the feasts of dedication of Churches or occasionall as marriages and Christning-dinners be forbidden Christian people as prophanations of the Lords day The second generall head and Lerna of perplexities is whether the duties of holinesse by which the day is sanctified be only acts of the publique worship of God in the Congregation or whether the private exercises also of Religion appertaine unto the day as necessary and immediate duties thereof and that during the whole time And under this head a world of particular cases are raised also and many times such as neither wise men nor learned men would imagine as daily appeares by experience to men of Pastorall employment in the Church But these and the forenamed particulars being delivered as Magisteriall dictates and conclusions out of the former Positions my purpose is only to make enquirie into the two generall heads under which they are contained For these being weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary and true iudgement the rest will evidence themselues as Corollaries CHAP. XXII The Question concerning the Corporall rest is proposed with the Arguments for the affirmatiue THat the outward bodily cessation from all secular employments whatsoever is of it selfe a duty of the Christians mans Feast-day may seeme to be proved by many undenyable arguments First that which is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall is an essential duty of every Sabbath in particular But the Lords day is the Christian mans Sabbath may so be called though improperly as hath beene formerly confessed and bodily rest is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall as appeares both by the very name of Sabbath which signifies as much as cessation and more expresly by the letter of the fourth Commandement In it thou shalt doe no manner of work confirm'd by the a Exod â—â— 15 commination of death from the Lords owne mouth upon all those that shall transgresse this Law Ergo c. Secondly the Prophets are the best Commentators of the Law and are therefore usually put together b Math. â—â— 40 The Law and the Prophets But the Prophet Isaiah saith that those who will honour the Lord in his Sabbath must not doe their owne works nor follow their own pleasures nor speak their owne words In which three whatsoever may be any businesse of our own is expresly forbidden us on the Lords Sabbath by which we honour him Therefore c. Thirdly in all Lawes whatsoever that is essentiall and for its owne sake commanded for whose sake other things in the Law are enjoyned according to the common Maxime Illud est perse propter quod est aliud But many things in the fourth precept are commanded that this duty of utter cessation from all secular employments may be performed For wherefore would God haue not only our Children and servants rest but our beasts also to rest unlesse only that all meanes and occasions of not resting might be taken from the Parents Masters and owners themselues Therefore c. Fourthly All theft is directly immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden and of thefts the cheife and capital is Sacriledge But to work upon the Lords day is theft nay sacriledge for we steale so much from God this day being his as we bestow upon our selues and our owne employments whereas on the contrary by resting on that day we abstaine from holy things and giue the Lord his own Therefore c. Fiftly whatsoever doth immediatly hinder any thing which God commandeth is immediatly forbidden in the Negatiue of every Affirmatiue This is a Maxime generally received in expounding the Decalogue But all kinds of works upon the Lords day whether serious or lusorie doe immediatly hinder that which God commands viz. To attend his worship and service suffering him to work effectually in us by his word and Spirit This Moses doth plainely teach us in saying * Lev. 23.3 There shall no work be done therein in is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings c. Where first he repeats his Commandement There shall no work be done therein Secondly he giues the reason for it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings It is not possible for you to performe the duties of the Lords Sabbath or that God should work on you therein unlesse there be an utter cessatioÌ„ from all kindes of works It stands also with reason for worldly imployments steale away the heart from holy things and according to our Saviours rule * Mat 6.24 We cannot serue God and Mammon Sixtly that which immediatly resisteth and overthroweth the Kingdome of God in us * Rom. 14.17 Which is righteousnesse peace ioy in the holy Ghost must needs be immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden by the Law of God But all secular imployments of what nature soever upon the Lords day immediatly resist and subvert the kingdome of God in us Righteousnesse take it how we will either for the righteousnesse of justification which is imputed or righteousnesse of sanctification which is inherent commeth by hearing groweth by praier is strengthned by meditating and conferring not by journying working and sporting on the Lords day and the more these are practised by us on that day the lesse righteousnesse must needs be in us The conscience also is deeply wounded by such grosse prophanations if it be not senselesse seared as appeares by the confessions of Converts Penitents and the Godly feele in themselues by daily experience And it cannot but diminish the joy of the holy Ghost for this is chiefly fed and nourished by holy meetings and godly exercises of religion Nay if it be true which many learned men affirme at least for probable that Christ shall come to judgement on the Lords day What little joy can any man finde in things earthly and sensuall on the day when for ought he knowes he may suddenly heare the voice of the Archangell summoning him before the Tribunall of the Lord whose Sabbath he is then prophaning Seventhly if there were no law prohibiting works on this day the very law of expediency were enough For it 's no way expedient on that day to make such a medly of things heavenly with things earthly to mix the holy things of God with things prophane base and vile things with things honourable and glorious this were to make the Lords-day a garment of linsy-woolsy But the Lords day and the duties thereof are things holy heavenly and glorious All secular imployments prophane vile contemptible The * 1. Cor. 6.2 Apostle calls the things of this life the smallest things Therefore c. Eightly that which was ever blasted in all ages with some extraordinary curse remarkable judgement is doubtlesse not only unlawfull but in an high manner abominable in Gods sight For the Lord * Exod. 34.6 being gracious long-suffering and slow to anger doth not usually reveale his wrath from heaven but against some unsufferable ungodlinesse of men But the prophanation of
the Lords day by servile works hath beene ever thus blasted whether done about sun-rising that day and being a matter of no great importance or after evening prayer in the afternoone to take away all evasions from the circumstance of time Of this there hath beene much and lamentable experience ever since the Kings Declaration he being confuted as it were herein by the King of Kings Ninthly The consent of the whole Church ever since Constantines time as appeares by the Edicts of that Emperour with sundry Synodicall constitutions in all ages many wholsome statutes made to this purpose in all parts of the Christian world The Fathers also haue been large in the same argument utterly condemning even those speeches and conferences which withdraw our mindes from the serious meditation of what we haue heard in the congregation a Chrys Ho◠5. c. 1. Math. S. Chrysostome hath much to this purpose which he doth also illustrate by two familiar similitudes The one of men that goe into the hot Bathes for their health as soone as they come out they retire themselues to rest and sweat in their beds least by going abroad about their businesse they depriue themselues of the benefit of their bathing The Lords day is as it were the day of the soules spirituall bathing in the living and wholsome waters of the word of God and the blood of Christ. This day therefore should be a most retired day wherein we should be secluded frō all earthly things least we depriue our selues of the wholsome profit thereof The second is of Scholars at Schoole when they haue their tasks sett them they labour and beat upon it the whole day and all is little enough Vpon the Lords day we sitt at Christ feet in his Schoole to be taught from his mouth What we haue heard from him in the Congregation must be our worke the whole day after unlesse we affect to be like broken vessels which receiue much but retaine little S. b Aug. in Ps 32. Augustine also bitterly inveighs against sports and pastimes upon this day and by name against Dancing saying a man were better upon the Lords day goe to plough By which it seems he condemnes all kinde of works and recreations concuring with that c Oportet Christianos in laude Dei gratiarum actione usque ad vesperam perseverare Syn. Tur. c. 4. Synod held at Tours in France which faith that Christians ought upon the same day to persevere in the praises of God and in giving of thanks untill the night To which purpose runnes the unanimous consent of all those worthies in the Church of England which haue treated on this subject almost since the Reformation CAP. XXIII The Arguments for the Negative are also related THE Negatiue also is supported by sundry reasons First that which is not under any Law Naturall or Positiue can be no essentiall duty unto which the conscience is bound under the penalty of sinne for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression But cessation from work upon the Lords day is under no Law Naturall or Positiue not naturall for it is neither a principle in nature knowne unto all men nor any conclusion to be deriv'd from any naturall principle I meane such a totall cessation as is here questioned For that men should haue times of rest and refreshing is naturall that God should haue part of our time sequestred for his worship is also naturall but neither the question nor arguments produced intend this naturall rest but an artisiciall kinde of cessation which our Sabbatharians haue fancied unto themselues and cannot be knowne unto us unlesse by Revelation Neither is it under any positiue precept for then it might be shewed in some Evangelicall writer and we need not fly to the Law and the Prophets of the old Testament to which satisfaction will soone be given Secondly Nothing commanded the Iew as a Ceremonie under Moses is or can be an essentiall duty of Religion unto the Christians in the time of the Gospell And the reason is plaine for the ceremoniall law was the application of things in their own natures indifferent to mysticall and holy uses and otherwise there could be no distinction between Morall Ceremoniall But that utter and totall cessation from works here spoken of was a ceremony commanded the Iew under Moses hath already been manifested Therefore c. Thirdly That which is not in it's selfe in its own nature an act of Religion cannot be in its selfe and its own nature a universall Christian duty binding all men under the penalty of sinne But an utter cessation from bodily labour upon the Lords day is not in its selfe and its own nature an act of Religion for then it must be some part of Gods worship inward or outward wherewith if rightly performed God is well pleased But God saith M. Calvin is not taken with any bodily rest and cessation of his creatures precisely and of it selfe considered upon what day soever which I think all men of sober mindes will acknowledge it cannot therefore be of it selfe a Christian duty upon the Lords day If any man say it is a part of Gods worship being an ordinance commanded by him Let him shew us any such command for the Christian festivall and I will subscribe Fourthly that which of it selfe doth no way further our spirituall edification in Christ is not a Christian duty binding the conscience upon any day But corporall rest from the works of our lawfull callings doth no way further our spirituall edification For if * 2. Tim. 4.8 Bodily exercise profiteth nothing bodily cessation profiteth lesse If any man say it helpeth much to Edification for by this meanes we may wholy attend the things of God I answer that is not the thing in question for then it edifieth not by and of it selfe but by and through the holy exercises If it be further said that it doth edifie remembring us of our spirituall rest required of us and the eternall rest promised unto us I answer that this Edification proceedeth not from the d Significatio alia est divina seu à Deo rebus addita a◠ob signationem cultum ut significatio Sacramentorum alia humana ecclesiastica hominū instituto rebus addita utsit occasio memorandi rem gestam illa est necessaria haec libera significatio dominicae est humanitūs Parae in Ro. 14. thing it selfe but as affix't thereunto by our own inventions and institutions And so the Surplice the Crosse standing at the Creed all Church Ceremonies doe edifie which yet of themselues are not Christian duties Fiftly if Christian liberty extend it selfe to things of greater consequence carrying with them far greater shew of divine command then doubtlesse we are much more free in things of lesse importance But we are left free under the Gospell to many things of greater weight as Vowing Fasting Preaching Catechizing receiving the Sacraments Confession
