Tracts on the Sabbath

by Unknown

9. And lastly, consider those great and precious promises made to them that keep the Sabbath according to the inside and spirituality of it; not that we are so to spiritualize it as to make void the letter, but according to the letter, as Christ doth. For instance, he saith, Ye have heard that it hath been said of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you, Whosoever looketh on a woman and lusteth after her, hath committed adultery with her in his heart. Now, if it be adultery to lust, doubtless it is to act, and this is forbidden in the commandment, for the commandment is, Thou shall not commit adultery; but Christ unfolds this commandment, and gives such a sense of it as the scribes and pharisees understood not. Again, the sixth commandment is, Thou shalt do no murder; and John saith, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. John 3:15. Now, all murder was forbidden in the commandment, yet this was not understood to be murder; but John obeyed the spirituality of the commandment. And the same may be said of the fourth commandment, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; all servile work is forbidden in it, and that the pharisees understood; but they did not understand that works of mercy, as curing the sick, and healing the diseased, might be done upon it. Neither did they understand that inward and spiritual rest that was held out in the commandment, as appears by the words of the Lord in Isa. 58:13, 14, If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. So that the saints are not only to cease from outward work in their callings, but also from works that are inward and spiritually wicked, that so the Sabbath may be a delight unto them, the holy of the Lord, honorable. And mark the promise that is to such Sabbath-keepers, in the fourteenth verse, Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. First, they shall delight themselves in the Lord, and that will make the Sabbath a delight. Second, they shall ride upon the high places of the earth; the high places of the earth holding forth, as I conceive, the great opposition, whether of great and mighty men, or great walled cities, according to that in Deut. 1:28, which hath an allusion to Israel's subduing the land of Canaan. Deut. 32:13. Thou shalt ride upon them, that is, subdue and conquer them. Psalm 45:4, 66:12. They shall tread upon their high places. Deut. 33:39. They shall be as ashes under the soles of their feet. Mal. 4:3. Now, when did the Lord's people do such work as this since this prophesy? or, is it yet to be fulfilled?

Again, consider what the Lord saith in Isa. 56:6, 7, Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant, even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar, for mine house shall be called an house of prayer to all people. By the sons of the stranger, I understand is here meant Gentiles, who were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel and afar off, but are now made nigh by the blood of Christ, and so they join themselves to the Lord, and serve him, and love the name of the Lord; these are such as keep the Sabbath, and take hold of God's covenant, and it is such a Sabbath as may be polluted, and therefore not Christ's, as some would have it. Now, the promises that are made to these strangers, do look at clear gospel times.

They shall be brought into God's holy mountain, and there be made joyful, when it is so mountainous that it is the house of prayer for all people, or for all nations, as Christ saith in Matt. 11:17. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that taketh hold on it, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbath, and choose the things that please me, and take hold on my covenant, even unto them will I give a name and a place better than of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Isa. 56:2, 4, 5. The eunuchs are such as care for the things that please the Lord, when the married careth for the things that please his wife. Cor. 7:32, 33. And when two parts shall be cut off and die, the eunuchs that keep the Sabbath shall have an everlasting name, which shall not be cut off.

Now, let us not think it incredible that the Sabbath should be yet in force, because it hath been so long laid aside; it hath been so with other truths, and so with this, before now. It seemed to be so out of knowledge with Israel in the wilderness, that when the people had gathered twice as much manna on the sixth day, they did not understand the meaning of it; but the nobles came and told Moses, and he told them what the Lord had said, that to-morrow should be the rest of the holy Sabbath. And also, after their coming out of Babylon, when they had built the house of God, and set it in order, placing the priests and Levites, and had chosen faithful men to distribute the maintenance to their brethren. Neh. 13:10, 13. In a word, their reformation was much about the light of ours, and it is confessed by the enlightened that it was a type of this reformation that the Lord hath begun amongst us in these isles, namely, in bringing his people out of Babylon, and building up of Zion; and, indeed, as their sins and ours are alike in many things, so in this, namely in breaking the fourth commandment; for Nehemiah saith, in chap. 13:15, that in those days he saw in Judah some treading wine-presses on the Sabbath, and lading asses, and bringing in sheaves, as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem upon the Sabbath day; and he testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. Notwithstanding all the reformation, yet this was seen in Judah. They had laid by the observation of the Sabbath, and had made it a common working, market day, as may be seen at large in that chapter. It was not in vain, therefore, that the Lord said, Remember the Sabbath, he foreseeing how it would be slighted and forgotten, not only by those that were brought out of literal Babylon, but also by those that should be brought out of spiritual Babylon in the latter days; and when the day of the Lord burns as an oven, it will be remembered to some purpose. Mal. 4:4. In the mean time, the Lord is stirring up some of his poor babes and sucklings. Such he is pleased usually to discover truth unto at the first breaking out of it, and they are to contend for it, though in much weakness.

