not the seventh through iniquity and vanity that can no more disproove the festivity of the seventh to bee from the beginning and reach to all than the failings in many specialties of the first and second and third and other commandements can disproove their ingraving on the heart of man as Lawes of Nature and on the other side it prooveth as sufficiently that this commandement is a Law of Nature so farre as it is expressed in the Decalogue as the reliques of the other precepts in the hearts of Gentiles proove them to be Lawes of Nature and therefore his exception in speciall against that authority out of Hesiod if it should bee understood of every seventh day taking the calculation from the first day of the month doth no way supplant our intended purpose Well hath a learned Bishop t Patterne of Catech. Doctr. pag. 124. of our Church observed that sufficient is found in the heart of the Gentiles to their condemnation for breaking the Law of the fourth commandement they knew that numerus septenarius est Deo gratissimus and it was numerus quietis and thence they might have gathered that God would have his rest that day and so the seventh day after birth they kept exequiae and the seventh day after death the Funerall Note also that Gomarus passeth over those sayings brought by Clemens and Eusebius out of Homer and Callimachus untouched because they are not found in their writings now extant which proveth the weakenesse of this cause That quotation out of Philo Iudaeus he thinketh he hath taken off by that place of the same Author in his booke of the Decalogue whereby hee saith it is evident that Philo spake not properly but only by similitude of the number of seven because hee thus expounds himselfe in that place The fourth commandement saith he commands the seventh day commanding it to be spent holily and godly This certaine cities celebrate every month as a Festivall beginning their reckoning from the New Moone but to the Iewes every seventh day is holy I answer First it is a meere presumption of his to say that here Philo expounds his meaning in the other place for this is in his booke of the decalogue that in another booke viz. The second of the life of Moses nor doth he make the least intimation of reference thither Then this quotation that he maketh the exposition of his meaning in the former place cannot be for here he speaketh only of some few cities there in generall termes who honoureth not that holy day Moreover in another place u Philo de mundi opisicio hee calleth that very seventh day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generall Festivall to be observed of all people for ever Lastly if hee had but perused Philo or not perverted him willfully hee might have seene his plaine meaning whose words both for this purpose and for the rest of servants about which our dispute is I set downe not mangled but entire and they are these It admonisheth saith hee meaning the Divine Law it admonisheth all of dutie Barbarians Graecians inhabitants of maine continents aswell as of Ilands the Westerlings the Easterlings the Europeans and the Asians the whole habitable World even to the uttermost coasts For who doth not honor that holy day returning every weeke bringing remission of labour and holy vacations to the master of the familie with his houshold not onely to freemen but also to servants yea moreover to the beasts vnder the yoke and so forth Againe hee helpeth us to another authoritie out of losephus in his second booke against Appain who saith Neither is there any city of the Grecians or Barbarians nor any Nation to whom the custome of the seventh day in which wee rest hath not come A pregnant proofe But Gomarus saith there are words foregoing which doe end the controversie namely these Moreover the people doe now much emulate our piety Which words saith he do only shew that the observation of the Sabbath among the Gentiles was only an imitation of the Iewes by Proselites and perchance many others What were all the Gentiles East and West become Proselytes or would all of them admit a meere ceremony Some Nations besides Proselytes admitted Circumcision but did all the cities of Greeks and Barbarians admit thereof And if they imitated their piety could it bee thought that they imitated it as theirs and not rather as that which their naturall light glimmeringly guided them unto especially seeing the Iewes were naturally hated of all people For his quotation out of Theodoret upon the 20. chap. of Ezekiel to testifie to his tenet who saith That in the observation of the Sabbath the Iewes seemed to obtaine a certaine proper commonwealth for no other Nation did observe this rest and neither did Circumcision so distinguish them from others as did the Sabbath I answer This cannot bee understood of any kind of observation of the Sabbath for then Theodoret must speake directly against all received testimonies of antiquity which may not bee thought but of the true observing thereof in the solemne rituall worship of God which being all publike and solemnely used on that day as the sanctification thereof did asmuch more lively distinguish the Iewes Gods people from the Heathen Idolaters than did circumcision as the whole Law doth more than any one part thereof Thus wee have made good the sufficiency of the quotations excepted against wee leave them therefore with the rest fore-alleaged to be cavilled at by the next that dares to attempt it The infirmenesse of the consequence saith Gomarus is this that if the observation of the Sabbath had prevailed among the Gontiles yet from thence no such antiquity of the Sabbath may bee evinced but only thence appeareth the imitation of the Iewes by the Gentiles as by Proselytes and others perhaps I answer the consequent is firme for the former Heathen Authors have no reference to the Iewes and the Gentiles derided the Iewish Sabbathes Lament 1. 7. But suppose it came up among the Gentiles by imitation of the Iewes yet this spreading of it farre and wide prooveth the goodnes of the consequence that it is of the moral Law For hence it sufficiently appeares that the institution of a set seventh day in the weeke is immutable and not ceremoniall and temporall not proper to the Iewes onely but common to all seeing nature apprehends it meet and necessary that we often exercise the worship of God and cannot but acknowledge as we see in the inclination of the whole universe of men that this weekely determination of a day is most convenient and altogether absolute Hitherto of the answer to your position determining what is ceremoniall in the fourth commandement Your proofe for the ceremony of it in those respects is first taken from Texts of Scripture in Exod. 31. 13. and Ezek. 20. 12 20. Hence you reason thus That forme of keeping Sabbath was given to the Iewes as a speciall marke of their
commandement which you cite doth properly signifie Thirdly all thy worke as opposed to workes of sanctification that is of piety and mercy properly though they bee not servile worke properly so called or mechanicall as the study and exercise of the Liberall Arts for these concerne naturall and civill things and looke not immediatly to the worship of God nor the unavoidable necessities of man It is apparant then that servile workes or workes of ministry about our callings and so servants worke is in a speciall manner prohibited Now then take your owne argument The worke permitted on the sixe daies is prohibited the seventh the in sense with the middle word with which it is the selfe same in sound If the first then it is opposed to all that dutie of the Sabbath which consists in the immediate honour of God done with the full complacency of hart therein and the honorable mention of it in our words and discourse as is cleare in the Text to him that duly weigheth it Now say Is not the servants conteined in this word thy pleasure as that which is no duty of Gods worship publike or private If the second then it is not al that is forbidden and so your argument fals but rather concernes as many learned and conscionable Divines deliver our works of recreation or sports which we finde out though at other times lawfull which take off the heart from holy duties for God hath found us another recreation chiefely on that day if any will be merry let him sing Psalmes as in Ps 92. The Title compared with the Psalme would have the Sabbaths duties our delight Fourthly Now whereas you lay this for a ground that the election of mans will is the proper forme of actuall sin I wonder how you should so mistake but that Divinity was not your covenanted Wife but only your Concubine which for a turne you use and in the use you ravish Ataxy or irregularity is the proper forme of sinne actuall be the Ataxy in thoughts in desires in deeds or in words Moreover election of the will is an act and good and therefore by no meanes the forme of sinne and if you say you speake not of election but this election namely the unruly and inordinate election tell me is the election or the unrulinesse the forme of sinne unrulinesse doubtlesse which informeth both the election that is sinnefull and the action that is sinfull And whereas you say that outward unlawfull actions are but expressions of sinne and not sinne properly if they bee unlawfull actions they bee sinnefull actions properly so called for you yeelded before according to the truth of Scripture and reason pag. 12. that sinne formally is nothing else but unlawfulnesse unlesse you will say that sinne formally is not sinne properly A proper position For your reason whereby you would maintaine this that sinne hath her residence and inhesion in the soule it selfe and passeth forth of it the actions outward carry onely the tincture of sinne therefore they are not sinne I reply If they carry the tincture of sinne then are they sinnefull Againe are they died with sinne and yet hath sinne no inhesion nor residence in them This is strange and for the residence of sinne it is not in the soule alone a Peccat um est in â—bjecto occasion â—liter in intellectu originaliter in voluntate formaliter in membris quoad usum Saint Paul saith the law of sinne is in our members Rom. 7. 