places for them that doubt of it Now let us peruse the particular Testimonies 1. I begin with Ignatius though Dallaeus have said so much to prove the best Copy of him of latter date and spurious because others think otherwise and that Copy is by him thought to be written Cent. 3. who saith Let us not keep the Sabbath in a Jewish manner in sloth and idleness but after a spiritual manner not in bodily ease but in the study of the Law not eating meat drest yesterday or drinking warm drinks and walking out a limited space but in the contemplation of the works of God And after the Sabbath let every one that loveth Christ keep the Lords day Festival the Resurrection day the Queen and Empress of all daies in which our life was raised again and death was overcome by our Lord and Saviour Either these Epist. of Ignatius ad Philip. c. are genuine or spurious If genuine than note how clearly it is asserted that the Lords day was to be observed as the Queen of all daies by all that were lovers of Christ. And that the seventh day Sabbath was kept with it then and there in Asia so near the Apostles daies no wonder when it was but the honourable gradual receding from the Mosaical Ceremonies with an avoiding the scandalous hinderance of the Jews Conversion And Dr. Heylin well noteth that it was only the Eastern Churches next the Jews that for a time kept both daies but not the Western who rather turned the Sabbath to a fast But if Ignatius Ep. be spurious written Cent. 3. then as Dallaeus would prove they were written by some heretical or heterodox person And so it will be no wonder that holy dayes are pleaded for when as Dr. Heylin observeth Cerinthus and his followers in the Apostles times stood up for the Jewish Sabbath and Ceremonies and so were for both daies But it will be our Confirmation that even the Hereticks held with the universal Church for the Lords day 2. The great Controversie about the Day of Easter which spread so early through all the Churches is a full Confirmation of our matter of fact For when the Western Churches were for the Passover day the better to content the Jews saith Heylin the Eastern thought it intollerable that it should not be kept on a Lords day because that was the weekly day observed on the same account of the Resurrection The Eastern Churches never questioned their supposition of the Lords day And the Western after Victors rash excommunicating the Asian Bishops never rested till they brought them to keep it on the Lords day Pius Anicetus Victor c. prosecuting the cause 3. The Book though perished which Melito wrote of the Lords day Euseb. l. 4. c. 25. by the title may be well supposed to confirm at least the matter of fact or usage 4. All those little Councils mentioned by Heylin p. 48. held at Osroena Corinth in Gaul in Pontus in Rome prove this The Canons of them all saith Heylin being extant in Eusebius ' s time and in all which it was concluded for the Sunday But saith Heylin by this You see that the Sunday and the Sabbath were long in striving for the Victory p. 49. Answ. I see that some men can out-face the clearest light Here was no striving at all which day should be the weekly day set apart for holy worship but only whether Easter should follow the time of 〈◊〉 or be confined to the Lords day 5. Justin Martyrs Testimony is so express and so commonly cited that I need not recite the words at large Vpon the Sunday all of us assemble in the Congregation Vpon the day called Sunday all within be Cities or in the Countrey do meet together in some place where c. He proceedeth to shew the worship there performed Now 1. Here being mention of no other day no man can question but that this day was set apart for these holy assemblies in a peculiar manner as the other week dayes were not 2. This being the writing of one of the most Learned and antient of all the Christian Writers 3. And being purposely written to one of the wisest of all the Emperours as an Apologie for all the Christians 4. And being written at Rome where the matter of fact was easily known deserveth as much credit as any Christian History or Writing since the Apostles can deserve Nor hath Heylin any thing to say against it 6. The next remembred by Heylin is Dionysius Corinth who lived 175. cited out of Eusebius Hist. l. 4. c. 22. To day we keep the Holy Lords day wherein we read the Epistle you wrote to us c. Against this Heylin saith not a word 7. The next is Clemens Alexander who expresly asserteth the matter of fact that the Lords day was then kept by Christians Yea Heylin derideth him for fetching it as far as Plato Strom. l. 7. But Heylin thinks he was against keeping any dayes But he that will examine his words shall find that he speaketh only against them that would be Ceremonious observers of the day more than of the work of the day and would be religious on that day alone And therefore