Works of John Bunyan Volume II Part 79

And in that ministration it is that this seventh day sabbath is found.

But shall we think that the apostle speaks any thing of all here said, to wean saints off from the law of nature, as such! No verily, that he retains in the church, as being managed there by Christ: but THIS ministration is dangerous now, because it cannot be maintained in the church, but in a way of contempt to the ministration of the Spirit, and is derogatory to the glory of that.

Now these, as I said, are weaning considerations. No man, I do think, that knows himself, or the glory of a gospel ministration, can, if he understands what Paul says here, desire that such a ministration should be retained in the churches.

Third. This seventh day sabbath has lost its ceremonies (those unto which before you are cited by the texts) which was with it imposed upon the old church for her due performance of worship to G.o.d thereon. How then can this sabbath now be kept? Kept, I say, according to law. For if the church on which it was first imposed, was not to keep it, yea, could not keep it legally without the practising of those ceremonies: and if those ceremonies are long ago dead and gone, how will those that pretend to a belief of a continuation of the sanction thereof, keep it, I say, according as it is written?

If they say, they retain the day, but change their manner of observation thereof; I ask, who has commanded them so to do? This is one of the laws of this sabbath. 'Thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant' (Lev 24:5-8). You may see also other places, as Numbers 28:9, 10; Nehemiah 13:22 and Ezekiel 46:4.

Now if these be the laws of the sabbath, this seventh day sabbath; and if G.o.d did never command that this sabbath should by his church be sanctified without them: and, as was said before, if these ceremonies have been long since dead and buried, how must this sabbath be kept?

Let men take heed, lest while they plead for law, and pretend themselves to be the only doers of G.o.d's will,[15] they be not found the biggest transgressors thereof. And why can they not as well keep the other sabbaths? As the sabbath of months, of years, and the jubilee? For this, as I have shewed, is no moral precept, it is only a branch of the ministration of death and condemnation.

Fourth, The seventh day sabbath, as such, was a sign and shadow of things to come; and a sign cannot be the thing signified and substance too. Wherefore when the thing signified or substance, is come, the sign or thing shadowing ceaseth. And, I say, the seventh day sabbath being so, as a seventh day sabbath it ceaseth also. See again Exodus 31:13, 14; Ezekiel 20:12, 21; Colossians 2:14.

Nor do I find that our Protestant writers, notwithstanding their reverence of the sabbath, do conclude otherwise; but that though time as to worshipping G.o.d, must needs be contained in the bowels of the moral law, as moral; yet they for good reasons forbear to affix the seventh day as that time there too.

They do it, I say, for good reasons; reason drawn from the scripture; or rather, for that the scripture draws them so to conclude: yet they cast not away the morality of a sabbath of rest to the church.

It is to be granted them, that time for G.o.d's worship abideth for ever, but the seventh day vanishes as a shadow and sign; because such indeed it was, as the scripture above cited declares as to the sanction thereof as a sabbath.

The law of nature then calls for time; but the G.o.d of nature a.s.signs it, and has given power to his Son to continue SUCH time as himself shall by his eternal wisdom judge most meet for the churches of the Gentiles to solemnize worship to G.o.d by him in.

Hence he is said to be 'Lord even of the sabbath day' (Matt 12:8).

Fifth, I find by reading G.o.d's word, that Paul by authority apostolical, takes away the sanctions of all the Jews' festivals and sabbaths.

This is manifest, for that he leaves the observation or non-observation of them, as things indifferent, to the mind and discretion of the believers. 'One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind' (Rev 14:5).

By this last clause of the verse, 'Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind,' he doth plainly declare, that such days are now stript of their sanction.[16] For none of G.o.d's laws, while they retain their sanction, are left to the will and mind of the believers, as to whether they will observe them or no. Men, I say, are not left to their liberty in such a case; for when a stamp of divine authority is upon a law, and abides, so long we are bound, not to our mind, but to that law: but when a thing, once sacred, has lost its sanction, then it falls, as to faith and conscience, among other common or indifferent things. And so the seventh day sabbath did. Again,

Sixth, Thus Paul writes to the church of Colosse. 'Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ' (Col 2:16,17). Here also, as he serveth other holy days, he serveth the sabbath. He gives a liberty to believers to refuse the observation of it, and commands that no man should judge against them for their so doing.

And as you read, the reason of his so doing is, because the body, the substance is come. Christ saith he, is the body, or that which these things were a shadow or figure of. 'The body is of Christ.'

Nor hath the apostle, since he saith 'or of the sabbath' one would think, left any hole, out at which men's inventions could get: but man has sought out many; and, so, many he will use.

But again, That the apostle by this word 'sabbath' intends the seventh day sabbath, is clear; for that it is by Moses himself counted for a sign, as we have shewed: and for that none of the other sabbaths were a more clear shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ than this. For that, and that alone, is called 'the rest of G.o.d': in it G.o.d rested from all his works. Hence he calls it by way of eminency, 'MY sabbath, and MY holy day' (Isa 56:4, 58:13).

