page 23. his words are This Position to wit that the fourth Commandement is properly and perpetually morall and is for quality and obligation equall to the other nine Commandements which for many yeares hath raigned in Pamphlets Pulpits and Conventicles and is entertained as an Oracle by all such as either openly professe or doe leane towards the disciplinarian faction is destitute of truth These are his words which comparing with the words of the Homily of our Church already cited are found quite contrary For the Homily saith That the fourth Commandement is a Law of Nature and ought to be retained and kept of all good Christians in as much as it commandeth one day of the Weeke for rest and God hath given an expresse charge to all Men that the Sabbath-day which is our Sunday should be spent wholly in heavenly exercises of God's true Religion and Service Answ The Summe of the former accusation is That the Bishop in his Treatise overthrowes the Doctrine of the Church of England in the point of the Sabbath For his Doctrine is repugnant to the Homily c. which teacheth that the fourth Commandement is of the Law of Nature c. and that all Christians ought to keep it holily and one day in seven is perpetually to be kept holy the keeping of the Lord's-day is commanded by the 4th Commandement The Lord's-day may be called the Christian Sabbath-day Lastly the Lord's-day ought wholly to be spent in holy rest and duties of sanctification Now the Bishop saith the Objector hath opposed all these positions for he hath affirmed in his Treatise of the Sabbath that the fourth Commandement is not properly intirely and perpetually morall like as are the other nine and he hath permitted some bodily exercise and recreation to wit such as is honest and sober upon the Sunday and hee denies that in a legall sense the Lord's-day is to be called the Sabbath-day To the former the Bishops answer is that the Objector hath snatched some words of the Homily but he hath not duly observed the true sense and meaning thereof Athanas Orat. 1. c. Arrian Verba quidem profert veram tamen inde sentontiam sufferatur Tertul. ad Praxean Malo te ad seâ—â—um â—â—i quâ— ad sonum vocabuli exerceas For first the Homily doth not affirme that the fourth Commandement is purely intirely and properly morall and of the Law of Nature like as are the other nine But that whatsoever is found in the Commandement appertaining to the Law of Nature being most godly most just and needfull to the setting forth of Gods glory ought to be retained Now if nothing else in the fourth Commandement is of the Law of Nature but only that which is most just godly and needfull to the setting forth of Gods glory then the Homily maketh not the letter of that Commandement of the Law of nature but the intent and meaning thereof is That the fourth Commandement in respect of the naturall equity b Al. Hal 3. â— 32. m. 5 ar 1. Hoc praecepto praecipitur tempus vacationis aliquoâ— secundum hoc est morale legis naturae hoc secundum indâ—terminationeÌ„ hoc modo secundâ— indeterminationem praecipitur Dominica dies tempore gratiae which is that the Rulers of the Church must appoint necessary convenient and sufficient time for Divine Worship and for religious offices is morall and of the Law of Nature And if the Objector will straine the words of the Homily to a further sense let him well consider into what absurdities and contradictions he will be forced to plunge himselfe For if this Commandement be intirely purely and properly Morall a H. B. Gosp and Law recon p. 38. The CoÌ„mandement of the Sabbath is morall and so no lesse perpetuall then all the rest for if none of the rest of the CoÌ„mandements be abolished then neither the fourth Pag. 42. 49. The Law of the Sabbath was imprinted in Adams heart by the Law of Nature and of the Law of Nature like as the other nine Then it must have all the essentiall characters of the Law of Nature and of Precepts purely and entirely morall But it wanteth all these as is proved by demonstrative arguments in the Bishops book pag. 26. untill pag. 37. and pag. 172. Neverthelesse that I may more fully discover the ignorance and presumption of this Dialogist I shall propound an argument against him which he will hardly be able to solve to wit The Law of Nature was made knowne to all mankinde b Isidor Etimol l. 5. ca. 4. Ius naturale commune est omniuÌ„ nationum eo quod ubique instinctu naturae non constitutioneâ— aliqua habetur by the Common light of naturall reason The same is immutable unchangeable c Decret Dist 5. Naturale jus ab exordio rationalis naturae nec mutatur tempore sed immutabile permanet Aug. Confess l. 2. c. 4. Lex scripta in cordibus hominum quam nec ipsa quidem delet iniquitas eternall indispensable But the fourth Commandement concerning the Sabbath was not imprinted naturally or made knowne to all mankinde by the common light of naturall reason but it was made knowne only and wholly by divine and supernaturall revelation Also the fourth Commandement was changeable and mutable for the Sabbath of that Commandement which was Saturday according to the Objectors owne Tenet was changed into Sunday And lastly it admitted sundry dispensations pag. 34. 