23. and wee know sinne commeth by propagation but the soule is not propagated only the body commeth and is traduced from the parents I would know where in this propagation sinne hath its inhesion and whether an unfitnesse and perversenesse fighting with the rightnesse and aptnesse God approveth bee not traduced and doe not naturally sticke in the very bodily faculties And when you say sinne only consisteth in the exorbitancy of the will it is most false sounder philosophy refelleth this for Aristotle b Arist lib. 3. Ethic. c. 1. excuseth not from a fault the things that are offended in or done amisse against ones will through ignorance and Divinity teacheth that errors in judgement and ignorances c Ignorantia excâ—sat non a toto sed à tanto when it is of things which of dutie wee should know are sinnes that the want of originall righteousnesse and the defects of graces are sinne And Thomas d saith that so is every habit and Act deprived of due order The habit also of sinne is first in the understanding because all sinne commeth from error which is in the understanding consider it also in its absolute act without working with the will so sinne is firstin it Vpon such rotten props what building can bee reared Yet let us take notice of your reasoning for further satisfaction to all and the utter subversion of this new learning It stands thus The minister of another mans sinne being but the minister of anothers exorbitant will no further sinneth than his owne will concurreth thereunto The servant doing his masters worke on the Sabbath not of election but in obedience to his master is but the minister of anothers exorbitant will and his owne will no way concurreth therewith therfore so doing hee sinneth not instrument in the workes of his Master and conferreth also will I answere he conferreth will indeede if hee be a good servant by reason of the obligation of obedience wherein he standeth to his master but yet not absolute but conditionall will not the selfe election but only the obedience an yeelding of his will and th 〈…〉 onely as it is his masters worke not as it is his masters sinne for the worke on the Sabaoth hauing sinne annexed to it and so being a sinnefull worke the servant and the mastster must divide it betwixt them the worke is the servants and the sinne is the masters for the servant doth but his duty in obeying his masters commandemet but the master transgresseth his in disobeying Gods commandement touching his servants ceasing from that labour Answer First why should we feare to say the eye beholding vanitie sinneth and so of the tongue loose to blaspheme slander and lye For first they move irregularly secondly they are the weapons of sin thirdly in them sin is finished to the bringing forth of death both on body and soule fourthly these are the sinnes of both body and soule and not of either apart fifthly the sinne is made greater by the outward acting in respect of the extent thereof it having now invaded the body and not onely possessed the soule so that there is filthinesse of flesh aswell as of the spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. and in respect of the dammage it bringeth to others either by way of scandall and offence or by some reall discommodity as slaughter defamation with the like sixthly and hence it is that certaine punishments are rightly inflicted for the outward acting of some sinne which never could have place for
must he therefore succeede him in equality of power The Lords day therefore succeedeth the Sabaoth in the point of sanctification for celebration of the assemblies for the Church hath precisely commanded that but not in the point of exact and extreme vacation from every kind of worke for that the Church hath not commanded and so although the Lords day may well be tearmed the heire of the Sabaoth yet is it not ex asse haeres as the civill Lawyers speake It inheriteth not the whole right of the Sabaoth for that right and prerogative of the Sabaoth was not given to the Sabaoth and its heires it was no fee simple and if I may speake in the Lawyers stile it was onely a tenure for tearme of life namely during the life of the ceremoniall law which life ended in the death of our Saviour This reason therefore of the succession of the Lords day in place of the Sabaoth is no reason Answer First what was acknowledged by the Church as injoyned by the point of vacancie from all labour without the least rellish of Iewish ceremonies wee shall see in the next Chapter Here onely wee examine your supposed confutation of a reason to prove it which reason is this The Lords day is succeeded in the place of the Sabbath or as some say as Heire of the Sabbath therefore to bee kept Sabbath-like You confute it thus If it succeeds it in place must it succeede in equall precisenesse of observation No It succeeded in point of Sanctification not of exact vacation I reply your distinction is not distinct for if in Sanctification then in exact vacation namely vacation Sabbaticall for if in the end in the meanes necessary to that end and for that end ordained which is exact vacation so farre as it may further Sanctification Now for your playing on the termes about an Heire it is frivolous Secondly for your instance in the Pope succeeding Peter arguing from place to power it little conduceth to this matter for the Pope succeedeth not in place Apostolicall if he did I should not much doubt of his power Apostolicall Had there beene a certaine Commandement of God to shew that God in his eternall Law commanded his people to obey the Apostolicall place But by place you mean roome not Officiall function and then what kinne betweene your instance and the matter in hand CHAP. XXIX Breerwood Pag. 45 46 47. ANy other reason besides this or else authority which I might in your behalfe object to my selfe I know none worthy mentioning for the commandement of God as I have proved is not of this day The commandement of the Church is of this day but not of these workes neither will all the histories of the ancient Church nor canons of the ancient councels nor any other monuments or registers of antiquity afford you as I am certainely perswaded search them as curiously as you can record of any such constitution of the Church for the generall restraint of workes on the Lords day You may finde I know in some of the ancient Fathers much sounding the prerogative of that day as that it was a holy day in * Hist Eccles lib. 4. cap. 22. Eusebius a day of Christian emblies in * Apolog. 2. Iustin Martyr and a day of rejoycing in * Apolog. c. 16 Tertullian a festivall day in * Epi. ad mag Ignatius and some more of the like but doth any of all these import or imply a generall restraint a desistance from all worke No they doe not neither shall you finde in these nor in any other records of antiquity any constitutions of the Apostles and of the first Church extant to that effect no nor any relation or remembrance that such a constitution had ever beene made by them nay I finde cleare evidence to the contrary for would Constantine the Great that most holy Emperour and best nursing Father of Christian religion that ever Prince was would he I say have licensed by his decree the country people freely liberè liciteque are the words of the constitution to attend their sowing of graine setting of vines and other husbandry on the Lords day if those workes had beene forbidden by the commandement of God or decree of the Apostles and first Church Or would the Fathers in the councell of Laodicea one of the most ancient and approved councells of the Church inioyne the vacancy of the Lords day with this condition And if men can Certainely servants full ill can if they be constrained by their Masters to worke would they I say have added such a condition had it beene simply unlawfull for all sorts of people by the ancient sanctification of the first Church to doe any worke that day It appeareth therefore that there were no such universall constitutions