Yet could that rest be nothing else but typical; for G.o.d, never since the world began, really rested, but in his Son. 'This is he,' saith G.o.d, 'in whom I am well pleased.' This sabbath then, was G.o.d's rest typically, and was given to Israel as a sign of his grace towards them in Christ. Wherefore when Christ was risen, it ceased, and was no longer of obligation to bind the conscience to the observation thereof. [Or of the sabbath.] He distinctly singleth out this seventh day, as that which was a most n.o.ble shadow, a most exact shadow. And then puts that with the other together; saying, they are a shadow of things to come; and that Christ has answered them all. 'The body is of Christ.'

Seventh, No man will, I think, deny but that Hebrews 4:45 intends the seventh day sabbath, on which G.o.d rested from all his works; for the text doth plainly say so: yet may the observing reader easily perceive that both it, and the rest of Canaan also, made mention of verse 5 were typical, as to a day made mention of verses 7 and 8 which day he calls another. He would not afterwards have made mention of another day. If Joshua had given them rest, he would not. Now if they had not that rest in Joshua's days, be sure they had it not by Moses; for he was still before.

All the rests therefore that Moses gave them, and that Joshua gave them too, were but typical of another day, in which G.o.d would give them rest (Heb 4:9,10). And whether the day to come, was Christ, or Heaven, it makes no matter: it is enough that they before did fail, as always shadows do, and that therefore mention by David is, and that afterward, made of another day. 'There remains therefore a rest to the people of G.o.d.' A rest to come, of which the seventh day in which G.o.d rested, and the land of Canaan, was a type; which rest begins in Christ now, and shall be consummated in glory.

And in that he saith 'There remains a rest,' referring to that of David, what is it, if it signifies not, that the other rests remain not? There remains therefore a rest, a rest prefigured by the seventh day, and by the rest of Canaan, though they are fled and gone.

'There remains a rest'; a rest which stands not now in signs and shadows, in the seventh day, or Canaan, but in the Son of G.o.d, and his kingdom, to whom, and to which the weary are invited to come for rest (Isa 28:12; Matt 11:20; Heb 4:11).

Yet this casts not out the Christians holiday or sabbath: for that was not ordained to be a type or shadow of things to come, but to sanctify the name of their G.o.d in, and to perform that worship to him which was also in a shadow signified by the ceremonies of the law, as the epistle to the Hebrews doth plentifully declare.

And I say again, the seventh day sabbath cannot be it, for the reasons shewed afore.

Eighth, Especially if you add to all this, that nothing of the ministration of death written and engraven in stones, is brought by Jesus, or by his apostles, into the kingdom of Christ, as a part of his inst.i.tuted worship. Hence it is said of that ministration in the bowels of which this seventh day sabbath is found, that it has now NO glory; that its glory is done away, in or by Christ, and so is laid aside, the ministration of the Spirit that excels in glory, being come in the room thereof.

I will read the text to you. 'But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: [It was given at first with this proviso, that it should not always retain its glory, that sanction, as a ministration]. How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious' (2 Cor 3:7-11).

What can be more plain? The text says expressly, that this ministration doth NOT remain; yea, and insinuates, that in its first inst.i.tution it was ordained with this proviso, 'It was to be done away.' Now if in its first inst.i.tution upon Sinai it was thus ordained; and if by the coming in of the ministration of the spirit, this ordination is now executed; that is, if by it, and the apostle saith it, it is done away by a ministration that remains: then where is that seventh day sabbath?

Thus therefore I have discoursed upon this fourth question: And having shewed by this discourse that the old seventh day sabbath is abolished and done away, and that it has nothing to do with the churches of the Gentiles; I am next to shew what day it is that must abide as holy to the Christians, and for them to perform their New Testament church service in.

Take the question thus.

QUESTION V.

Since it is denied that the seventh day sabbath is moral, and it is found that it is not to abide as a sabbath for ever in the church, What time is to be fixed on for New Testament saints to perform together, divine worship to G.o.d by Christ in?

Upon this question hangs the stress of all, as to the subject now under consideration: but before I can speak distinctly to it, I must premise, as I have in order to my speaking to the questions before, something for the better clearing of our way--

[Therefore I remark, that] we are not now speaking of all manner of worshipping G.o.d, nor of all times in which all manner of worship is to be performed; but of that worship, which is church worship, or worship that is to be performed by the a.s.sembly of saints, when by the will of G.o.d they in all parts of his dominion a.s.semble together to worship him; which worship hath a prefixed time allotted to, or for its performance, and without which it cannot, according to the mind of G.o.d, be done. This is the time, I say, that we are to discourse of, and not of ALL time appointed for all manner of worship.

I do not question but that worship by the G.o.dly is performed to G.o.d every day of the week; yea, and every night too, and that time is appointed or allowed of G.o.d for the performance of such worship. But this time is not fixed to the same moment or hour universally, but is left to the discretion of the believers, as their frame of spirit, or occasions, or exigencies, or temptations, or duty shall require.

