constituted in the observation of one day in seven speaking of it indefinitly as wee doe the body whereof can bee found in Christ for of such ceremonies wee speake that as shadowes are to flee away when the body comes in place 2. Neither doth it follow that because it is not morall nor politicall therefore it is ceremoniall for some will say that it is positive as touching the defining of some particular necessarily required to the performance of a morall duty As for example not to go further then the matter in hand for instance it is generally confessed to be a morall duty by naturall instinct that some time is to bee set apart for Gods service but of our selves wee are to seeke of the proportion of time it is fit for none so much as for God himselfe our Creator and consequently our great Lord and master to define what proportion of time shall be allowed for his service now this they call positively morall as belonging to the execution of a morall duty Yet indeed not so much a circumstance thereof in proper speech as the specification of the generall concerning the circumstance of time 3. Yet to draw nearer to the morality of it what 3. shall nothing bee morall that is not knowne to bee so by light of nature for what I pray is not our nature now corrupt nay hath not Aristotle professed that matter of morality is not capable of demonstration but onely of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perswasion Nay how is it knowne by the light of nature that some time is to bee set apart to the worship of God that made us but upon presupposition that God is knowne to bee our Creatour and is this knowne by the light of nature How came Aristotle then the greatest Philosopher that ever was and his whole schoole how I say came they to be ignorant of it but upon presupposition of the History of the Creation knowne unto us Doctor Feild spares not to professe as Master Broad reportes him that by light of nature it is known that one day in seven ought to bee consecrated to Divine Service Yet I am not forward to say so much but rather with Chrysostome that now from the Creation God hath manifested that one day in a weeke is to bee apportioned for his service and with Azorius that it is most agreeable to reason Institut par 2. l. 1. f. c. 2. after six dayes of worke to set apart one to his service And seeing God did require such a portion of time to bee consecrated unto him under the Law Undoubtedly and by the very light of nature it is cleare and evident that no lesse proportion of time can wee in conscience allow unto him under the Gospell 3. I come to his third argument which is this 3. the necessity of one day in seven cannot consist with that liberty which the Apostle intimates Col. 2.16 Let no man judge you in meate and drinke or in the part of a day or of Sabbaths which are shadowes of things to come Which they explicate by a similitude As nature requires meates and drinke but Christian liberty is not tied to choise of meates according to Moses his Lawes so reason dictates that some time is to be set apart for Gods publique worship but the Gospell freeth us from the necessity of the Iewish Sabbath To this I answer Respon 1. By granting the conclusion for the Iewish Sabbath Christians observe not 2. but one day in seven they alwayes have observed a manifest evidence that they never conceaved this to be any impeachment to their Christian liberty And no marvell for they manifestly perceaved that God required this proportion of time under the Law and from the beginning of the World how much more should we be carefull to performe no lesse under the Gospell And indeed rest on the seventh day did pregnantly represent before hand Christs rest that day and that day alone full and whole in the grave But as for any ceremoniality to be found in the speciall proportion of time to wit as one day in seven never any man devised any ceremoniality therein more then in the time in generall which all confesse by the very light of nature is to be consecrated unto God So that we have no need of Doctor Rivetus his answer to helpe us in the solution of this his argument And whereas he conceaves our Christian liberty to be impeached if any proportion of time be observed of necessity by force of precept and of free choise 1. This is as much as to say that our liberty is impeached if we suffer our Lord and master to prescribe unto us his servants what proportion of service we shall performe unto him and not rather have him leave it to the servant to cut out unto him as little or as much as he thinkes good yet we do not deny but he may allow unto him more all that we stand for is that we ought not to allow him lesse under the Gospell then he required under the Law and then he required from the beginning of the World 2. I marvell that Doctor Rivetus doth not observe how herein he contradicts himselfe for hath he not formerly rested in this answer of Gomarus that by vertue of the fourth Commandement we must allow unto him dayes sufficient for his service and that these dayes must be rather Frequentiores then Rariâ—res more rather then fewer and if it be no prejudice to our Christian liberty to be tyed and that by vertue of the fourth Commandement to allow unto him a better proportion of time for his service then that of one day in seven how can it bee prejudiciall to our Christian liberty to allow unto him this and that by vertue of the fourth Commandement Now whether Doctor Rivetus his answers to the arguments of Wallaeus Rivet explicat dec p. 186. col 2. or his owne arguments to the contrary bee of any force to hold him to that opinion which he conceaves to bee Calvins in opposition to the Doctrine delivered by Wallaeus I am con ent the indifferent may judge as also whether the two causes mentioned by him for the observation of the Sabbath contained in the Commandement doth not infer the third also which Rivetus opposeth namely the proportion of one day in seven And that this is as free from all colour of ceremoniality as any of the other two The first was that some time is to be set apart for Gods Service now this generall is not commanded there but as contained in the speciall to wit the proportion of one day in seven Both of them being equally contained in the particularity of the seventh day in that Commandement expressed And as for the morality of rest to bee allowed to servants after six dayes of labour this doth clearely draw with it the confinement of the time appointed for Gods Service to the proportion of one day in seven unlesse the day of rest
deale plainely my opinion is that all sports and pastimes on the Lords Day are a breaking of the rest belonging to it and a profanation of that day which ought to be sanctified And I trust herein I differ not one jot from the whole Parliament 1o. Caroli wherein was expressely prohibited that any man should goe out of his owne Parish to any sports and pastimes on the Sabbath day and this is done to prevent the profanation of it as appeares clearely by the reasons of that Act which Parliament was held certaine yeares after this Lecture concerning the Doctrine of the Sabbath was read in the Vniversity And I nothing doubt but the censure of a Zelote will passe upon mee for this though wee shew no more zeale in saying that The Lords Day is by some licentiously profaned then others doe in professing that the Lord Day is by us superstitiously observed nay who are the greatest zelotes in their cause let the Christian World judge by the effects This is all I have to note concerning the first Section I come unto the second Secondly and here in the first place concerning the institution of it let mee take leave to professe that the question it selfe is not indifferenly stated when it is stated thus whether before the publishing of Moses Law the Sabbath was to be observed by the law of Nature For I am verily perswaded that the Doctor himselfe will not affirme that after the publishing of Moses law it was to be observed by the law of nature understanding by the law of nature as I presume he doth such a law as is knowne by the very light of nature Aristotle hath taught us in generall that morall duties are rather wrought upon a sober conscience by perswasion than doe carry with them any convincing evidence of demonstration Yet it