fuit imperatum quam id ab Imperatoribus Christianis nequis à rerum sanctarum meditatione abstraheretur neque ita praecise sancitum est It seemes therefore that the Homily hath not most clearely and fully declared all things necessary to be knowne touching this question Againe the Homily saith Whatsoever is found in the fourth Commandement appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needfull for the setting forth of God's glory it ought to be retained of all good Christians Our of the former words it may be collected that nothing in the fourth Commandement is simply morall and of the Law of Nature but that which is most godly most just and necessary for the setting forth of Gods glory And if this be the sence of the Homily as no doubt it is then the fourth Commandement is not in force according to the letter but only according to the equity and Analogie thereof Lastly the Homily saith God hath given expresse charge to all men that upon the Sabbath Day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekely and worke-day labour and God doth command the observation of this Holy day and we must be carefull to keep the Sabbath day which is the Sunday Out of the former passage these questions arise 1. What the Homily intendeth in saying God hath given expresse charge c. and God hath commanded c. Whether God hath immediately by any Divine Law expressely commanded the Observation of Sunday and in what Texts of Scripture this Law and Commandement touching Sunday is to be found Or whether the meaning of the Homily is not that God hath thus commanded Christians by a mediate or ministeriall Law and precept of his Church It may beâ— questioned likewise in what sence the Homily stileth the Sunday the Sabbath day whether in a proper and literall sence according to the stile of the old Law or in a mysticall and analogicall sence as Christ is called our Passeover 1 Cor. 5.7 Now from the precedent observations it is consequent that the Doctrine of the Church of England is not most clearly or so plainly and expressely set forth in the Homily as this Objector pretendeth when he saith pag. 13. The words of the Homily as you have heard and every one may plainely see are so expresse cleare and full that they cannot possibly admit the least ambiguity Reasons to the contrary 1. Evidens censeri solet illud quod ita sufficienter movet intellectum ut in libera hominis potestate non sit dissentire a Aqu. Sum. Greg. Valent. Et alij Scholast Doctores Aug. c. Crescon Gram. li. 3. Ipsa sententia loquatur cujus verba sic fulgerit ut si eam veliâ— abscondere quarumlibet tenebrarum latebras suo nimio splendoâ—e perruâ—peâ—â—t That onely is to be reputed cleare and evident which in such sort affecteth the understanding that it is not in the free power of an intelligent Person to dissent from it But this definition of cleare and evident cannot bee applyed to the words of the Homily for the reasons before delivered 2. According to Tertullian b Tertul. d. Resur Carnis ca. 33. Sententiae et definitiones quarum est aperta natura aliter quam sonant non sapiunt Sentences and Definitions which are cleare and evident cannot be expounded otherwise than as the words sound But the words of the Homily concerning the Sabbath which this Objector produceth doe neither force the understanding of every intelligent Reader to yeeld assent to Br. B. his Exposition and unlesse wee expound them otherwise than the words seeme to sound we shall fall into many absurdities Ergo. It is false which the Objector delivereth to wit The words of the Homily are so expresse cleare and plainely delivered as that they cannot admit the least Question or Ambiguity B. The Homily of the time and place of prayer part first sheweth That our Lord's Day is grounded upon the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue in these words Whatsoever is contained in the Commandement appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needefull for the setting forth of Gods glory it ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian people and therefore by this Commandement we ought to have a time as one day in the weeke wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawfull and needfull workes For like as it appeareth by this Commandement that no man in the sixe dayes ought to be slothfull or idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him even so GOD hath given expresse charge to all men that upon the Sabbath day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekely and worke day labour to the intent that like as God Himselfe wrought sixe dayes and rested the Seventh and blessed and sanctified and consecrated it to quietnesse and rest from labour even so God's obedient People should use the Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily businesse and also give themselves wholly to heavenly excercises of God's true Religion and Service So that God doth not onely command the Observation of this Holy Day but also by his own example doth stir and provoke us to the diligent keeping of the same Good natural children wil not only becom obedient to the Commandement of their Parents but also have a diligent eye to their doings and gladly follow the same So if we will bee the children of our Heavenly Father wee must be carefull to keepe the Christian Sabbath Day which is the Sunday not only for that it is God's expresse Commandement but also to declare our selves to bee loving children in following the example of our Gracious Lord and Father Againe thus it may plainely appeare that God's will and Commandement was to have a solemne time and standing day in the week wherein the People should come together and have in remembrance his wonderfull benefits and to render Him thankes for them as appertaineth to loving kind and obedient People This example and Commandement of God the godly Christian people began to follow immediately after the Ascension of our Lord Christ c. So the Homily and much more whence we plainely observe these conclusions 1 That all Christians ought and are bound in conscience of the fourth Commandement to keep the Lord's-day holily 2 That by the force of the fourth Commandement one day in seven is perpetually to be kept holy 3 That the keeping of the Lord's-day is grounded upon and commanded in the fourth Commandement and so is not of humane institution 4 That the Lord's-day is and may bee called our Christian Sabbath-day therefore it is not Iewish to call it so 5 That this Day is wholly to be spent in holy rest and duties of sanctification and therefore no part of it to be spent in vaine pleasures and prophane pastimes Now the Author of the Treatise doth overthrow all these conclusions for
and integrity to perswade the World that he alone is left a Prophet of the LORD and is guided with the spirit of Verity and Fidelity and that the present Fathers and Rulers of our CHURCH and other conformable Persons who comply with them are little better than Hirelings and blinde Guides And besides his ignorance which is notorious the violent Man is so far transported with bitter Zeale that whatsoever proceeds from him is litigious clamorous scandalous and abusive and his Pamphlets are fraughted with such Materials as are apt to poyson Christian people with contempt and hatred of Ecclesiasticall Government and present Religion established in our CHURCH Also he is possessed with a gracelesse and malignant humour to wit looke whatsoever gives all other judicious and godly Persons best content enrageth him against such as are imployed in the Governement and publike service of the CHURCH But I shall detaine my Reader no longer from the Examination of this Man's Quarrels and Objections vented in his Dialogue and my Answer and Reply shall make it evident that the Doctrine propounded and maintained in my Treatise of the Sabbath maugre the malice of this Blatterant standeth firme and is not subject to any just Reproofe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prove all things and hold fast that which is good A devout Friend of all those who are lovers of Truth and Peace Fra. Eliens The Title and Inscription of the Dialogue A BRIEFE ANSWER TO A LATE TREATISE OF THE SABBATH-DAY Digested Dialogue-wise betweene two Divines A and B beginning with these words Brother You are happily met THE saying of Saint Augustine may justly bee applyed to this Dialogist to wit It is an easie matter for such as cannot be silent to frame babling answers and none are so forward to crake as empty Casks puffed up with Vanity but although Vanity can make lowder noise than Verity yet it will have no power to prevaile against Verity a Aug. de Civ Dei l. 5. c. 27. Facile est cuiquam videri respondisse qui tacere noluerit Aut quid est loquacius vanitate Quae non ideo potest quod veritas quia si voluerit etiam plus potest clamare quaÌ„ veritas Now upon due examination of the Cavils and Objections contained in this Dialogue it will be manifest that the Author thereof is not a person in any measure qualified with endowments and abilities requisite and necessary for such an Vndertaker to wit with sound Iudgement sufficient Learning love of Verity together with Modesty