the Old nor the New Testament to impose any obligation to observe a
day of rest, and advocate one merely on the ground of expediency. In
some sections of our country, Baptists would consider it almost a
slander upon their denomination to intimate that there were persons
among them of such anti-sabbath principles. But any one who is
conversant with the order at large, knows very well that it is true.
There are those who boldly avow such doctrine, and many others who do
not deny that it is their real sentiment, though they are not forward
to proclaim it upon the house-tops. Whether this class embraces a very
large proportion of the denomination, it is not necessary to inquire.
It is our impression, that the proportion is sufficiently large to
justify an effort for their conversion to right views of Divine Truth.
If there is no day of rest enjoined by divine authority, and the
observance of one rests wholly upon expediency, we see no reason,
except that the voice of the multitude is against it, why you cannot
as well observe the _seventh_ as the _first_ day of the week. There
would be no sacrifice of conscience in so doing, while it would be a
tribute of respect to those who feel that the keeping of the seventh
day is an indispensable part of duty. But it is not on this principle,
particularly, that we desire you to change your ground. Feeling that
it is not _our party_ that must be honored, but rather _divine truth_,
and our party only _for the sake of_ the truth, we would much rather
correct your doctrinal views.
Of course, you do not deny that a day of rest was once enjoined upon
God's chosen people. It is only under the gospel that you suppose all
distinction of days to be annihilated. If, then, it is _expedient_
that a day of rest should be observed, it follows irresistibly, that
the annihilation of all distinction in days, by the gospel, was very
INEXPEDIENT! And thus, whatever blessings the gospel dispensation
brings to the human race, a strict following out of its principles
would be INEXPEDIENT! And, farther, that the _law_, which enjoined a
day of rest, had more of an eye to expediency than the _gospel_ has!
Consequently, that the gospel, though declared to be _faultless_, and
capable of _perfecting_ those who believe, must nevertheless, FOR
EXPEDIENCY'S SAKE, borrow a little help from the abrogated rites of
the law! In other words, God, in setting aside a day of rest,
committed an oversight, and left his work for man to mend! Brethren, we
see not how it is possible for you to escape such monstrous conclusions.
They are the legitimate result of your principles--principles which
you must have adopted without considering where they would land you.
For we are not disposed to believe you so completely destitute of
piety, as willingly to abide by the result of them. We entreat you to
reconsider them, and adopt such as are more in accordance with the
spirit of our holy religion.
When you advocate the observance of a day of rest on the ground of
_expediency_, we are persuaded that you do so in view of the bearing
you perceive it to have upon the well being of mankind. But still the
question will arise, Has the gospel less regard to the well being of
mankind than the law had? Look at the humanity of the sabbatic
institution. How necessary that both man and beast should rest one day
in seven. How evident that they cannot endure uninterrupted toil. How
perfectly well established, that, if doomed to constant labor, they
sink under the premature exhaustion of their powers. So well is this
established, that we cannot put such a low estimate upon your judgment
as to suppose it necessary to enter upon any proof of it. But the
question returns, Does the gospel breathe less humanity than the law?
Or, consider the bearing of the institution upon the interests of
religion. It affords opportunity for men to be instructed in the great
things which pertain to their salvation; and if there were no Sabbath
to call them away from their labors, it would be impossible to bring
religious instruction into contact with their minds. Does the gospel
afford less advantage in this respect than the law did? Did the law
provide a season for instructing the people in religion as it _then_
stood? and does the gospel provide no season for instructing them in
religion as it _now_ stands? Must they be instructed in _types_, but
not in the _substance_?--in _prophecy_, but not in the _fulfillment_
of prophecy? No one will be responsible for the affirmative of these
questions.
If the New Dispensation actually has abrogated the Sabbath, we do not
believe that it is _expedient_ to observe it. We cannot believe,
however, that an institution so important to the civilization,
refinement, and religious prosperity of mankind, has been abrogated.
We refer you to our publications, and to the publications of those who
have, in common with us, defended the perpetuity of the sabbatic law;
and we entreat you to reconsider your ground. The doctrine of
expediency! What a fruitful source of corruption has it been to the
church of God! There is not an anti-christian, popish abomination, but
what pleads something of this kind. Do, dear brethren, let it be
expunged from your creed.
* * * * *
BRETHREN OF THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION: You are a great and growing
people. Your influence is felt throughout the length and breadth of
our land. We rejoice in your prosperity. "May the Lord make you to
increase and abound in love one towards another, and toward all men."
In your prosperity we behold, in a measure, our own. Your baptism is
our baptism. Your church government is our government. Your doctrinal
principles are ours; and there is nothing which constitutes any real
ground of separation, except the great and important subject we now
urge upon your attention.
The popularity you have gained as a denomination, however, is not
owing to your Sabbath principles. It is founded entirely on your views
concerning the initiating ordinance of the gospel. These views are
characterized by that perfect simplicity which marks every divine
institution. Hence you have won the affections of the common people,
while, if you had attempted to operate on them by a more complicated
theory, failure would have been the result.
This induces us to urge upon your notice the _exceeding simplicity_ of
the Sabbatarian argument, compared with all those theories which stand
in opposition to it. It is adapted to persons of weak capacities, of
whom there are thousands in the kingdom of Christ. Any illiterate
person can open the Bible, and point to chapter and verse, saying,
"The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." This is plain;
he can understand it. But tell him that redemption was a much greater
work than creation; that redemption was finished by the resurrection
of Christ; that an event so important ought to be commemorated; and
that, in order to do this, the day of the Sabbath was changed from the
seventh to the first day of the week; for all which there is not a
single "thus saith the Lord;" nothing but the uncertain deductions of
human reason. Can he understand it? No. It requires an elevation of
intellect which God has not given him. The inferences and deductions
are beyond his capacities. How then is he to render an _intelligent_
obedience? If he conform his practice to the theory thus set before
him, it will not be because he understands it, but because he is
willing to trust the guidance of his mind to those who, he thinks,
know more than he does himself. This, therefore, is strong internal
evidence that the keeping of the first day is not of God. For God's
Book is adapted not only to those of elevated intellect, but to the
ignorant and rude. Every thing concerning our practice is plain even
to wayfaring men. Were it otherwise, we should conclude that the Bible
is not an inspired production. If it did not come down to the
capacities of all, we should infer that it was not made by Him who
made all minds. Indeed, it would not, in such case, be a _revelation_
to all, but only to the more talented. But it is a revelation to
_all_; and he that obeys God, must do it for himself; he that repents
and believes, must do so for himself; and at the great day, every one
of us shall give account for himself unto God. It is of the highest
importance, therefore, that every one know _for himself_ the
foundation of his faith and practice.
In thus urging the simplicity of the argument for the Sabbath, we are
but doing what you do in regard to Baptism. Compare the cases. A man
of considerable intellect can reason from the Abrahamic covenant, lay
propositions together, and draw inferences and deductions, until,
finally, he makes it pretty clear to his own mind, that the children
of the flesh, these are the children of God; Paul to the contrary
notwithstanding. But how is it with some good old Baptist sister, who
can hardly join two ideas together, and draw a logical inference from
them? Why, she cannot tell about this reasoning from the Abrahamic
covenant. It is something she does not understand. But she can open
her Bible, and point to chapter and verse for believer's baptism. She
puts her finger upon something that is just adapted to her capacities.
As she has a soul to save, an obedience to render, and an account to
give, all for herself, her practice is accordingly. Brethren, think
this matter over, and see whether your reasoning on the Sabbath is not
very much akin to that of those who reason from the Abrahamic covenant
to Baptism. Think seriously, whether it does not render _intelligent_
obedience impossible to vast numbers of Christians. Think whether a
course of reasoning which darkens a very simple subject, is not more
specious than solid.
Again, your children are to be early instructed in this matter, How do
you succeed in making them understand it? Is your little child capable
of comprehending all this argument, which you found upon the finishing
of redemption by the resurrection of Christ? Can you point him to any
plain passage, where Christ authorizes a change of the Sabbath? How do
you feel when the little creature says, in the simplicity of his
heart, "Father, mother, does not the fourth commandment require the
observance of the seventh day of the week? But do we not keep the
first day? I should think this is not keeping the commandment." One
would think you would be forcibly reminded of that scripture, "Out of
the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength." Ps.
8:2.
The extensive operations in which you are engaged for the conversion
of the world, render it in the highest degree important that you
should not err on a question like this. If you are right, you ought to
be very certain of it. Among the heathen, you are extending the
observance of Sunday as a sacred day. If you are thus sowing the seeds
of error instead of truth, the evils who can calculate? Hence you
cannot too early begin to review your ground. Consider the
difficulties your missionaries already have to encounter, because of
unscriptural sentiments propagated among the heathen by those who
nevertheless loved their souls. The poor, perishing idolaters are
witnesses of the clashing of doctrine between Jesus Christ's men, and
they ask, "_Why is this? You have come to give us a gospel which
professes to make its followers 'perfect in one,' and yet you
yourselves are divided._" You cannot in conscience abandon your
principles, however, nor dare you, in your translations, give to a
sentence or a particle one single turn, which will not fully express
the mind of the Holy Spirit. Dare you, then, without feeling the most
entire certainty, teach them that God says, "Remember the first day of
the week to keep it holy?" The responsibility of the missionary, in
this respect, is not less than where his translation is concerned.
Does he feel the same awful sense of responsibility?
From the heathen turn to the contemplation of the Jewish nation. The
time cannot be far distant, when those who, "as touching the election,
are beloved for the fathers' sakes," shall be called to behold the
glory of God, in the face of Him they have so long rejected. But in
order to this, a voice from the divine word cries, "Cast ye up, cast
ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of
my people." Have Christians seriously considered what this
stumbling-block is? For our own part, we are persuaded that nothing
can be more justly called by this name, than the general abandonment,
on the part of Christians, of the Sabbath of the Lord. The Jews,
taking it for granted, without examination, that this abandonment is
really taught by the Christian religion, suppose that its author
cannot be the true Messiah. They have seen, through every period of
their nation's history, that God has put signal honor upon this
institution. They have seen its sacredness elevated high above that of
the ceremonial institutions. They have heard their prophets dwell upon
the profanation of it as the crying sin of the land, on account of
which the sore judgments of Heaven came down upon it. It is true, some
teach that the whole Mosaic system was clothed with as much sacredness
as the Sabbath; and that it was not for the sin of Sabbath breaking,
any more than for a disregard of the ritual service in general, that
they suffered the wrath of Jehovah. But such persons must have paid
only a superficial attention to the subject. The attentive reader
cannot fail to be struck with the fact, that while in the prophets the
Sabbath is exalted as of vast importance to the nation, and all its
prosperity, and the favor of God, seemingly, suspended on the proper
keeping of it, ceremonial usages are comparatively depreciated.
Since the Sabbath holds such a sacredness throughout the ancient
oracles of God--since the Israelites have taken their lessons of
obedience to it under "the rod of his wrath"--since no grant was given
to the Messiah to set it aside, nor the least intimation ever made to
the Jews that it would be set aside--can we wonder that they think
that teacher to be an impostor who should break this commandment, and
teach men so?
But there is a crisis approaching--the day is near, and it hasteth
greatly--when it will be indispensable that all those who truly love
the Lord Jesus Christ, have their "loins girt about with truth."
Popery is preparing for another desperate struggle. The great
principle of the Reformation, that "the Scriptures are the only rule
of faith," is to be discussed anew. In the Church of England, this
discussion has already commenced. Rome has opened her sluices, and
anti-christian corruption again threatens to flood the church of God.
As the water naturally seeks such channels as may be already prepared,
so will it be with this doctrine. What branch of Zion will be next
troubled? Probably that which makes the next widest departure from the
great Protestant principle. Then that which is next in order; and so
on. For it can not reasonably be expected to stop, until it reach that
order of people which is governed by the Bible alone. Upon all others
the desolation must be more or less extensive. For those who
acknowledge the principle of departing from the Bible in ever so small
a degree, may be expected to exemplify it to an indefinite extent,
when the circumstances of the times are so modified as to give
occasion for it. As for yourselves, you do not avow the _principle_ of
departing from the Scriptures, but profess to hold it in abhorrence.
