aeternum diem consecravit nobis Dominicum Domini Qui vocatur Dominicus ipse propriè videtur ad Dominum pertinere quia eo die Dominus resurrexit Aug. de verbis Apost Serm. 15. Dominicum ergò diem Apostoli Apostolici viri ideò religiosâ— solennitate habeâ—dum sanxerunt quia in eodem Redemptor noster â— mortuis resurrexit Serm. de temp 251. The Lords Resurrection hath promised us an eternall day and hath consecrated to us the Dominicall day of the Lord. The day which is called the Lords day it seemeth properly to pertaine to the Lord because that day the Lord rose againe The same Father tells us that in this resurrection of Christ the Apostles and Apostolicall men saw as much he saith the Lords day the Apostles and Apostolicall men have ordained with religious solemnity to be kept because in the same our Redeemer rose from the dead Ignatius r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Magnâ—s giveth this for the onely Reason binding every one to keepe this day saying Let every one that loveth Christ celebrate the Lords day the day pertaining to the Resurrection the Queene and Prince of all dayes Athanasius Å¿ Athanas de Sabbat circumcis Psal 118. 124. calls the Lords day in which Christ renewed the old Man the beginning of the new Creature and therefore hee saith when hee had renewed the Creature which was made within sixe dayes he would have that day consecrated to this instauration which the Spirit foretells in the Psalme This is the day which the Lord hath made Iunius t Tempus ad conventus sacros semper est dies octavus quem inde à resurrectione Christi Ecclesia vocavit Dominicum quod Christus suaresurrectione sacto sacris coetibus dicavit quem Apostoli observarunt coetibus dicatum esse docâ—erunt quem Christiana Ecclesia dictis corum obsequens facta imitans concelebrat Eccles lib. 1. cap. 4. sub sinem speaking of the time necessary to publike worship saith It is the eighth day for ever which the Church from the resurrection of Christ hath called the Lords day which Christ by his resurrection and deed hath dedicated to holy assemblies which the Apostles have observed and have taught that it is dedicated thereto and which the Christian Church obedient to their words and imitating their deeds doth joyntly celebrate In the Preface to the Assembly of the Church of Scotland at Perth Anno 1618. the question being moved how the particular and materiall day may bee knowne that the Christian Church should observe the answer is that the particular day was demonstrated by our Saviours Resurrection and his apparitions made thereon by the Apostolicall practice and the perpetuall observation of the Church ever since that time of the day which in Scripture is called the Lords day as that which the Iewes observed was called the Lords Sabbath because as the one was appointed by the Lord for a memoriall of his rest after the Creation so the other was instituted by the Lord for a memoriall of his Resurrection after the Redemption For this we must hold as a sure ground whatever the Catholike Church hath observed in all Ages and is found in Scripture expressely to have been practised by Christ and the Apostles such as is the sanctification of the Lords day the same most certainely was instituted by the Lord to bee observed and his practice in Word of the Lord and of equall worth as if the Lord by voice from heaven had spoken it and more sure for us than such a voice 1 Pet. 1. 12 25. and 2 Pet. 1. 19 20 21. Whence it is cleare that the Gospell preached by the Apostles with the holy Ghost sent downe from heaven is the Word of the Lord that endureth for ever Secondly it was enjoyned by the Apostles precept and observed by them enjoyned and the worke of the day in part prescribed 1 Cor. 16. 2. observed Act. 20. 7. Thirdly the Apostle saith that which you have seene and heard in me that doe and the God of peace shall be with you Phil. 4. 9. But this was seene and heard of to bee done by him Act. 20. 7. Therefore do it Perkins on Gal. 4. vers 10. Fourthly if the same reason grounded on Gods Word be as well for the first day of the weeke as it was once for the Sabbath of the Iewes then we are as certainely tyed by the Lord to the observation of this day as they were for their Sabbath for the same reason is of the same force But there is the same reason therefore wee are bound by the Lord. That there is the same reason is apparant by those three places laid together Exod. 20. 10. Mat. 12. 8. Ioh. 5. 23. The maine reason of the Iewes Sabbath is because it was the Sabbath of the Lord. In like manner ours is the Sabbath of the Lord Christ when hee had finished the worke of our redemption for which cause hee taketh this name the son of man is even Lord of the Sabbath as if in more words he should say when God the Father had once ended the making of the world hee rested and published himselfe to be the Lord of that rest and dedicated it to himselfe giving it the name of the Sabbath of the Lord. In like manner when I shall have finished the worke of mans Redemption I will rest have the day of my rest dedicated unto my selfe for which cause I say that the sonne of man is even Lord of the Sabbath also it shall be called the Lords day And thus the will of the Father shall be fulfilled which is that as they honoured the Father in keeping the Sabbath betwixt the Creation and Redemption so they should honour the Sonne in keeping the Sabbath betwixt the redemption and consummation of the world Fifthly the judgments of God fearefully and to miracles lighting on the contemners and prophaners of this day by worldlinesse the opposition of godlesse and most evill men the Conscience working on men for the observation and against the neglect thereof the errors of Familists Anabaptists Papists and such loose pleaders as you and others have shewed themselves to be are strong and impregnable arguments for the Divine Authority of it together with the contradictions and the grosse opinions you are forced to runne into which argue that you rebell against the light in you and your prophane Atheisticall hearts would have that true which yet your owne light disproveth in the truths that are forced thereby to drop from you Sixthly yea I shall through Gods grace evince this that it is of the Lords owne institution for besides that his resurrection institutes it as I sayd before First it is called the Lords day Rev. 1. 10. Which cannot bee for any reason but because it is of the Lords institution for so first the phrase his day not by creation for so all daies are his not by destinatioÌ„ for that
hath rejected the freedome of a freeman to God and Righteousnesse Could you see none of these limitations to restraine your boundlesse glosse Againe the Apostles Doctrine admits of this limitation That the commandment of the master bee of things possible as well as lawfull and therefore Abrahams servant putteth the doubt Gen. 24. 5. What if she will not come And is in that case set free Yea it admits also of another limitation That it bee of things though in their nature lawfull yet not exceeding so farre the strength of nature that the servant so doing shall manifestly ruine his body as to toyle night and day to toyle all dayes and not have a day in the weeke to take breath Now tell me doth not the law of Nature bound the master in respect of time And as it hath these limitations so it hath this distinction servants owe to their masters subjection and obedience obedience is limited to their lawfull command with the like subjection reacheth to submission to their wrongfull and unjust corrections and usage as in 1 Pet. 2. 18 19. Bee subject to your masters for conscience towards God endure griefe suffering wrongfully Even where the servant may not obey he must be subject Secondly having thus cleared the Apostles doctrine let us see what you say to prove your Tenet agreeable ours disagreeable thereto First you take hold of the words in all things to conclude the servants yeelding to the masters exacting of labour that day to be no sinne for then say you he would not command them to obey in all things but would have excepted that I answer by the same reason you may conclude the servants yeelding to the master in any other unlawfull commands to be no sinne because he is commanded to obey in all things without exception of that particular But if you say that is excepted in the former limitations so say I that this is also as hath beene proved Obedience of subjection the servant oweth to his master in unjust dealings with him and the Apostles perswading servants of those dayes to such things sheweth that masters did wrongfully binde and buffet for well doing n 1 Pet. 2. 19. Tel me was it for working or truth and fidelitie and not for pietie and the worship of God And therefore may not I say with better probabilitie than you have spoken that it was for intermission of labour on the times of the holy assemblies Will any correct their servants for performing the duties of the secōd Table or the secret duties of the first It must needs be then that that wel◠doing was publike worship of God for which chiefly Heathen masters buffetted Christian servants And thus your very Texts have implyedly this particular in them that servants should not doe ill or leave the doing well for the frowardnesse of the master and not obey unlawfull commands but beare wrongfull stripes for thereunto are they called for piety the duties of Gods worship submit to the stripe rather thā quit the service of God Now in that you say it cannot be that the Gentiles that did not beleeve should respect religion so as not to exact their servants worke I answer they certainely did in that point of the Sabbath through a speciall providence of God and the inclination of soule to this law of nature which is in part written in the harts of all men for S. Austine x De illis sanè Iudaeis cum loqueretur ait cùm interim usque eò sceleratissim◠gentis consuetudo convaluit ut per omnes jam terras recepta sit victi victoribus leges dederunt Mirabatur haec dicens quod divinitus agcretur ignorans subjecit planè sententiam quia significaret quid de illorum sacramentorum ratione sentiret ait enim illi tamen causas ritus sui noverunt major pars populi facit quod cur faciat ignorat August De Civit. Dei lib. 6. cap. 11. tels as much who relating the saying of Seneca concerning the Iewes and the Sabbath hath these words truely when he speaketh of those Iewes he saith When in the meane while the custome of that most wicked nation hath so farre prevailed that now through all lands it is received the conquered give lawes to the conquerors Speaking these things he wondred being ignorant what was wrought of God he set downe plainly his opiniō in which he might signifie what he thought concerning the reason of their Sacraments for he saith but they know the causes of their rites