and Humility For instead of solid and substantiall proceeding the judicious Reader shall finde nothing in his Dialogue but presumptuous Dictats absurd and non-concluding Objections perversion of the true state of the question solution of Arguments by denying the Conclusion and pretermission of the Premises abuse of Terms when he citeth Authors rude and irreverent Behaviour b Hieron ad Nepotian Nolo te declamatoreÌ„ esse rabulam garrulumque sine ratione sed mysteriorum peritum Sacramentorum Dei tui eruditissimuÌ„ Verba voluere celeritate dicendi apud imperitum vulgus admirationem sui facere indoctorum hominum est Attrita frons interpretatur saepe quoâ— nescit cum aliis persuaserit sibi quoque usurpat scientiam toward the Person Calling of Him whom he stileth his Adversary And the most of his Positions concerning the Sabbath and the Lord's-day are repugnant to the common sentence of all learned and godly Divines who have treated of this Argument in ancient or moderne Times This rude and gracelesse creature had not the honesty to consider that the Author of that Treatise against which he barketh undertook his Work by command of High and lawfull Authority and the true Reason inducing his Superiours to imploy him in this service was urgent and important For a pestilent and subtile Treatise was published and dedicated to his Royall Majestie in which the Author maintained with much confidence a Theoph. Brab I am tyed in conscience rather to depart with my life than with this truth so captivated is my conscience and enthralled to the Law of God H. B. Law and Gosp reconcil â—p Dedicat. A Booke lately come forth which would utterly evacuate the Lord's-day and reduce us to the Iewish Sabbath againe which will be a worke so much the more necessary by how much this Iewish Sabbatarian findes already many idle gâ—ddy-brained Christians to imbrace thâ— his Booke which is written with a mighty confident and Gyant like spirit as if the arguments thereof were invincible and with sundry probable Arguments That the old Sabbath of the 4th Commandement and not the Sunday or Lord's day of every weeke ought by divine Law to be religiously observed in the Christian Church Now the Grounds and Principles upon which that Sabbatarian builded his errour were the same Positions and Dictats which this Dialogue weaver and some late Teachers of our owne Nation have peremptorily maintained in their Pamphlets Lectures and Catechismes and had those Positions and Dictats beene divine Verities it would have beene impossible to have solved Th. Brab his Objections in a cleere and substantiall manner For it is most certaine that the Sabbath-day commanded to be kept holy in the 4th Precept of the Decalogue was Saturday the seventh and last day of the Weeke b Aug. Ep. 119. c. 10. Sabbatum coÌ„mendatum est priori populo in ocio corporali temporaliter ut figura esset sanctificationis in râ—quiem Spiritus Sancti Nusquam enim legimus sanctificationem per omnes priores dies de solo Sabbato dictum est et sanctificavit Deus diem septimum That day of the weeke in which Almighty God ceased or rested from the worke of prime Creation That very day which the Iewes perpetually observed in their Generations The same day concerning which the Pharisees so often contested with our Saviour The day which was a figure of Christ his resting in his grave and of our Christian Sabbatisme or spirituall Resting from sin Reade the Bishops Treatise pag. 182 183. Now this being a certaine and undeniable verity it will be consequent that if the 4th Commandement of the Decalogue be simply entirely and properly morall and of the Law of Nature as this Objecter pretendeth Then the Saturday-Sabbath of every Weeke must be observed by Christians and not the Sunday or Lord's Day in the place thereof A necessity therefore was cast upon the Bishop to examine this and such like Sabbatarian Principles and to demonstrate the falsity of them For He was not otherwise able by any course of true Disputation to solve Th. Brab his objections Sine causa enimaliquis ramos conatur incidere si radicem non conatur evellere a Aug. li. 50. Homil 8. It will prove lost labour for any one to endeavour to lop off the boughes or branches of a Tree if he shall still suffer the Roote to grow Also because Th. Brab had â—â—on
quality with the Law it selfe and therefore if the Law be intirely and naturally morall then the expresse and speciall object of the same is of the same quality For example in the fifth Commandement of the Decalogue Honour thy father and thy mother c. Naturall Parents are the prime speciall and expresse Object of that Law therefore although other Objects may be added as honour the King give honour to Presbyters that rule well honour Masters c. Yet naturall Father and Mother being named expressed and specified in the Commandement remaine indelible because they are the prime Object thereof In like manner if the fourth Commandement were naturall and intirely morall like unto the fifth then the particular day expressed and described therein namely Saturday must be observed although the Apostles and Christian Church might adde the Lord's-day and some other Festivals for the enlarging of the service of Christ 4 The Bishop also in his Treatise 235. c. 249. c. hath observed certaine desperate passages in those mens Sermons and Tractats whom he stileth Novell Sabbatarians to wit To doe any servile worke or businesse upon the Lord's-day is as great a sinne as to kill a man or to commit adultery To throw a Bowle on the Sabbath-day is as great a sinne as to kill a man And to make a Feast or Wedding-dinner on the Lord's day is as great a sin as for a father to take a knife and cut his childes throat To ring more Bels than one upon the Lord's-day to call the People to Church is as great a sin as to commit murder In Harvest time though the Corne be in danger yet better were it for us that it should rot on the ground than for us by carrying it in with the breach of the Sabbath to treasure up unto ourselves wrath c. It is not lawfull for people to go out of their houses to walke in the fields These former Dictats are borrowed from the old Pharisees and the moderne Authors who have revived and maintained them comply herein with Sabbatarian Hereticks Thus to satisfie my judicious Reader I have delivered the reasons inducing me to stile certaine new Scripturients and Predicants whose opinions I impugned Novell Sabbatarians and if Br. B. and his Allies are offended and hold this Title odious let them right themselves not by raging and thrusting out rayling and libelling Pamphlets marching up and downe in blew Iackets but by renouncing and recanting those scandalous Positions which are apt to impoyson Christian People with Iudaical and Sabbatarian heresie 5 Those persons which the Bishop intended when he used that terme of Novell Sabbatizers were so far from being the true bred children of the Church of England that they were either in heart or in open profession adheres to the Presbyterian Policy and they sucked not their Doctrine of the Sabbath from the breasts of both the Testaments but partly from the corrupt Fountaines of Ancient Heretickes and partly out of the broken Cesternes of their owne private fancies B. The Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the Sabbath is most clearely a If Br. Asotuâ— had said clearely and left out the word most he had said more than he could have made good and fully set forth in the Booke of Homilies which Booke the 35. Article to which all we Ministers doe subscribe doth commend as containing A godly and wholesome Doctrine and necessary for these times and therefore judged to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the People Answ The Homily setteth forth the Doctrine of the Church of England if the words and sentences thereof be rightly expounded to wit according to the rule of the Scripture the common vote and consentient testimony of the Orthodoxall Catholike Church of Christ in all ages and the precedent and subsequent Lawes Statutes and Canons of the kingdome and Church of England But if the words and sentences thereof be not rightly expounded b Tertul. d. Prascript ca. 17. Tantum veritati obstrepit adulter sensus quantum corruptor stilus according to the foresaid rules but according to mens private interpretation then the same may bee a meanes to lead people into error for so it fareth sometimes even with holy Scripture it selfe c Hieron Com. in Eph. 1. Interpretatione perversa ex Evangelio Domini sit Evangelium hominis quod pejus est Diaboli Id. c. Lucifer Nec sibi blandiantur si de scripturarsi capitulis videntur sibi affirmare quod dicunt cuÌ„ diabolus de scripturis aliqua sit locutus scripturae non in logendo consistunt sed in intelligeÌ„do 2 Some passages in the Homily are ambiguous Therefore the doctrine of the Church of England is not most clearely set forth in the same The Antecedent is proved by these Instances The Homily saith As for the time which Almighty God hath appointed his people to assemble together solemnly it doth appeare by the fourth Commandement of God Remember thou keepe holy the Sabbath day Vpon which day it is plaine in the Acts