of the Church The actuall forbearing of all workes by some Christians that day stand not on nor on the exhortations of some ancient Fathers to that purpose some remembrances of both are to be found I know but these are particular examples and perswasions constitutions of the Church they are not edicts of sundry Princes likewise and decrees of some provinciall councells are extant I confesse in record to the same effect and those are constitutions indeede but partly not of the Church partly not universall nor very ancient and therefore are no sanctions to oblige the whole Church which beside the law of God and decrees of the Apostles to whom the government of the whole Church by our Saviour was committed and the canons of the universall Synods no positive constitution can doe Answer Having made it evident that the Commandement of God stands in force for our Sabbath I might easily cast off all that you shall say to the end of your Discourse but to cleare and scoure the coast and make it apparant that what you say is nothing and all maketh for us who in this thing hold the Truth we proceede You say you finde nothing for the generall restraint of works on the Lords day in any Historie cannon monument and register of Antiquitie but cleare evidence to the contrarie First for the first let the places you alleage speake out that all may heare them and not be blindly huddled up That in Euseb l. 4. cap. 22. is a passage in the Epistle of Dionysius Bishop of Corinth to Soter Bishop of Rome concerning the accustomed reading of the Epistle of Clement to the Corinths in their publike assemblies on the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lords day of which hee saith thus Wee have spent or passed through to the end of it the Lords day to day an Holy day Now to spend the Lords day throughout an holy day is not to spend any of it in servile worke let Scripture Heathen writers and all men testifie this was done saith that Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After their ancient custome Iustin Martyr after he hath recorded all the duties of their publike assemblies addeth this having spoken in the
danger and a stinte set beyond which if they went their judiciall lawes condemned them to death as you ignorantly avouch Thirdly you say that the name of Sabbath was never applyed to the Lords day by any Apostle or other Christian for many hundred yeeres after Christ The Apostle in Heb. 49. doubted not to apply the name of Sabbath to the Christian people and our rest saying That the People of God have their Sabbatisme left unto them Yet admit your strong conceit had bin as strong a Truth what would follow thence That our Saviour intended our Sabbath in that place of Matthew because the Apostles call it the Lords day In no case For to use the name of distinction in times of the Church wherein the Saturday was called Sabbath cannot either make the Apostles faultie or the name of Sabbath incompatible to that day The seventh Section answered First that at the time of the siege of Ierusalem all ceremonies Zuares de lâ—gib l. 9 c. 19. of the old law were deadly you denie and we affirme for if our Saviours death be not the time of the ceremonies deadlinesse you confesse you lost your labour to the one halfe of your Reply hereto indeede St Hierome sets that for the period but you have not answered one of his arguments but to let that passe the terme prefixed is this Looke when the Ceremoniall law was dead throughout the whole world it began at the same time to bee deadly also through the world now the ceremoniall law was dead when the Gospell was published for that obliging the other ceased to oblige and that published the other was utterly evacuated Therefore in that point of time in which a sufficient promulgation of the Gospell was accomplished instantly the old law was deadly This you partly saw when you said in this Section and not onely dead they were but deadly also I confesse to Christians to whom he was certainely revealed to be the Saviour This time was before the eversion of Ierusalem as the Apostle testifieth in Col. 1. 6. that the Gospell was come unto and brought forth fruite also in all the world and proclaimeth to the Churches that the Ceremoniall law was deadly both in that Epistle to the y Col. 2. 20. 21. Gal. 5. 3 4. 4. 9. 10. 11. Colossians and in the Epistle to the Galathians Secondly for your assertion about the old Sabbath that it did remaine and was observed in the East Churches three hundred yeeres and above after our Saviours death it is utterly false that it was observed either Iewishly or as a Sabbath or in Obedience to the fourth Commandement No such observation was Anathematized in the Councell z Ignat. ad magn of Laodicea and Ignatius charged those Christians to worke that day If you meane this observation was the performance of some religious duties publikely then you might say every day in the weeke was observed religiously by them for that is knowne that many of the Greeke fathers as well as the Latine preached every day and a Aug. Ianuar. Ep. 11â— Augustine tels of divers customes in the Churches Some communicated at the Lords table every day some some certaine dayes some on the ancient Sabbath and the Lords day some onely on the Lords day But you must needs intend the Iewish observation of the Sabbath for these words you adde all ceremonies therefore and particularly of the old Sabbath at the time by you mentioned were not deadly Thirdly and when you say that the name of Sabbath was not given in the Church to any other day than the Iewes Sabbath for more hundred of yeeres than three hundred Augustine saith b Serm. de temp 251. So we also sanctifie the Sabbath the Lord saying Ye shall not doe any worke therein The eighth ninth tenth eleventh and twelfth Sections answered In the eighth Section you set forth slanderous reports of Master Byfield which you tooke in by retayle some about his Doctrine concerning late repentance of this the Church of England knoweth his wholesome propositions imprinted in his bookes on the Coloss and on the first Epistle of Peter Some about his Discipline as you terme it but those in and about Chester know his goings in and out then among them In the fourth page of the Treatise you tell of Rebellion against mens lawes and mischiefes to the common-wealth and in the 53. page that few drew so freely of this vessell as he all which cannot agree to a resolution of a private case and those words wherewith Mr Byfield chargeth you and you deny viz. that this doctrine tended to the corrupting of the estate where your kindred and acquaintance and your selfe had lived are expresse in a letter written Iune the ninth 1611. Therefore he justly charged you for charging him unjustly in these respects and did not calumniate you And whereas you say that the doctrine of the Sabbath which you opposed was not for pulpits but for Corners you might have knowne it hath sounded in pulpits and is in print by divers Divines This of the ninth Section But what doe I indeed these nor the other Sections containe nothing worthy an Answere The hands are joyned with scorners and the replies borrowed from wicked men let them alone The thirteenth Section answered That you did adjure Mr Byfield which yet you deny will be manifest if your forme of speech in the end of your Treatise and the nature of an Adjuration be compared together * Zauch in tertium precept de adjuratione An Adjuration is an action in which in the Name of God or by his Name either we require an oath of any one whereby hee should binde himselfe to doe or not to doe something or wee binde him to it by command or intreaty without an oath exacted and that our desire may be more surely obtained we interpose the Name of God Your words are these I challenge you as you will answere it at the judgement Seat of Almighty God when your accounting day shall come to repaire the ruine you have made in his Conscience True here you require not an oath to binde him to this yet you require it with an interposition of the Name of God and a denunciation secretly of Gods anger if he doe it not and so you fall under the second kinde of Adjurations The fourteenth Section answered Here begin Mr Byfields reasons why he would not yeeld to answere the Treatise though adjured Mr Breerwood would refell them Take M. Byfields words together and they are a sufficient reason for every strangers vaine challenge ought not to be answered Now this challenge of M. Breerwoods was vaine because the Injury was but a Conceit no Reality and the doctrine of M. Breerwood abundantly answered in Writers at his hand Thus all M. Breerwoods words are to no purpose and a meere beating of the Ayre By the way note M. Breerwoods Parenthesies no man lesse curious or inquisitive of other mens affaires neither
