Montalban
Well-Known Member
30. This complete cessation was represented to the Jews by the observance
of one day in seven, which, that it might be more religiously attended to,
the Lord recommended by his own example. For it is no small incitement to
the zeal of man to know that he is engaged in imitating his Creator.
Should any one expect some secret meaning in the number seven, this being
in Scripture the number for perfection, it may have been selected, not
without cause, to denote perpetuity. In accordance with this, Moses
concludes his description of the succession of day and night on the same
day on which he relates that the Lord rested from his works. Another
probable reason for the number may be, that the Lord intended that the
Sabbath never should be completed before the arrival of the last day. We
here begin our blessed rest in him, and daily make new progress in it; but
because we must still wage an incessant warfare with the flesh, it shall
not be consummated until the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: "From
one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh
come to worship before me, saith the Lord," (Isaiah 66:23); in other
words, when God shall be "all in all," (1 Cor. 15:28). It may seem,
therefore, that by the seventh day the Lord delineated to his people the
future perfection of his sabbath on the last day, that by continual
meditation on the sabbath, they might throughout their whole lives aspire
to this perfection.
31. Should these remarks on the number seem to any somewhat far-fetched, I
have no objection to their taking it more simply: that the Lord appointed
a certain day on which his people might be trained, under the tutelage of
the Law, to meditate constantly on the spiritual rest, and fixed upon the
seventh, either because he foresaw it would be sufficient, or in order
that his own example might operate as a stronger stimulus; or, at least to
remind men that the Sabbath was appointed for no other purpose than to
render them conformable to their Creator. It is of little consequence
which of these be adopted, provided we lose not sight of the principal
thing delineated, viz., the mystery of perpetual resting from our works.
To the contemplation of this, the Jews were every now and then called by
the prophets, lest they should think a carnal cessation from labour
sufficient. Beside the passages already quoted, there is the following:
"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,
honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding
thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight
thyself in the Lord," (Isaiah 58:13, 14). Still there can be no doubt,
that, on the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, the ceremonial part of the
commandment was abolished. He is the truth, at whose presence all the
emblems vanish; the body, at the sight of which the shadows disappear. He,
I say, is the true completion of the sabbath: "We are buried with him by
baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life," (Rom.
6:4). Hence, as the Apostle elsewhere says, "Let no man therefore judge
you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon,
or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the
body is of Christ," (Col. 2:16, 17); meaning by body the whole essence of
the truth, as is well explained in that passage. This is not contented
with one day, but requires the whole course of our lives, until being
completely dead to ourselves, we are filled with the life of God.
Christians, therefore, should have nothing to do with a superstitious
observance of days.
32. The two other cases ought not to be classed with ancient shadows, but
are adapted to every age. The sabbath being abrogated, there is still room
among us, first, to assemble on stated days for the hearing of the Word,
the breaking of the mystical bread, and public prayer; and, secondly, to
give our servants and labourers relaxation from labour. It cannot be
doubted that the Lord provided for both in the commandment of the Sabbath.
The former is abundantly evinced by the mere practice of the Jews. The
latter Moses has expressed in Deuteronomy in the following terms: "The
seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do
any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor
thy maid-servant,—that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as
well as thou," (Deut. 5: 14.) Likewise in Exodus, "That thine ox and thine
ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be
refreshed," (Exod. 23:12). Who can deny that both are equally applicable
to us as to the Jews? Religious meetings are enjoined us by the word of
God; their necessity, experience itself sufficiently demonstrates. But
unless these meetings are stated, and have fixed days allotted to them,
how can they be held? We must, as the apostle expresses it, do all things
decently and in orders (1 Cor. 14:40). So impossible, however, would it be
to preserve decency and order without this politic arrangements that the
dissolution of it would instantly lead to the disturbance and ruin of the
Church. But if the reason for which the Lord appointed a sabbath to the
Jews is equally applicable to us, no man can assert that it is a matter
with which we have nothing to do. Our most provident and indulgent Parent
has been pleased to provide for our wants not less than for the wants of
the Jews. Why, it may be asked, do we not hold daily meetings, and thus
avoid the distinction of days? Would that we were privileged to do so!