67. Now the premises being indubitate Verities The conclusion is firme to wit That the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue is no precept of the Law of Nature d Theod. in Ezek. 20.12 Illud non moechaberis non furtum facies alia cum his conjuncta alios quoque homines naturae lex edocuit At Sabbati observandi non natura magistra sed latio legis Walaeus Alii Synops purior Theolog. disp 21. n. 20. Sabbati praeceptum non est à naturae necessitate ut reliqua praecepta quae menti insita per se cognita sunt sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex voluntaria Dei institutione D. bound d. Sab. l. 1. p. 11. Indeed this Law was given in the beginning not so much by the light of Nature as the rest of the Commandements were but by expresse word For though this be the Law of Nature that some dayes should be separated to Gods worship yet that it should he every seventh day that the LORD himselfe set downe neither is it purely intirely and properly morall like the other nine but meerely positive in respect of any one particular day of the Weeke specified in the same The Bishop desires to receive some reasonable answer from Br. B. to this and to other the like arguments delivered in his Treatise of the Sabbath for if he shall according to his rude manner barke and blatter against his adversaries Positions and dissemble his arguments it is apparent that he maintaines a forlorne and
desperate cause B. The Homily saith All Christians ought and are bound in conscience of the fourth Commandement to keepe the Lord's-day holily Ans 1. The equity and Analogie of the fourth Commandement obligeth Christians to observe a convenient and sufficient time for Gods worship and service and for the exercise of spirituall and religious duties 2 After such time as the Orthodoxall Catholike Church hath upon the example of the holy Apostles and for other weighty reasons devoted the Sunday of every Weeke to the exercise of Religious duties Christian people in obedience to the Law of the Church grounded upon the equity of the fourth Commandement and the example of the Apostles are bound in conscience to observe that Day holily in the performance of religious duties pag. 100. B. The Lord's-day is and may be called our Christian Sabbath-day and therefore it is not Iewish to call it so Answ 1. The Lord's-day is not the litterall Sabbath of the fourth Commandement and therfore in propriety of speech it cannot be called the Sabbath-day expressely or in particular commanded in the Decalogue but the same is stiled by the Homily our Christian Sabbath in a mysticall and analogicall sense even as mortâ—fication is called Circumcision Rom. 2.29 and sincerity and truth are called unleavened bread 1 Cor. 8.5 B. That this day is wholly to be spent in holy rest and duties of sanctification and therefore no part of it to be spent in vaine pleasures and profane pastimes Answ 1. The Homily according to the Tenet also of other Divines a Bucer in Mat. 12. p. 113. Eximatur è cordibus hominum opinio necessitatis ne quis credat eum diem per se esse aliis sanctiorem vel operari in eo per se esse peccatum Danaeus Eth. Christ l 2. c. 9. Nobis Christianis non tanta tamve severa rigida observatio ne laboremus in die Dominica imposita est Nam ex lege Constantini licet serere metere in die Dominica si commodum sit Aquin. 2. 2. q. 122. ar 4. ad 4. Non est ita arcta prohibitio operandi in die Dominica sicut in die Sabbati sed quaedam opera conceduntur in die Dominica quae in die Sabbati prohibebantur sicut decoctio ciboruÌ„ c. permitteth some kinde of labour upon the Sunday Therefore by wholly it understandeth not every houre and minute of the day but so much thereof as is necessary and morally sufficient for the performance of the religious duties of the day pag. 218 219. 225. 231. 2 If the Objector would have proceeded sincerely he should have declared whether by vaine pleasures and profane pastimes he understandeth all bodily exercise and recreation in generall or such only as is vitious in quality or by reason of circumstances pag. 229. If he meane the first we finde no words in the Homily condemning in generall all recreation to wit such as is sober and honest in quality and which is not attended with evill circumstances But if he understand the Homily in the latter sense to wit that it condemneth ungodly pastimes Then he might have observed the Bishops words pag. 258. The Lawes of our Church and Common-wealth condemne and chastise all things profane and vitious upon the Lord's-day And pag. 259. All obscene lascivious and voluptuous pastimes are prohibited on this day And pag. 229. All kindes of Recreations which are of evill quality in regard of their object or which are attended with evill circumstances c. If they bee used upon the Lord's-day or on other Festival daies they are sacrilegious c. And in the Ep. Dedicat. Profanation of the Lords-day and of other solemne Festivall dayes which are devoted to religious offices is impious and hateful in the sight of God and all good men and therfore to bee avoided by such as feare God and to be corrected and punished in those which shall offend and pag. 109. 