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
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
Sabbath pag. 168. I ad the equitie of it sheweth that it is not the lightnesse of the worke if it bee once opposed to Gods that makes it that day sinlesse Ceremoniall is a meere phansie you must flie to some other reason and you might have knowne it hath beene alledged by divers to bee this that the Lord there answered a particular case about working at the Tabernacle and prohibits every worke though never so light about the erection thereof for that day because it tended not immediately to the worship of God and thus now at this day it were sinfull to build Churches on the Sabbath or to kindle a fire to prepare or fit any worke thereabout So the precept about the boyling and baking of the Manna gathered on the sixt day that it might not be left till the Sabbath to be then dressed was b Vatablus in locum Trem. Junius Bysh Babingt in v 4. of Ch. 31. Exod. pag. 319. A precept that concerned that present time while the Manna fell that they might see the miraculous power of God in the keeping of it without corrupting till the next day and because on the Sabbath they should not finde it in the field Consider it well if to kindle a fire to prepare things for the building of a Church be unlawfull which your selfe hold to be a light worke and cannot but confesse to be no worke of private gaine then certainely much more are all other light workes forbidden that fall not under the works afore-rehearsed Thirdly but let us see what you alledge in our Saviour He approved of the letting of the Oxe to the water of rubbing the eares of corne He made clay to annoint the eyes of the blinde He bade the lame man healed take up his bed What then Are therefore light workes to be done It is no light worke to make clay and carry beds or that cannot be your reason nay your instances are all wide from your purpose you neede clay or glue to glue them together Christ alloweth not these workes of letting the Oxe to water and rubbing the eares of Corne because they are light but because they were workes of mercie to save life that could not bee deferred and did those other workes himselfe not because they were light but inlightning He commanded the impotent man to carry his bed not because it was laborlesse for it was laborsome and therefore did he prescribe him that and no light worke to shew his perfect soundnesse and the truth of the miracle to excite him and all to glorifie God Mayer in his English Catechisme explained pag 262. sheweth that all the reasons of the Commandements binde us and reach to us as to the Iewes and alledgeth it to prove that this Law is of force for every one of us aswel as Iewes and as much in force as any of the other nine pag. 261. Fourthly thus we neede not dispensation for our Saviour but a pardon for your abuse of his blessed words and deeds That also which you alledge touching his being under the Law cuts the throat of your solution to the objection and gives us just cause to consider and conclude that all that you or any other Divine hath ever said for the Christians freedome on the Lords day will bee found but the Iewes freedome which both they might have had and had also by the Law of the fourth Commandement had not their superstition or superstitious teachers wrongd the Law and them for see what Christ did on the Sabbath and allowed and in that behold those burdens of Iewish superstition abandoned and that as some call it of Christian libertie which yet are no other than matter of Christian dutie to the eternall and morall Law delivered in the fourth Commandement First you would have allowed a comfortable use of the Creatures not onely an use for meere necessitie God ever gave it on this day for the Sabbath was a festivall ever The Iewes were usually as too many are now for want of right collation of Scriptures together either superstitious or sacrilegious Fifthly you would that things that tend to decency might be done without which the ordinances cannot bee so used to order and edification They ever might The Priests might blow their Trumpets and Hornes on the Sabbath day for the assembling of the people Numb 10. 2. So may our Bells be thus rung Sixthly it is not against Christian liberty to have the precise day appointed of God it was not against the liberty and glory of our nature in integritie And tell me I pray you whether it make more to Christian liberty to observe a day by the constitution of the Church or by institution of God whose Service is perfect liberty Yea since it is usuall with God to powre upon the Church on the Lords day the holy Ghost which is the Spirit of liberty certainely it never returnes but it increaseth that liberty with greater accessions daily That which some Divines have said that the Sabbath in the Law was a day n In se per se sanctus Per se pars instrumentum â—ultûs in it selfe and of it selfe holy and was of it selfe a part and instrument of piety in respect of the rest I cannot see how it can bee grounded on the Commandement or any other Scripture the Commandement is Remember the Sabbath or resting day to keepe it holy it was sanctified and the rest injoyned that it might be subservient to piety and holinesse as also the Lords day is If any such thing were found to belong to that day it was accessary and if ought of type were in it to the Iewes it was not injoyned in the precept but given as an appendix to it and so is taken away by Christ and no way bindeth us to the use thereof CHAP. XXI Breerwood Pag. 36 37. BVt let that be admitted also first that the commandement was immediatly given to servants Secondly that it was given touching the lightest degree of workes Let servants bee the persons and those workes the matter to whom and of which the commandement was given is your doctrine yet justified hereby subject to no other reproofe The persons have afforded me exceptions against it because the commandment was not given to servants And the matter because it was not imposed touching that light sort of works the time also will because it cannot be understood of the Lords day for what day was it of which the charge of vacation was so strictly given Was it not the seventh day of the weeke The seventh saith the precept is the Sabaoth of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt doe no worke And why the seventh Because in sixe dayes the Lord finished all the workes of creation and rested the seventh day therefore he sanctified the seventh day and what day is it whereof we question The Lords day That the first day of the weeke It is therefore the seventh day of the weeke the Sabaoth of
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
