A Body of Practical Divinity

1. The whole Sabbath is to be Dedicated to God. It is not said, Keep a part of the Sabbath holy, but the whole day must be religiously observed. If God hath given us Six Days, and taken but One to himself, shall we grudge him any part of that Day? It were Sacrilege. The Jews kept a whole Day to the Lord, and we are not to abridge or curtail the Sabbath, (saith St. Austin) more than the Jews did. The very Heathens by the Light of Nature did set apart a whole Day in the Honour of their False Gods: ^*And Scaevola their High Priest did affirm, That the wilful Transgression of that Day could have no Expiation or Pardon. Whoever do rob any part of the Sabbath for servile Work or Recreation, Scaevola the High Priest of the Heathenish Gods shall rise up in Judgment against such Christians and condemn them. And they who say, that to keep a whole Sabbath is too Judaical, let them show where God hath made any Abatement of the Time of Worship, where he hath said, You shall keep but a Part of the Sabbath. And if they cannot show that, it argues much Boldness to go to rob God of his Due. That a whole Day be designed and set apart for God's special Worship, is a perpetual Statute while the Church remains upon the Earth, saith Pet. Martyr. Of this Opinion also were ^*Theodoret, Austin, Iraeneus, and the Chief of the Fathers.

1. The whole Sabbath is to be Dedicated to God. It is not said, Keep a part of the Sabbath holy, but the whole day must be religiously observed. If God hath given us Six Days, and taken but One to himself, shall we grudge him any part of that Day? It were Sacriledge. The Jews kept a whole Day to the Lord, and we are not to abridge or curtail the Sabbath, (saith St. Austin) more than the Jews did. The very Heathens by the Light of Nature did set apart a whole Day in the Honour of their False Gods: ^*And Scaevola their High Priest did affirm, That the wilful Transgression of that Day could have no Expiation or Pardon. Whoever do rob any part of the Sabbath for servile Work or Recreation, Scaevola the High Priest of the Heathenish Gods shall rise up in Judgment against such Christians and condemn them. And they who say, that to keep a whole Sabbath is too Iudaical, let them show where God hath made any Abatement of the Time of Worship, where he hath said, You shall keep but a Part of the Sabbath. And if they cannot show that, it argues much Boldness to go to rob God of his Due. That a whole Day be design'd and set apart for God's special Worship, is a perpetual Statute while the Church remains upon the Earth, saith Pet. Martyr. Of this Opinion also were