110. This Ordinance and observation of the Lord's Day began in the holy Apostles age and hath universally beene continued ever since to the great honour of Christ our Saviour and to the marvellous benefit of Christian soules who upon that holy day are edified weekely in godlinesse vertue and true Religion And therefore we justly account all those who maligne the honour of this blessed day prophane and sacrilegious A. The Author seemes to acknowledge some morality naturall to be in the fourth Commandement for pag. 135. He saith Our resting from labour in respect of the generall is grounded upon the Law of Nature or the equity of the fourth Commandement B. This is nothing to the purpose to acquit him from being an Adversary to the expresse doctrine of our Church Dolosus versatur in Vniversalibus it was the speech of King Iames. The naturall morality of the fourth Commandement is not in generall to imply some Individuum Vagum some certaine uncertaine indefinite time for God's Worship a Vrsin Cat. de Sabba Non sumus allegati ut diem vel Iovis vel Saturni vel Mercurij vel ullum alium certum habeamus Rivet in Exod. 20. pag. 193. Petitur principium cum id pro confesso sumitur ad substantiam maÌ„dati quarti quatenus morale est pertinere circumstantiam dieâ— septimi Phil. Melancht loc Com. d. 3. praecepto Recte dicitur in tertio praecepto duas esse partes unam naturalem seu moralem seu genus altera pars est caeremonia propria populo Israel seu species de die septimo De priore dicitur naturale seu genus esse perpetuuÌ„ non posse abrogari videlicet mandatuÌ„ de conservaÌ„do ministerio publico sic ut aliquo die populus doceatur caeremoniae divinitus institutae exerceantur Species vero quae nominatim de septimo die loquitur abrogata est for the Commandement is expresse for a certaine day in the weeke for the Sabbath Day Remember the Sabbath to sanctifie it It saith not remember to set apart and allow some time for the service of God but it determines the time and day lest otherwise being left undetermined man should forget God Himselfe and allow no time or day at all for God's service or if he did God should bee beholden to him for it Ans 1. Is he Dolosus a deceiver who maintaineth there is a generall equitie in Divine Positive Lawes No man living is able to justifie this For in the Old Iudiciall Lawes yea in many Ceremoniall Lawes there is contained a generall Equity grounded upon the Law of Nature In the judiciall Law set downe Exod. 22.1 2. there is a generall equity implyed obliging Christians to restitution of goods unjustly by them taken away In the Law of Deuteronomy 25.4 Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Corne there was contained a generall naturall equity 1 Corinth 9.9 Therefore he is not Dolosus who maintaineth a generall equity in the fourth Commandement but he is a Dolt who denies
cap. 37. De nullo ante ipsius finem pronunciari potest quod in electorum gloria sit futurus ut perseverantem humilitatem utilis metus servet qui star videat ne cadat Conclus It is evident by the former Positions of S. Augustine that his constant and expresse Tenet in his Confutation of the Pelagians was That some persons really justified might afterwards bee overcome by temptations and fall away from saving and justificant grace And therefore H. B. is mendacious in accusing the Appealer of Popery and Pelagian Heresie for we trust he will not honour the Papals so much as to make S. Augustine one of theirs And that cannot in any charitable construction be a Pelagian Heresie which S. Augustine the grand Adversary of those Hereticks in his Answers and Confutations constantly maintained against them B. Yea instead of recantation I my self have heard him in open Court speake against both justification that a Man might be justified to day and damned to morrow and against election of some to eternall life and against the sanctification of the Sabbath saying I say there is no sanctification of the Sabbath but Rest Rest only And therefore cease to wonder that this man should be so fearelesse either privily to undermine or apertly to oppugne the expresse Doctrines of our Church Answ 1. It was the Tenet of S. Augustine a Aug. d. Prad Sanct. cap. 14. and of the faithfull in his dayes that if a just person forsake his righteousnes in qua diu vixit wherin hee hath lived long and shall depart this life in wickednesse in qua non unum annum sed unum diem duxerit wherin hee continued not one yeare but one day in poenas iniquis debitas hinc iturum hee shall passe from hence into eternall punishment due to the wicked Huic perspicuae veritati saith Saint Augustine quis fidelium contradicit what faithfull Christian contradicts this evident or perspicuous verity Now if