraandelt them precepts, 
 ftatutes, and laws, by the hand of Mwb thy fcrvant, {^c. 
 
 '^ This ii that which the Lord hr.th f-iid., this exprefiion, I 
 imagine is no proof of its being an application of an old com- 
 mand ; for had it been fo, the elders of Ifrael were as Hkely to 
 have known fomething of it as Mofss ; which by the feque! they 
 appear to have been wholly ignorant of, and therefore ic can 
 only refer to what the Lord had faid to M'jfsi as thsir prophet 
 jnd lawgivej-. 
 
t Hi 
 
 tvent out of the people on the feventh day to ga- 
 ther, and they found none : For which the Lord 
 reproves them, ver. 28. How long refufe ye to keep 
 my commandments and my laws ? See ! For that the 
 Lord hath given you the fabbath ; therefore he 
 giveth you on the fixth day^ the bread of two days. 
 ver. 29, So the people rcjied on the feventh day. 
 ver. 2o. 
 
 What can be more plain from the whole nar- 
 rative, than that the people had no prior notions 
 o\ 2i feventh day fabbath^ till fo marked out, and 
 explained to them ? Which direStion^ or reafon^ 
 continued to diftinguifh the day to them for forty 
 years, ver. 35. And hence it is, I imagine, that 
 in the decalogue, the feventh day, is called thg 
 fabbath of the Lord their God, becaufe he had fo 
 miraculoufly marked out the day for them, by 
 giving them manna, as aforefaid* 
 
 Argument III. I fhall in the third place prove^ 
 that the obfervation of the fabbath was difpenfed 
 with among the Jews, even by divine dire5Iion : 
 And that their own prophets have diftinguifhed 
 between an obfervance of the fabbath, and mo- 
 rality, or thofe duties which are of eternal obli- 
 gation. 
 
 I have already obferv'd, that the nature, pur- 
 port, or defign of the precept was a refi from 
 all labour, or fervile employment -, which is ftrong- 
 ly exprefled, Exod. xxxi. ver. 15, Six days may 
 %vork be done, but on the feventh is the fabbath of 
 refi, holy to the Lord, whofoever doeth any work, 
 in the fabbath day he fhall furely be put to death. 
 Lev. xxiii. ver. 3. — - ye fid all do no work therein^ 
 it is the fabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. 
 
 ' Now if we compare this inftitution fo en- 
 * forc'd by Mofcs, with the circumcifion of their 
 ' children on the feventh day, which was frequent- 
 ' ly done, we fhall fee, that it was thus far dif- 
 
 * pen fed 
 
1 15] 
 
 ^ penfed with even in the fenfe of the Jews them- 
 ' felves ', for this occafion'd an Hehreiv pro- 
 i verb, "oiz. the fahhath gives way to circumcifw?!^ 
 ^ Joh. vii. ver. 22, 23. thus far Grotius^' 
 
 But I fhall beg leave to infert the text at large, 
 Mofes therefore gave unto you circiwicifwn (not be- 
 caiife it is of Mofes hut of the fathers) and ye on 
 the fahbath day circumcife a man •, // a man on the 
 fabbath day receive circumcifion^ that the law of 
 Mofes fhould not be broken^ are ye angry at me 
 (fays our Lord) hecaufe 1 have made a man every 
 whit whole on the fahbath day ? Thus para- 
 phrafed by Dr. Claget ' If the eighth day- 
 after the birth of a male child, fall upon 
 the fabbath day, you do neverthelefs circum- 
 cife him, notwithftanding that flrift obfervation 
 of the fabbath which the law of Mofes requires : 
 And this you do becaufe Mofes'*^ law, or indeed, 
 a more ancient law given to Abraham^ requires 
 that every male child fhould be circumcifed 
 the eighth day : If then a child may be cir- 
 cumciled on the fabbath, becaufe, without ex- 
 ception of the fabbath he is to be circumcifed 
 on the eighth day; Why are you angry with 
 me for doing a better work on the fabbath day 
 in the perfect cure of a man who was all over 
 infirm ? For that law of doing good, and re- 
 lieving the miferable at all times, is a more an- 
 cient and excellent law, than either that of the 
 fabbatic reft, or that of circumcifion on the 
 eighth day ^' 
 Again, the Jews flew their facrifices on the 
 fabbath day. Numbers xxviii. ver. 9, 10. On 
 every fabbath there were two lambs extraordinary 
 added to the continual burnt offerings, which 
 facrifices could not be (lain without bodily fer- 
 
 vice 
 
 >See his Truth of the Chrift. Rel. tranfl.Hted by Dr. 7, CUrke, 
 £ook V .p. 232. ^ See Dr. Z. Ctarkti P.iraphrafc on the place. 
 
C'6] 
 
 vice or labour, and was certainly a dirpenfing"" 
 with the precept, which forbad any manner of 
 work. Nor is it to the purpofe to objed that 
 thcfe were afts of rehgion, and therefore com- 
 ported with the defign of the precept •, for it is 
 plain it was not, becaufe our Saviour himfelf in- 
 terpreted the ad; of circumcifion (aitho* a com- 
 pliance with a divine inftitution) as a difpenfing 
 with the law of the fabbadi : Therefore the killing 
 of their facrifices on the feventh day mult be in- 
 terpreted as a difpenfing alfo with the law of 
 their fabbath. 
 
 But again, JOSHUA, the captain of the hofts 
 of Ifrael, encompafTed Jericho kvtn times with 
 his forces on the fibbath day, {J of. vi. ver. 2, 
 and 4, compared,) and this too by divine di- 
 rection ; which muft be allowed to be another 
 inftance of their difpenfing with this law. 
 
 It cannot be very improper juft to hint at the 
 ftrift obfervance the Jews had to their fabbath, 
 as may be fecn i Maccab. ii. ver. 32. — 38. Where 
 they are reprefented as choofmg rather to be mur- 
 thered in cool blood than make any defence on 
 the fabbath day : Which fcrupulofity occafion'd 
 cne thonfand of them to be (lain : Upon which 
 flaughter MA'T'THIAS made a law, or paiTed an 
 edi6b to tolerate their refiftance, ver. 39, 40, 41. 
 But notwithftanding this, they retain'd io fuper- 
 ftitious a regard for their fabbath, that even but 
 6^ years before the Chriftian v^ra, vf\\tn POM- 
 PET took Jerufalem, and laid fiege to the tem- 
 ple, the Jews would not do the leall thing of- 
 fenfively, which POMPET perceiving, order'd 
 that no affault fhould be made on their fabbathsy 
 but infiead thereof to carry on fuch works, as, 
 erefling engines, and batteries % and in filling up 
 the ditches with which the temple was fortify*d: 
 
 Ail 
 
 » Pridtaux'i Conned, part JI. book Yl. p. 6ii. 
 
[ '7] 
 
 all which the Jeisos fuffered them to do unmo- 
 lefted. So great was the fuperftition of the Jews 
 with regard to the ohlervance of their fabbath 1 
 
 But under this head, I would obferve, that there 
 is a large quotation trom Dr. S. Clarke inferted 
 in the title page of a Pamphlet lately publifhed, 
 entitled, The Srjenth Day of the IVeek the Cbrijtian 
 Sabbath. 
 
 ' The moral part of the fabbath, that is, fo 
 ' far as it is a commandment enjoining the vir- 
 ' tue of HUMANITY, or of allowing time 
 
 * to thofe who are under our power to REST 
 ' from the LABOURS of their worldly Em- 
 
 * ployment ; and SO Fi\.R as it is according to 
 ' the original reafon of its inftitution in Paradife 
 ' a time let apart for the RELIGIOUS COM- 
 ' MEMORATING OF GOD'S WORK OF 
 ' CREATION, and PRAISING him for the 
 
 * things that he has made, and ferving and wor- 
 
 * fhipping him, as the Maker of all things % this 
 
 * moral parr, I fay, of the fabbath, is of ETER- 
 ' NAL and unchangeable obligation. Serm. 
 « Vol. X. p. 59.' 
 
 To which I would reply, that the Dr. has ad- 
 vanced nothing in all th'.s that will confine what 
 he fays to the obfcrvaticn of the feventh da-j of 
 the "J^eek, as if this was the moral part ot the 
 commandment: But if he had, the Dr.'s practice 
 would evidently have condemn'd fuch an interpre- 
 tation, and have proved, indeed, that fo tar the Dr. 
 was feif-condemned, or at leaft, inconfiftent with 
 himfelf J tor it is well known that the Dr. did 
 not fabbatife •, /. e. obferve i\\t feventh day of the 
 I week as a fabbath, or day of holy rell, purfu- 
 ant to the letter of the fourth commandment. 
 Nor would the Dr. CI am perfuaded) in the leaft 
 deny, but that that part of the precept, which 
 concerns rejl from labour, is duly obferv'd by 
 
 D reftino; 
 
[ i8 1 
 
 refting one da') in [even, to v/it, the jirfl ; and 
 that the morality of it, viz. a religious comme- 
 morating of God's work of creation, PRAISING, 
 SERVING, and WORSHIPPING him as the 
 Maker of all things, does not depend on the doing 
 it on the feventh day of the week. On the contrary, 
 he muft have allow'd that the morality of, or the 
 eternal unchangeable obligation unto fuch conduct 
 is fo far from depending on any one day, that fuch 
 practices, by which we can exprefs our regards to 
 fuch obligations we are under to the fupreme 
 Being, are fit and proper on a frfl day, as well 
 as on a feventh ; nay are at all times duties in- 
 cumbent upon us. Nor, do I think, that it can 
 be prov'd that the Dr. intended in any view to 
 found the morality of the precept upon the fepa- 
 ration of the feventh day -, for in fuch a light, 
 the fourth commandment can have no morality 
 at all in it, i. e. as it enjoins the feventh day, any 
 more than it would have had, if it had enjoin'd 
 the fixth ; for the fixth, in the reafon and nature 
 of things, is as holy as the feventh, therefore fuch 
 feparation can conltitute no part of the morality 
 of the precept ; becaufe, according to the quota- 
 tion now referred to, v/hat is moral is unchange- 
 able in its nature, or in the words themfelves, 
 is of eternal and unchangeable obligation. 
 
 Let it be farther obferv'd, that two of their 
 moft noted prophets foretold a time as coming 
 when their fabbaths, of which they were fo fond, 
 would be fuperfeded, together with the reafons 
 alib of their obfervance. 
 
 JEREMIAH fays, chap. xvi. verf. 14, 15. 
 Therefore behold the days come, faith the Lord, 
 that it Jhall no more be faid, the Lord liveth that 
 brought up the children of Ifrael out of Egypt ; 
 but the Lord liveth that brought up the children of 
 
 Ifraei 
 
[ '9] 
 
 Ifrael from the land of the north, and from all the 
 lands whither he bad driven them. 
 
 ISAIAH in chap. Ixvi. ver. 23^ And it Jhall 
 come to pafs, that from one new moon to another, 
 and from one fahhath to another, fhall ail fie/h com^ 
 to worfhip before me, faith the Lord. 
 
 ISAIAH remarkably diftinguifhes their flricfl 
 obfervation of their fabbaths from moral inftitu- 
 tions or duties, chap. i. from ver. 11, to the 18. 
 ir<? what -purpofe are the multitude of your facrifices 
 
 unto me P Bring no more vain oblations, incenfe 
 
 is an abomination to me, the new moons, and fab- 
 baths my foul hates. Wafh ye, make you clean ; 
 
 ^ut away the evil of your doing: from before mine 
 eyes, ceafe to do evil, learn to do well, &c. 
 
 I can fcarce forbear thinking, but that the very 
 preface of the fourth commandment. Remember 
 the fabbath day, feems to indicate its being of 
 a pofitive nature, as it is in its very didion 
 lefs abfolute than the other nine : On which ac- 
 count the lawgiver may be underftood as faying, 
 ' As to your feparating the. feventh day as a fab- 
 
 * bath, altho' it is a precept of a pofitive nature, 
 
 * yet fince I difcern it will be of important fer- 
 
 * vice and ufe to you, therefore I give it this fanc- 
 
 * tion, I charge you to REMEMBER IT.' 
 To conclude this head, I would add, that 
 
 GROTIUS has mention'd a two-fold defign of 
 the fourth commandment in the decalogue, and 
 has call'd it both a precept of remembrance, Exod. 
 chap. XX. ver. 8. and of obfervation, Exod. xxxi. 
 ver. 16. But then he alfo fays, ' that if the 
 ' law concerning reft on the fabbach, had been 
 
 * given from the beginning, and in fuch a man- 
 
 * ner as never to be abolifhed, certainly that 
 
 * law would have prevail'd over al! other laws ; 
 *•■ the contrary to which we now find *.' 
 
 D 2 Argu- 
 
 » His Truth of the Chrift. Relig. Part II. Book V. Sfift. 13. 
 
[20] 
 
 Argumeut IV. I fhall, in the fourth place, iliew 
 what regard our Lord Jefus Chrijl^ and his fol- 
 lowers or difciples paid to the feventh day Jahhath. 
 