Lord vnlesse we also adde thereunto sundry actuall performances the time and manners whereof they also shew us If therefore any difference be it is that we must be wholy taken up with such performances during the whole Sabbath for 24. houres and turne meere Euchites upon the day which is not required in other dayes But that the Sabbath is of no such length hath been already declared and that God giues no such continuate taskes of holy performances shall I hope before we part be made evident Secondly d Finis non seper est de substantià praecepti neque secundùm veros Theologos cadit sub praecepto Med. Inst Non idem est finis praecepti id de quo praeceptum datur Aquin. 1.2 qu. 100. art 9. ad 2. the end is not comanded by that Law in which the meanes are prescribed for though the precept of the end include also the precept of the meanes yet not on the contrary This proposition is laid downe by the Moralists as an undoubted maxime and doth evidently appeare For example when we are commanded to heare the word we are not by the force there of commanded to beleeue in Christ Iesus yet * Rom. 10.17 Faith as saith the Apostle cometh by hearing That rule which commandeth to beate downe the body and to keepe it in subjection doth not require of vs the vertues of humility chastity c. but on the contrary these being the end require the other as the meanes But the law of sanctifying a holy Sabbath is a law of the meanes whereby we are taught and enabled to serue the Lord in the private duties of holinesse and to exercise in our selues the graces of faith hope loue c. This also is plaine of it selfe and requires no farther proofe For why doe we resort to the congregation on the Lords day But partly to be instructed by the word partly to be inflamed with the loue of God and zeale unto his service the whole weeke after as well as to tender him our publike homage in acknowledgement of his soveraigne dominion Thirdly no affirmatiue precepts are to be extended beyond that which the letter doth containe though it be otherwise in precepts which be negatiue For example honour thy father and mother when we know what it is to honour our Superiours we haue the whole latitude of this Law It is not so I say in negatiues as appeares by our Saviours confutation of the Pharisees glosses upon the seventh Commandement But the law of the Sabbath is an affirmatiue precept and prescribes the publique worship of God in the congregation therefore is not farther to be extended Fourthly if all duties of piety and mercy whatsoever were commanded by the law of the Sabbath then were there no difference at all between this and the other precepts of the Decalogue at least for that day so that upon one day of every weeke the other Commandements were needlesse and superfluous But this is not to be affirmed Ob. If any say that one and the same duty may be under divers precepts Resp I answer that though this be most true yet must we not confound the Law of God and make an intricate maze thereof to the entangling of mens consciences for the Decalogue is said to be ten words ten for their number words for their distinction I denie not that one and the same duty may be under divers precepts but then they are diversly considered as referred to divers ends The object of different commandements may be materially the same but formally distinct So temperance and sobriety may be both under the sixt and under the seventh precept under the sixt as meanes of preservation of breath under the seventh as the helps unto chastity and mortification But what formality can distinguish the duties of holinesse on the Lords day from the same duties on other daies I know not if you say to sanctifie the Sabbath the question is begged and so nothing said Fiftly were the whole practice of Religion both publique and private the duty of the Lords day then it would follow which is also affirmed that to obserue the Lords day were impossible to any man in the state of corruption For I think no man unlesse he be some braine-sick Perfectist will challenge to himselfe such a measure of holinesse though but for a day But that the law of the Lords day is thus impossible being not a Legall but Evangelicall observation of positiue command for all such are light yokes and easie burthens is utterly untrue Therefore c. Sixtly nothing but what is naturall and eternall is commanded in the fourth precept of the Decalogue binding us under the Gospell but that private and personall acts of religion should be performed by us precisely upon this or that day of publique worship in that manner as is required is not naturall and eternall binding us under the Gospell For the Law of nature prescribes only in generall not any thing for any time or day or manner in particular Seventhly that which is no where spoken of much lesse commanded in the new Testament bindes not the conscience of any under the Gospell but the private exercises of religion upon the Lords day are not spoken of much lesse commanded in the new Testament For then such commands were easily shewed all men would readily submit themselues thereunto Eightly this manner of observation seemeth to change the nature of the Lords day from being the Christian Feast and transformeth it rather into a day of Fast humiliation For let their doctrine of Sabbathizing be compared to the doctrine of fasting and we shall finde them the same saue only that a totall abstinence from all things wherein nature delighteth is required in the one but not so in the other But we must not metamorphize the Lords day which is and ought to be the Christian mans Festivall wherein he should not only inwardly but out wardly also rejoice in the Lord his God Ob. If any say that the true beleiver takes no greater comfort then in the exercises of humiliation nothing being so sweet unto him as the teares of contrition Resp I answer that what the * Heb. 12.11 Apostle speaketh of affliction in generall That afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby is true also of the day of humiliation of the bruising of the soule in particular the affliction is one thing the fruit thereof another this ioyfull that for the present grievous and doth not so well sort with the nature of the Lords day Vpon which ground it was expresly forbidden the e Hoc ab omni ecclesiâ Orientali Occidentali observatum contra haereticos Can. Apost 61. Christians by Antiquity to fast upon the Lords day Ob. But is it not lawfull then for a man to repent and be converted unto God comming out of the state of sin into the state of grace through the troubles and anguishes
of bread in the Lords supper with reservation of Christian liberty Lastly the l Ex institutione Apostolicâ servatâ tamen liberta te Christianâ Gret Whether the Church can now alter it to any other day I submit my judgement to the Church herein Doct. Holland Apol. Apostles commended this observation unto the first Christians as their Pastors and part of their Ecclesiasticall Order and Discipline and therefore it binds only the children of the Church and that by Ecclesiasticall authority and the Church may if occasion so require change and alter the same as seemes good unto her neither doe the arguments to the contrary conclude CHAP. XX. The Affirmative Arguments are breifly answer'd LOoking vpon this multitude of allegations and considering the strange confidence of their Authors I remember the words of Melchior Canus that having collected the arguments which the Protestants bring against the Apocrypha many of his friends advised him neither to set downe all neither to presse those that he did set downe home to the point leâ—st he should not be able to make a cleare and a full answer and so not only endanger his credit but also corrupt his judgment I know that very many men conceive through custome and prejudice that Catalogue of reasons 〈◊〉 irrefragable but m Consilium amicorum quidem sed timentium ubi non est timor Existimâ—runt enim imperiti argumenta esse maiora quà m uâ— Ã nobis refelli possunt Can. lib. 20. cap. â—â— loc as my Author unjustly in his cause faith his friends feared where there is no cause of feare so I doe truely find it to be in this dispute and shall soone be able to blunt the edge of that sword which we haue thus whetted To the first plaine it is that the fourth commandement is misalleadged for neither a seventh nor one of seven but that particular seventh which was given unto the Iewes is there spoken of And how the Lords day can in any propriety of language be called the seventh I confesse such is my dulnesse that I cannot apprehend for if we speake thereof according to the order of nature as they succeeded one another from the Creation it is the first day of the weeke and so the * 1. Cor. 16.2 Scripture cals it If we relinquish the order of nature it s not the seventh but the eight in number of daies and so n Tertul. de Idolol Cyril in Io. lib. 12. c. 58. many of the ancients stile it If we still confine our selues to the compasse of a weeke and withall dissolue the reference which one day hath to another in regard of the Creation we may make it any other number what we please Lastly this argument supposeth the question viz. That God hath commanded the Church of Christ under the Gospel one of seven and this in particular to be kept Sabbath whereas all outward observations which were commanded in generall are left to the wisedome of the Church when we once descend to particulars To the second It is most true that all particulars are included under their generals but this doth not inferre that he who commandeth a generall duty doth thereby also prescribe the manner and circumstances of particular actions contained and commanded vnder that generall For example it is a generall precept at least to such as it appertaines for the unletter'd I thinke it binds not to reade and search the Scriptures But I hope the * Acts. 8.32 Eunuch when he did this in his chariot was not bound at that time to read that particular passage in the Prophet concerning the person of Christ The Apostles were commanded in generall to ordaine Pastors and Ministers were they therefore commanded to choose Timothy in particular We are bid to giue almes of that which we doe possesse but our particular distribution to his or that man at this or that time is in our owne discretion Honour the King is a generall precept but this binds us not to receive such or such a particular man for our King but he being by the grace of God our anointed Soveraigne the precept which before was generall becomes now a particular tye and binds us to honour him So here the fourth precept commands to sanctifie some set time for publique worship doth it therefore command the first day of the weeke to be that time To keepe some time is one things this generall is under divine precept to keepe this or that time is another thing this particular is left unto the wisdome of the Church And thus o Exemplum sit in geniculatione quae sit dum solennes habentur precationes quâ—ritur sitne humana traditio quam repudiare vel negligere cuivis liceat Dic fic esse humanam ut simul sit divina Dei est quatenus pars est decoris illius cuius cura observatio nobis per Apostolum commendatur hominum autem quatenùs specialiter designat quod in genere fuit indicatum magis quà m expositum Cal. Inst lib. 4. c. to par 30. M. Calvin doth affirme that one and the same thing may both be a divine precept and a humane constitution in different respects He gives instance in kneeling at the Communion and at publique prayers in the congregation The question is whether they are humane Traditions thou must answer saith he that it is both humane and divine it 's a divine ordinance being comprehended under that decency commanded by the Apostle in generall and it is a humane constitution in regard of the particular designation of this or that gesture Indeed when the particular is once appointed either for days or gesture or any other outward observation the generall precepts binds us to those particulars If therefore this argument can hold for the manner of observing the Lords day-Sabbath which is prescribed by our Sabbatharians well sure I am it concluds nothing for the institutioÌ„ thereof To the third it is true that one and the same Scripture is many times twice fulfilled but this proposition holds only when that Scripture speaks either of Christ and his Church or of things which were transient Types of things to come And lastly they are such Scriptures as the holy Ghost hath already discovered vnto us for we haue no warrant to follow our Phaâ—â—es herein If therefore the letter of the fourth commandement be a prophecie of Christ and his Church or the Iewes Sabbaths were Types of the Lords day or the holy Ghost hath in any place reuealed unto us that what was spoken of the one was intended by him of the other we subscribe to this argument but till this be made appeare it serves to no purpose To the fourth this therefore comes timely in to second his predecessour but hath not that strength which might be wished For we vtterly deny that ever the Lords day was prefigured much lesse precepted in the old Testament Those Rabinicall collections shall passe for dreames The authority of the
