The Practical Sabbatarian

11. 28. Or else this Committee of Church Governors (who they were, where they met, or what they did, could never yet be discovered) did appoint the Christian Sabbath against the consent of the Apostles; and surely then, their presumption would have been taxed in holy writ, for a perpetual reproach of the thing, or else they had fallen under the Pens of Ecclesiastical Historians: of all which ne quis quidem, not anything appears to the most critical Observator, in their most curious searches and inquisitions. But it can never be imagined, any should dare to impose a day of their own invention upon the Church, the Apostles, those infallible Spirits, being yet in the land of the living.

[unspec 5] Did the Church appoint the Christian Sabbath, let her be called the Lady of it, and so Christ will lose his title of Lord of it, Mark 2. 28. which as Pareus observes, is one argument of Christ's Divinity; for none can be Lord of the Sabbath, but he who appointed it, and he whose Sabbath it is: and surely such an attempt can hardly be excused of the most daring Sacrilege; to rob God, not of his Tythes, but of his Titles, and so put Christ's Arms into their Scutcheons, this indeed savors too much of arrogancy, and it cannot be fastened on the Flock of Christ, who hears his voice, and follows the accents of it. And how our Sabbath should be the Lord's day, and yet of human institution, is such a knot I know not how to untie, and am not over-hopeful to see the Riddle unfolded by any other. That the Church should give the Sabbath a being, and the Lord should give it a name, is such a partage, I think few will own. Seyrus the Casuist hath laid down a good Rule, viz. The Church can abolish holy days, because she determines them, and custom prevails much among men, but the sanctification of a day is only from a Divine Law. Let the Church then move in its own sphere, and follow the letter of its Commission; but to set apart a Sabbath for the World, let it not avouch any such Authority; this is for the Spouse of Christ to disturb, and awaken her beloved.

[unspec 6] If the Church have any such privilege as to appoint a Sabbath for Mankind; let her show her Charter and Commission out of the Old or New Testament: But it is to be supposed, she can show none sufficient to authorize her for this transcendent act, to determine the solemn and sufficient time of God's solemn and ordinary worship: Could she have brought forth her Credentials, the world should not have been kept in the dark so long? and if she cannot, it is not so easy to impose upon men's belief: all Christians are not acted by an implicit faith; nor will they lean too hard upon Ecclesiastical Authority, and submit, because they say so; a bare and naked Asseveration will not salve all their doubts. Besides, God appointed the Sabbath, which was celebrated in the times of the Law; and shall not he appoint the Sabbath which is celebrated in the times of the Gospel? Nay, is it not necessary, and agreeing to natural equity, that he who appoints the manner and matter of worship, should also appoint the sufficient and necessary time of worship? Are not all men, even the Governors of the Church, and the greatest Potentates, obliged to render to God the homage of observing a sufficient time for worship? Or shall we deny God the privilege, which every common Landlord assumes to himself to appoint the days of payment of his own homage? What if the Church cannot agree, if she apostatize or grow heretical, which is no new thing in the world, where then shall God find his sufficient time for Sabbath-observation? In a word, all the power of the Church is founded on the fifth Commandment, and not on the fourth, and she may as well appoint the worship itself required by the second Commandment, as the sufficient time of it required by the fourth. And it is well observed by the learned Weemes, God only may sanctify a Sabbath for himself, for the Sabbath is not to be reckoned among private goods, but it is to be reckoned among such things as are common to all, as are the fire, and the water; therefore man cannot separate time, as God doth, for his service and worship, and there separation is but occasional, accidental, and mutable. Thus learnedly and rationally this worthy man argues, that the Sabbath being a common good to the world, the institution of it is not to be attributed to any Convention of fallible men, but only to him who is the Lord of Heaven and Earth: And surely he who created the Sun, the Index of time, doth and must appoint the Sabbath, which is the quintessence and best part of time. These sublime institutions, as the Sabbath, Sacraments, Ordinances, &c. which have a general concourse in the good, and to the benefit of Mankind; as they speak the glory, so they evidence the determination of God their Author.

[unspec 7] The same Authority which institutes a day, may abrogate it, and alter it; but the Church cannot abrogate and alter the Lord's day: It is a Canon of the Civil Law, They who can enact, can repeal; and this may be instanced in the Festivals and Sabbath of the Old Testament; God alone ordained them, and he did cancel and abrogate them. Now it is the judgment of our most classick and authentical Divines, That the Church cannot alter the Lord's day; So Dr. Fulk, that eminent Champion of the Protestant Religion, who profligated the Romish Cause, in answering the Rhemists Testament; he thus avers our Plea, To change the Lord's day, saith he, and keep it on a Monday, or any other day, the Church hath no authority; for the Lord's day is no matter of indifference, but a necessary prescription of Christ himself, delivered to us by the Apostles. This is most clear and plain; and let the learned Professor of Oxford, the famous Prideaux, give his opinion in this Cause; I am not satisfied, saith he, with the Ordinance of the Church for the Lord's day, because Church-Ordinances may with the same facility be broken, as they are made, which absolutely to affirm of the Lord's day were unadvised. And besides, could the Church remove the Lord's day to Monday, Tuesday, or any other day, what becomes of the day of Christ's resurrection, the first day of the week? upon which not only the Fathers in the primitive times, but likewise our later Divines, do so confidently and truly bottom and found it? And will it not sound very harshly and unseemly, that the great and eternal Jehovah should ordain and appoint the Sabbath of the Old Testament; and a company of fallible men, subject to be attached by a writ of Error, should institute the Sabbath of the New Testament, when Religion shone with a brighter ray, and scriptural ministrations were far more glorious: Or to speak in the Apostles language, When the Night was far spent, and the Day was at hand, Rom. 13. 12. That day so much rejoiced in by Abraham, and his believing Posterity, so much admired by the Martyrs in the primitive times. Once God and Man wonderfully united in the same Person, made one Savior, but God and Man strangely are Copartners to make two Sabbaths: and that the old Sabbath now entombed in the Grave of Christ, should have a divine Author, and the Christian new Sabbath, which is to endure to the worlds end, should only be fixed upon human Authority, is, I suppose, beyond the reach of ordinary apprehensions. But the learned Prideaux wisely observes, The Canon of the Church doth not give to this day any Divine Authority, which before it had not, but showeth rather what they received from their Ancestors, to be transmitted by them to their posterity. Nay, Suarez the Jesuit will acknowledge, That the Lord's day practically and morally is immutable, and subject to no alteration; and therefore it cannot be of human Authority.

[unspec 8] And indeed it is a dangerous thing to the whole Fabric of Religion, should an human Ordinance limit the necessary time of God's worship, Or that the Church should not assemble, but at the pleasure of the Clergy, and then perhaps not well agreeing among themselves: for what would men busied about their Farms, their Yokes of Oxen, and domestic affairs; would not they set at naught a human Ordinance? Would not profane men easily dispense with their absenting themselves from prayers and preaching, and give themselves the leave of doing, or neglecting, anything, was there not something found in Scripture, which more than any human institution can bind the Conscience? Mans institutions may over-awe the outward-man, they will little influence the inward; men may be shackled with something from the sacred Scriptures, but if they are loose from those Bonds, they will easily please themselves in their fancied liberty. It is the rule of the word, not human dictates, will bind men, and stake them down to Obedience: and it is no wonder if our Christian Sabbath be thrown upon the Dunghil of profaneness, if it hath nothing but Ecclesiastical Authority to show for its institution; if our Sabbath come among other holy days, and acknowledge no other founder, we cannot marvel, if sports, and walks, and visits be the usual celebrations of it. The result then of the whole is, The Church in the earliest days observed, but not instituted our Christian Sabbath, and the Lord's day is so called, not only from Christ's resurrection, but his institution.

The Lord's day then is not of Ecclesiastical institution; no Synod, no Council, no Convention of men subject to error could give it its being, or adopt it into its honor, that that it should have power to be called the Day of God: Something more than human power must authorize this blessed day, and make it a weekly and standing Festival to the Christian Church.

Indeed some refer the institution of it to Christ himself, and so run up the crystal stream to the fountain head. Athanasius, who was the sword, and the buckler of truth, and both received and repelled the darts of the Arian World, He positively affirms Christ to be the institutor of our Christian Sabbath; Of old, saith he, The Sabbath was in great esteem among the Ancients, but the Lord hath changed the Sabbath day into the Lord's day. Now what can be more plain? Chrysostom in his tenth Homily upon Genesis, calls God the Author of this institution. And Eusebius in one of his Orations, in the praise of the Emperor Constantine, flies into a seraphick admiration of Jesus Christ, and deriding the vanity of the Gentile God's and Potentates, Who, saith he, among the Heathen God's hath appointed a solemn day weekly to all the inhabitants of the world, whether they dwell on the Land, or travel on the Seas, to celebrate the Lord's festival, and hath taken care, not only for the refreshing of bodies with the provisions of the creature, but for the feeding and supplies of the Soul with discipline and divine repasts? Thus this worthy man, speaking of the glory of his Master Jesus Christ, produces this eminent argument for it, (viz.) He appoints a weekly Sabbath for all the world to observe and celebrate. Nor was this doctrine only authentical, and approved in the primitive times of the Church, but in the latter days of Reformation, some of our choicest Divines, have with much delight and resolution embraced and published this truth. Learned Junius, one of that couple who made the Old Testament speak Latin, and so brought the Scriptures something nearer to the worlds understanding; he solemnly professeth, That the old Sabbath is changed into the Lord's day in the Christian Church upon the account of Christ's resurrection; and that the Author of this change is not human tradition, but Christ's own observation and appointment. And Piscator, a man eminent in the Church of Christ roundly asserts, That though there be no express command for the Lord's day in the Scriptures, yet the facts of Christ and his Apostles on that day, do undoubtedly declare its Divine Original and institution. But not to surfeit the Reader with too great a concourse of testimonies concurrent in this opinion, there are not deficient many considerable and undeniable reasons asserting and affirming the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Author and Institutor of his own blessed day.