the former doctrine was maintained for Catholike and Orthodoxall in Saint Augustine's daies then he who saith a man may be justified to day and be in perill of damnation the next day b D. Overall Confer Hampt Court p 41. Whosoever though before justified did commit any grievous sinne as Adultery Murder Treason and the like did become ipso facto subject to God's wrath guilty of damnation or were in state of damnation quo ad praesentem justitiam untill they did repent Against which doctrine he said some had opposed teaching That all such persons as were once truely justified although after they fell into never so grievous sinnes yet remained still just 〈◊〉 in the state of justification before they actually repented of these sinnes Yea and although they never repented of them through forgetfulnesse or sudden death yet th y should be saved w thout Repentāce hath delivered nothing savoring of Pelagianisme or repugnant to sound Doctrine in the Article of Iustification 2 Br. B. is false in saying he hath heard his Adversary in open Court speake against God's Election for the Bishop firmely believeth That God hath freely without any merit of their owne in his meere bounty and love for the merit of Christ elected all those to eternall life which shall be glorified in the world to come 3 The Bishop truly affirmed pag. 143. That the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue according to the literall sence thereof enjoyned not such spirituall and Evangelicall duties as Theop. Br. mentioned in his Objection to wit preaching of Christ crucified and raysed from the dead Prayer to God the Father in the name of Christ receiving Baptisme and the Holy Eucharist But he maintaineth that the equity of the fourth Commandement together with the Evangelicall Law requireth not only rest from secular labour and negotiation but also the performance of spirituall and evangelicall duties upon the Lord's-Day and upon other Holy dayes and times devoted by the Church to the service of Christ pag. 143. A. The Adversary in his Booke doth much except against and cannot endure that the Lord's-Day should be called the Sabbath Day And I remember one passage in it wherein he bequarrelleth H. B. for saying that the ancient Fathers did ever and usually call it the Sabbath Day B. Concerning that I have spoken with H. B. and hee saith he will answer and make good what he hath said against his Adversary And howsoever those words indeed ever and usually might give Advantage to the Adversary to carpe yet being rightly understood they may passe currant enough for by ever usually hee meant that all the ancient Fathers although they distinguish betweene the Lord's-Day and the Iewes Sabbath Day yet they ever took and observed the Lord's-Day instead of the Old Sabbath and ever used it for the Rest day or Sabbath of Christians Answ 1. The Bishop's words pag. 201. are I have diligently searched into Antiquity and observed in the Fathers their formes of speech when they treate of the Lord's-Day and I finde it farre differing from the usuall language of the Fathers to stile the Lord's-Day the Sabbath Day And they by the name Sabbath either understand the Old Legall Sabbath taken away by Christ Or the mysticall and spirituall Sabbath which was tiped and represented by the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement 2 In the former passage the Bishop speaketh not of moderne writers neither hath he denied that any of these especially here in England have stiled the Lord's-Day by the name of Sabbath or Christian Sabbath for his assertion was onely concerning the Ancient Fathers a Igna. ad Magnes post Sabbatū omnis Christi amator dominicam celebret diem c. Orig. in Exod hom 7. In nostra dominica semper pluit Manna in Sabbato nō pluit Clemens Apost Constit li. 7. ca. 24. Sabbatū Dominicum festos dies agite quod ille quidem dies recordatio sit fabricationis mundi hic vero Resurrectionis Athanas Epist ad Marcel Si psallere vis in Sabbato habes Psalm 91. Vis gratias agere in dominico habes psal 23. Ambros d. sacram lib. 4. cap. 6. Greg Nyssen orat d. castigat August Epist 86. Hilar. Prolog in Psalm Socrat. hist Eccl. lib. 6. cap. 8. Tripertit hist lib. 1. cap. 9. And therefore Br. B. fighteth with his owne shadow when he produceth moderne authorities to confirme that which concerneth not the point in question 3 The Bishop pag. 205. makes cleare ostension that H. B. had falsified three places of Saint Augustine And to prove himselfe an impudent Prevaricator he had foisted in these words Hoc est Dominicum into Saint Augustine's very text Contra Adimant Manich. Cap. 15. 4 This Br. B. for his last refuge propoundeth a miserable and ridiculous argument to wit The Fathers observed the Lord's-Day in stead of the Old Sabbath Ergo they ever and usually called the same the Sabbath Day This argument may be paralleld with one like unto it The ancient Fathers observed