The language of your _creeds_ is explicit on this point; and we know
of no denomination so forward to plead a strict conformity to this
principle as yourselves. Yet it is impossible for you to pretend, with
any show of modesty, that the Scriptures expressly enjoin the keeping
of Sunday as a Sabbath to the Lord. You cannot say, from Scripture
authority, that the apostles observed it as such. Nevertheless, your
creed declares that it ought to be so observed; and your practice
accords with your creed. Wherefore, it is as evident as mathematical
demonstration, that you do depart from the great Protestant principle.
Consequently, if our views be correct in regard to the crisis which is
at hand, the time cannot be far distant, when your own denomination
will in some modified form be affected with the deprecated evil, and
you will be compelled to abandon every principle and practice which
can give it the smallest advantage.
Do you think, brethren, that in your present position you are prepared
for the great struggle? When the Puseyite, replying to those who
contend for the Protestant maxim, refers to the observance of Sunday,
and says, "Here we are absolutely compelled to resort to the aid of
ancient usage, as recorded, not by the inspired, but by the uninspired
writers," are you ready for the issue? Can you confute what he says?
When another one says, "The _seventh_ day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God; we celebrate the _first_. Was this done by divine command?
No. I do not recollect that the Saviour, or the apostles, say we shall
rest on the first day of the week instead of the seventh;" and then
concludes, "The same reasons which urge you to dissent from the
observance of the three grand festivals of the Church of England,
ought to operate with you respecting the Sabbath;"--are you prepared
to join issue with him? Can you justify yourselves on your own
principles? If you can, we will confess our short-sightedness. But
indeed we fear, we tremble, in view of the crisis which is
approaching, when we look at the traditional usages prevailing among
Christians, and consider with what a tenacious grasp they are held. O
Lord God Almighty! thou who hast sworn that 'thy kindness shall not
depart from thy church, nor the covenant of thy peace be removed,' let
not thy truth fall in the contest.
We mean not to goad your feelings, by charging upon you any of the
abominations of Popery. We are sure you would not cherish one of them,
if you were conscious of it. But we take it for granted, that those
who are forward to take the mote out of their brother's eye, are
willing to have the beam taken out of their own. You have charged
pedobaptist denominations, over and over, with upholding popery's
chief pillar. You have told them, that their zeal against the man of
sin would avail them but little, until they first rid themselves of
his traditions. You have talked feelingly of the sin of encumbering
the ordinances of God with human inventions. You have read the church
of Christ many a good lesson on the importance of holding the truth in
its purity. In all this you have, doubtless, been sincere. We have no
fault to find with you; for you have only followed the Bible
direction, "Cry aloud, spare not, show my people their transgression."
In conformity with this direction, we would endeavor to act our part
as faithful reprovers. Yet our desire is, to do it with meekness,
considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted. It may be--we know
not--that some of the abominations of the man of sin are cleaving to
us. If so, "let the righteous smite us, it shall be a kindness; let
them reprove us, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break
our head."
Turn, brethren, to the seventh chapter of the prophecy of Daniel, and
twenty-fifth verse. You there find one spoken of who "shall speak
great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of
the Most High, _and think to change_ TIMES _and_ LAWS." You have had
no difficulty in finding in this prophecy a reference to the law of
baptism, as one of the _laws_ which this great power has changed; but
you have not shown satisfactorily what are the _times_. You have
usually referred them to the numerous festivals and holy-days, which
have been multiplied by the church of Rome. But these were _times_
ESTABLISHED; not _times_ CHANGED. Will you please to expound this
passage a little more clearly? Will you tell us whether, under the
gospel, there is any sacred time except the Sabbath? We will not be
unreasonably confident, but we are much mistaken, if you can give any
clear and satisfactory construction to this prophecy, without finding
that something of Rome still cleaves to you.
Suffer us here to declare our conviction, that you could take no more
effectual step toward converting the Christian world to right views
about baptism, than to embrace the Sabbath of the Bible. In your
discussions with Pedobaptists, you are constantly referred to the
change of the Sabbath, as proof that some things may be binding which
the Scriptures do not expressly enjoin. You have never met this
argument fairly and fully. To be sure, you always make an attempt to
meet it. But how do you do it? By proving that Christ expressly
enjoined his followers to _sabbatize_ on the first day of the week? By
showing from express Scripture testimony, that the apostles _did
actually rest from their labors_ on that day? No. Neither of these
things have you ever shown; nor can you show them. The whole head and
front of your proof--if proof it may be called--amount only to this;
that the apostles and primitive Christians _met together for worship_
on that day. It is true, by such a course you have generally talked
your opponents into silence, because by exposing fully the defect of
your reply, it would only render their own transgression the more
glaring. But while you _silenced_ them, you did not _convince_ them.
While they saw that for one of _your own_ customs you could not plead
a "thus saith the Lord," they felt comparatively easy under all your
rebukes, and naturally enough thought it not _very_ important, that
_they_ should have a "thus saith the Lord" for the sprinkling of babes.
But a most important consideration, in view of this subject, is the
influence of your large and powerful denomination upon an unconverted
world. Whatever your theory about the perpetuity of the sabbatic
law--whatever your doubts and scruples about the use of the term
_Sabbath_ under the gospel--you cannot rid yourselves of a deep sense
of the importance of a day of rest to the world at large. Hence the
resolutions of your churches and conventional bodies, with regard to
the profanation of what you call the Lord's day. Hence your plain,
out-spoken censures of running cars, stages, steamboats, and other
public conveyances, on this day. Hence your griefs and lamentations
over those who make it a day of recreation or mirth. Hence your
readiness to coöperate with those bodies which are organized to
suppress, if possible, the violation of what is called the Sabbath. We
admire the _principle_ which governs you in all this; but we lament
that it is not regulated by a better understanding of the subject. If
you would promote right principles, you must be careful that your
proofs, and examples for illustration, are pertinent and free from all
uncertainty. We are fully persuaded, that your _Recommendations_ and
_Pledges_, your _Resolutions_ and _Associational Acts_, will always
meet with defeat, until you can fortify them by a law of God, so
clearly expressed, that it will urge and goad the violator's
conscience wherever he may go. The consciences of guilty men cannot be
reached by the method you are pursuing. You behold them desecrating
the Sunday, and, in order to make them lay it to heart as a sin, you
bring down upon them--what? Apostolic example? New Testament
intimations, and far-fetched inferences? No. None of these do you
think of employing. But the _Law_, the all-searching, sin-rebuking
_Law_ of God, is the only means you think of in such a case. Nothing
else suits your purpose, be your _theory_ what it may. But hear their
reply. "Is the law of the commandment upon us TO-DAY? That it was
YESTERDAY, we allow; for it says, '_the seventh day_.' That the law of
the commandment lies against us _every_ day, you will not pretend; but
only _one_ day in seven. If that one day was _yesterday_, you are
yourselves as guilty as we; and we, therefore, feel comparatively
comfortable. To be sure, some sense of the necessity of keeping the
Sabbath holy, does at times rest upon our minds; and our consciences,
for the moment, reproach us; but when we see you, and all the
Christian world, living in the neglect of it, we feel quite easy
again, and think our sin to be but a light one." Such may not be their
precise language, but it is the exact expression of their hearts'
feelings. Thus even the Law fails in your hands, because you attempt
to make it speak _what it will not speak_.
If you ask _us_, "Do _you_ meet with success in attempting to reach
the consciences of guilty, unbelieving men?" we reply, that we have no
difficulty, except so far as you, and the whole body of observers of
the first day, stand in the way. We bring them to admit, openly and
honestly, the claims of God's law, and a sense of guilt momentarily
rests upon them. But immediately they turn to contemplate _your_
practice, and their hearts become hardened. We do, therefore,
affectionately, but earnestly, invite you to consider, how tremendous
is your influence toward perpetuating Sabbath profanation in the land.
Your numbers, your learning, your talents, your wealth, your general
respectability, all combine to operate with overwhelming effect in
this matter.
Our observations, if correct, go to show what a source of danger the
Sunday heresy is to the Moral Law. The Sabbath is a most important
precept of this law; "the golden _clasp_," as an old writer quaintly
observes, "which joins the two tables together; the _sinew_ in the
body of laws, which were written with God's own finger; the
intermediate precept, which participates of the sanctity of both
tables, and the due observance of which is the fulfilling of the whole
law." This important precept is either set aside entirely, or its edge
and keenness so muffled by a transfer to another day, that the united
efforts of the church can do little or nothing toward impressing it on
the conscience. Here, then, is a relaxation of the standard of
morality; and while the standard is relaxed with regard to this one
precept, in vain do we look for the Law, as a whole, to appear
glorious in the eyes of men.
This remark will be strengthened, if we consider to what
inconsistencies the advocates of Sunday are driven. Some, in their
zeal to defend it, even go so far as to deny the Moral Law to be a
rule of conduct to Christians. Others, though they admit the Law to be
a rule of conduct, cannot relieve themselves of at least _seeming_ to
undervalue it. When the Sabbath discussion is out of sight, they speak
out clearly, and without equivocation, giving the fullest proof that
they regard the Law as the unchangeable standard of obedience. But at
other times they reason from the New Dispensation in a manner so vague
and indefinite, that one is puzzled to tell whether they regard the
Gospel as enforcing strict obedience to the Law or not. Now he that is
established in the clear truth, is hampered with no such difficulties.
There is, with him, not only the naked and abstract admission, that
the Moral Law is unchangeably binding, but there appears such a
beautiful and perfect conformity between this admission and the
principles he inculcates, that the most common minds are struck with
it, and every doubt is scattered.
While you are fettered by such difficulties, is there no danger that
the Law will lose its sacredness in the eyes of the people? Surely
there is. There is danger, also, that your system of theology will be
corrupted in other particulars. Error goes not alone. Could an opinion
exist in the mind, circumscribed and isolated, without affecting any
of our other principles, it would be comparatively harmless. But it is
not more a truth, that a man who utters one falsehood is obliged to
tell twenty more to hide it, than that he who supports one error is
obliged to forge numberless others to give consistency to his creed.
It is also a truth, which reflection and daily observation will
confirm, that nearly if not quite all the heresies which ever infested
the church of God, are traceable to some loose notions concerning the
Moral Law. Nothing, therefore, can be more necessary, than that our
creed give the greatest possible prominence to the Law as a standard
of holiness; and that our customs be in perfect conformity with our
creed.
Brethren, can we hope that the subject on which we have addressed you
will receive your prayerful attention? Almost your entire denomination
has slumbered over it; but may we not hope, that you will now awake?
May we not hope, that it will be discussed in your private circles,
and in your public assemblies; in your Bible classes, and in your
Sunday schools; that it will be studied by your ministers, and by the
people in general; and that every one will, in the deep desire of his
soul, pray, "Lord, open thou mine eyes, that I may discern wondrous
things out of thy Law."
But if, on the other hand, we see a disposition to pass it by with
cold neglect--an unwillingness to look the question in the face--an
attempt, on the part of your teachers and leaders, to hush it up as a
matter of no importance--a studied effort to lead the people away from
it, when they are disposed to examine--or teaching them that it is the
spirit, rather than the letter of the law that God requires--we shall
be constrained to apply the language of Him who spake as never man
spake--"EVERY ONE THAT DOETH EVIL HATETH THE LIGHT, NEITHER COMETH TO
THE LIGHT, LEST HIS DEEDS SHOULD BE REPROVED." John 3:20.