he saith that He that leadeth his life according to the Ordinances of the Gospel doth keep the Lords Day when he casteth away every evil thought and doing things with knowledge and understanding doth glorifie the Lord in his Resurrection This is not to speak against the Day but to shew how it ought to be sincerely kept But if he had been against it it s all one to my cause who only prove that de facto all Christian Churches kept it 8. The next witness is Tertullian who oft asserteth this to be the holy day of the Christians Church-Assemblies and holy Worship His testimony in Apolog. cap. 16. is so commonly known that I need not recite it It is the same in sense with Justin Martyrs and written in an Apology for the Christians purposely describing their custom of meeting and worshipping on the Sunday as he calls it there as Justin did And that it was not an hours work only he shews in saying that The day was kept as a day of rejoicing and then describeth the work And de Idolol c. 14. he saith that every eighth day was the Christians festival And de Coron Mil. c. 3. and oft he calleth it the Lords day and saith it was a crime to fast upon it And the work of the day described by Justin and by him Apolog. c. 39. is just the same that we desire now the day to be spent in we plead for no other But most grosly saith Heylin pag. 55. But sure it is that their assemblies held no longer than our Morning Service that they met only before noon for Justin saith that when they met they used to receive the Sacrament and that the service being done every man went again to his daily labours Answ. Is this a proof to conclude a
g. If the second Command say Thou shalt perform all Gods instituted Worship Or Thou shalt Worship me as I appoint thee This bindeth no man to Baptism the Lords Supper c. till another Law appoint them Therefore there is not so much in the general Law alone as is in that and the particular also 2. All that is presupposed in a particular Law is not part of that Law 3. It is not so much to inferr a duty indirectly and by far fetcht Consequences as to command it directly Now I prove the assertion by instances All these following are Natural duties and commanded also in other parts of Scripture and yet are not in the Law of Moses as Written in Stone 1. To believe that the soul is Immortal 2. To believe that there is a Heaven where we shall be perfectly blessed in the Knowledge Love and Fruition of God 3. To believe that there is a Hell or life of future punishment for all the impenitent 4. To Love ourselves with a just and necessary Love as such 5. To take greatest care to save our souls above our bodies 6. To tame and mortifie all our fleshly lusts in order to our own Salvation 7. To deny all bodily pleasure profit honour liberty and life for the securing of our salvation 8. To forbear all outward acts of Gluttony Drunkenness Sloth c. as they tend to our own damnation 9. To rejoice in persecution because of our great reward in Heaven 10. To pray constantly and servently for Heaven as the means of our obtaining it Let none say that many of these same things are commanded in order to God and our neighbour For I grant that the same material acts be so as they are expressions of Love to God and Man But to do them in Love to our selves and for our own Salvation is another principle and end not contrary to but necessarily conjunct with the former two And indeed all the duties of self-love as such are past by as supposed in Moses Decalogue because they are deeply written in mans Nature and because the Law was Written as Political for another use Obj. But these are all supposed in the first Command of Loving God and in the second Table Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self Answ. 1. These last are not the words of the Decalogue but a part of the summary of all the Law 2. Both Tables indeed suppose the Love of our selves but that which is supposed is not a part of them Obj. But it is the Socinians that say the Old Testament speaketh of no reward or punishment but in this life Answ. True But Camero de tripl faed and others that rightly understand the matter affirm that 1. The Law of Nature containeth future rewards and punishments in another life 2. And so doth the Covenant of Grace made with Adam and all mankind in him and renewed to Noah Abraham and the Israelites which by Paul is called The Promise as distinct from the Law 3. But the Law of Moses in its own proper Nature as such was only Political and spake but of Temporal Rewards and Punishments 4. Though yet all the faithful were bound to take the Law and Promise together and so to have respect both to Temporal and Eternal things For the Law it self connoted and supposed things Eternal as our great concernment III. There is more of the Law of Nature in other parts of Moses Law conjunct with the Decalogue than is in the Decalogue alone I will stay no longer in the proof of this than to cite the places as you do Exod. 23. 