the French Church the Tuesday the Belgick Church the Wednessday the Germans might ordain the â—â—ursday the Danes the Friday and other Churches might keep the present day to be the Lords day And so so many Churches so many Sabbaths and what intâ—llerable scandal would this procure to the Church of Christ and what feuds would it disseminate among Christians Nay how would this confusion strike the Christian profession under the fifth rib and give it its mortal wound This Ecclesiastick power and liberty would likewise open a way to revive and reduce the Jewish Sabbath Dies dominicus nomen suum adeptus fuit propter dominicae resurrectionis memoriam ad finem usque mundi celebrandum Muscul or the solemn day of the Turks which is every Fryday nay we know not with what Heathens we might concur in their weekly solemnity And when the Pagans shall well espy our dissentions how much we disagree about our Sabbath this may re-inforce their detestation both of us and our Religion Now if the Church had power to ordain the Sabbath they have likewise power to alter and change it which we see may be the womb of irreparable mischiefs Is it not then far more rational and convictive for the prevention of those miserable disorders to take the Sabbath as marked out by God himself the institution of Christ by his Apostles which is now the first day of the week a day founded and bottomed on Christs glorious Resurrection And thus the Church of Christ his little but precious flock may keep the Luke 12. 32. Vnity of the spirit in the bond of Peace No doubt then the Eph. 4. 3. Lords day is of Divine not Ecclesiastical Authority otherwise Rom. 4. 25. mens spirits would never have been so over-awed and their hands tied from presumptuous undertakings The truth is our Christian Sabbath must be built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ by his Resurrection being the chief corner stone And because nothing can fall out in the world comparable to the Resurrection of Christ in glory and power therefore no day can be set up like unto this neither can it be changed into any other The like cause can never be offered to change this day which at first occasioned the choice of it and therefore it must remain untill the end of all things And they who ever they be who go about to raze this day must first pick out Christs mark which he hath wrought into it by the work of Redemption and so blot out the testimony of the four Evangelists concerning Christs Resurrection on the first day of the week the happy Basis of our Sabbath Moreover the observation of the Lords day being fresh and frequent in the Apostles dayes they being yet alive and excercising a superintendency over the Church who should Stab Apostolis adhuc in vâ—vis dies dominicus observatus fuit meritò illorum ordinationi ascribendus est Aut enim per ipsos eorum authoritatem aut per alios ecclesiae doctores sine illorum consensu institutus erat quorum posterius est valde absurdum insulâ—um non suit ecclesiae Apostolis leges praescribere interpose to ordain this holy day of worship but themselves If any other Governors of the Church they did it either with the consent of the Apostles and then their Authority was subordinate and so swallowed up in the power Apostolical For the Apostles were the Supream guides of the Church and had the ordering of the affairs of Christs flock the care of the Churches was in the first place committed to them 2 Cor. 11. 28. Or else this Committee of Church Governors who they were where they met or what they did could never yet be discovered did appoint the Christian Sabbath against the consent of the Apostles and surely then their presumption would have been taxed in holy writ for a perpetual reproach of the thing or else they had fallen under the Pens of Ecclesiastical Historians of all which ne quis quidem not any thing appears to the most critical Observator in their most curious searches and inquisitions But it can never be imagined any should dare to impose a day of their own invention upon the Church the Apostles those infallible Spirits being yet in the land 1 Cor. 2. 16. of the living Did the Church appoint the Christian Sabbath let her be called the Lady of it and so Christ will lose his title of Si beati Apostoli ex authoritate sibi à Châ—isto delegatâ Dominicum non instituissent sed ejus observationem liberam reliquissâ—nt tum meritò diceremus ecclesiam ipsam Lord of it Mark 2. 28. which as Paraeus observes is one argument of Christs Divinity for none can be Lord of the Sabbath but he who appointed it and he whose Sabbath it is and surely such an attempt can hardly be excused of the most daring Sacriledge to rob God not of his Tythes but of his Titles and so put Christs Armes into their Scutcheons this indeed savours too much of arrogancy and it cannot be fastned on the Flock of Christ who hears his voyce and follows the accents of it And how our Sabbath should be the Lords day and yet of humane institution is such a knot I know not how to untye and am not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod tamen praeclarum testimonium est divinitatis Christi quòd ipse per Apostolos suos diem dominicum instituit Par. over-hopeful to see the Riddle unfolded by any other That the Church should give the Sabbath a being and the Lord should give it a name is such a partage I think few will own Seyrus the Casuist hath laid down a good Rule viz. The Church can abolish holy days because she determines them and custom prevails much among men but the sanctification of a day is onely from a Divine Law Let the Church then move in its own sphere and follow the letter of its Commission but to set apart a Sabbath for the World let it not avouch any such Authority this is for the Spouse Cant. 5. 4. of Christ to disturb and awaken her beloved If the Church have any such priviledge as to appoint a Sabbath for Mankind let her shew her Charter and Commission out of the Old or New Testament But it is to be supposed she can shew none sufficient to authorize her for this transcendent act to determine the solemn and sufficient Nemo est sabbati dominus nisi qui sabbatum instituit cujus sabbatum est Par. time of Gods solemn and ordinary worship Could she have brought forth her Credentials the world should not have been kept in the dark so long and if she cannot it is not so easie to impose upon mens belief all Christians are not acted by an implicite faith nor will they lean too hard upon Ecclesiastical Authority and submit because Cant. 2 7. they say so a