of the Apostles ca. 13. the people accustomably resorted together and heard diligently the Law and the Prophets read among them In this passage the Homily might seeme to those who maintaine the Saturday Sabbath to make that day a weekly festivall because the Apostles upon that day even after Christs Ascension entred into Synagogues and did there performe Christian religious offices Act. 13.14 44. and Chap. 17.2 It followeth in the Homily God doth not binde Christians so straightly to observe the utter Ceremonies of the Sabbath in forbearing of work and labour in time of great necessity In this passage the Homily hath not clearely and explicitely declared 1. How farre forth the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement was Ceremoniall 2. What kinde of worke and labour in particular Christians may lawfully use upon the Holy day Br. B. pag. 22. Will admit no work or labour upon the Sunday but such only as is of absolute necessity as in time of Scar-fire invasion of enemies c. But the Ancient Imperiall lawes permitted sundry workes of lesse necessity than the former upon the Sunday pag. 219. and grave Divines as Calvin Bucer Beza c. approve the same a Walaeus de Sab. pag. 1â—9 Non audemus improbare quod post concilium Arelatense Constantinus in suis constitutionibus tempore pluvio aut alio necessitatis casu permittit ut messes aut vindemiae etiam die Dominico colligantur Quia si ad famis propriae solatium licuit Discipulis sabbato aristas vellere Cur non liceat in tali casu â—d pulsionem praeventionem famis communis terram coÌ„serere messem aut vindeâ—iam salvare Bez. in Cantic Ho. 30. Vt autem Christiani eo die a suis quotidianis laboribus abstinerent praeter id temporis quod in caetu ponebatur Id neque illis Apostolicis temporibus mandatum neque prius
page 23. his words are This Position to wit that the fourth Commandement is properly and perpetually morall and is for quality and obligation equall to the other nine Commandements which for many yeares hath raigned in Pamphlets Pulpits and Conventicles and is entertained as an Oracle by all such as either openly professe or doe leane towards the disciplinarian faction is destitute of truth These are his words which comparing with the words of the Homily of our Church already cited are found quite contrary For the Homily saith That the fourth Commandement is a Law of Nature and ought to be retained and kept of all good Christians in as much as it commandeth one day of the Weeke for rest and God hath given an expresse charge to all Men that the sabbath-Sabbath-day which is our Sunday should be spent wholly in heavenly exercises of God's true Religion and Service Answ The Summe of the former accusation is That the Bishop in his Treatise overthrowes the Doctrine of the Church of England in the point of the Sabbath For his Doctrine is repugnant to the Homily c. which teacheth that the fourth Commandement is of the Law of Nature c. and that all Christians ought to keep it holily and one day in seven is perpetually to be kept holy the keeping of the Lord's-day is commanded by the 4th Commandement The Lord's-day may be called the Christian Sabbath-day Lastly the Lord's-day ought wholly to be spent in holy rest and duties of sanctification Now the Bishop saith the Objector hath opposed all these positions for he hath affirmed in his Treatise of the Sabbath that the fourth Commandement is not properly intirely and perpetually morall like as are the other nine and he hath permitted some bodily exercise and recreation to wit such as is honest and sober upon the Sunday and hee denies that in a legall sense the Lord's-day is to be called the Sabbath-day To the former the Bishops answer is that the Objector hath snatched some words of the Homily but he hath not duly observed the true sense and meaning thereof Athanas Orat. 1. c. Arrian Verba quidem profert veram tamen inde sentontiam sufferatur Tertul. ad Praxean Malo te ad seâ—â—um â—â—i quâ— ad sonum vocabuli exerceas For first the Homily doth not affirme that the fourth Commandement is purely intirely and properly morall and of the Law of Nature like as are the other nine But that whatsoever is found in the Commandement appertaining to the Law of Nature being most godly most just and needfull to the setting forth of Gods glory ought to be retained Now if nothing else in the fourth Commandement is of the Law of Nature but only that which is most just godly and needfull to the setting forth of Gods glory then the Homily maketh not the letter of that Commandement of the Law of nature but the intent and meaning thereof is That the fourth Commandement in respect of the naturall equity b Al. Hal 3. â— 32. m. 5 ar 1. Hoc praecepto praecipitur tempus vacationis aliquoâ— secundum hoc est morale legis naturae hoc secundum indâ—terminationeÌ„ hoc modo secundâ— indeterminationem praecipitur Dominica dies tempore gratiae which is that the Rulers of the Church must appoint necessary convenient and sufficient time for Divine Worship and for religious offices is morall and of the Law of Nature And if the Objector will straine the words of the Homily to a further sense let him well consider into what absurdities and contradictions he will be forced to plunge himselfe For if this Commandement be intirely purely and properly Morall a H. B. Gosp and Law recon p. 38. The CoÌ„mandement of the Sabbath is morall and so no lesse perpetuall then all the rest for if none of the rest of the CoÌ„mandements be abolished then neither the fourth Pag. 42. 49. The Law of the Sabbath was imprinted in Adams heart by the Law of Nature and of the Law of Nature like as the other nine Then it must have all the essentiall characters of the Law of Nature and of Precepts purely and entirely morall But it wanteth all these as is proved by demonstrative arguments in the Bishops book pag. 26. untill pag. 37. and pag. 172. Neverthelesse that I may more fully discover the ignorance and presumption of this Dialogist I shall propound an argument against him which he will hardly be able to solve to wit The Law of Nature was made knowne to all mankinde b Isidor Etimol l. 5. ca. 4. Ius naturale commune est omniuÌ„ nationum eo quod ubique instinctu naturae non constitutioneâ— aliqua habetur by the Common light of naturall reason The same is immutable unchangeable c Decret Dist 5. Naturale jus ab exordio rationalis naturae nec mutatur tempore sed immutabile permanet Aug. Confess l. 2. c. 4. Lex scripta in cordibus hominum quam nec ipsa quidem delet iniquitas eternall indispensable But the fourth Commandement concerning the Sabbath was not imprinted naturally or made knowne to all mankinde by the common light of naturall reason but it was made knowne only and wholly by divine and supernaturall revelation Also the fourth Commandement was changeable and mutable for the Sabbath of that Commandement which was Saturday according to the Objectors owne Tenet was changed into Sunday And lastly it admitted sundry dispensations pag. 34. 67. Now the premises being indubitate Verities The conclusion is firme to wit That the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue is no precept of the Law of Nature d Theod. in Ezek. 20.12 Illud non moechaberis non furtum facies alia cum his conjuncta alios quoque homines naturae lex edocuit At Sabbati observandi non natura magistra sed latio legis Walaeus Alii Synops purior Theolog. disp 21. n. 20. Sabbati praeceptum non est à naturae necessitate ut reliqua praecepta quae menti insita per se cognita sunt sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex voluntaria Dei institutione D. bound d. Sab. l. 1. p. 11. Indeed this Law was given in the beginning not so much by the light of Nature as the rest of the Commandements were but by expresse word For though this be the Law of Nature that some dayes should be separated to Gods worship yet that it should he every seventh day that the LORD himselfe set downe neither is it purely intirely and properly morall like the other nine but meerely positive in respect of any one particular day of the Weeke specified in the same The Bishop desires to receive some reasonable answer from Br. B. to this and to other the like arguments delivered in his Treatise of the Sabbath for if he shall according to his rude manner barke and blatter against his adversaries Positions and dissemble his arguments it is apparent that he maintaines a forlorne and