 In Mark ii. ver. 27. our Saviour exprcfly fays 
 of the vtry feventh day fabbath^ That it was made 
 for man^ and not man for it : Can it then be an 
 inftitution of moral and indifpenfable obligation ? 
 No ; he fays, it was made for man, and mull give 
 way to any man's necefiities ; and advifes them 
 not to blame his difciples for plucking a few ears 
 of corn, to which hunger had prompted them, 
 tho' it was on the fab bath : For he adds, if the 
 fabbath was made for man, who can and may, 
 as it was made for him, occafionally difpenfe with 
 its laws-, furely much more may the 5'&« of man 
 be allow'd to be Lord alfo of the fabbath; and 
 as fuch, may alfo relax the obfervance of it. The 
 phrafe ufed in ver. 28. Sonof man^ muft, I think, 
 refpecft Jefus Chrijl himfelf, it being a term under 
 which he ufually defcribes himfelf : Befide, the in- 
 ference or conclufion would appear improper if 
 he intended not himfelf, for he had before afferted 
 that the fabbath was made for man, and muft 
 give way to his neceflicies -■> and confequently he, as 
 Son of man^ by way of eminence, muft be Lord 
 alfo: That conjunction copulative alfo feems to 
 make it neceffary that we ITiould thus underftand 
 him. Matth. xii. ver. 6, 7, 8.- ' But, I fay, unto you 
 
 * that in this place is one greater than the temple. 
 
 * And had ye known what the prophet Hofea 
 
 * tells you, and underftood his meaning, you 
 ' would have feen that mercj is prefcable to 
 
 * facrifice\ and would not have condemned my 
 ' innocent difciples, for fatisfving their hunger 
 ' on your fabbath. For the Son of man, he that 
 ' is greater than the temple, is Lord of the 
 ' fabbath da\.* 
 
 Oh- 
 
[21] 
 
 Ohje5f. ' It is objecfted by the fahbatij}s, that 
 « our Saviour fignity'd that x.\\t feventh day fabbath 
 ' fhould be in force at the deftruction ot Jeru- 
 
 * falem and left no hint of its being after- 
 
 ' wards abrogated. Matth. xxiv. ver. 20. But pray 
 ' ye that your flight be ?wt in winter, nor on the 
 ' fabbath day.'' 
 
 Dr. S. Clarke has well remarked % that this 
 feems to be fpoken in condefcenfion to ihejew- 
 ijh prejudices, and plainly fuppofes that the feafon 
 or holinefs of the time might retard their efcapc 
 at the deftruclion of Jerufalem. 
 
 Mr. Baxter obferves ^ that thefe words of our 
 Saviour had a refpeft to the Jews mifery, and 
 
 not to their duty. For their city was taken 
 
 on their fabbarh, and their rigid fabbatifing en- 
 creafed their calamity. He goes on to quote a 
 probable conjed:ure of Dr. Hammond^ who fays, 
 that it was likelier fpoken of a fabbath year^ 
 when both war and famine would come together. 
 
 However, it will be fufficient that I add, it was 
 not efteem'd proper that the Jewijh prejudices 
 Ihould be ftrongly attacked whilft their ftate con- 
 tinued, as they muft have been by an explicit 
 abrogation of their fabbath : Neverthelefs it would 
 be proper for the objector to prove, that the 
 chrillians, or difciples of Jefus had any occafion 
 for fuch a prayer i or that they fuffered any 
 more by Jerufalem^'s being deftroy'd on the fab- 
 bath day., than they would have done had it been 
 on any other day : Otherwife this text will af- 
 ford no affiftance to the caufe of thtfeventh day 
 fabbath. But if I miftake not, it does not appear 
 from Jofephus) that the chriflians were any of them 
 defcroy'd in that dreadful calamity : Therefore the 
 text is nothing at all in favour of the labbatifts. 
 
 Let 
 
 • ^ See his Paraphrafe on the Place. *> See his Divine Ap- 
 
 pointment of the Lord's Day, p. i^.j, 195. 
 
[22] 
 
 Let us, in the next place, fee what St. PAUL's 
 opinion was about the obligation of the law c-i' 
 the feventh day fahhath. 
 
 And in his epiftle to the ColoJJians, chap. H. 
 verf. J 6, 17. he is pretty exprefs i for having in 
 the 14th ver. fhew*d that Chrift had blotted out, 
 or canceird the obligation of all thofe Jewijh rites 
 and ceremonies which had diftinguifhed them from 
 the reft of mankind ; he here fays. Let no man 
 therefore judge you^ i. e. you chriftians, in meat, 
 or in drink^ or in refpe^l of an holy day, or of the 
 7iew moon, or of the fahhath, which were only tem- 
 porary fervices or inftitutions, or, which fuited the 
 Je'DDijh economy, but at the fame time were no 
 more than the fhadow is to the fubftance, when 
 compared with chriftianity. A.nd, again, 
 
 Rom. chap. xiv. ver. 5, 6. One man ejleemeth one 
 day ahove another, another efteemeth every day alike : 
 Let every man be fully perfuaded in his own mind. 
 Which is thus paraphrafed by Mr. Pyle ; ' The 
 
 * Jezvifh chrijlian thinks fome days of the week 
 
 * have more holinefs in them than other ; the 
 ' Gentile ebrijlian thinks them all alike: For 
 
 * peace fake let every man enjoy his own fenti- 
 
 * ment.' 
 
 Ver. 6. He that regardeth the day regardeth it 
 unto the Lord ; and he that regardeth not the day, 
 to the Lord he does not regard it ; i. e. ' out of 
 
 * a full perfuafion that God has freed him from 
 ' all obligation to it ».' 
 
 So Gal. chap. iv. ver. ro, 11. 7*^ obferve days, 
 and mo'nths, and times, and years : I am afraid of 
 you, lefi I have bejiowed upon you labour in vain. q. d, 
 *■ I perceive you are grown zealous obfervers of the 
 ' Jewifh fabbaths, new moons, cindfefivals', if this 
 
 * temper continues in you, I fear my labours of cour 
 ' verting you to the chriftian religion are all loft ^* 
 
 Befide, 
 
 » Pyle on the Place. ^ lifUi. 
 
[ 23 ] 
 
 Befide, we may add, that as the peculiarities of 
 the Jewifh difpenfation were hut ajhadow of good 
 things to come^ confequently iht'ir fabbatbs were buc 
 typical of that true and fubftanrial reji, which, 
 the gofpel promifes ; compare Hf^. X. ver. i. with 
 2 Tbef chap. i. ver. 7. 
 
 From what has already been offer'd, we may, 
 I think, fafely conclude, that neither J e/us Chri/ty 
 nor the apoftle Paul, have recommended to chri* 
 ftians the obfervance of the feventh day^ as a 
 fabbath. 
 
 Argument V. I ihall now confider thefe argu- 
 ments made ufe of by the fabbatifts in defence of 
 the Jeijoijh fabbath^ which they build upon our 
 SAVIOUR'S, and his APOSTLES obfervance 
 of it. 
 
 And, in the firft place, they urge, in defence of / 
 x\\^ feventh day fabbath, that our SAVIOUR kept or 
 obferv'd it whilft he was here upon earth. A little 
 acquaintance with the hiftory oijefus C/6r(/? whilft 
 he fufbain'd a public character among men, will 
 Ihew us, that the falfe ideas the Jews had receiv'd, 
 about the expefted Meffiah as a temporal -prince 
 and deliverer, made it dangerous for our Saviour 
 to fpeak very explicitly about the nature of that 
 kingdom he was going to eftablifh •, and never do 
 we find him fo plain and open in his inftruftions, 
 as v/hen morality was the fubje6l thereof j for this 
 very reafon it was that he fpoke in parables, and 
 with fo much caution both concerning himfelf, 
 and the defign of his miffion, left the multitude 
 fhould be led to make a faftion in the ftate, and 
 expofe him to the animadverfions and refentments 
 of the civil power: — Which of itfelf would fuf- 
 ficiently obviate the difficulty before us, and fully 
 Ihcw that it was no way proper for him, to fettle 
 fuch a particular inftitution of his church, which 
 would fo evidently have abolifh'd an holy day^ 
 
 which 
 
[24] 
 
 which they held in the higheft efteem, as founded 
 on the exprefs and pofitive command of GOD 
 their lawgiver and king. 
 
 But to the objedion I fhall furdier reply, that it 
 is no wonder that HE did keep the fabbath : Our 
 Lord alfo was circwncifed, and kept the pajjovereven 
 'till the time of his death -, that nighi before he was 
 betray'd, the facred hiftorians tell us, he actually 
 kept xhtpajfover with his difciples : Nor do I know, 
 that he ever by any exprefs precept, edid:, or 
 law abrogated the obfervance of that JewifJj fefti- 
 val. But will it hence follow, that that inftitu- 
 tion, with which the people of Ifrael had only 
 an immediate concern fhould be continued, when 
 a more excellent difpenfatioii which fuited all na- 
 tions was introduced ? He, in like manner, fre- 
 quented their fynagogues, and temple, which no 
 chrillian I prefume will offer as a reafon for their 
 continuance, any more than for the manner of 
 their worfhip ; both of them being in the reafon 
 and relalion o^ ihmgs^ plainly antiquated, and laid 
 afide, as incompatible with that fcheme of reli- 
 gion, which no where recommends, either by 
 precept or precedent fuch burthenfom rituals in 
 worfhip, or any extraordinary or figurative holi- 
 nefs of places : But on the contrary lays the whole 
 ftrefs on fincerity of heart, and fpiritualicy of 
 worfliip \ 
 
 It muft be own'd, that our Lord came to the 
 Jewijh nation fuflaining the charader of a prophet, 
 as foretold of him ; but notwithflanding this, it 
 is plain it could no way have fuited with his de- 
 fign, to have introduced thofe laws and fettlements 
 of his kingdom, which would immediately and o- 
 penly have cenfur'd and condemn'd that fyf^em 
 of rites, and obfervances, by which they had ail 
 along been diflinguifli'd from the reft of man- 
 kind, 
 » "John chap, iv, ver. 23, 24. Ail. chap, vii, vcr. 48, 49, 50. 
 
[25] 
 
 kind, and were conduced or govern'd as a theocra- 
 cy. On the other hand, he always addrefb'd them 
 with more caution, telling them, that he came not 
 to deftroy the /<2iy, and the/?r(?/)^d'/j-, but to fulfil 
 all righteoufnefs -, therefore it would have been 
 incongruous with his defign to have attack'd fo 
 early the external and ceremonial part of their 
 constitution ; of which they feem to have been 
 fo exceedingly tenacious, tliat even a fide glance 
 at their temple's being deftroy'd, was look'd upon 
 as a capital crime, and was the only charge broughc 
 againft the innocent Jefus before zht Sanhedrim, 
 by the two falfe witnefles, Matth. xxvi. ver. 6i. 
 Yea, their fuperftition had carried them to fuch 
 a precife and fcrupulous exadlnefs, as even to a 
 tithing of trifling herbs ; altho' at the fame time 
 they exprefied an open neglecl of judgment and 
 of the lo"je of God, Luke xi. ver. 42. — Such igno- 
 rance and fuperftition, prevail'd thro' the Jeivijh 
 hation, when the MeJJiah appear'd among themJ. 
 and therefore it well became the wifdom of God, 
 that the firji defign both of the example of JefuSy 
 and of his do61:rine, fhould be to reftore them 
 to a due regard to fuch things as were of eternal 
 obligation ; for by fo doing they had lefs room 
 to objed: either againft him, or his do(5lrine j and no 
 alarm was hereby given to thofe prejudices, which 
 he would have revived and excited, had he fo 
 leveli'd his firfi addrefs at their ceremonial ob- 
 fervances, as to have difcover'd an exprefs aboli- 
 tion of them : For we may eafily difcern that 
 their prejudices run higheft in favour of indifferent 
 things, or to what was the creatures of their own 
 invention : And it is no wonder it was fo, for 
 this has been the cafe ever fince, viz. That the 
 zeal and fury of BIGOTS has always been fed, 
 by things entirely foreign to religion, or virtue ! 
 and it could not be other wife, -becaufe fo far as 
 E religion. 
 
[26] 
 
 religion^ or virtue obtains, no irregular, no dan- 
 gerous, no hurtful paffion will, or ever can be 
 
 admitted. • 
 
 That I have not mifreprefented tht Je'X's, will 
 appear very obvioufly from the feveral gofpels^ 
 nay, it appears in a very ftrong light, in the 
 inftance already mentioned, wherein ihtjezvs con- 
 demned the difciples of Jefus, for plucking a few 
 ears of corn on the fahhath day, tho* it was to 
 fatisfy their hunger. In our Lord's plea for 
 them there is difcover'd the moft mafterly ftroke 
 of wifdom •, fays he, don't you remember how 
 DxWlD, one of your ivorthies, a6led in a cafe 
 of like neceffity, viz. when an hungry ; he o- 
 biiged Ahiaihar the priefi to give him, and his 
 men of the JJjew breads which was not lawful 
 for any to eat but the priefts ? Hereby the di- 
 vine prophet foftened their refcintments, at the very 
 fame time that he weakened, yea, deftroy'd the 
 reafon of their complaint. But to proceed. 
 
 That Jefiis Chriji conflantly (or at leaft fre- 
 quently) attended their y)'«c7ff(?^«^j on thtir fabbatb 
 days was very fit, becaufe at thofe places, and on 
 chofe feafons, he had the belt opportunity of giv- 
 ing his infcruftions to the people ; the mearieft 
 of whom were at liberty on thofe days to at- 
 tend inftruiStion. 
 
 Again, Had our Lord, or his apoftles after him, 
 appointed the firjl day of the week to be religi- 
 oufly obfervcd by all the converts to chriftianity 
 among the Jews, whilft, or during the time their 
 Hate continued, their doflrine would have been 
 hereupvon ob}e(3.ed to by the Jews, as robbing 
 them of one of their days of labour •, fo that fuch 
 t)f their fiaves, and fervaats, who were convinced 
 of the divinity ot the chriflian dodfrine, muit 
 have^ fufferM great inconvenience hereby; their 
 ,4^t}Jidd majlers not allowing of fu-ch recefs : But 
 1 the 
 
[27] 
 
 the benevolent doftrine of Jefus recommended it- 
 felf to mankind in every one of its views, without 
 a necelTary introdudlion even of one civil inconve- 
 nience. On the foundation of ftich like reafons 
 as thefe, I apprehend, it was, that neither ^4^s 
 Chrifl^ nor his apoJiUs exprefly abrogated the Jew- 
 i/h fabbath: Neverthelefs, I have already fhewn 
 that our Saviour has exprefly aflerted the non- 
 moral obligation of the fabbath ; and that his 
 apoftle Paul has as exprefly marked it out as one 
 of thofe dijiinguiping infiitutions, which belong'd 
 to the JewiJJj conflitution. 
 
