would permit a persuasion to befal the church in all ages, with respect unto his worship, which was not from himself, and the expression of its practice accepted with him. This therefore is diligently to be inquired into, as far as we may have certain light into things involved in so much darkness, as are all things of so great antiquity.

5. A due consideration of the spirit and liberty of the gospel, with the nature of its worship, the reasons of it, and the manner of its performance, is to be had in this matter. No particular instance of worship is to be introduced or admitted contrary to the nature, genius, and reason of the whole. If therefore, such a Sabbatical rest, or such an observance of it be urged, as is inconsistent with the principles and reasons of evangelical worship, as is built upon motives not taken from the gospel, and in the manner of its observance interferes with the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, it discovers itself not to belong unto the present state of the worshippers of God in Christ. Nor is any thing to commend itself unto us under the mere notion of strictness or preciseness, or the appearance of more than ordinary severity in religion. It is only walking according unto rule, that will please God, justify us unto others, and give us peace in ourselves. Other seeming duties, that may be recommended, because they have λογον σοφίας εν εθελοθρησκεια και ταπεινοφροσυνη και «Quidin owμalos, a pretence of wisdom in doing even more than is required of us, through humility and mortification, are of no price with God, nor useful unto men. And commonly those who are most ready to overdo in one thing, are prone also to underdo in others. And this rule we shall find plainly rejecting the rigid observance of the seventh day as a Sabbath, out of the verge of gospel order and worship.

6. The tendency of principles, doctrines, and practices to the promotion or hinderance of piety, godliness, and universal holy obedience unto God, is to be inquired into. This is the end of all religious worship, and of all the institutions thereof. And a due observation of the regular tendency of things unto this end, will give a great discovery of their nature and acceptance with God. Let things be urged under never so specious pretences, if they be found by experience not to promote gospel holiness in the hearts and lives of men, they discover themselves not to be of God. Much more when principles, and practices conformable unto them, shall be evidenced to obstruct and hinder it, to introduce profaneness, and countenance licentiousness of life, to prejudice the due reverence of God and his worship, do they manifest themselves to be of the tares sowed by the evil one. And by this rule, we may try the opinion, which denies all divine institution unto a day of holy rest, under the New Testament.

These are the principal rules, which in this disquisition respecting a sabbatical rest, we shall attend unto. And they are such as will not fail to direct us aright in our course, if through negligence or prejudice we miss not of a due regard unto them. These the reader is desired to have respect unto, in his perusal of the ensuing discourses; and if what is proposed or concluded be not found suitable unto them, let it be rejected. For I can assure him, that no self-assuming, no contempt of others, no prejudicing adherence to any way or party, no pretence of certainty above evidence produced, have had any influence into those inquiries after the truth in this matter, which av ☺sw, we now address ourselves unto.

§ 9. In the first place, it will be necessary to premise something about the name whereby this day may be called. For that also among some hath been controverted. Under the Old Testa

ment it had a double appellation; the one taken from the natural order of the day then separated with respect to other days, the other from its nature and use. On the first account it was called yawn the seventh day,' Gen ii. 3.

ויברך And God blessed the seventh day and • אלהים את יום השביעי

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sanctified it.' So also Exod. xx. 11. Upon its first institution, and on the re-introduction of its observance, it is so called. But it is a mere description of the day from its relation to the six precedent days of the creation, that is herein intended; absolutely it is not so called any where. Yet hence by the Hellenists it was termed i iẞdoun, the seventh;' and isę« ißdown, the sacred seventh day.' So is mention made of it by Philo, Josephus and others. And our apostle maketh use of this name, as that which was commonly in use to denote the Sabbath of the Jews. chap. iv. 4. signxe yag we was ons iẞdowns; For he speaketh,' or it ειρηκε γαρ τε περί της έβδομης is spoken somewhere concerning the seventh.' ημερας, is not added, because iẞdoun, was used technically to denote that day. And he educeth the reason of this denomination, from Gen. ii. 3. Being, as was said, the day that ensued immediately after the six distinct days wherein the world was created, and putting a period unto a measure of time by a numeration of days, always to return in its cycle, it was called the seventh day. And from that course of time completed in seven days, thence recurring to its beginning, is the name of isdouas, hebdomas, a week, which. · a seven.' And the same word sometimes signifieth the seventh day,' or one day in seven. mysly the ißdorada, is septimum Diem celebrare, to celebrate the, or a seven day. And the Latins use the word in the same manner, for seven days or one day in seven. But this appellation, as we shall see, the apostle casts out of consideration and use, as to the day to be observed under the New Testament. For that which

,שבוע the Hebrews call only

was first so, is passed away, and another is instituted in the room thereof; which, although it be also 'y'awn ißdoμn, or a seventh day absolutely, or one in the revolution of seven, yet not being the seventh in their natural order, that name is now of no use, but antiquated.

