his masters authority though not obey his unlawfull commands and be so farre from resisting that he must suffer patiently the hard usage of an evill master and endure stripes rather than offend God in all committing his cause to him that judgeth righteously And for the servants more full direction in this thing one case of Conscience I would here briefely decide which is this what workes may servants doe on the Sabbath and in what are they under their masters command and bound to obey them Answ To conceive hereof plainely There are foure sorts of workes lawfull on the Sabbath First workes of holinesse Secondly workes of mercy Thirdly workes that are in their nature servile yet doe directly respect the present worship of God as out travell to the places of Gods worship for these workes become now holy workes and are not ours but Gods workes Fourthly workes of common honesty that is workes that make to the comely decent and orderly performance of Gods worship and our carriage and behaviour therein Such are the tolling of a bell for the calling of the Assembly the comely and modest dresse of the body provided that it be not vaine curious nor aske much time but be thrust into the narrowest roome that may bee The spreading of our Table so that state be not taken up and all things bee prepared before as much as may bee with the like By workes of mercy I meane not onely the necessarie labours in the helpe of the sicke and of women in travell and of beasts out of a pit with the like but also all those that are called workes of necessity which I rather call workes of mercy because they are therefore necessary as they tend to the preservation of things not from feared or suspected but eminent and imminent and present danger and the worke it selfe must be done in mercy not in covetousnesse or other respects Now of this sort are these workes labour in provision of convenient foode tendance of cattell fight for defence of our country being assailed riding of postes on the affaires of the state in causes of present and imminent danger In all these the master hath power to command and so hath the superiour over him that is under his charge and the servant is bound to obey The master may command him the workes of mercy and the workes servile that directly looke to the worship of God or to goe with him to the Sermon though many miles off if it cannot bee had neerer hand and as the master may take his horse and ride thither his servant going on foote so may hee command his servant for this purpose to saddle his horse as in 2 King 4. 22 23. The question of the Shunamites husband sheweth who to his wife desiring one of the Asses to bee made ready and a servant to be sent her that she might go to the man of God saith on this wise Wherefore wilt thougo to him to day it is neither now moone nor Sabbath It was then their custome so to doe on the Sabbath and new moone In like manner the master may injoyne the servant such workes as tend to necessary provision of foode and tending of children in the family c. Yet here againe some things seeme to fight with the sanctification of the day First if the master shall strictly stand upon his state and distance for if the familie-necessities in respect of young children should necessarily require the presence of some constantly at home the master may not keepe his servant hereby constantly from the publike worship but rather sometimes change turnes with him Much lesse may he desire such unnecessary superfluities as may cause absence from the Assemblies for this is to feede thy carcase on the life blood of the soules of thy servants Deale in all plainenesse of heart and know thou hast to deale with God The servant must be sure the worke is unlawfull before he offer to withdraw his obedience but thou maist sinne in that worke in which thy servant sinneth not because thou art bound to search more into the nature of thy necessities Secondly if the master set not his businesse in so wise and discreet an order that without all unnecessary hinderances hee and all his houshold may sanctifie the day and keepe it holy Thirdly if the master remember not that he is a God and that both by communication of name and power to provide for and see to the servants and his housholds rest and therein respect that mercy which God would have shewen to servants yea to cattell on that day CHAP. XVIII Breerwood Pag. 30 31 32. Object BVt yet one scruple remaineth because every person that did any Exod. 31. 