and the greater part of the people doth that which they know not why they doe it See how the Sabbath had prevailed among all Heathen In Seneca's dayes who lived in the time of the Apostle Paul but what is that to the Lords day Yea thence easily you may gather how they could well afford one day in a weeke to worship and Saint Austine in the same place saith that though Seneca reproved the Iewes for losing a seventh part of their time in keeping Sabbath yet would not mention the Christians to reproove their rites in any kinde lest hee should either praise them against the received custome of his Countrey or reprove them against his owne heart Note it was saith this Father a speciall worke of God that the Sabbath should have that prevalencie amongst Heathens And for the Christians rites of worship he could not speake of them but in prayse unlesse he should have gone against his conscience and therefore silently passeth them over But secondly you affirme that their withdrawing of their obedience would have caused the name and doctrine of God to bee blasphemed I answer their modest and humble refusall of the worke would adorne the doctrine and not dishonor it and if they should forsake the assemblies they forsake their God and religion the Heathen well knew it who were so observant in their superstition It may seeme by the Apostles rules given to servants and wives that more of them were converted than of masters and husbands and the assemblies of the Lords day more constantly frequented of all that had given up their names to Christ Now as the rendering a reason of the hope that was in them to the Magistrate performed with meeknesse and feare honoured God and his Doctrine so the rendering of an account how they worshipped God on the day of assemblies viz the Lords day as may appeare by the Apologie of Iustin Martyr for them who in that Apologie renders a reason of their worship of God and of the day spent wholly in that worship What the Apostle saith upon the Christians readinesse thus to give a reason of his hope may rightly be applyed to the Christian servants readinesse to yeeld himselfe wholly to God that day and to render the reason thereof with meekenesse and feare And who is that will harme you if you doe that which is good 1 Pet. 3. But this submissive withdrawing you tearme by the odious name of disobedience very
Talents and Gifts of God should bee hidden in such earth One point of wisedome you have learned from the men of this generation that when your cause is too weake to indure any strong assault you would helpe it by chusing you an Adversary whom you could contemne as many wayes none of the ablest that so you might enter into almost all the degrees of triumph before any field was pitched But let not the Champion pride himselfe the stones of the Brooke that refresheth the Sanctuary of God may smite the forehead of his presumption In your writings I consider matter and manner In the manner I find strange scoffes unchristian censures confident bold and swelling brags of the clearenesse of your Conceits with an unseemely deale of such unsavory stuffe all this I wholly passe over as unworthy to be conceived in the brest or vented in the writings of any Scholer The matter is both propounded and of purpose repeated many times over in severall trickes of elocution the better to give a lustre to opinion it selfe The repetition I omit likewise In the propounding of the matter two things are principall fact and opinion In matter of fact you are troubled that your Kinsman should be seduced and ruined by the poison of ill advice sucked from my mouth This you would be answered in And to this you have been answered that it is a falshood raised by your Kinsman if hee affirme it and magnified and blowne to the highest by your selfe And you doe well to hold fast the pretence of your opinion that such counsell was given or else I cannot see so much as a glimpse of any colour why you shuld in this spitefull manner use me or any Minister of the Gospell when you have no occasion given you And so you may be answered as touching matter of fact Thus farre Christian Reader thou hast Master N. Byfieldâ— Answer to this Treatise the rest had been printed and I had saved my labour if we had had a perfect Coppy It is likely they that set forth Master Breerwoods have one which they conceale and put in stead thereof a Letter written to Master Breerwood refusing on good grounds to give an answere which they call Master Byfields answer So indigâ—ely every way hath that worthy man been used in this businesse Out of this that hath been set downe I leave every one to judge of the occasion and of the spirit of the man solution they are abundantly discovered his knowledge in those briefe grounds for the Sabbath which hee hath laid his zeale that sweetly guided stifled that fire of contention beginning to flame so that it brake not forth and therein no small measure of charity to the soule of the Opposer which being resty and set to contend wanted but one to answer that matter might bee ministred for him to worke upon and to the soules of all when these boisterous windes should be kept in their dennes of privacy and laied with a short and grave repulse What want of zeale for the truth could there bee in this case when the opposition being privat was dangerous only to the Opposer and if hee should make it publike would have raised an holy Armie of defendants in both the famous Cities and other parts of the Kingdome to the great impeachment of the Opposers reputation who disperseth his loose and Atheisticall conceites upon an occasion occasionlesse Or what want of Charity It never commanded to attend the saying of every Prater nor requireth more than reprehension â— Ioh. 1â— of the error with arguments to confirme the truth this is Direction There may bee never the lesse zeale for the truth where is wanting a zealous affectation of quarreling about the truth and there may bee no want of charity where yet the erroneous person remaines unreformed What impressions of excesses his letter contained shall bee seene God willing in time and place convenient But this I say your excesses not only swarme in your Reply but also in this Preface stand out to the view For you say you are hopelesse of him and yet you will provoke him to give satisfaction and to disclaime his error Would not satisfaction and disclaiming of an error answer your hopes Or delight you to provoke to give that which you cannot hope for only that you might provoke What Hopelesse if hee cannot bee provoked and hope enough if hee bee provoked enough What Nothing satisfaction with you but to call the truth error when you call it error Againe you intend you say to abate his stomacke and high conceit Would you abate it by invectives scoffes Ale-house language with the like such as is scattered in this Reply In this case therefore I hold it no way against just and plaine dealing to give an answer to your words that have any shew of truth and sobernesse and by no meanes to put downe verbatim your words Syllabicall froth before this my ensuing answer For though while you seemed to seeke satisfaction to your arguments I could afford you the first place yet now that you jeere at the person and thinke to scoffe out the truth held by my dearest Brother I can give you no place in my bookes The first Section of the Reply answered First herein Master Breerwood being charged by Master Byfield that he opposed Gods Sabbath cryeth out Farre be it from him he acknowledgeth the Sabbath of Iewes and Christians to be both of them Gods Sabbath Compare then what he saith here with what he said in the former Treatise and beleeve your owne eyes Here hee saith I acknowledge on the Christian Sabbath the worship of God and vacancy from all worldly affaires which may impeach that worship to bee by the morall Law Before hee said pag. 42. The celebration of the Lords day can with no enforcement of reason be drawne out of the moralitie of the fourth Commandement Is not the Lords day the Christian Sabbath you speake of And is the celebration thereof any other than the worship of God thereon and vacancy from labour that may impeach that worship Pag. 37. To worke on the Lords day is no breach of any divine command Pag. 33. Onely workes of toyle and tending to gaine are restrained by the commandement Againe he saith he never taught worse of Gods Sabbath enjoy himselfe No the c Lord rested on the seventh that he might teach thee to rest the seventh Or did God ever consecrate to himselfe either day or place for any other cause than that he might bâ—stow sanctification and benediction on men when they did in an holy manner observe them Gods personall sanctification of the Sabbath say you was nothing else but his resting in himselfe that resting from creation was his Sabbath that resting in himselfe was the sanctifying it other institution or sanctification will never be proved Tell me why did you not goe on in your new interpretation and shew how he blessed it and wherein that consisted The Text saith He blessed it also
was past therefore of a third rest hee must needs speake Lastly the Prophet gathered a perpetuall Rule and Law for marriage from the first example in the creation of married persons Mal. 2. 15. Made hee not one And wherefore one Because hee sought a godly seed So here did not God rest the seventh day but why the seventh that wee should sanctifie to God the seventh Yea but the Prophet made no such collection Yes such a one though not that very one And a greater than that Prophet God himselfe puts into us that very collection when he saith that he Rested and that he blessed and sanctified this his resting day Fourthly you would make good your conceite by shewing the needlesnesse of such a command when there was no toyle to the body nor distraction to the mind that called for Rest or sanctification one day in seven There was labour in Paradise Gen. 2. 15. And therefore there might bee need of a Rest There was danger of sinne in Paradise and therefore need of some speciall time by Gods ordinance and that time blessed of him to uphold the sanctification of the soule If you reply there was no such toyle in labour I answer it was no toyle to God to worke the sixe dayes and yet God rested the seventh Besides God that knew mans estate knew reasons for his commandement and therefore it is ill divining against the light of Gods truth And if it had beene but a commandement of triall man ought to have obeyed Fifthly hitherto of the eversion of your Tenet now for the Text in Gen. 2. 