the body, the sanctification itself, before days were, by whom they were made.

P. And thou sayst, 'The unthankful christian ought to sanctify the sabbath.'

A. Here thou bringest them into days, from the body which is Christ, and so bringest them into days, and shadows, and types, where the veil is over their hearts. And the false christian may run into signs and days who is out of Christ's life, and the apostles'; but who are in the life of Christ and the apostles, that are in the body, out of the signs and shadows, and offer up spiritual sacrifices, such are in the rest, and have the high priest, the everlasting priest, Christ.

Now if ye have the sabbath, ye must have the offerings, and the priest to offer, and your altars, and ye must offer upon that day; but the christians witnessed the body, Christ Jesus, the one offering, who comes as it is written in the volume of the book, to do the will of God, who is the substance that the shadow, and signs, and figures gave forth, who ends them all, and brings people to see to the end of the shadow, to perfection, to Christ Jesus.

P. Thou sayst, 'We should not grudge to give God every First-day as an addition to God's Seventh-day sabbath.'

A. The priests call it a sabbath, and you call it a First-day, and you would have a sabbath besides. Now this is your cover, but the life takes away all your shadows. It is true, the saints did meet together every first day of the week; and the saints do so, though they do not say it was a command. And so the apostles brought people off from observing days and times, and told them the body was Christ, and the sabbath was a shadow of good things to come. Thou mayst say, the apostle was the little horn that changed times; we find no where he commands the saints to observe it, but brings people, as you may read in the Romans, from the law, being justified by the law; for if they kept the sabbath they were justified; if not, they were condemned. So Christ the body, the end of types, figures, signs, and shadows, is the justification without the works of the law, and the sanctification itself, and sanctifies man to God. And so the christians no where, as you may read through the epistles, did observe the days, the shadows, who were believers in Christ, who owned the body.

P. Thou sayst, Since the blessed Creator celebrated the seventh day, man thinks to be wiser than his Maker, in altering and disobeying, pretending spiritual observances; poor worm, dust, and ashes. Christ, in expounding his own law, sums up all in this: be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, that is in quality, not in quantity.'

A. He that is perfect, as his heavenly Father is perfect, is perfect as

he is perfect. If thou or any have an ear to hear, let them hear; and lay away thy qualities and quantities, and take the words as they are. And all that are come into Christ, are come into life, from the dust and ashes, and are spiritual men. But they that talk of celebrating days, and sabbaths, who are celebrating signs and shadows, are in their own works, from the body of Christ, and keeping others there. Such, if they do not all the works contained in the law, are accursed.

P. And thou sayst, Christ confirms the Seventh-day sabbath, and assures us it shall continue, every jot and tittle, and Paul says he established the law, which cannot be ceremonial: therefore let such as slight the Seventh-day sabbath, take warning, and make sure work that it be not broken, in no point of the law, of which every jot and tittle is established by Christ and his apostles; when the Lord of the sabbath, and the saints, endeavoured to observe every jot and tittle of it to the end of the world, and our Redeemer particularly owns the sabbath, above all other days, by his works, and miracles, and great wonders on that day. And God forbid that saints should side with evil seducers, and reproach our saviour for putting on his glory on that day, but rather let that sabbath be celebrated.

A. Christ came not to break the law; the apostle said the law was good in its place, and he established it; yet the apostle says that the sabbath was a shadow, but the body was Christ, and he brings them to the law in the heart, in the mind, and there he established it. And Christ did not come to break one jot or tittle of it, but (mark) to fulfil it; and he said, not one jot or tittle of the law should be broken until fulfilled.' And Christ, who is the rest to the Jew, who had the sabbath day, a sign of rest, gave the people rest on that day often, that were bound, burthened, or wearied on that day; and Christ, who did give them rest on that day, and the apostle, who establishes the law, which was good in its place, neither of them doth bid keep the sabbath day. Christ doth not say, the sabbath day must be kept; and after him, the apostle nowhere commands it, but says it was a shadow, and the body was Christ. And so they that came to the body, Christ, in the days of the apostles, were come to the end of the shadows, in that age, in their day; and for example, thou may see it, for some did observe a day, and some did not, and they were not to judge one another about those things. And Christ giving rest on that day which the people were to rest on, was a figure of the everlasting rest, and of the restoration; who did the work of God on that day, and gave rest to the burthened on that day, that signifies an inward rest; for Christ was the rest, and Lord of the sabbath, the rest to the people of God. And they that celebrate the sabbath day, must celebrate a sign, and live in the shadow VOL. III.

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that keeps them from the body, and so from the church, which Christ is the head of. And who are celebrating sabbaths must also bring their offerings, and then they must have the first priesthood to offer, and so deny the body that doth the will of God, the everlasting priesthood, and the one offering, and hold with the first covenant that must decay, in which those things stood; and deny the everlasting covenant, and him that blotted out ordinances, and ended types and shadows. And so Christ is the end of the law to every one that believes, in every jot, and tittle, and print of it; and the signs and shadows that were held up by the law, Christ is the end of; yet the life of the law, the power, remains, though the outward changing shadows and things, end, the body is that which ends them all.

P. Thou sayst, The sabbath was honoured with the conversion of souls on this day, and the day before did they break bread together.' A. Was that the sabbath day that Christ and his disciples brake bread together on? Did the apostles and the saints establish the sabbath day, when they said, it was but a shadow, and brought them to the body, which is Christ?

P. Thou sayst, The sabbath is mentioned with new moons, and sacrifices; that the actions, baptism, and breaking of bread, are the signs of a Christian sabbath; it is high presumption to alter the word of God, in calling every day the Lord's sabbath, and honouring any other day as the sabbath. So if we be followers of God, as dear children, and take the spirit to be our guide, we must honour the sabbath with all holy devotion.'

