was manifestly intended to bring servants release and remission of their weekely toile should by the decree of the law it selfe above all other daies breede their greatest perplexities forasmuch as above all other daies if their Masters be not men that feare God enforced they are there is no avoidance to venter either on sinne or stripes for either God must be disobeyed and sinne cleaveth to their soules or their Masters and stripes light upon their bodies either they must obey God and be plagued by men or obey men and be condemned by God you will say it is better to obey God than men and worse to disobey him that can cast both body and soule into hell than him that can only for a time afflict the body true who doubts it But that is not the point I stand upon the point is how it agreeth with the tender goodnesse and compassion of Almighty God towards poore servants whose condition is yet honest and lawfull to plunge them into such perplexities as namely to impose on them a commandement which they can neither keepe nor breake without a mischiefe and inconvenience neither keepe as the servants of men nor breake as they are the servants of God neither keepe without sharpe punishment nor breake without heavy sinne all which intanglement of servants and calumniation against both the justice and mercy of God is clearly avoided if the commandement be given as the tenour of it doth simply import to the Masters and not to the servants which I have sufficiently proved both by the evidence of holy scripture so to have beene and by evidence and inforcement of reason that it should be so Answer First here I have to say against both the manner and the maine of your arguing For the manner first you play the Sophister egregiously the question is whether it be given onely to masters and not to servants And you take the rise of your reasoning from hence that the commandement according to our opinion is given to servants only and not to masters and therefore you talke that you might put a glosse upon your reasoning and make the contrary appeare the more foule of the commandement of the servants cessation not touching the master The commandement given to themselves not to their masters This is meere cavilling for who ever thought or dreamt save your selfe much lesse held that the commandement was not given to their masters though it were given to the servants also Againe you seeme to promise the servant liberty but indeed make him the bond-slave to his masters unlawfull commands and while you would free him from blowes of an injurious master you free him if it may bee called freedome from the service of God which is perfect freedome Secondly for the maine of your reason it is thus to give the commandement to servants also is against the goodnesse of God for it casts the servant upon stripes or sinne I answer Doth the commandement cast any upon sinne If it any way provoke or revive sinne it is by accident because a spirituall just and good Law meets with a carnall heart sold under sinne a Rom. 7. 11 12. Sinne taketh occasion by the commandement the commandement doth not cause sinne Had you had Pauls spirit you would have justified the Law and laid load upon the flesh and corrupt nature as out of measure sinfull and have advised all youth to cleanse their wayes by taking heed thereto according to Gods word b Psal 119. 9. and not goe about to fill greene heads with crotchets Yea but if they sinne not but obey stripes attend them and this is against the mercy of God Indeed Is this your stumbling blocke It is then against his goodnesse that Hagar c Gen. 16. 6 9. should returne to her Mistris and submit her selfe It is against his pitty that the Apostle from Gods spirit should require servants to suffer buffetings that come undeserved 1 Pet. 2. 19. It is against goodnesse to be happy for blessed are yee saith Christ when ye suffer despightfull usage for righteousnesse sake d Mat. 5. 11 12. It is against goodnesse that any man should be or doe good inasmuch as some wicked men will persecute a man for that good Why should the pitifull God require that which will cast us on the wheele greediron racke fire and faggot and what not that is of torment and torture Oh divelish earthly and sensuall reasoning This is farre from our Saviours Doctrine and Spirit the King of Sion meeke and having salvation who bids us e Luk. 14. 26 27 take up our crosse daily and hate father and mother and our owne lives as ever we meane to be worthy of him and find life to life eternall Such sufferings are to Gods glory and to our glory Our Saviour premeditating of his sufferings said Father glorifie thy Name that is saith Chrysostome f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Ioh. 12. 