of prescribing a time and day of holy rest unto the Lord of the Sabbath who hath expressed his will and pleasure herein in his Law of the fourth Commandement as our Homily saith Answ The Bishop acknowledgeth a morall equity in the fourth Commandement for the observation of necessary sufficient and convenient times dayes houres c. For Gods publike worship and the performance of spirituall and Religious of fices And for ought this Objector hath said or can say to the contrary more than this cannot bee proved out of the Law of the fourth Commandement or by any necessary illation from any sentence of the Commandement Or from any principle of the Law of Nature b Lorea 1. 2. de leg Disp 8. Legis naturae alia sunt prima principia practica per se nota alia sunt conclusiones ex principiis deductae coÌ„clusiones autem aliae universaliores proximiores primis principiis aliae quae à primis principiis magis distant sunt specialiores de particularibus objectis For the Principle of naturall Law is God is duly and religiously to be worshipped but unlesse convenient and sufficient time be appointed God Almighty cannot bee duly and religiously worshipped Therefore a necessary convenient and sufficient time must bee appointed c Alex. Hal. 3. q. 32. m. 2. De ratione benè ordinata est quod cum semper non possumus vacare Deo propter temporales corporales necessitates quod aliquaÌ„do vacemus oportet igitur habere tempus aliquod determinatuÌ„ either expressely by God Himselfe or by such as he hath ordained to bee his Stewards and Officers in the Church for Divine worship 2 The fourth Commandement enjoyned the Iewes to keepe holy the seventh day being our Saturday but from hence we cannot conclude by necessary inference that the fourth Commandement enjoyneth Christians to keep holy the Sunday being the first day of the weeke For the speciall and proper materiall object of every Law is a substantiall part of that Law but if the substantiall part of any Law be changed and taken away a new Subject or materiall Object is no part of the old Law but another law must be ordained for the seâ—ling of that new Subject and materiall object in the place of the former 3 Whereas the Objector pretendeth that the Church of England disclaimeth all power of setling the particular time of God's publike worship how then commeth it to passe that this Church commandeth the solemne observation of Easter Whitsuntide Christmasse and of many other Holy-dayes to be dayes and times for the religious service of God and Christ A. But the Homily seemes to favour his opinion saying godly Christian people began to chuse them a standing day of the weeke c. and therefore it seemes to be at the Churches choyce B. Our choyce doth not necessarily imply a power of institution we are said to chuse life and truth before death and error are we therefore the Authors of them Againe our choyce herein is according to God's Commandement Thirdly the Homily saith expressely that those godly Christian people did in their choyce follow the example and Commandement of God Now what example c The Example of God specified in the fourth CoÌ„mandement was his own resting ceasing upon the olde Sabbath Day from the worke of prime Creation and not our Saviour his resting from the work of Resurrection upon the first day of the weeke had they but Christ's rising and resting that day after the example of God's resting the seventh day And for Commandement they had both the fourth Commandement and an Apostolicall Precept 1 Cor. 16. d No generall commandemâ—t common to all Christians for the weekely observation of Sunday is delivered in these two Texts of holy Scripture And that place in the Revelation appropriating this Day as holy to the Lord and so ratified by God himselfe And who were they which taught those godly Christian people to keep that day viz. The Apostles And therefore we must put a vast difference betweene the unerring Apostles and the succeeding Churches so as the Homily is cleare against him Answ The Objector saith The Churches choice doth not necessarily imply a power of institution c. It is answered making choyce many times implyes a free election and institution both in Scripture Deut. 26.2 1 Sam. 17.8 and in Ecclesiasticall and Humane Authors and that it is thus to be understood in the Homily is proved in manner following The sense of the Homily is according to the authorized Doctrine of the Church of England But the authorized Doctrine of the Church of England is That the appointment both of the time and number of dayes is left by the authority of Gods Word to the liberty of the Church to be assigned orderly by the discretion of the Rulers and Ministers thereof as they shall judge most expedient to the true setting forth of Gods glory and the edification of the people Ergo the Churches choyce according to the Homily is a free election of a convenient day and of other convenient and sufficient time for the service of God and the edification of Christian people 2 There is a great difference betweene a Precept and an Example The Homily saith that godly Christians to wit by imitation of God's example observed a seventh day but it affirmeth not that they did this by an expresse Commandement of any Divine Law Also godly Christians made the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue a motive to induce them to make one day of seven a weekly Holy day but that which is only a motive or a reason inducing and perswading to performe an action is not an expresse imperative or formall Law The sense therefore of the Homily is That Christians made choyce of a weekely standing day by the rule of the equity of the fourth Commandement and not by any expresse or formall Divine Law c Walaeus d. Sab. â— 7. Nec Christus nec ipsi Apostoli ex praescripto Christi de observatione hujus diei ulluÌ„ expressum mandatum quemadmodum de aliis pietatis officiis reliquerunt Non videtur autem ullo modo verisimile Si Christus nos ad observationem ullius diei ut partem cultus voluisset astringere fuisse fucurum ut id nullo praecepto indicasset Bulling Apoc. 2. Non legimus eam ullibi praecepâ—am Hospinian d. seâ— cap. 8. Non invenitur Apostolos aut alios lege aliqua aut praecepto observationem ejus instituisse 3 Our Saviour's Resurrection upon one Sunday in the yeare cannot of it selfe unlesse some precept were added be a Law to enjoyne Christians to observe every Sunday of the Weeke throughout the whole yeare reade pag. 302. 4 The fourth Commandement is directly and in plaine termes for Saturday pag. 182 183. and therefore if that Commandement is still in force according to the literall sense then the Christian Church is obliged to observe the old legall
the Sacrament of Baptisme instead of Circumcision Ergo the Ancient Fathers did ever usually stile the Sacrament of Baptisme by the name of Circumcision B. Saint Augustine d. temp Ser. 251. affirmeth That the Holy Doctors of the Church have decreed to transferre all the glory of the Iudaicall Sabbath or Sabbatisme unto the Lord's-Day c. We must observe the same from evening to evening c. that being sequestred from Rurall workes and from all businesse we may be vacant only for the worship of God Thus we duly sanctifie the Sabbath of the Lord c. You see hee speaketh this not as his owne particular opinion but as it was the Tenet of the whole Catholike Church so as the whole ancient Catholike Church did not only observe but call the Lord's-Day the Sabbath c. Answ 1 This Sermon seemeth to be none of Saint Augustine's as appeareth by the stile Nolite in Ecclesia verbosari In Ecclesia garriunt verbosantur Cogunt Presbyterum ut abbreviat Missam 2 The Author of this Sermon requireth the same Vacancie and sanctity upon the Birth dayes of Saâ—nts as he doth upon the Lord's-Day b Idcirco fratres mei non sit vobis molestum in Dominicis diebus in natalitiis SaÌ„ctorum divino studere cultui 3 He affirmeth that the Holy Doctors of the Church translated the glory of the Iudaicall Sabbath upon the Lord's-Day c Ideo Sancti Doctores Ecclesiae decreverunt omnem gloriaÌ„ Iudaici Sabbatismi in illam transferre c. And therefore he could not without contradiction ground the Observation of the Lord's-Day upon the letter or expresse words of the fourth Commandement 4 He makes the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement and the Lord's-Day two distinct and diverse dayes of the week and when he saith sic quoque rite sanctificamus Sabbatum Domini c. He useth the word Sabbath in a mysticall and analogicall sence and not in a Legall or literall signification 5 It is an untruth that Saint Augustine d Aug. ad Ascllic Epist. 