THE ROYAL LAW CONTENDED FOR:
OR,
Some brief Grounds serving to prove that the Ten Commandments are yet
in full force, and shall so remain till Heaven and Earth pass away:
ALSO,
The Seventh Day Sabbath, proved from the beginning, from the Law, from
the Prophets, from Christ, and his Apostles, to be a duty yet
incumbent upon Saints and Sinners.
BY A LOVER OF PEACE WITH TRUTH, EDWARD STENNET.
They that forsake the Law praise the wicked, but such as keep the Law
contend with them. Prov. 28:4.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, Fear God and keep his
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Ecc. 12:13.
The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; therefore
the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Mark 2:27, 28.
Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all thy
commandments. Ps. 119:6.
London, Printed in the Year 1658.
NEW-YORK: REPUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN SABBATH TRACT SOCIETY.
PREFACE BY THE TRACT SOCIETY.
The friends of the Sabbath will doubtless receive this little volume
as a valuable relic of the past--as a word from one of the tried and
faithful friends of the truth, one who not only loved the day of God's
weekly rest, but greatly delighted in the promise of a future and
glorious sabbatism with the people of God. Edward Stennet, the author,
was the first of the series of Sabbatarian ministers of that name, who
for four generations continued to be among the foremost of the
Dissenters in England, and whose praise is still in all the churches.
He was an able and devoted minister, but dissenting from the
Established Church, he was deprived of the means of support; and, his
family being large, he applied himself to the study of medicine, by
the practice of which he was enabled to give his sons a liberal
education. He suffered much of the persecution which the Dissenters
were exposed to at that time, and more especially for his faithful
adherence to the cause of the Sabbath. For this truth, he experienced
tribulation, not only from those in power, by whom he was a long time
kept in prison, but also much distress from unfriendly dissenting
brethren, who strove to destroy his influence, and ruin his cause. He
wrote several treatises upon the subject of the Sabbath besides this,
but they are very rare, and perhaps cannot all be found in a perfect
state of preservation. It would be well, no doubt, to revive all of
them, and, if practicable, republish them in the same form as this,
that they might be bound together, and placed, as they deserve to be,
in every Sabbath-keeper's library. They all breathe the genuine spirit
of Christianity, and in their day were greatly conducive to the
prosperity of the Sabbath-keeping churches.
NEW-YORK, July, 1848
THE ROYAL LAW CONTENDED FOR
SOME BRIEF GROUNDS, SERVING TO PROVE THAT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ARE YET
IN FULL FORCE, AND SHALL SO REMAIN TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS AWAY.
1. The matter of the ten commandments was written in the heart of Adam
before his fall, as doth appear in Gen. 1:27, _God created man in his
own image, in the image of God created he him_; also in Eccl. 7:29,
_God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions_.
And the Apostle plainly asserts, that the gentiles, which had not the
law, (in the letter of it,) did by nature the things contained in the
law, which showeth the work of the law written in their hearts. Rom.
2:14, 15. Now if the gentiles had the word of the law written in their
hearts in their sinful state, doubtless they had it in more perfection
in their state of innocence, as considered in Adam; for the letter of
the law was added because of transgression. Gal. 2:19. Now if there
was transgression before the letter of the law was added, that implies
that there was a law before then; in that the letter of the law is
said to be added, it implies that the matter of it was in being
before, but much worn by sin; and that is one reason why the Lord was
pleased to add the letter.
Let it be considered, how it can stand with Scripture or right reason,
that Jesus Christ should abrogate this law. Did Christ blot out this
law from the hearts of all men by his death? Then all men have not the
law of nature to guide them; for we cannot be so gross as to imagine
that the law is put into their hearts upon a new account, for that
were to bring all men under the new covenant.
2. God spake all these commandments unto the people, and they heard
his voice, (Deut. 5:22-24,) with great majesty and glory, and he added
no more; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone, and delivered
them unto Moses--all of which holds forth their perpetuity; they are
spoken by God, they are written by him in tables of stone; so was
never any ceremony. Job desired that his words might be graven with a
pen of iron and lead in a rock of stone forever. Job 19:24.
3. Afterward the first tables were broken, which I suppose did signify
the Israelites' breaking of the first covenant; for Moses broke them
on account of their having made a golden calf, and so had broken the
covenant. Whereupon Moses was then commanded to hew two tables like
the first, and God wrote the same words again upon them, (Deut.
10:1-4,) and they only of all the laws were put into the ark, and when
the ark is set in its proper place between the cherubim there is
nothing in it but the two tables. 1 Kings 8:9. Now the ark was a type
of Christ, and the putting of the law into it did signify the putting
of it into the heart of Christ, (Psalm 40:6-8, _Thy law is in my
heart_,) and from thence they are transcribed into the hearts of the
seed of Christ. See Jer. 31:33, where God promises to put his law in
their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. Now what law is this
that must be put into the heart, when the law of sacrifice is
abolished? Compare Heb. 10:6-9, with the fore-mentioned Psalm. That
this is the law that is here spoken of is manifest if we consider how
proper and suitable it is for the heart of a believer. Paul calls it
the law of his mind in Rom. 7:23, and in verse 22 he professeth he
delights in the law of God after the inward man; and God saith he will
put the law in his heart and write it there; both which phrases hold
it forth to be the same law that was written by God and put into the
ark. Man's heart is the tables, and God himself is the writer; the
matter written is the law. Hear what Wisdom saith to this: _My son,
keep my words, and lay up my commandments within thee; keep my
commandments and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye; bind them
upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thy heart_. Prov.
7:1-3. Now what laws are these but the table laws? And Wisdom's son is
to have them written upon the fleshy tables of his heart.
4. When God promiseth to exalt his first-born higher than the kings of
the earth, and that his covenant should stand fast with him, and that
his seed should endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven,
(Psalms 89:28, 29,) yet he saith, _If his children forsake my law, and
walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my
commandments; then will I visit their transgression with a rod, and
their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I
not utterly take away, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail._ Verses
30-32. Mark it, this covenant was with Christ, (though with David in
the type,) in behalf of all the seed; and the chastisements must be
the portion of the seed if they break the law of God, though his
covenant stand fast. Now as this covenant reaches all the seed, so
doth the law and the punishments for the breach of it; and if so, then
what law is it that reaches all the seed, if not the law of the ten
commandments, with those laws which are comprehended in them.
5. These commandments are eminently distinguished and marked out from
all the ceremonial laws, both to show their eminency and perpetuity:
they are said to be the work of God, in Exod. 32:16; and the Psalmist
saith, _The works of his hands are verity and judgment_. And these
works are called, _all his commandments_, in Psalm 111:7, and they are
ten. Deut. 4:13. And therefore I conceive Wisdom's son is to bind them
upon his fingers, to show the number of them, there being for each
finger one, and that both hands might be active in them. And Zacharias
and Elisabeth were said to walk in all the commandments and ordinances
of the Lord. Luke 1:6. They are distinguished from the ceremonial
ordinances, and called all the commandments, to set forth their
number, as before said, and their eminencey; and therefore they are so
frequently called in the Scripture, _the commandments of God_,
distinct from the other laws, which were shadowy in the time of the
law of shadows, (as these places of Scripture, besides many others, do
show, viz., Deut. 5:31, 6:11, 7:11, 8:11, 11:1, 30:16, 1 Kings 2:3,
8:58, 2 Chron. 19:10, Neh. 1:7, and 10:29, &c.,) and distinct from the
testimony of Jesus in clear gospel times. In Rev. 12:17, note that the
dragon's war is with the remnant of the woman's seed which kept the
commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus. And again, here are
they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Rev.
14:12. And when the man would know what he should do to be saved,
Christ told him that he knew the commandments. A cloud of witnesses
would come in, if need were, for the confirmation of them. But farther
observe what the Scripture saith to their duration. The Psalmist
saith, _All his commandments are sure, they stand fast for ever and
ever, and are done in truth and uprightness_. Psalm 111:7, 8. Note it;
all his commandments, which are the works of his hands, as aforesaid,
stand fast for ever and ever; that is, not only in the time of the
ministration of the letter, which was in a sense for ever, but for
ever and ever, that is, under both ministrations, that of the letter
and that of the spirit, in Old Testament times and in the New. Search
and see if you can find any word that doth speak of any thing that is
said to abide or stand fast for ever and ever, which comes short of
the time aforesaid. And when God hides his face from the house of
Jacob, then is the time that the testimony is bound up and the law is
sealed among the disciples, (Isa. 8:16, 17,) clearly relating to the
time that the Jews rejected the gospel, and the disciples are
commanded to make use of the law as well as the testimony to try the
doctrines of others by. Isa. 8:20. All which shows the perpetuity of
this law of God, which will farther appear if we consider Deut. 7:9.
Our Lord saith in Matt. 5:17, 18, _Think not that I am come to destroy
the law or the prophets; I came not to destroy, but to fulfill_. But
the question will be, what law this is? To me it appears to be the law
of the ten commandments; for these reasons:
1st. Because this comes in as the motive to provoke his disciples to
let their light shine in the world, that men might see their good
works and glorify their Father which is in heaven. Matt 5:16.
Therefore it must be such a law as the doing of it holds forth good
works to public view.
2d. It is such a law as Christ professes he came not to destroy; but
the ceremonial law he destroyed in this very sense, so that none are
to be in the practice of it; he blotted out the hand-writing of
ordinances that was against us, and contrary to us, and took it out of
the way, nailing it to his cross.
3d. Destroying of the law is here put in direct opposition to
fulfilling of it; to destroy is to take out of the way or to blot out
as before; but to fulfill the law is to do that which is contained in
the law; therefore saith Christ to John, when he went to be baptized,
_It becometh us to fulfill all righteousness_, (that is, to perform
it.) Matt. 3:15. And the Apostle saith, that love is the fulfilling of
the law. What law? Why this, _Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou
shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, &c. Love worketh no ill to his
neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law._ Rom. 13:8-10.
So that, to fulfill the law of the ten commandments, is not to blot
them out or make them void; that were to destroy them, which Christ
came not to do, but, on the contrary, to do the things contained in
them, which he did exactly in his life, and so was offered up a Lamb
without spot.
4th. This is such a law as must stand in force, every jot and tittle
of it, till heaven and earth pass away. Matt. 5:19. But heaven and
earth are not yet passed away; therefore this law stands firm. But
because it is said in the text, Till all be fulfilled, hence some
affirm that all was fulfilled at the death of Christ, and this
fulfilling of it holds forth the abrogating of it. But did heaven and
earth pass away then? or did Christ, by his taking upon him all that
guilt which was due to us, and by his perfect fulfilling of it in his
walk, take us from our obedience? God forbid. Because Christ fulfilled
the righteousness of the law, must we not fulfill it? The Apostle
saith that for this end Christ died. _For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh; that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh but after the spirit._ Rom. 8:3, 4. But what is the
fulfilling of the righteousness of the law, but to do the righteous
things contained in the law? And in this sense every true believer
doth fulfill the law, though his completeness be in Christ; for love
is the fulfilling of the law, (Rom. 13:10,) so that the commanding
power of the law is such a just measure, that every one that loves
acts his part towards the fulfilling of it.
5th. It farther appears to be the ten commandments, by the use Christ
makes of what he had before asserted: _Whosoever therefore shall break
one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be
called least in the kingdom of heaven_. Matt. 5:19. That is, forasmuch
as that law must stand till heaven and earth pass away, and I came not
to destroy it, therefore beware of breaking it, for whosoever you are
that break any part of it, and shall teach men so, you shall be called
the least in the kingdom of heaven; _but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven_. To
prevent farther mistake, he repeateth the law in many particulars, and
gives the sense, showing how far their righteousness should exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and pharisees. By all of which it plainly
appears, that this law, which Christ came not to destroy, is the law
of the ten commandments, or the laws that were comprehended in them.
