day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him That the Collection for the poor is here enjoyned it cannot be denyed the words themselves proclaim it and that this Collection was inseparably annexed to the Lords Day because on it the Congregation was assembled not onely this Text but the Ecclesiasticall Writers give plentifull testimony from whence the conclusion in my judgement is clear and fair That the Lords Day it self in which such Collections were made was consequently by them enjoyned for where two things are inseparably united he who enjoyns the onâ—… cannot but by consequent likewise enjoyn the other As when God said Let there be light if light cannot be â—…ep from heat it was in effect as much as if he had said Let there be heat Thus mâ—…ch doth Doctor Rivet collect from these words of the Apostle And thus much it should seem Saint Augustine in his 251 Sermon de tempore gathered either 〈◊〉 this or some other passage of this kinde where he teacheth us That the Apostles not onely obsâ—…ved this day but religiosa solennitate habendum sanxerunt decreed it to be kept in a solemn religious manner from whence we may safely conclâ—…de That at leastwise in his judgement it was not onely their practice but their precept The other point remaining to be proved is That both this pâ—…actice and precept of theirs was by order from the Lord himself and that not onely by secret inspiration but by overt Acts As the Sacrament is câ—…lled tâ—…e Lords Supper because it was instituted by tâ—…e Lord and that excellent Form of Prayer whicâ—… he hath left us the Lords Prayer becaâ—…se it was coâ—…posed by the Lord so is this Day called the Lords because it was ordained by him He is that Sonne of man who is Lord even of the Sabbatâ—… As he dissolved the Sabbath of the Jewes so he appointed the Lords day of the Christians to succeed it New Lords they say new lawes which in him was verified new Sacraments new sacrifices a new Priesthood a new Pentecost a new Sabbath Thus old things passed away and alâ—… things by him became new and if all other things belonging to his service then surely the day too in which this service is solemnly to be performed that so it might be suteable to his service This blessed day was not only foreseen and foretold by the Psalmist but the making of it by the Lord This is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it Psal. 118. 24. where no doubt he prophecies of this very Lords day here mentioned in my Text and so have many of the Fathers rightly applied it and among the rest a Athanaâ—…ius and b Ambrose and c Chrysostome this is the day saith the great Sâ— d Augustine in which our Lord was baptized in Iordan in which he turned water into wine at a wedding feast in which he blessed five loaves wherewith he satisfied five thousand men in which he rose again from the dead In which he entred into the house where the Apostles were assembled the doors being shut in which he sent down the holy Ghost upon them finally in which we expect his comming to judgement Besides all which Bellarmine in his third Book de cultu Sanctorum and eleventh Chapter is confident that he was also born on the same day which he proves by the Dominicall letter of that year falling just upon the 25th of December And shall we imagine that on this day he was born on this day baptized on this day wrought his first and greatest miracles on this day rose again on this day appeared to his Apostles and lastly on this day sent down the holy Ghost upon them the three last of which are most evident in holy Scripture and yet had no speciall designe for the sanctifying of this day in a speciall manner Moreover it may not be forgotten that upon this day his Apostles and in them their successors received from him their Benediction their Mission and Commission Peace be unto you there is the Benediction Iohn 20. 19. As my Father hath sent me so I send you there is their Mission vers. 21. And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive the holy Ghost whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained there is their Commission vers. 22. 23. And again his disciples being assembled as before in all likelihood by his Commandment for the exercise of religious duties upon the very same day of the week following he appears to them again as for the imparting of other mysteries unto them so in particular for the â—…rengthning of Thomas his faith who at his former apparition was absent from that assembly yea after this again before his Ascension he appeared unto them sundry times by the space of forty daies speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God and good Divines are of opinion that he still appeared upon the same day as it is certain that ten dayes after his Ascension he sent down the holy Ghost the same day upon his Apostles being then again assembled being the first day of the week and the day of