t 84 THE LORDS -DAY, OR CHRISTIAN SABBATH. [SERM. VI. time, but which should be appointed and sanctified and blessed among the Jews two thousand four hundred years afterwards. It is probable that the most ancient patri- archs did, according to this early appointment, observe it as a day of rest from labour and of the worship of God, their Creator. And it is very evident that if it Were lost among the nations, it was renewed again by Moses to the people of Israel, with many particular sanctions : and there is still one day in seven continues in the New Testament to be a day of christian worship, observed by the apostles and first disciples. So that upon the whole survey of the dispensations of God to men, as they are recorded in the bible, " it seems highly probable, that there is some sabbath or one day in seven divinely appointed both for the rest of man and the wor- ship of God, which has run through all dispensations both before and after Moses, and which must remain tó the end of the world." It is impossible, in the compass Of one short sermon, to run through all the reasonings* that are necessary to confirm this doctrine ; yet that I may give some short hints toward the proof of a sabbath running through all ages, I desire you will consider the following particulars 1. " What was the time when the, first appointment of a sabbath was given to men, and who were the persons to whom it was given ?" Was it not in paradise as soon as ever man was created that God claimed one day in seven for his own worship, as well as gave it 'unto Adam for his rest and release from labour in the garden of Eden ? Now there is at least as much reason and as much need for all the sons of Adam in all ages and nations, in their feeble and sinful state, to have a day appointed for their own rest and for the worship of their God, as there was for Adam himself in paradise and in a state of inno- cence ; for his body was then in perfection of health and vigour, and his mind more inclined to remember God and worship him. 2. " Consider the original 'reason that is given for one day in seven to be sanctified," and this seems to confirm the perpetuity of it. God rested on the seventh day For these reasonings see "The Holiness of Times, Places and Persons under the Jewish and Christian Dispensations Considered and Compared."
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