others or if any doe few I presume will believe him therein Secondly if the Christian Holyday were to consist of a certaine determinate number of houres either the new Testament which alone speaks of this day or the Church of Christ who alone observes it would have directed us where to begin those houres and where to end them For the Iewes were expresly so directed but neither the new Testament nor the Church of Christ hath given any such directions If any say we need no such new information in this point having already the same which the Iewes had in the fourth Commandement we shall I hope give him satisfaction in the answere to the first Argument of the precedent chapter which it doth concerne Thirdly if a Lords night be to be sanctifyed as well as the day this night and all the parts thereof must differ from other nights by some speciall appropriation to the Lord as the day differs from other daies But how can this be unlesse we rest not at all that night in our beds or serve God by dreames and visions Which to affirme were notoriously absurd Ob. If any man demand how did the Iewes then keep their Sabbath from evening to evening Sol. I answere that the reason is not the same for the very corporall rest of the Iewes was simply and of it selfe a Sabbath daies duty so that it was as unlawfull for them not to Rest in their beds that night as to work about their callings that day which I think no man will affirme of Christians under the Gospell Fourthly there is no morall law in nature nor positive law in Scripture but is in it selfe possible to all men in all parts of the world in regard of the thing commanded But a naturall day-day-Sabbath as it is made to consist of a day and a night is absolutely impossible for some men in some parts of the world in regard of the thing commanded in some parts there being nothing but day and in other places nothing but night for a long space together This is so apparent as needs no proofe Therefore c. Ob. It is objected that the Iewes also by this rule might have been as we say perplext had they at any time travailed towards either of the Poles Vnto which I answere Sol. First that the Iewes were in a manner confined unto the land of Canaan except in cases of necessity for the blessing and promise was annexed thereunto being therefore stiled the Lords Land Commerce indeed they had with other nations which proved their ruin but for any voyages they made or Colonies they deduced we read none Solomon it is true sent a navy unto Ophyr which is Peru as most conceive or as Iosephus some place in the East Indies Iehosaphat attempted the like but his ships were broken at Ezion Geber 1. Kings 22 48. For though Solomons navy found prosperous successe intending therein the glory of Gods house yet Iehosaphat having no such warrantable grounds failed in his expectation Some think that the Iewes travelled and tâ—â—ded into that part of the Indies which at this day we call New-England for there they finde a harbour which the natives call Nahum-Keik the harbour of him that comforts or of him that repents It 's usuall in this language to have contrary significations But let it be granted that they meet with some Hebrew words in that tongue what nation is there in whose language you may not make the like observation Say also that the Iewes travailed into the East and west Indies for Gold and Spices I think it easy to shew that those parts of the world in which are either continuall day or night were not known untill after Christ and the destruction of Hierusalem In a word had the Iewes at any time travailed into such places where they could not have kept their Sabbath from evening to evening it had been sinne unto them For when a man shall by any voluntary action of his own cast himselfe into an utter impossibility of fulfilling any positive precept of the law of God it becomes evill unto him though otherwise it be both lawfull and commendable The case therefore is not the same with the Iewes and us in this point they being precisely bound both to places and houses from both which Christ hath set us free The objection is of no weight Fiftly to make the night part of the Lords day to be observed by the Church of Christ is contrary to the ground of the institution thereof which is the Resurrection of Christ For Christ rose not in the night but early in the morning and being risen his Resurrection hath no night But how can the night remember us of that which hath no night If we keep the night before we solemnize not Christs resurrection for he was not as yet risen if the night after we seeme to be enemies of his resurrection as if the Sunne of righteousnesse were set the second time whereas r Rom. 6 9. Christ being risen dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him If any man say he keepeth not the night as a part of the Lords day the memoriall of Christ Resurrection but as a part of his Sabbath in the fourth Commandement He seemeth expresly to forsake Christ and to cleave to Moses and being weary of being a Christian defires to turne Iew. Sixtly A night Sabbath is contrary to the end of the Institution under the Gospell which was Gods publique worship in the congregation for other use thereof we find not in holy Scripture If any man object collections to be made for the poore private prayers and christian exercises c. we shall God willing speak thereof also in its place But night assemblies for the publique worship except in time of persecution are contrary to the Apostles Rule * 1. Cor. 14.40 let all things be done decently and in order Experience in former ages hath made it manifest what abuses were practised under such pretences Ob. If any man say that the publique was appointed for the day and the private for the night Sol. First there is no such rule in Scripture Secondly the Church hath no such custome Thirdly private night-conventicles are as little nay farre lesse to be trusted then publique meetings in the night Lastly the practice of the primitive Church was utterly without any set number of houres and there was much variety in their observation sometime they began their publique worship on Saturday after supper as in Syria and Aegypt Some-time they began their Lords day about the s Tempus publici conventûs fuit Anteluâ—anum Con. Antis cap. 11. dawning the time as they conceived of Christs Resurrection others also began upon satturday noon and held on untill Sunday morning At this day our Sabbatharians are devided in this point some affirming from evening to evening others from morning to morning others from midnight to midnight so that their position of a twenty-foure houres Sabbath
to understand the text Papists indeed gladly extend it farther but cannot To the three and twentieth that it descended from the Apostles by tradition may with more ease be denied then ever the contrary can be proved But we must remember to distinguish of Apostolicall inspirations and traditions according to the doctrine of the Traditionaries themselves before delivered that it descended from them as Pastors not Apostles as a thing of their owne instituting not of the Lords commanding S. Augustines definition we acknowledge and desire no other Iudge For first it is cleare that d Quo tempore Christiani se à Iudaeis seiunxerunt diem dominicam feâ—iari caeperunt non est memoriae proditum Magd. Cent. 1. lib. 2. c. 6. no man can shew when the Iewes and Christians severed their assemblies Secondly many particular Churches varied one from another in this poynt as it hath been said Thirdly the Lords day was never observed as a Sabbath with cessation from works till Constantines edicts commanded it which were afterwards enlarged or restrained by Ecclesiasticall constitutions That the Primitive Church in the time of persecution observed the Lords day as a Sabbath hath no ground at all in Scripture and is not consonant unto reason because certaine it is that they kept the Iewish Sabbath till the Synagogue was buried Neither is it likely that they kept two daies together or if they did is it probable that neither the Iewes should quarrell at this observation nor the Heathens who derided the Iewes for mispending the seventh part of their lives in idlenesse note it in the Christians over whom they held watchfull eyes Or is it likely that the Primitive Fathers who wrote Apologies for the Church either to the Emperour or against the Gentiles in which they expressed the whole carriage of the Church should never so much as mention this daies observation as taken up and kept as the Iewish Sabbath by divine institution If we consider Sabbath duties named in the argument certaine it is that they preached no more nor so much on that day as they did upon others for this they alwaies did on the Iewes Sabbath because of the concourse of people S. Peters sermon upon the day of Pentecost which was the Lords day was accidentall occasioned by those that mocked at them and their gifts of tongues S. Pauls sermon at Troas hath beene already examined and as for their collections on the Lords day I wonder from whence it should be so generally conceived that they were then either commanded or made S. Paul bids theÌ„ indeed provide a benevolence for the poore Saints at Hierusalem against his comming and that they might be in readinesse he wils every man the * 1 Cor. 16.2 first day of the weeke to lay apart by himselfe not to collect in the assembly So that this being a particular occasion was particularly ordered by the Apostle as their wise Pastor not as a ruled case to bind the Church for ever Nay farther we may affirme that collections are no essentiall duties of the Lords day neither are they so esteemed and used in most congregations living as we doe in a setled estate wherein the law hath provided for the poore in another kind The Sacrament of the supper was indeed constantly administred every Lords day but the reason was no way Sabbatharian for the Sacrament being the badg of Christianity could not be received in the Iewish Synagogue wherein