6. The Apostle confirmeth and establisheth this law after the death of
Christ, as plainly appears in the third chapter of Romans, the drift
of which is to set Jews and Gentiles in a like condition by
nature--all breakers of the law of God, and so become guilty before
him, (verse 19,) and that therefore no flesh could be justified by the
deeds of the law, the law being for another purpose--to convince of
sin, (verse 20,) or to bring sin to their knowledge. He proves that
Jews and Gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised, are justified by and
through faith, and not by the law of works. Verses 27-30. But lest the
Gentiles should think, because they could not be justified by the
works of the law, that therefore they might look upon the law as a
thing done away or made void, he puts this question to the
uncircumcised Gentiles, _Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid; yea, we establish the law._ He settles this question,
whether the law be in force to believing Gentiles or no, with a God
forbid; which shows the greatness of his zeal against such a
persuasion, it being the same answer which he gives to another gross
question, whether we should continue in sin that grace might abound;
and, as if that were not enough, he adds to it, Yea, we establish the
law.
7. This same Apostle doth prove that the law was in force at the time
of his conversion. He saith he had not known sin but by the law; he
had not known lust except the law had said, _Thou shalt not covet_.
Rom. 7:7. He was alive without the law once, but when the commandment
came, sin revived, and he died, (verse 9,) that is, not without the
letter of it, for that he had, and did in a great measure conform to,
but without powerful convictions for sin by the law; and in this sense
then the commandment came, sin revived, and he died that before was
alive in his own apprehension. _For without the law sin was dead_,
(verse 8,) and by the law is the knowledge of sin; and sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived him, and slew him. _Wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, just and good_, (verses
11, 12;) not that the holy and just law was made death unto him--God
forbid--but sin, that it might appear sin, by this good law wrought
death in him, that by the commandment sin might appear exceeding
sinful. Verse 13. And if so, then this law did not die with the body
of Christ; though we are dead to the law by the body of Christ, that
we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the
letter, and that we should be married to another, even him who is
raised from the dead; we being dead to that spirit of bondage in which
we were held, that we set our obedience to the law no longer in the
room of Christ as our head and husband; Christ by his blood having
purchased us from that power that the law had over us by reason of
sin. So that our service is not to satisfy the law, as a woman serves
to please her husband that she is bound to; but we are not dead to
serving in newness of spirit in obedience to Christ as our husband.
Rom. 7:4-6. In this sense the Apostle delights in the law of God after
the inward man, (verse 22,) though the other law in his members stood
in great opposition to it. Verse 23. Mind this chapter well, and it
will appear so plain that he that runs may read, that the Apostle
intends no such thing as to take us from our obedience to the law, nor
yet the abrogating of the law, but the contrary.
8. The same Apostle urges the law, in the very letter of it, to the
Ephesians. He saith, in chapter 6:1-3, _Children, obey your parents,
for this is right; honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first
commandment with promise._ He proves his exhortation to be right from
the commandment, and he takes notice of the order of the commandments;
it is the first commandment of that second table, and it hath a
promise annexed to it. He speaks in the present tense; he does not say
it _was_ the first commandment, but it _is_ the first with a promise,
_that thy days may be long on the earth_. He urges the promise to them
for their encouragement; and to prevent mistakes, he shows the extent
of it, that it was not only to the Jews, that they should live long in
the land of Canaan, but to the Gentiles also; therefore the
interpretation says, _that thy days may be long on the earth_.
9. James gives a full confirmation to what I am treating of. He
convinces them of sin by this law, in having the faith of Jesus Christ
with respect of persons, as appears by chapter 2:10, 11, _For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all._ He shows what law he means, and how it is that he who
offends in one point is guilty of all; because, _He that saith, Do not
commit adultery, saith also, Do not kill; now if thou commit no
adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the
law._ And John saith, _Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the law,
for sin is the transgression of the law,_ (1 John 3:3, 4;) and in the
next verse he explains what law he means, and saith, it was such
transgression that Christ was manifested to take away. Now if this law
of God was done away by the death of Christ, sin could not be a
transgression of it so long after; neither could any be convinced of
sin by it, because it was not. But the Apostle saith, _Whosoever
commiteth sin transgresseth the law;_ which shows it was in force
then, and not only so, but that likewise it should so remain.
10. Let it be considered whether this opinion that the law is done
away doth not clash with redemption itself. The Apostle states that
all men were under the law, and by breaking of it they came under the
curse. Gal. 3:10. And Christ was made under the curse, to redeem his
people from under the curse of the law, that the blessing of Abraham
might come upon the Gentiles through faith. Verses 13, 14. Now if we
were not under the commanding power, we could not be under the curse,
(for that follows disobedience,) and if so, then Christ was not made a
curse for us; neither can the blessing of Abraham come upon the
Gentiles upon that account, if the Jews only were under the law, and
under the curse of it. Christ's dying to redeem them from the curse,
could not bring the blessing of Abraham upon the Gentiles. And again,
the Apostle saith, _that Christ was made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons_.
Gal. 4:4, 5. Now if we were not under the law, we could not be
redeemed by Christ's being under the law, nor receive the adoption of
sons thereby; but it is manifest that every one is under the
commanding power of the law, and by nature under the curse; and Christ
hath only redeemed his people from the curse, but they are not
redeemed from their obedience to the law of God. I find no Scripture
that saith so; but the contrary.
11. God complaineth of the blindness of his servants, and of the
deafness of his messengers that he sent, (Isa. 42:19, 20,) and their
blindness and deafness appears in this, that they did not hear nor
understand God's design in the gift of his Son, that it was not to
destroy the law or to slight it, but to magnify it and make it
honorable. Verse 2. Previously it was in tables of stone, but now in
the fleshy tables of the heart; service was then done from a spirit of
bondage, but now from a spirit of adoption. And in this sense I
conceive the law to be magnified and made honorable, and upon this
account God is well pleased for his righteousness' sake, that is, I
conceive, for his Son's sake.
12. This opinion, that the whole law is abolished, doth pull up true
magistracy by the roots, the office of rulers being for the punishment
of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. But if the
statutes and judgments be not in force, there is no corporeal
punishment to be inflicted upon any, though thieves, murderers, or the
like; and so there is no room for the magisterial power at all, but
men are left in this respect as the beasts of the field, to shift one
among another as well as they can. But the Apostle saith, _The law is
made for the lawless and disobedient, for ungodly and for sinners, for
unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers,
for man-slayers_, &c. 1 Tim. 1:9, 10. Now that this is the law of
penalties, is manifest, in that it is said it was not made for a
righteous man; but the ten commandments were for the righteous, for
the Psalmist saith, _Make me to go in the path of thy commandments,
for therein do I delight. O how love I thy law! It is my meditation
all the day._ Psalm 119:35, 97.
And how shall we have governors as at the first, and counsellors as at
the beginning, (Isa. 1:26,) if they have no law to govern by? If any
say we shall have laws from Christ, and shall not need those laws that
were for the commonwealth of Israel, I answer, I know no word of God
that doth give us ground to hope for any other laws of Scripture then
what we have. And suppose that God should revive his work and bring
his enemies under, and put opportunity into the hands of men fearing
God and hating covetousness to rule the nation, and to make laws
according to Scripture, what could they do if the Scripture were not
their statute-book, if they should turn law-makers? Would not that be
their sin, there being no warrant in the Scripture for it? And would
it not bring all into confusion again, and make another Babel? For the
great question which is to be resolved in the latter days, will be,
Who is our statute-maker?--which the saints put out of question in
Isa. 33:22, _The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Statute-maker, the
Lord is our King, he will save us,_ (and not king Omri with his
statutes.) Mich. 6:16. And when the saints come to own this truth in
good earnest, their opponents' tacklings will be loosed; they shall
neither strengthen their masts, nor spread their sails. And Malachi
tells us what laws our King hath made, which the saints are to own
when the day of the Lord shall burn as an oven all the proud, and the
Sun of Righteousness arise upon all that fear him; when they shall
tread down the wicked with so much ease that they shall be as ashes
under the soles of their feet, so that it shall be counted the Lord's
doings. And in the day that the Lord shall do this, _Remember ye the
law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all
Israel, with the statutes and judgments._ Mal. 4:3, 4.
* * * * *
I shall now endeavor to answer some objections which are usually
brought against this truth, though several of them are partly answered
in the grounds before mentioned. I shall therefore say the less, and
begin to speak something to that Scripture in 2 Corinthians, third
chapter, on which the objectors chiefly build their persuasion; and
indeed at the first glance thereon, without comparing it with other
Scriptures, it hath more color for such a purpose than all the
Scriptures that ever I heard brought; from which Scripture this is
objected, that the ten commandments were the ministration of death and
the letter, and are done away.
_Answer._ That they were the ministration of death and of the letter
is granted, for the Scripture saith so; but the Scripture doth not say
that they are done away, as will appear, if we consider the drift of
the Apostle. He endeavoreth to show the difference between the
ministration of the spirit and of the letter, the one being a bare
reading of the law, from which no life was communicated to those that
heard it. The Apostle calls it the ministration of condemnation, that
is, it lays open sin, and the curse for sin, but it is the gospel
ministration which holds forth justification and strength against sin;
not that the ten commandments in themselves were death to any--God
forbid! as the Apostle saith in Rom. 7:13; but sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death; and the commandments preach death to
the transgressors of them, so that they are called the ministration of
death and condemnation, because man hath broken them, and so is under
the curse of them, which Christ hath delivered believers from, (Rom.
3:13;) and the ministration of it is really done away, that is, as I
said before, the reading of the law by a typical priesthood, which the
Jews would have set up in the room and place of the ministration of
the spirit. And whereas they lived under the hearing of the bare
letter of the law, which gave no strength to perform, we live under
the hearing of the gospel, which is spirit and life. John 6:36. But
that the matter of the law, or commanding power of it, should be done
away, this Scripture doth not in the least prove, but it is used in
the hand of the Spirit to convince of sin. This the same Apostle
proves in Rom. 7:7, where he saith, _I had not known sin but by the
law; I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not
covet._ This will appear evident if we consider the same chapter from
verse 8 to verse 14.
_Obj._ 2. Another Scripture is frequently urged from Acts 7:37--_A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren,
like unto me; him shall ye hear._ From which it is concluded, that we
are to hearken only to Christ and not to Moses.
_Ans._ If by hearing of Christ you mean hearing only what he spake
with his own lips when he was on earth, then we are not to hear
his apostles. But if you mean, by hearing of him, to hear what he
spake upon earth and what he spake by his Spirit in his apostles, then
why are we not to hear what he spake by his Spirit to his prophets,
seeing we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Christ being the chief corner-stone. Eph. 21:20. And if those who are
of this persuasion would be true to their principle to hear Christ,
hear him what he saith in Luke 16:31--_They have Moses and the
prophets, let them hear them; for if they will not believe Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the
dead._ And he counsels to keep the commandments, (Matt. 19:17, 18,)
and reproves for the breach of them, as also for the making them void
by traditions, (Matt. 15:6,) as might be made to appear by many other
Scriptures. Therefore there is nothing of weight in this objection to
shake the thing asserted. But for a more full answer to this objection
and the former, I must needs entreat the reader to see my other book
on the Sabbath.
_Obj._ 3. Moses was faithful over his house as a servant, so Christ is
faithful over his house as a son. Now, if Christ hath not given us all
the laws that we are to observe, this is to make Christ less faithful
than Moses.
_Ans._ Doubtless Christ as a son is faithful over his house, as Moses
was faithful over his house as a servant. But we are to consider, what
was Moses' house, and what is Christ's house. Moses' house, I
conceive, was the Tabernacle; his faithfulness did appear in that he
did all things according to the pattern showed him in the Mount.
Christ's house is the saints, the true tabernacle which the Lord hath
pitched and not man, (Heb. 8:2, 5,) of which the other was a shadow.
And as Moses as a servant gave forth ordinances for his house, so
Christ as a son has given out ordinances for his house. But the ten
commandments are a law which belongs to men as they are men, though
they be no part of Christ's house, it being, as before proved, the law
written in their very hearts.