We meddle then only with that time that the worship aforesaid is to be performed in; which time the law of nature as such supposes, but the G.o.d of nature chooses. And this time as to the churches of the Gentiles, we have proved is not that time which was a.s.signed to the Jews, to wit, THAT seventh day which was imposed upon them by the ministration of death; for, as we have shewed already, that ministration indeed is done away by a better and more glorious ministration, the ministration of the spirit; which ministration surely would be much more inferior than that which has now no glory, was it defective as to this. That is, if it imposed a gospel service, but appointed not time to perform that worship in: or if notwithstanding all its commendation, it should be forced to borrow of a ministration inferior to itself; that, to wit, the time without which by no means its most solemn worship can be performed.

This then is the conclusion, that TIME to worship G.o.d in, is required by the law of nature; but that the law of nature doth, as such, fix it on the seventh day from the creation of the world, that I utterly deny, by what I have said already, and have yet to say on that behalf. Yea, I hope to make it manifest, as I have, that this seventh day is removed; that G.o.d, by the ministration of the spirit, has changed the time to another day, to wit, The first day of the week. Therefore we conclude the time is fixed for the worship of the New Testament Christians, or churches of the Gentiles, unto that day.

Now in my discourse upon this subject, I shall,

I. Touch upon those texts that are more close, yet have a divine intimation of this thing in them.

II. And then I shall come to texts more express.

FIRST, for those texts that are more close, yet have a divine intimation of this thing in them.

First, The comparison that the Holy Ghost makes between the rest of G.o.d from his works, and the rest of Christ from his, doth intimate such a thing. 'He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as G.o.d did from his' (Heb 4:10).

Now G.o.d rested from his works, and sanctified a day of rest to himself, as a signal of that rest, which day he also gave to his church as a day of holy rest likewise. And if Christ thus rested from his own works, and the Holy Ghost says he did thus rest, he also hath sanctified a day to himself, as that in which he hath finished his work, and given it (that day) also to his church to be an everlasting memento of his so doing, and that they should keep it holy for his sake.

And see, as the Father's work was first, so his day went before; and as the Son's work came after, so his day accordingly succeeded.

The Father's day was on the seventh day from the creation, the Son's the first day following.

Nor may this be slighted, because the text says, as G.o.d finished his work, so Christ finished his; He also hath ceased from his own works as G.o.d did from his. He rested, I say, as G.o.d did; but G.o.d rested on his resting day, and therefore so did Christ. Not that he rested on the Father's resting day; for it is evident, that then he had great part of his work to do; for he had not as then got his conquest over death, but the next day he also entered into his rest, having by his rising again, finished his work, viz., made a conquest over the powers of darkness, and brought life and immortality to light through his so doing.

So then, that being the day of the rest of the Son of G.o.d, it must needs be the day of the rest of his churches also. For G.o.d gave his resting day to his church to be a sabbath; and Christ rested from his own works as G.o.d did from his, therefore he also gave the day in which he rested from his works, a sabbath to the churches, as did the Father. Not that there are TWO sabbaths at once: the Father's was imposed for a time, even until the Son's should come; yea, as I have shewed you, even in the very time of its imposing it was also ordained to be done away. Hence he saith, that ministration 'was to be done away' (2 Cor 3:7). Therefore we plead not for two sabbaths to be at one time, but that a succession of time was ordained to the New Testament saints, or churches of the Gentiles, to worship G.o.d in; which time is that in which the Son rested from his own works as G.o.d did from his.

Second, Hence he calls himself, The 'Lord even of the sabbath day,' as Luke 5; Matthew 12:8 shews. Now to be a LORD, is to have dominion, dominion over a thing, and so power to alter or change it according to that power; and where is he that dares say Christ has not this absolutely! We will therefore conclude that it is granted on all hands he hath. The question then is, Whether he hath exercised that power to the demolishing or removing of the Jews' seventh day, and establishing another in its room? The which I think is easily answered, in that he did not rest from his own works therein, but chose, for his own rest, to himself another day.

Surely, had the Lord Jesus intended to have established the seventh day to the churches of the Gentiles, he would himself in the first place have rested from his own works therein; but since he pa.s.sed by that day, and took no notice of it, as to the finishing of his own works, as G.o.d took notice of it when he had finished his; it remains that he fixed upon another day, even the first of the week; on which, by his rising again, and shewing himself to his disciples before his pa.s.sion, he made it manifest that he had chosen, 'as Lord of the sabbath,' that day for his own rest: consequently, and for the rest of his churches, and for his worship to be solemnized in.

Third, And on THIS day some of the saints that slept arose, and began their eternal sabbath (Matt 27:52,53). See how the Lord Jesus hath glorified this day! Never was such a stamp of divine honour put upon any other day, no not since the world began. 'And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection,' &c. That is, they arose as soon as he was risen. But why was not all this done on the seventh day? No, that day was set apart that saints might adore G.o.d for the works of creation, and that saints through that might look for redemption by Christ. But now a work more glorious than that is to be done, and therefore another day is a.s.signed for the doing of it in. A work, I say, of redemption completed, a day therefore by itself must be a.s.signed for this; and some of the saints to begin their eternal sabbath with G.o.d in heaven, therefore a day by itself must be appointed for this. Yea, and that this day might not want that glory that might attract the most dim-sighted Christian to a desire after the sanction of it, the resurrection of Christ, and also of those saints met together on it: yea, they both did begin their eternal rest thereon.