they performed other duties Besides they much mistake which judge of their Communions by ours as if they only received upoÌ„ resting daies with sermons before and collections after they only met together in some private Chamber to break bread without any more adoe And this they did upon the Lords day as most sutable to that service wherein Christ was to be remembred Lastly admitte all the argument requires we have only the ancient practice of the Church but this makes no divine institution by the confession of them that most advance the Churches power e Non ideò aliquid est iuris divini quiâ— olim illud Ecclesâ—a usurpaverit Greg. Val. de Euch. q. 7 the Papists themselves To the foure and twentieth That the Apostles should be guilty themselves and make the Church guilty of so damnable a presumption as this argument speaketh of were indeed a blasphemous consequence but the best is this terrible inference hath no acquaintance at all with the antecedent the reputed Father thereof For what was the presumption of Ieroboam and Antiochus figures of that which shall be practised by Antichrist But the changing of those times which God appointed to be observed by his Church commanding others to be kept in their places and that out of impious and blasphemous intentions to subvert true Religion and to set up Idolatry in the roome thereof Did the Apostles so God forbid But the Iewish Sabbath being expired and having breathed out its last gaspe that the publike worship of God might be upheld with decency and order they commanded the observation of the Lords day unto the Primitive Christians which hath no likenesse at all with those things here spoken of To the five and twentieth It is true that the practise of holy men in Scripture not seconded by precept bindeth not the conscience only their example sheweth us the lawfulnesse and expediency of the things practised upon like occasions with like circumstances and this is our warrant for observing the Lords day But for despising the Saturday-sabbath we have more then the naked practice of the Apostles For in all their Epistles they proclaime all Leviticall ordinances and such was that Sabbath to be ceased under the Gospell Christ who was the substance being come To the six and twentieth Whether Pentecost fell on the Lords day is questioned by some and denied by many their reason is because the fifty daies were to begin the morrow after the Passover Levi. 23.16 But plaine it is that our Saviour did eate the Passover upon Thursday-night and so Saturday the Iewes Sabbath must be the first and last from the fifty daies To avoyde this objection f In Ex. c. 39. Rupertus reads the text Thou shalt account from the next day after the Sabbath understanding it of the Sabbath properly so called or weekely Saturday-sabbath and so our Lords day being the next following is made the first and the last of the fifty But this is a plaine mistake of the text For the first day of unleavened bread being commanded to be a Sabbath is that Sabbath there spoken of from whence they were to begin their account Secondly therefore others interpret those words Thou shalt number fifty dayes from the first day of unleavened bread for not only the first but the last also of those dayes was a Sabbath exclusively shutting out the first day after from the beginning of the number of the fifty and by this meanes they bring it also to be the Lords day But whether doth this hold for
of the law giving men sixe for one for God ever was and ever will be alike liberall to all men in all ages in this kind The second drawn from Gods interest in the seventh day The Seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord and what sons of Adam are exempted from giving God his owne The third is Gods example proposed for our imitation for all men are bound by the very light of nature to be followers of God as deare children The fourth is the promise which is made therein For it will be as blessed a day or a day as full of blessing unto us if we sanctify it as ever it was to the Iews God being not lesse good nor his grace lesse powerfull nor his promise lesse sure The fift is the ease refreshing of our servants and beasts to whom Christians must not be lesse mercifull then the Iews Lastly the Sabbath taught them that they were the Lords people and no man will say but that we also are so by as many and by more strong tyes and relations then were ever any Ergo c. Sixtly the law Ceremoniall and Iudiciall were given only to the Iewes and such as were circumcised but the fourth commandement was directed not only to those within the covenant but also to strangers and aliens The strangers within thy gates And upon this ground a Neh. 13.16 Nehemiah reproved the Tyrian Merchants which were strangers therefore c. Seventhly from the words of Christ in the Gospell b Mat. 24.20 pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath day Those words were spoken to the disciples foreshewing that if their flight should happen to befall them on the Sabbath their affliction would thereby be increased But if the fourth commandement be not Morall what addition of sorrow had it been if their flight had befallen them that day Christians and such were the disciples need not trouble themselves about a law Ceremoniall Thus then That commandement the breaking whereof might justly grieve a Christian forced thereunto by flight is doubtlesse morall but the fourth commandement is such therefore c. Eightly that commandement against which humane corruptions doe especially arise and band themselves both in the Godly and the wicked must needs be morall but our corruptions doe chiefly fight against the Sabbath as the Godly feele by experience in themselves and experience doth also make evident in the wicked of the world therefore c. Ninthly that cannot be a truth of God which overthrowes all religion le ts in Atheisme Epicureisme and all prophanesse no good tree can bring forth such evill fruit But that doctrine which denieth the morality of the Sabbath overthroweth all religion le ts in Epicureisme and Prophanesse as appeares in those Churches wherein it is taught in forraine parts Ergo. Tenthly that wich the Church of England teacheth in her Homilies ought to be held for truth by all the obedient children of that Church but the morality of the Sabbath is that which the Church of England teacheth in her Homily of the time and place of prayer as will appeare to every one that will read the same Therefore all the obedient children of the Church of England ought to acknowledge it to be true Eleventhly if you make the fourth commandement Ceremoniall you make the Church of England guilty of Iudaisme For that Church which readeth to her children a Ceremoniall Law and commands them to kneele whilst it is read in acknowledgment of their subjection thereunto and at the end to pray Lord have mercy vpon us and incline our hearts to keep this law cannot but be a Iewish Church But the Church of England thus teacheth her children Ergo. Twelfthly unlesse the fourth commandement be morall there will be but nine commandements in the Decalogue which is contrary not only to the received opinion of all men but to the calculation of the whole Catholique Church in all ages and is no meane Sacriledge to affirme Ergo. Thirteenthly that which is taught by men which are most spirituall and alone discerne the things of God must needs be true and so on the contrary But the Morality of the Sabbath is taught by men that are most spirituall the contrary by men that are carnall therefore c. Lastly we have the authority of all our English writers almost ever since the reformation unto this time neither was it hitherto ever contradicted for at least these threescore and ten yeares unlesse by Papists Anabaptists or Familists Ergo. CHAP. VII In which are set downe the arguments for the negative THe negative tenent hath also its arguments which in the next place must be produced and First it is alleadged That commandement over which Christ was absolute Lord as he was the sonne of man is not morall for a morall precept is part of Gods eternall law over which the sonne of man can have no power being made under the law But Christ as the sonne of man was Lord of the Sabbath as himselfe upon two sundry occasions hath twice told us Math. 12. Mark 2. To these Texts these exceptions have been made 1 Excep 1. That this phrase doth no more import the Sabbath to be a ceremony then the same used by the Apostle doth conclude the dead and the living to be a ceremony for he rose againe that he might be the Lord of the dead and of the living But this is to play with the ambiguity of the word it 's one thing to be Lord of the Church to guide governe perfect quicken raise glorify her for this is the meaning of the Apostle upon which that in the Ephesians may seeme as a comment Eph. 1.20.21.22 And another thing to be Lord of the Law or constitution to moderate dispence order alter abolish for in what other construction can any one be said to be Lord of a law 2 Except 2. It is said that Christ did not intend by these words of his any such Lordship because he did not then abrogate the Sabbath Nor is this to the purpose for never any man yet dreamed that Christ did in those words abolish the Sabbath for both it and the rest of the legall ordinances were in force till they were nailed with him to the Crosse 3 Except 3. It is excepted that our Saviour in those words doth only dispence with his Disciples in that particular case and challenge to himselfe the power and prerogative of expounding the Law against the Pharisees who pretended only to the Chayre and to give interpretations of the Law But to satisfy this also and to cleare the Text we affirme 1 That Christ doth not there or in any other place ever dispence with the law in himselfe or any other for he took upon him the form of a servant and came not to break the Law but to fulfill it 2 That in those words Christ doth not intend to expound the law only for this he had done before by the example of David and by the