13 32. 22. 18 20. Lev. 20. 1 4 6. Deut. 13. 17. Exod. 23. 24. Deut. 12. 23. Lev. 24. 23. 3. Exod. 12. 16. Deut. 23. 18. Exod. 22. 28. 23. 20. 21. 15 17. Lev. 19. 32. Deut. 21. 1. 16. 6. 11. Exod. 21. 12 13 18 20 22 c. 22. 2 3. Lev. 13. 14. 17. Deut. 21. Exod. 22. 19. Lev. 18. 19. 29. 20. Deut. 22. Exod. 21. 16 21 32 35. 22. 1. 4. to 17. Lev. 19. 30 35. Deut. 24. 29. 14. 21. 25. Exod. 23. 1. to 9. Deut. 23. 24. Lev. 19. 11 15. Exod. 22. 21 22. 25. 26. 23. 4. Lev. 19. 14 16 18 c. By all this I shew you why 1. I allow not of your making the word Law in the New Testament to signifie the Decalogue only or taking them for equipollent terms 2. Why I take not the Decalogue and the Law of Nature for equipollent termes or their matter to be of the same extent And consequently why I take it for no proof that all things in the Decalogue are perpetual because all things in the Law of Nature are so CHAP. V. Whether the truest Antiquity be for the seventh day Sabbath as kept by the Churches of Christ IT is here further objected that the seventh day Sabbath hath the truest testimonies of Antiquity that it is controvertible when and how the Lords day came in but the Antiquity of the seventh day Sabbath is past Controversie that the Eastern Christians long observed it and Antichrist in the West did turn it into a Fast that the Empire of Abassia keepeth it to this day Answ. There is enough said of this before were it not that some Objectors causlesly look for more I answer therefore 1. That it is true that the Sabbath is more ancient than the Lords day And so is Moses more ancient than Christ Incarnate and his Law than the Gospel as delivered by Christ and his Apostles and Circumcision than Baptism and the Passover than the Lords Supper And so every mans Conception Nativity Infancie and Ignorance was before his Maturity and Knowledge And what can you gather from all this Thus the Papists say that their way of Religion was in England before ours and that the reliques of it in our Monuments Orate pro animabus c. is their standing witness which we cannot totally deface And its true if by our way they mean the Reformation of theirs as such For the Cure is ever after the disease Though its false if they speak of our Religion it self which was here before their errours as Health is before sickness But they should consider that by this prerogative the Heathens excell us both And that they may say you have yet many Monuments of our more ancient Religion which you have not been able to obliterate You still call your Week dayes by our ancient names Sunday Munday c. Your adoration towards the East was fetcht from us and so were abundance of your Customes Which we hope may recover the reputation of our Religion 2. I have shewed you already how and why the Eastern Christians kept the Sabbath 1. They kept it not as a Sabbath but only met on that day as they did on the fourth and the sixth dayes Wednesdayes and Fridayes as it is used in England to this
confesseth that its no doubt but the Religious observation of the day began in the Apostles age with their approbation and Authority and hath since continued in the same respect And what needs he more for confutation And as to his allegations of the Judgement of the Reformed Lutheran and Roman Church 1. We take none of them for our Rule so impartial are we But 2. He himself citeth Beza Mercer Paraeus Cuchlinus Simler Hospinian Zanchius c. as holding that It was an Apostolical and Truly Divine Tradition that the Apostles turned the Sabbath into the Lords day that it was an Apostolical custome or a custome received in the Apostles times c. And whereas afterward he would perswade us that they spent but a little of the day in holy worship he himself cited Mr. George Sandys Travels saying of the Copties that On Saturday presently after midnight they repair unto their Churches where they remain well nigh till Sunday at noon of the Evening he speaketh not but of their first meeting during which time they neither sit nor kneel but support themselves on Crutches And they sing over the most part of Davids Psalms at every meeting with divers parcels of the New Testament This is like the old way And such a Liturgie we do not contradict nor scruple Sandys also informeth us of the ArmenianChristians that coming into the place of the Assembly on Sunday in the afternoon no doubt they had been there in the Morning be found one sitting in the midst of the Congregation in habit not differing from the rest reading on a Bible in the Chaldaean tongue That anon after came the Bishop in a hood or Vest of black with a staffe in his hand That first he prayed and then sung certain Psalms assisted by two or three After all of them singing joyntly at interims praying to themselves the