14 15. worke on the Sabaoth day was by the law to be cut off from his people and to dye the death every person therefore the Servant as well as the master Sol. I answere that the judiciall commandement is to be understood of the same persons to whom the morall commandement was given the commandement touching punishment of them to whom the commandement touching the offence was imposed but I proved before that the morall commandement was not imposed to servants as servants but to them that were at liberty All they therefore that did any worke on the Sabaoth were to dye the death by the judiciall law they I say that did it not they that were made to doe it which were as well passive as active in doing of it namely they that did it of election as free that might abstaine from worke and would not not they that did it of injunction and necessitie as servants that would abstaine from worke and might not whose condition was such that they would not worke by their masters direction might be made to worke by their masters compulsion for a hard case it were if poore servants to whom no commandement to cease from worke was given by God and yet might be compelled to worke by men should dye for it if they did so worke It is therefore to be understood of them that worke willingly of themselves or as authors cause others to worke as masters doe their servants not of them who onely as ministers and against their wills are set to worke And rather because the worke of the servant that I say which he doth by the commandement of his master to whom for matter of labour he is meerely subordinate even reason and equity will interpret the masters worke And certainely that God accounteth it so the declaration of that Precept in another place doth make manifest Six daies thou shalt doe thy worke and the seventh day thou shalt rest that Exod. 23 12. thine Oxe and thinâ— Asse and thy Sonne and thy Maide c. may be refreshed for is it not manifest that the servants worke is accounted the masters seeing the rest from the masters worke is the refreshing of the servants the master therefore who by the morall law was commanded that his servants should
not worke on the Sabaoth was by the judiciall to be punished with death if the servant did worke that day by his commandement Answer First that place is to be understood of the presumptuous offender as appeareth in Numb 15. 35 36. with that in vers 30 31. The soule that doth ought presumptuously reproacheth the Lord and shall be cut off For if the sinne were of ignorance infirmity and errour he was bound to bring a sinne-offring vers 27 28. thus the Iewes understand that place in Exodus Now the servants worke at the masters command will not come under a wilfull and presumptuous sinne yet that law sheweth this truth that men for breach of Sabbath shall be punished according to the nature of their offence so shall he that forgoeth Gods to doe his masters worke This is the true Answere you meerly trifle and therefore the force of the objection lieth still upon you and your Answere falls like an untimely fruite or rotten nut And your hard cases for they seeme full of pitty and yet would have a servant to be in the condition of a beast are meer conceits And for that phrase of yours saying The servants may be compelled to work by men speaking there of such worke as the fourth commandement hath forbidden doth contradict your former Tenet expressely who say that the master may not command his servant to worke may he not command him and may he yet compell him Good stuffe I promise you Secondly in this place also seeing you offer to our thoughts Gods judiciall Law and so his judiciary proceeding I urge you with the just hand of Gods yengeance that lighteth oftentimes on children and servants working at the command of their parents and masters on that day God punisheth none but those that offend lesse or more But this ungodlinesse he hath punished from heaven And all wise Christians will esteeme more of one Demonstration of Gods wrath than of two hundered sophisticated Rhetoricall Demonstrations of any Disputer in the world At Kimstat a towne in France m Iob. siâ—col l. 3. De mirac there lived in the yeere 1559. a certaine covetous woman who was so greedy of gaine that shee would not frequent the Church her selfe nor suffer any of her family to doe it but continually toyled a bout drving and pilling of flaxe and doing other houshold businesses neither would she bee reclaimed by her neighbours who admonished and disswaded her from such unseasonable workes One Sabbath day as they were thus busily occupied fire seemed to issue out of the flaxe without doing any hurt The next Sabbath it tooke fire indeed but was quickly extinct Yet this wretch continued obstinate in her prophanenesse even the third Sabbath when the flax againe taking fire could not bee quenched till it burnt her and two of her children to death for though they were recovered out of the fire alive yet the next day they all three died and that which was much to be wondred at a young infant in the cradle was taken out of the midst of the flame without any hurt God we see tooke vengeance on the children that wrought at the mothers commandement Are there not strange punishments for the workers of iniquitie n Iob 31. 