2 3. That the true sense of the words is this The Lord blessed the seventh day that is hee appointed it to be a Fountaine of blessing to the observers of that day and sanctified it That is Commanded it to be set apart by men from common businesses and applied to holy uses That this I say is the true sense not only the Hebrew and Greeke words do both give but the universall opinion of Divines ancient and moderne Cyprian writes thus e Cyprian de Spiritu Sancto sc edition Pamelianam Antuerp 1589. This sacred number of seven obtained authority from the creation of the World because the first workes of God were made in sixe daies and the seventh day was consecrated to rest as holy hallowing honored with the solemnity of abidding and entitled to the Spirit the Sanctifier Epiphanius speaketh thus of those words in the Gospell of Saint Luke It came to passe on the second first Sabbath f Epiphan advers Haeres lib. 2. tom 1. contra Hares Anoetâ—n Haeres 51. that the first Sabbath is that which was defined from the beginning and called so of the Lord in the Creation of the world which returneth by circuit according to the revolution of seven dayes from that time untill now but the second Sabbath is that which is described by the Law Origen answereth Celsus objecting against the History of the Creation that God like some Artificer that were wearied should need a resting and vacation in this manner g Origen contra Celsum lib. 6. fol. 81. Truely this man seeth not after the creation of the world as soone as the world was made what a one the day of the Sabbath and of God resting was in which both men rest to God and keep this day a festivall unto him which have dispatched their workes on the sixt day and because they let passe nothing that is urgent they ascend by contemplation to the feast day of the just and blessed men Chrysostome unfolds the Text in Genesis thus h Chrysost tomâ— in Gen. serm 10. sc edit Savilianam What is this and hee sanctified it he separated it Then the Divine Scripture teaching us the cause also for which it is said hee sanctified it addeth because in it he rested from all his workes which hee began to make Now hence God giveth to us darkely i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this instruction that we set apart and separate one day in the circuit of every weeke to the use of spirituall things for for this cause did the Lord finish all the fabricke of the world in six daies and honouring the seventh with his blessing sanctified it Hierome was of the mind that the k Hieron tradit Hebr. in Genes Sabbath was instituted in the beginning who reprehends the Iewes idlenesse on their Sabbath and empty rest in which yet they gloried from the example of God who in the beginning wrought on the day which he blessed and so brake the Sabbath in the Iewes sense Learned Mercerus upon this place following the choise and greatest Lights saith I doubt not but by the first fathers before the Law this day was solemne and sacred God himselfe being their teacher c. That the people of God might know that the Fathers observed it not of themselves but as taught of God to reteine them in the exercise of Gods worship Athanasius l Athanas de Sabbat circumcis also giveth his voice Who sheweth that that seventh day had its observation among all men of those generations from the creation to the resurrection of our Saviour Augustine was of this mind When God saith he m August ad Casul epist 86. sanctified the seventh day because in it he rested from all his works he expressed not any thing concerning the fast or dinner of the Sabbath The Fathers alledged by Gomarus that plead the Sabbath was not kept by the Fathers before Moses as Iustin Martyr Tertullian Irenaeus and Eusebius are to bee understood of the Ceremoniall observation thereof and so the Fathers were no observers of the Sabbath as those ancients rightly maintained against the Iewes and wee readily subscribe unto it and that they thus meant is apparent by some passages in their foresaid bookes Iustin Martyr in his Dialogue with Tryphon the Iew saith Neither thinke ye it grievous that we drinke some warme thing on the Sabbath seeing God also governeth the world on this day in like manner as he doth on other dayes And Tertullian in his booke against the Iewes saith That the temporall observation of the Sabbath ceaseth as it is a type Irenaeus also affirmeth in his booke against Heresies lib. 4. c. 3. That the precepts spoken by Gods owne voice receive not diminution but increase by our Saviours comming which precepts he saith were naturall liberall and common to all And in his 30. chap. of the same booke he saith That the godly Fathers had the substance of the Decalogue written in their hearts and soules and had in themselves the righteousnesse of the Law Beda therefore upon the sixt chapter of Luke maketh a distinction betweene the observation of the legall Sabbath and the liberty of the Naturall Sabbath which till Moses time was like other dayes See hee acknowledgeth a Naturall Sabbath under those first times of liberty Annexe to these the Iewish Doctors Philo thus openeth the Text
signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 page 56 57 58. CHAP. XIIII Sheweth What worke for kinde is forbidden on the Sabbath and how the Aduersaries argument makes against him page 59 60. The text in Esa 58. 13. vindicated from his false glosse and vnfolded page 60 61 62. Diuers things about the forme and residence of sinne page 62 63. How farre this is true that the Minister of anothers exorbitant will sinneth not page 64. The vanitie of that distinction that the Seruants worke done in obedience to his Master is his naturally not Morally pag. 64 65. CHAP. XV. Sheweth How sinne is attributed to the members and that properly the man sinneth page 66 67. The faultinesse of our Aduersaries Reasoning about a Naturall and Voluntary Instrument of sinne page 67 68. What takes Voluntarinesse from a deed and the danger of that speech worke on the Sabbath hath sinne annexed to it page 68. CHAP. XVI Prooueth these particulars The Seruants working on the Sabbath impeacheth his seruing of God page 72 73. The Distinction of forbidding Nakedly and Immediately is vaine and freeth not him that doth the thing forbidden from sin page 73 74. The specification of the Seruant in the Commandement makes his working neuer the lesse his sinne but the more and the venime of that word Exception page 74 75. The Gouernour is charged more then the gouerned in respect of a Politicall obseruance of the Commandement not of a personall page 75. The fourth Commandement is a Law of Nature by Reasons Authorities and the Aduersaries owne words page 75 76 77. To worke on the Sabbath is euill materially page 78 79. The danger of that Position that prohibitions in the Commandements are caused by the Natiue illnesse of that which is prohibited page 79. The footsteps of euery specialtie in the fourth Commandement found among the Gentiles page 80 81 82 83 84. Gomarus exceptions against this answered page 84 to 87. Our Aduersaries reasons answered with a proofe that the fourth Commandement was kept by the Patriarkes before the Law giuen in Sinai page 87 to 90. CHAP. XVII Prooueth that the Seruant in such worke sinneth as consenter to his Masters sinne where the wayes of partaking with other mens sins are layd downe page 92 93 94. Decideth a great Case viz. what workes Seruants may doe on the Sabbath page 94 95. With Cautions both to Master and Seruant page 96. CHAP. XVIII Sheweth that the Seruant in this case may breake the Morall Law and yet not fall vnder the Iudiciall Law page 98. Some fearefull examples of Gods justice on Inferiours working that day at the command of Superiours page 98 to 102. CHAP. XIX Prooueth that light workes that are our owne are forbidden on the Sabbath by foure arguments page 104 105. A large explication of the meaning of the Hebrew word Melachah page 105 106. Authorities to prooue this Doctrine page 107 108. CHAP. XX. Our Aduersaries senselesse Answer to that place Exod. 35. 3. with the true meaning thereof page 109 110. The clearing of the Instances of our Sauiour in commanding some workes to be done on the Sabbath page 111. That that which some Diuines terme Christian libertie on the Sabbath is no other then Christian dutie to the eternall Law and was the Iewes freedome also page 111 to 114. CHAP. XXI Sheweth that to worke on the Lords day is a breach of the fourth Commandement pag. 116. 117. Where to find the Lords Sabbath pag. 117. 118. Authorities to prooue this page 118. 119. That the Lord Christ translated the day and that it is of diuine authority and of the Lords owne institution pag. 120. to 127. CHAP. XXII Sheweth the weakenesse of our Aduersaries position that the Lords day is by constitution of the most ancient Church and therefore Jus humanum a humane law and how he jumpes with Arminians and Papists pag. 128. CHAP. XXIII Examineth our aduersaries doctrine about the abolishing of the Iewes Sabbath and the proofes to prooue it ceremoniall pag. 129. 130. Declareth there is no ceremony in the fourth Commandement yet if there had beene it cannot cause the Sabbath to vanish pag. 131. 132. CHAP. XXIIII Sheweth the absurdity of this opinion that the Sabbath was translated by the Church and of the distinction of his generality and speciality of the Commandement pag. 133. 134. CHAP. XXV Prooueth notwithstanding that if the Church haue just power to translate the day the Commandement needes no translation but stands in force to binde vs to that day pag. 135. 136. CHAP. XXVI Prooueth that the speciality of the fourth Commandement inioyning one day of seuen and the seuenth and a whole day and that with precise vacancy from worke is morall pag. 138. to 144. In speciall that Gomarus his evasions are frigid and senselesse page 140 141. That the Commandement yeeldeth inforcing consequents for the Lords day page 144. CHAP. XXVII Prooueth that the Commandement of God bindeth equally and as strongly for the Lords day as it did for the Iewish Sabbath pag. 146. CHAP. XXVIII Disprooueth the distinction of Sanctification and exact vacation on the Sabbath and the Instance of the Popes Succession of Peter Idlely applyed to the Lords daies Succession of the Iewish Sabbath page 147 148. CHAP. XXIX Deliuereth Authorities of Fathers to prooue a generall restraint of labours on the Lords day page 149 to 152. The constitution of Constantine answered by constitutions of the same Emperour and by that of Leo with an Apologie in briefe for Constantine page 152 153. The clearing of the Councell of Laodicea page 154 155 156. CHAP. XXX Sheweth the vanitie of our Aduersaries Reasons and wish to perswade notwithstanding his Doctrine as devout an obseruation of the Lords day as the Iewes held of their day page 157 158 159. The sound Doctrine of our Church concerning the Sabbath and the full concord betweene it and ours with the plaine dissent thereof from our Aduersaries page 159 160 161. CHAP. XXXI Deliuereth Constitutions of Churches and Edicts of Princes that forbid and censure light workes page 162 163. Constitutions that bound Masters in commanding and free the Seruants in obeying that day page 163 164. CHAP. XXXII Sheweth three limitations laid downe by the Apostles touching Seruants obedience page 167 168. There can come no dishonour to the Gospel nor inconuenience to seruants dwelling with heathen masters by their obseruing of the Sabbath pag. 170. 171. 172. This doctrine is no seminary of disturbance or contumacy p. 173. The obedience to this command doth not alienate masters from their Christian seruants pag. 173. 174. CHAP. XXXIII Sheweth that Antiquity doth beare out the seruant in refusing the doing of seruile workes at his masters command vpon the Lords day pag. 176. 177. That the cause of the persecution of Christians was their withdrawing of themselues from obedience to their superiours pag. 178. What the Heathens and many of the Papists doe teach concerning this doctrine pag. 179. CHAP. XXXIV Sheweth that