fuit imperatum quam id ab Imperatoribus Christianis nequis à rerum sanctarum meditatione abstraheretur neque ita praecise sancitum est It seemes therefore that the Homily hath not most clearely and fully declared all things necessary to be knowne touching this question Againe the Homily saith Whatsoever is found in the fourth Commandement appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needfull for the setting forth of God's glory it ought to be retained of all good Christians Our of the former words it may be collected that nothing in the fourth Commandement is simply morall and of the Law of Nature but that which is most godly most just and necessary for the setting forth of Gods glory And if this be the sence of the Homily as no doubt it is then the fourth Commandement is not in force according to the letter but only according to the equity and Analogie thereof Lastly the Homily saith God hath given expresse charge to all men that upon the Sabbath Day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekely and worke-day labour and God doth command the observation of this Holy day and we must be carefull to keep the Sabbath day which is the Sunday Out of the former passage these questions arise 1. What the Homily intendeth in saying God hath given expresse charge c. and God hath commanded c. Whether God hath immediately by any Divine Law expressely commanded the Observation of Sunday and in what Texts of Scripture this Law and Commandement touching Sunday is to be found Or whether the meaning of the Homily is not that God hath thus commanded Christians by a mediate or ministeriall Law and precept of his Church It may beâ— questioned likewise in what sence the Homily stileth the Sunday the Sabbath day whether in a proper and literall sence according to the stile of the old Law or in a mysticall and analogicall sence as Christ is called our Passeover 1 Cor. 5.7 Now from the precedent observations it is consequent that the Doctrine of the Church of England is not most clearly or so plainly and expressely set forth in the Homily as this Objector pretendeth when he saith pag. 13. The words of the Homily as you have heard and every one may plainely see are so expresse cleare and full that they cannot possibly admit the least ambiguity Reasons to the contrary 1. Evidens censeri solet illud quod ita sufficienter movet intellectum ut in libera hominis potestate non sit dissentire a Aqu. Sum. Greg. Valent. Et alij Scholast Doctores Aug. c. Crescon Gram. li. 3. Ipsa sententia loquatur cujus verba sic fulgerit ut si eam veliâ— abscondere quarumlibet tenebrarum latebras suo nimio splendoâ—e perruâ—peâ—â—t That onely is to be reputed cleare and evident which in such sort affecteth the understanding that it is not in the free power of an intelligent Person to dissent from it But this definition of cleare and evident cannot bee applyed to the words of the Homily for the reasons before delivered 2. According to Tertullian b Tertul. d. Resur Carnis ca. 33. Sententiae et definitiones quarum est aperta natura aliter quam sonant non sapiunt Sentences and Definitions which are cleare and evident cannot be expounded otherwise than as the words sound But the words of the Homily concerning the Sabbath which this Objector produceth doe neither force the understanding of every intelligent Reader to yeeld assent to Br. B. his Exposition and unlesse wee expound them otherwise than the words seeme to sound we shall fall into many absurdities Ergo. It is false which the Objector delivereth to wit The words of the Homily are so expresse cleare and plainely delivered as that they cannot admit the least Question or Ambiguity B. The Homily of the time and place of prayer part first sheweth That our Lord's Day is grounded upon the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue in these words Whatsoever is contained in the Commandement appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needefull for the setting forth of Gods glory it ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian people and therefore by this Commandement we ought to have a time as one day in the weeke wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawfull and needfull workes For like as it appeareth by this Commandement that no man in the sixe dayes ought to be slothfull or idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him even so GOD hath given expresse charge to all men that upon the Sabbath day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekely and worke day labour to the intent that like as God Himselfe wrought sixe dayes and rested the Seventh and blessed and sanctified and consecrated it to quietnesse and rest from labour even so God's obedient People should use the Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily businesse and also give themselves wholly to heavenly excercises of God's true Religion and Service So that God doth not onely command the Observation of this Holy Day but also by his own example doth stir and provoke us to the diligent keeping of the same Good natural children wil not only becom obedient to the Commandement of their Parents but also