3. Above fifty persons were consumed in the fire which burnt the towne of Fevertone in Devonshire in the yeere 1598. where 400. dwelling houses were all at once on fire and consumed for their horrible prophanation of the Lords day Can any thinke that of those fifty none were children and servants whose worke that day had been usually abused Here also Christian Reader I thought it my part to lay before thy more serious consideration these notable and late examples of Gods wrath from heaven against mens ungodlinesse on the Sabbath day Blackesmith by trade he is yet alive the Lord give him an heart to repent and all the Towne to learne by that hand of God this woman was with her yong childe in her armes within her owne gate looking on them and so it was that while she looked on one of the greatest ropes failed and broke and the Pole fell downe upon the pale that parteth their gate and the streete and the upper end of it with the fall lapped over and strucke the childe on the head in the mothers armes and killed it It was the edge of the weather-cocke that hit the childe on the head marke it well and cleft the skull and it dyed the next day It is time for thee Lord to worke for men have made voide thy Law Psal 119. 126. The Lord is known by the judgement which he executeth The wicked is snared in the worke of his owne hands Higgaion Selah Psal 9. 16. That place in Exo. 23. 12. which commeth in on the left side is abusively rendred by you when you read that thy son and thy maide may be refreshed whereas it is thus in the text the sonne of thine handmaid and when you say it is manifest that the servants worke is accounted the masters seeing the rest from the masters worke is the refreshing of the servant is it not as manifest that it is the servants when the rest is his refreshing For by another rest I am not refreshed if I worke and what if in some respects it may be called the masters worke is it therefore no sinne in the servant to doe it This is a begging of the question and a shame in a professed Disputant CHAP. XIX Breerwood Pag. 32 33 34. ANd thus have I proved my assertion namely that the commandement of the Sabaoth was not given nor fit to be given to the servants themselves but to their governours both by arguments of reason which is the rule of men and authoritie of Scriptures which is the rule of Christians and cannot finde any thing materiall in either of both that may reprove it but yet if I should admit which I doubt you will never prove that the commandement was directly given to servants themselves as servants and that they might lawfully disobey their masters touching those workes whereby the precept of the Sabaoth might bee transgressed yet have I another exception against your doctrine namely for condemning every light worke such as inviting of guests or fetching of wine from a neighbours house or giving a horse provender for these are the very instances which bred the question for transgression of Gods commandements forbidden on the Sabaoth no it is not the commandements importeth no such thing for it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is every worke but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is there forbidden that is every servile worke for such the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly doth import and servile worke by the interpretation of the best Divines is accounted either that which is attended with the toyle of the body or at least intended and directed to lucre and gaine of riches with some care of the minde such as mens ordinary worke is wont to
purpose which we intend I know not they are words of a disjoynted minde The fifth Section answered Concerning the authoritie that translated the Sabbath you say it is certaine that the translation thereof was actually and immediatly prescribed by the Church Deale ingenuously and shew me where if in Scripture then I answer that it was not immediatly prescribed by the Church for the Apostles were not Authors of the institution but Ministers of Christ and pen-men of the holy Ghost If in Ecclesiasticall writers I answer they all referre us to the Apostles and the Scriptures This opinion therefore is so farre from certaine that it is certainely false You say againe that certainely Christ never gave his Apostles particular charge of Instituting a new Sabbath either while hee conversed with them on Earth or afterwards by Revelation How know you this The Apostles delivered many things that the Evangelists did not set downe nor themselves expresly say they received them from the Lords mouth that they concealed Christs Command from the Church that is this particular expression in so many words that Christ commanded it this makes to prove it was given them in charge by Christ for else whē the Apostles enjoyned it they would have said of that their injunction as of other things x 1 Cor. 7. 6. 12. 25. We speake this by permission not by commandement wee have no commandement of the Lord but wee speake our judgement Herein speake wee not the Lord. This institution then to use your owne language of a new day of solemnitie in stead of the old Sabbath was of the exigence and necessitie of the Apostles commission not of the libertie The Apostles did nothing in ordering the Church but from Ioh 14. 