the mother Synagogue as St. Augustine speaks might be buried with the greater honour it was dâ—…ely and constantly observed by the Church of God But when the fulnesse of time was come for the abrogation of it yet the equity of the Commandement which Divines do call the morall part thereof remaining still in its full strength and vigour required not onely some certain time to be set apart for the publique Worship of God but at least one day in Seven which is not onely the judgement of a Chrysostome and b Peter Martyr and c Bellarmine and Doctor Fulke in his answer to the Rhemtsts commenting upon the words of my Text and other grave Divines but of our profound and judicious Hooker writing purposely against the Schismaticks of our time so as we need not suspect him of Puritanisme Wee are bound saith he in the 5th Book of his Ecclesiasticall policy and seventeenth Paragraph Touching the manner of celebrating Festivall dayes We are bound to accompt the sanctification of one day in seven a duty which Gods immutable law doth exact for ever although with us the day be changed in regard of a new revolution begun by our Saviour Christ yet the same proportion of time the same proportion of time continueth which was before by way of a perpetutuall homage a perpetuall hâ—…age never to be dispensed withall nor remitted Then which I see not what can be spoken more plainly or more punctually which is the rather to be marked for that the Author being a man of admirable learning and of a deep judgement and by reason thereof making many doubts to himself which the ignorant by reason of their shallow and narrow capacities hardly discern and easily swallow is notwithstanding in the point so positive and peremptory as you see Whereunto we may adde the testimony of our Homilies allowed to be read in our Churches by publique authority making also one day in the week by the morall part of the Commandement to be consecrated and that not in part but wholly to heavenly exercises of Gods true Religion and Service And truely this our Churches resolution therein to me weighs more than the opinions of many others to the contrary though I will not censure much lesse absolutely condemne them My conclusion shall be That as the tenth part ad minimum is Gods portion for the fruits of the earth so the seventh part of his proportion for time and both of them not onely under the Leviticall Law but under the Gospel the number of seven is sacred as Philo in his book de opificio mundi hath learnedly shewed but for proof thereof I will go no further then this very book of the Revelation wherein we read of Seven Angels and Seven Trumpets and Seven Vialls and Seven Seales and Seven Stars and Seven Candlesticks and Seven Churches and Seven Spirits before the throne of God all which seems to imply the number to be Mystical and sacred and consequently most properly due to religious exercises in publick consisting in the sacred Service of allmighty God All which notwithstanding some such are found professiâ—…g themselves Christians as Anabaptists and 〈◊〉 who not only deny any set time to be appropriated to Gods service by the law of Christ but further affirme that no such time is now by Christians living under the Gospell in any sort to bee observed And to this end they wrest those passages of the Apostle Gal. 4. 10. Rom. 14. 5. Col. 2. 16. they wrest them I say the only scope of the Apostle in those passages being to cry downe the Ceremomall use or Superstitious abuse of dayes as well among the Iewes as the Gentiles not to make holy dayes set apart for Gods Service unlawfull nay it is certaine that in other places hee mâ—…kes theâ—… lawfâ—…ll and this day here spoken of in my Text in paâ—…ticular aswell by his practice as his precept wâ—…ich will appear in my second generall part which offers it selfe in the next place namely that tâ—…e day here spoken of in my Text is that particular day which is now by us Christians in a speciâ—…ll manner set apart for the service of God In the handling whereof wee have two things to be considered first the severall names of this day and then why it is termed the Lords day This day is sometimes called the Sabboth sometimes Sunday sometimes the first day of the week sometimes the Eighth day and sometimes the Lords day as here in my Text The name of the Sabboth I must confesse in the ancient Councels or Fathers wee shall hardly find applyed to this day unlesse withall they adde Sabbathum Christianorum the Sâ—…bboth of Christians For when they speak of the Sabboth absolutely without any addition they alwayes understand the Saturday the Seventh day the Sabboth day of the Jâ—…wes which except it bee heedfully observed of those who are conversant in their writings it may be an occasion of much errour and mistake Which notwithstanding I make no question but this day may without any just suspition of Iudaisme be called the Sabboth and that for these Reasons First because our