 From thefe hints, we may difcern the goodnefs 
 and tender compajfion "of JESUS in the advice 
 he gave to the Je'-djs in that foremention'd place, 
 
 Matth. xxiv. ver. 20. but pra'j ye that your 
 
 flight be not in the "winter, neither on the fabbath 
 day j well knowing how much their many pre- 
 judices^ and fuperjlitious notions about the holinefs 
 of their fabbath might prove fatal to them, fince 
 the deftrudlion of their city and temple was to 
 happen thereon. 
 
 Obje^. ' I know it is objected by the fabbatifs 
 
 * in favour of the feventh day fabbath, that, Luke 
 ' xxiii. ver. §6. is exprefs to their purpofe: .i^nd 
 
 * they reftedy (i. e. the women rejled) the feventh 
 ' day according to the commandment. From whence 
 ' it isinfcr'd, that thefe holy chriftian women reff- 
 
 * ed on that day, either, according to the old 
 ' commandment, — or elfe, according to a new one 
 ' received from Chrifl ^ 
 
 What I have already ofTer'd, I imagine will be 
 fufHcient to folve any difficulty arifing hence : 
 Nor can I think it fo furpriling, that, women 
 fo dear to Jefus^ fliould be left in the dark, by 
 him, with refpect to the change, or rather abro- 
 gation of the fabbath ; fince the obfervance of it 
 E 2 was 
 
 I See the Seventh Day the Chriftian Sabbath, p. 9. 
 
[28] 
 
 was very neceiTary to the fupport of chriftianity 
 in its infant ftate among the Jews. Befides, thefe 
 holy chrijlian women were left in the dark by 
 their Lord in an affair of much greater im- 
 portance, viz. about his rcJurreEilon \ but the 
 objeftion muft much more lofe its force, when 
 we confider how cautioufly the fir ft addreffes o^ 
 the chriftian doclrine were made to the Jews ; On 
 which principle St. Paul conduced afterwards, 
 who became all things to all men., that he might 
 gain fome : On this very account it was that he 
 circumcifed Timcth-^ a^ viz. that he might take off 
 the prejudices of thofe Jews againft him who 
 knew that his father was a Greek : And yet, I 
 humbly conclude that circumcifion cannot here- 
 upon be recommended as a rite becoming the 
 chriftian covenant. 
 
 dhje£i. It is again obje<5led, « It the ftibb at h was 
 ' changed, how comes it to pafs that the Jews, 
 ' who made fuch a ftir about circumcifion., never 
 ' offer'd any thing in defence of their chriftian 
 « fahhath '•f 
 
 I anfwer, becaufe the firft chriftians continued 
 the obfervance of the fahhath whilft the Jewijl.i 
 polity lafted, and, therefore, this complaiflmce of 
 the chriftians left no room for any fuch ftir a- 
 mong xhtjcws about t\\tir fahhath : Befides, in 
 the laft mention'd infliance of circumcfion., it is 
 evident, that the apoftle laid the oppofition of 
 the Jezvs by a like complaifance. But, again, it 
 is highly probable that the Jezvs, or at leaft the 
 JewifJo converts, did make a ftir about their y^^.- 
 hath^ as may appear from thofe places foremcn- 
 tionM at large, Rom. xiv. ver. 5, 6. and Gal. iv. 
 ver. 10, II. 
 
 Oljebl. ' It is farther objefted, that if thofe fe- 
 «- veral places already refer'd to in St. PauVs 
 
 * epiftles 
 * J."!:, chap. xvi. ver. 3. ^ Mr. Ccrrthoaiiis Reflcifl. p. 42. 
 
[ ^9 ] ^ 
 
 ' epiftles imply an abrogation of the falhath^ it 
 
 ' will iet St. Paul againil himfeff, becaufe in his 
 
 * epiftle to th& Hebrews^ chap. iv. (wrote 30 years 
 ' after Chriffs afcenfion) the author therein plainly 
 
 * fuppofes, that the Hebrew chrijlians were then 
 
 * in the obfervation of the feventh day fabbath *.' 
 This conclufion, I think, need not be deny'd, 
 
 and yet the apoftle clear'd of contradi6ting him- 
 felf. St. Paul^ it muft be own'd in that epiftle, 
 has to do more direftly with the JewiJJj, or He- 
 hrew converts ; the defign of the epiftle is mani- 
 feftly to fliew by a comparifon of the chrijlian 
 injlittition, with the Jcwijh^ the great advantage 
 to be had by the former, in order to an,imate 
 thefe converts to a fteady adherence thereunto, 
 in a ftate and time of perfecution. And, in this 
 chapter he ftiews, that by the gofpel they had 
 as exprefs 2i ■proviife of refl in heaven, or the fu- 
 ture ftate, as the Jews ever had of Canaan; nay, 
 that this refi promifed by the gofpel was fuch, 
 as not only uid.irejl of Caitaan, but even the refi 
 of God, (on v/hich i\\t\r fabbath was founded) were 
 but typical : Even that REST concerning which 
 David fpoke, and exhorted the people of his 
 own day, who were in actual pofleflion of Ca- 
 naan, not to harden their hearts, left they fhould 
 come fhort of it, Pfalm xcv. ver. 7, — 11. 
 
 Befides, this was before the deftru6lion o^Jeru- 
 falem, and, therefore, cannot affed: our prefent ar- 
 gument •, nor prove St. Paul inconfiftenc with him- 
 felf : But if there was any ftrength in the objeclion, 
 how much more incofiftency would appear in the 
 conduct of PW in circumcifing Timothy -, if we com- 
 pare with fuch his conduft, what he fays. Gal. v. 
 ver. 2. Behold, I Paul fay unto you, that if ye be 
 
 circumcifed ; Chrift fuail profit you nothing, • 
 
 No other way do I difcern of reconciling thefe 
 
 diffi- 
 " The Seventh Day the Chriilian S;.bbath, p, 20. 
 
[ 3°- 1 
 
 difficulties, than by fuppofing' that the obfervation 
 of circumcifion and of the fahhath, were only 
 comply 'd with by the apoftles in condefcenfion 
 to the JewiJJd prejudices, by means whereof they 
 might with greater acceptance recommend a 
 dodrine of the laft importance to the Jewip 
 nation 5 At the Hime time, they neither of them 
 appear to have the lead foundation in the laws 
 and fettkments of chrillianity. 
 
 PART 
 
[31 ] 
 
 PART Second. 
 
 MY fecond general propoficion, is, that 
 the chriftians obrervance of one day in 
 feven as an holy feftival, wholly comports 
 with thole obligations we Hand in to God, and 
 anfwers all thole other moral ends that could be 
 propofed by the Jew'ijh precept: And that the 
 jirji day of the week, they, i. e. chriftians, moft 
 fitly obferve, and feparate from the other /;<:, as 
 facred to fuch purpofes. 
 
 The firjt part of the propofition will appear 
 true, by comparing the defign of the Jewijh ob- 
 fervance, with that of the chriftians. 
 
 And the defign of the Jewijh obfervance was 
 two fold, firft^ the precept intended an hehdoviadal 
 rejl from labour and iervile employment both 
 for men and cattle: With regard to the latter, 
 rejl was the abfolute, fole, and determinate end 
 of the precept. But as to man, it appears, fecondly, 
 to have a further view, viz. That by thefe ftated 
 weekly intervals of reji he fhould not only receive 
 bodily refrefhment, but hereby alfo univerfally 
 enjoy a public opportunity of acknowledging the 
 relation he, and the whole congregation of Jfrael, 
 ftood in to GOD, as their Former, Saviour, and 
 Lord; v.'hich, indeed, was the true way of keep- 
 ing holy, or fandtifying their fab bath -, as hereby 
 it became a barrier againft Polytheifm, and Idola- 
 try : To render which defign the more effeftual, 
 they had pnefis, [acrifices, and a tabernacle ap- 
 pointed. Conformable to this, the chriftians 
 obfervance of one day in [even, by a cefTacion 
 from all fervile labour, and employment, andfpenc 
 in ads of worfhip and homage to the fupreme 
 
 Bang 
 
[ 32] 
 
 Being, comports well with every obligation the 
 Jew'ijh precept can contain, that is either reafona- 
 h\t, or moral. 
 
 I am next to prove, that, the firft day of the 
 week, and not xh'd feventb^ is moft fitly obferv'd 
 by chriftians as an holy fejiival. 
 
 I have already fliewn that the reafons on which 
 the Jewi[h precept were founded, are fuperfeded 
 by the cbrisJian covenant, or inftitution : I now 
 add, that forafmuch as the feventh day fahhatb, 
 was a SIGN between God and the Jews, of their 
 being his peculiar people ; under the gofpel, God 
 is not known to us as the God of Abraham, 
 Ifaac, and Jacob, who brought the children of 
 Jfrael out of Egypt ; but as the God and Father 
 of our Lord J ejus ChriJI, in whom he is recon- 
 ciling ail ?n6?i, the whole human v/orld unto him- 
 felf, and (o difcovering himfelf to be the common 
 Father of all ; Jefns Chrift by his mediation and 
 doftrine having broken down the wall of parti- 
 tion between Jew and Gentile, and fully prov'd, 
 that there is now no treaty of partition, no co- 
 venant of peculiarity •, and confequently, noftgn 
 of fuch treaty, or covenant, now is, or can be in 
 force. And hence it follows alfo, that the Jirfi 
 day is more properly obferv'd by chriftians than 
 the feventh. 
 
 Again, Another reafon of the obfervance of the 
 Jew'ijh fabhatb, was their deliverance out of E- 
 gyptian bondage. 
 
 But St. Paul defcribes the refurreofion of Jefus 
 CUvVitfrom the dead-, to be a deliverance of man- 
 kind univerfiilly, /. e. as far as his gofpel is 
 known and believed, from every of thofe dillrefTing 
 navilli fears, which aroie from men's uncertainty 
 about the aker-flate, and which otherwife would 
 have kept in, bond:-ge the whole human fimily. 
 
 See, 
 
[33] 
 
 See, to this purpofe, Heb. ii. ver, 14, 15. com- 
 pur'd with 2 Tun. i. ver. 10. 
 
 ji^ain^ The Jewift? precept came recommended 
 from the confideration of God's having r eft ed from 
 the works of creation on the /event h day. 
 
 But, the revelation of Jefus reprefents the fame 
 Word of the Father, by which he created the 
 world, as having enter'd upon his reft from thofe 
 fatigues, and labours he underwent in ftejh as our 
 exemplar ; and this his entrance upon it he de- 
 fcribes as having been on the firft day of the 
 week. It fays, indeed, that he lay in the grave 
 all the JewiJJj Sabbath, but this inftead of eftablifh- 
 ing, rather feems to throw a mournful gloom 
 upon the obfervance of the feventh day. Oh ! 
 howpenfive? how melancholy? how dift rafted ? 
 mud the minds of his difciples have been on that 
 day! 
 
 Obje^. It may here be objefted, that if the 
 fourth precept in the decalogue be abrogated, 
 then, we have no authority left, for the obfervance 
 of any ftated weekly day, as holy, or feparate 
 from the other ftx days. 
 
 To which I anfwer, it is plain, that, there could 
 be nothing in the reafon or nature of things, 
 that could make the feventh day of any week, 
 more holy than the fixth, or the fifth, or any 
 of the reft, and could only become fo diftin- 
 guifhed by a pofitive appointment: For as time 
 of which any day is compounded, is nothing 
 but duration, or a fuccefHon of moments, which 
 in themfelves differ not in the leaft from each 
 other •, but only become prophane, or more fa- 
 cred, ftriftly fpeaking, as they are ill, or well 
 ufed by us : Hence it appears to me, that, if the 
 Jewifh precept can yet be urged as of any force 
 among chriftians, it cas only be defended on our 
 devoting a feventh part of our time, or one day 
 
 F ' in 
 
[ 34 ] 
 
 in the hebdomadal revolution to pious and religi- 
 ous purpofes : And, indeed, I muft confels, that, 
 as our weeks divide our time to fo great an ex- 
 adnefs, and as God may be confider'd as the fo- 
 vereign difpofer of our time, it thence Teems 
 highly realbnable that we fliould devote at leaft, 
 2. feventh fart oi it, to facred purpofes: And al- 
 tho* xhtjewijlj fahhath appears to be abrogated, 
 yet as it fcems to have b^en given to them as 
 a privilege or blefTing to their community, we 
 may reafonably expedl that the chrijlian inftitu- 
 tion will leave us lomething as ufeful and bene- 
 ficial in its ftead •, efpeciaijy when we confider 
 that it has adually done fo in other inftances. 
 The Jews had circu?ncifion as an external fign^ 
 2.T\d feai of the covenant they were in with God: 
 Inftead of which, chriftianity has provided baplif?n 
 as a more extenfive y/^« andytW. Tht Jews had 
 the great feaft of the pajjover, as a memorial of 
 God's interpofing for them as their deliverer : 
 Chriftianity has inftituted the euchariji as a ftand- 
 ing memorial of the love, and interpofal of JE- 
 SUS CHRIST our Deliverer and Saviour. 
 