hath imposed are without all question most proper and most fit to be retained But God himselfe hath imposed the Name Sabbath upon all daies of his solemne and publique worship and such is the Christian mans feast day The Assumption appears For not only the seventh day in the fourth Commandement but all the new Moones and other festivals of the Iewes are commonly called Sabbaths Therefore c. Secondly those names are commonly best which are most ancient Inquire saith b Iob. 8.8 Iob of the former ages and prepare thy selfe to the search of their Fathers But the name Sabbath is more ancient then any other being the name that was first given to daies of this nature Therefore c. Thirdly that name is alwaies best which doth most acquaint us with the nature of the thing In this the excellent Wisdome which God gave unto Adam appeared that he gave names to all the creatures answerable to their natures But the name Sabbath given to the daies of publique worship is such for they are daies of rest unto us and they were instituted in remembrance of Gods rest at the Creation and of Christs rest in the Resurrection and are pledges of our future rest in glory What name therefore can better agree unto them then Sabbath which is as much as Rest Fourthly that name is doubtlesse best which best directs us to the duties of the day For if c 1. Cor. 1â— 26 all things must be done for edifying such names are best to be imposed and used as are most accommodated unto edifying But the name Sabbath best leads us unto the duties of this day both outward and inward Outward Resting from all Corporall and worldly employments Inward resting from the spirituall slavery of sin and Satan Adde thereunto that it doth not only best direct us unto the duties of the day but it doth also help to confirme our faith and hope in the promises of God concerning the life to come and our d Math. 8.11 sitting down to rest with Abraham Isaack and Iacob in Gods kingdome Therefore c. Fiftly we must not affect to be singular in anything not so much as in words and Phrases Loquendum cum vulgo saith the proverbe But not only the vulgar but all men whaâ—soever speak religiously and reverently of the Sabbath day Therefore c. CHAP. XII The reasons against the name of Sabbath are briefly alleadged FOr the Negative opinion stand these reasons First he speaks best of things whose language is most conformable to the holy Ghost in the Scripture But the holy Ghost doth every where in the new Testament which alone speaks of the Christian mans Holy-day as having being and existency call it the Lords day no where the Sabbath day The name of the Lords day is therefore best and fittest to be used Secondly we should retaine those names which the Primitive Church in the purest times the first three hundered yeares chiefly used unlesse through any corruption or abuse they are scandalous But the name of the Lords day hath been chiefly used in the Primitive Church and in the purest times neither is it since through any abuse become scandalous Ergo c. Thirdly we of the reformed Churches should not forsake the Roman Church but where necessity doth inforce us For then we are guilty of that Schisme which is made in the Christian world Neither should we vary from our selves so much as were it possible in sounds and Syllables for then we may be justly noted for singularity and affectation But both the Romane Church and all reformed Churches use to stile it the Lords day not the Sabbath Ergo c. Fourthly we that are Christians should beware how we gratify the Iewes in their superstitious obstinacy against Christ and his Gospell in the least things least we partake with them in their hardnesse of heart the ancient Christians fasted Saturday especially for this reason because the Iewes fasted on Sattâ—rday But in using the name Sabbath we gratify the Iewes in their obstinacy against Christ and his Gospell For they abhorre the name of the Lords day as the greatest Blasphemy Therefore c. Fiftly it is one of the chiefest points of a Christian mans wisdome so to speak as not to put a stumbling block before his weaker Brethren He that doth otherwise a Rom. 14.15 walketh not charitably saith the Apostle But the name Sabbath may be and is become a snare to many weak ones especially in reading of the Scriptures For where ever they find the name Sabbath they presently conceive it to be spoken of and to agree to the Lords day and many times by this means fall into flat Iudaisme as appears by their quoting of the old Testament in the Questions in hand Therefore c. Sixtly that name which doth lesse edify is lesse proper This I thinke will easily be agreed on by all parties But the name Sabbath doth lesse edify For it leads us only to an outward cessation from bodily labour which of it selfe and precisely considered was indeed a duty of the Iewish Sabbath but is not so of the Christian Festivall as hereafter shall appeare On the contrary the name Lords day doth best open and explain the whole nature and duty of the day as the remembrance of Christs resurrection the acknowledgment of his Lordship over the Church and all other Creatures in the world Ergo c. CHAP. XIII Wherein is briefly shewed what is to be thought of this Question IT is a frequent rule in c Cùm de re constat propter quam ver ba dicuntur de verbis non debere contendi si quis id facit imperitiâ docendum esse simalitiâ deserendum Aug. cont Acad. lib. 3. cap. 13. lib. 2. cap. 11. S. Austine that wise men should not strive about words unlesse when there is some reall difference in the things But I doubt whether this question be only a fight about words For as the d Non illos viros â—os fuisse arbitror qui rebus nescirent nomina imponere seâ— mihi videntur haec vocabula elegisse ad occultandum tardioribus ad significandum vigilantioribus scientiam suam Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 10. same father speaks of the Academicks so may we without breach of charity suspect of our Sabbatharians at this day They are not saith he such simple men as know not to give things their proper names but they purposely make choice of such words as may best serve both to hide from the simple and to intimate to the wiser sort of their disciples their opinions Else I see no reason at all why the name Sabbath should be so common and that of Lords day so seldome used I deny not but the name Sabbath is lawfull and may also be used by such as have their wits well exercised in Scriptures if without superstition fraud or scandall But yet notwithstanding the name Lords day is both more fit in it selfe serving
day of the week is longer or shorter then other but if the Lords day as the rest hath not twenty foure houres it must needs be shorter that which is next there unto either going before or comeing after must be longer then any other day Therefore c. Thirdly it is a good Rule which the Rabbins give that we should not take from that which is holy to adde to that which is prophane but on the contrary But if the day of Gods publique worship amongst us have not allowed it so many houres as other daies we take from that which is holy and adde to that which is prophane even our own secular imployments which were impious and sacrilegious Therefore c. Fourthly if the Iewes Sabbath were to consist of twenty foure houres then much more the Christians For we have both received more and greater benefits and we also have more and greater mysteries of Godlinesse to contemplate But the Iewish Sabbath was a whole naturall day Therefore c. Fiftly the Scripture seemes to be plaine to this purpose For the 92. Psalme was the Psalme of the Sabbath as appears by the title thereof and in the very begining thereof the Prophet sets downe the very time of its observation saying i Psal 92.1.2 it is a good thing to praise the Lord and to sing unto thy name O most High to declare thy loving kindnesse in the morning and thy truth in the night season meaning a whole naturall day Therefore c. Sixtly we must rest as God Rested begining to rest from the works of our callings when God began to rest from the worke of Creation For Gods rest is propounded in the Commandement to be our patterne but God began his rest at evening the sixt day immediatly after the making of the woman and so continued the day of his rest which was the seventh If therefore our Rest must be answerable to Gods Rest it must begin at evening and continue till evening Therefore c. Seventhly as Christ rested so must the Christian rest his actions were our instructions and we call the day of our Rest the Lords because it was dedicated unto him but Christ finished his course and began his Rest over night resting in the grave foure and twenty houres at the least Our Rest therefore being grounded upon Christs Rest cannot be lesse then a whole Naturall day Eightly as the Apostles to whom the observation of the day was immediatly prescribed by Christ himselfe kept the day in their own persons so doubtlesse must we their successors in all after ages But the Apostles Sabbath was a whole naturall day This appears by S. Pauls practice at Troas when he preached and administred the Sacrament and communed with the Disciples of holy things all duties of the Lords day k Acts 2â— 11 untill the morning Ergo c. Ninthly as our Saviour who instituted the day observed it in his own person so doubtlesse must the Church for ever But our Saviour appeared and his very apparition was the institution not only early in the morning but also l Iohn 20.19 late at night to his Disciples and even then preached unto them and gave them the holy Ghost with the keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven therefore c. If any object that by night in that place is understood the evening or shutting in of the light only making it thereby a day artificiall the very circuÌ„stances of the Text are against him For first the doores of the house were shut saith the Text which is not usually done in the evening Secondly they