A. The sabbath is mentioned with new moons and sacrifices, but the apostle says they were shadows of good things to come; when this is come, which was before the shadows were, which is the body, Christ, who was before days, new moons, or sacrifices were, the body, who be in that ends them all: and to that the apostle brought people, and not to the days. Now there were some brought them to observe days, and he was afraid of them that did observe them, and he brought them to the body, Christ, to whom all the angels did bow; for they that observe days, new moons, and sabbaths, and are worshipping of angels, neglecting the body, which is Christ, and this was for the satisfying of the flesh. And now what art thou satisfying, who art teaching to observe days, signs, and shadows, which the apostle brought people off, to the body, and to the head, Christ Jesus? and to worship God in spirit, and brought them into that that ended all shadows; for the devil will lurk in a shadow, or a type, or a sign, or figure, and creeps into those things, after the substance is come, to keep people from the body, and will persecute such as will not bend to the shadow, and come from the substance. And breaking bread, and baptism, are no sign of the sabbath day,

of the Jewish sabbath day. The sabbath was a figure of the rest, and sanctification of the creation; and breaking of bread among the saints. was a figure of the bread, Christ, of which the saints eat, and live for And the word of God cannot be altered, and the word of God cannot change; man may alter, but the word of God cannot be altered, but abides and lives for ever.

ever.

And the saints who come to the body, Christ, come to honour him who ends the sabbath, which is a sign, and a shadow; and such honour God the Redeemer and Creator, and Christ, by whom all things were created and made. And who are the dear children of God the apostle speaks of, he did not bring them into days, and to observe sabbaths, and signs, but brings them to the body, Christ, the Lord of the sabbath; and doth not set up that which thou calls devotion, in holding up the Jewish sabbath, on which they should rest, and which was a sign; the rest of the creation, and the rest of all mankind, cattle, and beasts; that God would restore and redeem all things by Christ, who is the word, and gives rest; and is the sanctification, and gives rest to the whole creation.

P. Thou sayst, This is the time of God's worship, observing the seventh day. Christian, look well to thy walkings, see that thou make all things according to the pattern in the mount.'

A. They that worship God, come into Christ, the truth, the body, who ends the sign and the shadow, and who is the end of Moses, who made a pattern, which was a figure of that which was to come, and he made it at the command of God. And Christians are not to make the pattern, which was showed to Moses in the mount, for while Moses is read, the veil is upon the hearts of Christians, and of all people whatsoever that are in the sign, shadows, and figures: the body is not seen, nor come to, which is Christ. And Paul, and the saints, the true Christians, worshipped God in spirit and in truth, who witnessed they were in the body, that ended the shadows, and types, and Moses, the law, and the prophets, in Christ Jesus, him by whom the world was made, who was before it was made; and a pattern is not the thing, there is the thing the pattern is of, and that ends the pattern and lives in the thing, and they need not have the pattern, for the pattern was made of a thing that was to come.

P. Thou sayst, if the apostle of the Gentiles, who was the rejecter of the ceremonies, did constantly celebrate the Seventh-day sabbath, then much more those apostles among the Jews: there is not a plainer precept in all the scriptures, than Paul's practice herein, for the Seventhday sabbath. If we tread in the steps of Paul, he was but a man, and sometimes a very angry man, and he strictly requires all believers to follow his example, as he followed Christ, and certainly in observing the sabbath. And Paul reasoned with the Jews on the sabbath day, and

Christ's custom, and Paul's, was to go into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and was there difference betwixt Christ's preaching and Paul's? and where is the difference between Christ's observing the sabbath, and Paul's?

A. The apostle never taught the Christians, either Jews or Gentiles, to celebrate the seventh day, nor ever mentions it to them to keep it; in all the epistles there is not such a thing; but he tells them they were shadows, and that the body was Christ; and Christ's and the apostles' going into the synagogues and temple on the sabbath days, was to fulfil, and show the fulfilling of the types, and figures of him, and to bring to the substance of the signs, types, and shadows; not to hold up days, times, and offerings, but to bring them to the body, Christ; as Col. ii. And so Paul and Christ do not disagree, for he preached Christ the end of the law, and the substance; and though Paul went among the Jews, and circumcised, and did several things; though he went into the temple, yet that was not to hold up the temple, or to hold up the offerings, types, and shadows, but to bring them to the substance. And mind what the anger was that Paul was in, and Paul followed the substance, and was more than a man, there was more in him than a man. Neither Paul nor the apostles any where commands the saints to observe the Jews' sabbath day, though he went unto the Jews, and consented to many things to the intent to bring them out of them, not to keep them in them, but to bring them to the substance, and that was the end of Paul's going into the Jews' synagogues and temple, to bring them out of the shadows, types, and signs, to the substance; and the end of Christ's going thither, was to bring them to the substance, that which was typed forth, that people might believe in him, who was the body, who was before heaven or earth was, who fulfils every jot and tittle of the law. And to him did the apostle bring the people, to this body, which types, signs and shadows, signed, shadowed, and typed forth, the body of which is Christ; and in thy principles thou art confused. And so who follows the apostle comes to the body, out of the sign, and the types, and figures, and shadows, as every believer follows him, he comes to the body, and from the observing of signs, and shadows, and sabbath days, to Christ the son, the end of them all.

P. Thou sayst, Fancy is no fuel for a christian faith.'

A. Fancy and fuel are out of a christian faith; which thou art in, that art got among the signs, types, and shadows in the fancy, and so from the body Christ.

P. And thou sayst, if the Lord be thy God; thou must observe the Seventh-day sabbath.' And thou sayst, It is antichrist that persuades to change the day,' and thou chargest them to do no manner of work on that day,' and thou sayst, It is not ceremonial, but was before Jew or ceremony had a being.'