same law to converse with one another therein, and to express our united concurrence in those things that relate to the glory of God.

(4.) The law of nature farther suggests, that as the whole of our business, in this world, is not included in that of society, which is rather to be occasional than stated; and there are other secular employments, which we are to be engaged in, in which we do not converse with others; so we are not to spend our whole time in public or social worship. Therefore,

(5.) It follows from hence, that some stated times are to be appointed for this end; and it is agreeable to the law of nature, that God, who is the sovereign Lord of our time, as well as the object of social worship, should appoint these times; that is, that he should ordain a Sabbath, or what proportion of time he pleases, for us to perform those religious duties which he enjoins, therein. These considerations, relating to our observation of the Sabbath, are purely moral, and not positive.

2. We shall shew in what respects the Sabbath is positive, and not moral in the highest and most propense sense of the word. Here let it be considered, that it is the result of a positive law, that one proportion of time should be observed for a Sabbath, rather than another; namely, that it should be a seventh, rather than a third, fourth, fifth, or sixth part of our time; for this could not have been known by the light of nature, any more than the other branches of instituted worship that are to be performed therein. So that, whether it be the seventh day in the week, or the first, which we are to observe, this being founded in the divine will, we conclude it to be a positive law. This we are obliged to assert, that we may fence against two extremes, namely, that of those who, on the one hand, deny the Sabbath to have any thing of a moral circumstance contained in it; and that of others, who suppose that there is no idea of a positive law in it. That, in somè respects, the fourth Commandment is a branch of the moral law, may be proved from the following arguments:

(1.) It is inserted, among other commandments that are moral, which were proclaimed by the voice of God from mount Sinai, whereas the ceremonial and judicial laws were not; though they were given by divine inspiration. These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire of the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a great voice; and he added no more, Deut. v. 22. viz. at that time.

Moreover, they were written on two tables, with the finger of God, which none of the other laws were; and were laid up in the ark before the Lord, Exod. xxxi. 18. all which denotes

the dignity and perpetuity of these laws, above all others that were ceremonial, judicial, or merely positive.

(2.) The Sabbath was enjoined to be observed not only by the Israelites, who were in covenant with God, together with their servants, who were made proselytes to their religion, and were obliged to observe the ceremonial and other positive laws; but it was also to be observed by the stranger within their gates, namely, the Heathen, who dwelt among them, who were not in covenant with God, and did not observe the cere monial law; these were obliged to obey the Sabbath, it being, in many respects, a branch of the moral law.

(3.) If the observation of the Sabbath had been a duty of the ceremonial, and, in no respects, of the moral law, it would have been wholly abolished at the death of Christ; but, though then the day was altered, yet there was still a Sabbath observed, after his resurrection, even when the ceremonial law was no longer in force.

(4.) The weekly Sabbath is distinguished from all the cere monial festivals; which are also called sabbaths, in that God lays a special claim to it, as his own day; and therefore it is called, in this Commandment, The sabbath of the Lord thy God; and it is styled, his holy day; Isa. lviii. 13. by way of eminence, to distinguish it from other days, which he has appointed to be, in other respects, devoted to his service; and when changed, it is called The Lord's day, Rev. i. 10. which is a peculiar honour put upon it. For these reasons we conclude, that the Sabbath has in it something moral, and is not a part of the ceremonial law.

Obj. 1. It is objected, that the Sabbath is included, by the apostle, among the ceremonial laws, which were designed to be abrogated, under the gospel-dispensation; and therefore he says, in Col. ii. 16, 17. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Answ. To this it may be replied, that by the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, we are to understand the Jewish festivals; such as the new moons, the passover, pentecost, the feast of tabernables, &c. which are often called sabbaths: wherein holy convocations were held. So that when the apostle says, Let no man judge you, in respect of this matter, he means, let none have occasion to reprove you for your observing of those days, which were merely ceremonial, the design whereof was to typify the gospel-rest. Now, that the apostle does not mean the weekly Sabbath, is plain; for hereby he would contradict his own practice, and that of the churches

in his day, who observed it; whereas, the other sabbaths were abolished, together with the ceremonial law.

