Exercitations concerning the name, original, nature, use, and continuance of a day of sacred…

§. 12 God having disposed and settled the Sabbath, as to the seventh Day, and the manner of its Observation, as a part of the Covenant then made with that people, he thereon makes use of it in the same manner, and unto the same Ends with the residue of the Institutions and Ordinances which he had then prescribed unto them. This he doth, Exod. 31. 13, 14, 14, 15, 16, 17. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Speak thou unto the Children of Israel, saying, Verily, my Sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your Generations, ⟨p. 245⟩that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it, shall surely be put to death, for whosoever doth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from amongst his people. Six Days may work be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of Rest holy to the Lord, whosoever doth any work on the Sabbath Day, shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their Generations, for a perpetual Covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever. For in six Days the Lord made Heaven and Earth, and on the seventh Day he rested and was refreshed. This is the next mention of the Sabbath amongst that people, wherein all that we have before laid down is fully confirmed. God had now by Moses appointed other Sabbaths, that is Monthly and Annual Sacred Rests to be observed unto himself. With these he now joins the Weekly Sabbath, in Allusion whereunto, they have that Name also given unto them. He had sufficiently manifested a Difference between them before. For the one he pronounced himself on Mount Sinai, as part of his universal and eternal Law. The other he Instituted by Revelation unto Moses, as that which peculiarly belonged unto them. The one was grounded on a Reason wherein they had no more concern or interest than all the rest of mankind; namely, Gods Rest on his Works, and being refreshed ⟨p. 246⟩thereon, upon the Creation of the World, and the establishment of his Covenant with man: the other, all built on Reasons peculiar unto themselves, and that Church State whereinto they were admitted. But here the Sabbaths of both these kinds are brought under the same Command, and designed unto the same Ends and Purposes.