pfalm or fong for the fabbath day," ver. 1. and ver. 2. we are told, that "It is good to give thanks unto the Lord, and fhew forth his loving kindness in the morning, and his faithfulness every night." But more of this afterwards, when I come directly to treat of the fanctification of the Sabbath. And, before I do this, I judge it neceffary to anfwer fome objections brought against the morality of the Sabbath, and the change of the day.

Quakers, Familifts, and others, holding that there is no difference of days, and fo denying the divine authority of the Sabbath, I fhall confider what they fay.

Some objections against the former doctrine anfwered.

Object. 1. "Every day ought to be a Sabbath to a Christian, and so there is no need of a fet day."

Anf. Though Christians fhould ferve God, and walk with him every day, yet they cannot make every day a Sabbath for the public worship of God, fince God calls them to other neceffary work and bufinefs thereupon, which are inconfiftent with the folemn fpiritual employment of the Sabbath.

Object. 2. "Paul, in his epiftle to the Galatians, and elsewhere, condemns the obfervation of days under the New Teftament.”

Anf. The apostle speaks only of the Jewish Sabbath and feftivals, which where fhadows of things to come, and abolished by Chrift's coming; but not of the Lord's day, which the apostle himself obferved, and did particularly recommend to the Galatians their obfervation, 1 Cor. xvi. 1. 2.

Object. 3." The Sabbath was given as a type or fign only to the Jews; therefore it must be abolished with the rest of their types and ceremonies."

But

Anf. 1. The Sabbath is indeed faid to be given as a fign betwixt God and his people, Ezek. xx. 12. that is not confined to the people of the Jews, (except as to the feventh day Sabbath only, of which I fpoke before) but to be extended to all God's people to the end of the world.

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2. There

2. There is a great difference betwixt a fign and a ceremony, which is an alterable thing. The rainbow is called a fign, Gen. ix. God's moral precepts are called figns, Deut. vi 8. Yet none will fay that these are ceremonies, or alterable things.

3. Some figns are ceremonial and alterable; others are moral and perpetual: The Sabbath is not a sign of the first, but of the latter fort. Indeed, all the figns and types of the facrifice of the Meffiah, and juftification by Chrift to come, were nailed all to the cross with him, and abrogated; but all figns were not of this kind. The rainbow is given as a fign of the world's prefervation from a deluge, and is perpetual: The Ten Commandments are given as probative figns of our obedience, and are perpetual, and fo is the Sabbath. Indeed, the Sabbath is a more peculiar fign than any of the rest of the commands, and therefore is emphatically called a fign feveral times in fcripture.

1. It is a fign of God's fpecial love and favour to his people: The Sabbath is a great bleffing and privilege to them; for which Nehemiah gives God thanks in a fpecial manner, Neh. ix. 14. of which more afterward.

2. It is a fign of that eternal reft above, provided for the people of God.

3. The religious obfervation of the Sabbath is a declarative fign of our fanctification; therefore it is faid, Exod. xxxi. and Ezek. xx. that the Lord

gave his people Sabbaths and figns, that " they might know that he was the Lord that fan&tified them." So that it is plain from these, that the Sabbath is a fign to us as well as to the Jews.

Object. 4. "But, (fay Quakers and other fectaries,) there is no holiness in days, one time is not better than another; and therefore the Sabbath doth not differ from other days in the week."

Anf. I grant, one day is not holier than another in itself, (as one place is not more holy in its own nature than another) yet it may be holier in refpect of its ufe. Thus the Sabbath day hath a relative holiness in it, as it is defigned and appropriated to God's use and fervice, and therefore must not be alienated to uses

of

of our own; for this would be facrilege, which is a heinous crime. Hence it is, that the Lord doth exprefsly call the Sabbath a holy day, Ifa. Iviii 13

Object 5. "But (fay they) doth God require us to be more religious and godly at one time than another?"

Anf There are fometimes that God requires us to give ourselves more to religion, and to exprefs it more by outward acts of worship, than at other times. I grant, that we ought always to be religious, and to ferve and worship God every day of the week; but God, in his wifdom, hath thought fit to fet apart a certain feason, wherein he requires more of the folemn, external and visible exercifes of religion, and performance of holy duties, than at other times. fons of his fo doing I mentioned before.