have a diligent eye to their doings and gladly follow the same So if we will bee the children of our Heavenly Father wee must be carefull to keepe the Christian Sabbath Day which is the Sunday not only for that it is God's expresse Commandement but also to declare our selves to bee loving children in following the example of our Gracious Lord and Father Againe thus it may plainely appeare that God's will and Commandement was to have a solemne time and standing day in the week wherein the People should come together and have in remembrance his wonderfull benefits and to render Him thankes for them as appertaineth to loving kind and obedient People This example and Commandement of God the godly Christian people began to follow immediately after the Ascension of our Lord Christ c. So the Homily and much more whence we plainely observe these conclusions 1 That all Christians ought and are bound in conscience of the fourth Commandement to keep the Lord's-day holily 2 That by the force of the fourth Commandement one day in seven is perpetually to be kept holy 3 That the keeping of the Lord's-day is grounded upon and commanded in the fourth Commandement and so is not of humane institution 4 That the Lord's-day is and may bee called our Christian Sabbath-day therefore it is not Iewish to call it so 5 That this Day is wholly to be spent in holy rest and duties of sanctification and therefore no part of it to be spent in vaine pleasures and prophane pastimes Now the Author of the Treatise doth overthrow all these conclusions for
Sabbath for the Objector hath formerly rejected the equity of the fourth Commandement and therefore he must wholly ground his Tenet upon the expresse words or upon some necessary and formall illation from the words or sentences of that Commandement 5 In S. Pauls Text 1 Cor. 16.2 we find a mandate that the Corinthians upon the first day of the weeke should lay aside something for charitable uses according as God had enabled them and more than this we reade not in that Text. 6 The Place Revel 1.10 containes no mandate for no imperative words are found therein but only a narration of the time in which S. Iohn received his Propheticall Revelation Lastly the Bishop is perswaded that the holy Apostles not presently or immediately but certaine yeares after Christ's Resurrection taught Christian people to observe the Lord's-day 109. 189. But this impetuous Objector cannot demonstrate that the holy Apostles themselves or their immediate Successours grounded the observation of this day upon the old Law of the 4th Commandement And therefore we trust Br. B. will not take it unkindely that we cannot yeeld assent to his verball Positions which are not confirmed by Divine or Ecclesiasticall testimony nor yet by any other weighty grounds of reason and lastly they are repugnant to the common Tenet of the most judicious Divines ancient and moderne A. The maine knot of the whole Controversie is about the designation of the particular and speciall time consecrated to Gods worship whether it be comprehended and prescribed in the fourth Commandement or depends upon the determination of the Church The Adversary confesseth a naturall equity in the fourth Commandement That some time is to be set apart for the service of God but indeputate and left at large to the liberty of the Church to determine and limit the speciall time when and how long what portion and proportion is to be allowed c. I pray you more fully elucidate this Point c. Ans 1. The Bishop's Tenet is That by the equity naturall of the fourth Commandement a necessary sufficient and convenient time ought to bee appointed by the Christian Church for Divine worship and for religious offices Therefore it is not left to the Churches liberty and arbitterment to allow what portion or proportion of time it pleaseth For it must in duty and obedience to God proportion a full convenient and sufficient time 2 The Church shall doe that which is offensive if without just necessary and urgent cause it presume to remove the ancient bounds or to alter the ordinance of primitive times concerning the religious observance of the Lord's-day For the Tradition a Hieron c Lucifer Etiamsi scripturae authoritas noÌ„ subesset totius orbis in hanc partem coÌ„sensus instar praecepti obtinet NaÌ„ multa alia quae per TraditioneÌ„ in Ecclesiis observantur authoritatem sibi scriptae legis usurpaverunt of the Holy Apostles and of the Primitive and Apostolicall Church ought highly to be honoured and respected and according to Saint Augustines b Aug. Ep. 118. ad Ianuar. cap. 5. rule it is insolent madnesse unlesse it be done upon necessary reason to vary from the same pag. 270. B. The Adversary doth the more easily play fast and loose c Observe How this bould Bayaâ—d faceth and in the end fayleth in his proofe in the myst of his generalities though while hee cannot or dare not for shame utterly deny the morality of the fourth Commandement which all Divines doe hold yet he denies any particular speciall determinate time to