feared a search would be made for them which is commonly done in the dead and depth of the night Thirdly m Profundâ jam nocte Aret. in locum Aretius a good Protestant Expositor saith expresly it was very late in the night Tenthly as the Primitive Church observed the day so must we But the Primitive Church kept a night as well as a day as plainly appears by their vigills and over-night assemblies not only in time of persecution but when the Emperours themselves were Christians Every man knowes and we read unto this day the Sermons of the ancient Fathers in their vigils which doubtlesse had never been but that they held themselves obliged to a twenty-foure-houres Sabbath at the least Therefore c. Lastly divers good authorities may be brought to this purpose not only of some private men as n Sicut Antiquis praeceptum est de Sabbatho dicente legislatore à vespere usque ad veâ—eram Aug. de tempore St Augustine and o Irenaeus contra Valent. l. 4. cap. 31. Irenaeus but whole p Observemus igitur Diem Dominicum sanctificemus eum à vespere diei Sabbathi usque ad vesperam Dominici diei sequestrati ab omni negotio Con. Agath cap. 47. Noctem ipsam quae nos insseratae lucd inâ—â—cessibili redidis spiritualibus excubijs exigamus Con. Matis c. 1. Councells have so determined this point nay the very Canon law the sink and dunghill of Popery CHAP. XV. The Arguments against the day naturall are proposed THe negative Tenent hath also its Reasons First our Resting day must be proportionable to our working day for they are relatives and all relatives have their mutuall Respects in all things in which they are Relatives Certaine therefore it is that God requires for himselfe such a day of Rest as he doth proportion unto us for our own imployments But our working daies are Artificiall not naturall Man goeth forth unto his labour till the evening q Psal 104.3 saith the Prophet * Ioh. 11.9 there are twelve houres of the day saith our Saviour * Ioh. 9.4 night cometh wherein no man worketh Therefore c. Ob. May not a man then work by night in his lawfull calling Resp Yes doubtlesse if he offend not against the rules of mercy to himselfe or others or if there intervene not some other irregularity in his working and upon this caution also he may lawfully spend the Lords night in holy exercises But our question is not what some men may doe but what all men must doe under paine of sinne Ob. But doth not then the rule hold that those who sit up late at night about their own workes on week daies should proportionably watch about holy things at night on the Lords day Resp This no way agreeth with the intention of the Lawgiver which in commanding the Sabbath had a twofold intention the one his own publique worship and the spirituall good of mankind the other the corporall refreshing and reviving the bodies of his servants and of all that belonges unto them I would now gladly know what refreshing the body of a man hath by the Sabbath if he must labour about holy things not only all day but most part of the night also But I think no sober minded man will say it is a sinne to goe to bed sooner upon this night then upon
shall be broken fulfilled both in the paschall a Numb 9.12 Lamb and b Ioh. 19.36 Christ our passover Out of Egypt have I called my Sonne first verified of c Hos 11.1 Israel his adopted Sonne then of d Math. 2.15 Christ his naturall Sonne A voyce was heard in Ramah understood first of the captivity of the Iewes foretold by the e Jer. 31.15 Prophet then f Math. 2.18 of the number of the Innocents by the cruelty of Herod As it is in these and divers other places of this kind so it is in the letter of the fourth Commandement where either we have two literall sences one for the Iewes Sabbath an other for the Christians or at least one literall sence twice fulfilled once under Moses and once under Christ Now whatsoever is commanded the Church in the Scripture under any literall Sence is of divine institution But the Lords day is commanded in the fourth precept though not in the first yet in the second literall sence Therefore c. Fourthly that which was foretold and typified in the old Testament is of divine institution in the new for where the ceremony is commanded the Iew the substance is commanded the Christian for example where unleavened bread is commanded them there sincerity and truth is commanded us But the Lords day was thus typified and foretold in the Testament This the Rabbins themselues have observed in sundry passages First in the words of God saying let there be light therefore the Messiah should rise the first day of the week Secondly from the fall of Adam on the sixt day therefore the Messiah should suffer that day rest in the grave the seventh and rise the next Thirdly from the words of Boaz to Ruth g Ruth 3.13 sleep untill the morning therefore the Messiah should sleep in the grave all night and rise in the morning Fourthly from the cloud covering the people first on this day from Aaron and his sonnes executing their Priesthood first on this day from the Princes of the congregation who made their offerings towards the erecting of the Tabernacle on this day From the fire also which first came down from heaven and consumed the Sacrifices upon this day And if any man be so prophane hearted as not to be convinced by these grave collections of the Iewish Rabbins he shall find the same averred by the Fathers and Synods in the Church of Christ Both h Hic dies octavus i. e. SabbathuÌ„ primus praecessit in imagine quae imago cessavit superventente post-modâ—â— veritate Cyp. ad Fid. Ep 59. Saint Cyprian and i Sanctos patrer plenos spirita octavae dieâ— sacramentum non latebat quo figuraâ—atur resurrectio nam pro octavâ— Psalmus inscribitur octava lic circumciâ—e bantur â—â—â—â—nteâ— Aug. ad Lan. Fo. 119. Saint Austin make the Administration of the Circumcision on this day a Type and Figure of its future observation The Synod called Foro-Iuliensis affirmes that Isaiah prophesied of this day An other Synod held at Matiscon said expresly that this day which was intimated unto us by the shadow of the Iewes seventh-day is made known unto us both by the Law and Prophets what can be more evident Fiftly that day which the Lord himselfe hath made must needs be a day of the Lords own instituting for to make and to ordaine and appoint are in this case termes equivalent But the Lords day is a day of the Lords own making and appointing k â—pse est dâ—e◠〈◊〉 perpetâ—â—â— ipse nobis per septimae dici umbram insinuatus noscitur in lege Prophetis Câ—nâ— â—â—â—atis c. â— Syn For. c. 13. so saith the Prophet David l Psal 118. This is the day which the Lord hath made And therefore m Exultemus Laetemur in eo qui à lumine vero nostras tenebras fugaturus illuxit nos ergo constituamus diâ—m dominicam in frequentationibus usque ad cornua altaris Arnob. in locum Arnobius upon this place saith let us also make our Lords day a great day since God himselfe hath so made it A learned Prelate also of our Church hath a Sermon extant upon that text much to the same purpose Therefore c. Sixtly that day which the Lord ever doth and will blesse unto his Church and people which religiously observe it is doubtlesse a day of his own ordaining and appointing therefore sanctified and blessed are put together in the Commandement But God hath and continually doth and ever will blesse this day with groth of grace and all spirituall blessings in Christ to all such as Religiously observe it Therefore c. Seventhly that which the example of God the Creator resting from all his works was to the Iewes in regard of their Sabbath that also the example of God the Redeemer is and must be to us that are Christians in regard of ours But the example of God the Father resting from his works was a sufficient institution of the Iewes Sabbath for therefore they rested because God rested it should therefore be a sufficient Institution unto us under the Gospell to rest on the Lords day because in it Christ rested Eightly If a day of holy rest were instituted by God the Father in memory of the worlds Creation which was the lesse much more was there a day of holy rest instituted by God the Sonne in remembrance of the worlds redemption which was the greater The consequent is authorized by n Athan Hom. de â—â—â—en Athanasius in his Homily of the Sower But a day of holy rest was ordained by God the Father in memory of the Worlds creation as is undenyable Therefore c. Ninthly Certaine it is that nothing but divine authority can bind and overcome the Conscience in regard of any outward observations in their own natures indifferent for the Conscience is a Throne in which God only sits and commands But the conscience is bound and over-awed to the observation of the Lords day as all men confesse and feel by experience unlesse they bely their consciences Therefore c. Tenthly That day which the Church observeth in regard of some mysticall signification therein contained is a part of Gods worship and must therefore be under precept unlesse we will worship God after our own fancies But the Church observes the Lords day in regard of some mysticall doctrine therein contained the Lords resurrection our own future glorification therefore it must be under precept Eleventhly Whatsoever is not under divine precept is mutable and may utterly be abolished in the Church of God by the authority of the Governors thereof but the Lords day cannot by any humane authority whatsoever be changed and abolished Therefore c. Twelfthly If the observation of the Lords day be not of divine but only Ecclesiasticall constitution then are all festivalls or holy-daies of the yeare of equall dignity and honour with it But it were little lesse then blasphemy to affirme