is confessed that by the light of nature some time ought to be set apart even for the publike service and worship of God and not onely so but also it is nothing lesse cleare that a sufficient proportion of time must be alloted to the professed service of our Creator But wherein this sufficient proportion of time doth consist we are to seek being left unto our selves and in my judgement considering what we are it is very fit we should be to seeke in this that so our eyes may wait upon the direction of our Maker For is it fit that servants should cut out a proportion of service to their Master at their owne pleasure and not rather be guided herein by their Masters pleasure especially by such a Master to whom wee owe not onely all that wee doe enjoy but our selves also who holdeth our soules in life and in whose hands is the breath of all man-kinde The question thus untowardly proposed it is subjoyned that They commonly which are more apt to say any thing than able afterward to prove it maintaine affirmatively that it was Doctor Rivet having proposed this addeth that if it be spoken of the law of nature properly so called scarce any one will be found to maintaine any such thing And indeed the question in hand is of the institution of the Sabbath Now no wise man useth to inquire of the institution of that which is written in our hearts and knowne unto us by the very common light of nature It is true some fetch the originall thereof from the beginning of the world when God first blessed the seventh day and sanctified it And what other sense this can have than that God commanded it to be set apart for holy uses wee cannot devise For seeing Gods blessing and sanctifying of it doth undoubtedly denote some act of God this must be either an immanent act or an act transient Not an act immanent for all such are eternall but this was temporall following upon Gods rest on the seventh For therefore it is said God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it and being an act transient and temporall it must declare his will to have it sanctified that is by the generall notion of the word set apart that is from profane and secular to holy uses And how could this will of God be manifested but by commandement seeing it is a will of God not so much concerning what shall be done as concerning what shall be mans duty to doe And this hath both Walaeus and after him Rivetus justified and this latter against Gomarus once and againe and that by divers arguments And thus as we have expresse Scripture for it so we have as evident reason to justifie it For no other ground can be devised for the dividing of the whole course of time into weeks each consisting of seven dayes than as it stands in congruity to Gods making the world in six dayes and resting on the seventh Which division of time was undoubtedly observed by the Israelites and received by them from their forefathers yea and from the Patriarches of old who lived before the flood and that continued without alteration even from the Creation of the world For otherwise they could not have discerned what days had been answerable to the first six of the Creation and what day to the seventh wherein God rested having finished the creation But this was well known unto them as appears by their gathering Manna and promulgation of the 4th Commandement together with the rest on Mount Sinai Nay this division of time into weeks was generally observed among the heathens as hath been shewed by great variety of reading and that this hath beene the most ancient division of time those other divisions into moneths and into yeeres comming in place long after according as the motion of the Moone and of the Sunne were found out by Astrologers not till then like as the denomination of the seven dayes of the weeke by the severall names of the planets was not brought in untill the severall motions of all the Planets come to be discovered As for the second reason proposed thus on our part If all the rest of the Commandements flow from the principles of nature how is this excluded It is not fit that any man should take upon him the shaping of his adversaries arguments That this Commandement should be taken for a part of the morall Law I wonder that any man should be so unreasonable as to deny but that this Commandement should flow from the Principles of nature and that delivered without distinction I know no man that affirmes But let us distinguish and I make no doubt but there will be found no difference of moment betweene Doctor Prideaux and us For I find no man to deny but that some time in generall is to be set apart as well for Gods publique worship and service as for private and that this is acknowledged by the very light of nature Only as touching the proportion of time that is to be set apart for Gods service herein we are to seeke yet herein also the light of nature doth advantage us and that sufficiently
perpetuall practise might bee confirmed in an opinion of the necessity of that which is not necessary It is apparent that as the Lords Day under the Law was one day in seven So the Lords Day in the Gospell was and still is one Day in seven And both himselfe and Gomarus are driven to professe that we may not allow a lesse proportion then one in seven to Divine worship And I appeale to every conscience to judge by the very light of nature whether the Lord requiring of the Jewes one day in seven to bee consecrated unto him it doth not manifestly follow that wee Christians can allow no lesse then one in seven and whether it bee not fiâ— that the Lords Day should bee our holy Day and as for the allowance of more in a weeke then one let them persuade their owne Churches thereunto first and then it will bee time enough for us to hearken unto them And what should move them to illustrate the memory of Christs Resurrection weekly whereas they contented themselves with a yearely memoriall if at all they observed any such of his Nativity Passion and Ascension and sending downe of the Holy Ghost Why doth hee not consider that the day of the weeke onely whereon Christ rose is called the Lords Day in Scripture whereon Iohn the beloved Disciple received from his loving Lord and master that Divine revelation of his concerning things to come 4. If the number of seven that is the observation of one day in seven in this Commandement be changeable then as ceremoniall or as politicall not as ceremoniall for then the Church ought not to observe it Nor as politicall for in the morall Law precepts politicall are not given And to this Rivetus answereth that the observation of the seventh day is ceremoniall and that the Primitive Church kept it not neither did the Primitive Church keepe it nor doe we keepe it as ceremoniall but another seventh day for Ecclesiasticall policy sake not civill Respon When hee saith we keepe another seventh day he implieth that by the seventh formerly mentioned hee meant that particular day of the weeke which the Iewes kept and that wee indeed acknowledge to bee ceremoniall but in this interpretation of Wallaeus hee manifestly corrupts his adversaries argument which is plainly directed against the ceremoniality of one day in seven indefinitly considered and not against the ceremoniality of the Iewes seventh Yet when he saith the Primitive Church did and we doe keepe a seventh but not as ceremoniall hee speaks to the point but his words following have no coherence herewith so that hee may seeme to shuffle miserably in this affecting to decline that which he is not able to answer But take wee him at the best he must say that the observation of one day in seven was ceremoniall if hee speakes to the purpose Now let him shew us if he can the ceremoniality of one day in seven and how Christ was the body of it nothing more common then to affirme that the Iewes Sabbath was ceremoniall hand over head without any distinction of the sanctification of the day and the rest much lesse distinguishing betweene the rest of one day in seven and the rest of the seventh At length I found a faire way opened for the explication of the ceremoniality found in the rest on the seventh day But as for any ceremoniality in the rest of one day in seven never I thinke any man set his wits on worke to devise that Lastly after such a ceremoniality is devised