THE DOCTRINE OF THE SABBATH VINDICATED In a confutation of a treatise of the Sabbath written by M. Edward Breerwood against M. Nic. Byfield wherein these five things are maintained First that the fourth Commandement is given to the servant and not to the master onely Secondly that the fourth Commandement is morall Thirdly that our owne light workes as well as gainefull and toilesome are forbidden on the Sabbath Fourthly that the Lords day is of divine Institution Fifthly that the Sabbath was instituted from the beginning By the industrie of an unworthy labourer in Gods Vineyard RICHARD BYFIELD Pastor in Long Ditton in Surrey Verily I say unto you till heaven and earth passe one jot or one title shall in no wise passe from the Law till all be fulfilled Matth. 5. 18. LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Philemon Stephens and Christopher Meredith at the golden Lyon in Pauls Church-yard 1631. To all that loue the LORD IESVS in sincerity DEare Christian bought with a price most happy in this that thou art not thine owne for thy sake I have undertaken to answer this Treatise to thee doe I Dedicate it who mayest of right challenge all that I am or can Thou whether noble wise mightie learned unlearned weake or meane neare or farre off art interessed in all that maketh for the Truth and in all that is done against it Paul Apollo Cephas are thine 1. Cor. 3. all thine for thou art Christs and Christ is Gods In the broaching of Heresies thou art wounded in the making of schismes thou art racked in every lie thou art layed at nothing commeth against a painefull Minister but reacheth to thy heart through his sides nothing from a laborious Minister but aymeth at thy setling stablishing comforting perfecting Wert thou the meanest that ever lived who can thinke this too much for thee seeing God withholds not himselfe as a Father his Sonne as a Redeemer and Brother his Spirit as sanctifier Comforter and the Spirit of Sonne-ship in thy heart and thy very body also hee ownes as his Temple For a recompence bee inlarged give thy selfe to God receive nothing against but all that is for the Truth Let the reproaches wherewith Christ and his Ministers are reproached fall on thee owne the Ministers gifts and labours as thine reigne but not without them be honourable but not when they are despised When I first received this booke intituled A learned Treatise of the Sabbaoth a little before November last though I was utterly ignorant of any such controuersie to haue passed betweene my Brother and Master Edward Breerwood and had not yet cast mine eye on the base language of the reply in the end of that Treatise yet the very noveltie and dangerous vilenesse of the Doctrine without any reference to things personall strucke me My spirit was stirred in me when I saw the whole right of the Law for the time of Gods worship alleviated the consequence whereof must needs be this the whole kingdome wholy given to Atheisme and prophanenesse The zeale of Gods glory and thy good began to eate upon me I throw my selfe into the open field that thou mayest be nourished I resolved what I was or am or may be should be Christ strengthning mee Gods and thine that God the Lord of Heaven might have his Royaltie untouched man his dutie laid out Superiors directed to stand for God and Men in the things of God and Inferiors be Gods while mens and mens in and for God Now knowing that there are none but are flesh as well as spirit and that the unregenerate part will catch at the most excellent truths to sucke thereout advantage to it selfe by tearing a sunder things inseparably united and taking to things hand over head in a wrong application fearing thy miscarriage I could not but advertise thee a little in that part that concernes thy duty The superiour or master may conceite his power intrenched upon the inferiour or servant may suppose some unwarranted liberty granted him all may thinke of an over-rigid construction of the unchangeable precept This Dâ—spute yeelds none of those neither prejudice to the master nor occasion of liberty to the servant nor other then a received and allowed sense to the never-failing law as will appeare to him that thorowly peruseth it But for prevention of over-hasty conceits in all behold thy way-markes before thou reade or receive any thought to fore-stall thee take what I set here before thee which hath beene seene and heard and allowed and received Blessed be Gods holy Name and I doubt not but shall be maugre the malice of contradicting spirits For I admonish thee of no other things then what are already received in the printed Bookes of Mr. Nich. Byfield Consider I say what that Master of Assemblies hath left in his writings as stakes to bound out the way of both master and servant superiour and inferiour in running the race of this fourth commandement and as goades to quicken thy heart in the embracing of that divine Law For the Doctrine of the Sabbath he thus explaineth himselfe in two places First God hath provided by his unchangeable law that one day in seven servants shall rest from their labour M. Byf. on 1 Pet. 2. 18. pag. 723. Secondly Servants must shew their feare of God in their callings by carefulnesse to doe Gods service as well as their masters not onely by spending the Sabbath in the duties of religion but in redeeming the time in the weeke dayes as may bee without hinderance of their worke or offence to their masters to imploy themselves in prayer reading conference c. And the reason is because as servants must doe their masters worke as they are servants so they stand bound in the common obligation to do Gods service as they are men and no man but is subject to the law of God who hath given all his commandements to servants as well as to masters Byf. in 1 Pet. 2. 18. pag. 734. For the servant he layeth downe these godly and savory limitations as Caveats First the subjection of servants is of Divine institution to which God hath bound them by the fift Commandement and so is a morall and perpetuall ordinance in 1 Pet. 2. 18. p. 721. Secondly no faults in Superiors can free inferiors from their subjection in matter or manner in 1 Pet. 2. p. 742. Thirdly if the matter bee onely inexpedient and unmeete thou must obey in Col. 3. 23. p. 130. Fourthly thou must bee sure that it bee sinne that thou refusest if thou must needs doubt it is better to doubt and obey than doubt and disobey Id. ibid. Fiftly thou must in unlawfull things yeeld to obey by sufferings Id. ibid. Sixtly the servant must avoide inquisitivenesse the servant knoweth not what his master doth Ioh. 15. 15. in 1 Pet. 2. p. 735. For the master he giveth these heavenly admonitions First the master must give account of all hee doth to God though he be not bound to doe
not bound to obey and thus being a freeman by your former doctrine the commandement is in force upon him and hee sinneth if he worke at his masters command this day Thirdly and as these grounds are wicked which you interlace your argument withall and therefore do not strengthen but weaken your reason so where your ground is good your consequence is naught This is indeed true which you say that the master hath over his servant a coactive and corrective power But what a miserable consequence is this Masters have a coactive power therfore there is no wisdom justice or equitie in the Almighty to give a coÌ„mandement to a servant in obeying whereof he is lyable to the stripes of a wicked master Nay God requires servants to undergoe wrongfull buffetings patiently 1 Pet. 2. 18 19. and yet hee is wise and just and equall in so doing CHAP. XI Breerwood Pag 15. IT was therefore much more agreeable both to the wisdome and justice of Almighty God to impose the commandement rather on the Masters than on the servants for thereby was prâ—vented the disobedience of servants to their masters and the punishment that might attend on that and the breach of the law of nations all which the other had occasioned and yet the masters were in no sort wronged for their servants remained in their power no lesse on the Sabaoth than the other sixe common daies only the Lord did qualifie and determine the act or execution of that power on the Sabaoth day namely to command their servants cessation from bodily labour and instead of that to exâ—rcise themselves in spirituall workes of holinesse it was I say to establish the commandement in such forme more agreeable to the wisdome and justice of God Answer First in this continuance of your former reason partly you charge our doctrine and partly you cleare your owne First you charge ours as occasioning servants disobedience to their masters and servants punishment by their masters and the breach of the Law of nations but yours as you say prevents all this Wee affirme that the giving of the commandement of the Sabbath to servants as well as to masters though to masters as those that should preserve this Law if those under them would violate it occasioneth none of these three evils First it occasioneth not any disobedience to masters for at the most it giveth but power to the servant submissely to refuse the unlawfull command of his master and not to cast off subjection to his authoritie to the first he is not bound and therefore is not disobedient when hee obeyeth not but on the contrary if he should yeeld to doe the thing that is unlawfull