questioned Are not we say they the faithfull Ministers of God men more spirituall then others who use not to mislead our people And are not our opposites men that seeke themselves that please the times having all the marks and characters of false Prophets Whereas the words of the Apostle exceed not the bounds of a modest and just defence But it will be farther objected that by this meanes we bring in the Papists Evangelicall counsels if any things were delivered by the Apostles in Scripture which are not precepts I answer that this is a meere calumniation For these Evangelicall counsels upon which the Romanists build their works of merit and supererrogation are they say Counsels of perfection by embracing of which they become higher in Gods favour and haue done more then is required at their hands for which they shall be more extraordinarily rewarded in Gods kingdome and by which they daily augment the Churches treasury Such counsels we utterly disclaime notwithstanding the Apostles haue advised many things of themselves in Scripture Inspired then the Apostles were as Pastors but these were not divine constitutions And hence it comes to passe the goverment which they erected for this appertained not to their Apostolicall but Pastorall charge was no setled or binding constitution Lastly directed also they were as private persons which belongs not to this place to enquire into * Ex traditionum vinculo quas à Christo acceptas Apostoli servandas reliquere Ecclesia eximere fideles non potest in aliis vero quae Apostoli constituerunt tanquam Ecclesiae pastores poterit summus Pontifex dispensare ibid. We must in the next place enquire of Apostolicall traditions These the Papists themselves the great admirers and advancers of them distinguish into two ranks For some h Alia divisio est Apostolicae traditionis nam alteras Apostoli à Christo domino acceperunt alteras spiritu sancto suggerente in Ecclesiae utilitatem tradiderunt Canus lib. 3. loc cap. 5. they say the Apostles immediatly received from Christ to be delivered to the Church forever to be kept As that Matrimony Confirmation Extreame Vnction are Sacraments of the Gospell These they delivered as Apostles from Christ and cannot be changed by any law or custome to the contrary no not by Papall authority it selfe Other Apostolicall traditions there are say they which they received not from Christ but were suggested unto them by the spirit for the profit of the Church and they instance in the fast of Lent and threefold immersion in Baptisme These they delivered as Pastors not Apostles and may be dispenced with as occasion shall require More plainly those Traditions which they received of Christ were saith Canus fidei dogmata articles of faith against which whosoever pertinaciously erreth is an Heretike but those other which they delivered by the motion of the spirit as Pastors only are not fixed but moveable in the Church According to this sense also I find the Fathers to speake of Traditions S. Cyprian relating what Pope Stephen had writen unto him against Rebaptization that nothing should be innovated in the Church but what was anciently a Tradition in this thing should be observed True saith i Vnde ista traditio uti une de dominicâ Evangelicâ authoritate descendens an de Apostolorum mandatis Epistolis veniens Ea enim facienda esse quae scripta sunt Deu◠testatur Cyp. Ep. ad Pomp. 74. S. Cyprian but whence comes this Tradition from Christ in the Gospell or from the Apostles in their Epistles If so then God himselfe saith the Father hath commanded by his servant * Ioshua 1. Ioshua to keep all such Traditions there we haue the first kind But in another place k Diligenter de traditione divinâ Apostolicâ traditione observandum est tenendum ut ad ordinationes ritè celebrandas Episcopus eligatur plebe praesente Cyp. ep 68. S. Cyprian writing to the Clergy and people of Spaine commending them for deposeing Basilides and Martialis from their Sees and placing in their roomes Sabinus and Felix saith that the choyce of Bishops and Ministers in the presence and with the approbation of the people was of divine and Apostolicall Tradition and observation Now who seeth not that here S. Cyprian speaks of those other Traditions deliuered and practised by the Apostles as the Churches Pastors which are no longer in force then the Church shall like For this choyce of Bishops and Ministers we are sure is neither delivered in the Gospell the Acts or the Epistles If I mistake not this also is that which the Professors at Leyden in their body of the Purer sort of Divinity as they call it hammer upon when they thus distinguish of Traditions Some say they there are whose cheife heads are contained in the Scriptures as the Apostles Creed Baptisme of Infants that Women should receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and here they adde that the Lords day be kept holy These they receive for divine but all other whatsoever they reject It were to be wished that they had expressed themselves in purer clearer tearmes their summa capita are so obscure as if purposely devised not to be understood For if they understand by the cheife heads of things the substance and matter of the thing delivered though in other words in Scripture as it should seeme to be their meaning by their instances in the Apostles Creed childrens Baptisme and Womens communicating they speak of things vnder precept and concurre with us in our distinction But if they understand by cheife heads whatsoever is named and mentioned in the writings of the Apostles as it seemes they also doe by instancing the Lords-daies observation then must they also receive Extreme Vnction the selling of possessions having all things common the Presbytery for Apostolicall traditions necessarily to be received for all these haue generall ground and footing in Scripture But to draw towards a conclusion in this poynt according to the doctrine of the Traditionaries themselves we affirme these things First that the observation of the Lords day is no divine Traditions delivered by Christ immediatly to his Apostles to be laid as a necessary duty upon his Church and the reason is because it s no where so delivered by them in the Acts or in the Epistles and because it is no Article of faith or practice necessary to salvation Neither haue they which haue gainesaid ever been reputed for Heretiques by the Church or any sober minded man Secondly we say notwithstanding that it is very probable for probability is our surest ground that the Apostles commended this day unto the Christians of those times in honour of Christs resurection and giue it the title of Lords day Thirdly that they never imposed it upon the Church as a necessary observation nay that themselves observed it not in those places where the Iewes had Synagogues and observed their Sabbath unlesse it were for breaking
the feasts of dedication of Churches or occasionall as marriages and Christning-dinners be forbidden Christian people as prophanations of the Lords day The second generall head and Lerna of perplexities is whether the duties of holinesse by which the day is sanctified be only acts of the publique worship of God in the Congregation or whether the private exercises also of Religion appertaine unto the day as necessary and immediate duties thereof and that during the whole time And under this head a world of particular cases are raised also and many times such as neither wise men nor learned men would imagine as daily appeares by experience to men of Pastorall employment in the Church But these and the forenamed particulars being delivered as Magisteriall dictates and conclusions out of the former Positions my purpose is only to make enquirie into the two generall heads under which they are contained For these being weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary and true iudgement the rest will evidence themselues as Corollaries CHAP. XXII The Question concerning the Corporall rest is proposed with the Arguments for the affirmatiue THat the outward bodily cessation from all secular employments whatsoever is of it selfe a duty of the Christians mans Feast-day may seeme to be proved by many undenyable arguments First that which is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall is an essential duty of every Sabbath in particular But the Lords day is the Christian mans Sabbath may so be called though improperly as hath beene formerly confessed and bodily rest is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall as appeares both by the very name of Sabbath which signifies as much as cessation and more expresly by the letter of the fourth Commandement In it thou shalt doe no manner of work confirm'd by the a Exod â—â— 15 commination of death from the Lords owne mouth upon all those that shall transgresse this Law Ergo c. Secondly the Prophets are the best Commentators of the Law and are therefore usually put together b Math. â—â— 40 The Law and the Prophets But the Prophet Isaiah saith that those who will honour the Lord in his Sabbath must not doe their owne works nor follow their own pleasures nor speak their owne words In which three whatsoever may be any businesse of our own is expresly forbidden us on the Lords Sabbath by which we honour him Therefore c. Thirdly in all Lawes whatsoever that is essentiall and for its owne sake commanded for whose sake other things in the Law are enjoyned according to the common Maxime Illud est perse propter quod est aliud But many things in the fourth precept are commanded that this duty of utter cessation from all secular employments may be performed For wherefore would God haue not only our Children and servants rest but our beasts also to rest unlesse only that all meanes and occasions of not resting might be taken from the Parents Masters and owners themselues Therefore c. Fourthly All theft is directly immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden and of thefts the cheife and capital is Sacriledge But to work upon the Lords day is theft nay sacriledge for we steale so much from God this day being his as we bestow upon our selues and our owne employments whereas on the contrary by resting on that day we abstaine from holy things and giue the Lord his own Therefore c. Fiftly whatsoever doth immediatly