[Reas. 1] Whatsoever in holy Writ is said to be the Lord's denominatively, that he is the Author and Institutor of; As for instance, The Lord's Supper, because he ordained it, 1 Cor. 11. 20, 23. The Sabbath of the Lord, Deut. 5. 12. Because he commanded it; The Temple of the Lord, Jer. 7. 4. because he appointed it: the people of the Lord, because he chose them, the Messengers of the Lord, because he sent them; the Apostles of Christ, because he put them into that office. And no instance can be shown to the contrary, but the Christian Sabbath is called the Lord's day, Rev. 1. 10. Nay, and Beza notes, that he hath seen an old copy, that which is called the first day of the week, 1 Cor. 16. 2. styled the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Lord's day; not by Creation, for so every day is his from the beginning; not by destination, for so properly the day of judgment is called, the day of the Lord: But our Christian Sabbath is called the Lord's day by Divine Institution, as other things are said to be the Lord's; and so Christ is the Author and appointer of it; and therefore Bishop Andrew's, that library of learning, in one of his Sermons upon the Resurrection, puts the query; How can it be called the Lord's day, but that the Lord made it? And Bishop Lake in his Sermon on the Eucharist, saith positively, That Christ did substitute the Lord's day in the place of the Jewish Sabbath. Doctor Fulk fears not to affirm, That the Lord's day is a necessary prescription of Christ himself. And Doctor Lin •••• Bishop of Brechen, in his Preface to the Assembly at Per •• , and many other Divines heartily concur in this judgment.

If God by resting from his work of Creation, and his blessing of that seventh day, made it a holy day for his set and solemn worship and service; then Jesus Christ resting from the work of Redemption, and his blessing of that day, makes it a holy day for his solemn and set worship and service; for there is the like, or greater excellency in the resting of God the Son, and the blessing of his day, as there was in the resting of God the Father, and his blessing of the seventh day. Christ's work of the worlds redemption, and the renovation thereof, the making of all things New, a new Heaven, and a new Earth, is equal with, if not • u • passing of the Fathers work of Creati • n: The S • ns blessing likewise of this day is of no less excellency then the Fathers blessing of the seventh day.

Nay, how many ways did Jesus Christ bless his own day?

[unspec 1] By his Glorious Resurrecti • n, when the Sun of Righteousness di • ri • e wi • h healing in his wings, to visit and make happy the world, and to make it day among the Sons of Men.

[unspec 2] By his several apparitions on this day, when Christ did exhilarate and revive his saddened and disconsolat • Disciples with the bright intervals of his pellucid and salvifical presence. (But of this more hereafter.)

[unspec 3] By his heavenly instructions on this day, Luke 24. 25. when as Elijah, now he was going to heaven he dropt his Mantle, and shown his Disciples his mind by revelation, before he shown them his face in glory.

[unspec 4] By illuminating the minds, and opening the understandings ings of his Disciples more eminently on this day, Luke 24. 45. On this day, not only the morning star arose in the World of inhabitants, but in the hearts of the Disciples, and he opened not only the curtains of the grave, but of the minds of his Apostles by his redoubted and omnipotent operation.

[unspec 5] By breathing the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples, John 20. 22. as on this day. When Christ did that by his breath, which the Minister cannot do by his Zeal, the Scholar by his Art, the Friend by his love, nay, Nature itself by its force, (viz.) inspire the heart with holy principles, and the head with holy knowledge, and spiritual understanding.

[unspec 6] By the installation of his Apostles into their supreme jurisdiction; giving them power to bind and to loose in heaven and in earth, John 20. 21, 22, 23. On this day the Apostles received, not their Miter, but their Mission; and the emblem of their dignity, was no ceremonial vesture, but a supereminent power; All which blessings Christ scattered on this solemn day, our Christian Sabbath; and on this day, as an essay of converting power. Christ by the Ministry of Peter, turned three thousand to his own Divine self. Now all these blessings which Christ heaped on this day, what are they but so many acts of consecration? They are only the pouring out of the oil, to anoint it to be far above its fellows, and to be the Christians solemn and weekly festival. And thus Ignatius calls our Sabbath, the Highest and Queen of days. The argument then is very forcible à pari; if the Fathers blessing a day made it a Sabbath to the world before, and in the times of the Law, then the Sons blessing a day, must needs make it a Sabbath to the world in the times of the Gospel. And this is the more to be taken notice of, because Christ saith expressly, John 5. 23. That all men shall honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.

[Reas. 3] Christ's Faithfulness in his Church proclaims him the institutor of his own day. God the Father, when he had ordained his worship, leaves it not to Moses, nor to the people of Israel, to appoint a set and solemn day for it; but he himself first ordains it in paradise, Gen. 2. 3. and then revives and renews it on Mount Sinai, Exod. 20. 8. Nay, when the Idolaters among the people of Israel did invent a worship, they who invented it, instituted a day for it, Exod. 32. 5. Jeroboam when he devised a worship, he likewise ordained a day for it, 1 Kings 12. 32, 33. So Nebuchadnezzar when he set up an Idol, and appointed a worship for it, he set apart a day for the performance of this worship, Dan. 3. 2. The miscreant Prophet Mahomet, as he gave laws to his Proselytes, and prescribed a form of worship, so he himself instituted his solemn day, viz. Every Friday: And he did not leave it to the arbitrary will and pleasure of his worshippers to ordain or solemnize what day they pleased. Therefore from all this we may conclude, unless Christ should fall short of the example of his Father; Nay, of the very Idolaters; he must be the institutor of his own day for it cannot be proved, that at any time, or in any age, that any public worship was ever invented to be observed, but the Author and institutor of it, was also the institutor of the day for that worship, not leaving it to others will to appoint the same for him. Now Christ is the great Law-giver of his Church, the glorious founder of Gospel-worship, the Sacraments were ordained by him, Prayers must be made in his name, Discipline is of his institution, the Ministry of his calling and sending; and shall our blessed Mediator be only excluded from the appointment of a day for weekly and solemn worship? Shall that cursed caitiff Mahomet (as was hinted) constitute and appoint a weekly day for his worshippers to observe to himself, and read that system of Vanities, that miscellany of lying inventions, the Quran; and shall not our beloved, the desire of Nations, the King and Sovereign of his people, the Head of his Church, not only influential, but authoritative; shall not he be invested with a power to set apart a weekly Sabbath for his people, wherein they may meet in his name, and assemble in his fear, and congregate to hear his glorious Gospel, and to participate of those blessings which attend his salvifical presence? Or did Christ forget his main import, when he ascended to his Father, his approaching joy swallowing up his thoughts of, and care for his poor Church, which he left behind? Surely we must make Christ the institutor of his own blessed day, or inveniencies too many will arise, which no salves will be able to smoother or suppress. Should Christ have left it to his Church to appoint a day, what end would be of the discord; and disagreements which unavoidably follow? When should the whole Church meet to enact such a constitution? Or shall one part of the Church, being as is supposed, inferior, be concluded in the determination of another part, being, as is presumed, of greater dignity? And from whence arose this inequality? Therefore intricacies and unanswerable difficulties will multiply, unless we ascribe to our dear Jesus the appointment of his own day for weekly and solemn worship. Besides, it is very considerable, that which is of universal observation, none but God can impose by his supreme Authority, to which all are equally subject; and such is the observation of the Lord's day, which equally belongs to all persons, at all times, and in all ages; there are none exempt from obedience to it, and therefore no particular men could ordain this universal observance, which must be submitted to by all, who will give up their account with joy in the day of the Lord Jesus.

[Reas. 4] The seventh day Sabbath was by God's immediate institution, Gen. 2. 3. Exod. 20. 8. And therefore the change of it into the Lord's day must be by the immediate institutio • of Jesus Christ: And the reason of it is, there hath never been a religious change made of any Ordinance of God immediately prescribed by him, but by God himself, and by his own Authority: For if the institution be immediate by him, the change into another must be by the like Authority also, for he who ordaineth hath only power • o alter.

1. Man cannot change such an Ordinance, for it is complained of as a sin for the people to change God's Ordinances, Isa. 24. 5. And if any but God have Authority to change his own Ordinances immediately appointed by himself, their Authority is equal with his: But to assert this, is both ridiculous and blasphemous. No, the whole Church assembled together, hath no such authority, it is but human at the highest; and besides, if unstable man could alter an immediate Ordinance of God, what stability could there be in these Ordinances, or what tie could they fasten upon men's consciences?