be commanded or limited therein but will have that wholly put and placed in the power of the Church It will be requisite therefore to stop this hole a You will stop this hole with bold prating onely that he may not have the least evasion but by the cords of strong reasons b Your cordes of strong reason will proove roaps of sand and cordes of vanitie be bound and forced to confesse That either the fourth Commandement doth prescribe and determine a set certaine fixed proportion of time consecrated by God himselfe unto his solemne and sacred worship Or else that it commands to Vs Christians no certaine time or day at all and so the morality of it if ever it had any is quite abolished and no other Law or Commandement now binds us but the precept or practise of the Church This is the very Summe and upshot of the matter Answ 1. The Bishop delivered all his Positions and Assertions concerning the Sabbath in perspicuous distinct and clear Sentences Termes and Propositions in which there is no ambiguity no equivocation no fast and loose as this Bold-face declameth 2 He hath confirmed the said Positions with strong and weighty reasons the most of them are Demonstrative and his Arguments are such as this Objector is afraid to looke upon them and throughout his Dialogue like unto a Cravin Cur he bites behinde at the conclusion but dares not looke the Premises of the Arguments in the face 3 It was not feare or shame that induced the Bishop to maintain the naturall equity of the fourth Commandement but love of verity and weight of reason and the consent of grave and judicious Divines But neither feare nor shame can perswade this rude animall a Homine imperito nihil est improbius Qui nisi quod ipse facit nihil rectuÌ„ purat who is maledicus conviciator non veridicus Disputator to deliver any thing materiall or which savoureth of common reason 4 The Position that the morality of the fourth Commandement must be utterly abolished unlesse it command us Christians a definite and particular day as it did the Iewes is an idle and presumptuous position as will appeare by the loose and inepte Arguments which the Dialogaster brings to confirme the same B. Now I shall prove and make it evident that the fourth Commandement either prescribes a certaine proportion of time and a fixed day b The fourth Commandement appointed a particular fixed day to wit Saturday and if it is in that very respect morall why doth H. B. condemne Th. Brab consecrate to God and in that very respect is perpetually morall binding us Christians to the same proportion or else if it determine no set proportion of time but leaves it at large c It leaves it not at large but the equity and analog e of the Commandement obligeth the Church to appoint necessâ—ry convenient and sufficient time to the Church to proportionate whether longer or shorter Then there remaines no such obligatory equity in the fourth Commandement as to binde the Church to appoint and allow such or such a proportion of time but that if this time which the Church appointeth be either one day in twenty or forty or an hundred or one day in the yeere or so or but one piece of a day in such a revolution of time and not one whole or intire day much lesse one whole day in every seven
and of the rest which were lesse arbitrary to accept what the Church shall in due consideration consecrate voluntarily unto like religious uses Of the first kind among the Iewes was the Sabbath-day Of the second those Feasts which are appointed in the Law of Moses The Feast of Dedication invented by the Church standeth in the number of the last kind The Morall Law requiring therefore a seventh part throughout the age of the whole world to be that way imployed although with Vs the day be changed in regard of a new revolution begun by our Saviour Christ yet the same proportion of time continueth which was before because in reference to the benefit of Creation and now much more of Renovation thereunto added by Him which was Prince of the World to come we are bound to account the sanctification of one day in seven a duty which God's immutable Law doth exact for ever You see that in termes he agreeth and jumpeth with the expresse Doctrine of our Church in the Homily touching the perpetuall morality of the fourth Commandement We are bound saith he to account the sanctification of one day in seven which before he saith is now our Lord's-day a duty which God's immutable Law doth exact for ever Answ Mr. H. in the passage aforesaid delivereth nothing in substance differing from the Bishop 1 He saith that God's naturall Law requireth the sanctification of times in generall and he affirmeth the same concerning places persons a Melanch loc com in 3. Praecept Steckel Annot. ib. Sicut nullum certum locum ita neque tempus certuÌ„ nominavit Deus in novo Testamento sed haec reliquit Ecclesiae staâ—uenda pag. 58. c. But the sanctification of particular places is required by no expresse speciall Law in the new Testament but onely by the equity or generall Law of Nature and