28. Leade me now to the Crosse the Crosse he calleth glory saith Ammonius g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ammonius Glorifie thy sonne that is doe not forbid him now hastening to death assent to thy sonne herein for the profit of all saith Cyrill h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril in Ioh. We have an excellent Chapter in Lactantius his Institutions answering this seâ—suall argument upon another occasion for the povertie and afflictions and unjust persecutions of the Church and the prosperity of Idolaters and Heathen might seeme to proove the worship of God to bee vaine and the Rites of gods or idols to be true because their worshippers enjoyed brought Therefore that Starre in the firmament of your reasoning whose condition is yet honest and lawfull shooteth and falleth Yea but you say the point you stand on is not how much better it is to obey God than man but how the command requiring obedience in a thing that will cast us into the hands of wicked men can stand with the goodnesse of God This is the point that all this while I have handled reade and see how Fourthly and for a recompence when you talke so freely of mischiefes and inconveniences free your Doctrine of them if you can For if the servant must obey his masters unlawfull commands of worke on that day I say hee cannot doe it but he falleth into mischiefe for he is sold from Gods service and the Covenant of God p Esay 56. 6. Every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it taketh hold of Gods Covenant if a master be wicked and into inconvenience for he hath no breathing time he cannot leave it undone but hee falleth into stripes and sinne at once without any support from God or man Therefore your Conclusion that all is avoided by this your dreame is most untrue neither Scripture nor reason favoureth your opinion and in this you suffer the just reproofe of q 2 Pet. 2. 12. Iude 8. Peter and Iude you are one of the filthy dreamers Lactantius saith
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
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
bee on common dayes And that the worke there forbidden hath a speciall relation to the gaine of riches is the better apparent because the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth opes as well as opus riches as well as worke and not onely where the commandement was pronounced in the 20 of Exodus but wheresoever it is repeated in the bookes of the law which is oftentimes and differently for other circumstances the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ever retained and never changed not every worke therefore absolutely but every worke of such a kinde namely consisting in toyle and tending to gain is restrained by the commandement and is there not evident reason to understand it so For seeing the intendment of the Precept is clearly in the point of that dayes vacation that the body should be refreshed by abstinence from labour And in the point of sanctification of it the minde should be refreshed by attendance to spirituall exercise it followeth manifestly that if there bee any workes that resolve not the body and so hinder not the refreshing of it nor dissolve and alienate the minde from the Service of God and meditation of godlinesse that these workes are not forbidden because neither the vacation which the commandement importeth nor that sanctification which it intendeth is impeached by them written by his owne hand at the time when these things were in agitation the coppy being his first draught and so very imperfect in many things cannot bee published as could be wished for the satisfaction of the Christian Reader Therefore wee must bee contented here and there to give thee a little taste and first in this particular you have it thus in his owne words Object The word Melachah doth signifie properly servile workes and is a choyse word of purpose used in this Commandement Sol. That the word signifieth servile workes I finde some Divines so saying but that by servile workes they meane onely toylesome and gainefull workes I deny For they used to place servile workes over against workes of pietie Now as by workes of pietie they meane lesser as well as greater works of religion to God so by servile workes they meane as well lighter as toylsome workes of labour for man To deale plainly with you I see no cause why Melachah should have any such speciall weight in signification For thogh your conceit of it that it signifieth opes as wel as opus might cast som color to perswade that it might meane works of gain yet that it shold specially note works of toyle there is no color Nay me thinks Magnaseh is of a larger signification and fits for toyle as signifying to worke cum energia Thus the wicked are workers of iniquitie and Nabals cattell are called Magnasehu appellantur nomine operis eò quod homo seipsum occupat in illorum acquisitione and are called by the name of Worke because man busieth himselfe in getting them and yet Pegnulah more fit than them both it signifieth opus and opâ—ris merces worke and the reward of worke workes of hands Psal 9. 16. The worke of the hireling Iob 7. 