he is a man pleaser And to the second he yeelds himselfe in his submisse refusall and acknowledgeth his power to the full when he gives up himselfe that day to bee commanded by him in things pertaining to the worship of God in which thing alone God hath allowed the master the acting or execution of his power over his servant for that day The reason hereof your selfe suggests when you say the servant remaines in his masters power no lesse this day than any other but to other and better ends unto which ends viz. respecting the worship of God you confesse the masters power for the time is determined in respect of the execution thereof And who seeth not then that if the execution of their power bee bounded the servant is not to fulfill the boundlesse and unlawfull puttings forth of that power here it is enough to be a patient meerely and by no meanes an agent So then the servant remaineth no lesse in the masters power but to higher ends but more free to Gods service while the master may not call him off by unjust exactions And so farre is this from occasioning any disobedience that it occasioneth and properly effecteth in the servants heart a conscionable and produceth in his life an entire and singlehearted obedience to his master as to the Lord. Inasmuch as they are hereby brought to the house of God where they learn all duty to God and man though their master should bee wicked and so returne to their masters fruitful faithfull and conscionable serving them not with eye-service but with all uprightnesse to which the feare of God will bind them But the unfaithfull to God will be unfaithfull to man Oh the wisedome of God that provides for particular men and societies by this his Law better than they could or would for themselves Secondly this occasioneth not any punishment wilfully incurred if then it come it may patiently yea joyfully be borne for this is thanke-worthy with God q 1 Pet. 2. 18. 19. But we see by experience that as religious observing the duties of the Sabbath maketh one faithfull in his Calling all the weeke and as fideliâ—ie is in it selfe amiable and to the master profitable so many evill and covetous masters will willingly chuse such servants give them willingly that liberty on the Sabbath which themselves care not for nor feare sinfully to forgoe Moreover if any master should bestow blowes on his servant for going to Church when his master on the Sabbath commands him to the works of his calling this very precept requireth the Magistrate to relieve the servant against the injury of a wicked master when it giveth the Magistrate charge to see the Sabbath kept by all within his gate and the supreme Magistrate to punish the inferiour Magistrates neglects or injust impositions as wee see in Nehemiah who contended with the Nobles for prophaning the Sabbath by unjust impositions of worke upon inferiours And so you see also the justice and equity of God in providing for the servant both in soule and body Thirdly for the Law of Nations if you take it stricktly and properly it is simply and universally a positive Law as saith Iohn de Salas r Ius gentium est simpliciter universè jus positivuÌ„ Ioh. de Salas tract de leg q. 91. disp 2. sect 3. and is thus described by Zuarez it is the common Law of all Nations not by instinct of nature alone but constituted and ordained by their use Å¿ Et jus coÌ„mune omnium gentium non instinctu solius naturae sed usu earum constituâ—um Zuarez de leg l. 2. c. 19. It is that which al Nations wel-ordered do use for use requiring and humane necessities Nations of men have ordained to themselves certaine Rites or Lawes Of this sort of Lawes these examples are reckoned up by Isidore t Ius Gentium est sedium occupatio aedificatio munitio bella captivitates servitutes postliminia foedera pacis induciae legatorum non violandorum religio coÌ„nubia inter alienigenas probibita Isid Orig. l. 5. c. 6. first possessions or the taking up of our abodes secondly building thirdly munition fourthly warres fifthly captivity sixthly servitude seventhly recovery of possessions lost or alienated unlawfully eighthly covenants of peace ninthly truces tenthly the
care not to violate embassadours eleventhly marriages forbidden with them of another Nation Now that the imposing of this commandement of the Sabbath on servants also should occasion the breach of the Law of Nations is a meere pretence for the Law of Nations could never charge servants with such a subjection as should crosse and cast out the worship of God so that the servant should be so obliged to his master that of conscience and necessity the servant of a wicked master must bee left in a condition wherein he should never have power to frequent the solemne worship of God as will of necessity follow if he be alwayes absolutely as you teach his masters Shew me whether ever the Nations generally nay ever any one Nation well ordered gave such a Law If no such Law ordained it is no way of the Law of Nations if not ordained it is much more absonant from Natures instinct I say such a thing could never possibly be found among the Nations of men it is so abhorring to Nature but if men could so farre and so universally degenerate yet this without all controversie determines this case u Ius Gentium quum sit positivum non potest derogare juri naturae Ioh. de Salas tract de leg q. 91. disp 2. sect 5. the Law of Nations being a positive Law and humane though brought in by the custome of Nations cannot nor must derogate from a Law of Nature Now the Law of Nature binds all men even servants as servants to serve God solemnely on the times he shall call for their homage from them indispensably as on this day he doth and to this end to be vacant and free from bodily labours that are servile for that time The Decalogue is the Law of Nature it chargeth servants in the fourth and fifth Commandements the duties there required servants stand bound unto and to them first as the rules of the Law of Nature to other duties after under and in reference to them if any such be agreed upon and constituted by the Nations but if Nations should constitute any thing against any duty in the ten Commandements it is not a Law for that is no Law which is not just x Ius non est quod non est justum rectum non lex sed faex non lex sed labes non lex sed lis and right it is perversenesse no Law it is not Law but lees but strife but a destroyer but error but tiranny any thing rather than Law as all the learned conclude If you or any can shew such a Law or rather lees of Nations blessed be God in his wisedome justice and equity for ever who by his eternall Law freeth poore servants from such tyrannous exact on Secondly as our doctrine is wine that comes of the pure grape so yours is the poyson of Dragons pressed from the vine of Sodome for I affirme that it produceth all the former evils For this That the servant is left even the Sabbath day also meerely in his masters power to be obedient to his commands for servile works first it would occasion rebellion in the servant through bitternesse of soule arising from an unsupportable burden secondly and so from thence just punishment on the servant if the masters strength can reach them to inflict it or from superiour Magistrates and thirdly evert the Law of Nations by striking at the life of Religion and Societies in the first and fundamentall society viz. a family and in one of the most necessary props of that society viz. master and servant From this likewise it will follow that God shall be neglected by the servant through neglect of holinesse and that the servant of an unjust master shall no way be provided for in respect of his refreshing no not so well as the oxe or asse for God will be the avenger of that injustice his poore creature being mercilesly used but for this God you say provides that the servant must of conscience obey and so Gods justice wisedome goodnesse and the ends of giving the commandement in regard of the servant shall bee impeached and wholly frustrate Thirdly and lastly you overthrow your owne Tenet for if the execution of that power be bounded for that day as you rightly teach how is the servant to obey the unjust usage of their power For if hee have no power to command the servant may refuse to obey and must both because in this respect the servant is made a freeman and so under the obligation of Gods command by your owne confession and y Quisque ex tharitate propria tenetur non amittere libertatem sine gravi causa Ioh. de Sal. tract de leg q. 91. disp 2. Sect. 5. because every one of charity to himselfe is bound not to lose his liberty without some weighty cause but to enjoy and use it rather where he may be free z 1 Cor. 7. 