26. and by Christ either by precept or by example or by divine inspiration It is out of question they had speciall warrant from Christ in expresse charge when you compare together their precept and practice with those two Texts Math. 28. 20. Act. 1. The first enjoyning the Apostles to teach what hee commanded and to teach and baptize in which ordinances teaching such things he would bee with them to the worlds end The latter declaring that Christ spake the things pertaining to the kingdome of God to his disciples in those fortie dayes before his assension For all that you say therefore it is certaine the Sabbath was translated by the same authoritie that first commanded it The Sixt Section answered First concerning that place in Matth. 24. 20. first you affirme that it is understood by all Divines of the old Sabbath by all the ancient without exception by all the latter for ought you know Could you know the judgement of the Ancients to be such because they held that there was a transgression of a law in hasting their flight on the Sabbath Did they hold thinke you that the fourth Commandement was in force then for the sanctifying of the Iewes Sabbath Or was there any other than the fourth Commandement which could bee transgressed by flight on the Sabbath Hierome saith That our Saviour bid them pray that their flight might not be in the winter nor on the Sabbath day because in the one the extremity of cold forbids to goe to the wildernesse and to lie hid in mountaines and desarts in the other there is either the transgression of the Law if they be willing to flie or imminent death if they abide Thus runneth also the ordinarie glosse and what a vaine boast is this concerning the judgement of the Ancients when they all almost give no other interpretation of that Text than what is Allegoricall as Origen Austine and others Many later Divines by Sabbath understand all inconveniences of flight caused by the necessary and enjoyned attendance on Gods worship This little favoureth your opinion and most understand the place of the Christian Sabbath And that this is the proper sense of the place will bee manifest to him that observeth three things First the persons to whom these words were spoken viz. to the Disciples privately and apart on the Mount of Olives vers 3. Secondly the time immediately before his death hee spake of that which should fall out fortie yeeres after Thirdly the intent of our Saviour which was to shew the great evils should then come to passe and the miserable exigents the enemies should put them to Now if it be not spoken of the Christian Sabbath what force could there bee in our Saviours speech saying pray that your flight bee not on the Sabbath who hereby intended to signifie that it should bee a singular griefe to them to flie on that day If the Sabbath had not beene in force what vexation had it beene to the Disciples to flie on that day more than any other nay it had beene an argument of comfort and our Saviour might have shewed them then that it was a singular mercie of God to them in such straites that now they were ridde of the obligation to the Sabbath and so might flie on that day as well as any of the rest otherwise they had more neede to have prayed for knowledge to see their libertie in Christ than to pray that they might not flie on such a Sabbath as should binde them but onely in their owne conceit Christ in this place acknowledgeth this day as His for it is manifest that this flight happened about forty yeares after when the Iewish Sabbath was gone As therefore when God gave to the people the Law of the Sabbath on Mount Sinai He said Remember the Sabbath day to keepe it Holy so the Lord Iesus in the Mount of Olives commands that they should studiously remember even in their Prayers the Christian Sabbath many yeeres before lest when the calamity came its holy rest should bee intercepted with the noyse of warlike tumults and with a tumultuary slight Secondly you say that to flie farre off on the Lords day in case of necessitie was never held unlawfull but on that Sabbath it was If it were not unlawfull to flie on the Lords day in such cases doth that make that it is not inconvenient and a griefe to a Christian heart to bee forced that day to forgoe the worship of God and misse the Lord in his ordinances and to taste that day of his heavie wrath in which he expects and uses to taste of his comforting and satiating blessings It was not unlawfull to flie in the winter yet it was needfull to pray that this flight might not then be and was it ever unlawfull in case of danger to flie on the Sabbath Have you forgot all while you eagerly pursue your owne phantasie The Iewes hold that being set upon by Theeves or enemies it was lawfull to flie that day as Rabbi Thanchuma teacheth in Ilmedenu 83. 4. the old rule amongst them is knowne to all Perill of life driveth away the Sabbath and as well knowne is their practice in the Maccabees The Sabbath-dayes journey was not an allowance in case of