wee will conferre whether in reason such a thing ought to bee still observed as was ceremoniall unto the Iewes and why may wee not as well observe circumcision with the Ethiopians who observe it only in conformity to Christ who was circumcised Now because Rivetus brings arguments also to the contrary to prove that the observation of one day in seven under the Gospell is not necessary but free it is fit we should consider them also to prove what force is in them If by force of the Commandement a seventh day is to be kept Rivet 1. then that day is to be kept which the Commandement hath defined which is the Sabbath of the Iewes Respon To this I answer by denying the consequence and not contenting my selfe with a bare deniall I prove it to bee inconsequent For whereas God in commanding the seventh hath therewithall commanded one in seven and withall specified which of the seven shall bee rested on and sanctified unto his service If it may bee made appeare that the particularity of rest on the seventh day be abrogated and no colour can be brought for the abrogation of the proportion of time to wit of keeping one day in seven it will evidently appeare herewithall that this consequence of Doctor Rivetus is unsound Now this wee prove to bee most true forasmuch as the Jewes rest on the seventh day was ceremoniall prefiguring Christs rest on that day in his grave as both the fathers of old and moderne Divines both Papists and Protestants both Lutheranes and Calvinists have acknowledged but never any man was found to devise a ceremoniality of resting one day in seven they may as well give themselves to devise a ceremonality in the setting apart of some time in generall for Gods holy worship and service 2. Now this puts me in minde of another way clearely to demonstrate the inconsequence of Rivetus his argument thus If it will follow that in case wee are bound to such a proportion of time by vertue of this Commandement therefore wee are bound also to keepe the seventh day Then it will follow as well that because wee are bound to set apart some time for the service of God by vertue of this Commandement as all confesse therefore we are bound also to keepe such a proportion of time as is here specified and the seventh day also which is here particulated For like as God doth not command such a proportion of time in speciall but by commanding the observation of the seventh day in like sort neither doth God Command a time in generall to bee set apart for his service but by commanding of such a proportion of time in speciall and such a Day in particular Rivet 2. 2. His second argument runnes thus if the observation of every seventh day bee morall it must bee knowne by light of nature but so it is not Therefore it is not morall and seeing it is not politicall it must bee ceremoniall and therefore doth not oblige by force of Law morall To this I answer first Resp 1. Let but Doctor Rivetus stretch his wits to describe unto us what ceremoniality can possibly bee devised in the obsertion of one day in seven and when hee hath devised it I dare appeale to his owne judgement and conscience for the appobation of it For I doe not thinke it possible for the wit of man with any colour of reason to devise a ceremoniality to be
for servants shal not be the day consecrated to the exercises of piety And I much wonder that Doctor Rivetus a man of such judgement and perspicacity doth not observe this The only way to helpe this anomaly is in plaine termes to professe that some rest is to be allowed to servants by their Masters but in what proportion that is not defined but left at large to the pleasure of their Masters And as for ceremoniality in the proportion of one day in seven never any man devised any such thing more then in the setting apart of some time in generall for Gods Service all confessing this to be a duty known by the very light of nature But I doe not finde that Calvin hath any other meaning then that we are not so tied to one day in seven but that more time then this may be consecrated to Divine Service which as I have disputed before so now I am the more confirmed herein Doctor Rivetus manifesting this to be his opinion also as well as it was the opinion of Gomarus For in this he rests as may appeare by his answer to the first argument of Doctor Wallaeus Neither is it true that Calvin did censure them who simply maintained that the observation of one day in the weeke doth still remaine as morall but that so maintained it as in reference to some mysterious signification a Doctor Wallaeus hath manifested and the words immediatly following in Calvin doe evince which are these but this is no other thing then in contumely of the Jewes to change the day and in heart to retaine the same holinesse of the day Here commonly the alleagers of Calvin to the same intent that Doctor Rivetus doth use to make a period as if Calvin delivered this absolutely whereas Calvin proposeth it onely conditionally as appeares by the other halfe of the sentence thus If so bee there remaine yet unto us a signification in the dayes equally mysterious to that which had place among the Iewes And though I marvell not at others who dealing in this argument dismember Calvins sentence so to make him to deliver that absolutely which hee delivers onely conditionally yet I cannot sufficiently marvell that Rivetus of rough improvidence should do so too especially considering the good paines that Doctor Walaeus hath taken to cleare Calvins meaning in this point Neither is Master Robert Low in his effigiation of the true Sabbatisme of any such authority as to counterpoise the concurrent testimonies of so many of our English Divines to the contrary not to speake of the multitude of outlandish Divines whom Doctor Walaeus mustereth up concurring in the same opinion and whereas hee saith as Doctor Rivetus reports him that some great men who vehemently contend that the perpetuall sanctity of manners doth require that one day in seven should be celebrated have more authority then reason I may bee bold to say that they who with him have hitherto opposed the Doctrine we maintaine what authority they have I know not but as for their reasons they are of so hungry a nature that hereby they manifest that nothing but affection and their private ends they have to beare them out in this And whereas I doubt not but Rivetus hath brought on the Stage the best reasons hee could picke both out of master Robert Low and out of Gomarus let every indifferent person judge of them as they deserve though I verily thinke that nothing but his affection to Calvin to hold up his credite and reputation hath carried him all along and yet either my selfe and Walaeus mystake Calvin or Rivetus miserably mystaketh him But as for our reason we call all the World to judge of it God did require one day in seven to be set apart for his publique service under the Law how much more doth he require as good a proportion of time under the Gospell Nay from the beginning of the World he hath required it and to this day both Iewes and Christian Gentiles have observed the same proportion Againe God in his morall Law hath required this and that not as ceremoniall never any man hitherunto having set his wits on worke to devise any ceremoniality herein neyther was it ever knowne that God abrogated this proportion of time to be allowed unto him for his service therefore it continueth still as a morall Law to bind us and shall continue untill God himselfe set an end unto it now let master Lowes reasons be compared with these in every indifferent conscience and let them have that authority which they deserve because being well conceited of the strength of his reasons hee sensibly complaines of his want of authority It seemes Pope Alexander the third was a man of more authority then reason For hee maintaines in Cap. licet de feriis as Doctor Rivetus relates it that both the old and new Testament have in speciall manner appointed the seventh day for man to rest thereon and hee takes it out of Suarez de relig l. 2. c. 2. but Rivetus cannot assent unto him if he delivers this of any morall institution yet that it was so appointed by the fourth Commandement unto the Iewes it cannot bee denied and that not as ceremoniall for we have seene how odly Rivetus hath