_Obj._ 4. But when certain of the sect of the pharisees arose and said
it was needful to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, the
Apostle proves them to be tempters of God, in putting a yoke upon the
neck of the disciples, which neither they nor their fathers were able
to bear. Acts 15:5, 10.
_Ans._ Are the ten commandments such a yoke as is not to be borne? Is
it a yoke to have no other God but Jehovah, and to abstain from
murder, theft, adultery, and the like? For so it must be, if you judge
that the whole law is here slighted. But the thing under discussion
here is, whether such and such laws are to be kept or not, and the
stress that is laid upon the keeping of them, namely, the pressing of
them as things without which they could not be saved, as in Acts 15:1;
and therefore the Apostle, in answer to this, shows that the Gentiles
had received the gospel and did believe, God having given to them the
Holy Ghost, and put no difference between them and the Jews, purifying
their hearts by faith, (verses 7-9,) and that through the grace of
Jesus Christ both Jews and Gentiles should be saved, (verse 11;) and
as the Apostle opposeth the keeping of these laws for such a purpose
as to be saved thereby, so the bare keeping of them is forbidden. And
therefore James saith, (verses 19, 20,) _My sentence is, that we
trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned unto God,
but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of
idols, from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood._ So
that the Apostle's judgment is, that the Gentiles should keep some
part of the law. And therefore the question was not, whether any part
of the law should be kept; and the reason why they would write no more
seems to be in verse 20, _For Moses of old time hath in every city
them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day._
So the apostles and elders write, in verse 24, _Forasmuch as we have
heard that certain men that went out from us have troubled you with
words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised and keep
the law, to whom we gave no such commandment._ Now can we be so gross
as to think, that it is subverting men's souls, and contrary to the
commandments of the apostles and elders, to bid them love the Lord
their God with all their hearts and with all their strength, and to
worship him alone, and not to take his name in vain, and the like?
This is to keep the law. But the difference was about other laws as
well as circumcision, and they are as really forbidden to keep them,
as they are forbidden circumcision; and therefore it cannot be the law
of the ten commandments, but the law of shadows, as is manifest by
chapter 21. When Paul came to Jerusalem, the brethren told him that it
was reported that he taught all the Jews which were among the Gentiles
to forsake Moses, saying, _that they ought not to circumcise their
children, neither to walk after the customs_, (verse 21;) therefore
they counseled Paul to purify himself, with some others, that it might
be seen that he walked orderly and kept the law. Verse 24. _But as
touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded
that they observe no such things._ Verse 25. So that it is very clear,
that it is circumcision and the customs that is here called the law of
Moses, which the Gentiles were commanded not to keep. But to think
that the Gentiles should be forbidden to keep the law of God that was
written in their natures is abominable, and contrary both to Scripture
and reason.
_Obj._ 5. But the Scripture saith, _Cast out the bond-woman and her
son, for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of
the free-woman_; which bond-woman was an allegory of the covenant from
Mount Sinai, and therefore to be cast out.
_Ans._ The Apostle is here showing how impossible it is for works and
grace to stand together in point of justification; for this people
were seeking to be justified by the works of the law. He shows the
difference betwixt the two covenants, one of works gendering to
bondage, _the righteousness of the law being this, that the man that
doeth these things should live in them_, (Rom. 10:5;) the other of
grace or free promise, without any respect to man's righteousness. He
shows that the sons of the covenants are like unto their mothers; the
sons of the one covenant are born after the flesh, the sons of the
other by promise; and those that are born after the flesh persecute
those that are born after the Spirit. Nevertheless, what saith the
Scripture? _Cast out the bond-woman and her son, for the son of the
bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the free-woman;_ that is,
the covenant of works with those that seek to be justified thereby,
_Christ being the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth_. Rom. 10:4. But if we should understand the ten
commandments in themselves to be the bond-woman, then it is impossible
for them that keep them to be heirs or children of the promise, but
they must be cast out as children of the bond-woman, which is very
erroneous, and contrary to the current of the Scriptures. For the
doers of the law are justified before God, (Rom. 2:13,) though not for
doing. And mark how the Apostle forbids this notion in Romans
3:31--_Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! Shall
we continue in sin,_ or transgress the law, _that grace may abound?
God forbid!_ Rom. 6:1, 2. _Is the law sin? God forbid!_ Rom. 7:7. _Was
the law, which was good, made death unto me? God forbid!_ Verse 13.
_Shall we transgress the law because we are not under the condemning
power of it,_ (Christ having redeemed us from it?) _God forbid!_ Rom.
6:15. Certainly the Scripture did foresee how apt men would be to
slight and make void the law of God under specious pretences, as their
being believers, and Gentiles which had not the law given to them, but
that they are under grace, and the like. _If the uncircumcision keep
the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted
for circumcision?_ Rom. 2:26.
Consider these queries--1. If the whole law was done away by the death
of Christ, why did the Apostle spend so much time to prove that by the
works of the law none could be justified, (Gal. 3,) seeing there was
no law to work upon? Would it not have been a nearer way to have told
them that the law was abolished?
2. If the whole law was done away at the death of Christ, how can any
part of it be now in force? If it be said it is upon a new account,
show me any one law that Christ hath once destroyed and again revived,
seeing the Apostle saith, if he should build again the things that he
destroyed, he should make himself a transgressor. Gal. 2:14.
3. What Scripture proves that we have any one of the ten commandments
given out on a new account?
4. If the whole law be done away, what law is there for the punishment
of evil-doers, thieves, murderers, and the like?
5. If the ten commandments are to be abolished, how is it that the
Lord hath annexed so many great and precious promises to the keeping
of them and delighting in them, as in Psalms 1:1-4, and many other
places, which do of right belong to such as keep the commandments?
Rev. 22:14.
6. How is it that the Apostle saith, the law is good if a man use it
lawfully, (1 Tim. 1:8,) if at the same time there be no law?
7. If the law was done away at the death of Christ, when was it given
again upon a new account? If it was given before his death, (in the
5th chapter of Matthew,) then how is it that the law that was given on
Sinai stood in force till that time? Could they both stand in force at
once? If not till after the death of Christ, then when was it given
out, seeing that we find not any of the commandments so much as
mentioned for a long time after the death of Christ? Can we think the
saints and the world were left without a law?
8. How is it that we contend for governors as at the first, and
counsellors as at the beginning, seeing there is no law for them to
rule and govern by, if this doctrine be true, that the whole law is
done away?
Thus I have endeavored in a measure to prove, that the ten
commandments are not only in force to unbelievers, but also to
believers. But believers are not under the law so as to be justified
or condemned by it; not under it as a covenant of works and
ministration of death, but under it as a righteous rule of life--a
holy, just, and good law; so they are under it, and do delight in it.
Rom. 7:22; Psalms 119:70, 72, 97; 1 Cor. 9:21. _It is time for thee,
Lord, to work; for they have made void thy law,_ (Psalms 119:122.)
_Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be
right, and I hate every false way,_ (Verse 128.)
THE SEVENTH DAY IS THE SABBATH.
If the ten commandments be in force, every jot and tittle of them, it
must necessarily follow that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and is to
be observed according to the commandment. But because there is much
opposition against this truth, I shall offer something in particular
to it, which may tend to the clearing of it.
1. It was instituted by God before the fall of man, as appears in Gen.
1:31--_And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was
very good._ But when man sinned, God changed his voice, and then the
ground was cursed for his sake. Gen. 3:17. Farther, God was six days
upon his work of creation, and rested not until the seventh day. Now,
betwixt the end of the sixth day and the beginning of the seventh day,
there is no interval or space of time, (chap. 1:31, 2:2;) then why
should it be thought that the Sabbath was a shadow to hold forth rest
by faith, and why should we run into such imaginations concerning the
cause of God's instituting the Sabbath, seeing God so plainly declared
it himself, namely, _that he blessed the seventh day and sanctified
it, because that in it he rested, from all his works which God created
and made_. Gen. 2:3.
2. The reason that the Lord gave when he commanded the observance of
the seventh day, was as before, _because that in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day, wherefore the Lord, blessed the Sabbath day and
hallowed it_, (Exod. 20:11;) and it is as a motive to provoke man to
follow the Lord's example from the beginning, both in work and rest.
_Six days,_ saith the Lord, _thou shalt labor and do all thy work, but
the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt
do no manner of work._ And if thou wouldest know a reason why thou
shouldest do so, it is because I the Lord thy God did so. And truly,
to me it is clear, that one main reason why the Lord took so much time
as six days to create all things in, and rested the seventh day, was
to show man an example, and what he ought to do. Doubtless God could
have made all things in a moment; but six days he works, and rests the
seventh day, that man might do the same, and thereby not only hold
forth the creating power of God, and the method that he was pleased to
take in the creation, but also his great mercy in instructing and
commanding man to work six days and rest the seventh, that he might be
refreshed.
3. It plainly appears, that this institution was in force and to be
observed from the beginning, though no mention is made of the
patriarchs observing it, no more than of their sacrificing and doing
many other things, which it is judged that they did, notwithstanding
we hear nothing of them. But consider, God rested the seventh day and
sanctified it. Now to profane that which God sanctifies doubtless is a
sin; and had they done servile work upon the Sabbath, they had
profaned it. Neh. 13:16, 17. And what the Lord said to Peter, in
another case, may be rightly said in this, namely, _What God hath
sanctified, that call not thou common or unclean._ Acts 10:15. And the
Lord, when he gave forth this command, saith, _Remember the Sabbath_,
to note the importance of it, and the antiquity of it, it being no new
thing, but from the beginning; and that the Lord urges, in verse 11,
as the cause why it was to be observed. Israel observed the Sabbath
before the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, as appears in Exod.
16:23, 25, 26. But mark what Nehemiah saith to this in, chapter 9:13,
14, _Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them
from heaven, and gavest them right judgments and true laws, good
statutes and commandments, and madest known also unto them thy holy
Sabbath._ Mark, this commandment is singled out from all the rest, and
is said to be made known to them, which shows that it was in being
before, though probably they might lose the observation of it, by
reason of their hard bondage in Egypt. However, it is plain that they
had need of the knowledge of the Sabbath, and God makes it known unto
them. And Christ leads us plainly to the first institution of it when
he saith, _The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath._
He points to the making of it, and for whom it was made, not for the
Jews only as Jews, but for man, before there was any such distinction
as Jew and Gentile; and in that it was made for man, which was the
public person or representative of the whole of mankind, it was made
for all men, Adam standing as a public person before his fall.
4. Our Lord Jesus doth show the true end of God's giving the Sabbath,
and also how it ought to be kept, and shows the pharisees their
mistake in the observation of it, they being so rigid that they would
not suffer good works and works of mercy to be done, though there were
necessity for the doing of them, as will appear if we consider the
following Scriptures: The pharisees asked Christ if it was lawful to
heal on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him, (Matt. 12:10,)
and his answer was this, _What man is there among you that shall have
one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not
lay hold on it and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a
sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day._ Matt.
12:10-12. Again, the pharisees told Christ that his disciples did that
which was not lawful, because they pulled the ears of corn upon the
Sabbath day. But mind the answer of Christ, _Have ye not read what
David did when he was a hungered and had need, how he entered into the
house of God, and did eat the shew-bread, which it is not lawful for
any to eat but the priests?_ Mark 2:24-26. _Have ye not read in the
law, that the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath day and are
blameless?_ Matt. 12:5. It was not unlawful to pluck the ears of corn
when they went through their neighbor's field, for that they might do
by the law of God, (Deut. 23:25,) and that the pharisees knew very
well; but they thought it was unlawful because they did it upon the
Sabbath day. But mark the answer of Christ, how he cleared the
disciples; it was unlawful for David to eat the shew-bread, but he was
a hungered and had need, and therefore to be excused. If the disciples
had pulled the ears of corn when they had no need, upon the Sabbath
day, it had been doing of needless work, and so had been unlawful. But
the text saith they were a hungered, therefore they might do it, it
being a work of mercy as David's was. And the same may be said of the
priests' profaning the Sabbath, who, notwithstanding, are said to be
blameless. Their preparation of the sacrifices was allowed, which work
in itself would have been counted servile work, but that it was for
such a merciful end, namely, the sins of the people; therefore saith
Christ, _Had ye known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not
sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless._ Matt. 12:7.