200. Cum quisque isto modo fuerit verus germanusque Christianus utrum etiam Iudaeus aut Israelita dicendus sit merito quaeritur Quod quidem si non in carne sed spiritu hoc esse intelligitur non debet ipsuÌ„ nomen sibi imponere sed spiritali intelligentia retinere ne propter ambiguitatem vocabuli quam non discernit quotidiana locutio illud profiteri videatur quod est inimicum nomini Christiano Non debemus consuetudinem sermonis humani inepta loquacitate confundere c. inepta insolentia si dici potest imperita scientia makes it the common stile of the Catholike Church to call the lord's-Lord's-Day the Sabbath for he was so far either himselfe from stiling the lord's-Lord's-Day the Sabbath in a proper or ordinary course of speaking or from approving this forme of speech in others that hee holdeth it inept and insolent to give Iudaicall names and Appellations to Persons or things which are Christian or Evangelicall and hee gives a reason hereof because by such ambiguous formes of speaking a Christian might seeme to professe that which is repugnant to true Christianity B. Hilary Prolog in Psal Though in the seventh day of the week both the name and observance of the Sabbath be established yet we on the eighth day which also is the first doe enioy the festivitie of the perfect Sabbath Answ The Question is not Whether the Ancient Fathers have at any time stiled the Lord's-day a Sabbath in a mysticall and spirituall sense that is a day wherein Christian people ought to abstaine from sin For in this sense they have stiled every day of the Weeke b Clem. Alex. strom l. 5. c. â— Qui perfectus est ratione operibus cogitationibus perpetuo haerens verbo Deo naturali nostro Domino semper agit dies Domini nunquam non habet DominicuÌ„ Tert. c. Iud. c. 4. Vnde intelligimus magis Sabbatizare nos ab omni opere servili semper debere non tantuÌ„ septimo quoque die sed per omne tempus Chrys in Mat. ho. 40. Quid Sabbato opus est illi qui per totaÌ„ vitam agit solennitatem qui peccatorum immunis virtutes observat colit wherein Christians rest from sin a Sabbath pag. 203 204. But whether the Fathers did ever and usually name the Lord's-day the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement in a proper and literall sense The Bishop hath proved the Negative with so many pregnant testimonies of the Fathers pag. 202. that no reasonable person can take any just exception A. Dr. Wh. denies that Christ upon the day of his Resurrection rested from the work of Redemption B. I conferred with H. B. about this because it much concernes him to quit this Question seeing on Christ's resting on that day he grounds the Sabbatisme of it as agreeable to the fourth Commandement And in my judgement if he can evince and cleare it it will prove unanswerable And he tels me that he hath in two severall Treatises in Latine a Maintaining your own principles that the fourth CoÌ„mandement is purely simply morall and of the Law of Nature it will be impossible for you either in English or in Latine to solve Theoph. Brab his Objections against Theophilus Brab fully cleared it and removed all Objections and Cavillations that either Theophilus Brabourne or Francis White have or can bring to the contrary and he purposeth to do the like to D. Wh. And he made it very cleare to me that Christ's rest from the worke of Redemption from sinne on the Crosse and from death in the Grave which was a branch of that worke began not till his Resurrection as for his Ascension that was into the place of rest but his Resurrection was into the state of rest The Bishop's words are Christ was in action on that day but the word labour is of Br. B. his owne coining As for D. Wh. his Objection with Theophilus Brabourne That Christ laboured on that day H. B. shewes it to be absurd and ridiculous seeing Christ arose with a body glorified and impassible So as his actions that day could not bee called a labour that thereby the new Sabbath should bee broken Answ 1. Our Saviour began his Rest from those workes of Redemption by which he made paiment of a price by his bloud for our sins c Liturg. diddest give thine only Son IESVS CHRIST to suffer death upon the Crosse for our redemption who made there by his owne oblation of himselfe once offered a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice oblation satisfaction for the sinnes of the whole world c. Ordering of Priests after hee had made perfect our redemption by his death c. upon the latter part of Goodfriday immediately upon his saying Consummatum est and giving up the ghost Iohn 19.30 Heb. 10.14 Then he continued in his Grave and Bed of rest the
admit the Doctors aforesaid were adverse to us and we to them in many more Positions than indeed we are yet notwithstanding it might be lawfull for us to use their Testimony in all Questions wherein they maintaine Catholike and Orthodoxall Verity b Iren. li. 4. ca. 14. Vera contradictioni minime obnoxia est probatio quae ex dictis adversariorum elicitur S. Paul used the Testimony of Heathen Poets in matter of truth notwithstanding they were enemies to Christian piety c Chrys in Gen. Hom. 57. Infidelium adversantiuÌ„ religioni testimonia majorem habent fidem Et hoc est ex omnipotenti sapientia Dei ut inimici veritatis fiant ipsi testes veritatis August c. Petilian Don. li. 2. ca. 30. and Christians likewise use the Testimony of Iewes and Rabins concerning the number and integrity of the Bookes of Canonicall Scripture S. Augustine used the Testimony of Saint Cyprian against Donatists and Pelagians d Aug. d. Bapt. c. Don. l. 2. c. 1. l. 3. c. 11. l. 4. c. 1. l. 6. c 7. c. Crescon Gram. l. 3. c. 1. d. praedest sanctor c. 14. d. pec mer. remis l. 3. c. 5. c. Gaudent l. 3. c. 1. Epist 107. who was adverse to him in the point of Rebaptizing Tertullian Origen Lactantius c. had their errours yet they that use their testimony when they speake divinely were never as yet censured by any sobero conscientious Writers as maintainers of a bad cause or bringers in of Rascals to be their Advocates B. Certainly in the Point of Sports and Recreations Reformed Churches will utterly faile him yea and disclaime him too c. For the Ministers of the Seventeene Provinces reformed and the neighbouring Churches in Germany petitioned the States of the Vnited Provinces for the reformation of the manifold profanation of the Lord's-day Answ The Bishop maintaineth not but opposeth and condemneth all profanation of the Lord's-day And as for honest and sobeâ—â— recâ—â—â—tion the best Divines of the Vnited Provinces approve the same upon some part of the Lord's-day The Divines of Leidan in Synopsi purioris Theologiae Disp 21. write as followeth Neque tamen omnis recreatio hic prohibetur ut quae etiam inter fines Sabbati est scilicet quae divinum cultum non impedit sacris peractis honeste decenter moderate sine scandalo offensione fit Neverthelesse all bodily recreation upon the Lord's-day is not here prohibited because the same is one of the ends of the Sabbath namely such bodily exercise and recreation as is no impediment to Divine worship and which is used in honest decent and moderate fashion without scandall or offence after such time as the sacred and religious offices of the day are performed And in like manner Walaus himselfe whom the Obiector citeth de Sab. â—ap 6. pag. 131. Vltimo quaeritur an recreationis â—t oblectationis opera fidelibê° Sabbato sint concessa Recreationis quaedâ—m opera hoc die esse concessa non 〈…〉 Deus inter sines Sabbati hoc quoque refere Exod. 23 〈◊〉 respiret Iunius vertit 〈◊〉 recreetur filius 〈…〉 tuae Et Christus ipse die Sabbati 〈…〉 Luc. 14. Et sanc cum dies Sabbati fuerit fostus refeâ—â— quoque Laetitiam Coeli hominis recreatio atque anima corporis vlres reficit quemad modâ—m sapiâ—ns inquit Prov. 17. Animus laetus medicinam facit spiritus autem fractus exsiccat ossa Atque ideo etiam in Ecclesia Apostolica Agapae erant institutae translatae ut videtur ex conviviis sacrificiorum Veteris Testamenti ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutuam testandam honestam recreationem usurpandaÌ„ 1 Cor. 14.20 Iude v. 12. Imo diebâ—s Dominiâ—is ad gaudium propter memoriam resâ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 … are in Ecclesia Primitiva â—â—fâ—â—â—uiâ— Aug. Epist 〈◊〉 ad 〈…〉 We dare not deny some kinde of râ—creatiâ—â— to bee lawfull upon the Lord's-day for God himselfe makes the refreshing of the sonne of the Handmaid and of the Stranger one of the ends why the Sabbâ—th 〈◊〉 ol … â—â—od 23.12 And Iunius translates the word refreshed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recreated Also Christ himselfe upon the Sabbath-day went to a Feast Luke 14.1 And forasmuch as the Sabbath is a Festivall day honest recreation upon that day is a represent of heavenly joy and according to the Wiseman's saying Prov. 17.22 A merry heart doth good like a Medicine Also in the Apostolicall Church certaine Love-Feasts called Agapae being translated from Feasts used at Sacrifices in the old Law were ordained to testifie brotherly love among Christians and for the exercise of honest recreation and upon the lord's-Lord's-day to the end Christians might testifie their rejoycing for the memory of Christ's Resurrection it was held a nefarious thing in the Primitive Church to make that day a fasting day as S. Augustine sheweth 86. Ep. ad Casulanum Rivetus in Exod. 20. a Honestae tamen recreationes quae spiritus refocillent mutuum alant consortium à solennitate illius diâ—i non sunt excludendae Honest recreations which refresh the spirits and cherish mutuall society ought not to be excluded from the solemnity of that day A. Sir I heartily thanke you for your sweet conference which I could be content might last yet a whole Summers-day But the Day now bidding us farwell leaves us to bid one another good night B. And so good night to you Brother A. And to you also good Brother Answ After a due and impartiall Examination of the former Dialogue the Bishop protesteth once againe that he hath observed no one passage in it which meriteth any approbation And therefore Brother A. is fallen in love with his owne shadow when he stileth the same a sweet conference a Ambros Ep. 40. Vt filii etiam deformes delectant sic etiam scriptorem indecores sermones sui palpant Lud. Vives Sicu pueri complectuntur exosculantur specula in quibus imaginem sui aspiciunt c. But let not Brother Asotus deceive himselfe for his Dialogue is neither sweét nor savoury either in matter or in forme but very rude wilde malicious and factious The maine Position of this Dialogue to wit That the Bishop's Treatise of the Sabbath overthroweth the Doctrine of the Church of England c. is confuted in manner following 1 The Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the Lord's-day and all other Holy dayes is the same at this present it was in the raigne of King Edward the 6th and in the raigne of King IAMES Anno primo But the Bishop in his Treatise consenteth with the Doctrine concerning the Lord's-day and other Holy dayes maintained by Statute in the raigne of King Edward the 6th and in the raigne of King IAMES Anno primo Ergo The Bishop in his Treatise hath not overthrowne the Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the Lord's-day and other Holy dayes 2 The present Doctrine of the Church of