danger and a stinte set beyond which if they went their judiciall lawes condemned them to death as you ignorantly avouch Thirdly you say that the name of Sabbath was never applyed to the Lords day by any Apostle or other Christian for many hundred yeeres after Christ The Apostle in Heb. 49. doubted not to apply the name of Sabbath to the Christian people and our rest saying That the People of God have their Sabbatisme left unto them Yet admit your strong conceit had bin as strong a Truth what would follow thence That our Saviour intended our Sabbath in that place of Matthew because the Apostles call it the Lords day In no case For to use the name of distinction in times of the Church wherein the Saturday was called Sabbath cannot either make the Apostles faultie or the name of Sabbath incompatible to that day The seventh Section answered First that at the time of the siege of Ierusalem all ceremonies Zuares de lâ—gib l. 9 c. 19. of the old law were deadly you denie and we affirme for if our Saviours death be not the time of the ceremonies deadlinesse you confesse you lost your labour to the one halfe of your Reply hereto indeede St Hierome sets that for the period but you have not answered one of his arguments but to let that passe the terme prefixed is this Looke when the Ceremoniall law was dead throughout the whole world it began at the same time to bee deadly also through the world now the ceremoniall law was dead when the Gospell was published for that obliging the other ceased to oblige and that published the other was utterly evacuated Therefore in that point of time in which a sufficient promulgation of the Gospell was accomplished instantly the old law was deadly This you partly saw when you said in this Section and not onely dead they were but deadly also I confesse to Christians to whom he was certainely revealed to be the Saviour This time was before the eversion of Ierusalem as the Apostle testifieth in Col. 1. 6. that the Gospell was come unto and brought forth fruite also in all the world and proclaimeth to the Churches that the Ceremoniall law was deadly both in that Epistle to the y Col. 2. 20. 21. Gal. 5. 3 4. 4. 9. 10. 11. Colossians and in the Epistle to the Galathians Secondly for your assertion about the old Sabbath that it did remaine and was observed in the East Churches three hundred yeeres and above after our Saviours death it is utterly false that it was observed either Iewishly or as a Sabbath or in Obedience to the fourth Commandement No such observation was Anathematized in the Councell z Ignat. ad magn of Laodicea and Ignatius charged those Christians to worke that day If you meane this observation was the performance of some religious duties publikely then you might say every day in the weeke was observed religiously by them for that is knowne that many of the Greeke fathers as well as the Latine preached every day and a Aug. Ianuar. Ep. 11â— Augustine tels of divers customes in the Churches Some communicated at the Lords table every day some some certaine dayes some on the ancient Sabbath and the Lords day some onely on the Lords day But you must needs intend the Iewish observation of the Sabbath for these words you adde all ceremonies therefore and particularly of the old Sabbath at the time by you mentioned were not deadly Thirdly and when you say that the name of Sabbath was not given in the Church to any other day than the Iewes Sabbath for more hundred of yeeres than three hundred Augustine saith b Serm. de temp 251. So we also sanctifie the Sabbath the Lord saying Ye shall not doe any worke therein The eighth ninth tenth eleventh and twelfth Sections answered In the eighth Section you set forth slanderous reports of Master Byfield which you tooke in by retayle some about his Doctrine concerning late repentance of this the Church of England knoweth his wholesome propositions imprinted in his bookes on the Coloss and on the first Epistle of Peter Some about his Discipline as you terme it but those in and about Chester know his goings in and out then among them In the fourth page of the Treatise you tell of Rebellion against mens lawes and mischiefes to the common-wealth and in the 53. page that few drew so freely of this vessell as he all which cannot agree to a resolution of a private case and those words wherewith Mr Byfield chargeth you and you deny viz. that this doctrine tended to the corrupting of the estate where your kindred and acquaintance and your selfe had lived are expresse in a letter written Iune the ninth 1611. Therefore he justly charged you for charging him unjustly in these respects and did not calumniate you And whereas you say that the doctrine of the Sabbath which you opposed was not for pulpits but for Corners you might have knowne it hath sounded in pulpits and is in print by divers Divines This of the ninth Section But what doe I indeed these nor the other Sections containe nothing worthy an Answere The hands are