Spiritual wisdom undoubtedly deserves to have some portion of every day
devoted to it. But if, owing to the weakness of many, daily meetings
cannot be held, and charity will not allow us to exact more of them, why
should we not adopt the rule which the will of God has obviously imposed
upon us?
33. I am obliged to dwell a little longer on this because some restless
spirits are now making an outcry about the observance of the Lord's day.
They complain that Christian people are trained in Judaism, because some
observance of days is retained. My reply is, that those days are observed
by us without Judaism, because in this matter we differ widely from the
Jews. We do not celebrate it with most minute formality, as a ceremony by
which we imagine that a spiritual mystery is typified, but we adopt it as
a necessary remedy for preserving order in the Church. Paul informs us
that Christians are not to be judged in respect of its observance, because
it is a shadow of something to come, (Col. 2:16); and, accordingly, he
expresses a fear lest his labour among the Galatians should prove in vain,
because they still observed days (Gal. 4:10, 11.) And he tells the Romans
that it is superstitious to make one day differ from another (Rom. 14:5).
But who, except those restless men, does not see what the observance is to
which the Apostle refers? Those persons had no regard to that politic and
ecclesiastical arrangement, but by retaining the days as types of spiritual
things, they in so far obscured the glory of Christ, and the light of the
Gospel. They did not desist from manual labour on the ground of its
interfering with sacred study and meditation, but as a kind of religious
observance; because they dreamed that by their cessation from labour, they were cultivating the mysteries which had of old been committed to them. It was, I say, against this preposterous observance of days that the Apostle inveighs, and not against that legitimate selection which is subservient to the peace of Christian society. For in the churches established by him, this was the use for which the Sabbath was retained. He tells the Corinthians to set the first day apart for collecting contributions for
the relief of their brethren at Jerusalem, (1 Cor. 16:2). If superstition
is dreaded, there was more danger in keeping the Jewish sabbath than the
Lord's day as Christians now do. It being expedient to overthrow superstition, the Jewish holy day was abolished; and as a thing necessary to retain decency, orders and peace, in the Church, another day was appointed for that purpose.
34. It was not, however, without a reason that the early Christians
substituted what we call the Lord's day for the Sabbath. The resurrection
of our Lord being the end and accomplishment of that true rest which the
ancient sabbath typified, this day, by which types were abolished serves
to warn Christians against adhering to a shadowy ceremony. I do not cling
so to the number seven as to bring the Church under bondage to it, nor do I
condemn churches for holding their meetings on other solemn days, provided
they guard against superstition. This they will do if they employ those
days merely for the observance of discipline and regular order. The whole
may be thus summed up: As the truth was delivered typically to the Jews,
so it is imparted to us without figure; first, that during our whole lives
we may aim at a constant rest from our own works, in order that the Lord
may work in us by his Spirit; secondly that every individual, as he has
opportunity, may diligently exercise himself in private, in pious
meditation on the works of God, and, at the same time, that all may
observe the legitimate order appointed by the Church, for the hearing of
the word, the administration of the sacraments, and public prayer: And,
thirdly, that we may avoid oppressing those who are subject to us. In this
way, we get quit of the trifling of the false prophets, who in later times
instilled Jewish ideas into the people, alleging that nothing was abrogated
but what was ceremonial in the commandment, (this they term in their
language the taxation of the seventh day), while the moral part
remains—viz. the observance of one day in seven. But this is nothing else
than to insult the Jews, by changing the day, and yet mentally attributing
to it the same sanctity; thus retaining the same typical distinction of
days as had place among the Jews. And of a truth, we see what profit they
have made by such a doctrine. Those who cling to their constitutions go
thrice as far as the Jews in the gross and carnal superstition of
sabbatism; so that the rebukes which we read in Isaiah (Isa. 1:l3; 58:13)
apply as much to those of the present day, as to those to whom the Prophet addressed them. We must be careful, however, to observe the general doctrine—viz. in order that religion may neither be lost nor languish
among us, we must diligently attend on our religious assemblies, and duly
avail ourselves of those external aids which tend to promote the worship
of God.
of one day in seven, which, that it might be more religiously attended to,
the Lord recommended by his own example. For it is no small incitement to
the zeal of man to know that he is engaged in imitating his Creator.