hinder any thing which God commandeth is immediatly forbidden in the Negatiue of every Affirmatiue This is a Maxime generally received in expounding the Decalogue But all kinds of works upon the Lords day whether serious or lusorie doe immediatly hinder that which God commands viz. To attend his worship and service suffering him to work effectually in us by his word and Spirit This Moses doth plainely teach us in saying * Lev. 23.3 There shall no work be done therein in is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings c. Where first he repeats his Commandement There shall no work be done therein Secondly he giues the reason for it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings It is not possible for you to performe the duties of the Lords Sabbath or that God should work on you therein unlesse there be an utter cessatioÌ„ from all kindes of works It stands also with reason for worldly imployments steale away the heart from holy things and according to our Saviours rule * Mat 6.24 We cannot serue God and Mammon Sixtly that which immediatly resisteth and overthroweth the Kingdome of God in us * Rom. 14.17 Which is righteousnesse peace ioy in the holy Ghost must needs be immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden by the Law of God But all secular imployments of what nature soever upon the Lords day immediatly resist and subvert the kingdome of God in us Righteousnesse take it how we will either for the righteousnesse of justification which is imputed or righteousnesse of sanctification which is inherent commeth by hearing groweth by praier is strengthned by meditating and conferring not by journying working and sporting on the Lords day and the more these are practised by us on that day the lesse righteousnesse must needs be in us The conscience also is deeply wounded by such grosse prophanations if it be not senselesse seared as appeares by the confessions of Converts Penitents and the Godly feele in themselues by daily experience And it cannot but diminish the joy of the holy Ghost for this is chiefly fed and nourished by holy meetings and godly exercises of religion Nay if it be true which many learned men affirme at least for probable that Christ shall come to judgement on the Lords day What little joy can any man finde in things earthly and sensuall on the day when for ought he knowes he may suddenly heare the voice of the Archangell summoning him before the Tribunall of the Lord whose Sabbath he is then prophaning Seventhly if there were no law prohibiting works on this day the very law of expediency were enough For it 's no way expedient on that day to make such a medly of things heavenly with things earthly to mix the holy things of God with things prophane base and vile things with things honourable and glorious this were to make the Lords-day a garment of linsy-woolsy But the Lords day and the duties thereof are things holy heavenly and glorious All secular imployments prophane vile contemptible The * 1. Cor. 6.2 Apostle calls the things of this life the smallest things Therefore c. Eightly that which was ever blasted in all ages with some extraordinary curse remarkable judgement is doubtlesse not only unlawfull but in an high manner abominable in Gods sight For the Lord * Exod. 34.6 being gracious long-suffering and slow to anger doth not usually reveale his wrath from heaven but against some unsufferable ungodlinesse of men But the prophanation of
Neque circumcisio ita ipsos ab aliu distinguebat ut Sabbathum Theod. in Ez. 20. Ioh. 7.22 Theodoret also saith that many other nations communicated with the Iewes in circumcision and we know it to be true at this day in Turkes and Mahumetanes But the Iewes alone even unto this day observed a Sabbath as the only proper seale of Gods covenant Lastly our Saviour is observed to have joyned the Sabbath with circumcision as being both of like nature and use The second Character of ceremonies is that they served to mind the people of their naturall uncleannesse This we see in all their washings cleansings purisyings sacrifices therefore called also expiations The same like wise did their feasts and new Moones represent unto them some more some lesse And this also did the rest of the Sabbath For as circumcision remembred them of the superfluity of malitiousnesse to be done away by the circumcision of the spirit so did the rest of the Sabbath mind them of their pronenesse to follow their sinfull lusts walking in their own waies and of their aversnesse from suffering God to dwell and raigne amongst them This also appears out of that which hath already been said for being a signe and representation of their covenant with the Lord it not only remembred them of a Vt scilicèt ludaei seirent non aliter vitam suam posse Deo prohari nisi rationem consilia sensus omnes carnis exuerent Calv. in Exod. what he required of them but also of their own crooked dispositions thereunto It appears also by the Prophets expostulation with his people to this purpose for seeking their owne wills doing their own works and speaking their own words for by these things cannot be understood ordinary works thoughts words at other times lawfull as is commonly expounded to the entangling of weak consciences For first though the commandement forbad them ordinary works and their very sitting still was a Sabbaths duty as we shall shew hereafter yet to speak common words in ordinary communication or to think of any ordinary things as occasion required was never forbidden If any man say that the other negative precepts take in also the heart and the tongue and therefore that this also in the Sabbath must be so extended I answere that all other negative precepts are of things simply and in their own natures evill To kill with the tongue by slandering and railing so to murder in the heart by malice envy hatred evill wishes are things in their own nature simply evill and therefore no marvaile if in this case negative commandements thus enlarge themselves it is not so here Secondly this interpretation crosseth the maine scope of the Prophet which is to discover the deep hypocrisy of their hearts not any outward visible prophanation of the Sabbath As if the Prophet should have said the Lord hath sent me to cry aloud against your deep dissembling with him in two principall points the one of fasting the other b Esaias hypocritas objurgat quod in externo tantum cessandi ritu insistâ—rent Cal. ibid. Instis lib. 20. of resting before him In both these you are so outwardly formall for they did outwardly fast and Sabbathize most precisely as that you think God doth you much wrong not to accept both your persons and c Arguunt dominum quòd bona opera non respiciat Hier in locum performances d Sinon prophanes Sabbathum sequendo volantatem id est libitum passionum tuarum à vitij suti ab opere otium agas Cornel. à Lapid in locum You seek me daily and will know my waies even as a nation that did right and had not forsaken the statutes of their God and aske of methe ordinances of justice they will draw neere unto God saying wherefore have we fasted and thou seest it not But saith the Prophet I am sent to tell you you neither fast nor rest aright you should fast unto sinne and rest unto holinesse fast unto mortification rest unto sanctification not following in either regard your own corrupt immoderate desires Fast and rest in this manner then see whether your light all manner of felicity break not forth as the morning and thou mount not up on the high places of the earth Thus it is generally understood by all ancient and moderne Expositors and therefore is quitted by Amesius as being nothing to that purpose for which it is commonly avouched and by e Greenham Catech. Mr Greenham not to belong to the Christians at this day but in proportion The third character of Ceremonies is that they represented unto them that inward and spirituall worship which God requires of them that fear him So unleavened bread signified sincerity truth and the like This also is plaine in the Sabbath representing unto them the inward repose which we ought to have in the Lord denying of our selves crucisying our carnall wills and affections suffering the Lord wholy to governe our hearts by his holy spirit Lastly the Sabbath was a visible Sermon of the glad tidings of the Gospell of that rest which Christ should bring us of reconciliation with God of peace of conscience through the powerfull operation of a true and lively faith For this last the f Heb. 4. Apostles testimony is so evident as whosoever gainesaieth it fighteth against the light it selfe we which have believed doe enter into rest What restâ— even g Interpretatur Apostolus Sabbathum cum dicit remanet igitur Sabbatisinus pobulo Dei Aug. contra Adam c. 16. that which is shadowed in the Sabbath instituted and grounded upon Gods resting from his works from the foundation and what rest was thus shadowed but that which Christ and his Gospell brings them By all which I think it is manifest that the Sabbath was not only a Type or figure as the brazen Serpent as many of their Iudges Priests Kings Prophets also were for this is that which is replyed but properly and truly a Leviticall shadow and ceremony abolished in Christ the true Sabbath indeed as h Epiph contra heresi lib. 1. Tom. 2. cap. 30. Epiphanius stiles him To proceed therefore if the rest commanded in the Sabbath were thus a figure of our spirituall rest in Christ then doubtlesse also that proportion of rest which is the strictnesse of Sabbathizing according to the sound of the letter shadowed unto them that proportion of holy and spirituall rest which God requires of his redeemed ones and unto which Christ will at last bring them by degrees The Iewes we know were forbidden all kinds of servile works even the kindling of fires and that upon paine of death I confesse some are of opinion that this was but a temporary injunction during Israels abode in the wildernesse Their reason is because our Saviour dined saith the Text with a chiefe Pharisee upon the Sabbath and it is probable so great a man entertained so great a personage with a great feast