For all these are commended to Christian Liberty in regard of determinating circumstances as where when in what manner how long how often And some of theÌ„ whether at all yet are things of greater importance and haue more probability of Divine precept then bodily cessation on the Lords day Ergo c. Sixtly that which is not so much as mentioned in the new Testament for a Christian duty is not commanded Christian people under the penalty of sinne This must needs be true of all such duties which Christ and the Gospell hath brought in imposed upon the Church as distinguished from the Iewish Synagogue But corporall rest such as our Sabbatharians require upon the Lords day is not so much as mentioned in the new Testament and yet the Lords day the observation thereof was brought in and imposed upon the Church as contra-distinguished from the Iewish Synagogue Ergo c. Seventhly Had this been an immediate Christian duty so essentiall as it 's now made doubtlesse the first Christians living under persecuting Emperours would haue made as great a conscience of this as of any thing else whatsoever Especially because it concern'd the Lord himselfe to whom the day is devoted and persecution maks men stick closest unto Christ and all Christian duties commanded by him But the Primitiue Christians did all manner of works upon the Lords day under the persecuting Emperours unlesse whilst they assembled themselves by stealth to break bread This appeares by Constantines edict against working upon this day wherein notwithstanding are excepted all labours of Husbandry whatsoever It is a true rule that the manners and customes of men are the Mothers of the Lawes of Kings and States A law prohibiting the doing of any thing is a strong presumption that the thing was done especially when the Law is exceptiue Plaine therefore it is by the Law of Constantine who was the first Christian Emperour that the Primitiue Christians made not cessation from works upon the Lords day a matter of conscience Ob. If any man say that Constantine did only reviue the duty which Persecution had almost defaced Sol. I answer that Constantine was not the reviuer but the first enactor of this observation in regard of bodily cessation if not why can it not be shew'd who preceded him herein But let it be that Constantine renewed the Discipline which was decayed it seemes then that the labours of Husbandry then what more toylesome were in use amongst Primitiue Christians upon this day because they are excepted by Constantine which renewed the Discipline of the Church in this behalfe or else Constantine insteed of a reviuer must needs be made a depraver and corrupter Ob. If any man say the nature of the times required this indulgence Sol. I answer that those were the most peacefull and happy times that ever the Church saw But suppose what malignity you please in the times sure I am that nothing can make a sinne to be no sinne or let the conscience loose from any necessary and essentiall duty though but positiuely commanded vnlesse as David did eate the Shew-bread which cannot be averr'd of those times of Constantine Lastly authorities also are not wanting e Cont. Manich lib. 2. Epiphanius against the Manichees saith that God regardeth not outward cessation from works more upon this then any other day because by his providence the Sunne riseth and setteth the Moone waxeth and waneth the Winds blow and Women bring forth as well on this as any other dayes And against Ebion the same f Idem cont Ebion Epiphanius saith that the Disciples plucking the Eares of Corne upon the Sabbath day shewed that the outward rest of the Sabbath was ended when Christ who is our great Sabbath was once come g Cogitans requiem in Deo tuo propter ipsam requiem omnia faciens abstine ab opere â—ervili omnis enim qui facit peccatum servus est peccaâ—i Aug. Ps 32. S. Augustine also upon the 32. Psalme which is mistaken by our Adversaries as speaking against all sorts of works serious and lusory faith We must seeke rest in the Lord our God abstaining from all servile works for he that committeth sinne is the servant of sinne Our servile works are our sinfull works from which to abstaine is all the rest required of us under the Gospell h Luther de bonis operibus Luther expressely faith that the outward rest spoken of in the Commandement is no longer under precept in the profession of Christianity Calvin thinks it strange that man should imagine that God is delighted with bodily cessation And to confesse my ignorance I know none either Protestant or Papist new or old our English Sabbatharians set aside which teach corporall rest to be of it selfe a duty of the day under positiue precept CHAP. XXIV The Question is briefly vnfolded in nine Propositions THE whole question may be easily clear'd in these following propositions First I conceiue it is out of all controversy that the outward rest from all manner of works as it is expressed in the letter of the fourth Commandement was of it selfe precisely considered and without relation to any thing else to the Iewes an especiall duty of religion and part of Gods worship For though it be true which i Calvin in Levit. 19. v. 13. M. Calvin hath observed upon these words of Moses You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary that God commanded them cessation from works with reference to the duties of the Sanctuary yet were it also of it selfe a Sabbath-dayes duty For that which is of its selfe and for its owne sake commanded may also be made a subordinate duty to help and further another duty So Prayer which is of it selfe a maine part of Gods worship is made a subordinate help to encrease our dependance upon God and to beget in our hearts an awfull reverence of his Majestie It 's so here for also if it had stood commanded only in relation to the worship of the Sanctuary why were they to begin it over night where as nothing was done in the Sanctuary till the next Morning If any man say that which was done ouer night was only by way of preparation He much deceived himselfe For the preparation is one thing the Sabbath another They had their preparation and their prepreparation which tooke up almost the whole day precedent both of their owne invention But they began not their Sabbath-rest till after Sun-set in the evening And howsoever they imposed many things upon themselues of their owne Traditions by way of Preparation yet the first use and true end thereof was to provide for themselues what to eate upon the Sabbath in which it was unlawfull for them to dresse any thing or so much as to kindle a fire Their over-nights rest had no relation at all to the Sanctuary but to their comming out of Egypt the memory whereof they were commanded to solemnize thereby As therefore unleavened
Lord as much presseth the time as the duties Secondly by the Law of contraries For if any sinne as drunkennesse uncleanenesse blasphemie and prophanenesse be more abhominable in the sight of God upon the Lords day then upon any other day it must needs be that the coÌ„trary vertues are more acceptable unto him also from the circumstance of the day But the former is generally affirmed especially of the Scotists and is grounded upon that common Maxime in Morall Philosophy Bonitas malitia actionum pendet à circumst antijs the good and evill of our wayes are to be measured by the circumstances thereof and amongst these the circumstance of time is not to be sleighted Ergo c. Fourthly the day of Christs corporall resurrection from the graue requires of us aboue other dayes a spirituall resurrection from sinne in all the duties of holinesse of what kind soever for this being the generall use to be made of our Saviours resurrectioÌ„ as appeares by the Apostle Rom. 6.4 it should be chiefly practised on that day on which the memory thereof is solemnized All men will acknowledge that when we doe the duty of the day upon the day it selfe it is most seasonable and duties seasonable doth the * Prov. 25.11 wise man compare to apples of gold in pictures of silver But the Lords day is the day of Christs resurrection Ergo c. Fiftly that Law which doth enjoyne publike worship doth also require of us all such duties as are furtherances of the publike For where the end is commanded all such meanes as directly tend unto that end are also under precept But the Lords day requireth publique worship as all acknowledge and the private personall and oeconomicall duties of holinesse are maine helps and furtherances thereof both preparing us thereunto and putting life into our performances and causing us to profit thereby Therefore c. Sixtly that which was shadowed as a Type in the old Sabbath is required as an Evangelicall duty in the new Sabbath which is the Lords day for all the Mosaicall ceremonies were shadowes of good things to come to be performed partly by Christ partly by his spirit in us But this quiet rest of the soule and repose of the spirit in the Lord by all the duties of holinesse was shadowed as a Type of the old Sabbath therefore are they Evangelicall duties on the Lords day Seventhly though the letter of the fourth precept be Ceremoniall yet is the equity thereof morall and of this there is no question But the letter of the Iewish Sabbath required not only publique sacrificing but commanded also private rest For no man was to goe out of his place saith the * Exod. 16.29 text The Christians therefore on their Lords day are in allequitie and proportion bound not only to the publique but private duties of holinesse it is a Iuxta illud legis Mosaicae maneat unusquisque apud seipsum nullus egrediatur ostium domus suae die Sabbathi Bern. S. Bernards argument in his Octo puncta Eightly it is morall in the commandement that every man learne vpon the Sabbath those things which belong to his salvation This proposition is sett down in terminis by a b Quicquid sit de ecclesiae praecepto cer tè lege naturae fidei tenentur Christiani ea discere quae suae Saluti sunt necessaâ—ia Est 3. sent dist 37. par 14. Festivis maximè in praecipuis solennitatibus magis circa â—a quae solennitat is sunt immorandum videtur ut paâ—â—tèr eruâ—iatur animus exciâ—etur affectus Bern. Ser. 3. in Epipâ— Popish Schooleman farre be it from any good Protestant to speake lesse honourably of the Lords day then such But it is not possible for us to learne from the publique those things that belong unto our salvation unlesse we adde thereunto private exercises of holinesse as praying meditating conferring together with actuall motions of all habituall graces in us for by the one wee fasten them in our memories by the other wee incorporate them into our hearts Therefore c. Ninthly the Lords-day is a holy-day not in it selfe and in its own nature as the Anti-Sabbatharians themselves confesse but as it makes us holy by performing holy duties But the exercise of Gods publique worship alone makes us not holy without the private Therefore c. Tenthly the proper duties of this Iewish Sabbath besides publike worship were contemplatiue of the Creation as appeares by the reason of the rest prescribed in the Commandement for in six dayes the Lord made heauen and earth c. recognition of their deliverance out of Egypt remembrance of the fall of Mannah and their setling in the land of Canaan The equity therefore and the proportion of the Commandement requires that we not only worship God in publique but also privately study and be good proficients in the Schoole of nature in regard of the great works of Gods majestie and power and in the Schoole of Christ in regard of the great mercyes of our redemption Ergo c. Lastly Authorities are infinite The c Syn. Arelat c. 19. Syn. Turon c. 40. Syn. Mogun c. 37 Syn. Matiscon c. 7. Syn. Agath c. 47. Synods generally say we should continue in holy duties untill night having our eyes and our hands stretched out unto him all the day long sequestred from all other imployments let us only attend the service of God untill night Hugo de Sancto Victore saith that all the Festivals were appointed as for other ends so that we might be vacant unto prayers and contemplation To which purpose also many passages out of the Fathers might be brought especially in their popular Sermons as every man knoweth Ergo c. CAP. XXVIII The arguments for the Negatiue are breifly expressed FOR the Negatiue tenent it is also said First that which is every daies duty is no duty of the Lords day as it is the Lords day for then there should be no difference at all between the Lords day and other dayes in regard of the duty therein required which were to confound the Lords day to the great disparagement thereof with other dayes But the private exercises of those fundamentall graces of faith hope loue are the duties of every day If any say that the difference consists in this that to common dayes appertaine only private duties to the Lords day both private and publike The scruple still remaineth in regard of those dayes wherein the publike worship of God is also in use as Lecture-dayes Holy-dayes c. unlesse we account those daies also to be Sabbaths which our adversaries in this question will not agree unto If it be farther said that the difference stands in this that in other dayes they are only habitually but on the Lords day actually required I answer that in their other Tractates an habituall serving of God is so farre rejected as that they thinke it impossible to walk with any comfort with the
of the new birth upon the Lords day Resp God forbid happy doubtles that man unto whom the Lords day or any day is the day of his returne unto the great Bishop and Sheepheard of his soule but the question is not of any sinners conversion But of the Sabbaths observation by men supposed to be in the the state of grace of whom the habituall practice of holinesse with the actuall duties of the publike worship is alone required CHAP. XXIX Wherein is declared what is to be conceived in this Question HAving thus laid downe that may probably be said upon either part for the better setling of the conscience herein these conclusions are to be observed First that holinesse which is required of a Christian is of a large extent taking in all the duties which we owe to God our brethren and our selues For * Pet. 1.16 We must be holy as God is holy being created after his image and this image doth consist in holinesse and righteousnesse as in the two integrall parts thereof holinesse relating in a restrained sense unto piety and godlinesse righteousnesse unto justice and judgement unto both which we stand alwaies obliged and must practise them when we are required thereunto Secondly the duties of holinesse as contradistinct unto righteousnesse are perfectly contained in the foure Commandements of the first Table which are so many distinct Predicaments of all true piety For although the duties of righteousnes in the second Table put on the attributes of holinesse as directed unto the Lord performed in obedience to his Majestie yet are they not formally so in themselues considered And although the same duties of piety may be comprehended within divers severall precepts yet there is still to be observed some peculiar and distinct consideration which puts them formally under such or such a precept Thirdly that therefore the law of the Sabbath in the fourth Commandement is no transcendent comprehending all the duties of all the rest either of the first or second Table for then it must needs be the Summum genus to the rest out of which they all may be deduced and into which they may be resolved This is verified alone of those two great Commandements as our * Math 22.38 Saviour calls them Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy soule with all thy heart with all thy minde with all thy strength and thy neighbour as thy selfe but cannot be affirmed of the fourth precept For how can we either extract the rest or almost any of them out of this or fold them up all therein It would be a strange inference to say Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day therefore thou shalt haue no other Gods therefore thou shalt make no graven images therefore thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine c. and as strangely would all these being put together make up that one Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day Fourthly that therefore there is something appertaining to pietie which is only to be found in this and in no other precept of the Decalogue Now what this is will easily appeare if we take a short view of Gods worship as it is prescribed in the severall Commandements The worship of God is the immediate act of religion which inclineth the heart and the whole man to the service of God And because God must be served not after our fancies but as he himselfe hath appointed therefore it is a good Etymologie of Religion à relegendo sese intra suos fines contracting her selfe within the bounds and limits which are prescribed her For this indeed is the difference between true false religion that the one useth a wandring extravagant licentiousnesse whereas a Major parâ— mundi quicquid obvium est temerè aâ—cipit pietas autem ut in firmo gradu consistat sese intra suos fines relegit Cal Inst lib. 10. c. 12. the other is fixed and keepes to those limits which God hath set her This our Saviour teacheth us in that answer of his unto the Pharisees * Math. 22.1 giue unto God the things which are Gods For we must not tender him any thing whereby to worship him which is not his own so that what justice is amongst men one towards another the same is religion on mans part towards God Religion is writen naturally upon the heart of man and rooted in his very conscience though the print thereof by much defaced by originall is more and more daily blotted out by actuall transgressions For not only b Quaâ—â—â—â— sui numinis intelligenti aâ—â— universis ' Deuâ— ipse indidit Cal. ibid. c. these that are within the pale of the Church but the Heathens themselues and the worst of wicked men haue a naturall sense and a feeling of religion There is a kinde of naturall pietie in the soule saith c Anima nihil de Deo discens ' Deuâ— nominat nihil de iudicio eius admittens Deo commendare se dicit c. Terâ— de carâ— ne Christi Tertullian having for it's object both God himselfe as the chiefest good and supreme Lord of the whole world and the holy things of God whatsoever The practice of this dutie of religion belongs both to the outward and the inâ—â—â—d man from the inward man are required religious Adoration Invocation Dependance and Thanksgiving Thus to giue God his own is Iohn 4.24 as our Saviour * Iames 1.27 stiles it to worship him in spirit and in truth and is properly that which we call the feare of God from whence as from a fountaine all good duties whatsoever are derived For it doth not only produce it 's own operations but doth command as a Soveraigne Lady all other vertues according to that of S. Iames true religion and undefiled is to visit the father lesse and the widdowes ad to keep himselfe unspotted of the world This is religion not formally but effectually religion being the cause which doth produce them But God having not only made us spirits but bodies in which our spirits dwell as in houses of clay the duty of religion extends it selfe unto the outside of man also which must likewise giue God his owne And religion in this notion is under the second precept of the Decalogue in which as we are forbidden all Idolatrous services whatsoever so are we commanded such bodily testifications of our spirituall worship as may best stand with the nature and will of that God which is worshipped by us This though it be distinct from the former yet is not exclusiuely to be understood as if it only exacted formal postures and corporall prostrations for the * Isai 29.13 Prophet assures us that those that think to worship God with these only are abhominable in his sight Outward reverence must ever be accompanied with inward worship and so performed it is commanded in this second precept Now it being a necessary consequence that persons so
it another case the Daughter hath eaten up the Mother Farre be it from me to speak or so much as think in secret any thing in the prejudice of that great and glorious work of Preaching Sooner shall my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth for I know it to be Gods ordinance * Rom. â— â—6 even his mighty power unto salvation it â—owes the seed whereby we are begotten it is meat whereby we are nourished Medicine whereby we are healed both Oile and wine being powred thereby into our wounds By it the understanding is informed the memory refreshed the will inclined the affections made pliable the heart comforted truth preserved errours and heresies beaten downe But yet farre be it from any man to make an Idole of it which is done when either we advance it aboue or equall it with the publique worship By this preposterous conceit of many well-mined people a grand inconvenience hath befallen the Church of England from which most of her other mischiefes are hatched First in opinion that he is no lawfull Minister which is not a Preacher Secondly in practice for all men to avoid this exception or brand rather as suddainly turne Preachers as they doe Ministers So that if any man conceiue a good opinion of himselfe that he may doe good in Gods Church by some wayes or other he shuffles into holy orders and immediately from them into the Pulpit And every Youth whose maintenance extends not it selfe beyond three or foure years in the Vniversity as soone as he is old enough will be a Minister and then 't is a foule disparagement to him not to be a Preacher Hence especially partly through ignorance partly through impudence faction is fomented the people humoured and mislead Religion is made a Maze quite changed from that which originally it was Seventhly it is not to be doubted that there may be also many personall furtherances of the publique worship whereby particular men may be made more apt therevnto more devoute therein receiving great comfort and profit thereby But that such preparations or previous dispositions or what else we please to call them are under the precept of the Lords day as it is our Christian Sabbath doth not follow For First they are not of absolute necessity without which the publique worship must needs fall to the ground I think no man will say it is unpossible that a man should worship God in publique which hath not done it in private otherwise then habitually It is not here as in acting a part upon the Stage to which a man comes as a new thing never heard of before for we are bred in a Christian state nursed in a solicitous Church acquainted with God his word his worship as it were from the Cradle Few men I think there are in our congregations which cannot suddainly recollect themselues from other distractions to ioyne with our brethren in publique unlesse transported with unexpected and violent temptations Secondly no particular rules can be prescribed which shall universally direct all men of all rankes endowments which not observed they cannot worship God in publique Must we read the word of God in private What shall become of them whose education hath not extended to the Primmer Must they pray in private and secret otherwise then the Church hath taught them What shall such doe as haue not the help of books and are not arrived to their imagined perfection of extemporary effusions Must they repeat a Sermon or Catechize their families c what if they cannot Where are those duties commanded pro hic nunc as they speak upon the Lords day but in publique Assemblies Thirdly supposing therefore a generall precept of preparation to the publique which no man will deny for the * Eccles 5 1â— holy Ghost commandeth it expressely keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God The Schooles teach us that the manner of performing the duty fals not under the precept in which the duties is commanded If thy foot be kept it matters not by what meanes thou keep it In a word therefore personall private helps of the publique worship not as it is publike and regarding the whole congregation but looking to our owne profiting thereby are only generally commanded us the particulars being left to every mans discretion and no mans conscience is further burthened Eightly with reservation therefore of Christian liberty those that can and will spend the vacant times of the Lords day in the private exercises of piety are by no law prohibited by no authority discountenanced ought not by others to be disheartened but encouraged rather with these Provisoes First that they put no Religion therein as if God required it at their hands as a part of the dayes sanctification for then are they guilty of will-worship Secondly that being personall devotions they be performed in secret for so * Math. 6.6 our Saviour hath directed Thirdly that when they are extended unto the whole family the Master of that oeconomicall discipline be well fitted and qualified thereunto and presume not beyond his measure Fourthly that he keep himselfe within the compasse of his owne charge not admitting any of other places for then he becomes offensiue to the State who hath and that justly a iealousy over all such Assemblies Fiftly that what is done herein proceed from the sincerity of his heart without any respect unto sinister ends else they are meere pretences Lastly that they be not burthensome to their servants herein so as to make them weary of good things of which our natures are impatient but so as that the day be unto them both a spirituall and a corporall refreshing Ninthly all such things whatsoever as keep us from or hinder us in the publique worship are altogether unlawfull upon the Lords day This conclusion is evident of it selfe from the premises and conclusions of the former questions and is generally assented unto only the scruple is Ob. Whether any thing saue that which is a holy exercise of Religion be not such a hinderance as walking in the fields talking of other things honest recreations For by this meanes we are debarred of that profit in whole or at least in part which otherwise we might reape from the publique exercise Resp To which I answer first that publique worship is one thing and our private profiting thereby is another both commanded indeed but in sundry precepts the one in the law of the Lords day the other in those generall precepts * Mark 15.1 beleeue the Gospell * Iames 1.22 be doers not hearers * Cor. 6.1 receiue not the grace of God in vaine * Col. 3.16 let the word dwell plentifull in you c. are in some sort the end of the precept of the publique worship in some sort I say because not the first and chiefest end For this is to acknowledge Gods supreme dominion preservation of the Catholique doctrine and the vnity of
day that the reason why wicked ecrable upon that day that the reason why wicked Christians are worse then Godlesse Heathens manytimes is because they abuse all such things whereby the Lord would draw them unto himselfe amongst others the Lords day that all thoughts words and waies which separate from God are alwaies damnable but much more upon the Lords day from this ground and no other But hence as it doth not follow on the one side that it is not lawfull elsewhere to repent of our sinnes or to make our prayers unto God saue in consecrated places or that whensoeuer we come there we sin if we performe not these duties so neither here on the other side must we conceiue that no holy duties are to be done but on the Lords day or that we break the Law of the Sabbath if during the whole day we doe not performe them And by this which hath been hath said not only the present argument receiues full satisfaction but if I mistake not that great stumbling block of these times of bowing toward the Communion Table is removed out of the way of all well-affected people For the Table being amongst consecrated things either it acquires something by vertue of its consecration or a Consecrationes Ecclesiae nan sunt rantùm opera sed sunt efficaces Cajet in Tho part t. qu. 83 Art 3. Res Consecratae habibes dicuntur ad excâ—tandam in nobis reverentiam devotionem ibidem else the action of the Church is not only voyd but also vaine idle which no man will I think affirme That which the consecration conferres cannot be any reall quality of holinesse for of this it is not capeable it must needs be therefore only a fitnesse or aptnesse in the thing consecrated to work upon the minds and understandings of men considering it as consecrated And is nothing else but an b Deus est preseâ—s Altari Ecclesiae aliis hujusmodi speciali modo sicut novo instrumento ad excitandam reverentiam devotionem circa divinum cultum c. Cajet ibidem aptitude to stirre them up to holy thoughts upon those things represented and acted upon that holy place which multiplying themselues doe at last break forth into the act of holy worship in generall of the whole Trinity but particularly of the glorious person of the Sonne of God who humbling himselfe unto the death of the Crosse tendred unto his Father an universall and holy sacrifice for the sins of the whole world Not the Table therefore is worshipped for this is so palpable Idolatry as cannot be incident to any Heathen nor any thing set upon the Table the reserving of the consecrated Elements we leaue to the Church of Rome and therefore there is no thought here of Transubstantiation but Christ as the Messias slaine the propitiation for our sinnes by whole stripes we are healed The Table is only a memoratiue instrument unto which the assistance of grace is never wanting either to beget in our minds such thoughts of the death of Christ or to extract from our persons such a worship of him if we c Ecclesiâ Alrare alia huiusmodi ex consecratione adipiscuntur quandam spiritualem virtutem per quam apta redduntur divino cultui ut scilicèt homines devotionem quandam exindè percipiant sint paratiores ad divina nisihoc propter irreverentiam impediatur Aquin. parte 3. qu. 83. art 3. ad tertium be not otherwise wanting to our selues And for my part if this be all which is practised I am sure it 's all which is taught by the Learned even in the Popish Schoole