liberty but licentiousnesse the loosning of the râ—ines not the laying hold on our Priviledge To that which is cleared from Scripture may be added the testimony of the Reverend Perkins who writing on Revel 1. 10. saith thus The day which is here called the Lords day among the Jews was the first day of the week called sometimes by us Sunday It is called the Lords day for two reasons 1. Because on this day Christ rose from death to life for Christ was buried on the evening of the Jews Sabbath which is our Friday and rested in the grave their whole Sabbath which is our Saturday and rose the first day of the week early on the morning which is our Sunday 2. The first day of the week according to the Jewes account came instead of the Jewes Sabbath and was ordained a day of Rest for the times of the New Testament and sanctified for the solemn worship of the Lord and for this cause especially it is called the Lords day the manifestation whereof as some think John chiefly intended in this title And it is most consonant to the tenour of the New Testament to hold That Christ himself was the Author of the change of the Sabbath from the last to the first day of the week and my reasons are these 1. That which the Apostles delivered and enjoyned in the Church that they received from Christ either by voice or instinct for they delivered nothing of their own head But the Apostles delivered and enjoyned this Sabbath to the Church to be kept a day of holy rest to the Lord as appeareth 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. where Paul ordained in the Churches of Galatia and Corinth that the collection for the poor should be on the first day of the week this he left not to the choyce of the Church but appointed it by Authority Apostolical from Christ Now the day of collecting for the poor as appeareth in the Histories of the Church was on the Sabbath day when the people were assembled for Gods service For this was the custome of the Church for many yeares after Christ Apostolicâ institutione Collecta fieri solebat die dominico ubi conveniebant fideles in ecclesiâ Hinc patet Apostolorum tempore muta tum esse Sabbatum in diem dominicum First to have the Word preached and the Sacraments administred and then to gather for the poor And for this cause in the writings of the Church the Lords Supper is called a Sacrifice an Oblation Because therewith was joyned the collection for the Poor which was a spiritual Oblation not to the Lord but to the Church for the relief of the Poor and this collected relief was sent to the poor Saints abroad 2. The Apostles themselves kept this day for the Sabbath of the New Testament Acts 10. 27. And it cannot be proved that they observed any other day for an holy Rest unto the Lord after Christs ascention save onely in one case when they came into the Assemblies of the Jewes who would keep no other then their old Sabbath of the Law All this and more that man of renown in the Churches of Christ hath left upon record to assert the Christian Sabbath as a set and standing day for the solemn worship of God every week till the second coming of Christ And therefore clamorously to plead a liberty to worship God as where so when we please in Gospel-times is not onely a contradiction to holy Writ but it is likewise a giving the lye to the Testimony of the most approved Lights of the Church To be left to our selves to serve God when we please and not to be tyed to any set day of solemn worship is not Christian liberty but unchristian misery This is our snare not our priviledge If we may serve God at any time we will serve God at no time Mans corrupt nature is not so accommodated Rom. 8 7. to spiritual Ordinances that it should be often fledged with satisfaction and delight The Jews who had a clear command for Sabbath observation were weary of Quidam asserâ—â—â—t omnes dies esse aequales quilibet dies est Sabbatum Christianis sed hi dum Sabbatum multiplicant annihilant multitudo festorum interficiet Sabbatum their Sabbaths and wished them over that they might set forth Wheat Amos 8. 5. And yet this people was disciplined by God himself and carryed in his bosom Numb 11. 12. Shall men be left to themselves to serve God when they please when will the worldling shut up his shop to be at leisure for holy worship and communion And when will Proud persons leave consulting the Glass in their Chamber to consult with the glass of Gods word The covetous person will hardly spare time for solemn and divine services and to wait upon the worship of the Almighty Voluptuous persons will be lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God 2 Tim. 3. 4. And those who frequent the stews will seldom approach the Sanctuary Truly to leave man to his own liberty to serve God is only to give the reins to loose nature to range in the broad way which leads to destruction We see experimentally that all Laws divine and humane which concern the Sabbath cannot shackle corrupt man and keep him close to a due observation of it Some sin it away in acts of gross prophaneness some trifle it away in foolish talk and recreations some formalize it away in sleeping at Ordinances or neglecting family duties and he who keeps it strictly and purely is a Job 33. 23. De iis timenduÌ„ qui omnes dies aequant dum dies aequant aequarent etiam divitias dum arripiunt praeceptum è decalogo opes arriperent e loculo Professor one of a thousand To take all obligations from conscience that it may serve God when it pleaseth and not be tied to any set time is to spur forward corrupt man to irreligion who is too forward of himself A grave man seriously asserts Lay waste the Sabbath and lay waste all Religion that blessed day being the hedge to keep in Man to his duty which being broken down how should we turn as wild beasts of the forrest So that this ruinous opinion will easily prove the unhappy Parent of a thousand soul-destroying mischiefs it not being probable that laying aside Mic. 5. 8. the Sabbath of the Lord we should lie under the smiles of the Lord of the Sabbath It is true that under the New Testament all places in a fair sense are equally holy but it doth not follow from hence that all times are so and Walaeus stands stiffly to it the Mat. 18. 20. argument is invalid For it is not easie or meet but is very John 4. 21. dissonant from divine wisdom to appoint in his word all 1 Tim. 2. 8. particular places where his people should meet their meetings Mat. 1. 11. being to be in so many thousand several Provinces and