 But, more poficively, the chrijlian revelation has 
 pointed out another day of the week, and not 
 ihc feventh^ to be oblerv'd as an holy fejlivaU and, 
 that is the day of the refurre£lion of Jefm Chrifi ; 
 which I fliall anon prove to be the mojl important 
 event they have to commemorate ; and then I 
 fhall fhew, that the firft chrijlians, as well as the 
 bulk of chrijiians in all ages, have underftood it 
 fb, and praftifed accordingly. 
 
 OhjeSi. But, I muft firjt mention another ob- 
 jeftion of the fabbatijls, and that is, ' they fay 
 ' that by a change of thtfeve/ith day to xht firji 
 * there is a day loft, and confequently a non- 
 ' compliance with the exprefs letter of ih^ fourth 
 
 '■ corn- 
 
[ 35 ] 
 
 * cofnma^dment, as it demands a feventh of time, 
 ' or days, as (acred to God.* 
 
 Not to take notice of the inequalities difcovera- 
 b'le in our folar revolutions, which notwithfland- 
 m^ \}^t J ulian^ 2iTi^ Gregorian corrections, are not 
 yet exadly reduced to any common ftandard ; I 
 fay, not to mention this, which would itfejf prove 
 enough : I fhall obferve, that fuch a Jofs as the 
 objedlion fuppofes, in the revolution of time, is 
 lb fmall, that the fraction can fcarce be afligned ; 
 nor was it poffible, but that more than this pro- 
 portion mufi: have been loft by the Jews in their 
 weekly obfcrvances, as well as by the fabhatifis 
 now. 
 
 But fuch a lofs of time cannot be charged on 
 the firji chrijlians^ altho' they appear to be the 
 only perlons chargeable \ becaufe, for fome con- 
 fiderable time, they religioufly obferv'd both the 
 feventh^ and the firji days of the week. 
 
 Again, If fuch a punctilio as is here contended 
 for by the objeftion, would render men culpable 
 before God, as is the cafe before us, viz. the lofs 
 of one day in feventeen hundred years : We 
 might very emphatically fay, O Lord ! Who can 
 ftand ^before thee ? But, on the other hand, when 
 we confider what reafons are alTignable for fuch 
 a change, we may with confidence look in the 
 face of our Judge, and acknowledge that he him- 
 felf has marked out the change for us ; and in an 
 efpecial manner has honour'd the obfervance of the 
 firji day by his prefence, and blefllng. 
 
 To proceed, fince I have intimated, that, the 
 refurrection of Jefus Chriji from the dead was an 
 event of the greateft importance to ckriftians, ic 
 will be proper in order to prove it, that I, firfi^ 
 ftate fuch objections of the fabbatifis as have an 
 immediate relation to the fubjedt. 
 
 F 2 Ob- 
 
[ 36 1 
 
 Object. ' Firjly They alk, why not the day 
 ' of the week obferv'd as facrcd on which Chriji 
 «. was born, fince this was the neceflary founda- 
 ' tion of the whole fuperftru6ture ? Or, fecond^^ 
 ' why not the day of his futierings 'i on which 
 * fo much ftrefs is laid in the New Tejlament, 
 ' and on which he himfdf laid, IT IS FINISH- 
 
 To the firjl I reply, that had this been the 
 cafe, then indeed the rcafon for the obfervance 
 of the Je-zvijh fahlath would have appear'd with 
 greater propriety than that on which the chriftian 
 fejlival was founded, inafmuch as the JewiJIo ob- 
 fervance is urged as an imitation of the LogoSy 
 who refled when he had fimjhed his work -, and 
 not upon his laying the foundation, or on any fub- 
 fequent progrefs in his work : Conformably here- 
 unto is the chrijiian's obfervance grounded with 
 as great propriety on their SAVIOUR'S entering 
 upon his REST, after having finifhed the whole 
 labour and fatigue of his work: And confequently 
 would have been unfitly fixed on his birth. 
 
 As to the fecond ^leftion^ which refpedls the 
 day of his crucifixion •, that this could not be fo 
 proper a day for a weekly commemoration, I 
 Ihall attempt to prove. And I would obferve, that 
 that his faying, // is fni/hed, refpeded the whole 
 of his fufferings from the hands of his enemies, 
 as being actually at an end : But the grand con- 
 firmation of his mifTion was yet behind ; for had 
 we heard no more of him, he would have been 
 efteem'd an impoffor, inafmuch as he himfelf had 
 prophefy'd of his own perfonal refurredion, and, 
 therefore, it was abfolutely necefiary in order to 
 encourage his difciples, and enforce his doctrine, 
 tjiat he fliould rife again on the third day, ac- 
 cordingly as he had prophefy'd. 
 
 Be- 
 
 ■ Corntkwaite'i Refiefl. p. 31. 
 
[ 37] 
 
 Befides, had a weekly day of commemoration 
 took its date from his fufferings, and been en- 
 join'd on that foundation, the injlitution would 
 have been laid in a fcene of the deepeft melan- 
 choly ; according io John xvi. ver. 20,21,22. 
 Verily, verily, ^ fay unto you, that ye Jhall weep 
 and lament, hut the world Jloall rejoice : And ye 
 Jhall he forrowful, hut your forrow Jhall be turned 
 into joy J &c. q. d. the fubjeft of my death can 
 only make you forrowful, but on my rifing again 
 from the dead, your forrow fliall be fuperfeded, 
 and the traces of it be wholly loft, even as a wojnan 
 remembers no more the anguirti of her travel- 
 ing pangs, for joy that a man is born into the 
 world. 
 
 Mr. Baxter quotes Dr. Heylin as faying, that, 
 it was only the eaflern churches next the Jews^ 
 who for , a time kept both the Jeventh and Jirji 
 days of the week •, but not the wejiern, who ra- 
 ther turned the Jdbhath, or the Jeventh day, (that 
 is to fay, the day on which Chrift lay in his 
 grave) into a fajl *. And if fo, what would the 
 whole body of chriftians have done, or how bc- 
 hav'd otherwife on a weekly commemoration of 
 his agonies and crucifixion.'' 
 
 < 1 deny nor, but, that there are feveral texts 
 ' of fcripture which lay a flrefs on the death 
 ' and fufferings of Chrift, and reprefent them as 
 ' having purchafed, juftified, redeemed, and 
 
 * cleanled us -, yea, and reconcil'd us to God, 
 ' as, A£fs chap. xx. ver. 28. Rom. v. ver. 9. 
 ' Eph.'i. ver. 7. Col. i. ver. 20. ijohn'u ver. 7, 
 
 * Rom. v. ver, 10 1^. 
 
 Notwithftanding all this, I will yet venture to 
 
 afRrm, that \\\% re Jur re Ellon from the dead^ is, that 
 
 grand 
 
 '^ Bnxter on the Sabbath, p. 28, 29. ^Corntbwaite's 
 
 R)?flea. p. 31. 
 
[ 38 ] 
 
 grarfd event on which, both Jefus himfelf and 
 his apoftles recommend the chrijlian fcheme to 
 the acceptance of mankind : Our Saviour foretels 
 his own re fur red: ion, Jobnu. ver. 19. — Dejiroy 
 this temple and in three days I will raife it up. 
 Compared with Matth. chap. xxvi. vcr. 61. Again, 
 John vii, ver. 33. Tet a little while 1 am with 
 you {hys Jefus to ihtjews) and then I go to him 
 that fent me. John xiv. ver. 20. -— At that day, 
 i. e. when I have triumphed over death and the 
 grave, ye jhall know, i. e. ye my difciples, fhall 
 know, that I am in the Father, and you in me, 
 and I in you. Chap. xvi. ver. 16, A little time, and 
 ye JJjall not fee me, (becaufe the grave would hide 
 him for a fpace •,) and again, a little while and ye 
 JJjall fee me, becaufe I go to the Father. And, in 
 Johnxi. ver. 25. he calls himfelf exprefly, the re- 
 furreolion and the life. To the fame purpofe, John 
 chap. xiii. ver. 31, 32. Now is the Son of man 
 glorified, and God is glorified in him ; if God he glori- 
 fied in him, God fhall alfo glorify hi?n in himfelf, 
 and fhall firaightway glorify him. More exprefly, 
 John chap. x. ver. 17, 18. Therefore does my Father 
 love me, becaufe I lay down my life, that I might 
 
 take it again. • / have power to lay it down, and 
 
 1 have power to take it again, this commandment , or 
 power have I received from ;«v Father. Now it 
 cannot be fuppofed that the Father loved Chrifi, 
 merely becaufe he laid down his life, that he might 
 take it again ; No -, the reafon of his love, was 
 rather becaufe of that his extraordinary perfonal 
 refurreciion from the dead, by which he would 
 give the greateft credit and efficacy to his mifiion, 
 and inconteftably prove that he received his cre- 
 dentials from God. 
 
 In like manner, the apoftles alfo very emphati- 
 cally refer to this event. St. PETER, A5ls ii. 
 ver. 32. 77?ii Jefus (faith he) hath God raifed up, 
 
 where- 
 
[ 39 ] 
 
 whereof we are all ivitnejfes. Ver. 36. compar'd. 
 I'berefore let all the houfe of Ifrael know affuredly, 
 that God hath made that fame Jefus whom }■(? have 
 cruciffd both Lord and Chrilt. 
 
 So A^s iii. ver. 26. Unto you fir ft ^ God- having 
 raifed up his Son Jefus, fent him to blefs you^ &c. 
 
 And again, A^s iv. ver. 10. P^/<?r declares to 
 the Jewifh court, that., by the name of Jefus of 
 Nazareth, whom they had crucify d^ whom God 
 had raifed from the dead, he^ ^;;<i John had healed 
 the impotent man. 
 
 Nay, -it is very remarkable, that the extraordi- 
 nary gifts of the Spirit, or power of God, beftow'd 
 on the apoflles 2iV\difirfichriJlians., were difpen fed 
 or imparted in order to confirm the truth and cer- 
 tainty of the refurre^lion of Jefus Chrijt \ fee to 
 this purpofe, A^s iv. v. 31, 32. — And they were 
 all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they [pake -the 
 word of God with boldnefs — and with great power 
 gave the apoftles witnefs of the rejiirre^lion of the 
 Lord Jefus. Agreeably to which, St. Paul fays, 
 Ro7n. i. ver. 4. That Jefus Chrift is declared., de- 
 ter?nined., or proved, to be the Son of God, by the 
 power of the Holy Spirit, but in a moft remark- 
 able manner, by his refurreElion from the dead, 
 which was a fulfilment and completion of thofc 
 prophecies refer'd to in ver. 2. 
 
 A^s xiii. ver. 32, 33. In St. P^z/Z's exhortation 
 to the church at Antioch, he fays. And we declare 
 unto you the gofpel, i. e. glad tidings, or the good 
 news, how that the promife which was made unto 
 the Fathers, God hath fulfilled the fame unto us their 
 children in that he hdth raifed up Jefus again, &c. 
 Note, the fulfilment of the great gofpel promife 
 is exprefly faid to be made by the refurrecfionof' 
 Jefus ', or, that his refurre^ion from the dead is 
 the gofpel, or, the fubhance of thofe glad tidings 
 the apoftle had to declare to the church at Antioch. 
 
 Again, 
 
[ 40 ] 
 
 Again^ In that famous oration he delivered in 
 the court at Athens, he fays, Acis xvii. ver, 30, 31. 
 God coimnandeth all men^ cver'j ivhere to repent •, be- 
 caufe he hath appointed a day, in the which he will 
 judge the world in righteoufnefs, by that man whom he 
 hath ordained \ whereof hs haih given afilirance to 
 all men, in that he hath raifed him from the dead. 
 Hence, 1 think, it appears plain, that St. Paul 
 thought the refurreciion of Chrift a neceflary and 
 convincing proof of a future judgment ; as well 
 as of Jefus Chrisfs being the appointed Judge. 
 
 Befides, had it not been for his refurre5iion, 
 he could not have been faid to have dejlroy^d hifn 
 that had the power of death \ nor to have ^1?//- 
 vered them from the bondage of fuch a flavifh 
 fear, which the thoughts of death had fub- 
 jeded them unto •, but by his refurre^ion he has 
 abolijhed death, that is, as the Greek word may 
 be render'd, he has made void the dominion of death, 
 2 Tim, i. ver. 10. This conqueft Jefus Chrifi ef- 
 fedually obtain'd by his refurre^ion, as he thereby 
 brought life and immortality to light. 
 
 ■ Again, Even the figure itfelf made ufe of Rom. 
 chap. vi. ver. 4. lays the emphafis on his refur- 
 reciion ; buried with him by baptifm into death, 
 that like as Chrift was raifed up from the dead 
 by the glory of the Father, even fo we alfo fiould 
 walk in newnefs of life. Ver. 8, and 9. Now if 
 we be dead with Chrift w^ believe that we fJjall 
 clfo live with him : Knowing that Chrift being 
 raifed from the dead, dieth no more, death hath 
 J10 more dominion over him : From whence I draw 
 this contlufion, that as death was the rate or 
 vjagcs oi fui ; fo in our deliverance from death 
 confilts our freedom, i. e. our pardon, our remifjion, 
 ju ft if cation, redemption, and peace : But this our 
 deliverance frojn death, the gofpel fully proves to 
 be the natural, genuine, and certain efFe6t of 
 
 Chrifl's 
 
[41 ] 
 
 Qhrlffs refiirreSfion from the dead : Gonfequently" 
 ChrisVs refurre^wn is an evenc of the greateft: 
 importance to chriftians. 
 
 From a view like this it is, that St. Paul con* 
 eludes, that if Chriff was not rifen from the dead, 
 his preaching ivas vain, and their faith vain, they 
 were yt in their fins ; even the believing Corin- 
 thians who were wafhed^ and fan^ified. i Cor. vi. 
 ver. II. even of thefe he fays, that xh^y were yet 
 in their fins if Chri^ was not rifen^ i Cor. xv. ver. 
 14, 17. Becaufe had that been the cafe, they 
 would have been yet expofed to deaths the rate 
 fet w^QVifin. 
 