Should any one expect some secret meaning in the number seven, this being
in Scripture the number for perfection, it may have been selected, not
without cause, to denote perpetuity. In accordance with this, Moses
concludes his description of the succession of day and night on the same
day on which he relates that the Lord rested from his works. Another
probable reason for the number may be, that the Lord intended that the
Sabbath never should be completed before the arrival of the last day. We
here begin our blessed rest in him, and daily make new progress in it; but
because we must still wage an incessant warfare with the flesh, it shall
not be consummated until the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: "From
one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh
come to worship before me, saith the Lord," (Isaiah 66:23); in other
words, when God shall be "all in all," (1 Cor. 15:28). It may seem,
therefore, that by the seventh day the Lord delineated to his people the
future perfection of his sabbath on the last day, that by continual
meditation on the sabbath, they might throughout their whole lives aspire
to this perfection.
31. Should these remarks on the number seem to any somewhat far-fetched, I
have no objection to their taking it more simply: that the Lord appointed
a certain day on which his people might be trained, under the tutelage of
the Law, to meditate constantly on the spiritual rest, and fixed upon the
seventh, either because he foresaw it would be sufficient, or in order
that his own example might operate as a stronger stimulus; or, at least to
remind men that the Sabbath was appointed for no other purpose than to
render them conformable to their Creator. It is of little consequence
which of these be adopted, provided we lose not sight of the principal
thing delineated, viz., the mystery of perpetual resting from our works.
To the contemplation of this, the Jews were every now and then called by
the prophets, lest they should think a carnal cessation from labour
sufficient. Beside the passages already quoted, there is the following:
"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,
honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding
thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight
thyself in the Lord," (Isaiah 58:13, 14). Still there can be no doubt,
that, on the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, the ceremonial part of the
commandment was abolished. He is the truth, at whose presence all the
emblems vanish; the body, at the sight of which the shadows disappear. He,
I say, is the true completion of the sabbath: "We are buried with him by
baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life," (Rom.
6:4). Hence, as the Apostle elsewhere says, "Let no man therefore judge
you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon,
or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the
body is of Christ," (Col. 2:16, 17); meaning by body the whole essence of
the truth, as is well explained in that passage. This is not contented
with one day, but requires the whole course of our lives, until being
completely dead to ourselves, we are filled with the life of God.
Christians, therefore, should have nothing to do with a superstitious
observance of days.
32. The two other cases ought not to be classed with ancient shadows, but
are adapted to every age. The sabbath being abrogated, there is still room
among us, first, to assemble on stated days for the hearing of the Word,
the breaking of the mystical bread, and public prayer; and, secondly, to
give our servants and labourers relaxation from labour. It cannot be
doubted that the Lord provided for both in the commandment of the Sabbath.
The former is abundantly evinced by the mere practice of the Jews. The
latter Moses has expressed in Deuteronomy in the following terms: "The
seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do
any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor
thy maid-servant,—that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as
well as thou," (Deut. 5: 14.) Likewise in Exodus, "That thine ox and thine
ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be
refreshed," (Exod. 23:12). Who can deny that both are equally applicable
to us as to the Jews? Religious meetings are enjoined us by the word of
God; their necessity, experience itself sufficiently demonstrates. But
unless these meetings are stated, and have fixed days allotted to them,
how can they be held? We must, as the apostle expresses it, do all things
decently and in orders (1 Cor. 14:40). So impossible, however, would it be
to preserve decency and order without this politic arrangements that the
dissolution of it would instantly lead to the disturbance and ruin of the
Church. But if the reason for which the Lord appointed a sabbath to the
Jews is equally applicable to us, no man can assert that it is a matter
with which we have nothing to do. Our most provident and indulgent Parent
has been pleased to provide for our wants not less than for the wants of
the Jews. Why, it may be asked, do we not hold daily meetings, and thus
avoid the distinction of days? Would that we were privileged to do so!