aut mundi cura et ille cibrae immò mille temporalium rerum onera quae nos adigunt ad irregularitatem Chrysost homil 9. with drowsiness Mat. 26. 40. And yet our sweetest Saviour puts a good construction upon this failing And if the Apostles of Christ cannot hold up how shall ordinary Christians of the lower form in Christs School Few are vigorous as they should be on Gods holy day what would they do if every day must be a Sabbath This is impossible to flesh and bloud Man carries clogs about him to holy opportunities which yet are soon over he carries a naughty heart which is apt to wander and a faint nature which is apt to tire and a heavy eye which is apt to close besides he never leaves Satan behind him to be at least the shadow to darken the light and joy of Ordinances And therefore to assert a constant Sabbath an every day Sabbath is to throw a mountain upon an infant And 6. This opinion takes away all distinction between our Vltra hunc mundum est veri Sabbati observatio Orig. Sabbath on earth and our Sabbath in heaven In heaven indeed we shall keep a perpetual Sabbath and all shall be true which this opinion holds forth there shall be no labours no shops no merchandise All our employment shall be to celebrate the praises of God and the Lamb who sits upon the Throne Rev. 5. 13. But to fancy such a Sabbath in this life is to act the Prâ—soner who dreams of golden Rev. 4. 9 â—0 11. treasure pleasing delights sensual satisfaction and wakeing in the morning finds himself shackled in an iron chain and lockt up in a dark dungeon And let this be added to dream of a perpetual Sabâ—ath here and so lay aside the Lords day as groundless and useless is the next way to miss of an everlasting Sabbath above To make every day a Christian Sabbath is only a more subtle design to undermine the publick Ordinances Such would be every day in private that they may be no day in publick and so they set the closet against the Sanctuary and so the pretence of secret duty shall wholly subvert the reality of solemn worship For it is not to be imagined that all people should meet every day in publick and solemn assemblies Mark 14. 49. And how unsutable is this to a Saints spirit David his emphatical option and desire was to dwell in the Temple Psal Luke 19. 44. 27. 4. And he bewailed his loss of opportunities to go with Acts 17. 10. the multitude Psal 42. 4. The Jews kept the Temple worship Acts 18. 4. till they turned their backs upon the Messiah Paul Acts 13. 14. preached in the Synagogue and commanded the Hebrews not Joel 1. 14. to neglect the publick assemblies Heb. 10. 25. Now the Heb. 10. 25. drift of this wild fancy is to leave all Christians to their Certum est ad cessationem simplicem Sabbatum non suisse institutum sed ut convenirent Christiani ad ea pietatis eteercitia quae toti multitudini erant communia Riv. own private observations to their Chamber and closet duties that so there may be no use of publick Ministers publick Administrations publick Schools and publick Universities or a publick solemn day for divine worship and what is this but to bury all Order Discipline and Beauty in ruine and confusion This is to act Dioclesians part to destroy the devout ministry to act Julians part to shut up the Schools and so hinder all Knowledge and Learning and to run with Faustus Socinus to pluck up the Lords day and at last to slide into the blasphemies and insolence of Lucian and Porphiry to deride all Religion To make every day a Sabbath solemnly condemns the practice of the Church in all ages The Church of Christ never understood but one Sabbath in a week which is the blessed Lords day Shall we run it up to the fountain head and take a prospect of the practice of the Church in every Century In the purest times of the Church holy Ignatius the Disciple of the Apostle John the Martyr of Jesus Christ lays it upon Christians as they would shew any love to Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignat. that they should keep holy the Lords day So zealous was this blessed man and Martyr for the observation of this particular day and it s most probable if not most certain that he should know the mind of God when he lay in the Apostle Johns bosom and John lay in Christs John 13. 23. And Ignatius calls the Lords day the Queen of dayes and therefore all dayes are not equal but every day of the week is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Apol. secund inferiour to this Supream of dayes Justin Martyr who lived in the second Century relates the practice of the Church in his time telling us That on Sunday solemn Conventions of people meet together in Villages or Cities for the exercices of divine worship This holy man and Martyr who sealed the truth of Christ with his bloud is the unbiassed Historian of Sabbath observation in the most orient and glorious times of the Church when the truths of God were warm newly dropt from the mouth and heart of Christ Then Euseb Hist l. 4. c. 22. the Lords day was call'd Sunday for reasons hereafter to be shewn not Saturday not Friday not every day but it was the best and highest of dayes and was solemnly set apart Tertul. de Idol c. 14. for solemn and Gospel-worship Dionysius Corinthiacus who lived in the third Century speaks of his observation of Prima Sabbati est initium dierum et tunc ecclesia erecta perficiebat deprecationes Basil the Lords day and the same attests Tertullian who was his Contemporary and speaks largely of the solemn keeping of that blessed day One day is still solemnized not every day no more then every one in a Nation can be crowned and wear the badge of Supremacy Basil who lived in the fourth Century calls the Lords day the beginning of dayes and every Greek Letter is not Alpha And this renowned Father saith That the Church then devoutly poured out their prayers to God And with him joyn Chrysostom Ambrose Augustine Hilary those bright and burning lights of the Primitive Church whose copious descants upon this holy day it will be too much to set down Now this opinion hath no patronage from antiquity unless it be from the mistake of Clemens or the figurative fancy of allegorizing Origen In the darkest times of the Church when it was overspread with palpaâ—le darkness even then Authority commanded Exod. 10. 21. Sabbath-observation one solemn day not every day that was a strange notion in the very midnight of the Church When the clouds were thickest so much brake forth to lead the Christian World to keep one day every week to the Lord. Charles the