2. All religious changes of every Ordinance of God's own immediate appointment hath ever been by himself▪ and instances to the contrary cannot be alleged. The Tabernacle was of God's immediate institution, and the Temple • rected in the stead of it was likewise of his own appointment; David minding to build it, and Nathan approving his intention, but without the command of God was afterwards prohibited: Neither did God leave it to the wisdom of Solomon, though the wisest of men, but he himself gave the pattern of it, 1 Chron. 28. 11, 12, 19. The time of celebrating the Passover, was the fourteenth of the first Moneth appointed by God himself, Exod. 12. 6. which time Moses durst not dispence with, nor allow any other day for some to keep it without God's immediate warrant, Numb. 9. 8, 11. Times and seasons are in God's hands, Acts 1. 10. And therefore the Moneth Tisri is turned into the Moneth Nisan to begin the year withal by God's immediate command, Exod. 12. 2. And Antiochus Epiphanes is condemned for changing times. Thus we see God's Ordinances, for Places, for Persons, for Times, being immediately appointed by God, cannot be changed but by God; and therefore the seventh day being the immediate institution of God, could not be changed into another day (as now it is) but by God himself, even by Jesus Christ, who when he was come in the flesh, changed the place of worship, John 4. 20, 21. changed the Law and the Priesthood, chap. 7. of the Hebrews, into the Doctrine and Ministry of the Gospel; Priests and Levites he changed into Apostles, Evangelists, Ministers; Eph. 4. 11. The carnal worship Christ changed into spiritual, John 4. 24. Circumcision he changed into Baptism, the Passover into the Lord's Supper, and the seventh day Sabbath into our blessed Lord's day.

[Reas. 5] That day, the due • bservation of which, tends to God's glory, and his public worship, to Mans instruction and building up in the most holy faith; which day was solemnized by the holy and heavenly inspired Apostles, which likewise is approved, and greedily embraced with great spiritual comfort and joy by the most holy Professors, zealous Ministers, and fervent Proselytes of the Gospel; this day must needs call Christ its Author, and must needs be the institution of him who is the wisdom of the Father, 1 Cor. 1. 24. Nay that day which is disputed against, cavilled at, withstood and profaned by the most carnal, ungodly, corrupt, and vain persons, must needs be the appointment of the Holy One, as Christ is called, Psal. 16. 10. Now such a day is our Lord's day. A cloud of witnesses might here be raised to attest this undeniable assertion, but the mouth of constant experience hath spoken it, and what need we of any further witnesses?

Chemnitz hath a notable descant upon Luke 8. 22. where Christ is said to launch forth with his Disciples upon the first day of the week which is now our Christian Sabbath; Christ by degrees, saith he, draweth his Disciples to the observation of the Lord's day, and would by little and little instruct them wherein the true sanctification of it did consist, viz. In a serious consideration and discourse of those works which God wrought upon that day for the benefit of Mankind, and for the good of his Church; such as the work of Creation which was began on that day, Gen. 1. 1. Such as the work of Redemption, which was finished on that day, John 20. 1. Nay such as the work of Sanctification: On that day the Holy Ghost descended visibly on the blessed Apostles, Acts 2. 1, 2. not only as the result of the promise before, or as a token of honor which God put upon his blessed Apostles, but as an earnest of that plenteous effusion of the spirit which should be in Gospel-times. This day, saith the same Author, is sanctified when we seriously consider, that on it false Doctrine was plucked up by the foundations, the Calumnies of miscreant calumniators were refelled and silenced, the security of Christ's Disciples was reproved and condemned, Vice was checked and corrected, and piety propagated and disseminated. In the view and practice of those things Sabbath sanctification is fairly comprised. But it is observable, that this learned man takes notice, that Christ began betimes to instruct his Apostles in the duties of the Lord's day, the first day of the week, which doth evidently secure us, that the day itself was the institution of Christ himself. And we may justly retort upon thos • who fasten the Lord's day upon human Authority, from the beginning it was not so, Mat. 19. 8. But the rising of the Sun of Righteousness after the night of a Grave made our Sabbath day. And this weekly festival is given to the world both by Christ's re-entry into it, from the dark shade of the grave, and by virtue of those commands mentioned Acts 1. 2. the command for the Lord's day being one of them without doubt or dispute.

But that no beam of light may be withh • ld from making a full discovery of this truth, we will fetch our rise from the earliest times of the world.

[unspec 1] The Lord's day was typified by Circumcisi • n which was administered on the eighth day, the next day after the Jew • sh Sabbath, and the very day of our Christian. One of our Homilies saith; That the first day after the Jewish Sabbath is our Sunday; It is our Lord's day, say the Divines of Ireland: and Augustine proveth, That by the eighth day of Circumcision, was shadowed forth our Lord's day: And Cyprian saith, That Circumcision was commanded on the eighth day, as a Sacrament of the eighth day, on which Christ should rise from the dead. And this holy Martyr proceeds, and gives us the reason of his words; for because the eighth day, (i. e.) the day after the Sabbath, was to be the day on which the Lord should rise and quicken us, and give us the spiritual Circumcision; this eighth day, (i. e.) the first day after the Jewish Sabbath went before in a shad • w. So then the precise time of the circumcision of the flesh, did only prefigure, the day of Christ's resurrection, or our Sabbath wherein Christ rose for the circumcision of the he • t, for that which was spiritual, and so more effectual circumcision. Hilany points at the same thing; Upon the eighth day, saith he, which is also the first day, we rejoice in the festivity of a perfect Sabbath: And this eminent person hath left a most memorable Record behind him, of the Churches practice in his time, which was about An. Dom. 355. Ambrose most elegantly descants upon this subject; The Sabbath, saith he, was the last in order of days, but the first in sanctification under the Law, but when the end of the law was come, Rom. 10, 4. viz. Jesus Christ, and by his resurrection had consecrated the eighth day, that which was the eighth day began to be the first, being dignified by the precedency of the number, and sanctified by the resurrection of the Lord. Thus the primitive times, which are the best Comment on Gospel Institutions, as having the advantage of being nearer to the rising Sun, could easily discern the thing typified in the type, the substance in the shadow; the eighth day, the usual time of circumcising the flesh, clearly prefiguring the day of Christ's glorious rising to circumcise the inward-man, the hidden man of the heart, and to purge away the pollutions and filthiness both of flesh and spirit. The Lord's day was prophesied of by holy David, Psal. 118. 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Or if the Apostle may interpret the meaning of his Master, Acts 4. 11, 12. And a learned man observes, that the word hath made in the Text, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Hebrew signifies not simply to make, but to sanctify and to observe holy, as is most usual, when it is referred to feasts or days, as Deut. 5. 15, 16. Deut. 10. 13. The man then, who was after God's own heart, and who was most likely to understand God's own mind, he hath foretold this blessed day, when by a prophetic spirit fore-seeing the glory of the Resurrection-day, as a most eminent day among the seven days, as the Sun among the seven Planets, salutes it with a magnificent style and Title, This is the day which the Lord hath made. Thus the Psalmist did fore-see, that the Lord would magnify and exalt his resurrection day; and why? Because on this day the glorious work of man's redemption was to be accomplished: The stone which the builders refused became the head stone of the Corner, Psal. 118. 22. And thus is the resurrection day prophetically crowned with honor above all other days, the Holy Ghost putting an emphasis upon it. It is a day which the Lord hath made; how made? not by way of creation, for so it was made before, Gen. 1. 1. but by way of institution; The day which the Lord hath made; what hath God made it, a working day? so it was before: If therefore he hath made it anything, it must be a holy solemn day; a day more solemn, more sacred, then all the days that God ever made before. So then it is evident, a day of solemn worship is here intended, and Christ's Resurrection day most clearly pointed at as a day which the Lord would institute, as a day which the Church should celebrate: we see then a clear Scripture proof for the Divine Authority of the Lord's day; nay, in this text, Psal. 118. 24. The Psalmist proceeds to the prophetical delineation of the duties of this day, Let us be glad and rejoice therein, as when the Temple was finished, the head stone was brought forth with shouting, Zach. 4. 7. crying, Grace, grace; so when the work of our Redemption shall be finished, and Christ exalted as head and corner stone of his Church by his triumphant Resurrection; the Psalmist intimates the solemn gratulation and public praise, that the Church should offer on that day, so Psal. 118. 23. And indeed praise and thanksgiving is the most proper music of our Christian Sabbath. The learned Twisse observes, That if ever any day deserved to be a festival, surely it was the day of our Savior's Resurrection; and in that day to rejoice in the Lord, according to Psal. 118. 24. And the ancient Fathers, saith he, accommodate this place thereunto; the two preceding verses carrying in their very fore-head a manifest relation unto Christ, as the proprietary of that renowned prophesy; for when was the stone which the builders refused made the head of the corner, but when Christ gloriously rose from the dead? thereby mightily declaring himself to be the Son of God: And was there ever any work more marvelous in the eyes of God's Servants then the Resurrection of Christ? This scattered all the unbelief of the Disciples, Luke 24. 21. This removed all the fears of the good Women, all the sorrows of the Apostles; this gratified the hopes of all succeeding Christians. Jerome avers, that all the Jews interpret this text, Psal. 118. 24. to be a prophesy concerning the Messiah, the Psalmist, say they, Showing his ignominious death, when he should be a stone rejected of the builders, and his glorious Resurrection, when he should become the chief stone of the corner.