gate he is should require him to worke is he excused because hee is within his gate as you say the servant is Againe Å¿ Adigerâ— quisque paterfamilias potest debet suos do nesticos aâ— externum cultum cur non etiam magistratus suos subditos Non enim aâ—t memento ut sanctifices monebis autem silâ—â—m sed memento ut sanctifices ut alii tui sanctificent Zanch. in 4. praeceptum the Governour is commanded to compell those within his gate to keepe the rest and to punish refractory Will God authorise any to punish those that doe not offend and those doe not offend you say to whom the Law is not given those do not offend that can no more transgresse a command than the Oxe or Asse Furthermore Zanchy saith expresly that though upon the Sabbath the heathen which did not agree with the Iewes in the true religion did not come to their assemblies to be partakers of the sacrifices and to the performance of other parts of Gods service which pertained to the sanctification of the Sabbath yet they were commanded to rest upon that day aswell as the homeborne Iewes t Iubebantur feriari eo die quemadmodum Iudaei indigenae and he giveth one reason of this command which concerneth the strangers themselves namely that they might after some sort bee trained up in the knowledge of the Law of God u Isti jubebantur non simplicitèr quiescere sed quiescere ut ipsi suo modo Sabbatum sanctificare possent Id. ibid. Fourthly therefore you must know that the same forme of words make not the like bond and obligation in a precept nor the precept the same For besides all that I have said before in chap. 2. 3. The end not only differenceth the precept and proveth it a precept or a priviledge as here the end of the Oxes rest as respecting the Oxe is meerely rest but of the servants chiefely holinesse which labour servile wholly thwarteth but also the end giveth the precept its modification for the end of the prohibition of the servants labor being the sanctification of the day the servant is hereby bound to rest and apply himselfe to holinesse and the master not only not to worke him or to admonish him to sanctifie the day but to compell him to the outward worship CHAP. VII Breerwood Pag. 11. BVt as the labour of the beast is the sinne and transgresse of the Master to whom the commandement of the beasts resting from labour was given so is the labour of the servant also which by the masters commandment he executed on that day as being touching bodily service incident to mankind in like degree of subjection the masters sinne and not the servants Answer First heere you deliver your Doctrine and your reason Your Doctrine is this The labour of the servant on the Sabbath done at his masters command is no more the servants sinne than the labor of the Oxe is the Oxes sinne This beastly prophane opinion deserves rather stripes than arguments yet in a word or two The labour of the Oxe doth not violate the commandement of the Sabbath but you acknowledge the worke of the servant doth when in the words of the next page pag. 12. you say thus of the servants worke this day the act indeed wherewith the commandement of the Sabbath is violated is the servants The Law of nature it selfe requireth in general of all men the sanctification of times no lesse than of places persons and things unto Gods honor for which cause God exacts some parts of times by way of perpetuall homage never to bee dispensed withall nor remitted Of this kind among the Iewes was the Sabbath day the chiefe generall festivall Now Nature hath taught the Heathen and God the Iewes and Christ us saith worthy x Hooker Eccles pol. l. 5. sect 70. Hooker First that festivall solemnities are a part of the publike exercise of Religion secondly that praise liberality and rest are as naturall elements whereof solemnities consist The labor of the servant though injoyned by his master on this day violates the rest and so the sanctification of that time indispensable irremissable to any man who oweth it by way of perpetuall Homage unto God by the obligation of the Law of Nature For ordinary labour with festivall services to God can neither easily concurre because painfulnesse and joy are opposite nor decently because while the mind hath just occasion to make her abode in the house of gladnesse the weed of ordinary toyle and travell becommeth her not Thus learned y Id. ibid. Hooker againe Now can the masters command dissolve the eternall Law and the servant filching holy time be found lesse sinfull than one prophane and sacrilegious But what kin betweene Oxen Asses and the everlasting Covenant and Holy times Let them to their stalles and servants as Christs freemen to the assemblies in the beauty of holinesse as they will answer it to the God of Nature the eternall Lawgiver When the servant hath no more soule than the oxe nor holinesse and attendance on Gods worship required more of him than of the oxe nor the Sabbath made for man but for the oxe then shall the servants and oxes labour that day be alike faultlesse in either of them z Servants being created redâ—emed and sanctified are as highly indebted to the worship of God as their masters Greenham of the Sabbath pag. 163. This of your Doctrine which brings to my mind that of Hagur a Prov. 30 2 3. which I wish might bee the confession of every one that hath been infected with this dotage Surely I am more bruitish than any man and have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisedome nor have the knowledge of the Holy Secondly your reason is this That the servant as touching bodily service incident to mankind is in like degree of subjection to his master as is the oxe and asse This is abhorring to Christian to naturall eares no slave is so the masters It fights with that Rule Whatsoever yee would that men should doe unto you even so doe yee to them b Matth. 7. 12. Mat. 7. 12. A perfect voluntary servitude betweene Christian and Christian can scarce be lawfull to be exercised on the masters part saith Amesius c Ames de consci l. 5. cap. 23. parag 2. Yet this placeth not man in the condition of a beast for subjection It fights with that humanitie and lenitie which masters owe to their servants with whom they may not deale imperiously as with their cattell Ephes 6. 9. It fights with that restraint given to servants to obey their masters in the Lord which cannot bee applied to beasts It fights with that liberty the servant hath in things unmeet and inexpedient though lawfull humbly to use all meanes to prevent and avoide the commandement of that nature It fights with that liberty the servant hath humbly to contend with
o Philo de mundi opificio After that this Vniverse was perfected according to the perfect nature of the number of sixe the Father added honour to the following seventh day which when he had praised presently he vouchsafed to call it holy For it is the feast not of one people or Region but of all universally which alone is worthy to be called a popular festivity and the birth-day of the world Broughton in his consent of Scriptures alleageth Ramban upon Gen. 26. fol. 46. And Aben Ezra upon Exodus the twentieth to prove that the Lord appointed the seventh day from creating to bee an holy rest and that the fathers observed it before Moses Peter Matyr alleadgeth p Pet. Mart. â—oâ— in Genes Rabbi Agnon for that same point Thomas Aquinas interpreteth it on this wise q he sanctified it that is he deputed it to sanctitie for he willeth that the Lords day be kept holy of us therefore that especially we be also vacant to Gods holy worship and in it and the memoriall therof we call to mind the continuall benefit of our creation and therefore in the old law it is commanded that on that day we cease from servile workes that we may intend more freely God and his divine worship whence that day is called Sabbath which is the same that rest it Selneccerus saith that r Nicol selnecceri Com. in Genes God would by this very sanctifying of the Sabbath institute a certaine worship in which mankind even in innocencie that is although Adam had not falled should publish the goodnesse of God and celebrate worship acceptable to God when as other things on other dayes were to be looked unto And then he giveth foure causes or ends of the institution of the Sabbath It was instituted First for rest Secondly for the excellencie of man Thirdly for the upholding of a certaine worship Fourthly and for the testimonie of immortalitie And here saith he Children may learne the answer of that Schoole argument the Apostle in Col. 2. bids that none judge in respect of the Sabbath dayes therefore we are not to keepe a Sabbath Answer the antecedent Paul speaketh of the ceremonie and the observation of externall circumstances he speaketh not of the generall or the principall meaning of the precept and the finall cause thereof which is naturall and unchangeable This Author calleth our Sabbath the Sabbath of Redemption Marius is full in this thing Å¿ Marius in Gen. 2. He blessed that is hee consecrated it to his blessing to bee kept of men and sanctified it not as if he estamped holinesse on it but because hee appointed it to his sanctification and praise and to the holy conversation of men Because with the Hebrewes to sanctifie is the same as to separate from pollution a day is said to be sanctified in which we ought to be separated from pollution It was made presently from that very day of the World as the letter sheweth a positive precept given to our first Parents concerning this thing which they passed over to posteritie by tradition as in the Church the celebration of the first or eight day is passed over for since it is of the Law of Nature that some time be peculiarly insinuated for the worship of God it was meete that that should be determined in the very beginning by a positive law whence even among the Gentiles the Religion on the Seventh day was famous Beza affirmeth t Beza paraph. in Iob 1. 