Saviour himselfe as I conceive hath so called it pray that your flight be not in the winter nor on the Sabboth day where he speakes of the destruction of Hierusilem which fell out about forty years after his Ascention whereas the Sabboth of the Iewes was abrogated by his resurrectioâ—… and consequently it cannot well bee understood but of the Sabboth of Christians the day here spoken of My second Reason is for that Sabbath signifying Rest the word in regard of that signification is appliable to our day as well as to theirs it being a day of Rest to us as well aâ—… to them True indeed it is that the Sabbath was so called a day of rest in a double respect First because God himâ—…e upon that day rested from the workes of the Creation and then because they in imitation of God and by commandement from God were likewise to rest upon the same day whereas ours cannot be called a Sabbath in respect of the first that is Gods rest but only in respect of the second that is our rest My third reason is for that our Lords day succeeded in the place of the Sabboth and was ordained to the same generall end as our spirituall exercises are called Sacrifices because they succeed in the place of their Sacrifices so may our Lords day not unfitly bee termed the Sabbath because it succeeds in the place of tâ—…eir Sabboth Secondly this day here spoken of in my Text is sometimes called Sunday which though it be a name imposed by the Gentiles who knew not the true God giving the names of the seven Planets to the seven dayes of the week yet for distinctions sâ—…ke I see not but wee Christians may without superstition or relation to them call the dayes of the weeke by the same names that they did as well as we do the
in greatest request Sed eam solennitatem Dominus in diem Dominicum transtulit but the solemnity thereof the Lord himself hath now put over and conferred upon the Lords-day and again in another place Octavo Sabbathum dissolvit And to me Saint Augustine in his Epistle to Ianuarius seemeth to fall in the same way The Lords day saith he was declared by the Resurrection of the Lord Et ab illo coepit habere festivitatem suam not ab illa but ab illo from him it began to be made Festivall To these Ancients might be added of our own Divines Doctor Fulk in his answer to the Rhemists on the words of my Text and Master Perkins not only in his Exposition of these words But in his Cases of Conscience And among forraign Divines the learned Iunius as well in his Lectures â—…pon Gen. 2. 3. as his notes upon Tertullian in the former of which he saith that this day was set apart for holy uses Non humana traditione sed Christi ipsius observatione instituto Not by any humane tradition but by the observation and institution of Christ himsâ—…lf in the latter Vt quem Dominus tum resurrectione sui corporis tum ordinaria Ecclesiae suae synaxi sanctificaverat ut Cyrillus in Iohan. annotavit As being the day which the Lord hath consecrated not only by the Resurrection of his Body but by the ordinary Assemblies of his Church as Cyrillus upon Ioâ—…n hath observed The summe of all is this That the Apostles had not a freedome of choice left to themselves what day they would set apart for the publique exercises of Religion but what was foretold by the Prophets what was shaddowed before and under the Law what they practised and delivered herein they received from the Lord As one of them speaks for all in another case indeed yet not improperly appliable to our present purpose which being so they doubtlesse derogate much both from the honour of the Lords-day and from the Lord himself the Author thereof who would make it no better then an humane ordination or at best an Ecclesiasticall Constitution framed according to the pattern of the Apostles and consequently changeable either by the Civill Magistrate as some or by the Church as others Whereas the Primitive Christians were so constantly resolved of the immutable fixednesse thereof that they expected his return to the generall judgement upon the same day which himself had ordained in all succeeding ages to be kept holy And therefore they thought they could never sufficiently grace it with the highest titles of preheminence they could possibly devise which is my third generall part and now presents it self to our view the notable prerogatives I mean and speciall priviledges of this day beyond and above all other As all time so all dayes which are a part of time are of the Lords making and as a part of time so are they equall among themselves as well in Dignity as Duration but in regard of the end to which and the use for which they are set apart so are they distinguished each from the other which by Syracides is well and truly exprest why saith he doth one day excell another when as all the light of every day in the yeer is from the Sun whereunto he maketh answer By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished and he altered seasons and feasts