[unspec 3] The Lord's day wa • •• stituted upon the account of Christ's most glorious Resurrection. What a mark of honor, nay what a crown of glory is it to this day, that it had favor above all the days of the week to be Christ's Resurrection day? The Sun in the firmament arises and shines upon other days as well as this; but the Sun of Righteousness never arose upon any day but this: And indeed the institution of the Lord's day had its foundation here. The maxim of Divines here fully takes place, It is the work makes the day, some special work, always makes some special day, the Lord's deed made the Lord's day; and we cannot better keep alive the memory of this glorious mercy, viz. The blessed Resurrection of Christ, then by keeping a day weekly in the solemn commemoration of it. This day brought the greatest good to fallen man, even a complete Redeemer, who on this day redeemed us with triumph from the tyranny of Satan, the domination of death and hell, and restored us to life and salvation, yea assured it unto every believer. And because nothing can ever fall out in this world comparable to Christ's Resurrection in glory and power, therefore no day can be set up like unto this day, neither can it be ever changed for any other; therefore men only kick against the pricks while they oppose the Lord's day. It is a good saying of Augustine, The Lord's rising hath promised to us an eternal day, and consecrated to us the Lord's day, or the Dominical day of the Lord; that which is the Lord's day, seems properly to belong to the Lord, because on that day the Lord rose again. And it is a most significant and elegant observation of the great Athanasius: Two worlds there are, saith he, The first ended at Christ's Passion, the second begins at Christ's Resurrection, and that blessed day is the feast of them, who are in Christ a new Creature. And it is observable, it is not said by the Ancients, that the Church took occasion from the resurrection to consecrate the Lord's day; but that the Resurrection itself did consecrate it, the resurrection was a real consecration. And if, as Bishop Andrew's speaks, That the Acts of the Apostles, as well as their sayings and writings were of Divine Authority, being inspired by the Divine Spirit, how much more shall the Act of of their Lord and Masters Resurrection be a divine and sufficient Authority to institute the Lord's day? The Reverend and Learned Hall speaks well to this purpose; Because the Sun of Righteousness arose upon this day, and gave a new life to the world on it, and drew the strength of God's Moral Precept, (viz.) the fourth Commandment unto it; therefore justly do we sing with the Psalmist, This is the day which the Lord hath made. But why should we mention the Authorities and Testimonies of these latter days? Ignatius, who was as a morning star in the Primitive Church, speaks fully and home to this purpose; Setting aside, saith he, the Jewish Sabbath, Let everyone that loves Christ keep holy the Lord's day, &c. To the same purpose Justin Martyr, Athanasius, Augustine, &c. who bottom the Lord's blessed day on the Lord's blessed resurrection, that glorious work which must be outvied, before any shadow of reason can be assigned, for the transmutation of it into any other day. Besides the Sun which rose this day will never admit a setting. The Christians in the Primitive Church, were wont when they saw one another, to give this joyful salute, The Lord is risen; and the others ordinary answer was, True, the Lord is risen indeed. We should not so much m • urn, saith Bernard, at Christ's ignominious passion, as we should rejoice at his glorious resurrection. The day therefore of Christ's rising, may well give being to our Christian Sabbath.

[unspec 4] The Lord's day was honored with Christ's frequent apparitions; Christ's appearing on this day was most signal and remarkable; he shown himself five times on that very day on which he arose. First, to Mary Magdalene in the morning, Mark 16. 9. Secondly to the Women, Mat. 28. 9, 10. Thirdly, to the two Disciples, Luke 24. 18. Fourthly, to Peter, Luk. 24. 33. Fifthly, to the Eleven, Mark 16. 14. excepting Thomas, John 20. 24. When the Disciples were assembled, Christ came in, and he stood in the midst among them, as the tree of life was in the midst of Paradise; and unto his Disciples, he spake Peace, and gave Power. And then the Disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord; never did their spirits so spring within them, never did such a day of comfort dawn upon them: And this was part of those triumphal hallelujahs which celebrated Christ's glorious Resurrection. And it is observable, he appeared not to all sorts of persons, but to some chosen witnesses, who were either eminently devoted to his service, or designed to teach, and inform others. Nor did Christ make his appearance every day, but principally and most usually upon that day which was more immediately designed for his solemn worship and service, being consecrated by his stupendous and blessed resurrection; So that Christ more especially vouchsafed his visits to holy men, for holy purposes, and to determine and define which should be his holy day, our weekly Sabbath. However it may be supposed, that our Savior did appear on other days, as once he did upon a week day, yet no other day hath the honor to be denominated the day of his appearing, but the first day of the week only, John 20. 19. And therefore it is most observable, it is never said, Christ appeared on the second, or on the third day, much less on the last day of the week, the day of the old Sabbath, but the first day is expressly and emphatically noted by name in the forecited Text, John 20. 19. Nor must we over-pass one remarkable more, (viz.) That Christ often appeared on his own resurrection day, and saith the text, John 20. 26. After eight days; again his Disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst of them, and said, Peace be unto you. And this was the next first day of the week; and here Christ puts an Higgaion Selah upon it, and it is necessary this should be the Lord's day, say some of the Ancients. And Nazianzen upon this maketh an Oration on purpose, and stiles it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The new Lord's day: because it was the first Lord's day solemnized in the weekly revolution, after the Resurrection day. And now may not this plea in consociation with other arguments, sufficiently evince any Christian of the divine right of the Lord's day? We see Christ Jesus our Lord was often seen upon it, between his Resurrection and Ascension day; seen in the Assembly of his Saints, seen in his royal robes, seen in his state of immortality; and not only seen but heard preaching peace to poor sinners, opening Scriptures, clearing, quickening, warming cold and dead hearts, filling disconsolate spirits with unusual joy, John 20. 20. When the eleven Disciples see him, then their hearts rejoice, Joh. 20. 20. when the two Disciples hear and see him, then their hearts burn, Luke 24. 33. And all this on the first day of the week. Nay, Junius is very confident, that the Lord appeared the first day of every week between his resurrection and his ascension. Dr. Lightfoot, and Mr. Fenner tell us, that Christ's appearing on a Mountane in Galilee, mentioned Mat. 28. 16, 17, 18, &c. was likewise on the first day of the week.

The apparitions of Christ on the first day of the week, our Christian Sabbath, are still more considerable, if we take notice what Christ did in those appearances; we may observe his gracious speeches, his remarkable actions and transactions, tending chiefly to prove his resurrection, the ground of our hope, and the hinge of our Sabbath, upon which it turns; and to this purpose we may observe, how sweetly our gracious Redeemer condescended to his poor doubting, and perplexed. Disciples, manifesting himself to all their senses:

1. To their hearing, by his heavenly voice.

2. To their seeing, by his visible presence.

3. To their feeling, by offering his sacred body to be touched and handled by them, he was unwilling to leave the tincture of any doubt upon them; and therefore he gratified not only their graces, but their senses. Nay,

4. He manifested himself to their tasting in feeding, and making a meal with them, John 21. 12, 13. Nor

5. Was their smelling forgotten in conversing with him, who was the Rose of Sharon, Cant. 2. 1. Nor did Christ only gratify the senses, but the graces of his Disciples.

1. By giving them heavenly instructions, and so increasing their knowledge. Christ opens the Scriptures, and preaches peace to his Disciples; and having slain enmity on the cross, he now comes and preacheth peace on this first day, and brings an Olive branch to the world, and to his Disciples in the first place.

2. Christ by convincing demonstrations of his own resurrection abundantly confirms the faith of the Disciples, that now the Sun appearing, all the shades of doubt and unbelief might fly away. Thomas his hand of faith could tremble no more, after he had put his hand of flesh into the side of his Redeemer.

3. Nor did Christ forget to fill up the joy of his Disciples, when unexpected he mingles with them in their assembly, John 20. 19. and more then a cou • ting Angel, salutes the trembling fraternity. And these among others were the great transactions which Christ honored this day with, instructing, inspiring, blessing, and inaugurating his holy Apostles, and performing all these unwonted and solemn actions on this blessed day, speaks fully Christ's election of it for solemn and religious worship, for sacred assemblies, and Sabbath exercises for his Church in all ages to the end of the world.