2. It is likely that he that published this Treatise of Master Breerwoods hath a perfect coppie of a full answere For Master Breerwoods provoked spirit as he termeth it himselfe would not have beene allayed without a satisfactorie answer Faire dealing would have required it should have beene produced and then I had saved this paines in answering But then the Publisher had missed his aime which was to traduce the Dead who then being Dead had yet spoken Sixtly that this interpretation is orthodoxe and yours novel and adulterous see how Divines and the Churchâ—s of Christ have understood it Our Church of England declareth her minde in the first part of the Homilie of the place and time of Prayer where the example of the man that gathered stickes on the Sabbath day is alledged and those that pranke and prick and paint and point themselves to be gorgeous and gay those that toyishly talke are reckoned a sort of transgressors worse than those that keepe Markets and Faires that day Tertullian saith q Non facies opus quod utique tuum Arcam verò circuÌ„serre neque quotidianum opus videri potest neque humanum sed bonum sacrosanctum c. Tertul. l. 2. contra Marcionem God forbade humane workes not divine Thou shalt doe no worke what worke namely thine owne but to carry abou the Arke that is about the wals of Iericho can neither seeme a dayly worke nor an humane but a good and holy worke and therefore by the very Commandement of God divine Master Greenham r Greenh Treatise of the Sabbath As wee denie Church feasts as imitâ—tions of the Heathen so we deny Holy-day playes as remnants of ancient prophanenesse pag. 169. sheweth excellently that recreations as shooting and the like at other times lawfull and bankettings and the exercises for sicke persons refreshing if it be not in reading singing and holy conference for if they be sicke it is a time of praying not of playing and if they be well to play are they not so to doe these Heavenly and comfortable duties All these are unlawfull to be used that day neither saith he is the Sabboth onely broken by prophanenesse but also by idle workes Mayer Å¿ pag. 260. upon the fourth Commandement saith We must rest from worldly speeches and thoughts small workes which come not within the compasse of religion mercy or necessitie must not be done on the Sabbath saith Master Dod on the Commandements t pag. 152. Polyander Rivet Wallaeus and Thysius say u Synopsis purioris theol â—â—sp 21. pag. 261. That it is morall and ingrafted in nature that the whole minde bee taken off from other cares on the Sabbath and the whole day bestowed in the duties morall or if so how should the Iewes put a difference betweene the one and the other for you will needs have ceremoniall precepts in the body of the fourth Commandement And why bring you in the Instance of our blessed Saviour who was a Iew and bound to the law as given to the Iewes and kept the ceremonial as wel as the moral law Secondly Come come you are plunged let me helpe you In that our Saviour did allow and doe many light and laborlesse workes in your Ashdodaean phrase for we take your words till wee come to examine the matter further and yet by voluntary dispensation was bound to all the law it is cleare that no ceremoniall law or clause of any law in the old Testament forbade the workes that hee did on the Sabbath and so your answere that that command in Exod. 35. 3. was a If it were ceremoniall the equitie neverthelesse must binde Christians although the sanction doth not constraine them The equitie of the Law teacheth us wee ought not to turne this libertie to bee servants of our wanton desires Greenth Treatise of the
and vilifying of God Thirdly but what an argument is here The obligation of our thankefulnesse is more than theirs though the obligation of his commandement be lesse herein therefore the Christian should be more devout than the Iew. I had thought the commandement had bound to Devotion and the greater the more I had thought the Greatnesse of benefits whence the debt of thankfulnesse is greatned had increased the obligation of the commandement and our obedience to it But now you yeeld his commandement some what obligeth on our Sabbath though lesse when before you utterly denyed any breach of any divine commandement in laboring that day and so any obligation To strengthen this argument you expresse your wish that most religiously with all abstinence and all attendance it were kept Doe you wish this with all your heart and yet bend all your might to overthrow the commandement of God Would you or could you thinke that your wish should prevaile more than Apostolike truth Fourthly have wee in one breath these contradictory sentences No constitution of the Church obliging to the strict desisting from labour And the constitutions of some ancient Councels restraining that prophanation Fifthly you come in with the Edicts of Princes as one that would have the observation of the Lords day depend upon constitutions of the Church and Edicts of Princes only and so not to differ from another holy day Most wicked Popish worse than Popish and against all the famous lights ancient and moderne Or doe you mention Princes Edicts and Churches constitutions to glose with ours Ours detest your Tenet and you seeke herein to wound Church and Prince for how they hold of the Lords day that it is directly grounded on the fourth commandement appeareth in the Liturgie