verfion, they were joined. This is confirmed by the Apostle, Ephef. ii. 11. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time paffed GENTILES in the flesh, &c. And chap. iv. 17, &c. This I fay that ye swalk not as other GENTILES walk, &c. They formerly belonged to the old man, the body of impure, idolatrous heathen; but now they had, by their Chriftian profeffion, put off this old man, together with all his wicked deeds, Col. iii. 9, 10, and bad put on the new man, or were joined to the Chriftian church, or community. And therefore, they were obliged to be renewed in the Spirit of their minds, and to live in knowledge (true wisdom], or in righteaufness and true boliness. For God created the new man, or constituted the Chriftian church, in wisdom and righteousness and holiness, after his own Image, or the rectitude of his nature, with this defign, to promote the fame rectitude among men. For (Ephef. ii. 10.) we, the new Man, or the whole body of Chriftians, are God's workmanship, created in Chrift Jefus unto good works, which God ordained, when he formed the Gospel Scheme, that we should walk in them.

But what hath this to do with Adam's being created in righteousness and true holiness? Which, in the nature of things, could not be created, or wrought into his nature at the fame time he was made; because fuch a righteoufness would have been produced in him without his knowledge and confent; and fo would have been no righteousness at all. For whatever is wrought in my nature without my knowledge and choice, cannot poffibly be either fin or virtue in me, because it is no act of mine; but must be a mere natural inftinet, like the industry of the bee, or the fierceness of the lion. Righteoufness is right action, directed by knowledge and judgment; but Adam could neither act, nor know, nor judge, before he and all his intellectual powers were created; and therefore he muft exift and ufe his intellectual powers, before he could be righteous and holy.

We may further obferve-That God made the first pair male and female, that they might multiply and inhabit the whole earth, and fupply a perpetual fucceffion of men and women, pronouncing a blefing upon the regular propagation of the human fpecies, ver. 28. And God blessed them, &c. But this bleffing, divines have fuppofed, was turned into a curfe, by Adam's tranfgreffion; which fo corrupted the human nature, that thereby and thenceforth we all come into the world under the wrath and curfe of God. But that this alfo is a mistake, is moft evident from Gen. ix. 1. where God repeats, and pronounces the very fame original bleffing upon the increafe or birth of mankind 1600 years, and upwards, after Adam's tranfgreffion, when the world was to be restored, and replenished from Noah and his fons. This proves, that mankind, in all fucceffive generations, have come, and will come into the world, under the very fame bleffing and favour of God, which was declared at the first creation of Man. It is of great importance to obferve these remarks, not to produce any difguft or animosity towards thofe that efpouse the contrary opinion, who ought to be treated with candour and forbearance, but to fettle our own judgments upon right principles.

Once more; the original grant of fuftenance to Man was confined to herbs, and the fruits of plants and trees, ver. 29, 30. which afterwards was enlarged, and included animal food, Gen. ix. 3.

Now

Now let us take a furvey of the nature which God has graciously beflowed upon us. The body confifts of a mean material, the duft of the ground; but the mind is of nobler extraction, for (chap. ii. 7.) God breathed into his noftrils the breath of life, and Man became a living foul. Job xxxii. 8. The infpiration of the Almighty giveth us understanding; the nobleft gift of our Maker. The force and excellence of which appears in a furprising variety of inventions and difcoveries. It is this faculty which penetrates into the moft fecret receffes of Nature; judges of, and admires the beauty and contrivance of the vaft fabric of the universe; and traceth the footsteps of the most aftonishing wifdom and regularity in the various fituations and motions of the heavenly bodies. By this we review generations and actions, characters and events, that existed. long before we were born; and dart our reflections the other way, into futurity, even as far as to the final period of this world, with all its works. By this we conceive, though but negatively, Eternity itself; and apprehend the state and felicity of beings far fuperior to ourselves. By this we ftretch our thoughts to the higheft excellency, and contemplate the nature of the infinitely perfect Being..