which could not be without kindling of fires But I cannot conceive that any Mosaicall ceremony once instituted could be abolished till they were altogether nailed to the crosse especially having reference to any benefit which the faithfull receive from Christ as hath this of the Sabbath Now though the Iews rest were so strict and exact yet we may justly wonder at the penalty inflicted on the transgressors death since God passed over greater things with lesse censures as fornication and theft which are contrary to the Law and light of nature it selfe i Nisi eximium aliquid singulare fuisset in Sabbatho videri posset aequa atrocius iubere hominem interfici tantùm quoniam ligna deciderat Calv. in Exod. Calvin therefore saith rightly that unlesse there were some excellent and singular thing in the Sabbath more then is expressed in the letter it might seeme to savour of cruelty to put a man to death for gathering a few sticks and kindling a fire with sticks already gathered But saith he what was this great and excellent thing in the Sabbath Doubtlesse not the litterall rest for then the punishment should continue still the same and the precise observation of this rest ought to remaine It is therefore the mystery that is so excellent and highly esteemed of the Lord viz. that the faithfull should sanctify unto him an k Sabbathum commendatum est priori populo in otio corporali temporaliter ut sigura esset sanctificationis in requiem spiritus sancti Aug. ad Ian. ep 119. entire rest from all even the least servile works of sinne and Sathan leaving no one lust unmortified to raigne in them into which absolute liberty Christ will also at last bring us This is the meere reason why God doth by his Prophets so punctually stand upon the observation of the Sabbath because in the violation of the litterall rest they did in effect spurne at this spirituall rest which was the substance of that shadow If any man aske whether then under the Gospell no bodily rest be at all commanded we shall I trust in due time give him satisfaction herein when we come to those questions which concerne the Lords day The next thing in the letter of the commandement are the persons there named thy sonne thy daughter thy man servant thy maid servant cattell and stranger although l Damasc lib. 4. sidei vnbodox cap. 24. Damascen avoucheth it for Ceremoniall making children Servants Strangers a Type of our sinfull and naturall affections and the Oxe and the Asse figures of the flesh or sensuality Yet I rather consent with those amongst whom also are some of our adversaries in this question who affirme this passage to be partly Memorative looking back to their seruitude in Egypt partly Iudiciall teaching that mercilesse people that God expected that their servants nay their beasts should then at that time have rest and refreshing We have in the next place the prescribed time the seventh day even that day which God himselfe rested on which how and in what respects it was mysticall and figurative let others speak m Magdeb. Cent. 12. Petrus Alphonsus a Iew baptized in the Christian faith 1106 being then 40 yeares of age and having for witnesse of his baptisme Alphonsus that pious King of Aragon from whom he received the name of Alphonsus in honour of his worth and learning This Alphonsus I say presently upon his baptisme and being a Christian had many and great contestations with the Iewes from whom he revolted Amongst other things was questioned the law of the Sabbath which he affirmed to be Ceremoniall even in this very part thereof which concerned the time For said he as God the Father ended all his works in six daies and rested the seventh at the worlds Creation so the sonne finished his course also upon the same day and rested with it is finished on the seventh at the worlds redemption His conclusion therefore is that since that is accomplished of which the observation of the Sabbath was a signe it is altogether needlesse that any such observation should be longer continued And indeed it may well be thought to be more then casuall that Christ should pronounce his Consummatum est upon the Crosse much about the same time as we may probably conjecture in which God the Father made the woman last of all his creatures n Ipso die Sabbathi requievit in sepuichro postquà m sexto are consummavit omnia opera sua Aug in Gen. ad lit lib. 4. c. 11. St Augustine teacheth the same almost in the same words and o Omnes solennitates veteris legis fuerunt institutae in coÌ„memorationem alicujus beneficij divini vel iam exhibiti vel figurati ideo observantia Sabbathi in quâ commemoratur beneficium creationis figurabatur quies corporis Christi in sepulchro fuit potissima Durand lib. 3. dist 37. q. 10. ad quartum Durand also upon the third of the sentences and many others Lastly Gods example is proposed but upon this the Apostle hath a plaine comment when he saith he that entred into rest hath ceased from his own works as God did from his which being a reason of that which immediatly goeth before there remaineth a rest unto Gods people must needs make Gods resting from his works a Proto-type of our resting in Christ which is indeed the rest of God as St Chrysostome expounds it This day therefore of which the Commandement speaketh as of the day of rest is observed to have no evening annexed unto it as the others had when it is said the evening and the morning were the first day because Gods rest which we have in Christs is permanent to last for ever This p Ego vero non dubito quin Deus sex diebus condiderit mundum ac septimo quieverit ut documentum ederet summae operum suorum perfection is it a ut dum se typum proponit ad imitationem significat se ad veram fâ—licitatis metam suoâ— vocare Calv. in Exod. Mr Calvin puts to be out of question the meaning of the letter God saith he made all the world in six daies and rested the seventh to shew us the perfection of his works And therefore he proposed himselfe in the Commandement to be imitated by the Iewes in the Mosaicall law to teach them that he calls all them that believe in him to compleat perfect and everlasting happinesse even that spoken of Esai 66.23 CHAP. IX The Arguments for the affirmative examined THe first which is commonly famed for invincible and unanswerable is as weak as any of the rest All the Commandements of the Decalogue are Morall but still with that distinction and difference of Morality spoken of in the former Chap. All are Morall but every one in his proportion and degree and so is that of the Sabbath Morall it is for substance not circumstance Morall in regard of the purpose and intention of the Law-giver that some
concludeth not To the fift briefly both propositions are faulty The first that whatsoever is backt with a Morall reason is a Morall Law for what think you of the Law of the first fâ—uits No man I think but will say it was Ceremoniall yet the reason given of it is morall n Prov. 3.6 Honour the Lord with thy substance So the reason of the fift commandement is it Morall or Ceremoniall If Ceremoniall then how standeth it writen in the tables of stone If Morall then that which is Morall may be the reason of a law Ceremoniall and so the proposition is not true ex gr o Deut. 26. â— Thou shalt not kill the damme with the young that thy daies may belong in the land c. The second proposition is also faulty for let the reasons of the Commandemen be well scand and they will come farre short of that Morality which is pretended Aske naturall reason at best refin'd what proportions were fit to be observed between God and man would it answere we must have sixe for one and not rather on the contrary or any other what principle of naturall reason can guide us to the number of six herein God you say hath interest in the seventh but this is the question let this interest be discovered by naturall light we will grant the Morality All men are as much bound to follow Gods example in resting as the Iewes but First we deny that this example of God is or may be known by the light of Nature Secondly that it is there proposed to all men in their generations being given particularly to the Iews only For the commandement speaketh not of the seventh but of that seventh from the creation wherein the Church followes not Gods example keeping the first of these seaven For unlesse we rest that very seventh in which God rested we no more resemble his rest then a man that hath a ladder resembles Iacob that had a vision of a ladder But God hath promised a blessing unto our rest as well as unto theirs for the Lord even blessed the seventh day to the right observers thereof But the text is strained for though God hath promised alway to blesse his own ordinances in the publique worship yet for any blessednesse to be communicated to the day or affixed to one more then to another we read not That servants and beasts should now rest and be refreshed is confessed to be Morall but that they should have rest upon such and such a day just so many houres from all manner of imployment was partly Ceremoniall partly judiciall as hath bin said Which also farther appears because it is added o Levit. 