- Moreover, it is evident, that he intends no more than the ceremonial sabbaths, or Jewish festivals; because he adds, Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, as well as in respect of an holy day, &c. by which he does not mean, let no man have reason to judge or condemn you for gluttony or drunkenness, but for your abstaining from several sorts of meat, forbid by the ceremonial law; by which he means that the distinction of meats is removed under the gospel-dispensation. And consequently the ceremonial sabbaths, or holy days, are taken away; which are intended by the sabbath day in that place, and not the weekly Sabbath; and therefore our translation rightly renders it, the sabbath days, not the Sabbath day. Or if it ought to be rendered the sabbath day, or the weekly Sabbath, because it is distinguished from the holy days before mentioned; then it may be farther replied to it, that he means the seventh-day Sabbath, which was abolished, together with the ceremonial law, in opposition to the Lord's day; and how far this was a sign or shadow of good things to come, will be considered in what will be replied to the next objection.

Obj. 2. It is farther objected, by those who pretend that the Sabbath is a branch of the ceremonial law, that it is said, in Exod. xxxi. 16, 17. The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever, &c.

Answ. To this it may be replied; that whenever the weekly Sabbath has an idea annexed to it, agreeably to that of the ceremonial law; as when it is said to be a sign between God and Israel, as in this scripture, we are to understand nothing hereby, but that there was a ceremonial accommodation annexed to it, as an ordinance for their faith, in particular, signifying the gospel-rest; which signification was not annexed to it from the beginning; but when it was given to Israel. From the beginning, it was not a type; but when God gave the ceremonial law, it was made a type. Even as the rainbow, which pro ceeds from natural causes, and was, doubtless, set in the heavens before Noah's time; yet it was not ordained to be a sign of the covenant between God and him, till God ordered it to be so, in his time. Thus God ordained the Sabbath to be a type or sign to Israel, when he gave them the ceremonial law, though it was not so before. And at Christ's resurrection it ceased to be an ordinance, for their faith in the gospel-rest, or to be observed, when another day was substituted in the room of it, to wit, the first day of the week.

Obj. 3. It is farther objected, that when the observation of the Sabbath was enjoined, God bade the Israelites, in Deut. v. VOL. III.

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15. to remember that they were servants in the land of Egypt. and that the Lord their God brought them out thence through e mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm; and therefore con manded them to keep the Sabbath-day.

Answ. To this it may be replied,

1. That God's bringing his people out of Egypt, is no argu ment that this is a part of the ceremonial law, which was given soon after that time. For we read in the preface to the ten Commandments, of his bringing his people out of the land of Egypt; which is assigned as a reason why they should observe all the Commandments. Therefore it might as well be inferred, that they are all a part of the ceremonial law, as that the fourth Commandment is so; because enforced by the same motive.

2. Though this particular reason is given to induce the Israelites to observe this Commandment, and it is in a more especial manner, applied to that dispensation of providence which they were lately under; yet this could not be said to take place in the first institution of the Sabbath, if we suppose that it was instituted before Moses's time, which we shall endeavour to prove under a following head.

3. This particular reason, taken from their having been servants in Egypt, is added to enforce the obligation laid on masters, to let their servants rest on the Sabbath-day; namely, because they themselves were once servants in Egypt, without any regard had herein to the matter of the Commandments, or any intimation that it is a branch of the ceremonial law.

II. We shall now consider when this law, relating to the observation of the Sabbath, was first given. There are various opinions about this matter.

1. Some think the Sabbath was first instituted when God spake to Israel from mount Sinai; inasmuch as it is one of the ten Commandments, which God gave them from thence (a).