21. and because the power the master in this case takes he usurpeth nor is it of God but is turned directly against him I say therefore if the masters power be determined the servant is freed but if he have power how is it notwithstanding herein determined Againe if the master must not only discharge the servant of worke but in stead thereof charge him to the exercises of holinesse the servant must needs in obeying his masters sinfull command of working flee off from his charge and power to charge him at that time of his so labouring in the duties of holinesse seeing no man can doe two things chiefly of this nature at once CHAP. 12. Breerwood Pag. 15 16 17. ANd was it not also to his goodnesse and compassion For say that the commandement touching servants vacation was given to themselves not to their Masters should not thereby poore servants to whom every where else the law of God appeareth milde and pittifull be intangled with inextricable perplexity For suppose his master injoyne him some worke on the Sabaoth day covetous masters may soone doe it especially if they thinke that precept touching their servants cessation not to touch them or else they may bee ignorant of the law of God as Christians and Jewes may happily serve Pagans Admit I say some Master commands his servant to work on the Sabaoth what should the servant doe should he worke God hath forbidden him should he not worke His master hath commanded him for the law of God is set at strife with the law of nations and that poore servant like the Sailor betweene Sylla and Charybdit standeth perplexed and afflicted in the midst betweene stripes and sinne for he must of necessity either disobey Gods commandement which is sinne or his Masters which is attended with stripes Besides it is absurd that the law of God should restraine the servant from obeying his Master and yet not restraine the Master from commanding his servant unlawfull things As it is also another absurdity that that day which by the law given
separation from Gentiles and consecration to God therfore it was meerely ceremoniall and obliged not the Gentiles which it had done if it had beene a Law of Nature First here your consequence is weake and fallacious for every marke and signe of separation from others and consecration to God is not ceremoniall Baptisme is such a marke betweene Persian and Heathens yet no ceremony so is the Sacrament of the Lords supper Such was the Sabbath then and is at this day Neither doth every marke of separation and sanctification oblige only those that have that marke for the duty was no lesse necessary to men before the Law given than after and examples are not wanting of the Majesty of God himselfe g Gen. 2. 2. 7. 4. 8. 10 12. Exod. 16. 6. of Noah and of the Israelites before the Law by whom the dayes were gathered into weekes which sheweth that the observation of the Sabbath was not unknowne Lastly you urge us with an absurditie that will follow on this doctrine that if it bee of Nature to keepe the Sabbath it bindeth us Christians to keepe the seventh day Sabbath and so the first changers of the day to the first day of the weeke sinned grievously This argument is of no consequence for the first day of the weeke is now the Lords Sabbath as the seventh day from the Creation was then And thus neither Law of Nature broken nor sinne incurred and therefore all absurditie avoided the first day of the weeke is also the seventh though not that seventh day This accommodation also of the fourth precept to the Iewes in the determination of the day maketh not the commandement ceremoniall nor yet the change of it to our Lords day no more than the fifth Commandement is made ceremoniall by this promise respecting Israel in Canaan That thy dayes may bee long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And this change in the application of the precept by the Apostle that it may bee well with thee and that thou mayest live long on earth h Ephes 6. 3. It standing firme then that the Commandement in every part thereof as it is contained in the Decalogue is morall and of the Law of Nature and the breach thereof a sinne your conclusion taketh place against you namely that the servant may not in any case worke on the Sabbath at prohibited workes because it is sinne at the commandement of any master on earth For it is better to obey God than man To the Answer whereof I leave you or others that in pride of spirit and a spirit of contradiction dare to attempt it in your behalfe All that followeth in this part of your Discourse seeing it is but by way of Recapitulation by the former Answers is found to be of no force CHAP. 17. Breerwood Pag. 28 29 30. BVt there is another objection for admit the servants worke upon the Sabaoth be the Masters sinne that imposeth it Is it not sinne to give consent and furtherance to another mans sinne But this servants doe when they execute their Masters commandements and consequently it is unlawfull so to yeeld lawfull therefore it is to resist and reject such commandement I answer first touching the point of consenting that in such a worke is to be considered the substance and the quality that is the worke it selfe and the sinfulnesse of it servants may consent to it as it is their masters worke not as it is their Masters sinne for except these things be distinguished God himselfe can no more avoide the calumniation of being the author than poore servants of being the ministers of sinne for that God concurreth with every man to every action whatsoever as touching the substance of the action is out of all question seeing both all power whence actions issue are derived from him and that no power can proceede into act without his present assistance and operation but yet to the crime the faultinesse the inordination the unlawfullnesse of the action wherein the nature of sinne doth for malice consist hee concurreth not But it wholly proceedeth from the infection of the concupiscence wherewith the faculties of the soule are originally defiled the actions themselves issuing from the powers and the sinfulnesse of the actions from the sinfulnesse of the powers like corrupt streames flowing from filthier springs It is not therefore every concurrence of the servants with the Master to a sinfull action which causeth the staine and imputation of sin upon the servant as when he consenteth and concurreth only to the action not to the sinne namely likes and approves it as his masters worke yet utterly dislikes it as it is his masters transgression likes of the worke for the obligation of obedience wherein touching worke he standeth to serve his Master and yet dislikes of the sinne for the great obligation wherin every one standeth toward the honour of God But yet to answer secondly to the point of resisting the servant ought not for any dislike or detestation of the annexed sinne to resist or reject his masters commandement touching the worke for in obeying hee is at most but the minister of another mans sinne and that as they say per accidens namely as it is annexed to such a worke but in resisting hee is directly the author of his owne sinne by withdrawing his obedience about bodily service from I say for the master doth not sinne onely in commanding his servant to worke but in working him and so bringing his command into execution which thing the servant knowing to be unlawfull must that he may not partake therein not onely not touch it with one of his fingers but also perswade the contrary and modestly rebuke it Again hee ought to attend on holy workes which directly will hinder that unlawfull worke and to these is he bound as Gods servant that day Thirdly by approving and this the servant doth really by his worke and by his example Your second solution is found by this that hath been set downe to be vaine and frivolous the servant must refuse to sinne in any kinde And his refusall in this kinde is not against the Law of nations as we have heretofore shewed nor against his owne covenant for his covenant though without limitations expressed doth not exempt him from the service of his Prince and Country the Prince may presse him to the warres much lesse from the service of his God when his Lord and Saviour presseth him to his warres as he doth in the day of assembling his army in holy beauty It is therefore wicked and injurious to God man nations lawes and covenants that you say that the Servant standeth bound to his master in all bodily service without any exception of the Sabbath more than other dayes Your phrase you use of the Servants resisting is your owne we teach the servant may refuse and must all such workes which God hath forbidden to be done that day but not resist no hee must acknowledge