joyned with scorners and the replies borrowed from wicked men let them alone The thirteenth Section answered That you did adjure Mr Byfield which yet you deny will be manifest if your forme of speech in the end of your Treatise and the nature of an Adjuration be compared together * Zauch in tertium precept de adjuratione An Adjuration is an action in which in the Name of God or by his Name either we require an oath of any one whereby hee should binde himselfe to doe or not to doe something or wee binde him to it by command or intreaty without an oath exacted and that our desire may be more surely obtained we interpose the Name of God Your words are these I challenge you as you will answere it at the judgement Seat of Almighty God when your accounting day shall come to repaire the ruine you have made in his Conscience True here you require not an oath to binde him to this yet you require it with an interposition of the Name of God and a denunciation secretly of Gods anger if he doe it not and so you fall under the second kinde of Adjurations The fourteenth Section answered Here begin Mr Byfields reasons why he would not yeeld to answere the Treatise though adjured Mr Breerwood would refell them Take M. Byfields words together and they are a sufficient reason for every strangers vaine challenge ought not to be answered Now this challenge of M. Breerwoods was vaine because the Injury was but a Conceit no Reality and the doctrine of M. Breerwood abundantly answered in Writers at his hand Thus all M. Breerwoods words are to no purpose and a meere beating of the Ayre By the way note M. Breerwoods Parenthesies no man lesse curious or inquisitive of other mens affaires neither
precedent words of the administration of the Lords Supper But we after those things for the remainder of the time doe ever remember one another of these things and those of us which have any thing helpe every one that wants and are alwayes together one with another A little after hee saith that the assemblies on that day were frequented of all in Citie and Countrie prayer preaching and the Sacrament was administred Collections for the poore which was after the assemblies distributed to the needy imprisoned stranger with the like whom they visited Tertullian in that 16 chapter of his Apologie against the Gentiles gives this as one cause of their conjecture that Christians worshipped the Sunne because they kept the Sunday Holy Wee give our selves to joy saith hee the Sunday for another farre wide reason than in honour of Diem solis laetitiae indulgemus the Sunne are we in the second place from them which appoint Saturday to idlenesse and feeding themselves also wandring from the Iewish custome which they know not What meaneth he hereby but that such a solemnitie is kept and ought to bee by Christians as should exceede in that kinde the feasts of the nations and Heathen as in his booke of Idolatrie chap. 14. he speaketh Ignatius speaketh enough to any man not prepossessed for he saith let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lords day as festivall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek word signifieth a solemne festivall free from worke and workeday labour That others also of the ancients did understand this celebration to be with exact vacation is evident Saint Austin saith come ye to the Church every Lords day for if the unhappy Iewes doe celebrate the Sabbath with such devotion that in it no earthly workes were done how much more ought Christians to bee vacant to God alone on the Lords day and come together for the Salvation of their soules Againe Apostles and Apostolike men have therefore ordained that the Lords day be kept with religious solemnitie because in it our Redeemer arose from the Dead and which is therefore called the Lords day that in it abstaining from earthly affaires and the enticements of the world we may serve onely in divine worship That of Saint Clement is also worthy note neither on the Lords dayes which are dayes of joyfulnesse doe we grant any thing may be said or done besides holinesse Austin also in the sixt booke de Civitate Dei chap. 11. speaking of Seneca's scoffing at the Iewes Sabbath that they lost the seventh part of their time in vacancie addeth this Notwithstanding he durst not speake of the Christians even then most contrarie to the Iewes on either part lest either hee should praise them against the old custome of his owne Countrey or reprove them perhaps against his owne will Saint Austine likewise reproveth their telling of tales their slanders playing at dice and such unprofitable sports as if one part of the day were set apart for dutie to God and the rest of the day together with the night to their owne pleasures In the same place also he condemnes walking about the fields and woods when they should bee at Serm. 251. De Temp. Divine Service with clamour and laughter and saith the day must be sequestred a rurali opere ab omni negotio from countrey worke and all businesse that