carried himselfe in comming to speake of the ceremoniality For to make this good hee flyes to the particularity of the seventh day and if the ceremoniality thereof bee enough to inferre the ceremoniality of such a speciall proportion of time as of one day in seven it may suffice as well to constitute a ceremoniality in the generall namely in this that some time is to be set apart for Gods Service which yet all account to bee morall by the very light of nature If Zanchy hath no better argument to prove that the Decalogue as given by Moses to the Israelites doth not pertaine to us but onely so farre forth as it agrees with the Law of nature then by instancing in the Sabbath which the Gentiles were not bound to sanctifie it stands Rivetus upon to oppose him as much as any who maintaines that the Law concerning the sanctifying of the Sabbath was given to Adam and who brings diverse authorities to prove the observation of it generally by the Gentiles This I speake upon consideration of his reply to Gomarus taking exception against somewhat in this argument delivered by him in his explication of the Decalogue But I hope the morall Law shall be sufficient to binde us Christians if no other way yet by this argument of proportion If God required of the Iewes under the Law that one day in seven should bee set apart to his service how much more doth it become us Christians to allow as good a proportion of time for his service under the Gospell This I say shall suffice untill Rivetus answeareth it which never will be for he as good as confesseth that we are bound to allow God for his service rather a better proportion of time then
world yea and his collegue Thysius also yet no cause had they to oppose in this when the other professed it to be a laudable and good custome according to the patterne of the Primitive Church and can the Primitive Church exclude the Apostles and not rather include them And is it probable that the Primitive Church prescribed it to the Apostles and not rather the Apostles to the Church Tilenus calls it Ecclesiae consuetudinem not denying it to be instituted by the Apostles nay elsewhere hee affirmes this or rather that it was instituted by Christ himselfe So little cause had these professors to quarrell with this phrase of the Remonstrants having weightier matters in hand wherein to oppose them What if Bullenger call it Ecclesiae consuettudinem so doth Tilenus de praecept 4. Thes 29. yet Thes 24. he professed it to be not onely observed by the Apostles but that it may seeme also to be instituted by Christ himselfe Bullenger saith sponte receperunt to wit in opposition to an expresse Precept as appeares by that which immediately followeth Non legimus eam ullibi praeceptam we doe not reade it any where commanded Vrsine alleged in the next place clearely professeth in the very place quoted by Gomarus that God it is who hath abrogated the observation of the seventh day but he addes that he left it free to the Church to choose other daies which Church upon a probable cause chose the first day which was the day of Christs resurrection Now what Church was it but Apostolica Ecclesia as Paraeus upon Vrsinus Catechisme observes p. 665. Pro libertate sibi à Christo donatâ pro septima die elegit diem primum propter probabilem causam out of the liberty which Christ hath given them insteed of the seventh day chose the first day of the weeke by reason of a probable cause to wit because on that day Christ rose by whose resurrection Rom. 1.4 the spirituall and eternall rest is inchoated in us and p. 666. Apostoli ipsi mutarunt Sabbatum septimi diei The Apostles themselves changed the Sabbath of the seventh day By the way touch we a little upon this that First this was done in reference to Christs resurrection so Calvin acknowledgeth in reference whereunto this day had some prerogative above the rest to wit in the way of fitnesse for holy use because of the worke of God on that day Whence it is evidently concluded that the Apostles did not thinke it indifferent therefore though it were left to their liberty in as much as no Commandement was given to them thereabout for ought wee reade yet by the spirit of God they were directed to make choyse of this day and that in reference to such a worke on that day as the like on no other Not that the sanctifying of a rest on this day would make us more holy then the sanctifying of a rest on any other day but onely in reference to some speciall worke of God on that day upon which consideration the ancient Fathers doe generally insist and Bishop Andrewes and Bishop Lake after them doe joyntly rely and not Beza onely Secondly That both Vrsine and Paraeus call this a probable reason onely now give me leave to insist upon this and try whether I cannot shew that this reason is more then probable And that first à Posteriori For let us soberly consider how came it to passe that not onely the day whereon Christ rose but answerably hereunto the Day of the weeke to wit the first Day of the weeke was accompted by the Apostles and so commonly called the Lords Day and generally knowne to Christians by that name otherwise S. Iohn had not beene so well understood in his Revelation chap. 1. vers 10. Is it not apparent that Christs rising did ever after give the denomination of the Lords Day to the first day of the weeke Againe the day of Christs Passion upon the Crosse is not called the Lords day and why the day of the Resurrection rather surely because S. Paul saith that Christ was declared mightily to be the Sonne of God by the spirit of sanctification in his Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 Hereby then was he manifested to be the Sonne of God the very Lord of Glory and is not this reason more then probable why it should bee called the Lords day Secondly consider that day of the moneth or that day of the yeare whereon the Lord rose wee no where finde that it was usually called the Lords Day but onely that day of the weeke not the day of the weeke wherein hee ascended into Heaven but the day of the weeke wherein hee rose Now the Jewes Sabbath was called the Lords Sabbath the Lords holy Day Es 58.13 If thou shalt turne away thy foote from my Sabbath from doing thy will on my holy Day Hath the Lord a Day under the Gospell but no Sabbath no holy Day what an unreasonable conceite were this that hee should have an holy Day one in every weeke under the Law and none under the Gospell Now if the Lord hath a day that is peculiarly called his under the Gospell and that day is in the Scripture styled the Lords Day I appeale to every Christian conscience whether the sanctifying of this day as holy to the Lord ought not by more then probable yea even by necessary reason come in place of the sanctifying of the seventh day as an holy rest to the Lord in the dayes of old Otherwise we should have two different dayes in the weeke the one called the Lords Day the other the Lords holy Day or no holy day at all though wee have the Lords Day Lastly consider the very definition of a thing probable which Aristotle makes to be such as seemes so in the judgement of most or in the judgement of most of the wisest or of some few provided they are wiser then the rest but the sanctifying of the first day of the weeke to the Lord that is the Lords Day to the Lord hath seemed fit not to some of the wisest onely in the Church of God but to all even to all the Apostles yea and Evangelists and Pastors and teachers in their dayes and to the whole Church for 1600. yeares since and shall wee call the reason moving them hereunto onely probable 2. yet all this is but a posteriori which yet for the evidence of it I presume most sufficient for the convicting of every sober Christian conscience of that truth to the demonstration whereof it tends I come to give a reason hereof à priori The first creation in the wisedome of God who proceeds not merely according unto probable reason drew after it a Sabbath day the seventh day where on God rested But if God vouchsafeth us a new creation in the same congruity may wee not justly expect a new Sabbath Now the Apostle tells us plainly that old things are passed away and that all things are become