5. of Iob That as oft as his children had made an end of feasting one another in their severall houses he sanctified them and offered burnt offerings according to their number but notwithstanding there is no doubt but that the dayly worship of God was diligently observed besides in this most holy family at least every seventh day was carefully sanctified as God from the beginning of the world had appointed This blessing saith reverend Calvin was nothing else but Calvin Com. in Gen. ca. 2. a solemne consecration whereby God claimes to himselfe the studies and imployments of men on the seventh day First God rested then hee blessed this rest that in all ages amongst men it might bee holy or he dedicated every seventh day to rest that his example might be a perpetuall rule Moreover we must know this exercise is not peculiar to one either age or people onely but common to all mankinde Wherefore when wee heare that by Christs comming the Sabbath was abrogated this distinction must be taken too What appertaines to the perpetuall ordering of humane life and what peculiarly agreeth to the old figures that the Sabbath figured the mortification of the flesh I say was temporall but that from the beginning it was commanded men that they should exercise themselves in the worship of God deservedly it ought to endure even to the end of the world Hereunto agree Zuinglius Iunius and Tremellius Vatablus Vrsin Catech. Bulling in Rom. 4 5. Decad. Danaeaeth Chri. l. 2 c. 10. Bertram pol. Iudaic. c. 2. Vrsinus Bullinger Danaeus Aretius Piscator Bertramus Hospinian Chemnitius and Zanchy who after this sense given upon the words of the Text in Genesis delivers his opinion of the manner of keeping the first Sabbath I doubt not saith he but that the Sonne of God Hospin de orig templ li. 2. c. 14. Chemnit loc Theo. de lege Dei Zanch. de hominis creat l. 1. c. 1 sub finem libri taking on him the shape of man was busied that whole seventh day in most holy colloquies with Adam and that he did also fully make himselfe knowne to Adam and Eve and did reveale the manner and order which hee had used in creating of all things and did exhort them both to meditate on these workes and in them to acknowledge their Creator and to prayse him and that by his owne example he did admonish them to imploy themselves in this exercise of godlinesse setting all other businesse aside and also that they would so instruct and teach their children To be short I doubtnot but that in that seventh day he taught them all Divinitie and did hold them busied in hearing of him and in praysing God their Creator for so many and so great benefits To this interpretation I am led by these two reasons The first taken from the Sanctification of the Sabbath which God hath prescribed in the Law the second because Adam ought to understand this sanctification of such a day therefore it is probable that the Sonne of God did open this unto Adam and Eve both in plaine words and by his owne example For even God also is said to rest upon that day and in Exodus hee doth exhort to the sanctification of the Sabbath by his owne example therefore he did sanctifie it with Adam and Eve Of this the Son of God gave us a shew for having finished the workes of our re-creating or Redemption being raised from the dead he conversed with his
19. 4 5 6. bond and free indifferently entertained into the priviledge and honour of the Covenant and into the band of it and the reason the master hath both to obey and yeeld up his servant for that day to Gods commanding and appointing and also to use his authoritie for God in seeing that his servant keepe the Sabbath but in other respects both master and servant to rejoyce alike in the great worke of their redemption Thirdly but let us examine more narrowly some of the speciall passages Moses addeth in vers 14. that thy manservant and maid-servant may rest as well as thou it is to this Thou therefore to whom this charge is directed c. Which thou that in those words thou and thy sonne That makes nothing to the exemption of the servant as thy servant from the obligation of the first thou which is this thou shalt doe no manner of worke for thy servant is one contained under this thou as well as thou art that art the master Or if it bee meant of this first thou that were absonant from the very context It being meant of the latter thou we must ask what you meane when you say it is to this thou to whom this charge is directed Mean you by charge the charge to make the servants rest That you say afterwards were needlesse they need but licence and neither command nor intreat Or meane you the charge to give them leave to rest nay that is against your owne reading the master is to make a day of rest and your owne interpretation to make it to be so importeth not onely to observe it himselfe but to cause others also to observe it Or by charge meane you the command Thy servant shall doe manner of worke and this is directed to this thou namely the master of the servant Well bee it so And what will follow thence Why surely this Thou master must know that God commands thy servant to rest and thee to make him keepe the Sabbath day but not this Thou art commanded to rest but thy servant is not commanded to rest but may worke if thou biddest him the sinne and perill is thine only What new Divinitie and Logick is this We see then here is some motion in but no promotion of your cause Nay because the command is given that the servant may rest as well as the master and that all might be free to attend on Gods service that day alike therefore it cannot be that the servant should remaine bound to the commands of the master for servile worke on that day For as master Calvin well observes i Calvin in quartum praeceptum Tenendum est propriè spectatum fuisse unum Dei cultum Scimus enim totum Abrahae genus sic fuisse Deo sacrum ut serviessent quaedam accessio unde circumcisio illis communis fuit We must hold this that the alone worship of God was properly looked unto but wee know saith hee the whole off-spring of Abraham was so sacred to God that this that they were servants was a certaine accession whence also circumcision was common to them all If the commandement of rest had been directly and immediately given to servants Doth your owne conscience know and force out this acknowledgement that it is given to them though not directly and immediately Would not servants overset wearied with six daies toile be of themselves glad to rest on the seventh These interrogations are brought in to set on the proofe that the commandement of rest was not given at all to servants but how ill they conclude may bee seene by these certaine truths That the servant if not religious which God lookes not to find but by his word to make us such had rather oft times worke for his master than bee imployed in the duties of sanctification for a part much more for all the day for they are more irkesome to flesh and blood than handy worke True that question might take more place if it were rest alone that were aymed at and not rest for an higher end That the master if covetous and prophane will not stand upon pleasing or displeasing God in requiring such unlawfull worke but respect his gaine more than all and to the utmost call for the servants worke that day when the servant in the Court of God and man can have no redresse yea out of irreligious petulancy he will most exact worke then Againe that the toyled servant will be oft ready to worke for himselfe as in mending his clothes or the like now the master is charged to remember the condition of his slavery that hee may not dare to overset his sâ—rvant with worke in the sixe dayes but every way make a Sabbath day Hath it any other but to declare c. Yes it declares Gods just title over their servants to command them that day and their unequall and wicked carriage if they should offer to plead their covenant to evert Gods covenant Which reason could not bee intended nor directed to them that still remained in servitude No not at all intended nor could be This redemption prooved them Gods servants and not theirs nor any mans to use them as slaves to use them as servants on the Sabbaths as we read in Levit 25. vers 39 41 42. Thou shalt not compell him to serve as a bond-servant he shall returne in the yeere of Iubile for they are my servants which I brought out of the Land of Egypt And in vers 53. 55. The stranger meaning to whom the poore Iew was sold shall not rule with rigour over him he shall goe out in the yeere of Iubile for unto me the children of Israel are servants they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the Land of Egypt I am the Lord your God Here the servant saw that God put no difference betweene bond and free and that the Sabbath made master and servant equall in respect of freedome for attendance on God k Cessatiâ—nem indixit ut fulgeret ubique Sabbathi Sanctitas at que ita ad ejus observantiam terrae conspectu magis animarentur filii Israël Calvin com in 4. praeceptum in Lev. c. 25. Those Sabbaths of yeeres had all respect to engrave on them the respect of this Sabbath Heere no slavery but liberty for Gods service which is perfect freedome may passe upon the redeemed and therefore their servitude did not make the Redemption void to them But such an Expositor as you are would leave them slaves because servants and slaves without intermission even on the Lords Sabbath to drudgerie and not the Lords servants when yet they were the Redeemed of the Lord equally as their masters were Thus you derogate from the breadth of the coÌ„mandement and the reasons and clip the wings of Scripture while you take that precept to belong onely to masters and the master enjoyed no further than to make a rest for his servant when the text saith Hee shall make a