Bishop all this while with his bands erected and his face towards the Altar That Service being ended they all kissed his hand and bestowed their Almes he laying his other hand on their heads and blessing them c. And of the Abaffines he reciteth out of Brierwood and he from Damianus a Goes that they honour the Lords day as the Christian Sabbath and the Saturday as the Jews Sabbath because they receive the Canons called the Apostles which speak for both And King Edgar in England ordained that the Sabbath should begin ou Saturday at three a Clock Afternoon and continue till break a Day on Munday These Laws for the Sabbath of Alfred Edgar c. were confirmed by Etheldred and more fully by Canutus But of these things I shall say more anon under the Proposition following In the mean time only remembring you 1. That it is well that we are required after the fourth Commandment to pray Lord have Mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law And we accept his Concession that this includeth all of that Commandment which is the Law of Nature Though I have told you that it reacheth somewhat further 2. That we approve of the plain Doctrine of the English Homilies on this point and stand to the Exposition of sober impartiality Prop. 10. It hath been the constant practice of all Christs Churches in the whole world ever since the daies of the Apostles to this day to assemble for publick worship on the Lords day as a day set apart thereunts by the Apostles Yea so universal was this judgement and practice that there is no one Church no one writer or one heretick that I remember to have read of that can be proved ever to have dissented or gainsaid it till of late times The proof of this is needless to any one that is versed in the writings of the ancients And others cannot try what we shall produce I have been these ten years separated from my Library and am therefore less furnished for this task than is requisite But I will desire no man to receive more than the Testimonies produced by Dr. Pet. Heylin himself which with pittiful weakness he would pervert And he being the Grand Adversary with whom I do now contend I shall only premise these few Observations as sufficient to confute all his Cavils and Evasions 1. When his great work is to prove that the Lords day was not called the Sabbath unless by allusion we grant it him as to a Jewish Sabbath as nothing to the purpose 2. Whereas he strenuously proveth that the Lords day was not taken for a Sabbath de re we grant it him also taking the word in the primitive Jewish sense 3. When he laboureth to prove that Christians met on other daies of the week besides the Lords day though not for the Lords Supper we grant it him as nothing to the purpose So Calvin Preached or Lectured daily at Geneva and yet kept not every day as a holy day separated to Gods worship as they did the Lords day though too remisly So we do still keep Week-day Lectures and the Church of England requireth the Reading of Common Prayer on Wednesdayes and Fridays and holy day Evens Do they therefore keep them Holy as the Lords day 4. When he tells us that Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen plead against them that would hear and pray on that day only we grant it him and we are ready to say as they do that we should not confine Gods Service to one day only as if we might be profane and worldly on all other daies but should take all fit opportunities for religious helps and should all the week keep our minds as near as we can in a holy frame and temper Of the rest of his Objections I shall say more in due place 5. But I must note in the beginning that he granteth the main cause which I plead for acknowledging Hist. Sab. l. 2. page 30. it thus So that the Religious observation of this day beginning in the age of the Apostles no doubt but with their Approbation and Authority and since continuing in the same respect for so many ages may be very well accounted amongst those Apostolical Traditions which have been universally received in the Church of God And what need we more than the Religious Observation in the Apostles time by the Apostles Approbation and Authority and this delivered to us by the universal Church as an Apostolical Tradition But yet he saith that the Apostles made it not a Sabbath Answ. Give us the Religious observation and call it by what name you please We are not fond of the name of the Sabbath 6 And therefore we grant all that he laboriously proveth of the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath and that the Ancients commonly consent that by the abolished Sabbath Col. 2. 16. is meant inclusively the weekly Jewish Sabbath Epiphan l. 1. haeres 33. n. 11. Ambros. in loc Hieron Epist. ad Algus qu. 10. Chrysost. Hom. 13. in Haebr 7. August cont Jud. cap. 2. cont Faust. Manich. l. 16. c. 28. I recite the