[unspec 5] The Lord's day is yet more illustrious by the extraordinary d • scent of the Holy Ghost upon this day, Acts 2. 1, 2, 3. Christ now ascending up to his Father, sends down his own blessed spirit in an extraordinary and amazing manner; the spirit comes not now in the shape of a D • ve, but in cl • ven tongues, as opposite to Satan's cloven foot; so likewise to inspire the Apostles with an unusual elegance • f speech, to captivate their auditors to the obedience of the Gospel, and to prognosticate these rare gifts, which being heated with the fire of divine zeal, should fecundate and sublimate the succeeding Church; but when was this unusual illapse and descent of the holy spirit? Why it was on the first day of the week, to put a fairer print upon the seal of our Christian Sabbath. A blessed bargain was here made between Heaven and Earth. To triumphing Saints was given the corporal presence of Christ, to militant Saints was sent the visible efflux of the spirit: surely that cannot hut be a holy day, wherein the holy Ghost came down. And this is another indelible mark of honor, which Christ hath fixed on the first day of the week, our Christian Sabbath; this was his royal gift when he came to heaven, such a princely largess, such a glorious donation as was never given before, but when God gave his own Son. God so loved the world, that he gave his Son, John 3. 16. And Christ so loved the world, that he gave his Spirit: And as Christ was given according to the fullness of the Promise, so was the holy Ghost given; And Christ's resurrection, and the spirits descention, were both upon the first day of the week: On this day then, the Church was visited from on high, the promise of the Father was sent, Acts 1. 4. The blessed spirit came, the Disciples were assembled, thousands were converted, as a hansel of the spirits power, and a fruit of the spirits descent; and why was the Church assembled on that day? why the holy Ghost descended? why preaching? why conversion, and administration of Sacraments? why the promise of Christ accomplished, and all on this very day? But still to declare the will and ordinance of Christ blessing and sanctifying this day to the Church, and so marking it out for solemn and weekly worship, as a day, in all its prerogatives, superlative to all other days; the day of our Savior's resurrection, by which we are justified; the day of the holy Ghosts descention, by which we are sanctified. The learned Twisse observes, That as at the first, the holy Ghost descended on the Apostles upon our Sabbath day, so stili the same spirit descends ordinarily on the same day upon his faithful Ministers in the dispensation of the Word, and administration of the Sacraments, and in the puting up of prayers to the most high, for the sanctifying and edifying the body of Christ, even the Church of God: The day of Christ's Ascension, he departed from the Apostles, as touching his presence corporal; but on the day of Pentecost Christ came down upon them as touching his presence spiritual, and so be doth still in our Sabbath exercises, though not in an extraordinary manner, yet no less effectually to the edification and sanctification of our souls. And here I cannot omit a rare speech of the incomparable Bishop of Armagh; At the time of the Passe •• e • , saith he, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, 1 Cor. 5. 7. and lay in his grave the whole Sabbath following; so on the morrow after the Sabbath (when the sheaf of the first fruits was offered to God) Christ arose from the dead, and became the first fruits of them wh • slept; many dead bodies of the Saints who s • ept, arising likewise after him; from whence was the count taken of the seven Sabbaths, or fifty days; and u •• n the m • rr • w after the seventh Sabbath, which was our L • rds d • y, was that fam • us feast of weeks, the day of Pentecost, spoken • f Acts 2. 1. Upon which day the Apostles having themselves re • eived the first fruits of the spirit, beg • t three thousand s • uls by the word of Truth; and presented them as the first fruits of the Christian Church to God, and unto the Lamb: And from that time forward, doth Waldensis note, That the Lord's day was observed in the Christian Church, and was su • stituted in the place of the Jews Sabbath. Thus far the famous Usher. And to wind up this particular, the Holy Ghost being sent down among the Disciples in an eminent manner, was the special benediction of this day to such solemn ass • mblies; to teach them, and the succeeding Church, when, and on what day they should more especially expect the sweet illapses and effectual descents of God's holy and most blessed spirit.

[unspec 6] The Lord's day was kept and sanctified by the practice of the h • lie Apostles: Now the blessed Apostles were men intimately acquainted w ^th the secrets of Christ (being most of them trained up in his School) and personally conversant with him after his Resurrection; besides, they had immediate inspiration from him, and auth • ritative mission to manage the public affairs of the Church: Our Savior gave them their credentials to preach in his name, and to act as his substitutes, as if he himself had been personally present, John 20. 21. Luke 10. 16. Mat. 28. 19, 20. 2 Cor. 5. 19, 20. Neither doth this extend only to verbal preaching, but to visible preaching also, I mean, their practice, at least in things Evangelical, Moral, and of general and perpetual concernm • nt to the Churches of Christ, otherwise why is their practice propounded as a pattern? Phil. 3. 17. Phil. 4. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 2. 1 Thes. 2. 14. Now these blessed Apostles met for solemn worship on this day, our Christian Sabbath, so Acts 20. 7. And upon the first day of the week, when as the Disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight. Now the full discussion and ventilation of this solemn text will give much strength to this great truth, viz. That the Lord's day is of Divine Authority: In this text then note:

When this solemn assembly met together, on the first day of the week, saith the text, the day which all the Evangelists witness to be Christ's Resurrection day; on this day the Disciples were congregated. But why the first day of the week? why not the last day of the week, which was the old Sabbath? strange! if that had continued a Sabbath, that the Primitive Christians had not m • t on that day, especially seeing it was but the day before; yet more strange, that we hear not a word of Pau • s keeping it, though he tarri • d at Troas seven days; but most strange, that w • read not one word in all the New Testament, of Paul's owning that day in a Christian Church, only he solemnly preaches to a Christian Congregation on the first day of the week, Surely this is a pregnant argument, that the day was changed upon the account of our Savior's Resurrection.

[unspec 2] The Church was assembled on the first day of the week; but how? Privately it may be, no, Publicly and openly; nay, most probably the comp • ny was very 〈◊〉 , and the Congregation flocked as D • ves to the wind • ws.

[unspec 3] Here is then a full assembly m • t upon the • irst • ay of the week; but for what? To • reak • read, saith the t • xt, to receive the Eucharist, saith the Syriac translation; and what more seemly and suitable, then to receive th • Lord's Supper upon the Lord's day? And can this be done without preparatory prayer, and other Sabbath exercises? Surely this would have been a mutilated and a faint devotion; nay, and breaking of bread is here put by a Synecdoche, the part for the whole, and there no more reason to exclude prayer, singing of Psalms, &c. because they are not mentioned, then to exclude drinking of wine in the Sacrament, because neither is that expressed, but breaking of bread only: So then, the first day of the week is here celebrated with a confluence of Gospel-Ordinances.

[unspec 4] Nor is it said, that Paul called the Disciples together, because he was to depart the next day, or that they purposedly declined the Lord's Supper till that day, because of Paul's departure: But the Text speaks it as of a time, a day usually observed by them before; and therefore Paul took his opportunity of preaching to them, and seems to stay on purpose, and wait seven days among them, Acts 20. 6. And at Troas, where these Ordinances were observed, and this day solemnly kept, was the Rendezvouz of Christians to meet in the greater company, Acts 20. 5. And though Paul might privately teach and instruct the Professors of Troas the other seven days, yet his preaching is now mentioned in regard of some special solemnity in their meeting on this day.

[unspec 5] The first day was honored above any other day for these holy duties, or else why did not they meet on the seventh day Sabbath? and how comes that solemnity to be swallowed up in the solemn convention of the first day, when these holy exercises are performed? To speak then plainly with Bishop Andrew's,

So far this learned man. So then, as another Bishop speaks, Our weekly observation of the Lord's day is warranted by the example of the holy Apostles. One sharply concludes, and saith, How can he have any grace in his heart, who seeing so clearly the Lord's day to have been instituted and ordained by the Apostles, will not acknowledge the keeping holy the Lord's day to be a Commandment of the Lord. The very Jews, saith this learned man, confess this change of the Sabbath to have been made by the Apostles; and therefore we may safely conclude with Gallasius, Walaeus, Melancthon, Beza, Bucer, Faius, Junius, Piscator, Perkins, and other eminent Divines of the Reformed Religion, that the Holy Apostles, by the guidance of the infallible spirit, removed and suppressed the old legal Sabbath, and substituted the Lord's day, the first day of the week, in its room and place.

Let us assume a second text, which will further strengthen this truth, viz. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Upon the first day of the week, let everyone of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. This solemn and noted place hath many considerables in it, to prove the first day of the week to be the Christian Sabbath, and that not so much by the Churches practice (that was cleared before) as by the Apostles precept, in which many things remarkable offer themselves to our consideration.

[unspec 1] Although it be true, that in some cases collections may be made any day for the poor Saints; yet why doth the Apostle limit here to this day the performance of this duty? Surely something there is in it more then ordinary.

[unspec 2] The Apostle doth not limit only the Corinthians to this day, but also all the Churches of Galatia, 1 Cor. 16. 1. and consequently all other Churches, if that be true 2 Cor. 8. 13, 14. where the Apostle professeth, he presseth not one Church that he might ease another, but that there might be an equality; and then why must all the Churches make their collections on the same day?

[unspec 3] The Apostle doth not limit them with wishes, and counsels only to do it, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as I have ordained, or instituted, and therefore binds their Consciences to it: And if Paul ordained it, certainly he had it from Jesus Christ, who first commanded him so to appoint it; for he solemnly professeth, That what he received of the Lord, 1 Cor. 11. 23. that only he commanded them to do.

[unspec 4] If this day had not been more holy, and more sit for this work of love, than any other day, the Apostle would not have limited them to this day; nor would he have honored this day above the Jewish Sabbath: for the Apostle was always very tender of Christian liberty, and would never bind, where the Lord hath left his people free; for in so doing, he should rather make Snares than Laws, and go expressly against his own doctrine, and that in this very point of the observation of days, Gal. 4. 10. He may give his advice indeed in things proposed, 1 Cor. 7. 25. but he always distinguisheth between his own counsel, and God's command, and makes the Command necessary, but the other only expedient.