d. Pec. Mer. Remiss li. 1. ca. 16. Et li. 2. ca. 4. A seventh Passage of Brother B. All were the true bred Children of the Church of England c. who maintained Brother B. his dictats concerning the old Sabbath and the Lord's-day witnesse Master Cartwright Master Fenne Old Master Gilby Master Snape Master Lord Master Dâ—d Mr. Cleaver Mr. Oxenbridge Master Sheere-wood Master Iohnson Master Nutter c. An eighth Passage of Brother B. The fourth Commandement is simply and intirely morall binding Vs Christians to observe the lord's-Lord's-Day The reason is because the Law of the fourth Commandement according to the proper and literall sence thereof was given to the Iewes only for keeping holy the Saturday and not to the Gentiles for the observation of Sunday A ninth Passage of Brother B. The Holy Apostles presently and immediately after Christ's Ascension taught and commanded all Christians to observe the Lord's-Day weekely and to renounce the Old Sabbath The reason because Saint Paul some twenty yeares after Christ's Ascension a Chytr in Cronol Anno Christi quinquagessimo quinto venit Paulus in Troadem inde in Macedoniam commanded the Corinthians to give Almes upon the first day of the weeke 1 Cor. 16.2 and Saint Iohn many yeares after that stiled Sunday by the name of the Lord's Day A Tenth Passage of Brother B. The first day of every weeke throughout the whole yeare is the Sabbath day of the 4th Commandement because our Saviour began to rest from some of his Redemptive actions upon the latter part of Good-Friday and because he rested in his grave the whole Sabbath day before his Resurrection and because hee rested as much upon Munday Tuesday and upon other dayes following as â—e did upon Sunday An Eleventh Passage of Brother B. To give Christian people any liberty to doe any manner of worke or to use any bodily exercise or pastime upon any part of the Sunday is to imitate the Pope in dispensing against God's morall Law Proved because brother B. is able to produce no Divine or Evangelicall Law recorded in holy Scripture which prohibiteth all bodily exercise and sober and honest recreation upon some part of that day A Twelfth Passage of Brother B. It is unlawfull to use any sober and honest recreation to wit such as is neither vicious in quality or circumstance upon any part of the Lord's-day because all profane ungodly obscene and lascivious pastime is prohibited upon that day and upon all other dayes throughout the yeare as if one should say it is not lawfull to eat or drink upon Sunday because surfeâ—ting and drunkennesse are unlawfull upon that day and upon all other dayes A Thirteenth Passage of Brother B. The Bishops of the Church of England have not power to instruct the inferiour Clergie in matters of Religion because they have not received miraculous grace Ex opere operato Proved because brother B. by his mother wit without ordinary grace or morall honesty supposeth himselfe qualified like an Apostle to correct and instruct all men both simple and learned in the most profound Questions of Theologie A Fourteenth Passage of H. B. It is a grosse Solecisme in Divinity Law and Gospell reconciled pag. 52. to admit an Institution to be Apostolicall and yet to deny it to be of Divine Authority and consequently to make it temporary and mutable Proved because Episcopall Authority was of Apostolicall institution c Iren. lib. 3. ca. 3. Fundantes igitur instruentes beati Apostoli Ecclesiam Lino EpiscopatuÌ„ administrandae Ecclesiae tradiderunt Succedit autem ei Anacletê° post euÌ„ tertio loco ab Apostolis EpiscopatuÌ„ sortitur Clemens Polycarpus in Asia in ea quae est Smyrnis Ecclesia constitutê° Episcopus ab Apostolis Tertul. c. Haer. cap. 32. Hier. Catalog in Clement Ignatio Polycarpo c. neverthelesse according to Br. B. the same is not Divine but the Prelats of the Church of England who exercise such Authority are Veines of the Pope and the maintainers thereof are guided by a Papall spirit Dialog pag. 3. A Fifteenth Passage of H. B. The fourth Commandement being a part of the Law written in Adam's heart needed not any expresse Commandement more than the rest d Ib. pag. 42. Proved because it was made knowne by Divine Revelation only and not by a naturall impression that God created Heaven and Earth in six dayes and rested the seventh and if the observation of the Sabbath was commanded Adam the same was the Saturday Sabbath of every weeke and not the Sunday and God Almighty himselfe appointed the first day of the Weeke to be one of the six working dayes A Sixteenth Passage of H. B. Ib. pag. 45. The seventh Day being an inseparable Circumstance of the substance of the fourth Commandement cannot be separated from the Sabbath The Reason because Christians were taught by the Apostles to make the first day of the week their weekly Festivall and not the seventh day A Seventeenth Passage of H. B. To rest from all labour Ib. pag. 47. is of the very Essence of the Sabbath The Reason because our Saviour maintained that some labour which was not of absolute necessity might lawfully be used upon the Sabbath-day An Eighteenth Passage of H. B. Who can deny the keeping of the Sabbath to be morall Ib. pag. 41. but he must withall proclaime open enmity to God's worship and Man's salvation The reason because the Apostles taught Christians to observe the Lord's-day being not the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement but a new Holy day grounded upon the Resurrection of Christ A Nineteenth Passage of H. B. The Commandement of the Sabbath is morall and so no lesse perpetuall than all the rest Ib. pag. 38. The reason because it was a shadow of good things to come and it was abrogated by the Apostles and changed into another day The last remarkable Observation concerning Br. B. It is lawfull when a man cannot otherwise solve an Objection to passe by both the Premisses of an Argument propounded in due forme and to deny the Conclusion for example No Law which is mutable in respect of the proper materiall Object is a Law of Nature But the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue was mutable in respect of the proper materiall Object Ergo the Law of the fourth Commandement was not a Precept of the Law of Nature Againe no morall action is unlawfull unlesse it be prohibited by some Divine Law expresse or virtuall or by some humane or Ecclesiasticall Law But bodily exercise or Recreation not being vicious in quality or circumstance if it bee used upon some part of the Holy day is prohibited by no Divine Law expresse or virtuall nor by any humane or Ecclesiasticall Law Ergo some bodily exercise or Recreation not being vicious in quality or circumstance may be permitted and used upon some part of the Holy day This Doctor indocilis when hee meeteth with any such Arguments will not be so
So likewise did S. Cyprian S. Augustine S. Ireneus S. Athanasius and all other orthodoxall Bishops in their times and the inferiour Clergie and other Christian people submitted themselves unto them 2 To enable Bishops to exercise this power of judicature in such manner as they assume it it is not necessary that they be endowed with miraculous inspiration as the Holy Apostles were but they may attain ability to perform this by diligent study and meditation of holy Scripture and of the learned writings of the godly fathers and by helps of good learning and by the assistance of ordinary grace And this appeareth by the Bishops in the Councels of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon and by Irenaeus Cyprian Ambrose Augustine Athanasius Hilarius Cyrillus c. Thirdly The Romane a Iacob de Graff Decis Aur. part 1. li. 2. Omnia agit disponit judicat prout sibi placet c. Apud eum est pro ratione voluntas quod ei placet vigorem habet legis Baron Annal. An. 373. n. 21. Bosiuâ— de sign Eccles li. 5. ca. 9. Greg. Val. in Tho. to 3. disp 1. q. 1. punct 7. Pontife claimeth a twofold power of judicature in questâ—ons Theologicall 1. Such an infallible unerring and binding power as that no Church or Creature may appeale from his sentence or Tribunall in any case whatsoever But the Bishops of the Church of England challenge no such power but they maintaine that the inferiour Clergie or any other Christian people upon waightie and substantiall grounds of veâ—â—â—le may dissent from their sentence b August de unit Eccles cap. 10. Nec catholicis episcopis