26.5 as a reason of the seven yeares rest which I think no man will say was Morall neither doe I see why the one should not hold as well as the other Lastly true it is that the Sabbath was a token unto them that they were the Lords people and that we under the Gospell are also the Lords people is most true But was not Circumcision also a badge unto them that they were the Lords people must Circumcision therefore be Morall and perpetuali God forbid We see therefore the vanity of this argument likewise To the sixt first if by strangers we understand all that are aliens from the commonwealth of Israell plaine it is that the Sabbath was no more given unto them then Circumcision for it was a signe of Gods covenant and God never covenanted with the Heathen Moses was the Law-giver of the Iewes neither doth any law bind the Gentiles because Moses gave it but because only it is written on their hearts If by stranger we understand bondslave or sojourner not yet made Proselyte the commandement indeed speaks of him but not to him of him for his ease and restraint not to him for his observation such were not obliged unlesse first adopted as appears in the law of the Passover If any say why then did Nehemiah threaten the Merchants of Tyre for breaking the Sabbath day I answere he did it not because he thought them bound to keep the Sabbath but because a Ne quid occâ—rreret Israelitis ante oculos contrarium c. Cal. in Deut. 5.15 they occasioned the breaking of it amongst the Iews and offended against the present goverment of the state For if Nehemiah conceived those Tyrians to be under the Sabbath why did he shut the gates to keep them out he should rather have compelled them to come in and constrained them to keep the Sabbath being now under his power and jurisdiction To the seventh how superstitious the people of the Iews were in their observation of the Sabbath even in case of life and death notwithstanding they had the example of divers of Gods Saints their predecessors to the contrary as of b Elias fugit à facie Iezabel die Sabbathi Anton. tit 9. Elias and Iudas Machabeus and how their superstition continued not only when the City was destroyed by Titus and Vespasian but long after as appears by the history of the Iew in Rome that would not be taken up out of a Iakes because it was his Sabbath what advantages the enemies of that nation took from their superstition in this kind is evident of it selfe Our Saviour therefore in the Scripture glanceth at their superstitious and d Quod malum luxuriae hoc nomine significatum est quia haec erat nunc est pessima Iudaeorum consuetudo Aug. de Cons Evangelist c. 75. lib. 2. luxurious observation of the Sabbath foreshewing that it should be no small promoter of their lamentable destruction e Orate ut fuga vestra fit expedita nullis impedita remoris vel tempestatis vel religionis Marl. in locum so the best and ancientest Expositors c Sabbatha sancta câ—lo de stercore surgere nolo Laziard in hist universali But you will say what was this to the Disciples that they should pray against it I answere that the Christians also observed the Sabbath among the Iewes f Dicet aliâ—uis Iudaei sciebant licere in Sabbatho fugere ut vitam morti â—riperent Respondeo Iudaeos plerosque hoc ignorâsse vel putâsse fugere quidem fas esse hostibus insequentibus aliter esse â—efas Bar. in locum till the Gospell was sufficiently preached and the Synagogue was honourably buried Some therefore that were weak amongst theÌ„ might be entangled in that superstition Others that were stronger might be hindred and prejudiced in their safety by those that were contrary minded and all were bid to pray against the judgement of God which hanged over the head of the bloody City and whatsoever might in any degree further and increase the same though themselves were not engaged therein To the eight the riseing of mans corruption against any law gives no true estimate of the Morality thereof It is generally the effect of lawes of restraint to beget an appetite in men to the thing forbidden
c Lex nova in exterioribus illa solum praecipere debuit vel prohibere per quae in gratiam intrâ—ducimur vel quae pertinenâ— ad rectum usum gratiae ex necessitate Aquin 1.2 q. 108. art 2. Gospell commands only such observations which are either meanes of Grace as the word and Sacraments or wherein the use and excercise of grace doth consist as the duties of love towards God and man But that the first day of the weeke should be observed Sabbath nothing concernes the kingdome of God within us because it s neither a meanes of grace nor exercise of grace Ob. If any man say the keeping of the Lords day Sabbath is both these first a meanes of grace by reason of the word and Sacraments then administred and an exercise of grace for then we returne prayses and send vp our prayers to the throne of grace and manifest our loue both to Christ and our brethren Sol. I answere that he wholy mistakes for the question is not whether the duties done upon the day be either meanes or exercises of grace for this is of it selfe manifest but whether the keeping of this day Sabbath more then an other be such The day is one thing the duties are an other these belong to the kingdome of God preserving and encreasing them in us that is but a circumstance of time and of it selfe nothing in this respect All things of this nature as time place manner are not precisely and of themselues considered of the essence or necessity of grace and therefore are not commanded in the Gospell but left to the wisdome and descretion of the Church Fiftly that day which cannot be kept universally through the whole world was never commanded the whole Church of Christ by an Evangelicall Law for the law of the Gospell is given to all nations But the first day of the weeke which is the Lords day observed in memory of the Lords resurrection cannot be thus universally kept considering the diversity of Meridians and the unequall rising and setting of the Sunne in diverse Climates in the world Some of our adversaries foresaw this objection but could never avoyd it only they tell us that it was so with the Iewes in regard of their Sabbath and therefore d Practice of piety affirme that they were not bound to keepe their Sabbath upon that precise and just distinction of time called the seventh day from the Creation For the Sunne stood still in Iosuah's time it went back ten degrees fiue houres in Hezekia's time besides the variation of the Climates throughout the world Vpon this they inferre two things 1. that God by his prerogatiue might dispence with men in these cases 2. that the Commandement meaneth not the determinate seventh from the Creation but indefinitely a seventh But what absurdities doe hence follow First they seem to affirme that the standing still and the going back of the Sunne made an alteration in the day as it was the seventh from the creation Indeed they made it longer and to consist of a greater number of houres for the present but what is this to the number of seven One and the selfe same day may be longer in Summer shorter in Winter yet keeps its ranke amongst the other daies of the week for place and number Secondly they affirme that the Iewes were not bound to any determinate day not to this seventh but a seventh Expresly contrary to the words of Moses * Exod. 20.10 the seventh is the Sabbath Thirdly there is the same reason in all the forenamed particulars between the Iewes Sabbath and the Christians If therefore their day were indefinitely a seventh ours must also be indefinitely a first and by this meanes they say and unsay with one and the same breath the first day is our Sabbath by divine institution and yet not the first but a first which is to yeeld the question Sixtly there is the same reason of keeping a determinate set Sabbath under the Gospell that there is of preaching praying and administring the Sacraments Ordaining of Ministers doing works of mercy at set-times For I think no man is so farre infatuated with this paradox as either to preferre the Sabbath before these or to sever the day from the duties which are the main end of the daies observation But all these are commanded in generall not prescribed in particular when or where or how so all things be done decently and in order We no where read how often in a year we must receive the Sacrament of the Lords supper how often we should hear a Sermon or when to give or how much either publikely or privatly If therefore there be no set times appointed for the maine duties of religion under the Gospell there is no set time appointed to be kept Sabbath Therefore c. Seventhly That which is expresly against Christian liberty was never commanded by Christ or his Apostles but to have the conscience burthened with any outward observations putting Religion in them as being parts and branches of Gods worship is directly against Christian liberty for how is he free that is thus bound to times and daies We have then only exchanged not shaken off the Iewish bondage If any man say that this was both the argument and error of the Patrobrusians of old and Anabaptists of late he is much mistaken for they pretend not to Christian liberty when the conscience is not burthened immediatly from God but to unchristian licence and confusion to be exempted from the lawes of men and decent order of the Church Eightly There is no duty I think essentiall in religion ordained by Christ or his Apostles of which we find not either exhortations in respect of performance or reprehensions in regard of their neglect either in the Gospell the Acts or the Epistles But the keeping of the first day of the week Sabbath is no where pressed or exhorted unto the neglect thereof no where reproved or forbidden in all the new Testament Ergo. Ob. If any man say it is frequently mentioned with approbation Resp I answer that so are divers things besides which are no divine institutions binding the Church of Christ as extream unction the Presbytery womens vayles widdowes these are mentioned with honour but so is not the manner of observing the Lords day which is now cried up nor any divine institution thereof Whereupon these things will necessarily follow That either the Apostles never held this observation to be a divine precept or that having given it for such to the primitive Christians in the Churches planted by them they never failed in the observation thereof which is not imaginable considering what grosse abuses and prophanations were found amongst them or lastly that the Apostles knowing the Lords day which they had injoyned theÌ„ as a divine precept to haue been neglected winked connived thereat though so ready even with the rod to reforme all other disorders which also cannot be well conceived Ninthly Had the