exercise but on one only which was the first 2. Because as is said it was not a family or by-meeting but a Churchâ—meeting The Disciples came or assembled togetherâ— 3. Because it said that they assembled for this very end to bâ—â—â—k bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. The great length of time which was spent in the holy exercises Besides the rest of the Worship and breaking of Bread Paul Preaching till midnight which intimateth that such work took up the day 5. Because it is mentioned as a matter of their custome They did not assemble because Paul called them to hear him only as being to depart on the morrow But Paul assembled with them at the time of their assembling to break Bread And it seemeth that he deferred his journey for that opportunity 6. Because other Texts as joyned with this and infallible Church History following do prove past all doubt that it was the constant custome of all the Churches so to do Obj. 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. The first day of the week c. gr one of the Sabbaths It is an ordinance to lay aside for charitable uses but not one word about changing of the Sabbath Answ. The abolition of the Sabbath we prove not by this Text but by others All that we bring this for is but to shew in conjunction with others as part of the Sacred History that the first day was the Churches separated day And I pray mark the strength of the proof that the Apostle did give order that all the Churches of Galatia as well as the Corinthians should deposite their Almes on one and the same day viz. on the first day Was it not enough to tie them to the contribution but he must tie them all to one set day to lay it by or deposite it if it had not been because the Churches used to assemble on this day and not to appear before God empty as Dr. Hammond noteth on the Text Whoever heard else that God or man tyed several Countreys to one set day for the private depositing of their own moneys afterward to be distributed With such Sacrifices God is well pleased And therefore it was ever accounted by Christians a fit work for the sanctified day But no other day was ever appointed peculiarly for the set time of laying by mens gifts of Charity Obj. Rev. 1. 10. John was in the Spirit on the Lords day Compare Exod. 20. 10 c. Esa. 58. 13 c. Luk. 6. 5. Mark 2. 28. Mat. 12. 8 c. And if the Scriptures be the rule to judge resolve whether that day be not the Lords day of which day and of which only as distinguished from the other dayes of the week the Son of man is Lord. Answ. We are not upon a Controversie of title or propriety whether God be Lord of other dayes For so no doubt he is Lord of all and therefore no more of one than another because his propriety in each one is absolute And it can be no more in any Thus also he is absolute Lord of all things all places all persons c. And yet some things some places some persons have been separated to his service by a peculiar Dedication and Relation and thence have been peculiarly called The Lords And the Texts cited by you out of the old Testament prove that such was the seventh day Sabbath then But not that it is so now or was to be so for perpetuity And the words of the new Testament cited The Son of man is Lord also or even of the Sabbath day shews no more then that it was in his power He giveth it as a reason for his doing that which the Pharises counted Sabbath-breaking By which he oftentimes offended them and not as a reason of his astablishing it And it seemeth plainly to mean that being but a Positive Law and a Law of Moses he had power to change it and dispense with it as well as with other Positives and Mosaical Laws As it is said Ephes. 1. 22 23. he hath made him Head over all things to the Church not Head to all things so he is Lord over or of all dayes But all are not separated to his Worship As it is said Joh. 17. 2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him so it may be said he hath power over all dayes that he may sanctifie one to his peculiar service and use the rest in more common works But that which we bring this text for is but to know what day is notified to the world by this title of The Lords day and consequently was then accounted his separated peculiar day Now the signification of words is known but by use They are not Natural signes but Arbitrary You know not the sense of one word of Hebrew Greek or Latine but by the History of their use by Dictionaries Authors or other Tradition Now it is unquestionable to any man verst in antiquity that all the Churches and Authors Greek and Latine Syriack Aethiopick Persian Arabick that have been known among us and speak of such things do unanimously call the first day of the week by the name of the Lords day as being so called from the beginning even from the Apostles And all old expositors so interpret this present Text. And you may as well question