his Resurrection or the Lords-day on which he also by the Ministry of an Angel imparted these most divine Revelations to St. Iohn All which should argue that this indeed was the day which he had selected and sealed for the religious Assemblies of his Church in all future ages even to the worlds end Neither is this my opinion alone but Saint Cyrill in his Exposition upon Saint Iohns Gospel is of the same minde and Maldonate the Jesuite freely confesseth that some Conjecture may from thence be made Diem Dominicum aliquam ex Christi voluntate originem habuisse That the Lords day had some kinde of rise from the will of the Lord himself yet because he seeth the Schoolmen take another way he professeth himself unwilling to forsake their Company But had he been free to take his own course no doubt he would easily have found therein somewhat more then a bare Conjecture Which I am the rather induced to beleeve for that Ribera a Bird of the same Feather and Nest in his Commentaries upon the words of my Text tels us that Iustin Martyr in his second Apologie to Antoninus the Emperour teacheth Apostolos a Christo hujus diei celebritatem accepisse That the Apostles received the celebrity of this day from the Lord himself which he disproves not but rather allowes and withall addes that the Apostles themselves delivered it over and recommended it to the Church in their Constitutions as witnesseth Clemens Lib. 2. cap. 59. lib. 5. cap. 9. lib. 7. cap. 31. 37. And herewith accords the great Athanasius in the very entrance of his Homilie De Semente Anciently saith he the Sabboth was
A SHORT But Cleare DISCOVRSE Of the Institution Dignity and End of the Lords-Day Upon Occasion of those words of St. IOHN I was in the spirit on the Lords-Day Written by George Hakewill Doctor in Divinity and Arch-Deacon of Surrey LONDON Printed by Iohn Raworth for George Thomason and Octavian Pullen MDCXLI REVEL. 1. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lords-Day THey are the words as ye see of Saint Iohn the holy Evangelist the blessed Apostle the beloved Disciple the glorious Confessor the soaring Eagle the Sonne of Thunder the Divine by an Excellency and the Pen-man of this most Divine and excellent Book of the Revelation And here he makes known unto us the place where the time when the state in which he was when the high and deep mysteries of this Book were made known unto him The place where it was in the Isle of Patmos whither by Domitian the Emperour he was banished for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ as it is in the verse going before my Text The time when on the Lords Day the best Day of the week shining among the other dayes velâ—…t inter ignes Luna minores as the brightest Moon when she fills-her circle with light among the other Stars The state in which himself then was in the Spirit in Spirituall exercises in Spirituall meditations and by means thereof in Spirituall raptures and elevations in Spirituall exâ—…asies of the soul above the ordinary pitch of humane condition Wee have here presented to our consideration these foure things First That there is a certain time a certain day which may deservedly be called and is indeed the Lords day The second That thâ—… dâ—…y here spoken of is that particular day and why it is â—…o câ—…lled The third Is the great priviledges and speciall prerogatives of this day beyond and above all other The fourth Is the duties which belong to us upon this day it is to be in the Spirit as St. Iohn was though not in Spirituall Trances yet in Spirituall Exercises and Meditations For the first of these it is certain most certain That there is not nor ever was any Nation under the Cope of Heaven since the first Creation which acknowledged a Deity but withall it acknowledged a Divine Worship and Service due to this Deity and that not onely inward in the minde but outward in sacred and solemn Rites and Observances as being both the kindely effects and lively characters of â—…he in bred Notions and Motions of the Soul And to this purpose they had not onely Temples and Altars and Sacrifices and forms of Invocation but Festivall dayes set dayes or dayes set apart as for the publique and Civill affairs so likewise for the religious Rites and Ceremonies And this they had partly from the dictate of reason which tells us That every action requires as a place so a time suteable thereunto partly from experience which teacheth us That that which is left at randome and hath no day prefixed is seldome performed as it should be on any day and partly from those broken remainders of the Image of God left in them and an imitation of the Church of God though from it in the main points of his Worship they had much degenerated It may be well thought that the first man created immediately by God himself even in the state of Innocency had both a certain place and time for the Worship of his Maker Howsoever sure it is that before we reade of the fall of man we reade of a Seventh day blessed and sanctified by God himself Gen. 2. 