wee may give our selves wholly to the worship of God Saint Chrysostome speaking of the fitnesse of the Lords day for almes saith it is a convenient time to practise liberalitie with a ready and willing minde not onely in this regard but also because it hath rest remission freedome and vacation from labours Saint Ambrose q Ambros tom 3. Serm. 1. de granosinapis p. 225. reproving the peoples neglect of Church on the Lords dayes saith Whatsoever brother is not present at the Lords Sacraments of necessity he is with God a forsaker of the Divine truth For how can he excuse himselfe who preparing his dinner at home on the day of the Sacraments contemneth that heavenly Banket and taking care of the belly neglecteth the physicke of his soule The same Father in another place r Id. Serm. 33. pag. 259. tom 3. saith Let us all the day bee conversant in prayer or reading hee that cannot reade let him aske of some holy man that he may bee fed with his conference let no secular acts hinder divine acts let no Table-play carry away the mind let no pleasure of Dogs call away the senses let no dispatch of a businesse pervert the mind with covetousnesse True this Father in this place speaketh of a Fast but we know that a Fast and Sabbath are alike for the point of rest Saint ſ Hieron ad Rustich Dominicos dies orationi tantum lectionibus vacant Hierom also On the Lords day saith he they onely give themselves to prayer and reading Secondly now for your contrary evidences what if they also make for us You alleage a constitution of Constantines Iurge First the same Emperours Constitutions found in Ecclesiasticall Writers Eusebius in his life saith Wherefore he ordained that all that obeyed the Romane Empire should rest from all labour on the dayes that are called from our Saviours Name Further hee saith of this Christian Emperour He taught all his hoste to honour this day diligently those that partooke of the Divine Faith hee gave them leasure to frequent the Assemblies that no impediment should hinder their attendance on prayer but others that had no savor of Divine Doctrine hee gave charge of them by another Law that they should goe into the open fields of the Suburbs on the Lords day and that there altogether should use the same forme of prayer to God when asigne was given of some one of them for said he we ought not to use speares and place the hope of our affaires in weapons and bodily strength Sozomen in his tripartite history testifieth thus That day which is called the Lords day which the Hebrewes call the first day which the Grecians attribute to the Sunne and which is before the seventh day he ordained that all should cease from suites and other businesses and should onely bee occupied in prayers upon it t Sozom Hist Eccles tripert l. 1. c. 10. Behold Constantine against Constantine Secondly your Constitution is read Cod. l. 3. tit 12 l. 3. This Constitution was reversed by Leo the Emperour and another made in these words We ordaine according to the true meaning of the holy Ghost and of the Apostles thereby directed that on the sacred day wherein our integrity was restored all doe rest and surcease labour that neither husbandmen nor other on that day put their hands to forbidden workes for if the Iewes did so much reverence their Sabbath which was but a shadow of ours are not we which inhabit the light and truth of grace bound to honour that day which the Lord himselfe hath honoured and hath therein delivered
us both from dishonour and from death Are we not bound to keepe it singular and inviolable well contenting our selves with so liberall a grant of the rest and not incroaching upon that one which God hath chosen to his honour Were it not wretchlesse neglect of Religion to make that very day common and to thinke we may doe with it as with the rest The title of this Constitution is this u Iustin tom 3. p. 459. Leon. Iraper constit 54. Vt Dominicis diebus omnes ab operibus vacent That all men should cease from workes on the Lords dayes This Constitution of Leo is approved by Master Hooker x Hooker eccles polit l. 5. sect 71. pag. 385. and that of Constantine called an over-great facility under pretence of the miscarriage of the fruits of the earth by unseasonable weather Yet this may bee said for that renowned Emperour hee gave that as a concâ—ssory Law which proves nothing unlesse it bee the hardnesse of mens hearts So Moses permitted men to put away their wives and Aaron agreed to it and yet none can reason thence that they were not of Christs mind in that matter Say the same for Constantine The Councell of Laodicâ—a is abused by you in your Allegation thereof for the Canon of that Councell according to the Greeke is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Christians y Concil Laod. Can. 29. ought not to Iudaize and to rest on the Sabbath as they are Christians but if they be found to Iudaize let them be Anathema from Christ or with Christ The Annotation upon it is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deest