what day the word Sabbath signified in the Old Testament almost as what day the name of The Lords day signified in the new Or what sort of people they were that were called Christians first at Antioch when only one sort hath ever since been notified by that name Even the Disciples of Christ. The Greek with the Syriack Translation the Arabick the vulgar Latine have all The Lords day and the Ethiopick as equipollent hath the first day And Dr. Heylin who would find something against it if any thing were to be found speaking of some of late that otherwise expound it is so ingenious as to say Par. 2. cap. 1. p. 37. Touching this we will not meddle Let them that own it look to it The rather since St. John hath generally been expounded in the other sense Aretas and Andr. Caesariensis on the place and by Bedae de rat temp c. 6. and by the suffrage of the Church the best expositor of the word of God wherein this day hath constantly since the time of the Apostles been honoured with that name above other daies And I know no one man nor many that at 1600 years distance almost is so worthy to be believed for the bare sense of a word as the constant use and universal testimony of all ages from that time till now As Christ is the Lord of all our Suppers yet all are not named The Lords Supper so is it in this case I must needs conclude therefore that if I should cast off the evidence of this Text upon no greater reason than you offer me I think I should resist the
of the beginning of a new Creation And Hom. de Sem. The Lord transferred the Sabbath to the Lords day Though Nannius question the Hom. de semente so do few others and none that I know of question that de Sab. Circ Greg. Nyss. Orat. in s. Pasc. saith As God rested on the Sabbath from all his works which he had done in the Creation so did the only begotten Son of God rest in truth from all his works c. August Epist. 119. The Lords day was declared to Christians by the Lords Resurrection From that time or thence it began to have its Festivity Maximus Taurinensis saith Hom. 3. de Pentec The Lords day is therefore set apart because on it our Saviour as the rising Sun discussing the infernal darkness did shine forth in his resurrection And for Fasting Tertul. de Cor. Mil. c. 3. saith We account it unlawful to fast on the Lords day And though the Montanists fasted excessively they excepted the Lords day Tertul. adv Psych c. 15. Ignatius and the Apost Const. Can. are forecited of this Austin saith Ep. 86. It is a great scandal to fast on the Lords day Which the Manichees were accused of The Concil Gangr Can. 18. saith If any on pretense of abstinence fast on the Lords day let him be Anathema The Concil Caesar-august c. 2. is against fasting on the Lords day either for the sake of any time as Lent or perswasion or superstition whatsoever So the Concil Agath c. 12. Concil Aurel. 4. c. 2. And the Concil Carth. an 398. Can. 64. Let him be taken for no Catholick who purposely fasteth on the Lords day And the prohibition of kneeling in adoration I have opened before ex Concil Nic. c. 20. Concil Trulâ— Epiphan c. To which I adde Collect. Can. Johâ—n Antioch sub titulo L. Tertul. de Cor. Mil. c. 3. now cited Hieronym adv Lucifer cap. 4. Die dominico per omnem Pentecosten nec de geniculis adorare jejunium solvere multaque alia que non Scriptâ— sunt rationabilis sibi observatio vindicavit yet Paul kneeled Act. 20. in that time vid. Justell ad Can. 20. Conc. Nic. Question ad Orthod inter Justin. opera qu. 115. p. 283. Die Dominico genua non flectere symbolum est Resurrectionis c. Germanus Constantinop in Theoria Eccles. p. 149. Our not kneeling on the Lords day signifieth our erection from our fall by Christs Resurrection c. see also Basil de spir Sanc. c. 27. To. 2. p. 112 113. Balsamon theron p. 1032. Zonari in c. 20. Conc. Nic. p. 66. see Casp. Suicerus de bisce sacr observ c. 6. 2. Your Historical observations are utterly mistaken The observation of the Lords day was in all the Churches past all Controversie from the beginning while the time of Easter was in Controversie as I have proved Why would you not name those Churches in East and West which I never read or heard of yea or that person that was for the seventh day alone I am confident because you could not do it Indeed all Churches called the seventh day alone by the old name Sabbath while they maintained the Sabbath to be ceased But under the name of the Lords day the first was solemnly observed 3. In Hoveden and Mat. Paris there is not a word of what you say so much do you mis-cite History There is indeed an 1201. which as I remember is Hovedens last the story that many Authors talk of and Heylin mentioneth of one that sound a Letter pretended from Heaven upon the Altar reproving the crying sins of the times and especially the prophanation of the Lords day and requiring them to keep it strictly