3. sanctified that by man it might be kept holy to his glory and blessed that man by keeping of it holy might receive a blessing from God When Enos was born of Seth the sonne of Adam it is said That men then began to call upon the Name of the Lord Gen. 4. at the last verse that is as I take it to call upon his Name in Publique Assemblies for which no doubt but they had a certain place appointed lest otherwise men might be disappointed in their meetings And most like it is that it was the same day which Abell and Seth and Adam observed before them and the rest of the Patriachs after them that day in which God himself rested having fully finished the great work of the worlds Creation Etiam ante legem non dubito primis illis patribus doctore Deo diem hunc solennem augustum sacrum fuisse saith the learned Mercerus Even before the Law I doubt not but this Day by Gods teaching was solemn and sacred to those primitive Fathers And Peter Martyr Nec ejus observatio coepit lege data in Sina sed ante celebrabatur Neither did the observation thereof begin with the giving of the Law in Sinai but it was celebrated before Of the same opinion is Rivet who likewise answers all the arguments brought to the contrary which together with them I the rather embrace for that before the giving of the Law in Mount Sinai we have an expresse and severe charge for the keeping of it in gathering Manna Exod. 16. and upon that occasion two such miracles shewed to ratifie and magnifie that day as seldome shall ye reade of more remarkable thorow the book of God whereof the one was that the Manna fell in great plenty upon all the other dayes of the week but upon the Seventh none at all The other That being gathered on the Sixth day it remained sweet till the Seventh and not so on any other day of the week besides Either of which miracles were doubtlesse as great or greater than that fabulous one of Plinie seconded by some of the Jewish Rabbins of a River in Iudea which is said to runne the sixe first dayes of the week and on the seventh to dry up so as we shall not need go seek out that River to authorize that day Yet after all this was this very day again for the better observation of it proclaiâ—…ed in Mount Sinai and that in a dreadfull and glorious manner Exod. 20. having a more solemn entrance into it and more weighty reasons to hedge it in and confirm it than any other of the Commandements And besides all the rest are negative onely the first of the second Table and this last of the first Table are affirmative nay this onely is both affirmative and negative standing in the midst of the two Tables to shew that they both depend upon the observation of it which I conceive to be the reason that in some passages of Scripture the keeping of the Sabbath day is put for the whole body of Gods Worship and pressed with more earnestnesse both in the following Chapters of the same book and in the books following of Moses and the Prophets than any of the other Precepts so as till the coming of Christ and at his coming too nay for a while after his death and passion resurrection and ascention that
indicâ—…is saith he Dominica dies extat insignis By these and such like Characters is the Lords-day become renowned And again in his 154. Sermon of the same Book Venerabilis est hic dies qui dominicus dies dies primus atque perfectus est dies clarus in quo visa est prima lux This Lords day is a venerable day The first day a perfect and shining day in which the light was first seen Nay Pererius the Jâ—…suite in his Commentaries upon the work of the first day having recounted no lesse then thirteen speciall Prerogatives thereof at last he thus concludes Haec sunt primi illius diei insignia atque ornamenta quibus ea dies mirabiliter nobilitatur atque decoratur These are the ensignes and ornaments of this first day wherewith it is wonderfully ennobled and garnished Likewise the Hebrew Author of the Book called Sedar Olam Rabba cap. 7. Recordeth many memorable things which were done upon the first day of the week as so many types that the chief worship of God should under the new Testament be celebrated upon this day As that on this day the cloud of Gods Majesty first sate upon his people Aaron and his children first executed their Priesthood God first solemnly blessed his people The Princes of his people first offered publikely unto God The first day wherein fire descended from heaven The certainty of these I leave to the Author to prove but sure I am that the Primitive Church for more than a thousand yeers after Christ to expresse the greatnesse of their joy upon this day neither fasted nor kneeled Nay Tertullian goes further in his Book de corona militis cap. 3. Die dominico jejunare nefas ducimus de geniculis adorare We hold it unlawfull upon the