are forced to fly to a miserable distinction at the best that the fourth Precept is partly moral and partly ceremonial for the substance of the command is that a seventh day be consecrated to divine worship which if the day mentioned in the command be ceremonial then the whole precept is so And therefore to disintangle our souls from these intricacies of errour and absurdity we must conclude that a seventh day in proportion and not the seventh day in order is the substance and equity of the fourth Commandment and so the practice of the Church in all ages which is the best interpreter of this command hath fully shewn and declared The fourth Commandment then enjoyns one day in seven to be weekly observed and this is the reason and the substance of it Now the old seventh day which was the Jews Sabbath being antiquated and discharged what day remains for the Christian Sabbath for the Disciples of Christ to meet upon for holy and divine worship Quest Here the answer is ready It is the first day of the week the blessed day of our adored and admired Saviors Resurrection Answ But still the Query will be By what Authority is this day made the Christian Sabbath To which it is answered Not by Ecclesiastical Authority And Mr. Perkins gives us the reason The Church saith he hath no power to ordain a Sabbath or to change the present Sabbath into any other day in the week as to Tuesday Wednesday c. for time is the Lords and the disposing thereof in his hands therefore Christ saith to his Disciples it is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath kept in his own hands Now if God hath the disposing of times in his hands then it belongeth not to the Church to dispose them And it may be hence Acts 1. 7. gathered if that which is less belong not to the Church then that which is more doth not But the knowledge of times and seasons which God hath in his power belongs not to the Church much less the disposing of times and seasons I may add and far less the appointing of a weekly Sabbath And thus the Reverend and worthy Peâ—kâ—ns And indeed to sublimate Church Authority so far what is it but to put man into Gods chair And to make him King of the Church and so take the Scepter out of Christs hand It is a worthy saying of Bishop Lake The Church hath received the Lords day not ordained it not to be liberae observationis of free observation as if man might at pleasure accept or refuse it but it is to be perpetually observed to the worlds end For as God only hath power to apportion his time so he only hath power to set out a day for his portion he is the Lord of the Sabbath the work of the day is the ground of the hallowing of the day and therefore Mark 2. 28. as no man can translate the work so no man can translate the day and this is an undoubted rule in Theology And thus this Learned Person hath both asserted the Divine Authority of the Lords day and given us good reason for it Man therefore being impotent and incapable to lay the foundation of a weekly Sabbath by some glorious work especially equivalent to the work of Creation or Redemption let him never presumptuously pretend to the appointment or institution of it Let us a little reason this case We read there is one who is Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2. 28. Now in reason who shall appoint this day but he who is Lord of it And considering Mark 2. 28. it is his holy day and it is expresly said Psal 118. 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made the whole Isa 58. â—3 stream of Interpreters expounding this text of the Lords day So then the day is of the Lords making and not of mans making and moreover there can be no cause why man should desire such a liberty for it is much to be feared if there were twenty dayes in the weak there would be twenty differences every one every Church at least would choose its own day and admire the issue of its own institution What jars and digladiations would this bring into the Church of Christ how would this tear Christs seamless coat in pieces The dissentions between the Eastern and the Western Churches about the observation of Easter day are not forgotten when Victor Bishop of Rome was ready Dr. Twisse treat on the Sab. pag. 141 to draw the Sword of Excommunication Indeed the appointing of a day for weekly worship and divine communion is a task too great for weak and unstable Man and can be only the product of an infallible spirit As Dr. Twisse happily and closely argues Christ calls himself Lord of the Sabbath and as he constituted it so none but he can abrogate it and place another in the room of it And in the Apostles dayes the first day of the week was set apart for the Christians Sabbath which could not be but by the joynt consent of the Apostles And how strange is it that the Church for 1500 years should never offer to alter it no not in the least if so be such power and liberty was put into their hands as to ordain and Praetereà generalis omnium ecclesiarum consensus in hac fessivitate divinam ejus authâ—ritatâ—m â—vinciâ— et observandum est quòd in aliis observationibus ab Apostolis non receptis sed à posterà ecclesià ad tempus observatis ecclesiae à se invicem discesserunt veluti in Festo Paschatis in jejuniâ—s observandis Ita sine dubio in Dominiâ—â— celebrandâ contigisseâ— si divinâ authoritate per Apostolos acceptâ ejus observatio apud Christianos non constitua fuisset appoint it Among us nothing more usual then for one Parliament to unravel and disanul what another hath done and enacted as being unsatisfied in the thing it self or else to shew their own plenipotentiariness And no doubt had the Church been fledged with this power to ordain a Sabbath for the Church of Christ in some age or another they would have given us a cast of this power and would have attempted to pluck up a plant of their own planting and would have inoculated the Sabbath into the stock of some other day Darkness and Division there hath been enough in the Church to quarrel with institutions and appointments of former times But the perpetual silence of the Church in this particular infallibly shews the Divine right of the Lords day And the Churches are so hush because they dare not attempt such a piacular enterprise as to rase the foundation of a divine institution And in case they should put in practice such a pretended liberty what inconvemences would fall out to be bewailed with tears of bloud for this liberty must be equal in every Church and so our English Church might institute the Monday