 Again^ The day of Chrift^s refurreBion is called, 
 by God, the day of his being begotten by him, 
 ji^s xiii. ver. 33. God hath fulfilled the proniife made 
 to the fathers^ even to iis^ in that he hath raifeditp 
 Jefus again^ as it is written in the fecond Pfalm, Thou 
 art fny Son this day have I begotten thee^ comp. 
 Heh. i. ver. 5. For unto which of the angels faid 
 he at any time, thou art my Son, this day have 
 Ibegotten thee ; And, again, when God thus brought 
 his firsi begotten into the world, he faith. And let 
 all the angels of God worfhip him. Befides, at 
 this event, {viz. of his reJurre£lion) he received 
 an inveftiturc of all power and dominion, as head 
 of the body, the church, according to CoL i. 
 ver. 1 8. And he is the head of the body, the church ; 
 who is the beginning, the firft horn from the dead: 
 That in all things, or among all, he might have 
 the preeminence. So in i Cor. xv. ver. 10. the 
 apoftle fays, But now is Chris! rifen from the dead, 
 and become the firft fruits, or firft begotten of 
 God from Hades, or from the ftate of the dead ; 
 and thus he became the earned, pledge, and fe- 
 curity of the refurre^ion of the whole human 
 race: Under whofe dominion, and care all men 
 are fubjected by the Father, not only in this pro- 
 G bationary 
 
t +0 
 
 bationary life, but alfo in the after, the invifible 
 ftate. 
 
 Thus I have endeavour'd to prove, that the 
 trefurreution of Jefus Chrif}, was that moft im- 
 portant evefit, on which christians have very juftly 
 grounded their obfervance of a weekly fefiival. 
 - Which brings me next to prove, that the apofiles^ 
 and firft cbriftiam, did actually obferve luch a 
 fesJival day ; and that it has been the general, 
 and uniform ufage of the church ever fince. 
 
 But, before I enter direflly on this proof, I 
 fhall firff ftate, and then anfwer an objedlion 
 made by the fahbaiisJs, againft the Jirff day of 
 the week's being the day of Chrift's refurreilion. 
 
 ^elf. ' How fhall we prove that Jefus Chriff 
 ' arofe on the firSf day of the week ? The wo- 
 « mens coming in at the end of the fabhath^ 
 
 * Matth. xxviii. vcr. i. and finding him already 
 ' rifen, will never demonftratively decide this 
 ' queftion •, becaufe for any thing that appears 
 
 * to the contrary, he might as well arife on the 
 
 * feventh, as on the fir^ day of the week 
 
 ' Hence it would be pretty difficult to determine 
 ' on what day of the week, it was on which 
 
 * he arofe*.* 
 
 In order to make a diflinft reply, I fhall, firji, 
 infert the exprefs account as given by the four 
 writers of the life of Chrift relating to this event. 
 
 And St. MATTHEPV's, flands thus, Mattb, 
 xxviii. ver. i. In the end of thefahhathy as it began 
 to daivn towards the firft day of the week^ came Mary 
 Magdalen, and the other Mary to fee the fepul- 
 chre. 
 
 SiX.. MARK'S, chap. xvi. ver. i. And when the 
 ■fabbath was pajl, Mary Magdalen, and Mary 
 the mother c/ James, rt;z^ Salome, had bought fpices 
 
 that 
 
 « The Seventh Day of the Week the Chriftian Sabbath, p. 13. 
 nnd Mr. Cornthzuaite'i Refleft. p. 32. 
 
[ « ) 
 
 ihdt they might come and anoint him, and very early 
 in the morning, the firft day of the week, they cams 
 unto the fepulchre at the rifing of the fun. 
 
 Sc. LUKE*s, chap. xxiv. ver. i. Now upon the 
 firft day of the week, very early in the morfiing, 
 they cams unto the fepulchre, &c. 
 
 S\:.JOHN*s, chap. XX. ver. i. The ^rH day of 
 the week cometh Mary Magdalen, early, when it 
 was yet dark, unto the fepulehre, dec. 
 
 From all which accounts thus much is plain, 
 that none of them knew that he was rifen before 
 the frjl day of the week. 
 
 Bat le(t this fliould be thought infufficient to 
 fatisfy an objedlor, I fliall add fuch reafons and 
 circumftances as will amount to a proof, that he 
 did not rife before xho. firfi day of the week. 
 
 And, firft, had he rifen before the firft day of 
 the week, his own predidion would have been 
 falfe, John ii. ver. i8, 19. De^roy this temple^ 
 (fays he, pointing to his body) and in three days I 
 will raife it up. Now St. Luke tells us, chap, xxiii. 
 ver. 44. That it was about the fixth hour, i. e. about 
 nine o* clock in the morning, when they cruci- 
 fy'd Jefus : And in ver. 53. That Jofeph having 
 begged the body of Pilate, took it down and buried 
 it, and, that that day was the preparation, and the 
 fabbath d^ezv on : Hence it is plain, that all this 
 muft have been tranladted on the fixth day of the 
 week ; therefore, according to his own prediftion, 
 he could not rife till the firft day ; for had he rifen 
 on ihtfeventh, he might then with more propriety 
 and truth have faid, that in two days he would 
 raife up that body or temple fo dellroy'd. 
 
 What is more full and exprefs to my purpofe 
 is Matth. xxviii. ver. 2. which fays, And behold 
 there was a great earthauake, for the angel of the 
 Lord defcended from heaven, and came and rolled 
 back the ft one from the door^ i. e. of the fepul- 
 G 2 chre, 
 
f 44 ] 
 
 chre, and fat upon it. The Greek words, ciicr^tz 
 ik'iya^, traiiflated, a great earthquake. Dr. S. Clarke 
 renders, a great trembling ; and fuppofes ic to be 
 occafioned by the angel^s rolling hack the Jlone^ 
 v/hich tremhltM^ and noife the women felt and 
 heard, whilfl: they were coming to the fepulchre, 
 and probably were confulting how they fliould 
 get it rolled azvaj. And, 1 think, the text will 
 plainly, and without ftraining bear fuch a ren- 
 dering ; And there was a great earthquake, for the 
 angel rolled back the fl one, &c. Nor is it at ail pro- 
 bable that Ciiri(l was rifen before this rolling 
 away of the ftone ; the hiftorian plainly tells us, 
 that thus the heavenly minifters were fent, to give 
 attendance to the refurreUion of the HEIR OF 
 ALL THINGS, their Lord, and our Lord. 
 
 But further. It conilfted not with that tender 
 compaffion that "Jefus bore to his difciples, who 
 were now under the prefTure of fo much grief, 
 that he fliould leave them thus dejcfted and in 
 fufpenfe, any longer than was ablolutely necef- 
 fary : For had he rifen as foon as buried, and 
 none had known it, it could have had no efncacy 
 or influence at all upon the minds of his difci- 
 ples: But their /r/? information of his being rifen^ 
 as I ol^ferv'd before, was not before the jirll day 
 of the week, and the circumftances of this their 
 information were the immediate attendants of his 
 rifing ; from whence I conclude that Jefus Chrifi 
 neither did, nor could rife on thtfeventh day of 
 the week, but muffc have rifen only on the firji. 
 
 But to put it beyond ail doubt, our Saviour 
 himfclf tells his dilciples' even after he was rifen 
 from the dead, that the day of his refurre^ion 
 was on the third day of his death, Luke xxiv. 
 ver. 46. which muft have been on the firft day, 
 of the week, as has been already prov'd ". 
 
 Jrgu- 
 
 * I might have added the expicCs tcftimony of St. Ptiul i lc£ ' 
 1 Cor. chap. xv. ver, 4. 
 
1 45 1 
 
 Argument III. I now proceed to fhew, that the 
 apoftles and jir^ chrijlians did, in tlift, obferve 
 the fir ft day of the week as a chriftian fejlival, 
 or holy day. 
 
 And, firjl, let it be obferv'd that, our Saviour, 
 on the day of his refurretlion^ appeared to his difci- 
 ples, to Mar"j Magdalen^ Mark. xvi. ver. 9. And 
 to two others of his difciples^ ver. 1 2 . After that^ 
 on the fame day, to the eleven apoftles^ ver. 14. 
 And again, it is faid, ^ohn xx. ver. 26. That after 
 eight days they ijuere within^ and Thomas with 
 them^ then came Jefus and gave them his peace., or 
 blefTing : I apprehend we may reckon the day of 
 his refurre^ian as one of the eighr, which will 
 determine it to be the next firft day of the week, 
 the Jewifh idiom will alJow it ; for as great licence 
 as this is took in feveral places of their fcriptures ; 
 for inftance, Gen.'ix. ver. 2. And on the feventh day 
 God ended his work; but no fahhatijt will allow 
 (I imagine) that he perform'd any part of his 
 ' work of creation on the feventh day ; altho' it is 
 exprefly faid that he ended his work on the fe- 
 venth day. Again, Deut. xv. ver. i, 2, 3. At the 
 end of every [even years thou fhalt make a releafe ; 
 whereas it could not be underftood, fo as it is ex- 
 prefs*d, viz. at the end, becaufe the/?'i'(f;^/^)'^<3r, was 
 to be a whole entire year of releafe, comp. ver. 9. 
 So Deut.xiv. ver. 28. At the end o( three years ; 
 is to be underftood, in the third year, chap. xxvi. 
 ver. 12. compared. 
 
 Obje^. ' It is objefted by the fahhatijis, that as 
 
 * forty days intervened between the re[urre5lion of 
 
 * our Lord, and the time of his afcenfion^ that 
 
 * therefore, it is rcafonably to be fuppofed, that 
 ' he appear'd to his difciples frequently on other 
 ' days of the week ; becaufe there could have 
 ' been but fix firft days in the forty ^ and proba- 
 
 3 ' bly 
 
C 46 ] 
 
 « biy but five, and that the third of his appear- 
 
 * ances was when feven of his dilciples were em- 
 < ploy'd in fifliing ; and confequently appear- 
 *■ ances to them don't feem at all to eilablrfh tlie 
 
 * obfervance of any one day *.* 
 
 I grant it is not improbable that oar Saviour 
 did converfe with his difciples on more than five, 
 or fix days in the forty : But then, it is obfer- 
 vable, that the two firft times are recorded as 
 on ihtfirft day of each week ; on which days the 
 difciples dr>n*t feem by the hiftorians to have 
 been employ^ about their fecular atFairs ; nor is 
 the day of his third appearance numerically diftin- 
 guifhed, by firfty or fe'venth-y and, therefore, in 
 all probability, was a common day, they being 
 employ*d about their common affairs thereon. 
 
 But further, methinks, we may gain fome fur- 
 ther light into this fubjed from St. Paul\ who 
 tells us, that after this, he was feert of above five 
 hundred brethren at once, which in all probabi- 
 lity, muft have been on a day feparated, and 
 marked out by our Lord, for fuch a public, and 
 general convention: At which affembly, it is 
 more than probable, that there were none of the 
 unconverted J/fwj prefent; nor is it at all likely 
 that there were any fuch Jews at any other of thofe 
 his appearances, wherein his bufinefs was immedi- 
 ately with his dilciples, /. e. to inftruft, and inform 
 them in the nature of his kingdom ; and to alTign them 
 the part they were to a6l under him, in their feveral 
 provinces : And hence it will follow, pretty plain, 
 that this grand convention could not have been 
 at any ot their fynagogues^ or public places ot 
 worlhip, nor on the JewifJj fabhath •, becaufe, on 
 ^at day the Jews frequented all fuch places of 
 worfhip : And hence, I imagine, that this five 
 hundred muil have been convcn'd on ihefirft day 
 
 of 
 
 » The Seventh Day the Chrillian Sabbath, pag; 14, 15, 
 * I Ctr. chap, XV. beg. 
 
[47] 
 
 of the week alfo. But further, the apoftle feems 
 to have fixed the number of our Saviour's fpecial 
 appearances to fi've^ which he has diltinguifhed as 
 follows i jirft^ to Cephas \ fecofjdly, to the twelve ; 
 thirdly, to 500 brethren at once i fourthly, to 
 James ; fifthly, to all the apoftles : Which Jive 
 times may probably be fo many of the fix fjrft 
 days, which there could only be in the forty , 
 a frft day beginning that forty. It is true, St/ 
 Paul mentions his, i. e. Chrift*s, being feen of 
 himfelf, but that being confclTedly long after the 
 afcenfion, will not in the leaft afFe<5t the remark. 
 
 To proceed. Secondly, That day o^Pentecoft on 
 which the Spirit was given in fo miraculous a mari- 
 ner was on the firft day of the week : Men of 
 all nations having an opportunity, on that grand 
 Jewifb feftival, of obferving the divinity of the 
 do(5trine of Jefus attefled in fo remarkable a man- 
 ner, as by the gift of tongues. 
 
 ' Mr. Baxter obferves % that Dr. Heylin allows, 
 ' that the day on which the Holy Ghoft was given, 
 
 * was the firft day of the week ; and that the 
 
 * church's obfervation of Whitfunday as the day, 
 
 * and that fo early as Epiphanius, (and many 
 ■* others fay as from the apoftles) feems a cre- 
 
 * dible hiftory of it: Nay, Secondly, That it is 
 ' agreed on, that the Pajfover that year fell on 
 ' the fahbath day, and that Penteaoft W3.s fifty days 
 
 * after the Pajfover, therefore it muft fall on the 
 
 * firft day of the week.* The manner of their fet- 
 tling this feaft, we have in Deut. xvi. ver. 9. 
 Seven weeks thcu fhalt ntfmher unto thee : Begin to 
 nmnber the Jeven weeks from fuch time as thou he* 
 ginneft to put the fickle to the corn ; compare Lev, 
 chap, xxiii. ver. 11. — On the morrow after the 
 fahbath the prieft Jhall wave the fheaf before -the 
 Lordi ver. 15. and 16. And ye fha'il count unto 
 
 you 
 * Divine Appointment of the Lord's Day, p. 21. 
 