[unspec 5] The Apostle doth not in this place immediately appoint and institute a Sabbath, but supposeth it to be so already; and we know duties of Mercy and Charity, as well as of necessity and piety, are Sabbath duties; for which end, this day was most fit for these collections, because they usually met togethet publicly on this day, and so then collections might be in a greater readiness: and partly also that they might give more liberal • y, it being supposed, that upon this day, their hearts were more weaned from the World, and more warmed by the Word, and more elevated by other Ordinances to a vigorous faith, and a lively hope of better things to come; and so having received spiritual things from the Lord more plentifully on this day, every man would be the more free to impart his temporal good things for refreshing the poor Saints.

[unspec 6] And why should the Apostle limit the Church of Corinth to this day, either for extraordinary or private collections, and such special acts of mercy, unless the Lord had hon • ured this day for acts of mercy, and much more of piety, above any ordinary or common day? What then should this day be but the Christian Sabbath, imposed by the Apostles, and magnified and honored in all the Churches in those days. It is rightly observed by Bishop White,

Thus this learned man rightly and genuinely draws the inference; I • the first day of the week was the day for Alms, it was likewise the day for Worship. Chrysostom upon the evidence of this Text, concludes positively, Philo Judaeus and Josephus relate, That it was the custom of the Jews who were scattered in other Countries, to make Collections every Sabbath-day, which were sent by the hands of eminent persons to Jerusalem every year, and for the use of the Temple and the Levites; and this custom the Apostle seems to follow in the Text, now under discussion, in enjoining Collections every first day of the week, our Christian Sabbath, to be sent for the relief of the poor Saints at Jerusalem, who were oppressed by a multitude of strangers, and subjected to persecutions and wants for their zeal and holy fervor to the blessed Gospel.

[unspec 7] Once more, if it be deman • ed, why the Apostle enjoins Collections on the Lord's day, Chrysostom gives us a good answer, he saith, That was a Sacrament-day, and d • u • tless that was a powerful Argument to prompt them to liberality; it was strange ingratitude to spare a little from the poor, when it is considered God spared not the blood of his own Son, which is lively represented in the sacramental feast. Beza observes, That Justin Martyr after he had described the order and manner of the primitive times in sacramental Administrations on the Lord's day, he adds,

So that this sacred custom and holy day were propagated by the Apostle to the succeeding ages of the Church. And indeed what better exposition of an Apostolical Precept and practice can we meet withal, than the universal practice and observance of the Church of Christ? We must then shut up this particular, with what Walaeus takes notice of;

[unspec 7] The Lord's day is more illustrious from its eminent Title, Revel. 1. 10. where it is styled, the Lord's day. If ye ask why? Augustine will tell you, because the Lord hath made it. This name and title was so sweet to the Primitive Church, that most of the Fathers call our Sabbath by this name, and embrace its honor with an holy and triumphant ambition; they took an advantage from the very Title, to use this blessed day with greater veneration, Titles among men commanding respect and submission. Our Sabbath is called the Lord's day, saith a learned man,

1. Because the Lord did constitute the solemnization of it; (as the Lord's Prayer is so called, because Christ did dictate it.)

2. Or because on this day the Lord is more solemnly worshipped.

3. Or because Christ our Lord on this day rose from the dead, opening a door for us to an everlasting Sabbath and Rest.

Surely it is some additional honor to this illustrious Day, that, as it was the first day of time, mentioned in the first Book of the Bible, so it is the last day of fame, noted in the beginning of this last Book of the Bible, to the praise of him, who is our Alpha and Omega, Revel. 1. 11. The very Name speaks Christ the Author of this day; and his resurrection (whereby he was declared both Lord and Christ) must needs be the occasion of it. Ignatius who lived in the times of John the beloved Apostle, makes the Lord's day the Christians weekly Festival, which they then observed in the room of the Jews Sabbath; So doth Tertullian, Athanasius, Jerome, Augustine, &c. and indeed who not? By this title of the Lord's day we may trace it down from the Apostles times, through the Ocean of the Fathers, Councils, Schoolmen, to this present age in which we live. And to cast our eye on Scripture; there seems to be much in that which Beza observes, out of an ancient Greek Manuscript, wherein the first day of the week is called the Lord's day: And the Syriac Translation tells us, That the Christians meeting together to receive the Lord's Supper, 1 Cor. 11. 20. was upon the Lord's day. Bucan saith, The Sacrament is called the Lord's Supper, as in respect of the institution, and the end of it, so also in respect of the day on which it was wont to be administered, (viz.) the Lord's day: And we may fairly expound the Lord's day, Rev. 1. 10. by the Lord's Supper, 1 Cor. 11. 20. Here we may take notice, that the spirit of God, who had his choice of words, and never spake anything but with admirable reason, never vouchsafed this title of honor in the New Testament, but only to the Supper and the Day, the Lord's Supper, and the Lord's day: Now therefore the phrase being the same, and thus singular, the sense must needs be the same: Look therefore in what notion the Supper is the Lord's Supper, and in the same sense is the day styled the Lord's day. The Supper is the Lord's, because the Lord Christ did institute and ordain it, yea, and substitute it in the room of the Passover; And why not the day his because he instituted it, and substituted it in the room of the Old Sabbath? It is evidently a day of Christ's institution, a day of the Lord's making, and with reference to Christ's resurrection; and let any other day be set up in competition with it, and it will evidently and easily be non-suited. One well observes, That from these Texts, Acts 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Rev. 1. 10. may well be gathered the laudable and Evangelical practice of the Apostles, and the excellent confirmation, countenance and authority that God gave thereunto in this point of sanctifying the Lord's day: So that God did bear witness thereunto by signs and wonders: On this day Eutychus was raised from the dead, Acts 20. 10, 11. On this day three thousand are raised from the grave, or rather from the hell of sin, Acts 2. 37. And on this day John the Apostle is in his raptures and ecstasies, Rev. 1. 10. And besides the more remarkable benefits and fruits of this day, upon which the Holy Ghost hath put a Selah, still the Lord's day is a wonder-working day; What sense have many of the Saints on this day of peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, and great increase of grace, holy knowledge, and the fear of the Lord? And indeed the advantages and precious fruits of this day, are manifest to common and constant experience. Learned Rivet tells us, that all Interpreters do expound Revel. 1. 10. of our Lord's day, (viz.) the first day of the week, excepting one single Gomarus; as when ever was truth published which was not snarled at by some humorous and impatient adversary? And one thing more is very observable in Rev. 1. 10. It is called, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Lord's day, not the day of the Lord, for so is every day, he being the Lord and Master of time; but it is called the Lord's day, by way of singularity and conspicuous eminency.

But to draw towards a conclusion in the discussion of this particular, of much moment indeed, and therefore of more curious disquisition: We may take notice, that the Lord's day is not only the most proper name of our Sabbath, and most in use in the days of the Apostles; but it is most expressive, being both an Historian and a Preacher; For the Lord's day looking backward mindeth us what the Lord hath done for us, as on that day, (viz.) He arose from the dead; And looking forward, it admonisheth us, what we ought to do for him on the same day, (viz.) spend it to the honor of the Lord in the proper and sacred duties of it.

In a word, In the Lord's day three things are considerable:

1. A day founded on the light of Nature. Meer Pagans destinate whole days to their idolatrous service.

2. One day in seven, grounded on the moral equity of the fourth Commandment, which is perpetual and inalterable.

3. Our seventh day, being indeed the eighth from the Creation, but one of the seven in the week; and this is built on Divine Right, having analogy in the Old, and insinuations demonstrative in the New Testament, with the universal practice of the Church in all ages.

Thus we have traced the Divine Right of the Lord's day, which appears clear and orient to every unprejudiced eye. We will now pursue it to all ages, and here will come in a full concourse of witnesses to attest the Honor and Authority of it.

[unspec 1] Our Christian Sabbath is confirmed by all laws; not only by divine law, (as hath already been largely proved) but by Canon law. Linwood the Canonist tells us, That we are to do nothing on the Lord's day, but to be at leisure for God: No work must be done on that day, but singing of Psalms, chaunting of Hymns, and warbling forth spiritual Songs to the praise and glory of our dear and blessed Redeemer. Spiritual work best becomes this sacred day. Nay, the Canon law takes so much notice of our blessed Sabbath, that many learned men have fastened it, upon the Authority of the Canon law. So Cajetan, Thomas Aquinas, Turrecremata, Scotus, Tabiensis, Navarrus, and many others. Panormitan saith, That all the Canonists who write of Festivals, teach that the Lord's day is carefully to be observed and sanctified, in Cap. pronunciandum de Sab. And if the Canon law lay claim to the institution of the Lord's day, much more to the confirmation and establishment of it. In the Decretals of the Church then, we find our Christian Sabbath both owned and honored. And indeed in the whole body of the canon Law, the law for Sabbath-observation must needs be the head, and most eminent constitution.