and in breaking bread Act. 2. and 5. and 1 Cor. 5. Now we willingly acknowledge that we Christians are not so bound to one day in the weeke as namely to the Lords Day as that we may not have our holy assemblies more often than once but onely so that we may not keep them lesse often nor omit the celebration of the Lords Day like as the Jews might not omit the celebration of their weekely Sabbath though sometimes many dayes together besides were kept holy by them So we Christians also having our Sabbath as our Saviour signified we should have when he said Pray that your flight be not in the Winter nor on the Sabbath day which Sabbath of ours wee keepe on the Lords Day though we may keep other days holy yet we may not omit this and if any shall take upon them to alter this Sabbath we may be bold to demand of them quo warranto by what warrant from the Lord of Sabbath But Chemnitius proceeds thus Now whereas afterwards the false Apostles did so urge those free observations of the Mosaicall Sabbath and other feasts as by law and with opinion of necessity as to condemne their consciences who observed them not Paul forbad the observation of them All which we willingly acknowledge but that hereupon they began first to ordaine another day in the weeke for their Ecclesiasticall assemblies and exercises of piety which yet Chemnitius proves not I leave it to the indifferent to judge by comparing his opinion with that of Austins who professeth as Chemnitius well knew that the Lords Day was declared unto Christians by the Lords resurrection and from thence began to have its festivity alleged by Chemnitius himselfe p. 156. especially considering the reason moving thē hereunto which Chemnitius confesseth to have been on that day the Lord role from the dead And seeing all festivals as Bishop Lake observes have beene observed in regard of some great worke done on such a day for the good of man whether ever any day brought forth a more wonderfull or more comfortable worke to mankind than the first day of the weeke which was the day of our Saviours resurrection from the dead let the Christian world judge This day Chemnitius saith seems to be called by Saint Iohn the Lords Day which appellation all antiquity did afterwards retaine and use yet notwithstanding saith he we doe not read that the Apostles did impose upon mens consciences in the new Testament the observation of that day by any Law or Precept but the observation was free for order sake Let us duly weigh and consider this together with the reasons following Calvine distinguisheth the observation of a day for order sake and the observation of a day for some mysterious signification sake had Chemnitius thus distinguished we would have subscribed thereunto and confessed that now adayes wee observe no day for any mysterious signification sake but onely for order sake And thus under the Gospel wee are freed from observation of daies for mysteries sake not free from observation of one certaine day in the weeke for order sake At for his phrase of imposing the observation of the Lords day upon mens consciences this phrase is most improper and unseasonable in this case it is onely proper and seasonable in case the thing imposed be of a burthensome nature like unto that Saint Peter speakes of Acts 15.10 saying Now therefore why tempt yee God to lay a yoke on the Disciples neckes which neither our Fathers nor we were able to beare Such indeed was the yoke of circumcision which provoked Zippora according to common opinion driven to circumcise her sonne to save her husbands life to throw the fore-skin at her husbands feet calling him a bloody husband for urging her thereunto But what burthen is it save unto the flesh to rejoyce in the Lord to sabbatize with him to walke with him in holy meditation Was it no burthen to the godly Jewes to consecrate one day in seaven to the exercises of Piety under the Law and shall it bee a burthen to us in the time of the Gospell Or can it bee conceaved to bee a greater burthen unto us to keepe our Christian Sabbath on the Lords Day then on any other day of the weeke was there ever any day of the weeke markt out unto us with a more honourable or more wonderfull worke to draw us to rejoyce in the Lord thereon then the first day of the weeke whereon our Saviour rose by his Resurrection to bring life and immortality to light yet we confesse we reade of no Law nor Precept for this in the new Testament but we reade that ever under the Gospell wee must have a Sabbath to observe Math. 24.20 And wee know and Chemnitius knew full well that it belongs to the Lord of the Sabbath to change it and consequently to ordaine it and that it was changed and the Lords Day observed generally in the Apostles dayes none that I know makes question of and how could thi◠bee but by the Apostles ordinance and is it likely they would take upon them this authority without a calling And why should that day of the weeke and not that day of the yeare bee called the Lords Day if not for the same use under the Gospell that the Lords Day was of under the Law especially that day under the Law which was the Jewes Sabbath being now abrogated and lastly wee finde it manifestly spoken of the day of Christs Resurrection Psal 118.24 This is the day that the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it yet lastly wheras Chemnitius will have it free and hee hath already manifested that hee speakes of it in this sense as not to be so tied to this day but that we may observe other dayes wee willingly grant that in this sense it is free Now let us consider his reason following For saith hee if we are freed from the Elements which by God himselfe in the old Testament were ordained and commanded how should we be tyed by the decrees of men But alas this reason of his hath no proportion the Elements hee speakes of were but shaddowes the body whereof is Christ and now Christ is revealed they were wont to bee called not onely Mortua but mortifera Yet the observation of one day in seven still continues to bee the Commandement of God delivered not to Moses as ceremonies were but by word of mouth proclaimed on mount Sina and naturall reason suggests unto us that wee must allow unto Gods service as good a proportion of time under the Gospell as hee required of the Jewes under the Law Now if one day in seven must bee set apart in common reason what day is to bee preferred for this before the Lords Day the day of Christs rest from the worke of redemption in suffering the sorrows of death as the day of the Lords rest from the Creation was appointed to the Jewes for their Sabbath And this Resurrection of
his unckle and afterwards his father in Law and one that had as good meanes to know the story of the Creation as Jacob and how that the Lord from the beginning Blessed the seaventh day and sanctified it afterwards Iacobs posterity met with Taske-masters in Egypt And if the Aegyptians had made conscience of setting some time apart for the service of God according to the suggestion of that light which is confessed to extend so farre by nature how improbable is it they would deny this unto their servants The Kings of Persia did not use them so hard but promoted their sacrifices that they might pray for the King Ezr. 6.10 and the Kings Children Traian made a Law that the Jewes should not be molested on their Sabbath The Turkes at this day give liberty unto Christians for the free exercise of their religion And why should wee thinke the Aegyptians more rigorous to the Israelites then the Babylonians were to the Iewes Or if alike why may not a man conclude as well of the Iewes in Babylon as of the Israelites in Egypt that If they did observe the Sabbath they were sure of punishment from man if they did neglect it they were sure of vengeance from God The Canon of Laodicâ—a enjoyning the celebration of the Lords day hath this caution si possint which is thought to be spoken in reference to servants under the tyranny of Heathen masters And if the observation of the Sabbath may give way to the exercise of charity towards others and of mercy towards beasts may it not much more to the exercise of mercy towards our owne bodies yet what if all this were granted who seeth not that if there be any strength in this argument they may by as good reason dispute against the profession of Christianity under persecuting tyrants For if they doe professe christianity under