not the seventh through iniquity and vanity that can no more disproove the festivity of the seventh to bee from the beginning and reach to all than the failings in many specialties of the first and second and third and other commandements can disproove their ingraving on the heart of man as Lawes of Nature and on the other side it prooveth as sufficiently that this commandement is a Law of Nature so farre as it is expressed in the Decalogue as the reliques of the other precepts in the hearts of Gentiles proove them to be Lawes of Nature and therefore his exception in speciall against that authority out of Hesiod if it should bee understood of every seventh day taking the calculation from the first day of the month doth no way supplant our intended purpose Well hath a learned Bishop t Patterne of Catech. Doctr. pag. 124. of our Church observed that sufficient is found in the heart of the Gentiles to their condemnation for breaking the Law of the fourth commandement they knew that numerus septenarius est Deo gratissimus and it was numerus quietis and thence they might have gathered that God would have his rest that day and so the seventh day after birth they kept exequiae and the seventh day after death the Funerall Note also that Gomarus passeth over those sayings brought by Clemens and Eusebius out of Homer and Callimachus untouched because they are not found in their writings now extant which proveth the weakenesse of this cause That quotation out of Philo Iudaeus he thinketh he hath taken off by that place of the same Author in his booke of the Decalogue whereby hee saith it is evident that Philo spake not properly but only by similitude of the number of seven because hee thus expounds himselfe in that place The fourth commandement saith he commands the seventh day commanding it to be spent holily and godly This certaine cities celebrate every month as a Festivall beginning their reckoning from the New Moone but to the Iewes every seventh day is holy I answer First it is a meere presumption of his to say that here Philo expounds his meaning in the other place for this is in his booke of the decalogue that in another booke viz. The second of the life of Moses nor doth he make the least intimation of reference thither Then this quotation that he maketh the exposition of his meaning in the former place cannot be for here he speaketh only of some few cities there in generall termes who honoureth not that holy day Moreover in another place u Philo de mundi opisicio hee calleth that very seventh day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generall Festivall to be observed of all people for ever Lastly if hee had but perused Philo or not perverted him willfully hee might have seene his plaine meaning whose words both for this purpose and for the rest of servants about which our dispute is I set downe not mangled but entire and they are these It admonisheth saith hee meaning the Divine Law it admonisheth all of dutie Barbarians Graecians inhabitants of maine continents aswell as of Ilands the Westerlings the Easterlings the Europeans and the Asians the whole habitable World even to the uttermost coasts For who doth not honor that holy day returning every weeke bringing remission of labour and holy vacations to the master of the familie with his houshold not onely to freemen but also to servants yea moreover to the beasts vnder the yoke and so forth Againe hee helpeth us to another authoritie out of losephus in his second booke against Appain who saith Neither is there any city of the Grecians or Barbarians nor any Nation to whom the custome of the seventh day in which wee rest hath not come A pregnant proofe But Gomarus saith there are words foregoing which doe end the controversie namely these Moreover the people doe now much emulate our piety Which words saith he do only shew that the observation of the Sabbath among the Gentiles was only an imitation of the Iewes by Proselites and perchance many others What were all the Gentiles East and West become Proselytes or would all of them admit a meere ceremony Some Nations besides Proselytes admitted Circumcision but did all the cities of Greeks and Barbarians admit thereof And if they imitated their piety could it bee thought that they imitated it as theirs and not rather as that which their naturall light glimmeringly guided them unto especially seeing the Iewes were naturally hated of all people For his quotation out of Theodoret upon the 20. chap. of Ezekiel to testifie to his tenet who saith That in the observation of the Sabbath the Iewes seemed to obtaine a certaine proper commonwealth for no other Nation did observe this rest and neither did Circumcision so distinguish them from others as did the Sabbath I answer This cannot bee understood of any kind of observation of the Sabbath for then Theodoret must speake directly against all received testimonies of antiquity which may not bee thought but of the true observing thereof in the solemne rituall worship of God which being all publike and solemnely used on that day as the sanctification thereof did asmuch more lively distinguish the Iewes Gods people from the Heathen Idolaters than did circumcision as the whole Law doth more than any one part thereof Thus wee have made good the sufficiency of the quotations excepted against wee leave them therefore with the rest fore-alleaged to be cavilled at by the next that dares to attempt it The infirmenesse of the consequence saith Gomarus is this that if the observation of the Sabbath had prevailed among the Gontiles yet from thence no such antiquity of the Sabbath may bee evinced but only thence appeareth the imitation of the Iewes by the Gentiles as by Proselytes and others perhaps I answer the consequent is firme for the former Heathen Authors have no reference to the Iewes and the Gentiles derided the Iewish Sabbathes Lament 1. 7. But suppose it came up among the Gentiles by imitation of the Iewes yet this spreading of it farre and wide prooveth the goodnes of the consequence that it is of the moral Law For hence it sufficiently appeares that the institution of a set seventh day in the weeke is immutable and not ceremoniall and temporall not proper to the Iewes onely but common to all seeing nature apprehends it meet and necessary that we often exercise the worship of God and cannot but acknowledge as we see in the inclination of the whole universe of men that this weekely determination of a day is most convenient and altogether absolute Hitherto of the answer to your position determining what is ceremoniall in the fourth commandement Your proofe for the ceremony of it in those respects is first taken from Texts of Scripture in Exod. 31. 13. and Ezek. 20. 12 20. Hence you reason thus That forme of keeping Sabbath was given to the Iewes as a speciall marke of their
his masters authority though not obey his unlawfull commands and be so farre from resisting that he must suffer patiently the hard usage of an evill master and endure stripes rather than offend God in all committing his cause to him that judgeth righteously And for the servants more full direction in this thing one case of Conscience I would here briefely decide which is this what workes may servants doe on the Sabbath and in what are they under their masters command and bound to obey them Answ To conceive hereof plainely There are foure sorts of workes lawfull on the Sabbath First workes of holinesse Secondly workes of mercy Thirdly workes that are in their nature servile yet doe directly respect the present worship of God as out travell to the places of Gods worship for these workes become now holy workes and are not ours but Gods workes Fourthly workes of common honesty that is workes that make to the comely decent and orderly performance of Gods worship and our carriage and behaviour therein Such are the tolling of a bell for the calling of the Assembly the comely and modest dresse of the body provided that it be not vaine curious nor aske much time but be thrust into the narrowest roome that may bee The spreading of our Table so that state be not taken up and all things bee prepared before as much as may bee with the like By workes of mercy I meane not onely the necessarie labours in the helpe of the sicke and of women in travell and of beasts out of a pit with the like but also all those that are called workes of necessity which I rather call workes of mercy because they are therefore necessary as they tend to the preservation of things not from feared or suspected but eminent and imminent and present danger and the worke it selfe must be done in mercy not in covetousnesse or other respects Now of this sort are these workes labour in provision of convenient foode tendance of cattell fight for defence of our country being assailed riding of postes on the affaires of the state in causes of present and imminent danger In all these the master hath power to command and so hath the superiour over him that is under his charge and the servant is bound to obey The master may command him the workes of mercy and the workes servile that directly looke to the worship of God or to goe with him to the Sermon though many miles off if it cannot bee had neerer hand and as the master may take his horse and ride thither his servant going on foote so may hee command his servant for this purpose to saddle his horse as in 2 King 4. 22 23. The question of the Shunamites husband sheweth who to his wife desiring one of the Asses to bee made ready and a servant to be sent her that she might go to the man of God saith on this wise Wherefore wilt thougo to him to day it is neither now moone nor Sabbath It was then their custome so to doe on the Sabbath and new moone In like manner the master may injoyne the servant such workes as tend to necessary provision of foode and tending of children in the family c. Yet here againe some things seeme to fight with the sanctification of the day First if the master shall strictly stand upon his state and distance for if the familie-necessities in respect of young children should necessarily require the presence of some constantly at home the master may not keepe his servant hereby constantly from the publike worship but rather sometimes change turnes with him Much lesse may he desire such unnecessary superfluities as may cause absence from the Assemblies for this is to feede thy carcase on the life blood of the soules of thy servants Deale in all plainenesse of heart and know thou hast to deale with God The servant must be sure the worke is unlawfull before he offer to withdraw his obedience but thou maist sinne in that worke in which thy servant sinneth not because thou art bound to search more into the nature of thy necessities Secondly if the master set not his businesse in so wise and discreet an order that without all unnecessary hinderances hee and all his houshold may sanctifie the day and keepe it holy Thirdly if the master remember not that he is a God and that both by communication of name and power to provide for and see to the servants and his housholds rest and therein respect that mercy which God would have shewen to servants yea to cattell on that day CHAP. XVIII Breerwood Pag. 30 31 32. Object BVt yet one scruple remaineth because every person that did any Exod. 31. 14 15. worke on the Sabaoth day was by the law to be cut off from his people and to dye the death every person therefore the Servant as well as the master Sol. I answere that the judiciall commandement is to be understood of the same persons to whom the morall commandement was given the commandement touching punishment of them to whom the commandement touching the offence was imposed but I proved before that the morall commandement was not imposed to servants as servants but to them that were at liberty All they therefore that did any worke on the Sabaoth were to dye the death by the judiciall law they I say that did it not they that were made to doe it which were as well passive as active in doing of it namely they that did it of election as free that might abstaine from worke and would not not they that did it of injunction and necessitie as servants that would abstaine from worke and might not whose condition was such that they would not worke by their masters direction might be made to worke by their masters compulsion for a hard case it were if poore servants to whom no commandement to cease from worke was given by God and yet might be compelled to worke by men should dye for it if they did so worke It is therefore to be understood of them that worke willingly of themselves or as authors cause others to worke as masters doe their servants not of them who onely as ministers and against their wills are set to worke And rather because the worke of the servant that I say which he doth by the commandement of his master to whom for matter of labour he is meerely subordinate even reason and equity will interpret the masters worke And certainely that God accounteth it so the declaration of that Precept in another place doth make manifest Six daies thou shalt doe thy worke and the seventh day thou shalt rest that Exod. 23 12. thine Oxe and thinâ— Asse and thy Sonne and thy Maide c. may be refreshed for is it not manifest that the servants worke is accounted the masters seeing the rest from the masters worke is the refreshing of the servants the master therefore who by the morall law was commanded that his servants should