Clearly proving that the Sabbath was to be observed, (but not so as to
break another command, to neglect mercy, which the pharisees would
do,) and that his disciples, in having mercy on their bodies, were no
Sabbath-breakers.
Farther, observe what Christ saith in Mark 2:27, _The Sabbath was made
for man, and not man for the Sabbath._ The pharisees made themselves
slaves and bond-men by making the Sabbath a yoke, (whereas it should
have been a delight, Isa. 58:13,) by superstitious outside
performances, as though man had been made for the Sabbath. But Christ
tells them, it was made for man, that is, for the good and benefit of
man, that he might rest from his labors and be refreshed, as they were
in Exod. 31:17. And thus you see how clearly our Lord hath given the
sense of this law. It is lawful to do well upon the Sabbath day, to
visit the sick and to heal them, and to do works of mercy to our own
and others' bodies, the Sabbath being made for man.
5. Jesus Christ declares himself to be Lord even of the Sabbath day,
(Matt. 12:8,) and he takes his title thus: _The Sabbath,_ saith he,
_was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of
Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day._ Here seems to be two things from
whence Christ takes this title. First, the Sabbath was made for man,
that is, as before was said, for Adam, and so for all men, being made
for him before his fall. Now, Christ being the Son of Man, the chief
man, or second Adam, the man of God's right hand, the heir of all
things, is of right Lord even of the Sabbath day. Second, the Sabbath
was made for man, that is, for the good of man, and in mercy to man,
as is said before. Therefore, Christ being the author of all good, the
giver of all mercy, he is Lord of it; and, therefore, Christ doth not
slight the Sabbath (as some do imagine) by saying he is Lord of it, as
though he were not to keep it, or that his intent was to change it.
That were to strip himself of his title, or else to entitle himself
Lord of that which was not. But in that it is said Christ is Lord of
the Sabbath, it proves the Sabbath to be in force. As Christ proves
the resurrection, in Mark 12:26, 27--_I am the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, the God of Jacob; I am not the God of the dead, but of the
living_--so Christ is Lord of the Sabbath day. He is not Lord of the
dead types and shadows, or of that which is not in being, but he is
Lord of the lively oracles, of which I consider the Sabbath to be one.
Acts 7:38.
_Objection._ But did not Christ break the Sabbath, and teach men so to
do, in bidding the impotent man take up his bed and walk, it being
unlawful to carry a burden upon the Sabbath day?
_Answer._ The scribes and pharisees said so, indeed, and that his bed
was a burden; but they were very unfit judges, they being ignorant of
the right manner of observing the Sabbath, and seeking likewise to
take advantage against Christ in his words and actions. Their saying
the man's bed was a burden, and that it was unlawful for him to carry
it, doth prove no more that was it so, than their saying that the
disciples did break the Sabbath in plucking the ears of corn, and
Christ in healing the diseased. But was not this a work of mercy, the
man having been lame so long in the porch now being cured? Was it not
meet that he should be released from the place, and take his bed with
him to lay on at night? (for it is likely he had no other.) And who
can say that it was a burden? In some countries that which they call a
bed is no heavier than a good cloak or coat. But consider what gross
wickedness naturally flows from this opinion. The objectors
themselves, and all, must acknowledge that the whole law was in force
till the death of Christ--the very shadows, till he nailed them to his
cross; then the fourth commandment doubtless was in force. Now, to say
that Christ broke it, and taught men so, is to say that Christ sinned,
and taught men to sin, (for sin is the transgression of the law,) and
this roots up redemption by Christ; for if Christ was a sinner, he
could not be a Saviour. He had not been a meet offering for the sins
of others; he had been a sinner himself. But he was offered up a Lamb
without spot, (Heb. 7:26, 1 Peter 1:19,) and was made sin for us, that
knew no sin, (2 Cor. 5:2;) and therefore this objection is made so
gross, that every sincere heart that sees the tendency of it will not
touch it; and indeed I had not mentioned it here, but that many
through weakness have taken it up as a sufficient ground to prove the
making void of the Sabbath, for want of looking into the bottom of it.
6. Another ground to prove the Sabbath yet to be in force, may be
taken from the words of Christ to his disciples in Matt. 24:20--_But
pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath
day_; which is part of the answer Christ gave them when they came
privately to him to ask him when the destruction of the temple should
be, the signs of his coming, and the end of the world. It is generally
conceived that this part of Christ's answer relates to the destruction
of Jerusalem; and, indeed, that is the shortest time that can be
thought it relates to, as appears by the question which was asked him.
But suppose it to be so; doth it not plainly appear from hence, that
the Sabbath was to remain in full force after the death of Christ? The
destruction of Jerusalem was about forty years after the death of
Christ, and yet he commands his disciples to pray that their flight be
not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. Now, can we think that
Christ would lay such a foundation for superstition, as though the
Sabbath was to be at the ruin of Jerusalem, when it was to cease at
his death? Or can we think that Christ would teach his disciples to
pray false, or to pray that their flight should not be on the Sabbath,
when indeed there was to be no Sabbath? This is gross to imagine; for
as sure as winter was to remain winter, so the Sabbath was to remain
the Sabbath. And if their flight had been upon it, it would have been
the more tedious, it being a day of rest and refreshment to them,
wherein they used to rejoice and praise the Lord, as appears by that
song for the Sabbath day, in Psalm 92. But although this Scripture
looks to the destruction of Jerusalem, yet I conceive that it looks
farther, even to that distress that Jerusalem shall be in at the
second coming of Christ, and that for these reasons:--
1st. Those things that Christ spake of were accomplished in a measure
in the apostles' days; and yet they are not completely fulfilled. For
instance, Christ told his disciples that they should be delivered up
to be killed, and they should be hated of all nations for his name's
sake. This was in the apostles' days, and hath been since; and false
prophets did arise then, and so they have since. So that those things
which Christ spake looked to several times, and therefore, I conceive,
he saith, _Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till
all these things be fulfilled._ So I judge that what he spake
concerning Jerusalem had not only respect to that destruction that
came upon it during that generation, but also to that great calamity
that should be upon it in the last days.
2d. This will more plainly appear, if we consider the words of Christ,
_But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath
day; for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be._ Matt.
24:20, 21. Now, with this compare Zech. 14:2, _For I will gather all
nations against Jerusalem to battle, and they shall be taken, and the
houses rifled, and the women ravished._ And in the third and fourth
verses it is said, _Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against
those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle, and his feet
shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives._ With which compare
Dan. 12:1, 2, _And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great
Prince, which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall
be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even
to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered,
every one that shall be found, written in the book. And many of them
that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt._ Now, if that great
destruction of Jerusalem produced such great trouble as never was, nor
ever should be again, how is it that there shall be such great trouble
as never was since there was a nation, when Michael stands up to
deliver the people, every one that is written in the book, and
Jerusalem is taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished,
when the Lord comes forth to fight against those nations, and his feet
shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, according to that text in Acts
1:11, _So shall he come in like manner as ye have seen him go into
heaven_; and when the seventh angel pours out his vial, (Rev. 16:17,
18,) which time I conceive is one and the same with that in Zechariah
and Daniel--and the angel is Michael, the great prince which Daniel
speaks of, whose feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives--then is
the time of great trouble, and such an earthquake as was not since men
were upon the face of the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great.
So that to me it appears, that these three Scriptures do correspond
with the words of Christ, pointing out the same time; and if so, then
the Sabbath shall remain till the coming of Christ, and so shall stand
till heaven and earth pass away, according to the passage in Matt.
5:18; and for ever and ever, according to that in Psalm 111:8; and the
destruction of Jerusalem seems to be a type of that great destruction
that shall be at Christ's appearance. And, as Jerusalem was taken when
some from all nations were gathered together, as history reports, and
on the Sabbath day it was destroyed, so it appears that the strength
of the saints will be gathered together at Jerusalem, because all
nations will gather against it, and Jerusalem's strait will be upon
the Sabbath day, as seems to appear by the words of Christ, for then,
saith he, shall be great tribulation, such as never was; (then! when?
why, when their flight shall be upon the Sabbath day;) and this great
tribulation is when Jerusalem shall be taken, the houses rifled, and
the women ravished, as was said before; _at which time Michael shall
stand up and fight against these nations, as when he fought in the day
of battle; and the slain of the Lord shall be many, even from one end
of the earth to the other_, (Jer. 25:31-33,) _and the Mount of Olives
shall cleave in the midst thereof, and there shall be a very great
valley, into which the saints shall flee_, (Zech. 14:5.) Then shall
the Sabbath be swallowed up in the great Sabbath of a thousand years,
that glorious and holy rest which the saints shall enter into, and
live and reign with Christ. Rev. 20:4.
7. Another ground is taken from the practice of Christ's disciples
after his death, as recorded in Luke 23:5, 6, _And they returned and
prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day according to
the commandment._ Some say, that if we do observe the Sabbath, we must
do all those sacrifices which the Jews did upon it. But at this time
the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, and the
shadows were done away by the body of Christ, and yet they kept the
Sabbath, not through fear or ignorance, but according to the
commandment, which is to rest from their labors; and so they did, for
the text saith, _they returned and rested_. There is no sacrifice
expressed in the commandment, _The stranger and the cattle were to
rest on the Sabbath._ Exod. 20:10. So that the Sabbath was commanded
and observed before any of those sacrifices were commanded to be
offered upon it. But because the Jews did such a service upon the
Sabbath day, as they were a typical people, it doth not follow that
this was any part of the commandment; and therefore we are to rest, as
those disciples did, according to the commandment. It is remarkable,
that the Holy Ghost should leave this thing upon record, which would
not have been, I am persuaded, had the Sabbath then been abolished. He
doth not only say, they returned and rested on the Sabbath day, but,
to prevent all mistakes, lest it should be thought they did it
ignorantly or superstitiously, or for fear of the Jews, he saith they
did it groundedly, that is, according to the commandment.
_Obj._ But the disciples were met together upon the first day of the
week, and Christ appeared unto them. John 20:9.
_Ans._ It is true, they were assembled together upon the same day at
even, being the first day of the week, with the door shut; and the
cause is laid down why they were so, namely, for fear of the Jews.
Some of the disciples, as I said before, kept the Sabbath the day
before, and I think we can not reasonably imagine but that those did
who were together on the first day, for they did frequently correspond
together, that is manifest. But what doth their being together on the
first day evening, and Christ's appearing to them, prove for the
observation of the first day, more than his appearing to them eight
days after, and appearing to them the third time early in the morning
when they were fishing, (John 21:4, 5,) for the observation of those
days? It was necessary that Christ should appear to his disciples on
the first day of the week, that his word might be fulfilled of his
rising the third day, so that they might boldly witness the same.
_Obj._ But the disciples came together on the first day of the week,
and did break bread, and Paul preached unto them. Acts 20.
_Ans._ This is all the meeting or preaching that ever we find held
upon the first day, except the disciples being together for fear of
the Jews, mentioned before, at evening. So this seemed to be, because
when they came together Paul preached with them, continuing his speech
until midnight. It is not likely, then, that they observed the day and
came together in the morning, seeing he continued his speech so long.