bee on common dayes And that the worke there forbidden hath a speciall relation to the gaine of riches is the better apparent because the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth opes as well as opus riches as well as worke and not onely where the commandement was pronounced in the 20 of Exodus but wheresoever it is repeated in the bookes of the law which is oftentimes and differently for other circumstances the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ever retained and never changed not every worke therefore absolutely but every worke of such a kinde namely consisting in toyle and tending to gain is restrained by the commandement and is there not evident reason to understand it so For seeing the intendment of the Precept is clearly in the point of that dayes vacation that the body should be refreshed by abstinence from labour And in the point of sanctification of it the minde should be refreshed by attendance to spirituall exercise it followeth manifestly that if there bee any workes that resolve not the body and so hinder not the refreshing of it nor dissolve and alienate the minde from the Service of God and meditation of godlinesse that these workes are not forbidden because neither the vacation which the commandement importeth nor that sanctification which it intendeth is impeached by them written by his owne hand at the time when these things were in agitation the coppy being his first draught and so very imperfect in many things cannot bee published as could be wished for the satisfaction of the Christian Reader Therefore wee must bee contented here and there to give thee a little taste and first in this particular you have it thus in his owne words Object The word Melachah doth signifie properly servile workes and is a choyse word of purpose used in this Commandement Sol. That the word signifieth servile workes I finde some Divines so saying but that by servile workes they meane onely toylesome and gainefull workes I deny For they used to place servile workes over against workes of pietie Now as by workes of pietie they meane lesser as well as greater works of religion to God so by servile workes they meane as well lighter as toylsome workes of labour for man To deale plainly with you I see no cause why Melachah should have any such speciall weight in signification For thogh your conceit of it that it signifieth opes as wel as opus might cast som color to perswade that it might meane works of gain yet that it shold specially note works of toyle there is no color Nay me thinks Magnaseh is of a larger signification and fits for toyle as signifying to worke cum energia Thus the wicked are workers of iniquitie and Nabals cattell are called Magnasehu appellantur nomine operis eò quod homo seipsum occupat in illorum acquisitione and are called by the name of Worke because man busieth himselfe in getting them and yet Pegnulah more fit than them both it signifieth opus and opâ—ris merces worke and the reward of worke workes of hands Psal 9. 16. The worke of the hireling Iob 7. 2. It is likely that he that published this Treatise of Master Breerwoods hath a perfect coppie of a full answere For Master Breerwoods provoked spirit as he termeth it himselfe would not have beene allayed without a satisfactorie answer Faire dealing would have required it should have beene produced and then I had saved this paines in answering But then the Publisher had missed his aime which was to traduce the Dead who then being Dead had yet spoken Sixtly that this interpretation is orthodoxe and yours novel and adulterous see how Divines and the Churchâ—s of Christ have understood it Our Church of England declareth her minde in the first part of the Homilie of the place and time of Prayer where the example of the man that gathered stickes on the Sabbath day is alledged and those that pranke and prick and paint and point themselves to be gorgeous and gay those that toyishly talke are reckoned a sort of transgressors worse than those that keepe Markets and Faires that day Tertullian saith q Non facies opus quod utique tuum Arcam verò circuÌ„serre neque quotidianum opus videri potest neque humanum sed bonum sacrosanctum c. Tertul. l. 2. contra Marcionem God forbade humane workes not divine Thou shalt doe no worke what worke namely thine owne but to carry abou the Arke that is about the wals of Iericho can neither seeme a dayly worke nor an humane but a good and holy worke and therefore by the very Commandement of God divine Master Greenham r Greenh Treatise of the Sabbath As wee denie Church feasts as imitâ—tions of the Heathen so we deny Holy-day playes as remnants of ancient prophanenesse pag. 169. sheweth excellently that recreations as shooting and the like at other times lawfull and bankettings and the exercises for sicke persons refreshing if it be not in reading singing and holy conference for if they be sicke it is a time of praying not of playing and if they be well to play are they not so to doe these Heavenly and comfortable duties All these are unlawfull to be used that day neither saith he is the Sabboth onely broken by prophanenesse but also by idle workes Mayer Å¿ pag. 260. upon the fourth Commandement saith We must rest from worldly speeches and thoughts small workes which come not within the compasse of religion mercy or necessitie must not be done on the Sabbath saith Master Dod on the Commandements t pag. 152. Polyander Rivet Wallaeus and Thysius say u Synopsis purioris theol â—â—sp 21. pag. 261. That it is morall and ingrafted in nature that the whole minde bee taken off from other cares on the Sabbath and the whole day bestowed in the duties morall or if so how should the Iewes put a difference betweene the one and the other for you will needs have ceremoniall precepts in the body of the fourth Commandement And why bring you in the Instance of our blessed Saviour who was a Iew and bound to the law as given to the Iewes and kept the ceremonial as wel as the moral law Secondly Come come you are plunged let me helpe you In that our Saviour did allow and doe many light and laborlesse workes in your Ashdodaean phrase for we take your words till wee come to examine the matter further and yet by voluntary dispensation was bound to all the law it is cleare that no ceremoniall law or clause of any law in the old Testament forbade the workes that hee did on the Sabbath and so your answere that that command in Exod. 35. 3. was a If it were ceremoniall the equitie neverthelesse must binde Christians although the sanction doth not constraine them The equitie of the Law teacheth us wee ought not to turne this libertie to bee servants of our wanton desires Greenth Treatise of the
the Jewes not the first day of the weeke the Sabaoth of Christians that was so strictly by Gods commandement destined to rest Therefore the workes done on the Sabaoth day are no transgressions of Gods commandements Object But you will say the old Sabaoth is abolished and the celebration of it translated to the first day of the weeke Translated by whom By any commandement of God Where is it The holy Scripture we know to be sufficient it containeth all the commandements of God whether of things to be done or to be avoided or to be beleeved Sol. Let me heare either one precept one Word of God out of the old Testament that it should be translated or one precept one word of the Sonne of God out of the new Testament commanding it to bee translated I say one word of any of his Apostles intimating that by Christs commandement it was translated It is certaine that there is none Therfore it is evident that the solemnitie of the Lords day was not established Iure divino Not by any commandement of God and consequently that to worke on that day is certainely no breach of any Divine commandement Answer You proceed and would prove this wicked assertion That it is no breach of any Divine commandement for a servant at the commandement of his master nay for any one on his owne head to worke on our Sabbath which is the Lords day the first day of the weeke First the commandement say you cannot be understood of the Lords day Why I pray you can you understand it of any other day save the Sabbath day Doth not the tenor of the precept sound thus Remember the Sabbath day to sanctifie it You yeeld in the next breath that the Lords day is the Christians Sabbath You must then yeeld that the commandement is understood of it You would bee thus understood and take it very hainously that you should be said to oppose Gods Sabbath do you No you doe not nor ever did Farre bee it from you to thinke it were to wrong you to write it were to calumniate you thus you pleade for your selfe in the first section of your Reply pag. 61 62. Yet lo now the commandement cannot be understood of the Lords day Why then say man the Lords day is not the Sabbath for of the Sabbath is the commandement Secondly but to your reasoning for it is not reason nor religion What day was it of which the charge was so strictly given was it not of the seventh day of the weeke say you Yes indeed of the seventh as the precept was first applied to man But aske againe Why of the seventh more than the sixth And the Lord answereth Because it was the Sabbath of the Lord for wheÌ„ it ceaseth to be the Lords Sabbath the commandement is not of it as you also acknowledge or else why keepe you it not Yet the commandement standeth in full vigor viz. of sanctifying and resting on the Sabbath To the Iewes the seventh from the Creation was the Sabbath the commandement stood in vigor to them for that day to the Christian the seventh even the first day of the weeke is the Sabbath the commandement stands in vigor to them also for that day Therefore he saith not Remember thou sanctifie the seventh day and keep it Sabbath nor thou shalt doe no worke on the Sabbath day for it is the seventh but he saith Remember the Sabbath day to sanctifie it and Thou shalt do no worke on the seventh for it is the Sabbath This Reason you leape and yet you aske a Why And why the seventh Because God rested thereon and sanctified the seventh day Here you violate first the words of the commandement written with Gods owne finger and then the sense for it is thus read o Exod. 20. 