consentieÌ„dum est sicubi forte falluntur ut contra canonicas scripturas aliquid sentiant Id. de persev sanct ca. 21. Neminem velim sic amplecti mea omnia ut me sequatur nisi in eis quibus me non errare perspexerit 2. The Pope groundeth the infallibility of his sentence upon immediate divine inspiration and because He is the supreme visible head of the universall Catholicke Church succeeding Saint Peter not only as a Bishop but as an Apostle c Apud Gratian. dist 19. Sic omnes sanctiones Apostolicae sedis accipiendae sunt tanquam ipsius divina voce Petri firmatae Aug. Triumph Sum. de pot Eccles q. 6. ar 1. Sententia Papae sententia Dei est una Ib. quaest 18. ar 4. Papa quantum ad dognitionem gratuitam revelatam est major Angelis Gretser def Bellar. to 1. ca. 1. Id Solum pro verbo Dei veneramur suscipimus quod nobis Pontifex ex cathedra Petri tanquám supremus Christianorum magister omniumque controversiarum judex definiendo proponit Gulielm Rubeo â— dist 19. qu. 2. Papa Christi vicarius habet tantam potestatem in spiritualibus quantam habuit Christus non ut Deus sed ut homo verus But the Bishops in our Church make not themselves Apostles but are called to be Pastors of the Church by ordinary meanes and likewise they attaine ability of true and right judgement by ordinary helpes of learning and by ordinary assistance of divine Grace Now if it shall be objected that the inferiour Clergie and many other good Christians may equall Bishops and sometimes exceed them in Learning Piety Vertue and therefore Bishops may not be judges of the inferiour Clergie Our Answer is 1. That by the lawes of our kingdome and the Canons of our Church many learned Persons are appointed to be Assistants unto Bishops and in our Nationall Synods in which all waighty matters concerning Religion are determined nothing is or may bee concluded but by the common Vote and consent of the Major part of the Convocation which consisteth of many other learned Divines besides Bishops Secondly to the end that order may bee observed discord prevented and Heresies condemned it is necessary that there bee a power of judicature in some able and worthy persons and our State walking in the way of pious Antiquity a Cyprian Epist 27. Inde per temporum successionum vices episcoporum ordinatio Ecclesiae ratio decurrit ut Ecclesia super episcopos constituatur omnis actus ecclesiae per eosdem praepositos gubernetur Aug. Epist 86. Episcopo tuo noli resistere quod ipse facit sine ullo scrupulo vel disceptatione sectare Hieron ad Nepotian Esto subjectus pontifici tuo quasi animae parentem suscipe Id. adv Luciferian Ecclesiae salus in summi sacerdotis dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes hath setled this power in the Bishops of our Church for if it shall bee left free to every singular and private person to frame a rule of faith and to judge and determine matters of Religion and Theologicall questions and Controversies by his owne private skill and spirit it will then be consequent that there shall bee no common Ecclesiasticall rule of faith to settle unity in Religion but the people of the land will be divided into as many Sects and factions as themselves please b Cyprian li. 1. ep 2. Neque aliunde haereses abortae sunt aut nata sunt schismata quam inde quod sacerdoti non obtemperatur Nec unus in Ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos ad tempus judex vice Christi cogitatur cui secundum magisteria divina obtemperaret fraternitas universa Idem li 4. ep 9. Vnde schismata haereses obortae sunt nisi dum episcopus qui unus est ecclesiae praeest superba quorundaÌ„ praesumptione contemnitur homo dignatione Dei honoratus ab indignis hominibus judicatur and a greater confusion must be among Christians than there was in old time among Pagans and Infidels Lastly it appeareth by the forme of making and consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons authorized in this kingdome that the inferiour Clergy are obliged to submit themselves to the Bishop being their Ordinary and to whom the charge and government is committed over them The words of the booke of Ordination are these which follow BISHOP Will you reverently obey your Ordinary and other chiefe Ministers unto whom the government and charge is committed over you following with a glad minde and will their godly admonitions and submitting your selves to their godly judgements Answer I will so doe the Lord being my helper Having thus farre proceeded in declaring both the quality of Episcopall authority in judging the inferiour Clergie and also how necessary it is for preservation of verity and unity in Religion that this authority be respected and maintained In the next place we will examine the waight of the Dialogaster's objections Object 1 If Bishops are to be guides to the inferiour Clergie in matters of Religion then the inferiour Clergie must lay their hands on their mouth and be altogether regulated by their Dictates But this is unreasonable c. Answ No
desperate cause B. The Homily saith All Christians ought and are bound in conscience of the fourth Commandement to keepe the Lord's-day holily Ans 1. The equity and Analogie of the fourth Commandement obligeth Christians to observe a convenient and sufficient time for Gods worship and service and for the exercise of spirituall and religious duties 2 After such time as the Orthodoxall Catholike Church hath upon the example of the holy Apostles and for other weighty reasons devoted the Sunday of every Weeke to the exercise of Religious duties Christian people in obedience to the Law of the Church grounded upon the equity of the fourth Commandement and the example of the Apostles are bound in conscience to observe that Day holily in the performance of religious duties pag. 100. B. The Lord's-day is and may be called our Christian Sabbath-day and therefore it is not Iewish to call it so Answ 1. The Lord's-day is not the litterall Sabbath of the fourth Commandement and therfore in propriety of speech it cannot be called the Sabbath-day expressely or in particular commanded in the Decalogue but the same is stiled by the Homily our Christian Sabbath in a mysticall and analogicall sense even as mortâ—fication is called Circumcision Rom. 2.29 and sincerity and truth are called unleavened bread 1 Cor. 8.5 B. That this day is wholly to be spent in holy rest and duties of sanctification and therefore no part of it to be spent in vaine pleasures and profane pastimes Answ 1. The Homily according to the Tenet also of other Divines a Bucer in Mat. 12. p. 113. Eximatur è cordibus hominum opinio necessitatis ne quis credat eum diem per se esse aliis sanctiorem vel operari in eo per se esse peccatum Danaeus Eth. Christ l 2. c. 9. Nobis Christianis non tanta tamve severa rigida observatio ne laboremus in die Dominica imposita est Nam ex lege Constantini licet serere metere in die Dominica si commodum sit Aquin. 2. 2. q. 122. ar 4. ad 4. Non est ita arcta prohibitio operandi in die Dominica sicut in die Sabbati sed quaedam opera conceduntur in die Dominica quae in die Sabbati prohibebantur sicut decoctio ciboruÌ„ c. permitteth some kinde of labour upon the Sunday Therefore by wholly it understandeth not every houre and minute of the day but so much thereof as is necessary and morally sufficient for the performance of the religious duties of the day pag. 218 219. 225. 231. 2 If the Objector would have proceeded sincerely he should have declared whether by vaine pleasures and profane pastimes he understandeth all bodily exercise and recreation in generall or such only as is vitious in quality or by reason of circumstances pag. 229. If he meane the first we finde no words in the Homily condemning in generall all recreation to wit such as is sober and honest in quality and which is not attended with evill circumstances But if he understand the Homily in the latter sense to wit that it condemneth ungodly pastimes Then he might have observed the Bishops words pag. 258. The Lawes of our Church and Common-wealth condemne and chastise all things profane and vitious upon the Lord's-day And pag. 259. All obscene lascivious and voluptuous pastimes are prohibited on this day And pag. 229. All kindes of Recreations which are of evill quality in regard of their object or which are attended with evill circumstances c. If they bee used upon the Lord's-day or on other Festival daies they are sacrilegious c. And in the Ep. Dedicat. Profanation of the Lords-day and of other solemne Festivall dayes which are devoted to religious offices is impious and hateful in the sight of God and all good men and therfore to bee avoided by such as feare God and to be corrected and punished in those which shall offend and pag. 109. 