the practise and example of holy people in ancient times 2 He affirmeth not that the observation of the Lord's-day is commanded by speciall and expresse words of the fourth Commandement for he acknowledgeth a generall Law only which can be no other but the naturall Equity and Analogie of the fourth Commandement B. Bishop Andrewes saith c. It hath ever beene the Churches Doctrine that Christ made an end of all Sabbaths by his Sabbath in the Grave That Sabbath was the last of them And that the Lord's-day presently came in place of it The Lord's-day was by the Resurrection of Christ declared to be the Christians day and from that very time of Christ's Resurrection it began to be celebrated as the Christian Man's Festivall For the Sabbath had reference to the old Creation but in Christ we are a new Creature a new Creation by him and to have a new Sabbath c. Answ 1. If Christ according to Bishop Andrewes made an end of all Sabbaths then he mâ—de an end of the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement And from hence it is consequent that the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement was not simply morall or of the Law of Nature for that which is such is unchangeable and perpetuall and besides the observation of the Lord's-day cannot be enjoyned by a Law or Commandement which is ceased 2 Bp. Andrewes saying The Lord's-day was declared to be the Christians festivall by the Resurrection of Christ and was celebrated rather than any other Day proveth that the celebration thereof was not grounded upon the speciall Law of the fourth Commandement as this Dialogist hath formerly said but upon our Saviour's Resurrection Neither doth the learned Bishop teach that it was grounded upon Christ's Resurrection as upon a Law but according to the common vote of all Antiquity his meaning must be that our Saviour's Resurrection was a motive perswading and inducing the Christian Church to observe that day rather than any other Lastly by new Sabbath the Bishop understandeth the Christian Sabbatisme which is ceasing and resting from the deeds of sin especially upon the Lord's-day and upon other Festivall dayes which are devoted to godlinesse and to Religious Offices B. Bp. Andrewes in a Catecheticall Tractate delivereth these following That the old Sabbath was no Ceremony The day is changed but no Ceremony proved It were not wise to set a Ceremony in the midd'st of morall Precepts The Law of Nature is the Image of GOD Now in GOD there can be no Ceremony c. The Law of the Decalogue is totally of the Law of Nature Now from the Premises we observe what was the judgement of that learned Prelate c. He sheweth plainly that the Lord's-day comming in place of the old Sabbath-day and so becomming our Sabbath-day is by necessary consequence grounded upon the fourth Commandement the Law whereof is perpetuall because naturally morall So as hence I might frame this Argument That day which comes in place of the old Sabbath is commanded in the fourth Commandement But the Lord's-day is come in place of the old Sabbath Therefore it is commanded in the fourth Commandement Answ 1. It is not certaine to Vs that Bishop Andrewes was the Author of the Patterne of Câ—techeticall Doctrine cited by the Objector or if in his younger daies before hee had throughly examined the Question of the Sabbath he delivered the passage here mentioned yet after his riper yeares and when hee was come to maturity of judgement he hath not in any Tractate published by himselfe while he was living or by some Reverend Bishops after his decease maintained the former Doctrine And in very deed hee could not in his riper yeares being a man of great learning and judgement and throughly versed in Antiquity maintaine the same For 1. It is apparently false and repugnant to Scripture and all Antiquitie that the fourth Commandement was intirely morall and had no Ceremony in it This is effectually proved by the Bishop page 161. 163. c. and all exceptions and objections to the contrary are solved and cleared 2 It is an infallible Verity that the Law of the fourth Commandement in respect of one determinate weekely day was temporary and legally positive a Tertul. adv jud ca. 4. Manifestum itaque est non aeternum nec spiritale Evangelicum sed temporale fuisse praeceptum quod quandoque cessaret Read the Bishop's Treatise pag. 28. 29. 30. c. 3 Bishop Andrewes having said The Lord's-Day presently came in place of the Old Sab. The rude Dialogist frameth this Argument following That which comes in place of the Old Sabbath is commanded in the fourth Commandement But the Lord's-Day is come in place of the Old Sabbath Therefore the Lord's-Day is commanded in the fourth Commandement When the Bishop read this Argument propounded with no little pride and ostentation by the Dialogue brâ—acher he admired the ignorance and stupidity of the Man For the major Proposition is so notoriously false and absurd and refuted by so many instances that hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aiunt liberidem