The rea.

Some objections against the change of the day answered. Object. 1. The leventh day Sabbath was initituted in the ftate of innocency; therefore it is to be held as moral and unalterable."

Af. The inftitution of the Sabbath, or confecration of " one day in seven to the Lord," may be hence concluded moral and perpetual, fince the reafon and ground of it is fuch, as was fhewed before; but it will not follow, that the determination of the precife day of the week is moral and unalterable alfo, fince the Lawgiver, who appointed it, not only could, but actually hath altered it, as was fhewed already. Every thing that God did bid or forbid our first parents, in a ftate of innocency, was not moral or unalterably good or evil in itself, as appears from the inftance of prohibiting tọ "eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil;" this was a law merely pofitive, and alterable in itself. Lafly, Though the Sabbath of the feventh-day was appointed in the state of innocency, and probably would have continued unalterably, if the fall had not intervened, and no greater work than that of the creation had been wrought: Yet, after the fall, God made the feventh, day Sabbath peculiar to the old economy or difpenfation of the covenant, and alterable together with it, upon

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upon his accomplishing the far more glorious work of our redemption.

Object. 2." The Ifraelites are injoined to obferve the Sabbath throughout their generations, "for a perpetual covenant," Exod. xxxi. 16.

Anf. 1. This may be understood of the Sabbath indefinitely, and not of the feventh day Sabbath.

2. Granting the seventh day Sabbath were meant here, yet the perpetuity attributed to it is not abfolute, but periodical; denoting only a great length of time; for fo we find it ascribed to circumcifion, the fhewbread, and other things which were to be abolished.

Object. 3. "There is no exprefs precept for keeping the Chriftian Sabbath in the New Teftament."

Anf 1. The Lord doth not give express command for every particular duty in his word, but hath thought it fufficient to afford us plain fcripture confequences, whence we may gather it.

2. There was no need of any new express precept to be left on record, fince all the Chriftians understand themselves to be expressly obliged by the fourth com. mand to observe one day of feven as a Sabbath unto the Lord. And, for the particular day, the example of Christ, and of his apoftles, (who delivered nothing but what they received from their Mafter, 1 Cor. xi. 23 ) was fufficient to enter the church upon the uniform obfervation thereof: And, being once begun, they could not easily mistake in the continuance of it. The fcripture indeed mentions the change of the day, and the keeping of the Chriftian Sabbath, but briefly, and by fhort hints, because it was a thing univerfally notour to the whole church.

These things, concerning the morality and perpetual obligation of the law for the Sabbath, being premifed; I come, in the next place, to the chief thing which I defigned to handle, viz. The fanctification of the Sabbath: And there to fhew particularly, how this holy day should be fanctified in a due and suitable

manner.

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TH

CHAP. II.

Concerning the Sanctification of the Sabbath.

HERE is a twofold fanctification of the Sabbath, mentioned in the fourth command, the one by God, the other by man.

As for the firft, God hath already fanctified it, as is recorded in the clofe of the command; "The Lord bleffed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." His bleffing and hallowing the day are both of the fame import, and fignify these two things;

1. The Lord's distinguishing this day from others, and his setting it apart from common unto facred uses and employments. He hath honoured it with his royal ftamp, and confecrated it for the work of heaven.

2. His pitching upon the Sabbath as the day whereon he doth remarkably blefs and fanctify men, by filling his ordinances with the fpecial bleffings and graces of his holy Spirit, and making them effectual to our fanctification.

This is a bleffed day, and a day of bleffing: For as it is our duty on this day to meet together, and bless God; fo it is God's promife this day to meet with us, and bless us. He will rain bleffings upon the obfervers of his Sabbath, grant them his prefence, and make them joyful in his house of prayer.

As to the fecond, the fanctification of the Sabbath, which is required of us; this is either negative or pofitive. The first confifts in a holy reft;. the fecond in holy exercises upon the Sabbath.

Before I proceed to handle thefe, I fhall lay down fome cautions for the right understanding of the fourth command, and for preventing mistakes. Wherefore, when God doth here appoint us fix days of the week for our labour, and one day for his worship, we must not think that it is God's meaning, 1, That no part of our fix days is to be spent in religious exercises; for

under