for the time to come which was so far from being the initiation of the Lords day that it was about 1167 years after it And how could men pretend such a Divine reproof for such a sin if the day not been received before I pray read Heylins History against us which will set you righter in the matter of fact And there is no mention of any such Council as you talk of for the initiation of the Lords day nor any resistance of the Kings or Scots There is nothing of all this in Hoveden or Mat. Paris 4. But what if England had been ignorant of the Lords day till then which is utterly untrue it followeth not that they kept the Sabbath on the seventh day Nor would a Barbarous remote corner of the World prejudice the testimony of all Christs Churches in every age 5. But that you may see how greatly you mistake the case of England read but our eldest English Historian Beda Hist. Eccles. As l. 1. 26. he mentioneth an old Church named St. Martins built in the Romans time and cap. 33. a Church built by the ancient faithful Romans And by the way I think it most probable that the Roman Souldiers first brought Christianity into Brittain so he oft describeth the Worship as agreeable to other Churches And l. 2. c. 2. he begins his reproof of the Britains for not keeping Easter on the due Lords day but never reproveth them for not keeping the Lords day it self And though the Britans and the Scots had so little regard of the English Bishops sent from Rome that they awhile refused so much as to eat with them yea or to eate in the same Inne cap. 4. li. 2. yet about the Lords day there was no Controversie Lib. 3. c. 4. he tells you that the Scots difference about Easter day continued till an 716. for want of intelligence from other Churches though Columbanus and his followers were very holy persons And that you may see you errour he there tells you that they did not keep Easter day with the Jews on the fourteenth day still as some thought but on the Lords day but not in the right week For saith he they knew as being Christians that the Lords Resurrection which was on the first day of the week was alwaies to be celebrated on the first day of the week But being Barbarous and Rusticks they had not yet learned when that same first day of the week which is now called the Lords day did come Here you see that it was past Controversie with them that the Lords day must be Celebrated in memorial of Christs Resurrection and the Scots kept not Easter on any other Week day And that they had not been like Christians if they had not owned and kept the Lords day only they had not skill enough in Calculating the times so as to know when the true Anniversary Lords day came about but kept Easter on a wrong Lords day The same he saith again in the praise of Fâ—nan lib. 3. cap. 17. that though he kept not Easter at the due time yet he did not as some falsâ—y think keep it on any week day in the fourteenth Moon with the Jews but he alwayes kept it on the Lords day from the fourteenth Moon to the
CHAP. IV. Christ performed all these Promises to his Apostles and gave them his Spirit to enable them to all their commissioned work p. 11 CHAP. V. The Apostles did actually separate and appoint the first day of the Week for Holy Worship especially in Church Assemblies Which is explained in several subordinate Propositions And proved 1. By Scripture 2. By unquestionable History And the validity of this proof evinced and the denyers of it proved to subvert the Churches certainty of greater matters p. 12 CHAP. VI. This act of the Apostles appointing the Lords Day for holy Worship was done by the especial inspiration and guidance of the Holy Ghost p. 69 CHAP. VII Whether the seventh day Sabbath should be still kept by Christians as of Divine obligation Neg. proved Where is shewed how far the fourth Commandment is abrogated and all the Law of Moses p. 71 CHAP. VIII Of the Beginning of the Day p. 91 CHAP. IX How the Lords Day should be kept Of the length of the time and the Objection about weariness p. 93 CHAP. X. How the Lords Day should not be spent or what is unlawful on it Of worldly business Of recreations of Idleness c. p. 108 CHAP. XI What things should not be scrupled as un lawful on the Lords Day p. 129 CHAP. XII Of what importance the due observing of the Lords Day is Many great Reasons for it p. 139 CHAP. XIII What other Church Festivals or separated Dayes are lawful p. 148 THE CONTENTS OF THE Appendix CHAP. I. An Answer to certain Objections against the Lords Day p. 157 CHAP. II. An Answer to more Arguments for the seventh day Sabbath p. 180 CHAP. III. Whether the seventh day Sabbath be part of the Law of Nature or only a Positive Law p. 202 CHAP. IV. Whether every word in the Decalogue be of the Law of Nature and of perpetual obligation And whether all that was of the Law of Nature was in the Decalogue p. 214 CHAP. V. Whether