Lords Day either to fast or to pray kneeling And Saint Hilary in his Prologue set before his explanation of the Psalms gives the reason thereof ne festivitatem spiritualis hujus â—…eatudinis impedirit lest it might hinder the joy of our Spirituall happinesse on that day Look then what the fire is among the Elements the Eagle among the Fowls the Whale among the fishes the Lion among the Beasts Gold among the other Metalls and Wheat among the other Grains the same is the Lords Day among all the dayes of the week this Day differing as much from the rest as doth that Wax to which the Kings great Seal is put from ordinary Wax or that Silver upon which the Kings Arms and Image â—…re stamped from Silver unrefined or in Bullion And for other holy dayes it is as farre transcendent above them too as they are beyoud other ordinary dayes the other holy dayes consecrated by the authority of the Church and amongst us religiously observed may not unfitly be resembled to those honorable women spoken of in the 45 Psalm Kings daughters were among thy honorable women but the Lords Day ordained by the Lord himself and from him derived unto us by his Apostles is as the Queen here standing at the Kings right hand in Gold of Ophir gloriously apparelled the rest are as waiting-Ladies she as the Empresse gradiensque Deas superem net omnes and were they all brought into one Chain the Medale of this Chain could be no other than the Lords Day This was doubtlesse the generall aâ—…d constant opinion of antiquity touching thâ—…s Day but I know not how it came to passe that after ages by insensible degrees much degenerating from the simplicity of those primitive times so infinitely multiplied and magnified their holy dayes beyond all measure and reason that the Lords Day began to be fleighted and at last with many to be accounted a common holy day nay perchance inferiour to some of the Saints insomuch that with us it had lost not onely the honour due unto it but the name by the Apostles imposed upon it Which no doubt a speciall occasion of that thick cloud of superstition which afterwards over shadowed the face of the Church and in appearance the reducing of this day to its originall honour and name would prove the readiest means to restore the Church again to her originall lustre and beauty even in those parts where that cloud is not yet dispelled as in all likelyhood the preserving of that name and honour with us would likewise serve to preserve that soundnesse of religion which now by Gods blessing we have long enjoyed under three such Princes as the world in their severall kindes and in succession cannot shew the like And so I passe to my fourth and last generall part The duties of the Lords Day which in a word is to be in the Spirit that is in Sptrituall exercises as Saint Iohn upon this day was Though he were then banished into the solitary Isle of Patmos where he had no means to converse with any Christian much lesse to communicate with their Assemblies in religious duties yet was he present with them in spirit as Saint Paul was with the Colossians though absent in body much desiring to be present with them and joyning with them even in his private devotions A good lesson for such as cannot have accesse to the publique Congregation considering they cannot do what they would yet to do what they may which is religiously to observe the Lords Day in their private houses or chambers in the ship or in the prison if their condition be such as they cannot come to the Lords House This is it which Saint Augustine adviseth discoursing of the duties of this day veniat cuique possibile est oret in conventu Ecclesiae pro peccatis suis Deum He who possibly can come let him come and in the Church let him there pray to God for the pardon of his sinnes Qui vero hoc non possit saltem in domo sua oret non negligat Deo solvere votum reddere pensum servitutis but he who cannot come to the Church let him pray in his house and let him not neglect the paying of his Vows to God and the rendering of that service which is exacted Now for such as have free accesse to the Congregation these spirituall exercises are either publike or private publike in the Lords House private in our own houses with our families or in our chambers and closets in our Gardens or in the Fields The exercises to be performed are confession of our faith and our faults absolution thanksgiving humble and hearty prayer reading and expounding the sacred Oracles of God the private readiâ—…g of the Scriptures or other godly books the administration and participation of the holy Sacraments the singing of Divine Hymnes meditation and conference as well touching those things we have read and heard as touching the wonderfull works of God in the Creation and Government of the world This is to be in the Spirit specially if these dutiesbe practised by us in a Spirituall manner that is if we perform them not