Our fingular honour and advantage lies in our moral capacities. Whle inftinct determines the purfuits of inferior creatures; whilst they are utterly unable to judge of caufes and effects, to draw confequences, or to reason about the natures and tendencies of things, in order to avoid or embrace, and are rather acted upon than act; we deliberate, we choose our way, we feel and examine what is before us; this is good, and therefore to be chofen; this is evil, therefore to be avoided; this will improve and exalt our life, this leads to difhonour and mifery. We can study and obferve the precepts of Divine Wifdom; imitate the moral perfections of Deity; converfe with the fupreme Father, and defire, and difpofe ourselves for, the everlasting enjoyment of his favour. And agreeably to thefe diftinguishing honours of our nature, God our Maker, whofe delights are with the children of men, has expreffed his high regards to us, by fupplying us with all proper materials for the improvement of our understandings; not only the objects of nature; but alfo the writings of good and wife men, efpecially the holy Scriptures, a rich treafury of the most excellent knowledge; containing the most furprising difcoveries, the most useful inftructions, the most juft and noble principles and motives, and whatever is proper to cultivate and refine our fpirits. In particular, the redemption of the world by our Lord Jefus Chrift, That God fhould fend his well-beloved Son out of his bolom to dwell among us in our flesh, to reveal the high defigns of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness, to give himself a facrifice and offering to God upon the cross, to make atonement for our fins, to raife us to the dignity of kings and priests to his God and Father, that we might reign for ever with him; this exalts the love of God to men infinitely beyond our highest thoughts and imaginations; this raises our nature to an amazing, to an inexpreffible dignity and value.

These confiderations fhould difpofe us to be pleafed with our being, and thankful to our Maker for it. With pleafure we fhould reflect that we are men. Every perfon, how low foever in the world, hath that in poffeffion, which is more valuable than thousands of gold and filver; an

immenfe

1

immenfe treasure, to which the whole earth bears no proportion, bimself, a reasonable Soul, an immortal Spirit; to which, in real excellence, the vifible creation, the earth with all its material riches, the sky with all its fplendid furniture, is not to be compared. Let us not measure ourfelves by worldly riches. The foul is the ftandard of the Man, and raifes him vaftly above all that is earthly. How foolish then, how fhameful, how impious is it to proftitute ourselves to the trifles of the world; to be fond of earthly things, and to make our reafon a drudge to fenfual purfuits! God has made us Men, creatures of the finest powers and faculties; he hath ufed us as Men, by making the most ample provision to enable us to honour his Grace and our own being. And fhall we defert our Manhood? Shall we defpife the rich bounty of Heaven? Shall we mingle with the duff that particle of fuperior life, which God bath breathed into us? Rather let us affert the dignity of our being, and make it our principal care to improve it by all the advantages God hath provided. The knowledge of God; conformity of heart and life to his will; the fruits of the fpirit, joy, peace, long-fuffering, gentlenefs, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance; converfe with God; the high privileges of the fons of God; the profpects of eternal glory; these are the objects of our care: as we are enlightened by the Goipel, we are obliged to make these our ftudy, and to form our fpirits according to the fublime and excellent fentiments which these infpire, that thus we may be fitting ourselves for a much higher and more perfect degree of exiftence in a better world,

A

S foon as God had created the world, and man in it, he bleed the Seventh Day, upon which he refted from creation, and fantlifed it, i. e. he diftinguished it from the other fix days by fetting it apart to the purposes of religion. Thus the fanctification of the Sabbath is the firft and oldeft of God's inftitutions, and muft have a real foundation in the nature of Man, and an immediate connexion with our being, and the great and excellent ends of it. The Sabbath and Man were, in a manner, created together. This is an indication, that although the particular time is, as it muft neceffarily be, of pofitive appointment, yet the thing itself is an article of natural religion, and ftands upon the reafon of things. The great end for which we are brought into life, is to attain the knowledge, and to be confirmed in the love and obedience of God; which includes all right action and virtue, all that is perfective of our nature, all that renders us happy in ourfelves, and a

bleffing

bleffing to others; and all that can qualify us for the enjoyment of God, and fit us for immortal honour and glory. We cannot keep a due and prevailing fense of these things upon our minds, without clofe and re peated application of thought; and therefore, as the affairs and neceffi ties of this prefent life make fuch conftant and importunate demands upon us, that our hearts and thoughts would be unavoidably ingroffed by them, it is in the nature of things neceffary, that fome certain time fhould be publickly appropriated to the exercises of religion, inftruction, prayer and praife, to fortify our minds against temptations, and to season them with piety and virtue. And doubtless, God alone hath wisdom and authority fufficient to affign that portion of time which is proper and generally competent for those good purposes.