[ 48 1 
 
 you from the viorrow after the fabhathy i. e. thiXt 
 morrow after the fahhath as the firft day included 
 in your reckonings feven fabhaths (hall he compleaty 
 even unto the morrow after the feventh fabbath fhall 
 ye number fifty days. 
 
 It being taken for granted that Pentecofi adu- 
 ally did tall out this year on the firft day of the 
 week i the difciples being met together in great 
 numbers on tliat day, and on feveral other pre- 
 ceding /ry? days^ will prove their religious obfer- 
 vation thereof, at leaft as much as their going 
 to x\\Q J ewijh fynagogues on ihe feventh ^ will prove 
 their rt^gard to that day ; and at the fame time 
 is attended with this greater advantage with re- 
 gard to the firft day^ as it received a greater 
 fandity by the effufion of,the Holy Spirit thereon* 
 To this purpofe, fays Dr, John Owen ; ' when 
 
 * the L.ord Chrift incei^ded confpicuoufly to build 
 
 * his church, upon the foundation of his works 
 ' and reft^ by fending the Holy Ghoft with his mi- 
 ' raculous gifts on the apoftles, he did it on this 
 ' day V 
 
 But fince the fabbatifts will not allow that thefe 
 extraordinary bledings vouchfafed the firft chrifti- 
 ans on ihe firft days, does at all eftablifli the obfer- 
 vance ot iht firft day chriftian feftival ; methinksj 
 it would be fomewhat material if they could fet 
 againlf thefe, fome other as extraordinary bleflings, 
 '^aoi(Tiia\a, or gifts, communicated to the chrifii- 
 uns on the feventh day ; which day they aflert 
 was obferv'd by them as the chriftian fiabhath : 
 But fince they cannot, I confefs the firft day 
 appears to me to have been defignedly made 
 confpicuous, as being dignify'd with the moft fur- 
 prifing marks, and enfigns of honour. 
 
 Again, Ads xx. ver. 7. And upon the firft day 
 of the week when the difciples came together to break 
 
 breadi 
 » Exerciutions oa the Lord's Day, P..3S7. 
 
[49 3 
 
 Bread, Paul preached to the??t, ready to depart on 
 the morrow, and continued his fpeech until midnight. 
 Ula rov cdSCaroVj I think, all allow to be rightly 
 render'd, the firft day of the week, and, therefore 
 I fhall take the text as it ftands, and apprehend, 
 that it is another inftance of the firft chriftians 
 obfervance of the firft day. 
 
 Againft which fenfe of the text there are 
 the following objedions, as, firft, ' That here are 
 
 * two circumftances which plainly (hew this meet: 
 ' ing to have been occafional : The one is, Paulas 
 
 * readinefs to depart on the morrow never to fee 
 
 * them more. The other is, that this meeting was 
 
 * evidently in the evening, and held almoft all 
 
 * night, and therefore was not defign'd as a pre- 
 
 * cedent for fahbath worfhip^* 
 
 In anfwer to which I would remark, that Sc. 
 Paul, with his companions, abode at 'Troas feven 
 days, ver. 6. But we have no account of their meet- 
 ing together to Ireak bread, on any one of the 
 feven days, but only on the firfc ; which is very 
 emphatically expreffed, and upon the firft day of 
 the week, when the dtfciples came together to break 
 bread, &c. Nor does it appear to have been fo 
 occafional as to prove it was not defign'd as a 
 precedent for a religious obfervance of the firft 
 day of the week : For the farewel fermon Paul 
 gave them, appears to have been after the other 
 folemnities of the day were over : And his readi- 
 nefs to depart on the morrow, was the very rea- 
 fon, or occafion, of this his fpeech, or fermon, con- 
 tinuing till midnight ; but by no means can be 
 prov'd to be the occafion of their meeting to- 
 gether to break bread: On the contrary, the very 
 manner of the exprefllon reprefents fuch meetiugs 
 on the f,rft day of the week, as familiar, and 
 
 H com- 
 
 • The Seventh Day the Chriftian Sabbath, p- 17- and Mr. 
 Cornthwaite'% Reficct. p. 35. 36. 
 
[sol 
 
 common. I confefs, it is no way unlikely, but that 
 Paul preached to them, and inftrufted them, as 
 he had opportunity on the other fix daysy but 
 this firft day feems to have been zheir public folenm 
 fejiival, inafmuch as they met on this day to break 
 bread, which was a diftinguifhing badge ofcbrifiiaft 
 communion. Agreeable to which, J u Bin Martyr 
 (Auguft. Epift. ii8.j fays of his time, that on the 
 day called funday, there is an affembly of all 
 chrijlians whether living in city, or country : And 
 becaufe of their conftant breaking of bread on this 
 day, it was called dies panis % 
 
 Again, Another inftance of fuch obfervance, we 
 have I Cor. xvi. ver. 2. Upon the firft day of the 
 week, let every one of you lay by him in for e as God 
 has profpered him, that there be no gatherings when 
 I come, 
 
 ' To which it is objeded ^, That here is not fo 
 much as an affembling together mentioned, but 
 the contrary is plainly imply'd by the apoftle's 
 advifmg the Corinthian chrifians, not to contri- 
 bute at a church colledioji, but to lay up inftore 
 by himfelf, or at home, as fome ancient ver- 
 fions exprefs it, what he found upon the com- 
 putation of his weekly gain he could afford 
 
 to give towards the relief of the diftrefied faints 
 at ferufalem, that fo their charity might be 
 ready when Paul came: So that if the Greek 
 here be rightly tranllated, firft day of the week, 
 this paflage plainly proves the firft day of the 
 week was then reckoned a proper day for per- 
 fons to call" up their accounts on, to fee how 
 God had profper'd them ; and confequently was 
 not accounted a fabbath.* 
 
 To 
 
 * Dr. Oiuen's Exercit. p. 389. ^ The Seventh Day the 
 
 Chrifti.m Sabbath, p. 1 8. and Mr. Cornthcvaltfi Refledl. p. 
 :56, 37' 
 
[51] 
 
 To which I reply, that I am furprifed how any 
 man can fee in this text a prohibition, or an 
 advifing of the Corinthians againft a church col- 
 ledion ! What muft church colledions then be 
 difcountenanc'd ? Or was fuch an. adt of mercy 
 and beneficence, which the fupreme Being prefers 
 to facrifice ; was, I fay, fuch an adt as this con- 
 tribution was, unfuitable for a religious affembly ? 
 This could never be the cafe; for our Saviour 
 himfelf has exprefly taught, that fuch afls of 
 mercy are a lading tip our treafure in heaven^ Matt, 
 chap. vi. And St. Paul to Timothy, i epifl. chap, vi, 
 ver. 19. calls it a laying up in fiore for themfelves 
 a good foundation againji the time to come, that they 
 viight lay hold on eternal life: That exprellion, 
 for themfelves may explain the exprefTion before 
 us laying up in fiore by himfelf, or for himfelf. 
 
 ' Let it be further remarked, that the Greek 
 
 * word ^iaa\j^(Tov, tranflated fiore, fignifies a 
 
 * common treafury:'* And thus Mr. LOCKE para- 
 phrafes the verfe, ' let every one of you, ac- 
 
 * cording as he thrives in his calling, lay afide 
 
 * fome part of his gain by itfelf, which the firfi 
 ' day of the week let him put into the common 
 ' treafury of the church, £2?^-' And in his NOTE 
 he fays, ' that ^tcrau'^/a-ov, feems ufed in the fenfe 
 
 * he has given it. For it is certain, that the 
 ' apoflle direfts that they fhould every Lord's 
 ' day bring to the congregation what their cha- 
 ' rity had laid afide the foregoing week, as their 
 
 * gain came in, that then it might be put into 
 
 * fome public box appointed for that purpofe, or 
 ' officers hands. For if they only laid it afide 
 ' at home, there would nevertheiefs be need of 
 
 * a colleftion when he came.' 
 
 I am equally furprifed at the objeflor's conclu- 
 
 fion, viz. ' that the firfi day of the week muft 
 
 ^ at leall be reckoned a proper day for perfons 
 
 fi 2 'to 
 
[52] 
 
 <= to caff up their accounts on, to fee how God 
 '- had profpered them.' Surely this gentleman 
 would have us underftand, that the chrijlian Co- 
 rinthians had ibme certain fum allotted, or an 
 exaft quotient demanded, which would require 
 fuch a nice calculation, that this contribution 
 could not be made by them, any other ways than 
 by an arithmetical proportion : The contrary to 
 which appears from 2 Cor. chap. ix. ver. 7. which 
 fhews us that the rule of contribution was, ever'^ 
 man according as he purpofed in his heart, not 
 grudgingly., nor of necejjity. Befides, furely no 
 reafon can be affignM why the apoftle fhould 
 affix a certain day for their privately depofiting 
 their calli, in order to an after diftribution ; any 
 other day or time might have done as well, nay 
 many times better than the frji day: But the 
 apoftle's manner of addreffing them, I apprehend, 
 will very aukwardly bear any fuch interpretation. 
 Objeut. Another queftion is put by way of ob- 
 jedion, ' why PAUL fhould fend "TirUS and 
 ' others, a confiderable time after, to prefs their 
 ' being ready, as he mentions, 2 Cor. chap, viii, 
 
 * and ix. if their contributions were already put 
 
 * into a common treafury * ?* 
 
 I anfwer, their contributions being fo put, will 
 be no objeftion to PAUL 's fending of TITUS, 
 or his urging the generofity of the Macedonians 
 as a pattern to them, if we confider that it was 
 a collection v.'hich was made weekly ; and the pref- 
 ling nectfTi ties' of the poor chrijlians in Judea oc- 
 cafioned t'nis earneft addrefs, in order that the 
 church of Corinth might be excited by ihefe 
 MESSENGKRS todotheirutmoft. Sothatakho* 
 liiere might be a common box., which in all probabi- 
 lity there was i yet it may be remarked alio that on 
 the firjl day oi every week they had their church 
 
 meet" 
 
 * Cv/V.'/'tv'^/j/.v's Rqflcifl. p, 37. 
 
[ 53 ] 
 
 meetings', and it is very likely that few of them 
 could be able to contribute at every fuch public 
 convention ; fome therefore did it on one firji day, 
 fome on anotker j and hence it was that St. Paul 
 fays, 2 Cor. ix. ver. 5. I thought it necejfary to ex- 
 hort the brethren that they would go before to you, 
 and make up before hand your bounty^ whereof ye 
 bad notice before, that the fame might be ready as a 
 matter of bounty, or free benevolence, and not as 
 of covetoufnefs^ i. e. not as it extorted from you ; 
 which view of the apoflle, would be more effeftu- 
 ally obtain'd by Titus, and the other brethren's 
 ftating the circumftances and treatment of the 
 poor chrijlians in Judea. 
 
 Hence, 1 am apt to conclude from this text, 
 and that other in the Acis before mentioned, that 
 it appears plainly, the apoftles and firft chrijli- 
 ans had the firJi day of the week in religious ob- 
 fervatwn, as the day on which they publickly af- 
 fembled, and had their church meetings ; on which 
 days they exercifed themfelves more efpecially in 
 acts of piety^ and mercy •, which is indeed the 
 true way of comporting with the defign of fuch 
 ^n inflitution. 
 
 Argument V. I proceed, in the next place to 
 prove, that it was the ufige or cuftom of the^n- 
 mitive christians, and has been of the church uni" 
 verfal, to obferve the firJi day of the week as an 
 holy fefival, founded on the refurreofion of Jefus 
 Chriji from the dead. 
 
 And, firft, it appears to have been commonly 
 diftinguifhedr'by chriflians in the year of Chrijt 
 99, at which time John wrote his Revelations. 
 For he in chap. i. ver. jo. tells us, that he was 
 in the fpirit, or had Ki'^:, Revelations from xhtfpi- 
 rit ; and that this was on the Lord's d'.y. On 
 which day he heard a voice behind him, loud as a 
 trumpet, faying, I am Alpha, ^/z J Omega, (j'c. v. 1 1. 
 J * So 
 
[54] 
 
 So that when we add to this exprefTion of St. 
 'John^ the conftant and unanimous ufage, and con- 
 fenc of the church ever after (as will appear a- 
 non) we fhall be apt to think this a fafficient proof 
 that this day here ment!on*d was the firft da'^ of 
 the week, and that it muft have been famili- 
 iirly known by the name of the Lord's day, when 
 John wrote his Revelations. 
 
 Ohje5l. ' But it is objeded, that we have this 
 ' exprelTion but once throughout the facred writ- 
 
 * ings, viz. the Lord's day : Whence then can 
 
 * proteftancs conclude confidently that St. John 
 
 * call'd the firfi day of the week by that name ^? 
 I reply, it is not pretended by any frotejlant 
 
 that I know of, that the fingle confideration of 
 the words of this text will prove, that the day 
 here mentioned by St. John was the firft day of 
 the week : But by comparing it with the ulage 
 of cbriftians before as well as after, it will amount 
 at leaft to a ftrong probability that it was. — - 
 It certainly could not mean the fecond cojning 
 cf Chrift '', becaufe the very words expreQy de- 
 icribe the time on which St. John had his Revela^ 
 iion, or was in the fpirit ; and, therefore I think 
 cannot, without the utmoft impropriety, be fo ap- 
 ply*d -, for then it mufl be read thus, on the day 
 cf the fecond coming of Chrift / was in the fpirit, 
 and I beard a voice. Sec. The word I'^joixku, 
 tranQated, / was^ or have been, Leufden in his 
 Co7npendium^ reads, in the prster tenfe, ftii in 
 Dominico die — which as it thus ftands cannot be 
 apply'd to a ti^ne to come, or future; fince, in the 
 llricleft grammatical reading, it is exprefs'd by 
 ^ time pcrfeiTtly paft, I was, or have been in the 
 fpirit of the l_.ord, and the time v/hcn I was fo, 
 was on the Lord's day, or day ot the Lord. 
 