Of this Originall I find three Latine Translations The first Quod non oportet Christianâ—s Iudaïzare ociari in Sabbato sed operarieos in eodem die preferentes autem in veneratione diem Dominicum si vacare voluerint ut Christiani hoc faciant quod si reperti fuerint Iudaïzare Anathe ma sint à Christo Thus in English z Translat Dionysâ—i exigui That Christians ought not to judaize and rest on the Sabbath but worke on that day and preferring the Lords day in reverence if they will bee vacant as Christians doe this thing but if they bee found to Iudaize let them be Anathema from Christ The second Non oportet Christianos Iudaïzare in Sabbatho vacare sed operari eos in eadem die Dominicam preponendo eidem diei si hoc eis placet vacent tanquam Christiani quod si inventi fuerint Iudaïzare Anathema sit In English a Translat Isidori Mercatoris Christians ought not to Iudaize and to surcease labour on the Sabbath but worke on that day preferring the Lords day before that day if this please them they may be vacant as Christians but if they be found to Iudaize let him be Anathema The third Quod non oportet Christianos Iudaïzare in Sabbato ociari sedipso eo die operari diem autem Dominicum preferentes ociari si modo possint ut Christiâ—â—os quod si inventi fuerint ut Iudaïzantes sint Anathema apud ChristuÌ„ b Gentianus Hervetus That Christians ought not to Iudaize and rest on the Sabbath but worke that day but preferring the Lords day they ought to rest as Christians if so be they can and if they bee found as Iudaizing let them be Anathema with Christ Here note three things first that the Sabbath here spoken of is Saturday which was the Iewes Sabbath Secondly that the last is by all acknowledged for the worst translation indeed they are all rather paraphrases and glosses than translations Thirdly the two first plainely carry this sense that provided they preferre the Lords day in honour and reverence above the Iewes Sabbath and that they doe not Iudaize if this please them they may rest the Saturday too And the last translation in my opinion and according to the pointing thereof as I find it in the Author foundeth thus preferring the Lords day they must rest if so be they can do it as Christians not as Iudaizers Now how the Iewes did rest on their Sabbath in those primitive times is cleare in Ignatius and others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In English as followeth Therefore saith that blessed Martyr c Ignat. epist ad Magnes let us not Sabbatize after the Iewish manner as rejoycing in idlenesse for he that doth not labour let him not eare for in the sweat of thy face thou shalt eate thy bread say the Oracles but let every of us keepe Sabbath spiritually rejoycing in the meditation of the Law not in the remission of the body admiring the workmanship of God not eating things of the day before nor drinking things lukewarme nor walking measured spaces nor rejoycing in dancings and mad shoutings and clappings of the hands and feet Now was it not needfull to say if they can they should rest the Lords day like Christians and not like Iewes in an idle wanton luxurious and lascivious rest which was rather idlenesse and sloth than rest rather madnesse like those that kept Bacchus Feast than rest But this Alleager taketh to the worst Translation and fasteneth upon that clause which by no meanes will bee admitted to your Tenet is no breach of any divine commandement What by freely May he doe it so he doe it with reluctancy What by every man Are some priviledged As the Tempter said to Eve Yea hath God said Ye shall not eate of every Tree of the Garden Some need no priviledge for some will not labour any day these need no such liberty to worke extraordinarily the Lords day your liberty were their bondage on any day or may some freely prophane it though not every man Or ordinary labour in none will prophane it Or will ordinarily labour in some prophane it but only extraordinary labour in other How too shall one know this ordinary and extraordinary labour apart What meane you to say Would I set at liberty because in your opinion there is no command of God to bind therfore can you bind and loose Secondly it is meet say you that all worldly affaires be abandoned that day and that it be dedicated wholly to the honor of God What meet to doe that which no Law of God of Apostles of universall Synods did ever require as you spake but now What is it meet for a present purpose To distill your poyson closely which shall runne like oyle into the bones of Church and Common-wealth and none stay it while the devout heart shall be put off with this flappe It is meet indeed It is meete that Christians should bee as devout in rest and sanctity on the Lords day as the Iewes on their Sabbath That is all one as to say according to what you have taught before that a man should be as devout in the commands of his owne heart as in Gods command for so you make it and in the precepts of men as in Gods what deifying is here of men