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§ 10. From its occasion, sanctification and use, it was called naw, and nawn, the Sabbath,' and the Sabbath day.' The occasion of this name is expressed Gen. ii. 3. "God blessed the seventh day," naw 12 ", because he rested' (shabath) that day. It is called rest, the rest, because on that day God rested. And in the decalogue, it is nawn orn, the day of the Sabbath ;' or of God's rest, and ours. And absolutely naw the Sabbath, Isa. lvi. 2. where also God from his institution of it, calls it my Sabbath,' ver. 4.

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This being a thing so plain and evident, it were mere loss of time to insist upon the feigned etymologies of this name, after it came to be taken notice of in the world; I shall only name them. Appion the Alexandrian would have it derived from the Egyptjan word Sabbo, as Josephus informs us, Cont. App. lib. 2. and what the signification of that word is, the reader may see in the same place. Plutarch derives it from Sabboi, a word that used to be howled in the furious services of Bacchus; for his priests and devotees used in their bacchanals, to cry out Evoi, Sabboi,' Sympos. lib. iv. c. 15. which things are ridiculous. Lactantius, with sundry others of the ancients, fell into no less, though a less offensive, mistake. Hic, saith he, est dies Sabbati, qui lingua Hebræorum a numero nomen accepit; unde septenarius numerus legitimus et plenus est. Institut. lib. 7. cap. 14. Procopius Gazæus on the Pentateuch, hath a singular conceit. Speaking of the tenth of the month Tizri, termed Sabbaton Sabbat. he calls it, συλληψιν το πρόδρομο, διο και σαββαλα σαββατων ἑορτη, καθ' ήν εμπο ελλεν ὁ της αφέσεως και της μετάνοιας καιρος άρχεσθαι, απο της συλλήψεως τε προδρομο ; όθεν εστιν ὑπολαβειν και την ετυμολογίαν το σαββατε; ότι σα βαχθα καλείται ή αφεσις· αφιάσι δε αυτήν ἱεραν το κυρίως ότι έβδομη εστιν ὁ εστι σαβια. He would have it the day of the conception of John Baptist the fore-runner of Christ, when the remission and repentance that he preached began; and thence conjectures the etymology of the Sabbath to be from Sabachta (that is the Syriac Nnpaw) which signifies remission; that day being remitted holy unto the Lord; being the seventh day which is sabaa, that is The vanity of which conjecture is apparent to all. For the reason and rise of this appellation is manifest.

.שבע

Hence this was the proper and usual name of this day under the Old Testament, being expressive of its occasion, nature and end. The word also hath other forms; as pinaw, Exod. xvi. 23. xxxv. 2. Sabbaton; and naw, Lam. i. 7. Mishbat; the sig

nification of the word being still retained. Neither yet is this word peculiarly sacred as to what it denotes, but is used to express things common or profane; even any cessation, resting or giving over. The first time it occurs, Gen. ii. 3. it is rendered in Targum, by П, a common word to rest. See Isa. xiv. 4. xxiv. 8. and many other places. It is also applied to signify a week; because every week, or seven of days, had a Sabbath or day of rest necessarily included in it, Levit. xxiii. 15. « You shall count to yourselves," n'an ninaw yaw," seven complete Sabbaths ;" that is weeks, each having a Sabbath in it for its close; for the reckoning was to expire on the end of the seventh Sabbath, ver. 16. And this place being expounded by Onkelos in his Targum of a week; Nachmanides says upon it, that if it be so (which he

there יהיו שתי לשונות בפסוק אחד also grants and pleads) then

will be two tongues in one verse; or the same word used twice in the same versé with different significations; namely, that the word naw should denote both the holy day of rest, and also a week of days. And he gives another instance to the same purpose, in the word Dy, Judg. x. 4. «Jair the Gileadite had