[unspec 2] Our Christian Sabbath hath been established by the Civil law. Constantine the first Christian Emperor, who thought the chiefest, and most proper day for the Devotion of his Subjects, was the Lord's day, thus declared his pleasure, and enacted, That everyone who lived in the Roman Empire should rest on that day weekly, which is instituted to our Savior, and to lay aside all businesses, and wholly on that day to attend the Lord. An excellent Pattern here is for Princes; On the Lord's day, say the Imperial Constitutions, The whole minds of Christians and Believers should be busied in the worship of God. Leo the Emperor follows the steps of his Predecessour Constantine, and makes this remarkable sanction; It is our will, saith he, according to the meaning of the Holy Ghost, and of the Apostles by him directed, that on the sacred day wherein we were restored to our integrity; all men should rest themselves, and surcease from labor; for if the Jews did so much reverence their Sabbath, which only was a shadow of ours, are not we which inhabit light, and the truth of grace, obliged to honor that day, which the Lord hath honored, and therein delivered us from dishonor and death? Are not we bound to keep it singularly and inviolably, and sufficiently contented with a liberal grant of all the rest, and not encroaching on that one, which God hath chosen for his service; nay, were it not a retchless slighting and contemning of all Religion, to make that day common, and so think we may do thereon, as we did on others? A most excellent and truly imperial law, fit to be written upon the Ga • es of every City, upon the doors of every House, upon the thoughts of every Christian. And this law, the Reverend Hooker takes notice of, with a just emphasis of praise and commendation, as being a seasonable corrosive of former remissness in the Empire; the Lord's day before being in an exinanition by neglect and want of due severity, & by degrees fainting into contempt and disregard. The Emperor Theodosius, a most worthy Prince, enacted;

Such care did this excellent Prince take for the observation of our blessed Sabbath. And that famous and renowned Charles the Great, An. Dom. 789. published his Royal Edict, saying, Here we may hear the victorious Emperor, justly called the Great, not only clearly acknowledging the Divine institution, but likewise strictly commanding the Divine observation of the Lord's day. And the Emperor Ludovicus Pius, the good Son of a Noble Father, (viz.) Charles the Great, enacts this Constitution; Thus still the same strain of spiritual and holy zeal runs in the Acts and Edicts of these worthy Potentates. And the prosperous Justinian the great Compiler of the Civil Laws, and therefore the body of them is called Justinians Code, when he was Emperor of Constantinople, he enacted this savoury and rare Constitution; On the Lord's day, saith he, which of the whole week is the first, let the whole mind of Christians be taken up and occupied in the service of God, let them know there is a great difference between times of prayers, and times of pleasures; and therefore avoiding all Jewish impiety, and devilish Paganism, let them be wholly implied in the duties of the day. Thus that magnanimous and judicious Emperor. And it is very observable, Justinian doth not only enjoin the observance, but takes for granted the divine institution of our Christian Sabbath; as Charles the Great before him. And one thing more is most observable, That these Emperors, who took most care of the Lord's Day, and established it by their Authority, they were most sound in their judgments, most successful in their achievements, most eminent in their persons, and most famous in their esteem throughout the world; indeed they were the greatest Ornaments of the Imperial Throne: as Constantine the Great conquered the Pagan, and Charles the Great conquered the Martial World; and Religion spake them both truly the Great. So Ludovicus Pius was a Pattern of Patience, and Justinian an example of advised wisdom. But I shall not clog the Reader, lest a Surfeit take away the taste of those sweets which have been spread before him.

[unspec 3] Nay, our Christian Sabbath hath not only been honored and established by Divine Canon and Civil Law, but likewise by Common Law; and here I shall confine myself to our own Nation. King Alfred about the year 900, did publicly prohibit all marketting on the Lord's Day, as all other work whatsoever, and laid severe Penalties on the transgressors of this Proclamation. Canutus went a little further, and forbad not only Markettings, but Courts or public Meetings, and executions of Malefactors, as also hunting, and all kind of secular employments. But to draw nearer to our times, King Edward the sixth, our English Josiah, Enacted in Parliament,

Be it therefore Enacted, &c. And so the King and his great Council go on to establish Sabbath-observation by a Law. Queen Elizabeth that Renowned Princess, initiates and begins her Reign with a severe Injunction for the holy observation of the Lord's Day. Let us take a taste of her Langague, Thus this happy Princess laid the foundation of her future prosperous Reign in that which is better then Sapphires. The like was decreed in Parliament the same year, when this worthy Queen made good her Motto, Semper eadem, Always the same, joining heartily with her great Council in restraining the profanation, and promoting the sanctification of God's holy and blessed Day And her Successor King James over-hears the Echo, and takes it at the rebound, and expresses his zeal for the Lord's Day in this Royal Proclamation, And thus King James begins his Reign, and lays his first step to the English Throne, not in polished Ma • hle, but in pious devotion. And King Charles the first, following the steps of his Father, was pleased in his first Parliament, to Enact a Law promoting Sabbath-observation; the tenor of the Law runs thus, And in this Law it is taken care, that the Highways should not be frequented by the Traveler, nor the Shop visited by the Labourer, but there must be a cessation of all unnecessaries and seculars, to give way to more sublime, and to use Chrysostom's phrase, and spiritual observations. Thus the English Statute-book, as well as Justinians Code, proclaims the honor of the Lord's Day.

[unspec 4] Nor is our Christian Sabbath honored and established only by the Statutes of the Realm, but by the Constitutions and Canons of several Councils, that Church and State may both cry out, Thus shall it be done to the day which the Lord hath honored. The Council of Carthage decreed to petition the Emperor,

The Council of Aragon prohibits by Canon, The Council of Orleans, The Council of Mascon decreed, In the Council of Angiers, it was decreed, The Council of Collen decreed, The Council of Friuli decreed, The Council of Aken, which was held 800 years ago, In a Council at Coy it was decreed; That men should do no servile work, nor take any journey on this day. At a Council in Petricow, it was decreed, That Tavernmeetings, Dice, Cards, and such like pastimes should be abandoned on this Holy day. The Council of Eliberis decreed, If any man inhabiting the City come not to Church for three Lord's days together, let him to kept so long from the Sacrament, that he may well seem corrected for it. And the famous Council of Laodicea decreed, That Christians ought not to Judaize and to rest from work on the Jewish Sabbath, but prefer the Lord's day before it, and rest thereon from labor, If any be found to Judaize, let him be Anathema. And thus we may say with the wise man, Prov. 11. 14. In the multitude of Counselors there is safety, the Governors of the Church in their grave and solemn Conventions, have in all ages remembered to establish the honor and Holy observation of the Lord's day.

[unspec 5] The Lord's day hath met with acceptance and veneration in all ages of the Church. In the Primitive times, it was universally embraced, owned, and observed: And Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, Tertullian, Basil, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Jerome, Ambrose, and Augustine, &c. were but the trumpets of its praise. These famous lights in the best days of the Church liberally contributed to the glory of the Lord's day, and cast in freely to the treasury of its commendation and observance: And these Orthodoxal Fathers, both Greek and Latin, do with one mouth testify concerning the Christian Sabbath,

1. The Original thereof, which they say was first established by Christ's own blessed and inspired Apostles.

2. The cause and occasion of this day: In memory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord, who rose as upon this day, and triumphed over death and hell.

3. They bear honorable testimony, exhibit general approbation, and give notice of their continual practice in the sanctifying of the Lord's day in their several times and ages.

4. They effectually established it by their practice, preaching, and writings, that the memory of it might never be l • st, nor the prefixed time be changed or altered.

The Papists coming between the primitive and the later purity (as a Nettle between two Roses) as they kept the Letter of God's word, the matter of Baptism, the Doctrine of the Trinity, so they kept the time and doctrine of the Lord's day. And they did always acknowledge,

1. That the Lord's day was by the Apostles themselves established; and some of them say, Dominico jussu, by the command of the Lord himself.

2. That this was done by them in the memorial of the Lord's resurrection.

3. That those texts of Scripture, Acts 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Rev. 1. 10. do manifestly confirm this day.

4. That it is a day above all other days to be honored and esteemed.

5. That the observation thereof is, pars cultus divini, part of divine worship, and so consequently jure divino, of divine right: All this the Papists have freely acknowledged, although they are so subject to the epilepsie of error, and the spiritual falling-sickness; nay, although they are so biased by interest, their fundamental maxim, and so closely chained to the Popes Chair: But in this particular we will grant them infallibility.

Nay in the darkest times of the Church, when the Sun of truth shone most faintly, and was behind the blackest cloud, even then many School-men of note and eminency acknowledged the Divine right of the Lord's day, and gave in their plentiful attestations to that important truth. And Sylvester, one of them, is bold to assert, that this was the common opinion among them; the Lord's day was so venerable in the Church, it could not be contemptible in the Sch •• l • .

Learning in the very worst times, knew not how to become sacrilegious, and to rob the Lord's day of the honor of its di • ine original; it knew not how in the very midst of the triumphs of Idolatry (which was most rampant in the middle times of the Church) to sink down the Lord's day into an human Ordinance. And one thing is observable, that those two famous Edicts of Charles the Great, and his Son Ludovicus Pius, concerning the holy observation of the Lord's day, were dated from those times when the Church of Christ was covered with the blackness of darkness, and the Spouse had on her the thickest veil.