the truest Antiquity be for the seventh day Sabbath as kept by the Churches of Christ p. 220 The Divine Appointment of the LORDS DAY proved as a separated Day for holy Worship especially in the Church-Assemblies And consequently the Cessation of the Seventh-day-Sabbath CHAP. I. Though the principal thing desired by the Enquirers is That I would prove to them the Cessation of the Seventh-day Sabbath yet because they cast off the Lords day which I take to be a far greater error and sin than the observation of both dayes and because that when I have proved the Institution of the Lords Day I shall the more easily take them off the other by proving that there are not two weekly dayes set apart by God for holy Worship Therefore I will begin with the first Question Whether the Lords day or first day of the week be separated by Gods Institution for holy Worship especially in publick Church-conventions Aff. And here for the right stating of the Question let it be noted 1. That it is not the Name of a Sabbath that we now meddle with or stand upon Let us agree in the Thing and we shall easily bear a difference about the name Grant that it is A day separated by Gods Institution for holy Assemblies and Worship and then call it a Sabbath or the Lords day as you please Though for my self I add That the Lords day is the name that the Holy Ghost hath set upon it and the name which the first Churches principally used and that they call it also sometimes by the name of the Christian Sabbath but that is only Analogically as it is resembled to the Jewish Sabbath and as they used the names Sacrifice and Altar at the same time for the Christians Commemoration of Christs Sacrifice in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and for the Table or as Dr. Young saith pag. 23. As in Scripture Baptism is called Circumcision And that very rarely too 2. That the Question of the manner of observing the Lords day and what exercises of Worship it must be spent in and what Diversions are lawful or unlawful as also when the day beginneth are not to be here medled with in the beginning but afterwards when the Divine Institution of the Day it self is first sufficiently proved Which is done as followeth Arg. That day which was separated to holy Worship by the Holy Ghost was separated to holy Worship by God the Father and the Son But the first day of the Week was separated to holy Worship by the Holy Ghost Therefore the first day of the Week was separated to holy Worship by God the Father and the Son The Minor only needeth proof among Christians That day which was separated to holy Worship by the Apostles by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost was separated to holy Worship by the Holy Ghost But the first day of the Week was separated to holy Worship by the Apostles by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost Therefore the first day of the Week was separated to holy Worship by the Holy Ghost The Minor which only needeth proof is thus proved That day which was separated to holy Worship by the Apostles who had the Holy Ghost promised them by Christ and given them to lead them into all truth and to bring all his Doctrines to their remembrance and to teach the Churches to do all his Commands and to feed and guide and order them as his principal commissioned Church-Minister was separated to holy Worship by the Apostles by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost But such is the first day of the Week Therefore the first day of the Week is separated to holy Worship by the Apostles by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost I have five Propositions now distinctly to be proved four for the proof of the Major and one for the proof of the Minor The first Proposition is That Christ commissioned his Apostles as his principal Church-Ministers to teach the Churches all his Doctrine and deliver them all his Commands and Orders and so to settle and guide the first Churches The second Proposition is That Christ promised them his Spirit to enable them to do what he had commissioned them to do by leading them into all truth and bringing his words and deeds to their remembrance and by guiding them as his Churches Guides The third Proposition is That Christ performed this promise and gave his Spirit accordingly to his Apostles to enable them to all their commissioned work The fourth Proposition is That the Apostles did actually separate or appoint the first day of the Week for holy Worship especially in Church-assemblies The fifth Proposition is That this act of theirs was done by the Guidance or inspiration of the Holy Ghost which was given them And when I have distinctly proved these five things no sober understanding Christian can expect that I should prove any more towards the proof of the Question in hand Whether the first day of the Week be separated by Gods