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judgment!) and the apostle was not a reproacher, and was out of the nature of a reproacher.

P. Thou sayst, 'Let no man judge you in meats and drinks, and in respect of any feast, new moons or sabbaths, which are shadows of things to come, but the body is Christ; but in this bold absurdity some will cast off the sabbath, the seventh day.'

A. The apostle says, 'the body was Christ,' and the sabbath was a sign and a shadow of good things to come: so then this fulfils Moses' words. The body is Christ, the sabbath is a sign: so the good things being come, Christ, the substance, ends the shadow, the sign; and Christ rose on the first day, on which the saints met, and the apostle doth not call that a sabbath, nor doth establish the other sabbath among the christians, nor bid them keep it, that ye read of any where. For if that day had been observed as it was in the law time, the seventh, which signifies perfection, the apostle would have spoken of it somewhere; for those things that were observable were often spoken of in law and gospel, but this is no where spoken of, nor to the saints that they should keep the seventh day as a sabbath, for offerings were on that day. But the offerings being changed, the law also changed, and the offering, Christ Jesus, being come, the law came to be within, and the circumcision within: and Christ the rest is the Lord of the sabbath, and the rest for the people of God. And he that holds up sabbaths and offerings, holds up circumcision and works, and so keeps people from the body and the head, in the signs and shadows, and so in the works of the law, which the law commands.

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P. And thou sayst, Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy works of sin, but the sabbath day thou shalt not sin, thou nor thy son, thy daughter, thy cattle, and stranger within thy gates.'

To keep thy son, daughter, and stranger from sin; as for the poor cattle they are nor capable of such a rest.'

A. In the six days thou wast to do that which was just, that which the law commanded, which was justice, and to do to all men as thou wouldst be done to. Not to covet, steal, bear false witness, nor kill; the seventh day was the rest, that signified Christ Jesus, the end of the law, the rest. If any man can receive this, let him.

And the sabbath day, that all servants, strangers, cattle, son and daughter might rest upon the seventh day, the sign, the shadow, which Christ the body ends, was a figure, a sign, and a shadow of the restoration of the creation to the rest, whereby the gospel might again be preached to every creature under heaven. This is a touch of the thing, more might be said of it.

The sabbath was everlasting to the state wherein it was, and circumcision was everlasting to the state wherein it was, through their gene

rations, and it was in the first covenant of shadows, types, and figures; but the body is Christ, that came to do the will of God, which ends them all, and sanctifies man, and brings him to rest and peace with God, before days were.

P. And thou sayst, J. E. was instructed in the Old Testament, which is able to make wise unto salvation through faith; therefore be instant in season and out of season. Now the only moral season the scriptures enjoin us is the Seventh-day sabbath, never changed till the little horn arose. And the holy spirit in the apostles highly approves us in our fulfilling the royal law, which, as to the season of worship, is none other than the Seventh-day sabbath.'

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A. They who are made able and wise to salvation, know the scriptures through the faith, they see the substance of them, Christ Jesus; and they see while Moses was read, the veil was upon their hearts; for the sabbath was a sign and type, and so was circumcision, and this was in Moses, and this was the sign read, the shadow was read, the type was read, and the figure read, the veil being over the heart. Now as the seed, Christ, the body, comes to be known, the sign, the shadow, the type is ended, the body is known that doth the will of God, that brings people to the rest. So they who know the scripture that is able to make wise unto salvation,' (mark that word,) through the faith that is in Christ Jesus, have salvation, which are able to make wise unto salvation that testifies of it; and so Christ, the seed, the body, that ends the types, figures, and shadows, takes off the veil from men's hearts. And such as come to know the fulfilling of the royal law according to scriptures, come to the body, Christ, in which the law ends to every one that believes; and so they that are in days and sabbaths which Moses says were a sign, and which Ezekiel and the apostle said were a shadow, are not yet come to the body which is Christ, who was before any days were, who is the sanctification and rest of his people, and who are in him that is the truth, worship God in the truth and in the spirit, which never change. But shadows and signs of a thing are not the things signified; for signs and shadows will change, but the spirit and truth do not change, in that is God worshipped.

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P. And thou sayst, It cannot be that horn, except he change your times also, and that he had no time to change but the Seventh-day sabbath, and the sabbath is perpetual, a rule of righteousness."

A. Christ made all things new; he ends the law, and brings it in the heart; he ends the covenant, and changes things that were in the old time, changing circumcision, offerings, priests, and ends the sabbath, which was perpetual to the Jews in that generation, among the types, as the covenant was, and circumcision, and the law was a rule of righteousness for them; but Christ, who is the end of the law, comes to re

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deem them that are under the law, and ends their covenant, and ends their shadows, and changes those times; he by whom time was made. And so thou that knowest not the time in his hands, showest thou art not in the time that is in his hands, and so not of the body, of Christ.

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P. And whereas thou sayst, No other time but simply the seventh part, must, from week to week, be devoted to God's worship; for whensoever the seventh part of time is altered, the morality must be destroyed.'

A. They worshipped God, that said the body was Christ, and the sabbath day was a shadow of good things to come; and so they that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth, and in that which doth end all figures, and shadows, and signs, in the spirit and truth before they were, and not one day in seven, a signification of rest, of sanctification, the Lord's sign which he gave to the people in transgression. Before transgression, ye do not read it was given to men as a command to the first Adam, but of the earth, earthly; but who comes to the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, he by whom the world was made, comes into that that ends all types, figures, and shadows, and so doth destroy nothing of the law, but comes to that which ends it.

P. And thou sayst, 'It is a great stumbling block as to believers in Christ, because christians violated the sabbath.'

A. Christ is the body, that ends the shadows and the signs, and fulfils the law; he who was before the world was made, in him are the christians, the body that ends the shadows and the signs, in whom the veil is come off their hearts; and so Christ did not break the law, but fulfilled it, and in him that fulfils it, the saints met, who met together in him, and gather together in him, who is the body; they are the members, he is the head, who are the church, whom he is in the midst of.

P. And thou sayst, 'So that to produce the world of wonder, manifest it is that night was the beginning of time.'

A. That is false; the beginning of time was God and Christ, and times and seasons are in his hands, and God is light; read that who can. P. And thou sayst, 'Thou supposest it will not be questioned in Moses' time.'

A. This was while Moses was read, while the body was not come, Christ Jesus, that ends the sign, the shadow, the type, and blots out the ordinances and commandments that held them up, from which veil the apostle brought the people, to the body, Christ Jesus, where no shadow was, nor changing. Now days are changing, but Christ doth not change who is the body. And you that hold up the sign, the shadow, the type, the figure, you hold up the dead, and come not to Christ the life,

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

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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.

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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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