bare and naked Asseveration will not salve all Cant. 3. 5. their doubts Besides God appointed the Sabbath which Cant. 8. 4. was celebrated in the times of the Law and shall not he Ecclesia non debet nec potest mutare sabbatum qui aliter dicunt falso me interpretantur Prideaux appoint the Sabbath which is celebrated in the times of the Gospel Nay is it not necessary and agreeing to natural equity that he who appoints the manner and matter of worship should also appoint the sufficient and necessary time of worship Are not all men even the Governours of the Church and the greatest Potentates obliged to render to God the homage of observing a sufficient time for worship Or shall we deny God the priviledge which every common Landlord assumes to himself to appoint the days of payment of his own homage What if the Church cannot Quando deus sanctificat sabbatum est sanctificatto constitutiva Cùm homo sanctificat sabbatum est sanctificatio invocativa Weems agree if she apostatize or grow heretical which is no new thing in the world where then shall God find his sufficient time for Sabbath-observation In a word all the power of the Church is founded on the fifth Commandement and not on the fourth and she may as well appoint the worship it self required by the second Commandement as the sufficient time of it required by the fourth And it is well observed by the learned Weemes God onely may sanctifie a Sabbath for himself for the Sabbath is not to be reckoned among private goods but it is to be reckoned among such things as are common to all as are the fire and the water therefore Tempus non est inter privata bona sed inter bona communia qualia sunt â—er aqua quod divini juris est nullius â—â— bonis est Weems man cannot separate time as God doth for his service and worship and there separation is but occasional accidental and mutable Thus learnedly and rationally this worthy man argues that the Sabbath being a common good to the world the institution of it is not to be attributed to any Convention of fallible men but onely to him who is the Lord of Heaven and Earth And surely he who created the Sun the Index of time doth and must appoint the Sabbath which is the quintessence and best part of time These sublime institutions as the Sabbath Sacraments Ordinances c. which have a general concourse in the good and to the benefit of Mankind as they speak the glory so they evidence the determination of God their Author The same Authority which institutes a day may abrogate it and alter it but the Church cannot abrogate and alter Ejusdem est refigere â—ujus est figâ—re the Lords day It is a Canon of the Civil Law They who can enact can repeal and this may be instanced in the Festivals and Sabbath of the Old Testament God alone ordained them and he did cancel and abrogate them Now it is the judgment of our most classick and authentical Divines That the Church cannot alter the Lords day So Certè quamvis dies dominicus sit juris canonici consuetudine tamen nunquam abrogaâ—â—tur Azor. Quid ergò An diem dominicum jure divino esse stabilitum asseremus Ego quidem Auditores sine cujusdam praejudicio lubentissimè concedo in istam sententiam Prideaux Dr. Fulk that eminent Champion of the Protestant Religion who profligated the Romish Cause in answering the Rhemists Testament he thus avers our Plea To change the Lords day saith he and keep it on a Monday or any other day the Church hath no authority for the Lords day is no matter of indifference but a necessary prescription of Christ himself delivered to us by the Apostles This is most clear and plain and let the learned Professor of Oxford the famous Prideaux give his opinion in this Cause I am not satisfied saith he with the Ordinance of the Church for the Lords day because Church-Ordinances may with the same facility be broken as they are made which absolutely to affirm of the Lords day were unadvised And besides could the Church remove the Lords day to Monday Tuesday or any other day what becomes of the day of Christs resurrection the first day of the week upon which not onely the Fathers in the primitive times but likewise our later Divines do so confidently and truly bottom and found it And will it not sound very harshly and unseemly that the Nox est tempus ante Christum plaenum tenebris infidelâ—tatis peccati sed dies est tempus praesens evangelii quo Sol i. e. Christus lucis suae gratiae et amoris radios toto Orbe diffundit Cyprian great and eternal Jehovah should ordain and appoint the Sabbath of the Old Testament and a company of fallible men subject to be attached by a writ of Error should institute the Sabbath of the New Testament when Religion shone with a brighter ray and scriptural ministrations were far more glorious Or to speak in the Apostles language When the Night was far spent and the Day was at hand Rom. 13. 12. That day so much rejoyced in by Abraham and his believing Posterity so much admired by the Martyrs in the primitive times Once God and Man wonderfully united in the same Person made one Saviour but God and Man strangely are Copartners to make two Sabbaths and that the old Sabbath now entombed in the Grave of Christ should have a divine Author and the Christian new Sabbath which is to endure to the worlds end should onely be fixed upon humane Authority is I suppose beyond the reach of ordinary apprehensions But the learned Prideaux wisely observes The Canon of the Church doth not Dies dominicus practicè moraliter est immutabilis Suarez give to this day any Divine Authority which before it had not but sheweth rather what they received from their Ancestors to be transmitted by them to their posterity Nay Suarez the Jesuit will acknowledge That the Lords day practically and morally is immutable and subject to no alteration and therefore it cannot be of humane Authority And indeed it is a dangerous thing to the whole Fabrick of Religion should an humane Ordinance limit the necessary Ecclesiastica disciplina Authoritas nimiâ facilitate enervatur et irrita redditur Alap time of Gods worship Or that the Church should not assemble but at the pleasure of the Clergie and then perhaps not well agreeing among themselves for what would men busied about their Farms their Yokes of Oxen and domestick affairs would not they set at naught a humane Ordinance Would not prophane men easily dispense with Nonnullum quod audivimus aut vidimus argumentum nos adhuc in contrarium flexerit quin ut nomen illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aequè respexerit institutionem Christi ac resurrectionem Dr. Wells their