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
the peoples edification it conferreth a speciall interest in Gods promises to ministers in the discharge of their function which are not few or of small effects The 25. Section answered What a childish exception is this Lastly after finally Could not you sue that finally ends the reasons against your demand and challenge of an answer and lastly concludes the letter Your spirit would not have spared Paul but have given him a jerke if hee had stood in your way In the Epistle to the Philippians he saith finally my brethren chap. 3. vers 1. and againe finally brethren chap. 4. vers 8. Why charge you him of singular boldnesse to Deceive others when yet your selfe never saw but one soule infected namely your kinsman pag. 80. And there too your sight failed you and your selfe acknowledged it a little before in pag. 95. And where is your zeale or charity to hide such a precious truth as you thought this to be and not to impart it to others for their good The conclusion of the Answer to the Reply But it may be the Publishers zeale charity was great and good he would not bury such a piece His zeale to the law to fire out one precept of the decalogue make God a lyar who said with lively voice ten commandements he gave his charity to servants that they might be under their masters and not under Gods command upon the day of the Dole of Gods grace and blessings chiefely spirituall His zeale to the Lord Christ so great as not to afford him his right in royalty over his own day His charity to M. Byfield that in such a distance of time found best opportunity to vent this hasty yet dead rotten and forgotten birth His charity to the Church that shee should be the Doner of such a gift out of a plenary power to elevate it to its Dignity worth and use and then bestow it on the Lord. His zeale to his owne promotion in the Church for can any think it some pure love to Master Byfield and not rather to his owne ends Balaams wages would guilt even Balaams way But I hope hee will find no Balaks in this famous Church His zeale and charity to Master Breerwood that would have none of his writings perish no not this which himselfe had buried in oblivion or else entombed his owne faith and promise before himselfe was interred for see I produce thee here a letter of his owne hand writing imprinted after the originall word for word which runneth thus To my approved very good Friend and loving Cosen Master Iohn Ratclyffe Alderman of Chester at his house in the North-gate-street give this with speed At Chester GOod Cosin I heartily salute you and your Wife and little Ones and beseech Almighty God to blesse both you and them I have received the money by Graunge with your Letter For the twenty pound I have sent my Mother an acquittance here inclosed which I pray you to deliver her There was thirteene pound over which I delivered to my Nephew Robert and willed him to have the like care of your discharge I heartily thanke you for your care and paines in my behalfe about the sending of that money Touching my Nephew Iohn whether he justly charged Master Byfield or no the one affirming and the other denying it let the just Iudge of all men and of all causes determine to whose sentence and the testimonies of their owne consciences I leave it Notwithstanding I thinke I had good reason to perswade me it was as my Nephew a a I thinke he should have beleeved Master Byfield before his Nephew said For first I saw he loved and respected Master Byfield very much Secondly as it seemed it came from him somewhat unwillingly as if hee was a fraid to procure Master Byfield any displeasure Thirdly other Chester men reported the like opinions to have growne in their servants and they laid the blame on him b b That vile aspersions were cast on Master Byfield at Chester by many loose persons there most unjustly and causelesly is a thing well knowne Fourthly I perceived by Master Byfields late letter his judgement was that works on the Sabbath those at least that might imply breach of Sabbath whatsoever workes those were ought not be performed by servants albeit their Masters commanded them Confounding as I thought many things unskillfully which should more carefully bee distinguished As first the persons to whom and the persons of whom the commandement was given Secondly the workes which servants do of their owne free motion and those which they doe by their masters imposition Thirdly the Lords day in relation to Gods commandement with the old Sabbath as also the breach of Sabbath with breach of the commandement of the Sabbath and the like And although you remember not for your part nor my Cosen your wife the proposing of any such case at your table where hee saith it was done c c Those at the Table testified there was no such Case proposed and answered yet Master Breerwood will by reasons perswade himselfe there was yet it is like he should best remeÌ„ber it whom it nearest touched that it should I say have deepest impression in his remembrance as it found deepest impression as it seemed in his Conscience Yet whether in truth the vexation of his conscience were the cause of that distemper or he made as you say a stratagem of religioÌ„ to cloke some other secret devise I am not able to determine but must referre it to him that is the searcher and Iudge of all secrets But yet I should be sorrie hee should adde that horrible hypocrisie to his other sinnes And yet d d This that followes overthroweth the force of all his former reasons and evinceth that Master Ratclyffs conjecture was more probable than Mâ—ster Breewoods as I dare not accuse him so neither am I able perfectly to cleare and excuse him of it for notwithstanding the outward shew and pretence hee continueth to make of religion more than ever hee did I saw withall his disobedience his disquietnesse his impatience his selfe-conceit his contempt of his friends and their counsell not to be continued only but increased Evill ensignes indeed as it seemes to mee of a sanctified and religious heart knowing as I doe the fruits of Gods spirit to be meeknes peace long-suffering gentlenesse and such like which can not inhabit with the other in one soule Gods holy will bee done in him whose mercy I daily by my prayers sollicite for him and in the infinitenesse of Gods mercy alone is all the remainders of my hope Now touching the difference betwixt Master Byfield and my selfe the prosecuting whereof you earnestly will me to cease you shall obtaine of me Cosen to cease were it a greater matter so there proceed from him no further cause to provoke mee Evill I wish him none at all not the falling of a haire from him although I have freely reprehended that