such they are sure of punishment from man if not they are sure of vengeance from God So that to no such straights are wee put as is devised like as the state of the question obtruded upon us is devised also but that I have formerly cleered and shewed that wee are to distinguish 1. of time in generall to be set apart for Gods service 2. of the proportion of time in speciall 3. of the day under that proportion of time in particular And how farre the light of nature doth direct us in all these That the sanctification of the seventh day as commanded from the beginning unto man I have already proved in the former Section and also that reason justifieth this drawne from the division of time into weekes as which had its course from the beginning of the World and how authority both ancient and moderne doth countenance this way of ours farre more then the contrary And Manasses ben Israel one of the ancient wise Doctors of the Jewes observes that when the Jewes are bid to remember that they were servants in Egypt this is as if it had beene sayd remember how that in Egypt where thou servedst thou wast constrayned to worke even upon the Sabbath day In Exod. queast 36. Upon the Lords blessing the seventh day and sanctifying it from the beginning of the World and upon the fourth Commandement is founded our observation of the Sabbath as Chrysostome hath professed that God hath manifested from the beginning that one day in the circle of the weeke ought to be set apart for a spirituall rest All confesse that there is a difference betweene 1. Time in generall to be set apart for Gods service 2. And the proportion of that time 3. And the particularity of the day in that proportion The first is generally receaved to be morall the other two some had rather call positive then ceremoniall because they conceave it to have beene instituted in Paradise before the fall when there was no neede of any ceremony They who do most judiciously discourse of ceremony in the fourth Commandement doe not call it ceremoniall hand over head but with reference to the rest of the day And herein the ceremoniality they apply to the rest on the seventh day As for the ceremoniality to be found in the proportion of time indefinitely considered as in one day of seaven I never read nor heard till now Yet wherein this ceremoniality doth consist I meane the thing signified thereby is not explicated at all neither in respect of the proportion of time as of one day in seven nor in reference to the particular day Yet the Jewes rest on the seventh day is generally conceaved to prefigure Christs rest in the grave that day full and whole and onely that day And as Doctor Andrewes Bishop of Winchester in his Starre Chamber speech professeth that It hath ever been the Churches doctrine that Christ made an end of all Sabbaths by his Sabbath in the grave That Sabbath was the last of them So Austin de Gen. ad lit l. 4. c. 11. Beda in Hexameron on Genosis Aquin. 2.2 q. 121. art 4. Piscat on Luc. 14. And albeit the rest from workes may have a ceremoniall significaton of a rest from sinne in the way of grace as Ezech. 20.12 and a rest both from sin and sorrow which is also a speciall worke of ours through sin Ier. 2.17 hast thou not procured this unto thy selfe because thou hast forsaken the Lord. and that in the way of glory Hebr. 4. yet this is no such ceremony as to be abolished upon the fulfilling of the thing signified for even the Jewes under the Law had their rest from sinne in the way of grace as wee Christians under the Gospell yet neverthelesse observed the Sabbath and that glorious rest which shall not be accomplished till the end of the World is commonly called an eternall Sabbath And undoubtedly that is to be accompted as a rest morall whereunto the sanctification of the day calleth us namely to rest from all workes as they are Avocations from sacred studies and meditations But doth Abulensis accompt the rest of one day in seven ceremoniall and not morall Doctor Willet relates him as of an other opinion and distinguishing thus There are some things which are simply morall and some things simply ceremoniall and some things of a mixt kinde as being partly morall partly ceremoniall Simply morall are those things which are grounded on the judgement of naturall reason as when naturall reason doth dictate that some time is to be set apart for Gods service But precisely to appoint the seventh day more then any day of the weeke is simply ceremoniall quia non habet fundamentum à ratione sed à voluntate condentis legem because it is not grounded on reason but on the will of the law-maker But to appoint one day of seven and that day wholy for the space of 24. houres to consecrate to Gods service as therein to abstaine from all kinds of worke these things are not purely or simply ceremoniall but partly morall as grounded on the judgement of
although the determination of such a time be not designed But heretofore the seventh day was designed by a Divine praecept positive in the Law of grace the day of the Lords Resurrection so that amongst the people of God one day in the weeke hath been determined for divine service As for our Divines the most generall opinion amongst them is that the observation of one day in seven is of perpetuall observation For albeit Brentius upon Leviticus affirmes that the Church may in these dayes observe but one day in 14. if they will Yet not onely Gomarus and Rivet professe that under the Gospell wee must allow a better proportion of time for Gods service rather then a worse in reference to that which was allowed under the Law But Luther tom 5. fol. 610. professeth that ad minimum unus dies aliquis per hebdomadam is to be chosen for Gods worship and Baldwin in his cases of conscience 2. c. 13. cas 2. touching feasts It is morall saith hee to sanctifie one day in seven Master Hooker confesseth as much in his Ecclesiasticall policy And if Calvin hath a way by himselfe in this there is no reason hee should be introduced to affront the most generall current of our owne Divines mustered up by Walaeus as a cloud of witnesses standing for the morality of one day in seven Yet Walaeus hath cleared also Calvin in this point and that in reference to more pregnant passages then are produced here where nothing is delivered in opposition thereunto the last tends to the confirmation of it For if it be reasonable that one day in seven should be allowed for the ease and recreation of servants what day shall be their Sabbath if not the day of rest and if this be most reasonable I hope in the second place it will be judged most unreasonable that there should be one Sabbath for the Master and another for the servants undoubtedly now God hath gone before us in allotting this proportion of time for his service wee may be bold to say with Azorius and that incorrespondency to Tostatus his discourse that rationi maximè consentaneum est after six worke dayes to consecrate one unto divine service And seeing God hath required such a proportion of time for his service under the Law by the very light of nature it appeares to be most unreasonable wee should allow him a worse proportion under the Gospell and Calvin professeth that Nobis cum veteri populo quoad hanc partem communis est Sabbati necessitas Harm in 4. lib. Mosis in praecep 4. We have as much neede of a Sabbath as ever the Jewes had As touching the three particulars wherein Tostatus is vouched to affirme the fourth Commandement to bee an unstable and alterable ceremony First I have not hitherto found that Tostatus confoundeth the proportion of one day in seven with the particular day under this proportion as if these were equally ceremoniall The rest on the seventh day in the judgement of the ancients prefigured the rest of Christ that day in his grave and in that respect was accompted by them ceremoniall But as for the proportion of one day in seven never yet did I meete with any who set his wits on worke to devise any thing in Christ to be prefigured thereby that so it also might be accompted ceremoniall Yet I nothing doubt but this proportion is alterable by that power whereby it was prescribed but not by any inferour power and so it is accompted by Jacobus de Valentia stabile aeternum stable and everlasting and most unreasonable that wee should