As for the times of Reformation, these latter ages of the world have not blemished the glorious work of reformation with degrading the Lord's day from its due, just, and Scriptural honor: More then a Jury of Foreign Divines acquitting this blessed day from the mean original of an human institution: And if they shall be called in, they are ready to avouch it. Beza, Junius, Piseator, Rolloche, Chemnitz, Walaeus, Bucer, Melanchthon, Gallasius, Viretus, Amesus, Peter Martyr, Zanchius, Pareus, and Faius, &c. all concurring in their sentence, That the Lord's day was consecra • e • • y the holy and infallible Apostles. Nor are there deficient, Divines of note of our own, who give in the same verdict, and join issue with the suffrages of those beyond the Seas: what the eminent Perkins his opinion was in this cause, hath already been suggested: Let me now produce the testimony of the famous Mr. Joseph Me • e, whose worth and learning was not of an ordinary s •• ture, and thus he expresseth himhimself,

where he saith, Let no man henceforth judge you in respect of a Feast day, New Moons, or Sabbath day, which were a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ. Thus largely this worthy man shows us, that the foundation of the old Sabbath is rased and plucked up, and the new Sabbath is settled upon as strong a Basis, even upon the accomplishment of the glorious work of our redemption in the blessed resurrection of Christ, and we may now say, This foundation stands sure, the Lord knows which day for weekly solemnity is his, the time of our Sabbath is set by that rising Sun which will decline no mor • . And we are as much bound to keep our Sabbath upon the account of the work of Redemption, as the Jews were upon the account of the work of creation, or their Egyptian deliverance; the work makes the day in both, and therefore no human device or institution can here lay the least claim.

Thus let us run the stage of every Century, we shall never want those who had so much Scripture Heraldry, as to know that the Lord's day was divinely born; and that at least the holy Apostles, both by their practice, Acts 20. 7. and precept, 1. Cor. 16. 2. give life to it, that it might survive in the Church, till the end of all things and times.

[unspec 6] And as no age was so corrupt to disown, so no place was so barbarous as to shut out the Lord's day. But in all places where Christianity was embraced, they sang Hosanna to the highest of days. The observation of this day was much scattered in the very Apostles days: It was observed at Jerusalem, John 20. 19, 26. at Troas, Acts 20. 7. in the Churches of Galatia and Corinth, 1 Cor. 16. 1, 2. Then in Patmos, Rev. 1. 10. and the lesser Asia, then in the Grecian Churches, as the Greek Fathers before-mentioned testify; then in the Latin Churches, as appears by the Latin Fathers called before to witness and attest it, which they plentifully declare, and in process of time, the fame and observance of this blessed day was scattered far and wide. It was observed in Africa by the injunction of the Council of Carthage; it was observed in Spain by the decrees of the Councils of Aragon and Eliberis; it was solemnly kept and observed in France by the decrees and Canons of the Council of Orleans, Paris, Reims, Angiers; it was observed in Italy by the Canons of the Councils of Friuli & Rome; it was kept in Germany by the strict injunction of the Councils of Aquisgrane, Mainz, and Collen; it was observed in Poland by imposition and advice of the Council of Petricow; it was kept in Lydia, a Province of the lesser Asia, by the determination of the Council of Laodicea, which solemn convention gave much honor to our Christian Sabbath; it was observed in Greece by the strict injunction of the Council of Constantinople; it was observed in England in the early days and dawnings of the Gospel, by the advice and Canon of the Council of Cloveshow, as some say, near Canterbury. Thus in every place, where the Christian Religion was planted, the Lord's day was inaugurated with praise and observation; so that we may here apply that of the Psalmist, Psal. 68. 11. The Lord gave the word, and great was the company of those that published it. The Gospel and the day of Christ both kept equal pace, and travelled in company together through all converted Nations. To entertain a Savior, and not a Sabbath, the Lord's will declared in the Gospel; not the Lord's day was ever a soloecism, and an absur • ity in the world.

[unspec 7] Nor can I see, if our Sabbath be only jure humano, an human ordinance, how we can expect the same blessing on our Sabbath, which the Jews might or did on theirs? for surely divine institution entails divine benediction; God doth not water plants with the dews of his blessing, which are not of his own planting: But he often complains of introductions into his worship, by the devise and counsels of men, Jer. 7. 31. How the Sabbath of the Jews had manifestly a divine institution, which is undoubted and undenied by all; If ours therefore want a divine authority to appoint and ordain it, their fleece may be still wet with blessing and denediction, and ours wholly dry. It is not easily to be imagined, that an Ecclesiastical constitution (as some make our Sabbath to be) can fall under the same smiles and influences with a divine ordinance, enlivened by Christ's command, or midwived into the world by Apostolical precept or practice. The infinite distance between the Authorities must needs conclude a vast difference between the benedictions; nor can the Canon of a Council tie conscience so fast, or bless the obedient so much, as the Canon of Scripture, our enemies themselves being Judges; nor can in the least any Scripture be produced to authorize the Church, to set up a Sabbath for the Christian World. God usually blesseth his own institutions. Prayer is powerful, because He commands it; Preaching effectual, because He en • oyns it; the Sacraments comfortable, because He ordains them; and so the Lord's Day is often bedewed with showers of the choicest love and benediction, because it was Christ's institution, either more immediately by his personal command, or else mediately by his inspired and infallible Apostles: And therefore let us fall down before the force of truth, and conclude, the blessings of our Sabbath, speak the beginnings of our Sabbath, to be in God's breast, and not in man's will; God usually accepting the worship at Jerusalem, and not that at Dan and Bethel; he loves those festivals of which himself is the Author.

[unspec 8] And let us fetch a pregnant argument from Providence. What signal judgments hath God punished the profaners of the Lord's day with? (as shall be shewn more fully hereafter.) Now the profaning of the Lord's day, must needs be a breach of the law of God, or else how can it be a provocation of the wrath of God. God punisheth only for sin, which the Apostle saith, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a transgression of the Law, 1 John 3. 4. Now if our Christian Sabbath be only a law of Man, where is the positive and provoking sin in the violation of it, where is the infinite evil which should so inflame divine displeasure, as to pour out his fury on the violatours of it, and to follow them with tremendous judgments? Is it probable, that God would strike so deeply, and punish so fearfully and wonderfully, for the breach of a Canon of the Church, or a Decree of a Council? It is true, was the Lord's day bottomed on Ecclesiastical authority, it would be a piece of disobedience to the Church, to violate it; but still where is the infinite evil, (as every sin is) to stir up so much indignation in the Almighty? Surely the breach of a human constitution could never raise such storms in the world, nor pelt so many untimely into their dust, and oftentimes on a sudden, and in a stupendous and terrible manner, (as shall be fully shown hereafter:) And again, we meet with no such tragedies in our sporting upon holy days, and those festivals which are of the Churches appointment; those days run waste in mirth and jollity: nor do we meet with broken limbs, sudden deaths, fearful diseases, unexpected blindness, &c. the common issues of the profanation of the Lord's day, to be the success and consequence of that vanity. Providence then makes the distinction between days of the Churches appointment, and that blessed day, our Christian Sabbath, which is of divine institution.

To conclude then this particular, Let us clothe the Lord's day in all its royal Apparel, and put on all its Jewels and Ornaments, and then we shall see this Queen of days in all its splendor and glory. A day it is of honor and renown above all days, that ever the Sun shone in; the most gloririous day that ever God created; the most solemn day that ever the Church celebrated; a day which Christ hath crowned with the greatest glory of any day that ever dawned upon the world: It is a day of the Lord's power, a day of his perfection, the day of his praise and glory, and a day of his b ••• nty and blessings, the day of his espousals, and of the gladness of his heart. When Christ was born, the Angels celebrated that day with Songs and triumphs, Luke 2. 13. When Christ rose from the dead, (or else why was he born?) Let the Saints celebrate that day with weekly solemnities and praises, and not pass away their laud in a transient music, as the Angels did; On this day, (our Christian Sabbath day) there was a confluence of wonders, and wonderful transactions wrought by him, whose name is wonderful, Isa. 9. 6. In a word, this day is the highly favored of God, a map of Heaven, a taste of Glory, the golden spot of time, the market day of souls, the day break of eternal brightness, a day to be marked of thousands for their new birth day; a day on which many have been redeemed from more then Egyptian bondage; a day of light, of joy, of love and delight; a day which is truly, delitiae humani generis, the delight of mankind, as once Titus was called. Ah! how do men flutter up and down on the week days, as the Dove on the waters, and can find no rest for their souls, till they come to this day, as to an Ark, and this day takes them in? On this day the light was created, the Holy Spirit descended, life hath been restored; Satan subdued, Sin mortified, Souls sanctified, the Grave, Hell and Death conquered. O! the mountings of mind, the ravishings of heart, the solace of soul, which on this day men enjoy in their dearest Savior. Our Lord's day is the first day of the week, was the first day of the world; On it the Elements were formed, the light was created, the Angels were produced; On it Manna was first rained down; On it, say the Fathers of the sixth General Council, was Christ born; On it did the Star first appear to the wise men who came out of the East; On it was Christ baptized in Jordan by John the Baptist, as the Council of Paris observe; On it, saith a learned man, Christ wrought his first Miracle by turning water into wine: And on this day, saith Junius, the Israelites passed the Red Sea on dry ground securely by the help of a Miracle. And to wind up all, on this day the light of the firmament, and the Sun of Righteousness first rose, and appeared from darkness and death.

And thus the Lord's day is brought to its Throne; and let all who love Christ, say, God save the Christian Sabbath, and preserve it from the fury and rage of malevolent pers • cutors, from the virulent and sophistical pens of adversaries, from the fancies of familistical and enthusiastical heretics, and from the blemishes, and discrediting practices of profane persons. And let our fervent prayers to the Lord of the Sabbath be, that as this blessed day had a divine institution, so it may be ever honored and celebrated with a spiritual and heavenly observation.