indeed how much do these Sons of Belial cloud Gods blessed day with their deeds of infernal darkness But there is another generation risen up in our present Incessimus diei dominicae eversores sub praetextu libertatis Christianae ut bodie sunt Anabaptistae Prof. Leid age who sub larvâ pietatis under a pretence of religion attempt to over-throw and wholly to subvert the Lords day and yet they are so passionate in their love to the Sabbath that they would have every day a Sabbath As he said would all the Lords people were Prophets Numb 11. 29. so these wish all the dayes of the week were Lords dayes They think they give Christ too scant measure to give him but one day in the week they conceive our whole life should be a continual Sabbath And thus the Devil according to his wonted custome turns himself into an Angel of light that he 2 Cor. 11. 14. may the more undiscernedly deceive and beguile incautelous souls But the work of this Chapter will be to ferret this opinion out of all its lurking holes and to shew that the feigned sanctity of these pretenders is only a vain pretence Multitudo mediâ—orum interfecit Regem for by a seeming multiplication of Sabbaths they annihilate the true Sabbath and thrust it out of the world And as it was once said of the Graecian Emperour when he was sick that a multitude of Physicians killed the King So a multitude of pretended Sabbaths will destroy the true one which Ignatius calls the Queen of dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is some difference among Divines upon whom to father this demure fancy this feavourish zeal which runs over into all kind of absurdity The learned Professors of Leyden affix this opinion upon the Anabaptists and in downright terms call them the over-throwers of the Lords day notwithstanding with guilty Adam they run among the trees to hide themselves from the charge of the truth and think to take sanctuary in the notion of Christian liberty Dr. Twisse that mirrour of learning layes the brat at the door of Swenkfeldus as if he first gave new life to this old errour and received it by a large stride from Manes the father of the Manichees who threw this wild fire up and down in the Primitive Church against whom holy Augustine planted his batteries with glorious success Yet the Reverend Twisse will not exempt the Anabaptists from their share in the propagation of this pestilential errour Walaeus one of the Leyden Professors tells us that the Anabaptists turn the fourth The Manichees of old made all days equally holy under the Gospel Mr. Shep. Commandment into a meer Ceremony and so that Sun being set we are left in the dark and so know no distinction of dayes and he assures us that the Socinians are brethren in this iniquity The learned Rivet another of the Leyden Professors in his tract upon the Decalogue gives in his free suffrage to the judgement of his Collegue Walaeus The Familists likewise have set to their shoulder to carry on this work of Satan to level all dayes and so depose the Lords day Merè ceremoniale esse quartum preceptum ac proinde per adventum Christi planè abolitum bodiè ferè sentiunt Anabaptistae Wal. from its just royalty and honour These brain-sick persons who delight to call themselves the family of love have willingly drowned the Sabbath in the deluge of all other dayes But let it be the shame of all these Sects to make all dayes equall and equally to be regarded for so instead of Christian liberty there is brought into the Church an Heathenish licentiousness Nay the Heathenâ— had alwayes their set and solemn dayes nay weekly nay some of them the seventh day in imitation of or allusion to the Sabbath which first was fixed on that day and at this day the barbarous Turks have their weekly festival every Friday the first day of Quid est haec opinio nisi barbarieâ— petulantia Chemnit in Exam. Concil Trident. Mahomets Kingdome when he fled from Mecca to Jethrib and thenceforth constituted that day the first day of their week and of their year Chemnitius calls this levelling errour rude impudency and barbarous folly Nay it is the very dregs of ignorance not to observe that day with all due solemnity which hath so long been kept by the universal Church of God Against these Familists and Libertines many of our modern Divines have drawn up the battel wherein Truth hath gained a triumphant Victory But these spiritual levellers who make all dayes alike and would they not make all Estates alike and give no preheminence to the Lords day have some paper forts to fly unto to prevent a rout which are partly built upon pretended reason and partly upon mistaken Scripture I shall give them the full scope of their own defence and easily shew the vanity of their pleas and allegations They alledge for themselves that the fourth Commandment is meerly ceremonial and ceremonies are only for a Ceremonia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop Andr. time they include decay in their very name and expired ceremonies are no obligations upon us to obedience or observance 1. To this it may be replyed That no reason can be assigned why the rest of the decalogue should not follow and Quartum praeceptum est pars Decalogi in quo nihil merè ceremoniale praecipitur quum lex Decalogi est lex morilis et aeterna duabus tabulis à deo inscripta et decem verba non novem tantùm amplecti asseritur Wal. the other Nine Commandments breath out their last with the Fourth and so the hedge of Gods Ten Words being broken down we may leap over into any sin for the Apostle avers That where there is no Law there is no transgression Rom. 4. 15. Sin is the transgression of the Law as another Apostle affirms 1 John 3. 4. And the Law being expired and disanull'd the transgression ceaseth So we may covet our neighbours wife without immodesty the law against it being out of date and cassated and what a gap would this open to all licentiousness How would this turn the world into a Stews and a Brothel house For as Walaeus rightly argues The fourth Commandment is part of the Decalogue one of Gods ten words in which nothing meerly ceremonial is commanded seeing the Law of the Decalogue is moral and eternal written in two Tables by God Exod. 34 28. himself Deut. 10. 4. and is called Gods ten words Deut. 4. 13. not his nine words to intimate the indivisible Exod. 19. 16. union between the fourth and the rest of the Commandments Exod. 31. 16. Considering likewise it is a Commandment partaking Levit. 19 3. of the same priviledges with the rest 1. It was delivered with the same admirable Majesty 2. It was written with the same finger of God Levit. 23. 3. Exod. 31. 13. Jam.