some of them hath he made high-dayes and hallowed them and some of them hath he made ordinary dayes And surely if any day be an high-day it should in reason be the Lords-day The eminency whereof it shall not be amisse to consider comparatively in relation to other dayes First to the Jewish Sabbath and then to other dayes of the week specially other Holidayes of the Christians For the first of these as by the Gentiles the Lords day was usually called Dies Solis Sunday So was the Jewish Sabbath Dies Saturni saturns-Saturns-day or Saturday and how much the Sun in bignesse exceeds and excells in brightnesse and influence the starre by them named Saturn so much doth the Lords-day exceed and excell the Jewish Sabbath Their Sabbath was instituted in memory of the Creation our Lords-day of the Redemption of the world Now for the Creation of the world God only spake the word and it was made but for the Redemption thereof the Eternall Word the Sonne of God himself must become incarnate and by the space of many yeers both do and suffer many things by means of the Creation man was intituled to the earthly paradise by means of the Redemption to the heavenly by the Creation he was made a Companion of the Angels by redemption they are made in some sort his inferiors being sent forth to minister for their sakes that shall be heirs of salvation In the Creation all the other Creatures have their interest together with man the work of Redemption is proper to him alone Again the Jewish Sabboth was renewed in memory of their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt but our Lords-day ordained to be kept holy in memory of our deliverance from the bondage of Sin and Satan who held us under in a farre more miserable slavery then that of Egypt Moreover it is by Saint Augustine observed that the Israelites passed safely through the read Sea not on the Sabboth but on our Lords-day and both by him and Origen That the Manna fell first on the first-day of the week but none on the Seventh where by the Manna Origen after his allegorizing manner understands the sweet dew of heavenly Doctrine and from thence inferres Intelligant Iudaei jam tunc praelatam esse dominicam nostram Iudaico Sabbatho Let the Jews know thâ—…t even then our Lords-day was preferred before their Sabboth Now in relation to the other dayes of the week and to other holy-dayes This Lords day shines among them as doth the Dominicall Letter clod in Scarlet among the other Letters in the Calendar or as the Sunne imparts light to all the other Stars so doth this day bearing the name thereof both Light and Life to all the other dayes of the week This day saith Eusebius is tum vere praecipuus tum haud dubie primus of all other dayes as truly the principall as it is undoubtedly the first Athanasius cals it Diem sanctissimum and sanctissimum festum the most holy day the most holy festivall attributing unto it both the initiation of the world and mans regeneration Igâ—…atius in his Epist. to the Magnesians stiles it Reginam Princâ—…m dierum the Queen and Princesse of dayes Chrysostome drem râ—…galem a royall day Leo hath written purposely in commendation of it in his 81. Epistle to Dioscorus Saint Augustine in sundry Treatises of his takes occasion highly to extoll it as namely in his 251. Sermon de tempore having spoken of some of the most remarkable things which fell out upon this day His talibus
day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him That the Collection for the poor is here enjoyned it cannot be denyed the words themselves proclaim it and that this Collection was inseparably annexed to the Lords Day because on it the Congregation was assembled not onely this Text but the Ecclesiasticall Writers give plentifull testimony from whence the conclusion in my judgement is clear and fair That the Lords Day it self in which such Collections were made was consequently by them enjoyned for where two things are inseparably united he who enjoyns the onâ—… cannot but by consequent likewise enjoyn the other As when God said Let there be light if light cannot be â—…ep from heat it was in effect as much as if he had said Let there be heat Thus mâ—…ch doth Doctor Rivet collect from these words of the Apostle And thus much it should seem Saint Augustine in his 251 Sermon de tempore gathered either 〈◊〉 this or some other passage of this kinde where he teacheth us That the Apostles not onely obsâ—…ved this day but religiosa solennitate habendum sanxerunt decreed it to be kept in a solemn religious manner from whence we may safely conclâ—…de That at leastwise in his judgement it was not onely their practice but their precept The other point remaining to be proved is That both this pâ—…actice and precept of theirs was by order from the Lord himself and that not onely by secret inspiration but by overt Acts As the Sacrament is câ—…lled tâ—…e Lords Supper because it was instituted by tâ—…e Lord and that excellent Form