not be bound to allow as good a proportion of service unto God under the Gospell as the Jewes were bound to allow him under the Law The rest of the seventh day being ceremoniall wee hold not onely with Tostatus that it is alterable but with Stella that it must be altered and I hope the word it selfe affords evidence enough for this It is true the fourth Commandement in the very front commands the sanctifying the Sabbath not the seventh day but the Sabbath and in like maner it ends with professing that the Lord Blessed the Sabbath day not the seventh sanctified it But when the question is made what Sabbath I should rather answer a rest from all servile works then as here it is answered The seventh day For undoubtedly God doth not therein command us to rest the seventh day in correspondency to the seventh day from the Creation there is commanded one day in seven and a seventh after six dayes of worke But wee must leave it unto God as to prescribe unto us the Master to his servants the proportion of time to be set apart for his service so the particularity of the day also under the specified proportion least otherwise there might be as many different opinions hereabouts and courses according thereunto amongst the people of God as there be dayes in the weeke Now God did appoint the seventh day of the weeke unto the Jewes for their Sabbath but the first day of the weeke hee hath appointed unto us for our Sabbath still observing six dayes worke before and a seventh of rest unto God after And thus Zanchy a learned and judicious Divine interpreteth the fourth Commandement in 4. praecept p. 599. Col. 2. Stat sententia non sine causa factum esse ut in substantia praecepti dictum non sit Memento ut diem septimum sed ut diem Sabbati i. quietis sanctifices Hac enim ratione nos quoque praeceptum hoc servamus dum sanctificamus diem Dominicum quia hic quietis dies nobis est sicut Judaeis fuit septimus I am still of opinion that not without cause it is so ordered that in the substance of the precept it is not sayd remember the seventh day but remember the Sabbath day that is the day of rest to sanctifie it For by this meanes wee also keepe this precept in sanctifying the Lords Day So that this is not the opinion of Doctor Bownde onely and of Master Perkins but of Zanchy also and Iacobus de Valentia advers Iudaeos qu. 2. conclus 4. Christian Religion celebrates a true morall Sabbath on the Lords Day as touching the time in as much as it celebrates it on the day whereon it ought to be celebrated and concludes So the precept of the Sabbath as it is morall remaines in the new time celebrated on the Lords day So Dominicus Bannes formerly alleaged distinguisheth the substance of the praecept from the particular determination of the day and addes that by a positive precept the seventh day was designed unto the Iewes Bannes 22. 4. 44 art 1. but afterwards under the Law of grace was designed the day of the Lords Resurrection So that alwayes to Gods faithfull people was designed one day in the weeke for Divine Service Whereas other festivities sayth hee are in course by the institution of the Church And Doctor Andrewes also sheweth out
penall statutes may provide for such restraints by such punishments as whereof every naturall man will be sensible enough we have other considerations to propose as 1. Touching the proportion of time to be allowed to Gods service which concerneth the quantity of the service it selfe 1. This is a thing very considerable and of moment 2. We have no example that the quantity of service to be performed to the master was left unto the conscience or pleasure of the servant but rather is to be prescribed by the Master especially by such a Master as God is 1. Who hath made us 2. Who will infinitely reward us 3. To serve whom is our most perfect freedome and happinesse 4. And who is able to give us strength to performe it 5. And who is tenderly sensible of our weaknesses as he is most privy to them 6. And after God hath discovered this unto us and required the proportion of one day in seven to be consecrated to him and that under the Law surely reason doth suggest that we cannot performe lesse unto him under the Gospell 2. As touching the particularity of the day under this proportion 1. We read that there is one that is Lord of the Sabbath Now in reason who shall appoint this day but he that is Lord of it especially considering that it is his holy day Es 58. and such festivalls were said to be of his making Psalme 118.24 This is the day which the Lord hath made not of mans making secondly but it may be said he may leave unto man the appointing of it if it please him I answer that in this case it stands them upon to shew their Charter for this Thirdly for my part I see no cause we should desire any such liberty but rather pray unto God to blesse us from it 1. For as I am flesh I shall bee sure to put it off to the end of the weeke and I may be gone out of the world ere that day comes and when that day comes I shall be as loath to come to the service that day requires as ever and assoone weary of it and say when will the Sabbath be gone that I may returne to my former courses secondly as I am spirit I have cause to make choyce of the first day for à Iove principium and Adam and Eve being after the beasts of the field made on the sixt day and planted in Paradise the seventh day was the first entire day to him 4. Doctor Lake Bishop of Bath and Wells observes that festivalls dayes have ever beene commended unto us by some notable worke done on that day Now what worke like unto the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the weeke 5. Bishop Andrewes observes in his Starre Chamber speech that this resurrection brings with it a new creation and calls for a new Sabbath and I find this to have beene the observation of Athanasius about 1300. yeeres agoe 6. If we were left at liberty in the choyce of the day it is to be feared that if there were twenty dayes in the weeke there would be twenty differences betweene us thereabouts 7. Lastly if left at libertie I find no reason why we should keepe ourselves to the observation of the same day this is so apt and prone to breed in us an opinion of the necessitie thereof and so plunge us into superstition ere we are aware and thereby make our whole service of God on that day distastfull unto him To proceed the Practise of the Apostles is in Scripture represented unto us in three severall places the first whereof is Act. 20 7. upon the first day of the weeke when the Disciples came together to breake bread Paul preached unto them The practise is improved thus why is it said expressely that the Disciples came together to heare the word preached and receive the Sacraments rather on this day then any other rather then on the Iewish Sabbath were it not then a custome to celebrate on that day their publique meetings the Sabbath of the Iewes beginning by degrees to vanish It is farther confessed that the Fathers and all interpreters almost doe so conceive it Observe not a Father is found to take it in any other sense only the Magdeburgenses and Calvin are said to stick at the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it might signifie some one day of the weeke and yet in Scripture phrase it is apparant that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marc. 16.9 is all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 20.19 And it is Salmasius his observation that the Pythagoreans called the first day of the weeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insteed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Doctor professeth that from a casuall fact he seeth not how a solemne Institution may be justly grounded but it is not proved that this fact was casuall nay the text carryeth in the face of it manifest evidence against casualitie For it is said that they came together to eat bread all then convening to a sacred action how could this be done if they had not agreed hereupon before especially it being a businesse whereabout they came that required solemne and sacred preparation all which affront casualitie Take the circumstances aright The Disciples from divers parts came together that day about solemne and sacred action therefore it was ordered before to meet together on that