And, as we have the cause of the disciples being together with their
doors shut, so we have the cause of this meeting. Paul was ready to
depart on the morrow upon an extraordinary occasion, and he had many
things to communicate to them, as appears by his discoursing with them
till midnight, and talking till break of day. But that which makes the
objectors lay such stress upon this text, is because the disciples
came together to break bread, which they judge to be the Lord's
Supper. Suppose it were so, what doth this make for the observation of
the first day, more than Christ's first instituting the Supper upon
the fifth day of the week, (as is generally conceived,) doth make for
the observation of it? But we have no proof that this was the Supper
of the Lord that they came to partake of, but it seems to be such
breaking of bread as the margin of some Bibles refers to. Acts 2:46.
_They continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking
bread from house to house, and did eat their meat with gladness of
heart._ So in Luke 24:30, 35. And it is explained what kind of
breaking of bread it was, where it is said, when he was risen up
again, and had broken bread and eaten, and talked a good while, till
break of day, he departed. Here is eating and talking; it is not
solemnized as the Lord's Supper. Some would have this common breaking
of bread, and the other in verse 7, to be the Lord's Supper; but it is
very unlikely that there should be two sorts of breaking of bread at
one time, by the same persons, and yet nothing spoken distinctly by
which we might know the one from the other. The most that can be said,
is but a supposition; it can not be proved that this was the Lord's
Supper. How weak a ground this is for the observation of this day as a
Sabbath, or more than any other day, or to limit the administration of
the Lord's Supper to this day, I leave to the truly wise in heart to
judge.
_Obj._ But the church had their gatherings upon the first day of the
week, by which it appears that it was the day that they met together
upon. 1 Cor. 16:2.
_Ans._ The words are these, _Upon the first day of the week let every
one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there
be no gatherings when I come_. Here is no proof of their meeting
together, but rather the contrary, every one was to lay by him in
store as God had prospered him; no public gathering, but private
laying up. But because the Apostle saith, in the close of the verse,
_that there be no gatherings when I come_, therefore it is thought the
Scripture can not be so understood, because it would not prevent
gatherings. But is this fair, when a text of Scripture stands alone,
to put such a sense upon it as doth contradict the very letter of
it--when it saith, let every one of you lay by him in store, then to
say the meaning is to have public gatherings and but one store? And
would not the end of the Apostle be fully answered, namely, to have no
gatherings, if each of them did lay by in store, as God had prospered
them in the world, ready against the Apostle came, they knowing of his
coming? And when he came, was it not as easy to carry it with them to
him, as for us to carry our Bibles to a meeting; and what need would
there be then of gatherings? And this way of giving would not be
pharisee-like, but according to the words of Christ, in Matt. 6:1-4,
_Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them;
otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. But
when thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
hand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father which
seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly._
_Obj._ But John was in the spirit on the Lord's day, (and had the
various revelations upon it,) which is conceived to be the first day
of the week. Rev. 1:10.
_Ans._ It is true, John was in the spirit on the Lord's day. But the
question will be, what day that was. If any particular one of the
seven, it must have been the Sabbath, for no other day is so called
but that. God calls it his holy day in Isa. 58:13, and Christ saith he
is Lord even of the Sabbath day. And if so, then it is his day, for he
is Lord of it, and that by way of eminence; not, as some would have
it, to show that he is Lord of every day, but as it is the Sabbath;
for so it is said the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. So
that this notion that the Lord's day is the first day, is merely taken
up on trust one from another, without one word of Scripture to prove
it.
_Obj._ But it will be yet objected, by those that are for no Sabbath,
in the words of the Apostle in Col. 2:16, 17, _Let no man therefore
judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy-day, or of
the new-moon, or of the Sabbath-days, which are a shadow of things to
come, but the body is of Christ_; whence it is concluded that the
Sabbath was but a shadow, and none are to be judged for not observing
it.
_Ans._ There were holy-days and Sabbaths besides the seventh-day
Sabbath, or the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, for so it is called in
the commandment, as doth appear in Lev. 23:39. Now, because it is
implied by the words of the Apostle, that Sabbaths were shadows, to be
done away by the body of Christ, doth it therefore follow that all
Sabbaths were so, any more than the words of the Apostle that men
shall be saved, prove that all men shall be saved? And if we consider
the verses before, it will plainly appear, that the Apostle was not
speaking of any of the ten commandments. In verse 15, the Apostle is
speaking to the Gentiles, showing how they were dead in sins, and in
the uncircumcision of their flesh, but are now quickened by Christ,
and all their trespasses forgiven them. In verse 14, he shows what
farther benefit they had by the death of Christ, Blotting out the
hand-writing of ordinances, which was against us, and contrary to us,
he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and the Scripture
on which the objection is founded hath its dependence upon that which
comes in with, Therefore let no man judge you in meats, and drinks,
&c.; as though the Apostle had said, Forasmuch as Christ hath blotted
out and nailed to his cross those ordinances which are against the
Gentiles, you are not to be judged for the non-performance of them.
Now the ten commandments were never against the Gentiles, nor contrary
to them; for the same Apostle saith the matter of them was written in
their hearts, as was said before, and they did by nature the things
contained in them, and therefore they were not contrary to them. But
circumcision and other ordinances stood as a wall against the
Gentiles, which Christ broke down, by taking them out of the way and
nailing them to the cross, _having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in
himself of twain one new man, so making peace that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby_. Eph. 2:15. So that it is clear, that the Apostle is speaking
of such commandments as were contained in ordinances, and not those
commandments that were eminently distinguished from ordinances; but
those ordinances which were against the Gentiles, and made them and
the Jews two, as did drinks, new-moons, holy-days, and Sabbath-days,
Christ by his blood having taken these away, hath made them one. That
the ten commandments should be struck at, there is no cover in this
Scripture for, or that the Sabbath should only be taken from them and
nailed to the cross with new-moons, meats, and other shadows and
ordinances which were against man. But Christ saith, The Sabbath was
made for man. So that in this place there is no proof for the
abrogation of this command of God. But for a more full answer see my
other book.
_Obj._ How is it that the Apostle saith, in Rom. 14:5, 6, _that one
man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day
alike_, and yet he does not reprove either of them?
_Ans._ I make no doubt but if the controversy here alluded to had been
about the Sabbath, whether it were to be observed or not, it would
have been plainly expressed, and not passed over so slightly. But the
Apostle is speaking of _indifferent things_, which men were not to be
judged for their doing or not doing, and not of commandments. Because
it is said that some esteem every day alike, therefore some conclude
that this takes away the Sabbath day; but we must compare Scripture
with Scripture, adopt such a sense as may bring them into harmony, and
sometimes explain general terms by restrictive Scriptures. For
instance, Christ says to his disciples, _Go preach the gospel to every
creature_; we must understand it to mean to every creature that is in
a condition to hear the gospel. The Apostle saith, that every creature
of God is good, and nothing to be refused. But some are poison, and
are to be refused. So is every day alike, that is, every working day,
which God hath made alike; but the seventh day he hath sanctified and
made a Sabbath of rest, and so not like the others. This
interpretation is according to that Scripture in Exod. 16:4, _Behold,
I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and
gather a certain rate every day_; and in verse 12, _They gathered
every morning every man according to his eating, yet on the Sabbath
day there was none to gather._ And in our common speech it is so; we
call the six days every day. Men say, we work every day, or we travel
so far every day, when they mean only the six days that they count
working days. So the Apostle, speaking to them that kept the Sabbath,
speaks in the same language, and we have no ground to think otherwise;
for there is no Scripture that we find before this that hath any
seeming dislike against the observation of the Sabbath, but the
contrary.
_Obj. Ye observe days, and years, and times, and months; I am afraid
of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain._ Gal. 4:10, 11.
_Ans._ This cannot be understood that the Apostle here strikes at the
mere observation of days, a thing of such dangerous consequence, for
he would not have them judged that observed one day above another. In
Rom, 14:5, 6, and in this place, he himself judges these as persons
that had so far degenerated, that he was afraid he had bestowed upon
them labor in vain; but it is manifest that these Galatians were gone
back to circumcision, and so were debtors to the whole law, seeking
justification thereby. Gal. 5:2-4. So they observed days and years,
according to the law that was a shadow of good things to come,
solemnizing the days, and months, and years, with those things that
were appointed for them, as burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, the
waving of the sheaf, the Passover, and Feast of Unleavened Bread, and
the like, as may be seen at large in Lev. 23:8-11; for they could not
be said to observe times, and months and years, according to the law,
except they did such service. And this gave the Apostle just ground to
fear that he had bestowed on them labor in vain. But to imagine that
to observe the Sabbath according to the commandment, or to observe a
day voluntarily to the Lord, is so dangerous, is contrary both to
Scripture and reason.
_Obj._ We who believe are entered into rest, of which the Sabbath was
but a type, as appeals by the words of the Apostle in Heb. 4:3.
_Ans._ If eternal rest by faith be the antitype of the Sabbath, the
Sabbath ceased to be in force to every man so soon as he believed;
which is ridiculous to think, and contrary to the current of
Scripture. But the Apostle saith, _We who believe do enter into rest;
for he that is entered into his rest is ceased from his own works, as
God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest
any man fall after the example of unbelief._ Heb. 4:10, 11. Mind this
chapter well, and I am persuaded you will see that the drift of the
Apostle, in mentioning the seventh day here, is but to amplify and set
forth that perfect rest which they that believe do and shall enjoy, of
which the land of Canaan was but a type; and to show that God's rest
was before the Land of Canaan, and that there yet remains a rest to
the people of God. As God did rest the seventh day from all his works,
so they that enter into rest do cease from their own works, as God did
from his. And this is not as soon as men believe, for the Apostle
provokes himself and others which were believers to labor to enter
into it. And therefore, if you will have the Sabbath, a type from this
Scripture, though it is nowhere so called, it must be a type of
eternal rest, which saints do enter into when they cease from their
own works, as God did from his. And that will not be till they lay
down this tabernacle, which will not affect the thing asserted. And
indeed I cannot deny but the Sabbath is an earnest of that rest, and
saints that are spiritual in the observation of it find it so, and of
great use to put them in mind of that glorious rest, as the bread and
wine in the Lord's Supper put us in mind of the sufferings of Christ;
so this being a day of rest and delight, being striped of all worldly
incumbrances, and devoted to the Lord, to pray unto him, and to praise
his holy name, to meditate upon heaven and heavenly glory.
_Obj._ But many say, If the Sabbath be in force, then the penalty must
needs be so, and then those that do not keep it must be stoned;
therefore this opinion is dangerous, and will lead saints to destroy
one another.
_Ans._ This is a very showy objection, but indeed it is a very weak
one. I do not find that any more than one was stoned, and it was for
presumptuous breaking of the Sabbath. But suppose that penalty be in
force; every saint is not a magistrate to put it in execution. If a
saint should kill a man, saints as they are saints are not to execute
him; all that they can do is to endeavor his repentance, but it
belongs to the true magistrate to inflict the punishment. The penal
laws of God take hold of presumptuous sinners, not for sins of
ignorance, and therefore it is not to be thought that any punishment
will be inflicted upon any for a breach of the Sabbath till it be
universally acknowledged. So then, if God hath annexed the penalty of
death to the breaking of it, doubtless it will be just. But we find in
Nehemiah's time, that although they had made a market-day of the
Sabbath, treading of wine-presses, lading of asses, and selling of all
manner of provisions upon it, yet he doth but contend with them. He
contends with the Jews of Jerusalem, the nobles of Judah, and the men
of Tyre, but inflicts no punishment on either. Neh. 13:15-17, 21. But
what a strange thing is this, that men should count it a dangerous
opinion, to hold that the Sabbath is in force, because of the penalty!
Suppose it be so; the same may be said of the rest of the
commandments. For instance, the first commandment is, _Thou shalt have
no other gods before me_; he that worshiped a strange god was to be
put to death. Now, shall we not own this commandment, because the
breakers of it were so punished? Again, _He that sheddeth man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed._ Now, is there any danger in the
owning of this commandment, _Thou shalt do no murder_, because the
punishment is in force? Again, the fifth commandment is, _Honor thy
father and thy mother_, but he that cursed father or mother was to be
put to death. Now, shall we not honor father and mother, and so shall
we break this commandment, because this punishment belongs to the
breakers of it? So this objection is of no weight or use at all,
except it be as a bear-skin put upon the truth to frighten children
away, lest they should look into it.