of Prayer whicâ—… he hath left us the Lords Prayer becaâ—…se it was coâ—…posed by the Lord so is this Day called the Lords because it was ordained by him He is that Sonne of man who is Lord even of the Sabbatâ—… As he dissolved the Sabbath of the Jewes so he appointed the Lords day of the Christians to succeed it New Lords they say new lawes which in him was verified new Sacraments new sacrifices a new Priesthood a new Pentecost a new Sabbath Thus old things passed away and alâ—… things by him became new and if all other things belonging to his service then surely the day too in which this service is solemnly to be performed that so it might be suteable to his service This blessed day was not only foreseen and foretold by the Psalmist but the making of it by the Lord This is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it Psal. 118. 24. where no doubt he prophecies of this very Lords day here mentioned in my Text and so have many of the Fathers rightly applied it and among the rest a Athanaâ—…ius and b Ambrose and c Chrysostome this is the day saith the great Sâ— d Augustine in which our Lord was baptized in Iordan in which he turned water into wine at a wedding feast in which he blessed five loaves wherewith he satisfied five thousand men in which he rose again from the dead In which he entred into the house where the Apostles were assembled the doors being shut in which he sent down the holy Ghost upon them finally in which we expect his comming to judgement Besides all which Bellarmine in his third Book de cultu Sanctorum and eleventh Chapter is confident that he was also born on the same day which he proves by the Dominicall letter of that year falling just upon the 25th of December And shall we imagine that on this day he was born on this day baptized on this day wrought his first and greatest miracles on this day rose again on this day appeared to his Apostles and lastly on this day sent down the holy Ghost upon them the three last of which are most evident in holy Scripture and yet had no speciall designe for the sanctifying of this day in a speciall manner Moreover it may not be forgotten that upon this day his Apostles and in them their successors received from him their Benediction their Mission and Commission Peace be unto you there is the Benediction Iohn 20. 19. As my Father hath sent me so I send you there is their Mission vers. 21. And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive the holy Ghost whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained there is their Commission vers. 22. 23. And again his disciples being assembled as before in all likelihood by his Commandment for the exercise of religious duties upon the very same day of the week following he appears to them again as for the imparting of other mysteries unto them so in particular for the â—…rengthning of Thomas his faith who at his former apparition was absent from that assembly yea after this again before his Ascension he appeared unto them sundry times by the space of forty daies speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God and good Divines are of opinion that he still appeared upon the same day as it is certain that ten dayes after his Ascension he sent down the holy Ghost the same day upon his Apostles being then again assembled being the first day of the week and the day of his Resurrection or the Lords-day on which he also by the Ministry of an Angel imparted these most divine Revelations to St. Iohn All which should argue that this indeed was the day which he had selected and sealed for the religious Assemblies of his Church in all future ages even to the worlds end Neither is this my opinion alone but Saint Cyrill in his Exposition upon Saint Iohns Gospel is of the same minde and Maldonate the Jesuite freely confesseth that some Conjecture may from thence be made Diem Dominicum aliquam ex Christi voluntate originem habuisse That the Lords day had some kinde of rise from the will of the Lord himself yet because he seeth the Schoolmen take another way he professeth himself unwilling to forsake their Company But had he been free to take his own course no doubt he would easily have found therein somewhat more then a bare Conjecture Which I am the rather induced to beleeve for that Ribera a Bird of the same Feather and Nest in his Commentaries upon the words of my Text tels us that Iustin Martyr in his second Apologie to Antoninus the Emperour teacheth Apostolos a Christo hujus diei celebritatem accepisse That the Apostles received the celebrity of this day from the Lord himself which he disproves not but rather allowes and withall addes that the Apostles themselves delivered it over and recommended it to the Church in their Constitutions as witnesseth Clemens Lib. 2. cap. 59. lib. 5. cap. 9. lib. 7. cap. 31. 37. And herewith accords the great Athanasius in the very entrance of his Homilie De Semente Anciently saith he the Sabboth was