It is true indeed that some Churches, for a confiderable Time after Christ, did observe both the Jewish and the Chriftian Sabbath: But sure this cannot be brought as an Argument against what we are saying. It is plain, by their Practice, they all made a Confcience of keeping one Day in seven holy to God; but if, in Imitation of the Jews, they would keep Saturday as well as Sunday, this rather strengthens our Affertion, that they thought the Law of the Fourth Commandment to be obliging to them, than any way to weaken it: It shews indeed, supposing they took up this Practice as a Matter of Duty, that they were in Doubt which was the right Day they were obliged to keep, and therefore for Sureness they would keep both; but, in the mean time, it is a Demonftration that they thought themselves obliged to keep one Day in Seven.

Thus I have represented to you, in as few Words as I can, the Arguments that are brought for the proving that the Sabbath, or the Observation of one Day in seven for religious Uses, is more than a bare human Institution; and that it is bound upon us by God Almighty himself. I must confefs, I think there is great Weight in them: But I will not censure any Man that cannot come up to these Measures, provided that he takes himself to be obliged in Confcience to observe the Lord's-day, though he fetches fetches that Obligation from other Grounds and Principles: But whoever doth not that, whoever hath so little Sense of Religion as not to think himself bound to dedicate one Day in the Week to join with his FellowChristians in the solemn Worship of God, such a Man I can hardly believe to be a Christian, though he never so much calls himself by that Name.

And thus much of our first Head, namely, concerning our Obligation to observe the Sabbath in general; that is, to set apart one Day in seven for the more folemn Worship of God.

I now come to the Second Head, concerning the Change of the Sabbath from the Seventh Day of the Week, as it was observed by the Jews, to the First Day of the Weck, as it is observed by the Christians. And here the obvious Question is, By what Authority was this done? What Law of the Gospel have we to shew for this Change? And if we can produce none, how comes it to pass that we Christians do not obferve the Seventh Day of the Week, as it is ordered in the Fourth Commandment? God faith, Remember the Sabbathday to keep it holy. Now all the World knows that the Sabbath-day that is there spoken of, was the last Day in the weekly Revolution, that Day which the Jews obferve for their Sabbath, and not the first Day of the Week, or Sunday, as we Christians

stians now observe: Either therefore you must shew some Law of Christ, whereby he hath appointed Sunday to be the Day that is to be folemnly devoted to him, or else, if we be obliged to observe any Sabbath at all, we are obliged to observe it according to the Law of the Fourth Commandment.

I have put the Difficulty as strongly as I can, and I doubt not but I shall sufficiently clear it, if you will have the Patience to attend to what I have to say to it.

The first thing I say, is this, That all this Argumentation proceeds upon a false Ground, it supposeth that we were all under an Obligation to obferve the fame Day of the Week that the Jews were, unless Christ should give a contrary Command: But this is a great Mistake; we are no more bound to observe the Sabbath, as it was a Jewish Institution, than we are bound to observe their New Moons, and folemn Festivals; and this St. Paul himself hath told us in 2 Coloff. xvi. Let no Man, faith he, judge you 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 Chrift. That is to say, Let no Man cenfure or condemn you Christians, for not religiously observing those solemn Days which the Law of Mofes commanded the Jews to keep holy, such as the New Moons and the Sabbaths, for these were the Types and

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and Shadows of what was to come, and fo are vanished by the appearing of the Substance, which is Christ Jesus. These Words do as plainly shew, as Words can do, that if St. Paul be to be believed, we Christians are not bound to keep the Sabbath-day, as the Jews, by their Law, were obliged to keep it.

The Truth of it is, No Law of Mofes did oblige any but the Jews, to whom they were given, and those that lived among them: So far indeed as the Matter and Reason of those Laws were of universal Concernment, so far all Mankind that came to the Knowledge of them, were bound to take Notice of them: And there was fomething in the Law of the Sabbath, that seemed to be of this Nature, namely, That we should keep one Day in seven in Memory of the Creation, but for the particular Day that the Jews kept, that was appointed them by God for a Reason that did peculiarly concern themselves, and therefore none but themselves, and those that lived among them, were obliged by it. This now being so, it is an impertinent Question to ask what Law of Chrift hath abrogated Saturday, and put Sunday in the Place of it? For what needed there any Authority of Chrift to abrogate a Law that we were never bound to observe?

But here it will be faid, Doth not our

Church own the Fourth Commandment to

lay lay an Obligation upon us? And doth not that Fourth Commandment expressly require the Observation of the last Day of the Week, and not of the first ?

To this I will give two plain Answers. First, Tho' our Church owns the Authority of the Fourth Commandment, as well as of the rest, yet it doth not own an Obligation to practise all that is required in the Fourth Commandment, for neither our Church, nor any other Chriftian Church, from our Saviour's Time to this, did ever teach that Christians were bound to observe that strict bodily Rest, both of Man and Beast, which the Fourth Commandment seems to require, and which the Jews practised. So far from that, that several Chriftian Councils have censured them for Judaizers, that thought themselves bound to follow the Letter of the Jewish Law in this Matter; and they likewise passed the same Cenfure upon those that believed they were obliged to keep the fame Day: So that you fee we may own the Obligation of the Fourth Commandment without thinking our selves concerned either to observe the fame Day, or the same Rest on that Day, which that Commandment requires.

But then, Secondly, If it is strictly examined, it will be found, that the Fourth Commandment doth not lay any greater Stress upon one Day of the Week, than