Spiritual wisdom undoubtedly deserves to have some portion of every day
devoted to it. But if, owing to the weakness of many, daily meetings
cannot be held, and charity will not allow us to exact more of them, why
should we not adopt the rule which the will of God has obviously imposed
upon us?
33. I am obliged to dwell a little longer on this because some restless
spirits are now making an outcry about the observance of the Lord's day.
They complain that Christian people are trained in Judaism, because some
observance of days is retained. My reply is, that those days are observed
by us without Judaism, because in this matter we differ widely from the
Jews. We do not celebrate it with most minute formality, as a ceremony by
which we imagine that a spiritual mystery is typified, but we adopt it as
a necessary remedy for preserving order in the Church. Paul informs us
that Christians are not to be judged in respect of its observance, because
it is a shadow of something to come, (Col. 2:16); and, accordingly, he
expresses a fear lest his labour among the Galatians should prove in vain,
because they still observed days (Gal. 4:10, 11.) And he tells the Romans
that it is superstitious to make one day differ from another (Rom. 14:5).
But who, except those restless men, does not see what the observance is to
which the Apostle refers? Those persons had no regard to that politic and
ecclesiastical arrangement, but by retaining the days as types of spiritual
things, they in so far obscured the glory of Christ, and the light of the
Gospel. They did not desist from manual labour on the ground of its
interfering with sacred study and meditation, but as a kind of religious
observance; because they dreamed that by their cessation from labour, they were cultivating the mysteries which had of old been committed to them. It was, I say, against this preposterous observance of days that the Apostle inveighs, and not against that legitimate selection which is subservient to the peace of Christian society. For in the churches established by him, this was the use for which the Sabbath was retained. He tells the Corinthians to set the first day apart for collecting contributions for
the relief of their brethren at Jerusalem, (1 Cor. 16:2). If superstition
is dreaded, there was more danger in keeping the Jewish sabbath than the
Lord's day as Christians now do. It being expedient to overthrow superstition, the Jewish holy day was abolished; and as a thing necessary to retain decency, orders and peace, in the Church, another day was appointed for that purpose.
34. It was not, however, without a reason that the early Christians
substituted what we call the Lord's day for the Sabbath. The resurrection
of our Lord being the end and accomplishment of that true rest which the
ancient sabbath typified, this day, by which types were abolished serves
to warn Christians against adhering to a shadowy ceremony. I do not cling
so to the number seven as to bring the Church under bondage to it, nor do I
condemn churches for holding their meetings on other solemn days, provided
they guard against superstition. This they will do if they employ those
days merely for the observance of discipline and regular order. The whole
may be thus summed up: As the truth was delivered typically to the Jews,
so it is imparted to us without figure; first, that during our whole lives
we may aim at a constant rest from our own works, in order that the Lord
may work in us by his Spirit; secondly that every individual, as he has
opportunity, may diligently exercise himself in private, in pious
meditation on the works of God, and, at the same time, that all may
observe the legitimate order appointed by the Church, for the hearing of
the word, the administration of the sacraments, and public prayer: And,
thirdly, that we may avoid oppressing those who are subject to us. In this
way, we get quit of the trifling of the false prophets, who in later times
instilled Jewish ideas into the people, alleging that nothing was abrogated
but what was ceremonial in the commandment, (this they term in their
language the taxation of the seventh day), while the moral part
remains—viz. the observance of one day in seven. But this is nothing else
than to insult the Jews, by changing the day, and yet mentally attributing
to it the same sanctity; thus retaining the same typical distinction of
days as had place among the Jews. And of a truth, we see what profit they
have made by such a doctrine. Those who cling to their constitutions go
thrice as far as the Jews in the gross and carnal superstition of
sabbatism; so that the rebukes which we read in Isaiah (Isa. 1:l3; 58:13)
apply as much to those of the present day, as to those to whom the Prophet addressed them. We must be careful, however, to observe the general doctrine—viz. in order that religion may neither be lost nor languish
among us, we must diligently attend on our religious assemblies, and duly
avail ourselves of those external aids which tend to promote the worship
of God.
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