SERMON IV.

EXODUS XXXI. 12, 13, 14.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, verily my sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you, throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you, every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from amongst his people.

EVER since the fall, Christ was the way to the Father, and he was set forth even in the Old Testament with equal clearness, as in the New. Our church says, Article 7. the Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for, both in the Old and New Testament, everlasting life is offered to mankind through Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and man, wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign, that the old fathers did look only for transitory purposes; and yet we hear of a strange notion prevailing in the Christian world, that believers, under the Old Testament dispensation, did not understand the person and work of Christ as well as we do. Whereas they had the same revelation, and the same Spirit to explain and to apply it; they had the same faith that we have, in the same Lord; the same hope in Jesus; the same love to him, and the same obedience to his will on the same motive; and there is no difference between us and them, but in this one sin

gle circumstance; they believed in Christ, who was to come, as we believe in Christ, who is come. Moses and all the prophets, with one mouth, testified of Christ they foretold his sufferings, and the glory that should follow. They gave their witness in plain words, and in significant rites, instituted of God, to describe what Christ was to be, and to do. The Levitical priesthood was appointed to explain those rites, and to make them familiar by constant preaching. As many as were ordained unto eternal life, heard and believed in the Lord Jesus. They were ready to give an answer to every one who asked them, a reason of the hope that was in them. If any enquiring heathen had desired a believing Jew to open to him the meaning of the ceremonial law, he would have explained it as St. Paul has in his Epistle to the Hebrews, Christ being the substance of all the shadows. And if farther enquiry had been made, Why is it you are so strict about the sabbath-day? Upon what authority do you keep it? And what advantages do you expect from it? He would have given as direct and plain an answer, as any man now living can. He would have said, that God created the world, and in six days formed it, and on the seventh he rested, and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that on it he had rested from all his works, which God created and made: and that rest was to shew, that as God ceased from his works, so there was a time coming when we should cease from ours; so on this day we cease from bodily labour, that we might have happy rest, and converse with God by faith, as we hope to rest with him for evermore. If you ask, How does it appear that the believing Jews in the Old Testament should have as clear views of this matter as we have in the New, I would refer you only to two or three scriptures, and then open this matter, that we may see the obligation of keeping and sanctifying the Lord's day.

The first is the original institution; many people

think it is part of the ceremonial law: Adam had nothing to do with the ceremonial law, but he had to do with this rest; for, if he had kept the sabbath, and rested in God as his supreme good, he would have entered into that rest by his perfect obedience, which (blessed be God) we enter into by faith in Jesus. It was a moral obligation; so when the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made; rested, that is, he ceased from creating and forming any thing more, and he blessed the seventh day; he made it the means of blessing to us, and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: he sanctified it for man's sake, that there might be a token that there was a real sanctification in Adam, when he was first formed, and if he kept that image perfect, he should rest with a holy God for ever and ever: he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that he had rested from all his works which God created: that day is the institution of the first sabbath, which did not last long, but the continuance of the sabbath was after the fall; for before the giving of the law, we find that Moses said of the manna, it must not be gathered this day, because it is the holy rest of the sabbath, which they had kept from the time of the fall, till the time of their coming out of Egypt. Upon the coming out of Egypt, the day was changed; they had kept the day which we now keep for Sunday from the beginning; but upon their coming out of Egypt, it was changed for the day in which they came out, and there is not any truth can be made plainer from the scriptures, than this truth, that the original sabbath was changed at the children of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, and that it continued so. Our Lord lay in the grave the Jewish, the original sabbath; and he rose on the original crea tion sabbath. The day that was kept from the begin ning, has been the day of the Christian sabbath. It

I chose

has been asked, Where is there any sufficient proof and authority that this is a command of the most high God, and an obligation upon all his creatures. to speak upon this passage before me, because of two or three words in it, which are not in the fourth commandment. This is an obligation, because the Lord spake to Moses, saying, "Speak thou also to the chil"dren of Israel, and say, verily, my sabbath shall ye "keep." Verily The Lord sets his asseveration before it; in one place it is "remember," and here it is "verily," this is the truth of God, that shall keep ye my sabbath holy. Why? Because it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth you. It is a sign that is the word I would fix upon it. They did not keep the sabbath for its own sake; it was but a sign, it was a memorial, they were to remember something by it, and so you know we do not keep the day now merely to cease from work, but we keep it for a particular purpose. It is a sign of the rest which believers have now in Jesus by faith; and it is a sign of that rest which remaineth to the people of God, when we believe. If you had asked any Jew, or any Rabbi, What is your sabbath a sign of? why, says he, It is a sign of God's resting chiefly; but, now he has altered the day since our coming out of Egypt, it is a sign that we rested from the Egyptian bondage. It is a sign that God has brought us out, and taken us to be his peculiar people. He will, upon our setting apart this day to celebrate his service, to sing his praises, and join in hearing his word; he will sanctify us by his Spirit through the means that he has appointed for the improvement of his day. Ye shall therefore keep the sabbath, for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death; and to gather sticks on the sabbath-day, once was punished with death. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death-What is defiling the sabbath? It is not entering into rest, by believing that is the

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greatest profanation of the sabbath; and then those who have not entered into the spiritual rest and found it in Jesus Christ, they exercise their trades, they can get on horseback and ride out of town; they can get out, if they cannot afford to ride on horseback or carriage; and those that spend their time here in the city, you may find them in alehouses drinking till they are drunk, and then sallying out to do mischief. It is leaving the true rest that is in Jesus Christ, and it is no matter how men spend their time; if they have not entered into this rest, they are profaning the sabbath if they are in a church; six days may work be done, but in the seventh, is the sabbath of rest holy to the Lord whosoever doth any work on the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death: wherefore the children of Israel shall keep, shall observe the sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. Not only is the sabbath a sign of our resting in God's love to us in Jesus Christ, but it is a perpetual covenant. The sabbath cannot be repealed, and therefore the observance of it is a perpetual obligation, because it is part of a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever. When you and I enter into rest, and cease from our labours here, we shall have a long eternal sabbath with God in glory, through Jesus Christ. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth; and on the seventh day he rested; he rested and was refreshed. Now I would affix this meaning to the sign, that it is a memorial of God's resting from his works; and that, when we are enabled to rest in Jesus Christ by faith, then we enter upon the spiritual sabbath in time, and shall enter upon the sabbath glory in eternity. How does it appear that this was the thing signified? There can be nothing to complete the subject, but this single enquiry; and, therefore, that I may avoid all reasoning upon the subject, I will read to you the most beautiful comment of an infallible expositor, the apostle Paul,