it selfe I see no reason why if a day quatenus a separated day may be thus memoratiue a Table or ALTAR call it what you please thus separated may not be so likewise or why we should not readily imbrace all occasions opportunities helps and furtherances of worshipping the person of our Lord Christ whose honour is generally impaired by sundry Heretiques and most maliciously fought against by Satan Anti-Christ and all his complices Which is some had well understood it had not been possible for them to haue stumbled thereat at least they would haue forborne many uncharitable invectiues against their brethren who upon those grounds exercise this worship To the fifth all meanes directly tending to any good end are included in the precept of the end but private duties as they are here required are no where commanded as meanes unto the publique but rather on the contrary for we doe not therefore accustome our selues to private duties that so we may be able to serue God in publique but we therefore attend the publique that thereby we may be the better enabled to worship him the whole week after So that if the Lords day be indeed sanctified by the syncere performance of publique duties the conscience is not farther obliged under the penalty of sinne by any precept yet reveal'd concerning the Lords day To the sixth it is most true that the spirituall repose of the soule was shaddowed out unto us by the corporall rest of the body in the Iewish Sabbath so that our whole life should be a holy rest unto the Lord from the servile works of sinne and Satan and how men sinne against the Lords day in particular if the Consecrated day be not a motiue unto them of holynesse hath already been said But that the day it selfe and the sanctification thereof such as is here prescribed us was prefigured by the old Sabbath we vtterly deny that which was shaddowed thereby being the duty of the whole time of the Gospell not of any particular day To the seventh there is no proportion at all betweene these pretended observances and the Iewes private rest for certaine it is that when amongst them no man went out of his place upon the Sabbath day they performed a publique duty celebrating thereby that common rest which they had now obtained from the slavery of Egypt wherein every family and person amongst them shared Ob. If you say it 's so here God being privately worshipped by all there doth result out of the particulars the publique honour of God acknowledging our spirituall deliverance from sinne and Satan Resp I answer that though this be most true yet the case is most different for First they had an expresse precept in that kind and the whole time was chalked out unto them it is not so with us Secondly that only was required of them which was most easy for every one to performe whereas those holy performances which are here required come not within the reach of every mans measure To the eight supposing that which many of the Schoolemen teach concerning our edifying in holy things on the Lords day the argument is faulty in its other proposition For that we cannot learne of the Lord in publique without private exercises so varied and spunne along throughout the whole day is not true neither can any
Neque circumcisio ita ipsos ab aliu distinguebat ut Sabbathum Theod. in Ez. 20. Ioh. 7.22 Theodoret also saith that many other nations communicated with the Iewes in circumcision and we know it to be true at this day in Turkes and Mahumetanes But the Iewes alone even unto this day observed a Sabbath as the only proper seale of Gods covenant Lastly our Saviour is observed to have joyned the Sabbath with circumcision as being both of like nature and use The second Character of ceremonies is that they served to mind the people of their naturall uncleannesse This we see in all their washings cleansings purisyings sacrifices therefore called also expiations The same like wise did their feasts and new Moones represent unto them some more some lesse And this also did the rest of the Sabbath For as circumcision remembred them of the superfluity of malitiousnesse to be done away by the circumcision of the spirit so did the rest of the Sabbath mind them of their pronenesse to follow their sinfull lusts walking in their own waies and of their aversnesse from suffering God to dwell and raigne amongst them This also appears out of that which hath already been said for being a signe and representation of their covenant with the Lord it not only remembred them of a Vt scilicèt ludaei seirent non aliter vitam suam posse Deo prohari nisi rationem consilia sensus omnes carnis exuerent Calv. in Exod. what he required of them but also of their own crooked dispositions thereunto It appears also by the Prophets expostulation with his people to this purpose for seeking their owne wills doing their own works and speaking their own words for by these things cannot be understood ordinary works thoughts words at other times lawfull as is commonly expounded to the entangling of weak consciences For first though the commandement forbad them ordinary works and their very sitting still was a Sabbaths duty as we shall shew hereafter yet to speak common words in ordinary communication or to think of any ordinary things as occasion required was never forbidden If any man say that the other negative precepts take in also the heart and the tongue and therefore that this also in the Sabbath must be so extended I answere that all other negative precepts are of things simply and in their own natures evill To kill with the tongue by slandering and railing so to murder in the heart by malice envy hatred evill wishes are things in their own nature simply evill and therefore no marvaile if in this case negative commandements thus enlarge themselves it is not so here Secondly this interpretation crosseth the maine scope of the Prophet which is to discover the deep hypocrisy of their hearts not any outward visible prophanation of the Sabbath As if the Prophet should have said the Lord hath sent me to cry aloud against your deep dissembling with him in two principall points the one of fasting the other b Esaias hypocritas objurgat quod in externo tantum cessandi ritu insistâ—rent Cal. ibid. Instis lib. 20. of resting before him In both these you are so outwardly formall for they did outwardly fast and Sabbathize most precisely as that you think God doth you much wrong not to accept both your persons and c Arguunt dominum quòd bona opera non respiciat Hier in locum performances d Sinon prophanes Sabbathum sequendo volantatem id est libitum passionum tuarum à vitij suti ab opere otium agas Cornel. à Lapid in locum You seek me daily and will know my waies even as a nation that did right and had not forsaken the statutes of their God and aske of methe ordinances of justice they will draw neere unto God saying wherefore have we fasted and thou seest it not But saith the Prophet I am sent to tell you you neither fast nor rest aright you should fast unto sinne and rest unto holinesse fast unto mortification rest unto sanctification not following in either regard your own corrupt immoderate desires Fast and rest in this manner then see whether your light all manner of felicity break not forth as the morning and thou mount not up on the high places of the earth Thus it is generally understood by all ancient and moderne Expositors and therefore is quitted by Amesius as being nothing to that purpose for which it is commonly avouched and by e Greenham Catech. Mr Greenham not to belong to the Christians at this day but in proportion The third character of Ceremonies is that they represented unto them that inward and spirituall worship which God requires of them that fear him So unleavened bread signified sincerity truth and the like This also is plaine in the Sabbath representing unto them the inward repose which we ought to have in the Lord denying of our selves crucisying our carnall wills and affections suffering the Lord wholy to governe our hearts by his holy spirit Lastly the Sabbath was a visible Sermon of the glad tidings of the Gospell of that rest which Christ should bring us of reconciliation with God of peace of conscience through the powerfull operation of a true and lively faith For this last the f Heb. 4. Apostles testimony is so evident as whosoever gainesaieth it fighteth against the light it selfe we which have believed doe enter into rest What restâ— even g Interpretatur Apostolus Sabbathum cum dicit remanet igitur Sabbatisinus pobulo Dei Aug. contra Adam c. 16. that which is shadowed in the Sabbath instituted and grounded upon Gods resting from his works from the foundation and what rest was thus shadowed but that which Christ and his Gospell brings them By all which I think it is manifest that the Sabbath was not only a Type or figure as the brazen Serpent as many of their Iudges Priests Kings Prophets also were for this is that which is replyed but properly and truly a Leviticall shadow and ceremony abolished in Christ the true Sabbath indeed as h Epiph contra heresi lib. 1. Tom. 2. cap. 30. Epiphanius stiles him To proceed therefore if the rest commanded in the Sabbath were thus a figure of our spirituall rest in Christ then doubtlesse also that proportion of rest which is the strictnesse of Sabbathizing according to the sound of the letter shadowed unto them that proportion of holy and spirituall rest which God requires of his redeemed ones and unto which Christ will at last bring them by degrees The Iewes we know were forbidden all kinds of servile works even the kindling of fires and that upon paine of death I confesse some are of opinion that this was but a temporary injunction during Israels abode in the wildernesse Their reason is because our Saviour dined saith the Text with a chiefe Pharisee upon the Sabbath and it is probable so great a man entertained so great a personage with a great feast
which he himselfe had especially selected out of all other daies for himselfe and his seruice But the * Rev. 1.10 Lords day was the day of Reuelation to S. Iohn Therefore c. The eight and twentieth That day whose Prophanation is revenged with miraculous judgments even reuealed from Heauen must needs be of Diuine institution for why else should the Lord so seuerely require it But the Prophanation of the Lords day hath beene in all ages miraculously revenged as an t Tom. 3. Conc. â—dem fere concil Paris tomo 3. ancient Synod held in Scotland and sundry other good Records make it apparent Therefore c. The nine and twentieth A cloud of many Arguments all of which are at the least probable are equivalent to a demonstration But here is such a cloud Therefore c. Lastly there wants not the authority of the learned Ignatius stiles it the Queene of dayes Iustin Martyr saith the Lord himselfe changed it Athanasius affirmes the same as we see Argument the eight The latine Fathers call it sacred as Argument the thirteenth Augustine Leo and the Councell of Palestina inlarge themselues in the prayses and prerogatiues of the day Amongst the Schoolemen some are found which maintaine it to be of diuine Authority Nay some Antisabatharians themselues haue acknowledged the same So mighty is truth and prevailing CHAP. 18. The Arguments for the Negatiue are breifly set downe FOR the Negatiue it is said First that whatsoeuer is of Diuine institution is to be found either in the naturall or positiue law of God for all lawes are writen constitutions say Civilians And the Schooleman giues the reason for otherwise they were a Leges constituuntur cum promulgantur alioqui constitationes positivae non essent nisi in laqueum offensiones scandalum nedù◠insipientum sed sapientum Gers no lawes but snares for mens consciences and stumbling blocks not only * to the simple but to wise men themselues But that the first day of the weeke should be the Christian mans Sabbath is not found to be writen either naturally vpon the heart or positiuely in the Scripture either expresly in the letter or implicitly to be deduced by necessary and vndeniable consequence Not naturally vpon the heart for then it were a principall of nature which no man affirmes Nor positiuely in Scripture for then the text might be produced not by vndeniable consequence for we shall see the weaknesse of all these deductions which hitherto are or as I conceiue may be made and in this poynt we must wholy be guided by probabilities saith Mr Perkins If any man except against the sufficiency of this enumeration and conceiue it to be a diuine ordination because it hath authority from the practice of the Apostles and their example recorded in Scripture I answere that in deed the Papists make much vse of this Maxime b Ab Apostolis per doctrinam spiritus sancti instituta omnibus saeculis post Apostolica tempora succedentibus celebraâ—a est Bel. de bonis oper lib. 2. cap. 34. Bellarmin maintaines the fast of Lent to be a necessary observation by no other way But me thinks when a man speaks of holy things to which the consciences of men are bound vnder the obligation of sinne it is too much loosenes to say we are bound to follow the examples of Gods Saints when no precept can be produced For only the examples of Christ in such things which are moâ—rall vertues or wherein he dischargeth the office of a Mediator and wherein he is proposed unto us to be immitated by us are to be admitted for necessary instructions and obligations And surely were it otherwise so that a man should distinguish betweene a divine precept and a divine ordination as the Iesuite Lainez did in the Councell of Trent what a wide gappe were opened to usurpe upon mens consciences St Augustines rule is safe I beleeue not what I read not If any man say that this daies observation was an Apostolicall tradition we shall I hope giue him satisfaction when we come to those arguments which formerly were made to this purpose Secondly if Christ had given any command to forbeare the Iewish Sabbath and in its roome to obserue the Lords day the Apostles holding their first Synode would doubtlesse haue expressed as much in their letters to the Gentiles for they professe by that their decree to lay upon them all necessary burthens in regard of outward observations But the keeping of the Lords day