,רכבים על שלשים עירים ושלשים עירים להם ",thirty sons

where the word y signifies in the first place' colts of asses," and in the latter cities. And the common number of seven is expressed by it, Levit. xxv. 8. Thou shalt number unto, ya

ww naw, seven Sabbaths of years; that is, as it is ex

seven : שבע שנים שבע פעמים,pounded in the next words

times seven years;' seven years being called a Sabbath of years, because of the land's resting every seventh year, in answer to the rest of the church every seventh day: (see the Targum, on Isa. Iviii. 13. Esth. ii. 9.) Moreover, because of the rest that was common to the weekly Sabbath, with all other sacred feasts of Moses' institution in their stated monthly or annual revolution, they were also called Sabbaths, as shall be proved afterwards. And as the Greeks and Latins made use of this word borrowed from the Hebrew, so the Jews observing that their Sabbath day had amongst them its name from Saturn, dies Saturni, as amongst us it is still thence called Saturday, they called him or the planet of that name, 'naw Shibti, and naw Shabbetai. And even from hence, some of the Jews take advantage to please themselves with vain imaginations. So R. Isaac Caro, commending the excellency of the seventh day, says, that Saturn is the planet of that day, the whole being denominated from the first hour,' (whereof afterwards); he therefore,' says he, hath power on that day, to renew the strength of our bodies, as also to influence our minds to understand the mysteries of God. He is the planet of Israel, as the astrologers acknowledge,' (doubtless,) and in his portion is the rational soul, and in the parts of the earth,

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the house of the sanctuary; and among tongues, the Hebrew tongue; and among laws, the law of Israel.' So far he; who, whether he can make good his claim to the relation of the Jews unto Saturn, or their pretended advantage on supposition thereof, I leave to our astrologers to determine, seeing I know nothing of these things. And on the same account of their rest falling on the day under that planetary denomination, many of the heathen thought they dedicated the day and the religion of it unto Saturn. So Tacitus, Histor. lib. 5. Alii honorem eum Saturno haberi. Seu principia religionis tradentibus Idais quos cum Saturno pulsos et conditores Gentis accepimus; seu quod e septem syderibus queis mortales reguntur, altissimo orbe et præcipua potentia stella Saturni feratur ; ac pleraque cœlestium vim suam et cursum septimos per numeros conficiant. Such fables did the most diligent of the heathen suffer themselves to be deluded withal, whereby a prejudice was kept up in their minds against the only true God and his worship. The word sometimes is also redoubled by a pure Hebraism, 1 Chron. ix. 32. naw naw, Shabbath, Shabbath; that is, every Sabbath:' and somewhat variously used in the conjunction of another form, na jinaw, Exod. xvi. 23. ch. xxxv. 2. And jinaw naw, Exod. xxxi. 15. Lev. xxv. 4. We render naw, by rest, the rest of the Sabbath,' and a Sabbath of rest.' Where Sabbaton is preposed at least, it seems to be as much as Sabbatulum; and to denote the entrance into the Sabbath or the preparation for it; such as was a great Sabbath,' a high day ensued. Such was the Sabbath before the passover, for the miracle, as the Jews say, which befel their forefathers on that day in Egypt. The time between the two evenings was the Sabbatulum. This then was the name of the day of rest under the Old Testament; yet was not the word appropriated to the denotation of that day only, but is used sometimes naturally to express any rest or cessation; sometimes as it were artificially in numeration for a week, or any other season, whose composition was by, and resolution into seven; though this was merely occasional from the first limitation of a periodical revolution of time, by a Sabbath of rest; of which before.

שבת הגדול more solemn when

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§ 11. And this various use of the word was adopted among the Grecians and Latins also. As they borrowed the word from the Jews, so they did its use. The Greek raßßare is merely the Hebrew naw, or perhaps formed by the addition of their usual termination from naw, whence also our apostle frames his σaßßarious. The Latin Sabbatum is the same. And they use this word, though rarely, to express the last day of the week. So Suetonius in Tiber. Diogenes Grammaticus Sabbatis, disputare Rhodi solitus. And the LXX. always so express the seventh day Sabbath, and frequently they use it for a week also.