precedent words of the administration of the Lords Supper But we after those things for the remainder of the time doe ever remember one another of these things and those of us which have any thing helpe every one that wants and are alwayes together one with another A little after hee saith that the assemblies on that day were frequented of all in Citie and Countrie prayer preaching and the Sacrament was administred Collections for the poore which was after the assemblies distributed to the needy imprisoned stranger with the like whom they visited Tertullian in that 16 chapter of his Apologie against the Gentiles gives this as one cause of their conjecture that Christians worshipped the Sunne because they kept the Sunday Holy Wee give our selves to joy saith hee the Sunday for another farre wide reason than in honour of Diem solis laetitiae indulgemus the Sunne are we in the second place from them which appoint Saturday to idlenesse and feeding themselves also wandring from the Iewish custome which they know not What meaneth he hereby but that such a solemnitie is kept and ought to bee by Christians as should exceede in that kinde the feasts of the nations and Heathen as in his booke of Idolatrie chap. 14. he speaketh Ignatius speaketh enough to any man not prepossessed for he saith let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lords day as festivall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek word signifieth a solemne festivall free from worke and workeday labour That others also of the ancients did understand this celebration to be with exact vacation is evident Saint Austin saith come ye to the Church every Lords day for if the unhappy Iewes doe celebrate the Sabbath with such devotion that in it no earthly workes were done how much more ought Christians to bee vacant to God alone on the Lords day and come together for the Salvation of their soules Againe Apostles and Apostolike men have therefore ordained that the Lords day be kept with religious solemnitie because in it our Redeemer arose from the Dead and which is therefore called the Lords day that in it abstaining from earthly affaires and the enticements of the world we may serve onely in divine worship That of Saint Clement is also worthy note neither on the Lords dayes which are dayes of joyfulnesse doe we grant any thing may be said or done besides holinesse Austin also in the sixt booke de Civitate Dei chap. 11. speaking of Seneca's scoffing at the Iewes Sabbath that they lost the seventh part of their time in vacancie addeth this Notwithstanding he durst not speake of the Christians even then most contrarie to the Iewes on either part lest either hee should praise them against the old custome of his owne Countrey or reprove them perhaps against his owne will Saint Austine likewise reproveth their telling of tales their slanders playing at dice and such unprofitable sports as if one part of the day were set apart for dutie to God and the rest of the day together with the night to their owne pleasures In the same place also he condemnes walking about the fields and woods when they should bee at Serm. 251. De Temp. Divine Service with clamour and laughter and saith the day must be sequestred a rurali opere ab omni negotio from countrey worke and all businesse that wee may give our selves wholly to the worship of God Saint Chrysostome speaking of the fitnesse of the Lords day for almes saith it is a convenient time to practise liberalitie with a ready and willing minde not onely in this regard but also because it hath rest remission freedome and vacation from labours Saint Ambrose q Ambros tom 3. Serm. 1. de granosinapis p. 225. reproving the peoples neglect of Church on the Lords dayes saith Whatsoever brother is not present at the Lords Sacraments of necessity he is with God a forsaker of the Divine truth For how can he excuse himselfe who preparing his dinner at home on the day of the Sacraments contemneth that heavenly Banket and taking care of the belly neglecteth the physicke of his soule The same Father in another place r Id. Serm. 33. pag. 259. tom 3. saith Let us all the day bee conversant in prayer or reading hee that cannot reade let him aske of some holy man that he may bee fed with his conference let no secular acts hinder divine acts let no Table-play carry away the mind let no pleasure of Dogs call away the senses let no dispatch of a businesse pervert the mind with covetousnesse True this Father in this place speaketh of a Fast but we know that a Fast and Sabbath are alike for the point of rest Saint ſ Hieron ad Rustich Dominicos dies orationi tantum lectionibus vacant Hierom also On the Lords day saith he they onely give themselves to prayer and reading Secondly now for your contrary evidences what if they also make for us You alleage a constitution of Constantines Iurge First the same Emperours Constitutions found in Ecclesiasticall Writers Eusebius in his life saith Wherefore he ordained that all that obeyed the Romane Empire should rest from all labour on the dayes that are called from our Saviours Name Further hee saith of this Christian Emperour He taught all his hoste to honour this day diligently those that partooke of the Divine Faith hee gave them leasure to frequent the Assemblies that no impediment should hinder their attendance on prayer but others that had no savor of Divine Doctrine hee gave charge of them by another Law that they should goe into the open fields of the Suburbs on the Lords day and that there altogether should use the same forme of prayer to God when asigne was given of some one of them for said he we ought not to use speares and place the hope of our affaires in weapons and bodily strength Sozomen in his tripartite history testifieth thus That day which is called the Lords day which the Hebrewes call the first day which the Grecians attribute to the Sunne and which is before the seventh day he ordained that all should cease from suites and other businesses and should onely bee occupied in prayers upon it t Sozom Hist Eccles tripert l. 1. c. 10. Behold Constantine against Constantine Secondly your Constitution is read Cod. l. 3. tit 12 l. 3. This Constitution was reversed by Leo the Emperour and another made in these words We ordaine according to the true meaning of the holy Ghost and of the Apostles thereby directed that on the sacred day wherein our integrity was restored all doe rest and surcease labour that neither husbandmen nor other on that day put their hands to forbidden workes for if the Iewes did so much reverence their Sabbath which was but a shadow of ours are not we which inhabit the light and truth of grace bound to honour that day which the Lord himselfe hath honoured and hath therein delivered
occasion of all this stirre in this mans spirit which in the beginning of the Treatise he layeth downe viz. the wound in the conscience of one Iohn Breerwood by Master Nic. Byfield First it is evident those workes he stucke at were never in question Secondly it is manifest by the Letter of Master Breerwoods written to the abovesaid Master Iohn Ratcliffe that the servant confessed that he received the first touch at Master Bruens of Stapleford but his conference after with Master Byfield was it that resolved him And yet it is cleare that there was never any case propounded to him at Chester about servants worke on the Sabbath at Master Ratcliffes and he never to that time delivered his opinion touching it unto any Thirdly it is no lesse cleare that the occasion was foolish and weak as shall be manifest by giving to all the world a true information how the case then stood with this Iohn Breerwood which I give you in the next Chapter for a conclusion to this first part of the booke Happy had it been for him if Answer For the occasion three things will lively represent it to the world a briefe relation concerning the condition of Iohn Breerwood at that time secondly the comparing of some passages in Master Breerwoods relation with the former thirdly the beginning of Master Byfields answer to this Treatise containing a short and satisfactory answer to this particular First this was the true state of things concerning Iohn Breerwood at the time while these things fellout Iohn Breerwood was servant and Apprentice to one Master Thomas Shipton Grocer in Fridaystreet in the Parish of Saint Iohn the Evangelist He was imployed by his Master on businesse to Chester and going downe hee fell in love with a Maide that accompanied him downe at the same time Whereupon when hee returned as was manifest by the consequents hee cast in his mind which way to wind himselfe out of his Masters service For the attaining of his disordered desire when yet hee had not spent halfe the time of his Apprentiship in his Masters service hee made therefore many scruples some about the Sabbath pretending his conscience had been much wrought upon by Master Nicolas Byfield in that his foresaid journey some about his calling in the weeke dayes About the Sabbath when his Master bade him fetch a pint of wine or see his horse have provender or call the invited Guest to dinner he would refuse to doe it which thing his Master supposing it had been indeed upon some trouble of conscience with joy related to the Minister of the parish M. Walker and therupon sought meanes to bind and retaine him the faster in his service for his Master was a conscionable and religious man and carefull of the Sabbath and hoped that here would begin the discovery of some good wrought in him who before was many wayes untoward But this Iohn Breerwood saw that this would take no place he casts other scruples about the workes of his Calling to get off that way by his pretexts of the evils he saw attended Trades in the City and this turned not off his Master from his desires to retaine him but rather increased them the more Afterwards perceiving that Religion pretended wrought against his intended plot and not for it hee fell to impudent and vile stubbornnesse On a time his Master for some stubbornnesse of his gave him a boxe on the eare then he found out this project to lay his Dagger under his pillow that when the maides should find it there and relate it to their Master he might conceive he had some intent to play some vile part and being a timorous man might bee moved to turne him out of his service After this his Master upon his earnest desire sent him downe againe to Chester to gather up moneys who there gathered up to the summe of an hundred pounds or thereabout his Master fearing to lose it gave way to his motion to leave his service and set up for himselfe in Chester that so he might get his money of him This Iohn Breerwood thus released married the former woman and since putting her to shift for her selfe hath been to and fro beyond Sea and hath played many prankes This Relation was taken from Master Walkers mouth March 30. 