 Nor 
 ^ The Seventh D^y the CluiHian Sabbath, p. 1 3. *" Ihid. p. 19. 
 
[ ss ] 
 
 Nor do we pretend to fay, that St. John's> be- 
 ing in the fpirit on fuch a day did conftitute it 
 a fabbath^, or holy feflival-, but only mention it 
 as a collateral proof, that fuch an holy day was 
 already in obfervation and ufe. 
 
 But, fecofidly, that the chnfliav.s in thtfirfi ages 
 of the church did obferve thefrji day as a /acred 
 fefiival in honour of Jefus^ and grounded on his 
 reftirre^'wn^ I fhall prove from fufHcient and un- 
 deniable authorities : For which purpofe I fhall 
 beg leave to tranfcribe very abftracledly, feven 
 feSlions of the late Learned and Right Hon. Lord 
 King^ in his Hijiory of the three firjt Centuries^ 
 under the head of the circumfiances of worjhip. 
 
 SeEi. 5. He obferves, that determinate times for 
 worfhip, were appointed under the chrifiian^ as 
 well as under the Jewijh difpenfation. 
 
 Se5t. 6. That the principal, or chief of thefe 
 prefcribed times, was the frji day of the week, 
 on which they conflantly met together to perform 
 religious fervices. Juji. Martyr, Apol. 2. p. 93. 
 Tertul. de Anima, c. 3. p. 530. calls them Dominica 
 fokmnia, or the Lord's days folemnities. 
 
 Minutius Fcelix obferves, that the chrijlians af- 
 fembled to eat on a folemn day. And Pliny re- 
 ports the fame, in his epiftle 10 Trajan. 
 
 Se5f. 7. Clemens Aiexandrinus, calls it the chief 
 of days, our refi indeed. Sirojn. lib. 6. p. 492. 
 the fupre?ne feftival. 
 
 On fujiday we give ourfelves to joy ! fays TertuL 
 Apol. c. 16. p. 638. 
 
 St. Barnabas fays, we keep the eighth day with 
 gladnefs, epift. cathol. §. 11. p. 244. 
 
 And Ignatius fays, we obferve die Lord's day. 
 Ad Magnef. p. 35. Banifliing every appearance of 
 grief, and efleeming it a fin either to faft, or kneel^ 
 TertuL de. Cor. Mil. p. '^'^^, 340. 
 
 This 
 *The Seventh D<iy the Chriftian Sabbath, p, 19; 
 
[56] 
 
 This day they accounted holy, Dionjfius atud 
 Eufeb. lib. 4. cap. 23. p. 145. 
 
 Clemens Mexandrinus writes thus, that a true 
 chriftian^ according to the commands of the gofpel, 
 obferves the Lord's day by calling out all evil 
 thoughts, and entertaining all good ones, glori- 
 fying the refurre^ion of the Lord on that day, 
 Strom, lib. 7. p. ^35' 
 
 Se5i. 8. The reafon for their obfcrving this 
 day with fo much joy and gladnefs, was, that 
 they might gratefully commemorate the glorious 
 refiirreSiion of their Redeemer that happened there- 
 on. So St.\BarnabaSf epill. cathol. §. 11. p. 244. 
 and Ignatius epift. Jd Magnef, p. 35. Clemens 
 AlexandrinuSy Juft. Martyr, and Origen to the 
 fame purpofe. 
 
 Sect. 9. Hence it was that this day, both in 
 the Greek and Latin churches, was call*d the 
 Lord's day. Cle?n. Alexand. Strom, lib, 5. p. 437. 
 Among the Latins by Victorius Petavionenjis, De 
 Fabric. Mund. apiid Dr. Cave Hiji. Liter ar. p. 103. 
 
 It is call'd fimply the Lord's, by Ignatius, Ad 
 Magnef. p. 35- . . 
 
 Sect. 10. Sometimes in compliance with the 
 Heathen this firft day of the week is called fun- 
 day ; fo termed, becaufe by them dedicated to 
 the fun. So Juft. Martyr, Apolog. 2. p. ^^, g^. 
 and Tertul. Apol. c. 16. p.688». 
 
 But I don't find that they ever fo far indulg'd 
 thzjews., as to call it xht fahbath day. 
 
 I'he word fahbatU7n, in the writings of Jufiin 
 Martyr, and TertuUian, is to be underftood to 
 
 fignify 
 
 * The ancient chriftians, dealing with the heathens, called* 
 th.\t day, which the chriilians obfcrv'd in the room of the 
 Jeioijh leventh day, i'nue^iv «X/«, or diem foils, funday. As 
 thofe who treat and deal with others muft exprefs things by 
 the names current among tliem, unlefs they intend to be Bar- 
 icrians to them. Dr. 0.-tv«'s Exercit. p. 33. h- '3* 
 
[5/1 
 
 fignlfy a fahhatifing^ or Judaical obfervance of 
 the Lord's day ; which chey inveighed againft. 
 
 Thus, fays Tgyiatius, inftead of fabbatifing, let 
 every chriftian keep the Lord*s day, the day on 
 which Chrifi rofe again, the queen of days : On 
 which our life arole, and death was conquered. 
 Epift. Interpol, ad Magnef. p. 149. 
 
 Sect. II. Their not fabbatifing did not exclude 
 their keeping the Lord's day ; but only forbid a 
 Judaical obfervance ot the fabbatb, or /event h day 
 of the week : Yet the eaftern churches, in com- 
 plaifance to the JewiJIj converts who were very 
 numerous, perform'd on the [event h day the fame 
 public religious fervices, which they did on the 
 firft dayy thus obferving both the one and the 
 other as a feftival. Whence it is, that Origen 
 reckons faturday among the four feafts folemnized 
 in his time: Tho% on the contrary, fome of the 
 weft em churches obferv'd it as a faft. Victorinus 
 Petavionenfis de Fabric. Mund. Thus far Lord 
 King. 
 
 As I never heard of any one's confronting the 
 truth of thefe authorities, I hope I fhali be al- 
 lowed to reft on them as fair quotations. 
 
 Obje5i. It is further objefted, ' That the firft day 
 ' of the week does not feem to have ever been 
 ' obferv'd as a fabbath, but only as a feftival in 
 ' commemoration of Chriif's refur region., till 
 ' Conjlantine's time, who, for fev^eral reafons of 
 ' bis ozvn, made a law to forbid any manner of 
 * work on this day\' 
 
 I anfwer, the frf part of the objetftion is cer- 
 tainly true, viz. that the firji chriftians did not 
 fabbatife, but kept the firji day of the week as a 
 religious feftival^ in commemoration of Chrifs re- 
 furreotion not only rill Conflantine^ time, but the 
 chrijiians have pretended no other fort of keep- 
 
 I ing 
 
 ^ Cortithzvaites Refledl. p. 19, 20. 
 
[ S8 ] 
 
 ing of it, that I know of, unto this day. What 
 is material in the objedion, is, that it allows 
 fuch an ohfervance^as being prior to the time of 
 Co?ift amine : But let the objtftor alfo conficier, that 
 Conjiantine was the firjl cbriftian emperor, and 
 therefore it was no wonder that there fhould be 
 m laws about the regular obfervance of this fefti- 
 vai enadled by the civil power till then ; becaufe, 
 all his predeceffors were either enemies, or at beft, 
 no open friends to chrijliaruty. What materially 
 lies on the objector, is to prove, that whatever 
 additional authority attended ,the obfervance of 
 the firji day of the week, from any law or edidt 
 of Conjlantine, that fuch additional authority was 
 cither unchrijiian or unreafonable. But Confian- 
 tine's making laws about the obfervance of the 
 firJl day of the week, appear not to have laid the 
 foundation of the chrijlian fdffival, but only to 
 have been enabled with a defign to regulate the 
 obfervance thereof. 
 
 I fhall, in the laft place, fhew the great proprie- 
 ty of feparating a weekly day for public worfhip 
 from common confent, and from the advantage 
 which accrues to fociety. 
 
 Now then let it be obferv*d, that chj'ijiianity 
 as it could nor, fo it never intended to vacate or 
 deftroy any of the relations or fitnefles of things : 
 But man, as a creature in fociety, has ever found 
 it proper to worfhip Deity from a view of that 
 his focial dependance, and therefore it has been 
 that public, or focial worfhip obtain'd in the 
 world. 
 
 And altho' many nations, have grofly miftook 
 the obitdt of worfliip, yet they ufually agreed in 
 acknowledging fomething or other, which they 
 fubftituted in the room of the fnpreme Lord of all. 
 ' Thus the Ammonites and Moabitcs had their 
 * God Aiolechi which fignified a king or prince, 
 
 ' to 
 
[ 59 ] 
 
 * to whom they offer'd ftrange facrifice j fome- 
 ' times he is called Baal^ which fignifies a lord 
 
 * or mafter, both which appellations are men- 
 ' tion'd the one as explanatory of the other, 
 ' Jer. xxxii. ver. 35, 
 
 ' The Egyptians had for their capital ckity an 
 ' Ox^ which they called Apis of Serapis, and 
 ' likewife they worfhipped him under the form 
 ' or fimilitude of an Ox. The Phccnicians wor- 
 
 * fliipped Jupiter under the name of Baal-Sa?nen *, 
 ' which fignifies the Lord of heaven. 
 
 Others had their tutelar Deities^ for every day 
 of the week, as Verftegan has well obferv'd, and 
 as I remember has fhewn, that the Sun was 
 efleemed by them as their (Moleih^ i. e.) king 
 or fupreme j to this purpofe is that reference 
 I have already made to J 11 ft in Martyr'* % Apolog, 
 where he in compliance with the Heathen.^ whole 
 moft facred day v/as confecrated to the Sufty 
 their fupreme Deity^ he in compliance with them, 
 I fay, caird the great chriftian weekly feftivaJ, 
 funday. Nor,, do 1 fee how, even thefe idolatries, 
 could have been fupported if there had not been 
 fome kind of eftablirtied or public worfhip kept 
 up among them : This, however, I am fure is a 
 fair inference, vi-z. that public or focial worfliip 
 could at no time, or in any place be fupported, 
 without a public and focial confent with regard 
 to the time of it, as well as the objed, or place: 
 And hence it was that they worfhipped the Sun^ 
 on fuch a particular day of the week, in fuch 
 nations where the Sun was efteem'd as their fu- 
 preme object of worfliip. 
 
 Now altho' the confent of barbarous nations 
 may prove too much, yet if we add the ad- 
 vantages which flow to fociety from an univerfal 
 confent to worfhip publickly an objedt worthy 
 
 I 2 of 
 
 * So. Gcdwia^t Muff) and Mrt/tM 
 
[6o] 
 
 of the highefb adoration, and on principles fit 
 and rational, we fliould hence be led to fee the 
 great propriety of one da-j in a week's being 
 continued as facred to public devotions among 
 chrijlians. 
 
 Let it be further obferv'd, that if worjhip, which 
 is focial and public, can only be pertorm'd by 
 focicty, and fuch worfhip fuppofes the lociety to 
 have power to enad fuch obfervances, and to 
 have freedom or liberty alfo to comply with fuch 
 inftifutions ; by the way, I would hence con- 
 jefture, that in the infant ftate of the world, the 
 circumftances of mankind were fuch as feem not 
 . to have demanded one leparate weekly day for ^uh- 
 \\z folemn ivorjhip \ tor the fettled government of 
 both the Antidiluvian 2in6. Pojldiluvian ages^ till the 
 .time of the children of lfrael\ coming out of 
 ■ Egypt ^ feems to have confilled in an inveftiture 
 of power which was lodg'd in the pater-fami- 
 lias, or head of every family, and was both fa- 
 cerdotal and regal ; this feems to have been part, at 
 Jeafl, of the birth right which EJau barter'd away 
 to Jacob. Befide, we may add the paucity of 
 good charaders found juft before the flood •, 
 only oite family that acknowledged the true 
 God — whereas had public focial worfliip been 
 kept up, one might have expelled this could 
 fcarce have been the confequence. Nay, even after 
 the flood, the true religion feems to have been 
 handed down only in particular famiUes -, nor have 
 we any account of fo much as its being pro- 
 fcfTed by others. And this appears to have been 
 the cafe, till Ifrael was condudted out of Egypt 
 under the minillration of Mofes, and became a 
 feparate people, commonwealth, or theocracy., con- 
 iticuted fuch by God their king : Then it was 
 that a .weekly day wasi fepara:ed for a public ac- 
 knowledgment of God'b Goiriinion, and of their 
 2 depen- 
 
[6i ] 
 
 dependance on him, and as a means of cement- 
 ing them by a mutual tie of afte6lion, which is 
 a natural, and ought to be the certain, confe- 
 quence of focial and united prayers and prailes 
 to the lameGod, and for one another ; for here- 
 by they might difcern themfelves to be children 
 of the fame Father, fubjefts of the fame Lord, 
 whofe head was one^ whofe caufe one^ and whofe 
 intereft one. 
 