likewise of this day is of no less excellency then the Fathers blessing of the seventh day Nay how many wayes did Jesus Christ bless his own day By his Glorious Resurrectiâ—n when the Sun of Righteousness diâ— riâ—e wiâ—h healing in his wings to visit and make Mal. 4. 2. Rom. 13. 12. happy the world and to make it day among the Sons of Men. By his several apparitions on this day when Christ did exhilarate and revive his sadned and disconsolatâ— Disciples St. Aug. de Câ—vit dei lib. 22. cap. 30. with the bright intervals of his pellucid and salvifical presence But of this more hereafter By his heavenly instructions on this day Luke 24. 25. when as Elijah now he was going to heaven he dropt his Mantle and shewed his Disciples his mind by revelation 2 Kings 2. 13. before he shewed them his face in glory By illuminating the minds and opening the understandings ings of his Disciples more eminently on this day Luke 24. John 20. 22. John 20. 28. Rev. 22. 16. 45. On this day not only the morning star arose in the World of inhabitants but in the hearts of the Disciples and he opened not only the curtains of the grave but of the minds of his Apostles by his redoubted and omnipotent operation By breathing the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples John 20. 22. as on this day When Christ did that by his breath which the Minister cannot do by his Zeal the Scholar by his Art the Friend by his love nay Nature it self by its force Aug. Serm. 15. de verb. Apost viz. inspire the heart with holy principles and the head with holy knowledge and spiritual understanding By the installation of his Apostles into their supream jurisdiction giving them power to bind and to loose in heaven and in earth John 20. 21 22 23. On this day the Apostles received not their Miter but their Mission and the emblem of their dignity was no ceremonial vesture but a supereminent power All which blessings Christ scattered on this solemne day our Christian Sabbath and on this day as an essay of converting power Christ by the Ministry of Peter turned three thousand to his own Divine self Now all these blessings which Christ heaped on this day Acts. 2. 41. what are they but so many acts of consecration They are only the pouring out of the oyl to anoint it to be far above its fellows and to be the Christians solemn and weekly festival And thus Ignatius calls our Sabbath the Highest and Psal 45. 7. Queen of dayes The argument then is very forcible à pari if the Fathers blessing a day made it a Sabbath to the world before and in the times of the Law then the Sons blessing a day must needs make it a Sabbath to the world in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignat. John 5. 23. times of the Gospel And this is the more to be taken notice of because Christ saith expresly John 5. 23. That all men shall honour the Son even as they honour the Father Reas 3 Christs Faithfulness in his Church proclaims him the institutor of his own day God the Father when he had ordained Expendendum est quod non solùm ritus et ceremonias populo suo dedit deus quibus ad fidem charitatem gratiarum actionem observantiam dei imbuerentur sed et certa tempora praescripsit in quibus vigore legis praescriptas Ceremonias exercerent Haud permisit illis libertatem ut ferias quas et quando vellent pro suo libero arbitrio figerent out refigerent mutarent tollerent multiplicarent minuorent sed ferias servandas tradid it ex quibus est Sabbati sanctificatio Muscul his worship leaves it not to Moses nor to the people of Israel to appoint a set and solemn day for it but he himself first ordains it in paradise Gen. 2. 3. and then revives and renews it on Mount Sinai Exod. 20. 8. Nay when the Idolaters among the people of Israel did invent a worship they who invented it instituted a day for it Exod. 32. 5. Jeroboam when he devised a worship he likewise ordained a day for it 1 Kings 12. 32 33. So Nebuchadnezzar when he set up an Idol and appointed a worship for it he set apart a day for the performance of this worship Dan. 3. 2. The miscreant Prophet Mahomet as he gave laws to his Proselytes and prescribed a form of worship so he himself instituted his solemn day viz. Every Fryday And he did not leave it to the arbitrary will and pleasure of his worshippers to ordain or solemnize what day they pleased Therefore from all this we may conclude unless Christ should fall short of the example of his Father Nay of the very Idolaters he must be the institutor of his own day for it cannot be proved that at any time or in any age that any publick worship was ever invented to be observed but the Author and institutor of it was also the institutor of the day for that worship not leaving it to others will to appoint the same for him Now Christ is the great Law-giver of his Church the glorious founder of Gospel-worship the Sacraments were ordained by him Prayers must be made in his name Discipline is of his institution the Ministry of his calling and sending and shall our blessed Mediator be only excluded from the appointment of a day for weekly Mark 16. 16. Luke 22. 19 20. John 20. 22. Mat. 21. 22. James 4. 12. Mat. 28. 19. Mat. 26. 26. John 14. 15. Mat. 18. 18. Rom. 1. 1. Cant. 2. 16. Hâ—g 2. 7. Rev. 15. 3. Eph. 1. 22. Mat. 18. 20. Psal 89. 7. Heb. 12. 2. and solemn worship Shall that cursed caitiff Mahomet as was hinted constitute and appoint a weekly day for his worshippers to observe to himself and read that system of Vanities that miscellany of lying inventions the Alchoran and shall not our beloved the desire of Nations the King and Soveraign of his people the Head of his Church not only influential but authoritative shall not he be invested with a power to set apart a weekly Sabbath for his people wherein they may meet in his name and assemble in his fear and congregate to hear his glorious Gospel and to participate of those blessings which attend his salvifical presence Or did Christ forget his main import when he ascended to his Father his approaching joy swallowing up his thoughts of and care for his poor Church which he left behind Surely we must make Christ the institutor of his own blessed day or inveniencies too many will arise which no salves will be able to smoother or suppress Should Christ have left it to his Church to appoint a day what end would be of the discord and disagreements which unavoidably follow When should the whole Church meet to enact such a constitution Or shall one part of the Church being as is