in the place of the Iewish Sabbath is an outward observation and the Apostles burthen them not therewith therefore c. The Argument gathers strength from the circumstance of the text because the question was at that time which also occasioned the Synode betweene the Iewes and Gentiles how farre forth they were bound to the law of Moses of which the Sabbath was one speciall branch Ob. If any man say that Baptisme was an outward observation and yet they burthened them not therewith and therefore no marvaile if they silenced the Lords day as also that the Apostles prescribed negatively not affirmatiuely Sol. I answere to the first that Baptisme was already made knowne unto them both by precept and practice to be a necessary Sacrament of the Gospell and therefore needed not to be then repeated And to the second that indeed their directions were only negatiue and from hence we may well inferre that the first Christians were tyed to no affirmatiues but such only as were expresse duties commanded by precept of the Gospell But the observation of the Lords day is affirmatiue and no where so precepted Therefore c. Thirdly whatsoever is of divine institution and as they say by necessity of precept laid upon the whole Church of Christ is to be observed as a necessary meanes unto salvation by the particular members thereof unlesse we be debarred therefrom by some inevitable impossibility for he that is guilty of one is guilty of all But that the obseruation of the Lords day ever since Christs resurrection or ascension hath been a necessary duty without which if it might possibly haue beene observed no salvation were to be had were desperate rashnesse to affirme For many doubtlesse there were which never kept the Lords day in the Apostles time as most beleeving Iewes and many beleeving Gentiles Many also in these times very seldome or never keepe a Sabbath by reason of their callings as workers in Mines Colepits Shepheards Cookes Physitians whose salvation notwithstanding we may not doubt Ergo. c. Fourthly no outward observation is under precept in the Ecclesiasticall Law which concernes not the kingdome of God * Rom. 14.17 defined to be Righteousnesse peace ioy in the holy Ghost and therefore is the Gospell called Evangelium Regni the Gospell af the kingdome and the Law of the Spirit This proposition is laid down by the Schoolemen for a Maxime in Divinity and is thus proved by way of induction for the
c Lex nova in exterioribus illa solum praecipere debuit vel prohibere per quae in gratiam intrâ—ducimur vel quae pertinenâ— ad rectum usum gratiae ex necessitate Aquin 1.2 q. 108. art 2. Gospell commands only such observations which are either meanes of Grace as the word and Sacraments or wherein the use and excercise of grace doth consist as the duties of love towards God and man But that the first day of the weeke should be observed Sabbath nothing concernes the kingdome of God within us because it s neither a meanes of grace nor exercise of grace Ob. If any man say the keeping of the Lords day Sabbath is both these first a meanes of grace by reason of the word and Sacraments then administred and an exercise of grace for then we returne prayses and send vp our prayers to the throne of grace and manifest our loue both to Christ and our brethren Sol. I answere that he wholy mistakes for the question is not whether the duties done upon the day be either meanes or exercises of grace for this is of it selfe manifest but whether the keeping of this day Sabbath more then an other be such The day is one thing the duties are an other these belong to the kingdome of God preserving and encreasing them in us that is but a circumstance of time and of it selfe nothing in this respect All things of this nature as time place manner are not precisely and of themselues considered of the essence or necessity of grace and therefore are not commanded in the Gospell but left to the wisdome and descretion of the Church Fiftly that day which cannot be kept universally through the whole world was never commanded the whole Church of Christ by an Evangelicall Law for the law of the Gospell is given to all nations But the first day of the weeke which is the Lords day observed in memory of the Lords resurrection cannot be thus universally kept considering the diversity of Meridians and the unequall rising and setting of the Sunne in diverse Climates in the world Some of our adversaries foresaw this objection but could never avoyd it only they tell us that it was so with the Iewes in regard of their Sabbath and therefore d Practice of piety affirme that they were not bound to keepe their Sabbath upon that precise and just distinction of time called the seventh day from the Creation For the Sunne stood still in Iosuah's time it went back ten degrees fiue houres in Hezekia's time besides the variation of the Climates throughout the world Vpon this they inferre two things 1. that God by his prerogatiue might dispence with men in these cases 2. that the Commandement meaneth not the determinate seventh from the Creation but indefinitely a seventh But what absurdities doe hence follow First they seem to affirme that the standing still and the going back of the Sunne made an alteration in the day as it was the seventh from the creation Indeed they made it longer and to consist of a greater number of houres for the present but what is this to the number of seven One and the selfe same day may be longer in Summer shorter in Winter yet keeps its ranke amongst the other daies of the week for place and number Secondly they affirme that the Iewes were not bound to any determinate day not to this seventh but a seventh Expresly contrary to the words of Moses * Exod. 20.10 the seventh is the Sabbath Thirdly there is the same reason in all the forenamed particulars between the Iewes Sabbath and the Christians If therefore their day were indefinitely a seventh ours must also be indefinitely a first and by this meanes they say and unsay with one and the same breath the first day is our Sabbath by divine institution and yet not the first but a first which is to yeeld the question Sixtly there is the same reason of keeping a determinate set Sabbath under the Gospell that there is of preaching praying and administring the Sacraments Ordaining of Ministers doing works of mercy at set-times For I think no man is so farre infatuated with this paradox as either to preferre the Sabbath before these or to sever the day from the duties which are the main end of the daies observation But all these are commanded in generall not prescribed in particular when or where or how so all things be done decently and in order We no where read how often in a year we must receive the Sacrament of the Lords supper how often we should hear a Sermon or when to give or how much either publikely or privatly If therefore there be no set times appointed for the maine duties of religion under the Gospell there is no set time appointed to be kept Sabbath Therefore c. Seventhly That which is expresly against Christian liberty was never commanded by Christ or his Apostles but to have the conscience burthened with any outward observations putting Religion in them as being parts and branches of Gods worship is directly against Christian liberty for how is he free that is thus bound to times and daies We have then only exchanged not shaken off the Iewish bondage If any man say that this was both the argument and error of the Patrobrusians of old and Anabaptists of late he is much mistaken for they pretend not to Christian liberty when the conscience is not burthened immediatly from God but to unchristian licence and confusion to be exempted from the lawes of men and decent order of the Church Eightly There is no duty I think essentiall in religion ordained by Christ or his Apostles of which we find not either exhortations in respect of performance or reprehensions in regard of their neglect either in the Gospell the Acts or the Epistles But the keeping of the first day of the week Sabbath is no where pressed or exhorted unto the neglect thereof no where reproved or forbidden in all the new Testament Ergo. Ob. If any man say it is frequently mentioned with approbation Resp I answer that so are divers things besides which are no divine institutions binding the Church of Christ as extream unction the Presbytery womens vayles widdowes these are mentioned with honour but so is not the manner of observing the Lords day which is now cried up nor any divine institution thereof Whereupon these things will necessarily follow That either the Apostles never held this observation to be a divine precept or that having given it for such to the primitive Christians in the Churches planted by them they never failed in the observation thereof which is not imaginable considering what grosse abuses and prophanations were found amongst them or lastly that the Apostles knowing the Lords day which they had injoyned theÌ„ as a divine precept to haue been neglected winked connived thereat though so ready even with the rod to reforme all other disorders which also cannot be well conceived Ninthly Had the
the text saith expressely from the day after the first Sabbath or as our old translation hath it thou shalt number unto that day And g Verba includuut diem non excludunt Ioseph Ant. lib. 3. c. 13. Iosephus himselfe a Iew saith the words are inclusive not exclusive Others h Bell. de cultu Sanctorum lib. 3. cap. 13. therefore say that the first day of unleavened bread which was to be a Sabbath happening to be Friday and the morrow after being their weekely Sabbath the Iewes transfer'd the former into the latter and kept two Sabbaths in one as their custome was propter olera mortuos making it by this meanes a greater or higher day as the * Ioh. 12.31 Evangelist cals it This being done they begin to account from that great or high day and so the Lords day was the first and last of those fifty But when all this stirre is made about the day of Pentecost on which the holy Ghost was given first this fell out by meere accident and from the superstitious conceit of this people concerning their Sabbaths that it was not lawfull for them in them to bury the dead Secondly what loosenesse is in the conclusion gathering any thing from any thing The holy Ghost was given on that day therefore it was a Sabbath of Divine institution To the seven and twentieth This also savours of the like loosenesse Indeed if God did never reveale himselfe unto his Prophets but on Sabbath dayes the inference were tolerable but this I thinke no man will affirme I presume God revealed as much to Daniel in his kind as S. Iohn in his must therefore the daies of Daniels revelations be Sabbaths Besides who can tell whether the Lords day of which S. Iohn speaks were the Lords day which we keepe or Easter day the solemnity of Christs resurrection which S. Iohn his Disciples observed as it fell out according to the Iewish supputation To the eight and twentieth This being drawne from the Iudgements of God is full of rash presumption For * Esa 55.8 Gods wayes are not as mans but secret and unsearchable his judgements past finding out But in this place it is as fallacious as presumptuous affirming Non causam pro causa assigning that to be the cause of the judgements which is not For the day is one thing the prophanation irreligious contempt of Gods ordinances appointed upon that day by the Constitutions of the Church and the law of the Land is another These indeed be sinnes highly provoking Gods wrath but no respects which God hath to this day more then to another doth pull down his judgements And therefore I doubt not but if the day were changed into any other there would be as exemplary judgements of God revealed from heaven against this kind of ungodlinesse of men as ever were in any ages upon the Lords day I denie not but that a Synod held at Paris reports diverse strange accidēts which befell the Prophaners of this day Some killed with Lightnings whil'st they were at Plough others taken with a suddain shrinking of the Sinews others consumed in a moment as Iobs * Iob. 1.16 Cattle and Servants by fire from heauen Et multa alia terribilia iudicia many more dreadfull Iudgements as that Synod speaks But let any man cast his eyes upon the beginning of that i Nullo modo divinae authoritati concordat quod religio Christiana sicut à sanctis patribus traditū accepit et Ecclesiae authoritas se habet diem Dominicū reverentèr venerabiliterque non colit Con. Par. cap. 50. Chapter and he shall find that they esteemed and taught the Lords day to be observed only by Ecclesiastical authority And though they enlarge themselves in the praises of the day yet they speak not a syllable of any divine institution either from Christ or his Apostles To the nine and twentieth Indeed here is a Cloud of witnesses as darke as thick and I hope sufficiently dispelled by the light of truth That these arguments are all probable I cannot find but on the contrary they cannot therefore be Demonstratiue that are not Topicall But grant them to be probable let them be pressed for such and no more let not the conscience of our hearers be fettered with probabilities Lastly the authorities alleaged are for the most part also satisfied in their severall places CAP. XXI A preparatiue discourse to the two maine questions which follow concerning the observation of the Lords day HAving examined the originall and institution of the Lords day it remaines only that in the last place wee enquire after what manner it ought to be observed in the Church what be those duties of the day unto which in particular the conscience is bound under the penalty of sinne For how soever this be the last conclusion in our adversaries positions yet it is the first in their intentions and I doubt not but they would willingly shake hands with us in all the rest might this be yeelded Necessary therefore it is that this be knowne not only for the satisfying of many weake consciences who are wavering herein and therefore daily wounded but also for the better according of these Questions formerly disputed But should we be exact in the discussing hereof it would proue to be a Hydra of many doubts For it being agreed betweene us that the whole observation of the Lords day doth consist in a Dichotomy being divided betweene rest and holinesse there arise out of both sundry scruples which may be ranged under these two heads First whether they be ioyntly and equally commanded as essentiall duties or whether the duty of holinesse be essentiall and that wherein the sanctification of the day consists The duty of rest being on the other side only accidentally commanded as it stands in relation to the duties of holinesse Now supposing as it is commonly taught that corporall rest and cessation from workes is enioyned as an essentiall dutie it is necessary to know in what measure and degree it is required of us Christians in the time of the Gospell whether in that rigour and strictnesse as was exacted of the Iewes under the Law And under this head come fiue particulars by name about which many disputes haue beene raised amongst the weake First whether all workes of profit which are not of absolute necessity be forbidden as sinnes upon that day how lawfull and commendable soever they be upon other daies as journyes Harvest workes ordinary trades Secondly works of pleasure honest recreations in themselues lawfull and not prohibited by the Church and State Thirdly works of the minde as the studying of Arts and Sciences which are not parts of Divinity but only usuall hand-maids thereof as the tongues Philosophy Fourthly all conferences discoursings consultations about things of common life and meerely civill Lastly Whether a more liberall use of Gods creatures in feasts and entertainments of friends neighbours either Anniversary as