110. This Ordinance and observation of the Lord's Day began in the holy Apostles age and hath universally beene continued ever since to the great honour of Christ our Saviour and to the marvellous benefit of Christian soules who upon that holy day are edified weekely in godlinesse vertue and true Religion And therefore we justly account all those who maligne the honour of this blessed day prophane and sacrilegious A. The Author seemes to acknowledge some morality naturall to be in the fourth Commandement for pag. 135. He saith Our resting from labour in respect of the generall is grounded upon the Law of Nature or the equity of the fourth Commandement B. This is nothing to the purpose to acquit him from being an Adversary to the expresse doctrine of our Church Dolosus versatur in Vniversalibus it was the speech of King Iames. The naturall morality of the fourth Commandement is not in generall to imply some Individuum Vagum some certaine uncertaine indefinite time for God's Worship a Vrsin Cat. de Sabba Non sumus allegati ut diem vel Iovis vel Saturni vel Mercurij vel ullum alium certum habeamus Rivet in Exod. 20. pag. 193. Petitur principium cum id pro confesso sumitur ad substantiam maÌ„dati quarti quatenus morale est pertinere circumstantiam dieâ— septimi Phil. Melancht loc Com. d. 3. praecepto Recte dicitur in tertio praecepto duas esse partes unam naturalem seu moralem seu genus altera pars est caeremonia propria populo Israel seu species de die septimo De priore dicitur naturale seu genus esse perpetuuÌ„ non posse abrogari videlicet mandatuÌ„ de conservaÌ„do ministerio publico sic ut aliquo die populus doceatur caeremoniae divinitus institutae exerceantur Species vero quae nominatim de septimo die loquitur abrogata est for the Commandement is expresse for a certaine day in the weeke for the Sabbath Day Remember the Sabbath to sanctifie it It saith not remember to set apart and allow some time for the service of God but it determines the time and day lest otherwise being left undetermined man should forget God Himselfe and allow no time or day at all for God's service or if he did God should bee beholden to him for it Ans 1. Is he Dolosus a deceiver who maintaineth there is a generall equitie in Divine Positive Lawes No man living is able to justifie this For in the Old Iudiciall Lawes yea in many Ceremoniall Lawes there is contained a generall Equity grounded upon the Law of Nature In the judiciall Law set downe Exod. 22.1 2. there is a generall equity implyed obliging Christians to restitution of goods unjustly by them taken away In the Law of Deuteronomy 25.4 Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Corne there was contained a generall naturall equity 1 Corinth 9.9 Therefore he is not Dolosus who maintaineth a generall equity in the fourth Commandement but he is a Dolt who denies
England concerning the old Sabbath and the Lord's day is the same which the Fathers of the Primitive Church received from the holy Apostles and which they taught Christian people in ancient time pag. 13. But the Bishop in his Treatise maintaineth the same Doctrine which the Primitive Fathers received from the Holy Apostles and which they taught Christian people in ancient time Ergo The Bishop in his Treatise hath not overthrowne the Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the old Sabbath and the Lord's-day 3 The present Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the old Sabbath and the Lord's-day is the same which is commonly maintained by all Reformed Churches in Christendome But the Bishop in his Treatise consenteth with all the Reformed Churches in their common Doctrine of the old Sabbath and of the Lord's-day pag. 271. Ergo The Bishop in his Treatise hath not overthrowne the Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the old Sabbath and the Lord's-day 4 That the Homilies appointed to be read in the Church of England must not alwayes bee expounded according to the sound of words but according to the Line and Rule of holy Scripture is the Tenet of H. B. in his Plea to an Appeale pag. 14. The Bishop in his Treatise hath expounded the Homily of the Time and Place of prayer appointed to be read in the Church of England according to the Line and Rule of Holy Scripture and according to this sense and exposition nothing is delivered in the Homily repugnant to the Bishop's doctrine concerning the old Sabbath and the Lord's-day Ergo The Bishop in his Treatise hath not overthrowne the Doctrine of the Church of England contained in the Homily of the time and place of prayer Brother B. in his Dialogue hath these remarkable Passages following 1 The Tenet of the Dialogist is That the 4th Commandement of the Decalogue delivered in this forme of words Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabbath-day c. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt doe no manner of worke c. The Lord rested the seventh day c. commandeth in expresse termes the religious observation of the Lord's-day and the same is a commandement of the Law of Nature Now from hence it is consequent 1. That Saturday and Sunday being two distinct and severall dayes of the Weeke if the Commandement be naturall and expresse for the one it cannot be naturall and expresse for the other unlesse the one day were named expressed or described in the same as well as the other 2 That the Iewes were obliged to the religious observation of the Saturday by the Law of the fourth Commandement which was Positive in respect of that day and Christians are bound to keepe holy the Sunday by the very same Commandement as by the Law of Nature Now all judicious men confesse that the 4th Commandement concerning keeping holy the saturday was a Positive Law Therefore we desire Br. B. to cleare this contradiction to wit how it is possible that the Law of the fourth Commandement concerning Saturday being Positive The same Law according to his Tenet commanding Sunday can be Naturall Againe let this bould Bayard resolve Vs how the observation of the Lord's-day can be said to be expressely commanded in the fourth Precept of the Decalogue when Saturday only and no other day is expressed either by the words of that Precept or is concluded from the words or sentences thereof by any formall or necessary illation Lastly let him resolve Vs how we may rightly conclude from the expresse words of the fourth Commandement that Sunday is to be kepr holy by that Law For if this man will argue rightly hee must proceed in this or the like manner The fourth Commandement literally and expressely enjoyneth the Observation of Saturday and the Precept concerning Saturday is Legally Positive Therefore Christians must observe Sunday by vertue of such a Law as was Legally Positive for keeping of Saturday Gentle Br. B. licke over your Calfe once again and please not your selfe nor abuse your Reader with such absurd Bulls and contradictions a Chrysost in 1. Corinth Ho. 38. Nihil est errore magis imbecillum suis ipsis alis implicatur nec oppugnatione aliunde opus habet transfigit ipse se A second Passage of Brother B. Vnlesse the keeping the first Day of the weeke for Sabbath bee commanded H. B. Dialog manuscript cited in tâ—e Bishop's Treatise of the Sabbath pag. 89. the Divine Authority of it will not appeare saith Br. B. for only God's Commandement bindeth the Conscience But no Divine Commandement is expressely delivered in the Old or New Testament concerning the Religious Observation of the Lord's-Day Therefore if Br. B. his first proposition is true and if hee bee not able to produce some Divine Commandement out of the Scripture for the Religious Observation of the Lord's-Day he must if he adhere to his owne principles be compelled to grant Theoph. Brabourne that the observation of the Lord's-Day is an act of superstition and will-worship A third Passage of Brother B. H. B. Dialog pag. 15. 16. It were not wise to set a Ceremony in the midd st of morall precepts It is a principle in God there can be no ceremony but all must bee eternall and so in his Image which is the Law of nature and so in the Decalogue There can be no Ceremony at all in the Law of the fourth Commandement because Saint Paul reckoned the Sabbath Day among the Ceremonies of the Old Law Colos 2.16 And all the Primitive Fathers ranked the Sabbath and Circumcision in the number of Legall Ceremonies A fourth Passage of Brother B. The Primitive Fathers did ever and usually stile the Lord's-day the Sabbath day of the 4th Commandement in a proper and literall sence The reason because sometimes but yet very seldome They named it Sabbatum in a mysticall and analogicall sence that is an Holy day on which Christian people must have a speciall care to abstaine from sin A fift Passage of Brother B. Because the Lord's-Day succeeded and came in place of the Old Sabbath Therefore the Observation thereof is commanded by the particular Law of the Old Sabbath As if one should say Baptisme succeeded and came in place of Circumcision Ergo it is commanded Christians by the Old Law of Circumcision A sixt Passage of Brother B. The Bishop's of England may not use the Testimony of Divines of reformed Churches because they dissent from them in some Theologicall questions As if one should argue Protestants may not use Saint Augustine's testimony against Pontificians or Pelagians because they have refused his Tenet concerning the absolute damnation of Infants departing this life before they were baptized a Aug. Epist 106. Parvulos non baptizâ—tos vitam habere non posse ac per hoc quamlibet tolerabilius omnibus qui etiam propria peccata committunt tamen aeterna morte mulctari Id.