(a) "The devoting of a seventh Part of Time in a holy manner to the Lord, be longs unchangeably to the moral nature and obligation of the fourth Commandment, which is transferred in the New Testament, from the seventh to the first day of the week. (See John xx. 26, and Acts xx. 7.) To this it may not be amiss to add the judicious note of Mr. Kennicott in his dissertation on the oblations of Cart and Abel, p. 184, 185, where he says, "The sabbath, or weekly day of holiness, might well be called a sign to the Jews;" for the Jewish sabbath was a sign, as being founded on a double reason, the second of which (the Egyptian delive rance) evidently distinguished that people from all others, and was therefore as a sign constantly to remind them of the particular care of heaven, and what uncommon returns of goodness they were to make for so signal a deliverance. But there is great reason to believe, that the sabbath of the Israelites was altered with their year, at their coming forth from Egypt; and a short attention to this point may not be here improper, the case then seems to be this. At the finishing of the creation, God sanctified the seventh day; this seventh day, being the first day of Adam's life, was consecrated by way of first-fruits to God; and therefore Adam may reasonably be supposed to have began his computation of

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But to this it may be replied, that the Sabbath was observed some days before Israel came into the wilderness of Sinai, viz. when they were in the wilderness of Sin. Thus Moses, when speaking concerning their gathering twice as much manna as was usual, the day before the Sabbath, assigns this is as a reason for it, To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord, Exod. xvi. 13. And that this was before they encamped at mount Sinai, appears from hence, namely, that it is said, that they came into the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month, ver. 2. Whereas they did not come into the wilderness of Sinai, till the third month, chap. xix. 1. Therefore,

2. Others fix the Epocha of the giving this law, from their coming into the wilderness of Sin; this being the first time, in which the Sabbath is expressly said to be observed, in scrip

ture.

But to this it may be replied; that nothing can be justly inferred from the mode of expression, used by Moses in this scripture, as though it argued the giving a new law, that had not been before observed; but only the putting them in mind of the observation of that day, which had, for some time been

the days of the week with the first whole day of his own existence; thus the sabbath became the first day of the week; but when mankind fell from the worship of the true God, they first substituted the worship of the sun, in his place, and preserving the same weekly day of worship, but devoting it to the sun, the sabbath was called Sunday; for that Sunday was the first day of the week, and is so still in the east, is proved by Mr. Selden (Jus. Nat. and Gent. Lib. 3. Cap. 22.) Thus the sabbath of the Patriarchs continued to be the Sunday of the idolators, till the coming up of the Israelites out of Egypt; and then, as God altered the beginning of their year, so he also changed the day of their worship from Sunday to Saturday; the first reason of which might be, that as Sunday was the day of worship among the Idolaters, the Israelites would be more likely to join with them, if they rested on the same day, than if they were to work on that day, and serve their God upon another. But a second reason certainly was, in order to perpetuate the memory of their deliverance on that day from Egyptian slavery; for Moses, when he applies the fourth Commandment to the particular cases of his own people, Deut. v. 15, does not enforce it, as in Ex. xx. 11. by the consideration of God's resting on that day which was the sabbath of the Patriarchs; but binds it upon them by saying, Remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God hath commanded THEE to keep this SABBATH-DAY. Allowing then the preceding observations, we immediately see, how the sabbath naturally reverted to Sunday, after the abolition of Judaism without any express command for the alteration." To which he adds a quotation from Bp. Cumberland, (Orig. Gent. Antiq. p. 400.) which speaks of the Gentiles, as called, after Christ's time into the same universal church with the Patriarchs; and another from Justin Martyr, Twv de TOU NAJOU ημεραν κοινή πανίες την συνέλευσιν ποιούμεθα επειδή πρώτη εστιν ημέρα, ενώ ο θεος το σκέλος δε την ύλην τρέψας, κοςμον εποίησε και Ιησους χριστος ο ημέτερος σωτηρ τη αυτή ημέρα εκ νεκρών antal. Apol. c. s. 89. The purport of which is, that all christians generally as sembled for religious worship on the Sunday; because it is the first day in which God finished the creation of the world; and on the same day of the week, Jesus Christ, our Saviour, rose from the dead " GUYSE.