_Obj._ But we do not find any of the apostles urge this commandment in
any of their epistles, namely, that the Sabbath day should be observed.
_Ans._ Neither do we find the apostles urging the first, second, or
third commandment in particular, as laid down in the table, but they
are frequently urged in the general, as in Rom. 7:12, 13:8-10, and
generals comprehend particulars. James saith, _Whosoever shall keep
the whole law, yet offend in one point, is guilty of all_; and he
proves it thus, _Because he that said, Do not commit adultery, said
also, Do not kill; now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill,
thou art become a transgressor of the law._ The same argument may be
drawn from the thing in hand. He that saith, Do not commit adultery,
saith also, Keep the Sabbath; now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if
thou break the Sabbath, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
James 2:10, 11. And Paul saith, _Circumcision is nothing, and
uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of
God._ 1 Cor. 7:19. John saith, in his first epistle, chapter 5:2, 3,
_By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God
and keep his commandments; for this is the love of God, that we keep
his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous._ And if the
apostles had not spoken a word to this commandment, in general or in
particular, it is no ground for us to lay it by, except the
observation of it were forbidden, because it is so plainly commanded
by God, explained by Christ, observed by his disciples, both before
and after his death, as was said before, and will farther appear by
and by.
_Obj._ But we do not find that any of the churches kept the Sabbath.
_Ans._ That is no proof that they did not keep it. But it is clear
that the church of Jerusalem kept it, though it is not plainly
expressed, for they were so zealous for the very customs, that Paul is
counseled to purify himself, lest they should be offended at him. Acts
21:21, 24. Now, if they were for the observation of those things that
were but shadows, there is no doubt but they were very strict for the
observation of the Sabbath. And there was such offence taken against
Paul for preaching against circumcision and the customs, that we need
not question, if the Sabbath had been preached against, but we should
have heard a great noise of it in the Scriptures, and seen strong
convincing reasons why it was abolished. And it is as clear that the
apostles kept the Sabbath after the resurrection of Christ as before.
_Paul went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down, and
after the reading of the law preached the gospel, and told them of the
ignorance of those that dwelt at Jerusalem of the voice of the
prophets which were read every Sabbath day. And the Gentiles besought
him that these words might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. And the
next Sabbath came almost the whole city together to hear the word of
God._ Acts 13:14, 15, 42, 44. So that it is clear, that the Sabbath
was Paul's resting-day and preaching-day, both to the Jews and
Gentiles, that being the day that the Gentiles used to hear; and
though they had a desire to hear the same words again, yet it must be
next Sabbath; and Paul fulfills their desire, and preaches to them the
next Sabbath, and almost the whole city came to hear. Can we think, if
there had been no Sabbath, that Paul would have countenanced them so
in their ignorance? Or, if the first day had been a day that was
observed, would he not have told them so, that they might have heard
the word before the next Sabbath. And when Paul came to Philippi, a
Gentile city, mind what is said in Acts 16:12, 13, _We were in that
city abiding certain days, and on the Sabbath day we went out of the
city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat
down and spake unto the women that resorted thither._ The seventh day
hath its title still, as is said by the Spirit in Acts; speaking of
certain days, this is singled out and called the Sabbath day, with an
account how they spent it, and the blessing they received upon it;
they resorted to the place of prayer, and there they preached, and the
Lord opened Lydia's heart to attend to the words of Paul. And in Acts
17:2, it is said, _That Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them,
and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures._ And
when Paul came to Corinth, which was a Gentile city, and found Aquila,
a Jew, and his wife Priscilla, and because they were of the same
craft, he abode with them, and wrought, for by occupation they were
tent-makers, _he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath day, and
persuaded the Jews and Greeks_. Acts 18:2-4. So that it is manifest,
that the Greeks kept the Sabbath as well as the Jews, and that though
Paul wrought at his trade and made tents, yet he rested every Sabbath
day; and as we have an account how he spent his time, namely, in
working at his trade, so we have an account how he spent his time on
the Sabbath. Now, if it be such a strong argument for the observation
of the first day, because Paul preached upon it once; what is this for
the observation of the seventh day, that Paul did not only preach
constantly upon it, but wherever the Spirit speaks of it he calls it
the Sabbath day, without the least hint that he did so out of
condescension to the weakness of others? And let it be shown by the
Scriptures that the apostles did countenance and own any shadow that
was done away, as they owned and countenanced the keeping of the
Sabbath, and we may follow the apostles as they followed the Lord in
this matter, though we have no express word that the churches kept it.
And, indeed, I think I may say in this case, as the Apostle said in
another, that it would have been superfluous for the apostles to have
told any people in their time that such and such a church kept the
Sabbath; it being a truth not so much as questioned, that we hear of,
but Jews and Gentiles both observed it. But now I cease answering
objections, as I have spoken to those that are the most material of
them that I have heard, and I shall proceed to another ground.
8. Consider the bondage and slavery that both man and beast would be
in if this doctrine were received for truth. Would it not now, however
have the tendency to bring the world more to atheism? Some men would
not allow themselves nor their servants time to rest, or hear the word
of God, if they were persuaded that there was no Sabbath; yea, and the
greater part of saints are left to the mercy of merciless men, most of
them being children, and wives, and servants; and they cannot
challenge a day in seven, or a day in seventy, as their right to rest
upon, and to worship the Lord in, from any commandment of God, if this
doctrine be true, that the Sabbath is abolished. And were this but to
bring a yoke of bondage upon us, that neither we nor our fathers were
able to bear, we should not so much as take notice at this time how it
goes in probability, for the way of numbering is by sevens.
But some will say, It is good to observe one day in seven, though it
be not a constant day. This will be confessed, for one to observe one
day, and another to observe another day, while others are for a
seventh day to be constantly observed. But why not the seventh day
which God hath commanded, for the seventh day is the Sabbath? It
plainly appears, that there is something of the table-law yet upon the
table of the hearts of most men, though worn by much transgression;
for men generally plead to have one day in seven to rest in, and yet
because of custom they contend against this holy, just law of God,
that was made in mercy for man. I am persuaded in my very heart, and
that not without good ground, that if the seventh day had been
observed as the first day is, no man that owns the Scriptures would
have questioned whether it ought to be observed or not, or at least no
opposition would have been made against it; and when all is said,
custom and worldly interest are the two great things that stand in
opposition to it.
9. And lastly, consider those great and precious promises made to them
that keep the Sabbath according to the inside and spirituality of it;
not that we are so to spiritualize it as to make void the letter, but
according to the letter, as Christ doth. For instance, he saith, _Ye
have heard that it hath been said of old time, Thou shalt not commit
adultery; but I say unto you, Whosoever looketh on a woman and lusteth
after her, hath committed adultery with her in his heart._ Now, if it
be adultery to lust, doubtless it is to act, and this is forbidden in
the commandment, for the commandment is, _Thou shall not commit
adultery_; but Christ unfolds this commandment, and gives such a sense
of it as the scribes and pharisees understood not. Again, the sixth
commandment is, _Thou shalt do no murder_; and John saith, _Whosoever
hateth his brother is a murderer._ John 3:15. Now, all murder was
forbidden in the commandment, yet this was not understood to be
murder; but John obeyed the spirituality of the commandment. And the
same may be said of the fourth commandment, _Remember the Sabbath day
to keep it holy_; all servile work is forbidden in it, and that the
pharisees understood; but they did not understand that works of mercy,
as curing the sick, and healing the diseased, might be done upon it.
Neither did they understand that inward and spiritual rest that was
held out in the commandment, as appears by the words of the Lord in
Isa. 58:13, 14, _If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from
doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the
holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own
ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words._
So that the saints are not only to cease from outward work in their
callings, but also from works that are inward and spiritually wicked,
that so the Sabbath may be a delight unto them, the holy of the Lord,
honorable. And mark the promise that is to such Sabbath-keepers, in
the fourteenth verse, _Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord,
and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and
will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it._ First, they shall delight themselves in the
Lord, and that will make the Sabbath a delight. Second, they shall
ride upon the high places of the earth; the high places of the earth
holding forth, as I conceive, the great opposition, whether of great
and mighty men, or great walled cities, according to that in Deut.
1:28, which hath an allusion to Israel's subduing the land of Canaan.
Deut. 32:13. Thou shalt ride upon them, that is, subdue and conquer
them. Psalm 45:4, 66:12. _They shall tread upon their high places._
Deut. 33:39. _They shall be as ashes under the soles of their feet._
Mal. 4:3. Now, when did the Lord's people do such work as this since
this prophesy? or, is it yet to be fulfilled?
Again, consider what the Lord saith in Isa. 56:6, 7, _Also the sons of
the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to
love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth
the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant, even
them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my
house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be
accepted upon mine altar, for mine house shall be called an house of
prayer to all people._ By the sons of the stranger, I understand is
here meant Gentiles, who were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel
and afar off, but are now made nigh by the blood of Christ, and so
they join themselves to the Lord, and serve him, and love the name of
the Lord; these are such as keep the Sabbath, and take hold of God's
covenant, and it is such a Sabbath as may be polluted, and therefore
not Christ's, as some would have it. Now, the promises that are made
to these strangers, do look at clear gospel times.
They shall be brought into God's holy mountain, and there be made
joyful, when it is so mountainous that it is the house of prayer for
all people, or for all nations, as Christ saith in Matt. 11:17.
_Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that taketh
hold on it, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth
his hand from doing any evil. Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs
that keep my Sabbath, and choose the things that please me, and take
hold on my covenant, even unto them will I give a name and a place
better than of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting
name, that shall not be cut off._ Isa. 56:2, 4, 5. The eunuchs are
such as care for the things that please the Lord, when the married
careth for the things that please his wife. Cor. 7:32, 33. And when
two parts shall be cut off and die, the eunuchs that keep the Sabbath
shall have an everlasting name, which shall not be cut off.
Now, let us not think it incredible that the Sabbath should be yet in
force, because it hath been so long laid aside; it hath been so with
other truths, and so with this, before now. It seemed to be so out of
knowledge with Israel in the wilderness, that when the people had
gathered twice as much manna on the sixth day, they did not understand
the meaning of it; but the nobles came and told Moses, and he told
them what the Lord had said, that to-morrow should be the rest of the
holy Sabbath. And also, after their coming out of Babylon, when they
had built the house of God, and set it in order, placing the priests
and Levites, and had chosen faithful men to distribute the maintenance
to their brethren. Neh. 13:10, 13. In a word, their reformation was
much about the light of ours, and it is confessed by the enlightened
that it was a type of this reformation that the Lord hath begun
amongst us in these isles, namely, in bringing his people out of
Babylon, and building up of Zion; and, indeed, as their sins and ours
are alike in many things, so in this, namely in breaking the fourth
commandment; for Nehemiah saith, in chap. 13:15, that in those days he
saw in Judah some treading wine-presses on the Sabbath, and lading
asses, and bringing in sheaves, as also wine, grapes, and figs, and
all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem upon the
Sabbath day; and he testified against them in the day wherein they
sold victuals. Notwithstanding all the reformation, yet this was seen
in Judah. They had laid by the observation of the Sabbath, and had
made it a common working, market day, as may be seen at large in that
chapter. It was not in vain, therefore, that the Lord said, _Remember
the Sabbath_, he foreseeing how it would be slighted and forgotten,
not only by those that were brought out of literal Babylon, but also
by those that should be brought out of spiritual Babylon in the latter
days; and when the day of the Lord burns as an oven, it will be
remembered to some purpose. Mal. 4:4. In the mean time, the Lord is
stirring up some of his poor babes and sucklings. Such he is pleased
usually to discover truth unto at the first breaking out of it, and
they are to contend for it, though in much weakness.