 Nor did chri/iianily, in its infancy, expreQy fe- 
 parate any particular day, lor JESUS, the kind 
 'mafter of the family, had his difciples under daily 
 mftrudlions, and as occafion and opportunity re- 
 quir'd and allow'd, engaged them in pious and 
 in religious exercifes : But aitho' neither he, nor 
 his apoftles after him, delivered any exprefs precept 
 concerning the religious obfervarion of any of?e 
 particular day more than of any of the refb ; yet 
 inafmuch as he by his refurreSfion^ and both he 
 and his apoftles, after that, have given fo many 
 fignal notices, by their own example, as well as 
 the extraordinary defcent of the [pirit on that day, 
 that great confirming evidence of the divinity 
 of xkt chrijlian do£lrine ! Appear as fo many folid 
 reafons, on which the obfervance of the day point- 
 ed out may be defended ; I fay, this colledive 
 view of it, muft be own'd as ftrong an hint as 
 could be expetlied in the unfettled and infant 
 ftate of chrijiianity^ and will afford us great la- 
 tisfadion. To all which we may add, that a 
 chrijlian man Is now a member of a chrijlian fo- 
 ciely, but every fociety has common intereits, 
 therefore every chrijlian man as a member of 
 fuch fociety is concerned to promote the interefts 
 thereof, elle he has denied the faith, or the grand 
 principles of chiftianity, and is worfe than an hea- 
 then idolater : But public worfhip is well calcu- 
 lated to fuit the interefls of all human focieties, 
 
 and 
 
[ 62 ] 
 
 and therefore the chrijiian ; becaufe chnjlianity has 
 not vacated any of the natural relations of things, 
 or the obligations arifing therefrom ; confequcnt- 
 Jy, every chriftian man ought to worlliip God pub- 
 lickly if he has opportunity : Rut this cannot be 
 done without a lime be fixed by public confent, 
 founded on fome fufiicient reafon ; therefore, when 
 fuch a day for public worfhip is thus properly 
 mark'd out, fix'd upon, and ieparated, it ought 
 to be obfervM by chri^ians •, nay, this feems to 
 me to be fo eflentially necelTary to the fupport 
 of Chri/Vs vifible church in the world, that, to 
 deny, or confound fuch an univerfal and harmo- 
 nious confent, concerning the obfervance of the 
 firjl, day of the week as /acred to the memory of 
 a rifen Jefus^ methinks, would be fo far from an- 
 fwering any valuable end, that on the other hand, 
 in all probability, it would very much weaken, 
 if not wholly deflroy thofe remaining weak fences 
 of piety that are left in the chrijiian world, and 
 greatly prejudice the caufe of our exalted head^ 
 and Lord. The Jews^ it is true, by public confent, 
 according to the cxprefs precept c>{ Jehovah^ wor- 
 fhipp*d him on the feverah day of the week, and 
 this kept alive the idea of the unity of God as 
 the proper object of worfhip i but all this while 
 they never worfhippM GOD thro' the Mediator 
 Jejm Chriji ; but when chrijlians ^txt taught 
 by their mafler, that hereafter they fhould fuc- 
 cefsfully addrefs his FATHER in his name, and 
 by his diredlions, who had moft exprefly re- 
 veal'd the nature and will of the jiipreme Being ; 
 how fit and proper was it, that the day of their 
 public vvorfliip fhould diflincffiy bear the figna- 
 lures of a regard and reference to tins the great 
 injlilutor of their religion, and medium of their 
 
 liomage i' 
 
 * The 
 
[63 ] 
 
 Ohjeol. ' The fahhatijls pretend, that they are 
 ' the only perfons who oblerve creation orders, as 
 ' to the dnnfwn of da-js^ inalmuch as they pre- 
 * ferve the original diltindion of j5'r// evening and 
 ' then morning ^, hounding their fahbaths* 
 
 I would ohferve, that fince they infift fo much 
 on the obfervance of creation order, that it would 
 be proper for them to prove, that the Creator 
 begun his fahhath on the evening : Or, at lead, 
 (hew that the hiftorian has marked out the fe- 
 'venth day, in the fame manner as he diftinftly 
 did all the other y? a; : Or elfe, afllgn a reafon 
 why the particular boundaries of the feventh day, 
 fiiould be omitted any more than thofe of the 
 
 Jixth or ffth. Let the objeftor confider alfo, 
 
 that the time of our ordinary Jleep, or common 
 time of reft, don't feem to be a proper part of 
 that /acred reft \ nor do I imagine, that any man 
 will venture to aflerr, that this kiud of reft is an 
 imitation of the Creator'*s ; but if the command 
 is binding, from the example Cf'i the Creator'' s 
 refting on the feventh day, and that his reft con- 
 fifted in continual exercifes of pleafing reflecTcions 
 •on the produce of the Ahwgbtfs Fiai ; which reft 
 of his begun in the evening, and continued with- 
 out intermilTion to the end of the fe-venth nay : 
 If this was the cafe, 1 fee not how any can defend 
 their devoting fo much of this holy time to a pro-. 
 phane or common ufe, as fleeping the whole" 
 night muft be -, for this furely can be no imita- 
 tion of the original exemplar. But, .methinks, 
 the very words of ihtjewijh precep will juftify 
 fuch a beginning, and ending of our weekly holy 
 day as we praclife, if wc fhould take it as a, 
 rule 10 fix the boundaries thereof. It expr-efly fays 
 thus, fix days Jhalt thou labour and do all thy. 
 
 ivork 
 
 * The Seventh Day the Chriftian Ssbbath, beg. and Cor/j- 
 ihwaue'i ReBeft, p. 3. ** Gen. i. ver. 5> S, ij^ 19., 2J, H 
 
, [ 64 ] 
 
 work hut the feventh day is the fabbath, (^c. 
 
 So that we fhould firft prove that the days of 
 laboicr are not oppofed to the da'^s of re[t^ or, 
 cthervvife, allow that they are oppos'd ; if op- 
 pos'd, then we might enquire whether the ^^-wi, 
 as well as the rell oi the world, did not always 
 hegin their dafs labour in the mornings or fun 
 rifing? Alan thm, according to facred diction, 
 goi}ig forth to his work arid labour until the even- 
 ing '", which was the. finijhing and not the beginning 
 hcundarx of his da^ of labour: And by analogy 
 the evening ought likewife to be x.\\t finifjjing boun- 
 dary of his day of reft., or of his fabbath. 
 
 Thus I apprehend, that there is no difficulty in 
 determining the boundaries or limits of our holy 
 feftival^ fjnce, even by the evident fenfe of the 
 Jewiflj -precept., we ought to begin and end that 
 day, as we do the other fix^ which we employ 
 in common and bodily labour: For we thereby 
 preferve the analogy., and fhriflly conform even 
 yet to the obligations of that precept, fuppofing 
 it to demand a f^parating for religious ufe a fe- 
 venth of our days, or one day in feven. 
 
 I fliall now draw fome conclufions from the 
 whole. 
 
 Con. 1. Hence it is plain that all pofuive infti- 
 tulions, akho' eftabhfl:i'd on the foundations of 
 divine authority., can only be binding fo long as 
 fuch circumftances continue which fupporc the 
 reafon of them. They indeed at all times deter- 
 mine their value and obligation by their fJnefs., 
 or tendency to promote morality or virtue ; but 
 when thofe circumftances of the fubje^t are al- 
 tered, on account of which they were enjoin'd, 
 they naturally relax in their force, and lofc their 
 obligation. 
 
 Con. 
 * " P/ii!m civ. ver. 22, 23. 
 
[ 65 ] 
 
 Con. II. If one day in feven appears to have 
 been wifely inftituted by God, for the religious 
 obfervance of the Jeivs, in order to fecure their 
 homage and fealty to hifn as their LORD, go- 
 vernor, and inftitutor of their polity, it is upon a 
 common ratio highly/^ and reafonable, that when 
 the do5irine of a crucified Jefus preached to the 
 world as rifen, prov'd to the Jews a Humbling- 
 block, and to the Greeks fooliflinels, that the 
 difciples of this Jefus fhoufd obferve one day in 
 feven in honour of him, as the great founder of 
 their -polity, and inftitutor of their religion ; efpe- 
 cially as they are afllir'd, that he is conftituted by 
 the Father, their head and Lord. 
 
 Con. III. I will venture to affirm, that there is 
 as much morality in the chriftian^s obfervance of 
 ihefirft day of the week, in commemoration of 
 the refurre^ion of their prince and Saviour, as 
 there was in the Jews obfervance of their feventh 
 day in commemoration of their deliverance out 
 of Egypt ; or of its being a fign of their rela- 
 tion to God as his people i or from its being 
 an imitation of the Creator's refl : For, MO- 
 RALITY is an obfervance of thofe obligati- 
 ons which arife from the relation we ftand in 
 to God, and other beings. Now the relation we 
 ftand in, as chriftians, to Jefus Chrift our rifen 
 head and Lord, has a peculiar force, and obli- 
 gation attending it, which far exceeds all the 
 reafons urged in the Jewijh precept -, and there- 
 fore will for ever juftify a fir ft day weekly 
 obfervance. 
 
 Con. IV. If the fpirit of chriftianity fhew*d 
 itfelf to be fo benign and condefcending in the 
 
 K earl'^ 
 
[ 66 ] 
 
 early ages of ir, as to pay fo much complaifance 
 to the prejudices of the Jews whilfl: their polity 
 laded, as has been obferv'd ; how are we taught 
 hereby to exprefs and exercife a like temper of 
 charity^ forbearance, yea, and condefcenfion too, 
 towards fuch who differ from us in 7nere pofi- 
 fives or indifferent things ! efpecially, as con- 
 fidering that CHRISriANITT propofes this as 
 the moft proper, yea, as the only method of 
 overcoming prejudices^ and corredting miftakes. 
 
 Con. V. We may obferve, that altho* the 
 primitive chriftians behav'd with fo much con- 
 defcenfion, as even to become all things, to all 
 men^ that they might gain fome ; yet they did 
 not facrifice their chriftian liberty, to be rein- 
 tangled with the yoke of bondage ; nor give up 
 a reaf nable inftitution of their mailer, for an an- 
 . tiquated law, or inftitution of the JewifJi polity. 
 
 Con. VI. To place the obfervance of the frft 
 day of the week on the authority of th^ fourth 
 commandment, is, I think, very incongruous with 
 the exprefs letter of that precept, which only obli- 
 ges to the obfervance of the feventh day of the 
 week, in the mofl plain terms imaginable. Such 
 inconfiftency, may, indeed, as the fabbatifts ob- 
 ferve, give offence to the Jews, but can no way 
 convince them of the truth of fuch conclufions. On 
 the contrary, they may juftly demand a folution, 
 or interpretation of {\.ich jargon, and for want of 
 {uchfoiution, may expecl that the chriftian fhould 
 carry his complaifance to their precept, lb flir as 
 an imitation alfo of their manner of keeping it. — 
 But by placing the obfervance of the f.rft day 
 of the week, on its being the day fo highly 
 honoured by the refurreSlion of 'Jefus Chrift from 
 the dead, and on ics being a proper public inark 
 
 of 
 
[6/] 
 
 of diftin^lion, which points out the chriftian from 
 the Jewtjh inftitution, and polity \ this, in my 
 humble opinion, is putting the obfervation of it 
 into that light in which it ever flood, and ought 
 to ftand. 
 
 Con. VII. An obfervance of the feventh day 
 fabbath, by chriftians now, would be nothing lefs 
 than a returning to thofe weak and beggarly ele- 
 ments., thofe carnal ordinances., which our Lord has 
 long fince cancelled, having nailed them to his 
 crofs. Let us therefore ftand f aft in the liberty 
 wherewith Chrift has made, us free, left by our 
 temporizing with the Jews., in the obfervance of 
 their fabhath, we be led to circumcifion alfo, and 
 Chrift., that is to fay, the chriftian religion^ or 
 gofpel, hereupon profit us nothing. ' 
 
 Con. VIII. I fhall add to the foregoing conclufi- 
 ons., that altho* the chrijlian religion is a confti- 
 tiition founded on, the moft excellent and rational 
 ■principles., even fuch as have a manifeft tendency 
 to exalt and perfe£i human nature., yet it muft be 
 allow'd to be an addrefs made to men., as men 
 poffefs'd of pajfions and affe^ions equally of the 
 fame kind with thofe which men poffefs'd under 
 former difpenfations \ and confequently, they yet 
 ftand in need of the ufe of fuch means., as may 
 properly be call'd inftrumental religion ; fuch as 
 prayer.^ and praife., and like ad:s of worfhip, which 
 are duties incumbent on chriftians both in private , 
 and more public and focial life, and without which, 
 real religion, i. e. the exercife of the true principles 
 of piety and virtue, are not fo fecurely. if at all 
 to be obtain'd. Chriftians then being, as I have 
 already faid, fubjed: to tl\e fame -paffions, and fol- 
 licited by the fame wrong directions and biaflfes, 
 which take their rife from ill examples and the 
 
 in- 
 
[ 68 ] 
 
 influence of a faulty education: It will follow 
 hence, ^that notwithdanding they may glory in 
 the Jim^licity and pertinency of thofe injirumental 
 parts of religion which chrijlianity recommends, 
 yet every man who has form*d any juft notions 
 of human nature muft fee the necejjity of fupport- 
 ing fuhlic worfliip in chrijiian focieties ; and be 
 fully perfuaded, that the religious obfervance of 
 the frji day of the week, as the day of the RE- 
 SURRECTION of our LORD, is fo far from 
 being an infringement of our chrijiian liberty^ that 
 it appears highly// from the circumflance and re- 
 lation of things; and may be juftly efteem'd a 
 moft advantageous inftitution in the prefent king- 
 dom and dominion of JESUS among men. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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