in the booke of Homilies and in the Statutes and godly Provisions for redresse of prophanations This is the Doctrine of our Church d Homil. of the place and time of prayer part 1. pag. 125. By this commandement speaking of the fourth wee ought to have a time as one day in the weeke wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawfull and needfull workes For like as it appeareth by this commandement that no man in the sixe daies ought to bee slothfull or idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him even so God hath given expresse charge to all men that upon the Sabbath day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekely and worke-day labour of these lawes to reject their commandements touching matter of worke or service on the Sabaoth or any other day Answer First I might put off all this still because it is upon this false ground that the Commandement of God doth not enjoyne our Sabbath with the like But I willingly goe on with you to see if there bee one true stitch through your whole Discourse And here before wee come to particulars h Though the Lawes of men should not take hold of servants in this case yet the Lawes of God doe let all note that that odious terme and calumniating phrase of Servants rebellion against their masters is your owne and commeth from an evill heart and crafty head We teach that Princes unlawfull commands are not to bee executed yet we teach not that any so commanded must rebell but not obey and be so farre from rebellion if it should be urged that hee suffer even to blood patiently without so much as reviling judging or the like but onely committing his cause to him that judgeth righteously But to come to your matter you hold First That the Churches Constitutions and the Edicts of Princes never intended to forbid light and labourlesse worke nor doe their censures take hold on men therefore Secondly against this what the Doctrine of our Church is you heard before which taught that God condemned all weekely and worke-day labour all common businesse and to give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises c. The doctrine of the Church of Ireland i Articles of Religion in a Synod at Dublin 1615. is consonant hereunto which teacheth thus The first day of the weeke which is the Lords day is wholly to be dedicated to the service of God and therefore wee are bound therein to rest from our common and daily businesse and to bestow that leasure upon holy exercises both publike and private In a Councell k Concilium Matiscon 2. c. 1. in the yeare 588. it was decreed that no worke on the Lords day bee done but the eyes and hands stretched out to God that whole day and that if a Countrey man or servant should neglect this wholesome Law he should bee beaten with more grievous strokes of Clubbes For these things saith that Councell pacifie God and remoove the judgements of diseases and barrennesse And againe understanding while they sate in the Councell l C. 4. that some absented themselves from the Assemblies they decreed under paine of Anathema that on all Lords dayes all both men and women received the Communion In another General Synod there was made this decree m Sancitum est ut domini in suis ditionibus diebus dominicis prohibeant nundiâ—as annuas sâ—ptimanales item conventicula in Tabernis compotationes alearum chartarum similes varios lusus concentus musicorum instrumentorum usum atque choreas Synod general Petricoviensis Anno 1578. It is ordained that the Lords in their severall dominions doe prohibit on the Lords dayes the yearely and weekely Faires also meetings in Tavernes Compotations or Gossipings Dice Cards and divers the like sports singing in Concents as now many in merry meetings have their singing of Catches and their roarings as they are called the use of musicall Instruments and Dancing In a Councell at Nice it was ordered that those who either kept Court bought or sold or otherwise prophaned the Sabbath should bee prohibited the Communion because that whole day we ought onely to rest and spread abroad our hands-in prayer to God n Toto hoc die tantummodò vacandum quia toto hoc die manus Deo expandendae Canutus o Canutus lege 14. 15. a King in this Land before the Conquest enacted in a Councell at Winchester that Sunday should be kept holy and Faires Courts Huntings and worldly workes on that day should be forborne Guntramnus p Praeceptio Guntramni ad Episcop dat in Concil Matiscon 2. King of France commanded that on the Lords day no bodily worke should be done besides what was prepared to eate to maintaine life conveniently Secondly you affirme that neither constitution of the Church nor edict of Princes doe free servants from their Masters power to command them to worke or their obedience to worke at their Masters command that day more than others Thirdly what the Doctrine of our Church is in this point is cleare in the Homily of the place and time of prayer delivered in these words Sithence which time meaning the time of our
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
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