1631. as a briefe of those things that might bee more largely set downe the Christian Reader for his further satisfaction if hee desire it may enquire of him who was very well acquainted with all those passages Now consider with me some passages in Master Breerwoods Relation First he saith the true cause of his distemper was a Case of Conscience about workes on the Sabbath yet hee saw that at the first discovery of his strange alteration were discovered obstinate resolutions by faire or foule meanes to forsake his service Hee is little skill'd in the plight of a wounded conscience that can thinke such a conscience and such obstinatenesse are compatible to the same man at the same time Secondly hee talketh of his Masters great offence yet this was no other but that as one joyed to see hee made some shew of conscience in that thing he sought all meanes to tie him the faster to him and his service Thirdly hee talketh also of his Kinsmans affliction What From such a man as was so milde as his Master was Who can beleeve that this matter about his Kinsman was any more than an occasion no cause in truth of Master Breerwoods attempts some thing there was besides this as rightly he acknowledgeth And to put it out of doubt heare M. Byfield speake after long silence under these injuries beginning his Treatise thus LO Sir I am become at length a Writer Your strange bitternes and great thoughts of heart have wrung from me that resolution which once I thought had not been in the power of man to urge me to The Lord make it prosperous if it be his wil or els give me more patience hereafter to forbeare imployment where I can goe about it with so little hope of successe I write not while I write Partly because the discharge of my calling commands me to labor other waies and partly because my judgement is not every way resolved of the expediency of an answer in this kind One thing I am sure of that I can be contented to seale the Doctrine of the Sabbath as it is now taught in the Church of England with my blood and conceive there is as apparent reason for it as for any other point of Religion Thus much I easily grant upon the reading of your writings that if your places of invention had been as sound as your forme of elocution is faire and the matter had been answerable to the stile you shuld easily have had my voice for the Chaire amongst the truly learned but when I consider of your assertions concerning the Sabbath unmasking them and without the varnish cast upon them I cannot but see cause to lament that such
separation from Gentiles and consecration to God therfore it was meerely ceremoniall and obliged not the Gentiles which it had done if it had beene a Law of Nature First here your consequence is weake and fallacious for every marke and signe of separation from others and consecration to God is not ceremoniall Baptisme is such a marke betweene Persian and Heathens yet no ceremony so is the Sacrament of the Lords supper Such was the Sabbath then and is at this day Neither doth every marke of separation and sanctification oblige only those that have that marke for the duty was no lesse necessary to men before the Law given than after and examples are not wanting of the Majesty of God himselfe g Gen. 2. 2. 7. 4. 8. 10 12. Exod. 16. 6. of Noah and of the Israelites before the Law by whom the dayes were gathered into weekes which sheweth that the observation of the Sabbath was not unknowne Lastly you urge us with an absurditie that will follow on this doctrine that if it bee of Nature to keepe the Sabbath it bindeth us Christians to keepe the seventh day Sabbath and so the first changers of the day to the first day of the weeke sinned grievously This argument is of no consequence for the first day of the weeke is now the Lords Sabbath as the seventh day from the Creation was then And thus neither Law of Nature broken nor sinne incurred and therefore all absurditie avoided the first day of the weeke is also the seventh though not that seventh day This accommodation also of the fourth precept to the Iewes in the determination of the day maketh not the commandement ceremoniall nor yet the change of it to our Lords day no more than the fifth Commandement is made ceremoniall by this promise respecting Israel in Canaan That thy dayes may bee long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And this change in the application of the precept by the Apostle that it may bee well with thee and that thou mayest live long on earth h Ephes 6. 3. It standing firme then that the Commandement in every part thereof as it is contained in the Decalogue is morall and of the Law of Nature and the breach thereof a sinne your conclusion taketh place against you namely that the servant may not in any case worke on the Sabbath at prohibited workes because it is sinne at the commandement of any master on earth For it is better to obey God than man To the Answer whereof I leave you or others that in pride of spirit and a spirit of contradiction dare to attempt it in your behalfe All that followeth in this part of your Discourse seeing it is but by way of Recapitulation by the former Answers is found to be of no force CHAP. 17. Breerwood Pag. 28 29 30. BVt there is another objection for admit the servants worke upon the Sabaoth be the Masters sinne that imposeth it Is it not sinne to give consent and furtherance to another mans sinne But this servants doe when they execute their Masters commandements and consequently it is unlawfull so to yeeld lawfull therefore it is to resist and reject such commandement I answer first touching the point of consenting that in such a worke is to be considered the substance and the quality that is the worke it selfe and the sinfulnesse of it servants may consent to it as it is their masters worke not as it is their Masters sinne for except these things be distinguished God himselfe can no more avoide the calumniation of being the author than poore servants of being the ministers of sinne for that God concurreth with every man to every action whatsoever as touching the substance of the action is out of all question seeing both all power whence actions issue are derived from him and that no power can proceede into act without his present assistance and operation but yet to the crime the faultinesse the inordination the unlawfullnesse of the action wherein the nature of sinne doth for malice consist hee concurreth not But it wholly proceedeth from the infection of the concupiscence wherewith the faculties of the soule are originally defiled the actions themselves issuing from the powers and the sinfulnesse of the actions from the sinfulnesse of the powers like corrupt streames flowing from filthier springs It is not therefore every concurrence of the servants with the Master to a sinfull action which causeth the staine and imputation of sin upon the servant as when he consenteth and concurreth only to the action not to the sinne namely likes and approves it as his masters worke yet utterly dislikes it as it is his masters transgression likes of the worke for the obligation of obedience wherein touching worke he standeth to serve his Master and yet dislikes of the sinne for the great obligation wherin every one standeth toward the honour of God But yet to answer secondly to the point of resisting the servant ought not for any dislike or detestation of the annexed sinne to resist or reject his masters commandement touching the worke for in obeying hee is at most but the minister of another mans sinne and that as they say per accidens namely as it is annexed to such a worke but in resisting hee is directly the author of his owne sinne by withdrawing his obedience about bodily service from I say for the master doth not sinne onely in commanding his servant to worke but in working him and so bringing his command into execution which thing the servant knowing to be unlawfull must that he may not partake therein not onely not touch it with one of his fingers but also perswade the contrary and modestly rebuke it Again hee ought to attend on holy workes which directly will hinder that unlawfull worke and to these is he bound as Gods servant that day Thirdly by approving and this the servant doth really by his worke and by his example Your second solution is found by this that hath been set downe to be vaine and frivolous the servant must refuse to sinne in any kinde And his refusall in this kinde is not against the Law of nations as we have heretofore shewed nor against his owne covenant for his covenant though without limitations expressed doth not exempt him from the service of his Prince and Country the Prince may presse him to the warres much lesse from the service of his God when his Lord and Saviour presseth him to his warres as he doth in the day of assembling his army in holy beauty It is therefore wicked and injurious to God man nations lawes and covenants that you say that the Servant standeth bound to his master in all bodily service without any exception of the Sabbath more than other dayes Your phrase you use of the Servants resisting is your owne we teach the servant may refuse and must all such workes which God hath forbidden to be done that day but not resist no hee must acknowledge