day Now this concludes only concerning them and therefore Wallaeus professeth that the force of these three texts taken apart doe not conclude but joyntly Now by the next place 1. Cor. 16.2 it appeareth that the same day was the ordinary day of meeting for the Corinths and for the Churches of Galatia also Now how came it to passe the same day was the day of meeting about holy exercises in the Church of Ephesus the Church of Corinth and in the Churches of Galatia could this ordinary course for so much is signified 1. Cor. 16.2 of so many Churches concurring herein come to passe by chance or could their consent herein so many Churches so farre distant one from another be wrought by chance and not rather in all reason was wrought by authority Apostolicall And as for the second place 1 Cor. 16.2 whereas the exception is that there it is said the Apostles ordered collections on that day but not their meetings yet Doctor Andrewes in his Starre Chamber speech alleageth it as the Apostles precept for their meetings on that day and so doth Paraeus for though it be not expressed yet so much is implyed as by the reason formerly mentioned hath beene argued especially considering the last place Revel 1.10 where the first day of the weeke is called the Lords day a notable evidence of the divine authority the Scripture phrase no where calling any the Lords day or the Lords Altars or the Lords feasts but such as are of the Lords institution and in this particular Bishop Andrewes compares the Lords day with the Lords Supper professing the
that doth not let Gods Word be the guide directing to sanctifie a Festivall day I thinke hee squareth not his opinion according to truth neither hath he any president from Gods Word FINIS Defensio Thesium de Sabbato 13 I Take notice of Tertull. Iustin Martyr Thes 1. true but they alter not my judgement And why I finde in them onely a bare assertion and that of a thing so remote from their times that they could not know it otherwise then by relation From the Scripture they had none happily they had it from some Jewes Galatinus alleadgeth some But I oppose Jewes to Jewes Philo Iudaeus de opificio Mundi not onely is of a contrary opinion but holdeth also that it was a feast common to all Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And peradventure some such thing is meant by Hesiod his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it is not unlikely that God made the observation of the day a memoriall of the Creation But I will not enlarge that discourse It shall suffice that Philo Iudaeus In Decalog and Aben Ezra also and others thinke otherwise whose judgement our Orthodox Divines doe if not all yet for the most part follow Read them upon the second of Genesis 14 What the Patriarks did in point of religion 2. I thinke they did it by Divine direction Yee know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did never please God wherefore the Mosaicall Lawes other then those that had reference to the Church as nationall and delivered out of the Egyptian bondage are to be thought not introductory but declaratory Out of question those that concerned the substance of the service which stood in sacrifices and I thinke concerning the circumstance of time and place The place for there where God appeared there did they erect their altars yea and in the story of Rebecca it is plaine that shee went to a set place to consult the Lord. Gen. 25. And why shall not the time come under the same condition 15 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must receive an answer from that which is added in confirmation of the 13 Thesis It is but an ungrounded conjecture 16 Where had Rhenanus that opinion his varying from those whom I answered on the 13 Thesis sheweth that hee was not of Iustin Martyr or Tertullian his opinion and yet giveth no reason that may move to credit him or countervaile what I have alleadged for my opinion 18 Yes there is more if you compare Deut. c. 5. with Exodus c. 20. but I meant not onely that but other passages which make the Sabbath a signe of Gods residence sanctifying the Jewes c. which I expressed in the next thesis 19 Bedes conceipt may passe for an allegory built upon a witty accommodation of the literall sense which other fathers observed before him But that cannot be the literall sense of the Commandement You will not deny it if you grant that the Sabbath was instituted before the fall which I thinke more then probable though the Broughtonists hasten the fall before the Sabbath And I cannot without good reason yield that the patriarchs had no set time for divine service I meane a weekely time 31 True it is that Christ did rest from suffering upon the seventh but the last enemy death was not apparently overthrowne untill the reunion of his soule and body till he rose againe for our justification c. Therefore did the apostles make that the consummation of redemption in Christs Person 35 You cannot finde in all the 14. to the Romans that the Apostle is positive in the doctrine of dayes he expresseth a mutuall indulgence untill men had attained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the liberty from Moses Law Neither doth he beare out the Gentiles against the Jewes but qualifie rather the destempered zeale of the Gentiles that were too hot against the Jewes Sensus dictorum sumendus est ex causis dicendorum It is plaine that there was a questiō whether the Christian gentile should be pressed to observe the ceremonies whereunto the christian Jewes were pertinaciously addicted but never was there for ought I read a question whether the Jewes should keepe the Lords day for I think they never refused it Had there been such a quarrell I would enlarge the sense of that Chapter as you doe to our question but seeing there was not I see not how it should be reasonably done 36 I say not that the Apostles imprinted any holinesse upon the first day of the weeke It was Christs resurrection that honoured that day which I say the Apostles were to respect not arbitrarily but necessarily You may perceive the reason in my Theses You cannot observe from the beginning of the world any other inducement to the institution of feasts but Gods worke done on the day If it were not a continued worke as the dwelling in Tabernacles But you thinke the Apostles did not prescribe the observation of that day No you confesse they made choice of it and were moved so to doe by the reason which I alleage And were they not scattered over all the world where they came did they not all give the same order for the sacred assemblies And shall we thinke that this could be done without an apostolicall prescript 37. 43. I conjoyne them because one answer will cleare both Let us then first agree what it is for a thing to be Liberae observationis The Questonist in his interpretation which commonly is received leaveth a possibility for an alteration by humane auctority if any reason shall perswade a conveniency so to doe though so long as publike auctority commandeth it he will have it dutifully observed Whereupon will follow a Consectary or two First that this Law doth not immediately bind the conscience because Merè humani Iuris positivi Secondly that Extra scandalum a man may transgresse it For example a Tradesman may worke in his Chamber if no body bee privy to it If this be the Commentary upon Libera observatio and if it be well inquired into you will finde that I doe not mistake the meaning then I prof sse I cannot like of such a Libera observatio For I am perswaded that if all Christendome should meete and have never so plausible a ground they cannot alter the day de jure though de facto they may but it is worse then previshnesse so to doe And why they cannot alter the first ground Christs rising upon that day Secondly they cannot alter the uniforme order that upon that undenyable ground was set down by the Apostles themselves which were infallibly guided by the Holy Ghost And out of these grounds I deduce that the Law doth immediately bind their conscience And that it is to be observed even where it may be transgressed without any scandall Christ and the Apostles were not absolutely bound to lay such a foundation of the Lords Day and so it was Liberae institutionis but they having layd it I deny that it is now Liberae