us as it was to them and it is as if the Lord had said the keeping of my Sabbath shal be a distinctive badge and cognizance of Covenant holiness a sign that I do sanctifie you and separate you to my self for a holy and peculiar people Let us cast our eye upon our Sabbath as our discriminating and differencing badge And shall we shame our livery Shall we make our Sabbath a day of riot or excess Sabbatum est signum et symbolum inter deum et Israelitas ut se dei esse profiterentur et ut à reliquis gentibus discernerentur â—uit enim sacramentale quoddam quòd illos sibi deus sanctificaverat Riv. of sloath or idleness and so mingle with the prophane world Do we prophane our Sabbaths how can we distinguish our selves from a sensual Jew or a miscreant Turk they likewise have their Sabbaths And will a diurnall distinction serve the turn that the Turk keeps his Sabbath on the Friday the Jew on the Saturday and we Christians the First day of the week It is a poor shift and a faint distinction to keep a different day will not the world scoff at this distinction It is not the Day only but the manner of observance The Apostle saith that Christs people are a peculiar people zealous of good works 2 Tit. 14. And so our Saviour makes the distinction of his people from the rest of the world John 17. 14. It is observable that the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chadash signifies two things 1. To separate from common use 2. To sanctifie to teach us our sanctification is our only separation from the rest of the dregs of the world Therefore still let our holiness upon Gods blessed day be a sign between God and us that he hath sanctified us This is his will and let it be our work as alwayes so peculiarly on the Sabbath our sanctification 1 Thes 4. 3. Exod. 31. 13. Sabbatum sanctis usibus et religiosis formalitèr deputatur c. Rivet Let Christ know us to be his sheep by this our will is not only melted into his will but our obedience is fully calculated for his day Rivet hath a pregnant note The Sabbath saith he is given formally for holy uses for hearing the Word for Prayer for receiving the Sacrament by which our sanctification is ripened and accomplished Arg. 6 No command but that of the Sabbath hath a memento prefixed Hic specialis observatio requiritur ita ut nunquam obliviscamur quia agitur de operibus humanis intermittendis et de opere dei suscipiendo quae sunt naturae hominis depravatae omninò contraria c. Riv. to it As if our obedience to this command was our chief business which we must not forget God doth not usually annex his mementoes to any thing but to matters of the greatest moment As 1. Sometimes to press his Laws Num. 15. 39 40. And 2. sometimes to press his Love as a motive to obedience Deut. 5. 15. 3. Sometimes to mind us of himself Deut. 8. 13. 4. Sometimes to mind us of his Enemies Deut. 25. 17. And 5. Sometimes to mind his Sabbath Exod. 20. 8. God puts an Higgaion Selah upon this Commandment that as among the Jews the singing of it caused them to raise their voice So among us in keeping Sabbaths it should raise our hearts to a holy observation Now God prefixes a memento to the Commandment for the Sabbath upon divers designs which will very well suit with our purpose As first to intimate the opposition of mans corrupt heart to this holy Command Rom. 7. 12. Depraved man cannot endure Homines parati sunt ad fervorem operum suorum ocâ—upantur suis commodis suis voluptatibus facilime irretiontur sed cultui divino c. Riv. the snaffle of a whole dayes service he loves not to be bridled to spiritual duties and therefore God here awakens us by a shrill memento the learned Rivet observes That men are upon the wing in flight and heat after their owne works and they are most easily entangled in the snare of their own pleasures and delights but to do Gods work upon his own day this goes against the grain of corrupt Nature This Memento shews the venerable antiquity of the Sabbath God hath been pressing the Sabbath upon us from the beginning of the world as hath been shewn already The Gen. 2. 3. good Lord is jealous least an ancient should be an antiquated institution God gives us this Memento to mind us of the strict account we must make hereafter for all our Sabbaths When a Master gives his servant many errands but saith he be sure you remember this above all the rest if that errand be forgotten he breaks out into a greater passion God remembers us to keep inviolably his holy Sabbath to assure us he will else remember to punish severely the breaches and violations of this Emphatical Commandment His expostulation hereafter will be Did not I give you my Sabbath with a Memento To inform us the sum of Religion lies in a due observation of the Sabbath It was a good saying of worthy Mr. Rogers Take away Gods Sabbath and Religion will soon Tolle Sabbatum et citò marcessit omnis Religio Rog. dwindle and faint into nothing Jacob gave a severe charge to his Sons about Benjamin because he lay nearest his heart And is it not an evidence that the fourth Commandment lies nearest to Gods heart that he gives so severe a charge about it That much of Religion is wrapt up in it nay the very quintessence of piety is dropt into it We are more apt to forget the fourth Commandment then Observandum est quod deus non simpliciter dicit Diem Sabbati sanctificabis sed memento ut diem Sabbati sanctifices Genus hoc praecipiendi non est leve vulgare sed grave serium et significat praecipirem seriam nec ullo modo negligendam sed summâ curâ et diligentiâ servandom sic solent Parentes liberis suis et serâ—â—â— Heri obtervantiam eoâ—â—â— inculcatâ— quae omnium maximè negligi notant Admonemur etiam verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Recordare et memor esto ad observantiam praeceptorum dei Requiritur enim memoria ut noctes et dies de illis servandis cogitemus nec unquam obliviscamur quid praecepti à quo illud accepimus Muscul any of the rest And it is observable when any duty is charged by God with a Memento it argues a proneness to forget it so Eccles 12. 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy Youth which charge intimates to us no age is so prompt to forget God as Youth which usually is snarled and entangled in divers lusts called by the Apostle Youthfull lusts 2 Tim. 2. 22. And there are many reasons why we are so apt to forget this Commandment 1. Because the rest of the Commandments are written in our