The Sabbath is perfectly fuited to our nature and circumftances, and therefore was very properly inftituted at the creation. But fome of the learned pretend, that Mofes here fpeaks, by anticipation, of the Inftitu tion of the Sabbath a long time after this, when he was law-giver in Ifrael. This is a fiction without any foundation in the text. The hifto nan exprefsly relates, that God bleffed and fanctified that day on which he refted, or ceafed, from creation; which, in all fair conftruction, muft be understood of his fanctifying it, at the time when he refted from creation. That we find no other mention of the Sabbath in the fummary and very comprehenfive hiftory of Genefis, is no proof that the Patriarchs did not observe it; much lefs that the law thereof was not all that time in force. We find not the least mention, or intimation, of the Sabbath in all the book of Joshua, nor in Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, till we come to II Kings, iv. 23. a far more particular history than the book of Genefis; and yet it is very certain that the law of the Sabbath was all that time in force, and without doubt was observed too. There are very clear intimations of regard to the Sabbath in the book of Genefis, chap. viii. 8-13. Thrice Noah fent the dove out of the ark, after he had every time waited feven days. Jacob (Gen. xxix. 27, 28.) fulfilled Leah's week. This plainly fhews the Patriarchs, long before Mofes was born, reckoned time by feven days, or weeks; which can be referred to no other fuppofable original but the inftitution of the Sabbath, at the creation.

The Ifraelites indeed, during their long continuance and fervitude in Egypt, upwards of 200 years, feem to have loft their reckoning of the Sabbath, when they were conftrained by perpetual and moft fervile labour to neglect the obfervance of it. However, it certainly was the appointment of God, that they should begin a new reckoning of the feventh day, and form a new epocha, namely, the falling of the manna. Exod. xvi. 5. And it fball come to pass on the fixth day, they shall prepare that manna which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And when the people had done fo, the rulers of the congregation came, and told Mofes; probably inquiring into the reafon, why God had given fuch an order, ver. 23. And Mofes faid unto them, This is that which the Lord hath faid, or, this is the meaning of the Divine Command To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Ver. 25, 26. Ye fhall not then find it in the field; fix days fhall ye gather it, but on the feventh day, which is the Sabbath, there shall be none. And this courfe contin

for forty years, till they came into the land of Canaan. Now this was devised in much wisdom to fettle and determine the day, which, otherwife, having loft their reckoning, during their long fervitude in Egypt, they poffibly would not eafily have been brought to agree upon. For thus, for forty years together, they would be under a neceffity of diftinguishing the Sabbath, and of refting upon it; having little elfe to do, the greatest part of the time, but to gather and dress manna; and no manna falling upon that day, they muft of course be affured of the day, and obliged to reft upon it. Note the reftoring and afcertaining the Sabbath, was the first point of religion that was fettled, after the children of Ifrael came out of Egypt, as being of the greatest moment; and this, in relation to the original inftitution; for the law at mount Sinai was not then given.

Afterwards the ordinance of the Sabbath was inferted into the body of the moral law, under a particular emphafis, Remember the SabbathDay to keep it holy. And the Jew is reminded of the antiquity of this inftitution, in the reafon annexed to this commandment, For in fix days the Lord made heaven and earth, &c. And being thus ranked among the other great articles of our duty, which are of moral obligation, and are always referred and appealed to, by our Lord and his Apostles, as binding to us Chriftians, it must ftand upon the fame ground, and lay the fame obligations upon our confciences. For the fame truth and authority, which enacted the reft, enacted this precept alfo. He that faid, Thou shalt have no other gods before me-thou shalt not bow down to any graven image-thou shalt not take the name of God in vain-bonour thy father-thou shalt do no murder-&c. faid alfo, Remember the SabbathDay to keep it holy.

The Jewish feftivals, new-moons and fabbaths, as they were fhadows and figures of good things to come under the Gofpel, our Lord did abolish. When the fubftance was come, the fhadow vanished. Andit is of fabbaths in this fenfe the Apoftle fpeaks, Col. ii. 16. Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in refpect of a holy-day, or of the newmoon, or of the fabbath-days. But the feventh-day Sabbath was no part of the Levitical law; it exifted long before that, and therefore was not abolished with it. On the contrary, our Lord claims dominion over the Sabbath. Luke vi. 5. He faid unto the Pharifees, that the Son of Man is Lord alfo of the Sabbath. Therefore the Sabbath must be an ordinance belonging to our Lord's kingdom, otherwife he could not be Lord of it. He never pretended to be Lord of circumcifion, or of facrifices; these belonged to a difpenfation of which he was not Lord. But he is Lord of the Chriftian Difpenfation, and its ordinances, and among the rest, of the Sabbath. In confequence of which Lordship,

I. He rectified the fuperftitious abuse of the Sabbath, and reduced it to the original ftandard. He reformed the traditionary corruptions of feveral of the commandments of moral and eternal obligation (c). But of all others, moft fignally, remarkably, and conftantly, by words and by deeds, at the hazard of his life, he reformed the abufe of the fourth commandment;

(c) Mat. v. 21, 27, 33. xv. 4, Sc.