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threw out of the Fourth Commandment all that was perfectly Jewish and Ceremonial, yet they retained the Subftance of it, and, accordingly did conftantly charge it upon themselves to fet apart One Day in Seven for the public Worship of GoD: And this Practice, thus begun by the Apostles, hath ever fince continued in all Ages, and in all Churches of the Christian World.

Whether now all thefe Things, taken together, do not evince, that the Law of the Sabbath is more than a mere human Ecclefiaftical Conftitution, and that it is not in the Power of the whole Church to abro= gate or to alter it (which was the Thing to be proved), I will leave you to be Judges of.

But I cannot now fill up thefe Three laft Heads: I must refer that, with the rest of my Difcourfes upon this Argument, to fome other Opportunity.

Confider what ye have heard, &c.

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now defign to go on with it.

The Method I propofed, was to discourse upon these four Heads.

First, Of our Obligation to observe the Sabbath in general, taking that Word as fignifying no more than fetting apart one Day in the weekly Revolution for the Worship of GOD.

Secondly, Of the Change of the Sabbath from the feventh Day of the Week to the first. Thirdly, Of the Importance of this Duty, and great Advantage of strictly observing the LORD's Day.

Fourthly, Of the Manner of obferving it.

I

I began with the firft of thefe Heads; namely, concerning our Obligation to observe the Sabbath in general: And the first Thing I urged was this, That if we take the lowest Hypothefis that is laid down in this Matter, and proceed only upon fuch Grounds as are allowed by thofe that talk the most loosely in this Matter, yet by this way of Reafoning we may fufficiently infer an everlafting Obligation upon our Confciences to obferve the Sabbath: For, admitting that there is no particular Law of God that concerns us, which requires our Obfervation of a Sabbath, yet it is granted, on all hands, that there is a general Law of GOD, which requires, that fome Portions of that Time he hath given us, fome Days of thofe many that he affords us, fhould be folemnly confecrated to his more immediate Worship and Service; and there ought to be a very frequent Return of thofe Days. Now, if GoD hath not, by any immediate Revelation, fet out thofe Times or Days, and the Return of them, it falls to the public Authority, in every Country, that hath the Management of the Affairs of Religion, to take care of it; and what they establish in this Cafe, fuitable to the Principles of Reason, and the other Notices we have of GOD's Will, doth bind the Confciences of all the Subjects to its Obfervance, even as if it was a Divine Law. Though there be no particular Law

of GOD that obligeth us Chriftians to observe one Day in feven, more than one Day in fix or eight; yet both the Law of Nature, and the Law of the Gofpel, give this general Command, that stated Times should be fet apart for God's public Worship: Though therefore there be no particular Law of GOD in this Matter, yet fince the Chriftians, from the very Beginning, took up this Practice in Imitation of the Jews, fetting apart one Day in feven for the Worship of God, and that Practice, where-ever Christianity hath obtained, has been strictly bound upon us by the Law both Ecclefiaftical and Civil, this is enough, in all Reason, to lay an Obligation upon every Man's Confcience to obferve this Day.

But, Secondly, There are others do carry this Matter a great deal higher; and do affirm, that God hath not left us to the general Dictates of Nature, and the Example of the Jews, and the Conftitution of the Church or State grounded thereupon, as to the Proportion of the Time that we are to dedicate to his Service; but he himself hath fufficiently declared his Will in that Matter, and has made it a ftanding perpetual Law to all Mankind, to whom the Knowlege of his Revelations fhould come, that one Day in every seven should be thus dedicated to him; nor is it in the Power of any Church or State to alter or vary

from

from this Proportion. Now, for the Proof of this, they reafon after this manner.

In the first Place, GOD, in the very Creation of the World, did direct to the Obfervance of one Day in feven to his Service: For what Reafon can be given of his making the World in fix Days, and refting on the feventh, but this, that he might hereby lay an everlasting Ground and Foundation for our obferving one Day in feven as an holy Reft?

Secondly, He did exprefly declare, that this was his Meaning, and gave it in Charge to our first Parents, that they should rest on the seventh Day, as he had done. The holy Scripture tells us, that, after the Heavens and the Earth were finished, GOD blefsed the seventh Day, and fanctified it, because that in it he refted from all his Works. Now what was thus bleffed and fet apart by the Order of GOD to our first Parents, must certainly concern all the Children that came of them: Thus far I went the last time.

I now proceed; Thirdly, When GoD came to give his Laws to his peculiar People the Jews, 2400 Years after the Creation, and by them to repair the Ruins that Idolatry, and the evil Cuftoms of the World, had brought upon that People; so great a Regard had he to this firft Law of the Creation concerning the Sabbath, that he took care to put it among the Ten Command

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