it will not be difficult to dissolue the arguments formerly alleadged To the first therefore I say it is utterly untrue that outward rest and cessation from secular employments is an essentiall duty of Sabbaths in generall but of Sabbaths properly so called which were only the Iewish weekly Sabbaths And this those very Scriptures used for confirmation doe make appeare being all of them branches of the law Ceremoniall The Lords day is a Sabbath but not properly so called and as the word doth signifie but Analogically and in its proportion And therefore the Christian Holy-day is no where stiled by this name either in Scripture or Antiquity as hath already been declared Lastly we deny not but there is a Rest which is Morall and eternall to all dayes of publique and solemne worship as it is laid downe in our fist Conclusion but not as any essentiall duty as essentiall is here taken that is of it selfe and its owne nature without reference to the publique worship For so it was to the Iewes in the fourth Commandement and so our Sabatharians now make it pressing the Letter of that precept in the same nay in a greater rigour then ever it did binde the Iewes This argument therefore is weake in all the parts thereof The second carrieth with it much weight with poore ignorant well-minded people as seeming to be the very words of the holy Ghost But how both they and the Text it selfe haue been abused hath already been shewed and need not here to be repeated We will only adde what the argument it selfe suggesteth that the Prophet Commenteth upon the Law and the Letter of the Law is wholy Ceremoniall as hath also been declared To the third That the Rest of the fourth Commandement was imposed upon Servants and Beasts to take away all occasions of travaile from their Masters and owners or that this was intended by the Law-giver herein is a groundlesse fancy and comes neere to wresting and perverting of Scripture For when the Law-giver shall with his owne mouth render a reason of his owne Law expressing what he aimed at in the severall clauses thereof it is not only vanity but presumption in any other to shew the depth of his reach to tell us of other reasons and those directly contrary to his and all this in his name as being sent from him with He saith It is so in this particular For God hath expressely expounded this clause in the Commandement and shewed his aime therein as first that it was to remember them of their labours in Egypt where they were servants entreated more like beastes then men Secondly it was the Lords goodnes extending it selfe euen to the meanest of his Creatures that their Servants Cattle might be refreshed as well as themselues not therefore for the Masters sakes as a restraint as is pretended but for the poore Servants and Beasts sakes to be refreshed thereby was this added in the Commandement God having thus rendred an account of this passage it is more subtile then solid savors more of acutenesse then of religion to affix to this exposition any glosses and conceits of our owne The fourth hath already been satisfied in the Question concerning the duration of the Lords day To the fift it is indeed true that all impediments of holy duties are forbidden by the same Commandement wherein the duty is required though not immediately as the duty it selfe but inclusiuely by way of reduction only as Privations are reduced to the same Predicaments with their habits But that all secular and civill works words thoughts are such impediments to the duties of the Lords day as are imagined unlesse they hinder us in the publique worship is utterly untrue The text of Leviticus speaks of the carnall Sabbathizing of the Iewes which being of it selfe a duty was broken by any thing done by them But we are Christians not Iewes And whereas it is suggested that secular diversions steale away the minde from holy things choaking the good seed of the word in us it being impossible to serue God and Mammon this is true indeed where the world is made an Idoll and a mans affections are immoderately set upon outward things and so the text alleadged doth expound it selfe Now every mans reason will tell him that there is a great difference between carking and careing for outward things which at all times is unlawfull as being the service of Mammon and the dispatching of some accidentall occurrent or secular discourses or ordinary affaires which are alwayes lawfull but when we ought to attend Gods publique worship To the sixth Were the Minor proposition true it would well neere follow that the actiue life should be most miserable and little better then prophanesse being by reason of infinite secular imployments made uncapeable of Righteousnesse Peace Ioy in the holy ghost a Magni maris fluctthâ—s quatior atque in navi wentis tempestatis validae procellis illidor Greg. dial S. Gregory indeed complaines that when he was taken out of his Monastery and made Bishop of Rome and by the greatnesse of his See forced to engage himselfe in the matters of the world it seemed a new tempest to his soule But what is this to some triviall imployments of particular men which may suddainly be trans-acted without tumult or distraction But to descend to the particulars It 's most true that faith which purifieth the heart is obtained by hearing the world strengthned by meditation and conference doth it therefore follow that by whatsoever else we doe we destroy or overthrow it It is as if in naturall things we should say naturall life doth consist in naturall heart and moisture both these be upheld by naturall food whatsoever therefore is not our naturall food overthroweth our naturall heate and moysture destroyeth naturall life in us and so war me cloathes in winner may kill Saving faith and our honest imployments of this life are so farre from being incompatible as that the one is preserved and cherished by the other when they are vndertaken and performed as they ought to be in the Lords presence with reverence and feare and obedience not intermitting the habituall bent of the soule towards heaven With these conditions the circumstance of time whether on this day or on that day is not materiall so the publique worship be not prejudic'd thereby The same is also most true of b Peractis saâ—r is anâ—mi gratià equiect quis piscetur aut simile quid jaciat non magis prophanat sabbathum quan Christus per sata â—llâ— de Sab. c. 5. Peractis sacris recreationes licitaesunt sed non carnales sâ—urriâ—es-quales in obsâ—â—nis â—udis â—osu chartaâ—â—â—â— tesseâ—acum compoâ—ationibus c. sed lusus priae nochi palesâ—rica exâ—â—citia jacuâ—atus simiâ—ia ad liberagem recreatione â—â—moâ—ò non â—â—ant cum neglectu caltus jacri qui ante omâ—iâ—pt aeceâ—ere dâ—â—er 〈◊〉 c. â— Recreations if they be honest in themselues and lawfull by the
Mor. l. 1. c. 10. Gregory setting before their eyes our Saviours mildnesse we men saith he for for the most part labouring to preserue judgement justice utterly abandon mildnesse and mercy and on the contrary when we would be milde we cease to be just But our Saviour cloathed with our flesh was never so milde but that withall he was just neither was he so severely just as to forget to be mercifull and he giues instance in the womaÌ„ taken in adultery in which he excellently observed both For when he said Cast the first stone at her he satisfied the rule of justice even in the rigour of the letter of the Law but when he added Let him that is without sinne amongst you cast this first stone he so qualified it with equity and moderation that the woman escaped Let us be zealous in Gods name against all prophaners of the Lords day but let us not be so intemperate in our zeale as to usurpe Gods throne pronounce our pleasures upon our brethren take them out of their graues and brand them to posterity as men plagued and smitten of God for prophanation I will conclude with the words of the same c Postulatus â—udicare dominus de peccatrice non station dedit judicium sed priùs incâ—inans se deorsùm digito scribebat in â—errâ nos typicè instituens ut cùm proximorum peâ—â—ata conspicimus non haec antè reprehendenda iudicemus quà m digito discretionis soâ—ertèr exculp amus Greg. S. Gregory upon the same story in another place Our Lord saith he being required to judge the Adulteresse did not presently pronounce her doome but first stooped downe and wrote with his finger upon the ground he intended hereby to instruct us saith the Father that when we seethe apparent errors of our brethren before we proceed to our peremptory sentences we first wisely consider of the thing and with the finger of discretion note what was pleasing or displeasing unto God therein What our Saviours intention was in this action of his I cannot say I am sure S. Gregories observation is graue and substantiall according unto which if we reflect upon the clamorous determinations of our Sabbatharians the point being yet in controversie and defin'd against them by the most and the learned'st in the Church it will appeare that they neither weigh things in the ballance of moderation nor distinguish of things with the finger of discretion To the ninth the authorities alleaged speak for the most part as forced witnesses quite contrary to that for which they are produced as the Edicts of Constantine the Synodicall decrees The rest shall receiue answer in the next Question to which they more properly belong Those who haue writen to this purpose in the Church of England of late yeares are parties and therefore cannot be competent judges in this controversie CAP. XXVI Wherein is inquired after those duties of holinesse unto which the Conscience is bound on the Lords day THere remaines only the last scruple which is or can be incident to this subject viz. What duties of holinesse are proper and essentiall to the Lords day whether only the acts of publike worship with the congregation or the private exercises also of those head-graces faith hope loue unto which whatsoever is in Christian Religion may be reduced And this is indeed a point of chiefest consideration because it is practicall and practice being the life and spirit of knowledge the conscience can never be throughly setled untill this be discovered Our literall Sabbatharians affirme in this question and so affirme that they make the observation of the Lords day the very abridgment of Godlinesse in respect of the first Table and of righteousnesse in respect of the second Table And from hence proceed these wide outcries against any that shall contradict them that Religion is laid upon the back and prophanenesse set up in the roome thereof Nay they so affirme in this point as that their doctrine is made an open and professed snare such a manner of holinesse being exacted as that it is impossible for any man living in the state of corruption to sanctifie a Sabbath in that manner as is required of him either in thought word or deed I confesse were it true that upon the Lords day a man forsaking the naturall rest of his bed sooner then vpon other daies must begin early in the morning with the acts of repentance then proceed to the acts of faith and after the duties of loue conclude with repentance and this with that manner of solemnity and formality which some require it must needs be even to the best an utter impossibility whether we looke at parts or degrees But that the observation of the Lords day in that manner as the Lord himselfe expects whatsoever men please to impose is not such a Chimaera as they fancy will appeare I hope in its due place In the meane while we will set downe these arguments which seeme to support this opinion CHAP. XXVII The Arguments which seeme to conclude for all duties of holinesse in generall are set downe FIrst from the letter of the Commandement Remember to keepe holy the Sabbath day we many reason thus where no one kind of holy-daâ—â—s are spoken of there all duties of holinesse are to be understood it is generally so in other places of Scripture as in that of the Apostle * Peter 1.16 be yee holy for I am holy and elswhere * Heb. 12.14 follow holinesse without which no man shall see God But in the words of the Commandement holinesse in generall is required of us Therefore c. Secondly that which is and ought to be a common duty of all daies is much more a particular duty on the Lords day The reason hereof is both because the Lords day is in many respects to be preferred before all other daies and because it is set apart from all others unto holinesse But the private exercises of all gracious habits with our selues and our families are and ought to be common performances upon all daies For as they binde alwayes so are they indefinitely commanded without restraint to any set dayes they are therefore much more required upon the Lords day being the common duties of all dayes Thirdly any duty is more required upon that time on which if rightly performed it is more acceptable to God then at any other time For by this appeares that God hath regard as well to the time as to the duty But all the duties of holinesse even the private and personall and oeconomicall are more acceptable unto God if performed on the day of his Sabbath this appeares first by the words of the * Isay 58.13 Prophet saying if thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath from doeing thy pleasure upon my Holy-day and call my Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine owne wayes c. In which words plaine it is that the
