ments; which he sufficiently fhewed he had a greater Value for, than all the rest of the Laws he gave by Mofes, in that he pronounced them with his own Voice from Heaven; in that he twice wrote them upon two Tables of Stone with his own Finger; in that he order'd them to be laid up in the Ark of the Covenant, for an everlasting Memorial. Now it is certain, that nine of those ten Commandments are of a moral Nature, and are of everlasting Obligation to all Mankind all the World over: And is it not then very probable, that the remaining one (I mean the fourth, which concerns the Sabbath) is of the fame Nature, and was intended to be of the fame Gbligation to all those to whom the Notices of these Things should come? To fuppofe otherwife, is indeed to charge GOD with fuch a Botch, such an illcontriv'd Method of fhuffling his Laws together, as no prudent Lawgiver would be guilty of.

Add, in the fourth Place, that when our Saviour came to give a new Law, that should oblige all Chriftians to the End of the World, though he did not give any particular Law about the Sabbath, yet he feems to have confirmed the Ten Commandments (of which the Law of the Sabbath was one), and to have adopted them into his Laws: For it is of these that he feems to fpeak, when he faith, in the vth Chapter of St. Matthew, I

came

came not to deftroy the Law, but to fulfil it, or to fill it up. It is of these that he fpeaks, when, to the Man that asked him what he fhould do to inherit eternal Life, he gave this Anfwer; If thou wouldst enter into Life, keep the Commandments. And, laftly, It is of these Ten Commandments that St. James fpeaks, when he faith, He that breaks one of thefe is guilty of all; that is to fay, becaufe they are all bound upon us by the fame Authority.

Thefe Things feem to import, that it was never the Design of Chrift to let the Authority of the Ten Commandments cease among Mankind: And though there were no Law to us, by virtue of their Promulgation on Mount Sinai, yet, by his exacting Obedience to them, they became Laws to us: It is true, they all of them, except this one, would have been fo, though he had never mentioned them, because nine of them are the Dictates of Nature, and grounded upon eternal Reafon; But his mentioning the Commandments so often, and laying Stress upon them, and never once excepting or excluding the fourth out of the Number, is an Argument, that he meant that all thefe, as they ftand in the Decalogue, fhould have Authority with us; And certainly this is the Sense of the Church of England Worship; because, in her public Offices these Ten Commandments are given us as the Measure of our Duty both to Gop and Man; and in the

Rehearsal

Rehearsal of them, in the Sunday Service, we do as much afk Pardon of GOD for the Breach of the fourth Commandment, and implore his Grace, that we may keep it for the future, as we do with refpect to any of the reft: And yet, if there be any thing at all required in the fourth Commandment, it is the fetting apart one Day in seven to GOD's Service.

But, Fifthly, To go on with our Argument: As GOD, in the Creation of the World, directed to the Obfervation of one Day in feven, and gave it as a Law to our firft Parents, and renewed it afterwards in the Ten Commandments; and these Ten Commandments were adopted by Christ into this Law, and confequently the fourth Commandment as well as the reft; fo, in the last Place, in purfuance of all this, it is obferyable, that the Apostles, and first Christians, though they threw out of the fourth Commandment all that was perfectly Jewish and Ceremonial, yet they retained the Substance of it; and accordingly did conftantly charge it upon themselves to fet apart one Day in feven for the public Worship of GOD: And this Practice, thus begun by the first Chriftians, hath ever fince continued in all Ages, and in all Churches, of the Christian World. This is Matter of Fact, and it is fo evident, that none that I know do deny it; and therefore it is needlefs to offer to prove it.

It

It is true indeed, that fome Churches, for a confiderable time after Chrift, did obferve both the Jewish and the Christian Sabbath: But fure 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 feven 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 fhews indeed, fuppofing 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 Surenefs, they would keep both; but, in the mean time, it is a Demonstration, that they thought themselves obliged to keep one Day in feven.

Thus I have reprefented 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 feven for religious Uses, is more than a bare human Institution; and that it is bound upon us by God Almighty himself. I muft confefs, I think there is great Weight in them: But I will not cenfure any Man that cannot. come up to thefe Measures, provided that he takes himself to be obliged in Confcience to observe the LORD's Day, though he

8

fetches

fetches that Obligation from other Grounds and Principles: But whoever doth not that, whoever hath fo little Senfe of Religion, as not to think himself bound to dedicate one Day in the Week to join with his FellowChristians in the folemn Worship of GoD, fuch a Man I can hardly believe to be a Chriftian, though he never fo much calls himself by that Name.

And thus much of our firft Head, namely, concerning our Obligation to obferve the Sabbath in general; that is, to fet apart one Day in feven, for the more folemn Worship of God.

I now come to the fecond Head, concerning the Change of the Sabbath from the feventh Day of the Week, as it was observed by the Jews, to the first Day of the Week, as it is obferved by the Chriftians, And here the obvious Queftion is, by what Authority was this done? What Law of the Gospel have we to fhew for this Change? And, if we can produce none, how comes it to pass, that we Chriftians do not observe the feventh Day of the Week, as it is ordered in the fourth Commandment? GOD faith, Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Now all the World knows, that the Sabbath-day, that is there fpoken of, was the laft Day in the weekly Revolution, that Day which the Jews obferve for their Sabbath; and not the first Day of the Week, or Sun

day,