But a word to the beginning and ending of the Sabbath. There are various apprehensions about it, which, for brevity's sake, I shall omit. The Scripture is plain, that from evening to evening is the set time, or from the going down of the sun to the going down of the sun. This is clear from the beginning, according to Gen. 1:5, The evening and the morning was the first day. The evening and morning make a complete natural day, and the evening goeth before the morning, because the darkness was before the light.

Obj. But some will say, It is not said the evening and the morning was the seventh day.

Ans. If the evening and the morning be the sixth day, the evening and the morning must needs be the seventh day, unless we should think that the seventh day hath no night belonging to it. Some think that the reason why no mention is made of the evening of the seventh day, is, because the Sabbath is a day of joy and delight, or an earnest of the new Jerusalem state, wherein shall be no night. Rev. 21:25. Night doth frequently, in the Scripture, hold forth a state of affliction, but the Sabbath is a holy, sanctified time; on it the Creator rested and was refreshed, and commanded the observation of it that his creatures might be refreshed.

Nehemiah's practice is sufficient proof for the beginning of the Sabbath at evening, (chap. 13:19,) who, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark, commanded them to be shut till after the Sabbath. And if you would know when the evening begins, the evangelist Mark doth inform you in chapter 1:32, At even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased. When the sun doth set, then begins the evening, then begins the holy rest or seventh-day Sabbath. So the disciples of Christ began the Sabbath; and so the Lord's ancient people celebrate the Sabbath unto this day.

But what confusion are they in who say the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day to the first day, and yet observe neither, but part of the first day and part of the second day; for they begin their Sabbath at midnight, when a good part of the first day is spent, and they end at midnight, when a good part of the second day is spent; and yet they will have this to be a Sabbath, yea, and a first day Sabbath, and will highly charge a man to be an offender if he work one hour upon the first day, though themselves work five; and thus we see how anti-Christ hath changed times as well as laws; a first-day Sabbath instead of a seventh-day Sabbath; instead of from even to even, from midnight to midnight, when most are fast asleep, being insensible of the beginning of their Sabbath, or the ending of it.

But, blessed be the Lord, that he hath revealed this his ancient, useful, and honorable truth, to wit, the holy seventh-day Sabbath, notwithstanding all the inventions of anti-Christ to bury it in oblivion, and that he is pleased to separate a remnant, that are resolved to search and try their ways, and to turn unto him, to follow him in the ways of his precepts, (notwithstanding the dragon's wrath,) who will not take things upon trust, nor go upon the legs of men, but will try all things, and hold fast that which is good, for they are virgins, and they will follow the Lamb, though their company be small and their charge great. They will not be afraid of the Sabbath because it was given to the Jews, any more than they are afraid of the adoption, and the glory, and the promises, and the other nine lively oracles, which were all given to the Jews. Rom. 9:4. And this I may modestly say, to the praise of the Lord of the Sabbath, and without boasting, that if the saints did know how the Lord delights to meet with his people in this way of obedience in celebrating the Sabbath, they would soon call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and honor him by ceasing from their own works, as God did from his, and doing those works which are suitable for the blessed season. But I shall say no more at present, save only this, that whoever they are that would follow the Lord in this appointment of his, they must labor much in the strength of his Spirit to get this world under them, for it stands in direct opposition to earthly men, and earthly principles; therefore pray with the Psalmist, Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.