griefe of heart to others of Gods people Resp I answer that such haue the greater sin It is a fearefull condition when even the truth it selfe shall thus cooperate unto their destruction but better it is that some offences come then either truth be lost or people nurst up in Hypocrisie and superstition For my own part I think all kinds of holy frauds under which perhaps these Sabbatharian tenents may be ranged by whomsoever practised or what advantages soever may acrue there from to be grosse delusions of men meere mockings of God and most unbeseeming the profession of the Gospell As for the well-minded Christian that takes offence he is rather to be pitied then humoured and ought to be well informed of passiue scandalls For it is not enough to say we are offended but we must consider how justly whether of weaknesse or obstinacy I meane in regard of the publique declaration of the Magistrate For in cafe of this nature a reason being rendred protesting against the prophanation of the day nothing being intended but the informing of the judgement the setling of the conscience the good of poore people preservation of unity and uniformity howsoever our private judgements incline us we should rather comply with Authority then be scandalized especially in points that are so disputable These things thus premised we shall easily satisfie the adverse arguments CHAP. XXX Wherein satisfaction is given to the reasons formerly alleaged TO the first the words of the Commandement are mistaken for not all holy duties in grosse but only that kinde of holinesse which is proper to the Lords day is there spoken of the words are plaine Keep holy the Sabbath day and the fourth precept is no transcendent as is said in the second third conclusions Ob. If any say that the Lords day differs from others in this that the whole Sabbath is to be spent in holinesse whereas in other dayes such portions only as may be well spared from other imployments are required of us Resp I answer first this is only said secondly we haue no president hereof in the Iewish Synagogue Thirdly the contrary doth appeare by the Question formerly disputed concerning the duration of the Lords day Lastly how can the conscience be satisfied herein being utterly lest to seeke by our adversaries themselues where to begin or where to end the day nay the scripture being utterly silent in this particular if we speak of the Lords day as being our Christian Sabbath To the second the Lords day may be considered First in it's absolute nature as a part of our time in this respect it is most true that what is the common duty of all daies should be also that daies duty the rather because all other imployments are abandoned and therefore more leasure is afforded Secondly in his relatiue nature as separated from the rest of the week to the service of the congregation and so there are especiall duties appointed which are not common to other daies by vertue of the fourth Commandement The reason from the lesse to the greater is of no force because it speaks not adidem for the Lords day as it is a day and part of our time is no better then other daies but as it is the Lords day devoted by the Church to the Lords service it is indeed the Queene of daies and therefore therein the highest and noblest Christian duties are performed in the publique worship even by the precept of sanctifying the Sabbath day To the third Familie-duties are not acceptable unto God performed upon one day more then upon another if there be no other considerations concurring thereunto He that is no accepter of persons is likewise no accepter of times otherwise then the Apostle expresseth it out of the Psalmist ◠Heb. 3.7 To day if yee will heare his voice harden not your hearts by which is meant the whole time of the Gospell Nor are the sinnes of men more hatefull because committed upon that day unlesse they carry with them an open or secret malignity hindring either the duties of the day themselues or our holy and religious performing of them as the * Aquin. Sylv. Cajet Nav. Sot Canus Med. Schoolemen teach And so the words of the Prophet Isaiah are to be understood for their covetous desires voluptuous living and cruell practices made them come before the Lord in his sanctuary onely in outward appearance formally personating what God really required nay abounding and persevering in their wicked waies as * An circumstantia divini sesti sit necessariò consitenda Duae sunt opiniones prima Modernorum qui tenent partem affirmantem 2d sancti Thom. Ios Ang. Iustin Martyr expounds that place More to this argument in that which followeth To the fourth the day of Christs resurrection from the graue requires no more our resurrection from sin then other daies unlesse only by way of motiue or remembrance Thus indeed this day * Vide Iustinum Martyr◠in Dial. cùm Triphone as all other consecrated things doth receiue from its consecration an especiall qualitie to beget in the hearts of men the sparks of devotion unlesse they be hindred in them by want of reverence What therefore a Quanquam vallis haec miseriae universalitèr sit locus poenitentiae nihilominùs Templorum locus suâ quidem religione qualitate est adpoenitentiam provocativus Gersen de vita Clerico Gerson affirmes of Churches consecrated places in regard of repentance we doubt not to affirme of the Lords day in regard of all holy duties The Church or consecrated place saith he is by reason of its venerable condition ad poenitentiam provocativus a place provoking unto repentance from hence he hath these conclusions First that ordinarily it is a work more holy in it selfe more pleasing unto God more profitable unto us to pray in consecrated places then elsewhere because the Majestie of the consecrated place doth more incite us unto devotion Secondly that all blasphemy either in words deeds or signes is so much the more execrable by how much the place is more holy Thirdly that one cause why wicked Priests are worse then wicked Lay-men which S. Augustine faith he often found by experience is that they abuse those things which should winne them unto repentance Fourthly that those affections which separate from God are every where damnable but much more in the Temple as appeares by our * John 2 16. Saviours overthrowing the Tables of the mony-changers there So say we that the Lords day by reason of the glorious dedication of it to the Lord Christ as the memoriall of his resurrection is in it's selfe provoking unto newnesse of life that holy duties are on this day ordinarily performed with greater fervency of spirit benefit to our selues and therefore acceptance with God because the Glory of the day is apt to put life unto our performances that all irreligious conversation is therefore the more execrable upon that
bread the not Ploughing of their Land in the yeare of Iubile were necessary duties of the ceremoniall worship so was the outward rest in the fourth Commandement This I take to be k Sabbathum commendatur primo populo in otio temporalitèr ut figura Aug. ad Ian ep 119. Colebatur Deus Sabbatho in ipsâ exteriori quiete ab operibus servilibus quia quiescebant ad repraesentandam divinam quietem à creatioone mundi Cajet in Aquin. 22. q. 122. art 4. generally agreed upon Secondly It is also out of question that this utter cessation which was unto the Iewes a duty of Religion permitted them notwithstanding first works of piety for the Priests saith our Sauiour * They oblerved their rest as being properly and simply and in its selfe a Sabbath dayes duty But vve c. Willeâ— Syn. 9. Gen. Cont. q. 7. breakethe Sabbath and were blamelesse Secondly works of mercy both to men and beasts It was lawfull on that day to heale the diseased as appeares both by our Saviours practice and those defences which he makes for himselfe justifying his practice against the calumniations of the Pharisees It was lawfull also to * Math. 12.3 help a beast out of the ditch to * Math. 12.11 giue him meat * Luk. 13.15 Elias fugieâ—at die Sabbathi Antoâ—â—n tit 9. to leade him to the water which be our Saviours owne instances upon the former occasions Thirdly works also of necessity were allowed them whether they were the necessities of nature or casuall or accidentall necessities as defending themselues from unexpected incursions of their enemies The lawfulnesse of works of this kind they learned from deare bought experience as appeares by Iosephus and the history of the Macchabees Thirdly I conceiue it also to be evident that whereas works of mercy and of necessity be of two sorts some which are of extreame necessity which cannot be deferr'd if we hope to preserue the being of our selues and others some which are only of moderate and convenient necessity which may be put off though with some losse and detriment The Iewes were allowed not only the former but those also of the latter kind unlesse such as were by name expressely forbidden them Those were three First Iournying They were not to goe out of their places this day Exod. 16.29 This they afterward interpreted of themselues to be 2000. paces or two Italian miles which they called a Sabbath-daies Iourny concerning which God never delivered any thing unto them in his word As therefore in other things they superstitiously contracted the Law and made it straighter then ever God intended so in this they extended it and made it larger then the Letter of the Law could beare Ob. If any man say that Christ himselfe journyed upon the Sabbath day with his Disciples when they passed through the fields of Corne which surely he would not haue done had all journying on that day been forbidden Resp The answere is easie if we compare the Evangelists together For that which * Mat. 12.1 S. Mathew * Mark 2.23 S. Marke call the Sabbath * Luk. 6.1 S. Luke cals the second Sabbath after the first By which it appeares for the latter Evangelists doe ever expound the former that this Sabbath was some anniversary Festivall not the weekly Sabbath secondly They were not to kindle a fire upon this day in all their habitations Exod. 35.3 This also was an absolute precept admitting of no exception unlesse in cases of Piety Charity and extteame necessity Ob. If any man say that it had relation only to their dressing of meat or service of the Tabernacle on that day Resp First the Text is against him which forbids in that place all manner of worke upon paine of death and giues instance in the kindling of fire without reference to the dressing of their meat or any other addition whatsoever Secondly they had an expresse prohibition for matters of Cookery upon the Lords day Exod. 16.23 and therefore the day before was the Preparation to the Sabbath Thirdly they were forbidden to carry Burthens on the day of their Sabbath too and fro as appeares by * Nehem. 13.19 Nehemiah the Prophet * Ierem. 17.21 Ieremiah These therefore excepted the Iewes were permitted any workes whatsoever which were of convenient though not of extreme and eminent necessity This conclusion appeares both by our Saviours doctrine and practice By his doctrine in those Maximes delivered to this purpose * Math. 9.13 I will haue mercy and not sacrifice * Mark 2.27 The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath By his practice * Math. 12.3 when he justified his Disciples for plucking the eares of corne on the Sabbath day though mistaken by the Pharisees For I beleiue no man will say that they were in extreme necessity that they must either haue starved or fainted or incurr'd any incurable disease The Text tels us they were hungry and the place was not farre from the City When our Saviour vsually healed men diseased upon that day and most of them carried their greife many yeares I think no man will say the diseases would haue killed them or growne mortall had they not been taken upon the very instant But to giue instance in a thing beyond exception when he commanded those whom he healed to take up their beds and to carry them to their owne houses was this any worke of extreme or pressing necessity Or might it not haue been deferred with little or no inconveniency at all Ob. If any man say that Christ gaue such extraordinary dispensations to some such particulars to make his Miracles the more glorious and conspicuous Sol. I answer First with m Iraeneus adversùs Valent cap. 16. Irenaeus that our Saviour never did any thing which was contrary to the Law of the Sabbath which God commanded his people by the Ministery of Moses And the reason hereof is evident for he was made under the Law and performed perfect and entire obedience thereunto Neither can any man shew any particular in the Law Morall Ceremoniall and Iudiciall which he alwayes observed not and therefore doubtlesse he was as farre from dispensing with others as he was in dispensing with himselfe Supposing therefore that this had been a meanes to make his Miracles more illustrious yet had the thing in its selfe been repugnant to the Law he neither would haue permitted it in any much lesse haue commanded it so often though to haue gayned both credit to his doctrine and glory to his Miracles He well knew that evill is not to be done that good may come thereof But that which is thus supposed hath no ground or shew of truth For I conceiue it to be more rationall to affirme that the differring of the taking up of their beds and carrying of them to their owne houses the next day upon notice given thereof a greater concourse of people would haue been gathered