11. Therefore hee sanctified the Sabbath day or resting day and so hee sanctified our Sabbath day as well as theirs for the Sabbath he sanctified be it what day hee shall be pleased to nominate a matter of infinite comfort to us that desire to doe the duties of the day with faith in Gods both blessing and acceptation And hereby your conclusion is utterly weakened Thirdly this reason is given both as a reason of the rest on that day and as a plaine declaration of the institution of that Sabbath day and of this day in the precept now Hee rested the seventh day Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it When did hee so Gen. 2. 3. In the beginning Yea he did sanctifie the seventh Yea then he sanctified the Sabbath it was instituted when he blessed and sanctified it and this was in the Creation But how was this done The very worke of the day instituted the day which was this the Lords resting blessing and sanctifying it Now this teacheth us that the institution of the Sabbath in respect of the determination of the time is to bee looked for in the worke of God Gods resting blessing and sanctifying the seventh day made it the Sabbath day therefore in the commandement it is said The seventh is the Sabbath and the following words shew how it was made the Sabbath and what day he blesseth and sanctifieth is the Sabbath Now Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath by whom the worlds were made Col. 1. 16. by whom also they are renewed looke in his worke and find undoubtedly the making and institution of the day to the world renewed the seventh day he lay in the grave here was no worke of blessing and sanctifying but the first day of the weeke very early he arose and appeared to his Disciples and unfolded the Scriptures and opened their understandings to understand them The fourth commandement to speake all clearely stands in p Nomine Sabbathi nobis significatur quòd in nostris debeamus nos Sabbathiê â—â— Hoc est quiescere ab illis operibus à quibus Iudaei quiescere jubebantur Zanch. de red l. 1. c. 19. force to us and the Lords resurrection resting from the worke of our redemption and rejoycing in it blessing it with that worke with divers apparitions that very day and sanctifying it with spending it among his Disciples in his presence bodily now glorified in heavenly expositions and operations upon their hearts and in the returne of the day many times and in speciall upon the returne of it at Whitsontide with the mission of the Holy Ghost This I say applieth and determineth it to this day we now observe And as the Iewes are sent to seeke the precise day in the Lords resting from the workes of Creation so we are sent to the rest from the worke of redemption The institution of this day is clearely in the very worke of the Resurrection as the institution of the seventh day was in the worke of finishing the Creation This hath been anciently taught and still is sparsed in the writings of the godly learned S. Augustine saith q Domini resuscitatio promisit nobis
precedent words of the administration of the Lords Supper But we after those things for the remainder of the time doe ever remember one another of these things and those of us which have any thing helpe every one that wants and are alwayes together one with another A little after hee saith that the assemblies on that day were frequented of all in Citie and Countrie prayer preaching and the Sacrament was administred Collections for the poore which was after the assemblies distributed to the needy imprisoned stranger with the like whom they visited Tertullian in that 16 chapter of his Apologie against the Gentiles gives this as one cause of their conjecture that Christians worshipped the Sunne because they kept the Sunday Holy Wee give our selves to joy saith hee the Sunday for another farre wide reason than in honour of Diem solis laetitiae indulgemus the Sunne are we in the second place from them which appoint Saturday to idlenesse and feeding themselves also wandring from the Iewish custome which they know not What meaneth he hereby but that such a solemnitie is kept and ought to bee by Christians as should exceede in that kinde the feasts of the nations and Heathen as in his booke of Idolatrie chap. 14. he speaketh Ignatius speaketh enough to any man not prepossessed for he saith let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lords day as festivall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek word signifieth a solemne festivall free from worke and workeday labour That others also of the ancients did understand this celebration to be with exact vacation is evident Saint Austin saith come ye to the Church every Lords day for if the unhappy Iewes doe celebrate the Sabbath with such devotion that in it no earthly workes were done how much more ought Christians to bee vacant to God alone on the Lords day and come together for the Salvation of their soules Againe Apostles and Apostolike men have therefore ordained that the Lords day be kept with religious solemnitie because in it our Redeemer arose from the Dead and which is therefore called the Lords day that in it abstaining from earthly affaires and the enticements of the world we may serve onely in divine worship That of Saint Clement is also worthy note neither on the Lords dayes which are dayes of joyfulnesse doe we grant any thing may be said or done besides holinesse Austin also in the sixt booke de Civitate Dei chap. 11. speaking of Seneca's scoffing at the Iewes Sabbath that they lost the seventh part of their time in vacancie addeth this Notwithstanding he durst not speake of the Christians even then most contrarie to the Iewes on either part lest either hee should praise them against the old custome of his owne Countrey or reprove them perhaps against his owne will Saint Austine likewise reproveth their telling of tales their slanders playing at dice and such unprofitable sports as if one part of the day were set apart for dutie to God and the rest of the day together with the night to their owne pleasures In the same place also he condemnes walking about the fields and woods when they should bee at Serm. 251. De Temp. Divine Service with clamour and laughter and saith the day must be sequestred a rurali opere ab omni negotio from countrey worke and all businesse that wee may give our selves wholly to the worship of God Saint Chrysostome speaking of the fitnesse of the Lords day for almes saith it is a convenient time to practise liberalitie with a ready and willing minde not onely in this regard but also because it hath rest remission freedome and vacation from labours Saint Ambrose q Ambros tom 3. Serm. 1. de granosinapis p. 225. reproving the peoples neglect of Church on the Lords dayes saith Whatsoever brother is not present at the Lords Sacraments of necessity he is with God a forsaker of the Divine truth For how can he excuse himselfe who preparing his dinner at home on the day of the Sacraments contemneth that heavenly Banket and taking care of the belly neglecteth the physicke of his soule The same Father in another place r Id. Serm. 33. pag. 259. tom 3. saith Let us all the day bee conversant in prayer or reading hee that cannot reade let him aske of some holy man that he may bee fed with his conference let no secular acts hinder divine acts let no Table-play carry away the mind let no pleasure of Dogs call away the senses let no dispatch of a businesse pervert the mind with covetousnesse True this Father in this place speaketh of a Fast but we know that a Fast and Sabbath are alike for the point of rest Saint ſ Hieron ad Rustich Dominicos dies orationi tantum lectionibus vacant Hierom also On the Lords day saith he they onely give themselves to prayer and reading Secondly now for your contrary evidences what if they also make for us You alleage a constitution of Constantines Iurge First the same Emperours Constitutions found in Ecclesiasticall Writers Eusebius in his life saith Wherefore he ordained that all that obeyed the Romane Empire should rest from all labour on the dayes that are called from our Saviours Name Further hee saith of this Christian Emperour He taught all his hoste to honour this day diligently those that partooke of the Divine Faith hee gave them leasure to frequent the Assemblies that no impediment should hinder their attendance on prayer but others that had no savor of Divine Doctrine hee gave charge of them by another Law that they should goe into the open fields of the Suburbs on the Lords day and that there altogether should use the same forme of prayer to God when asigne was given of some one of them for said he we ought not to use speares and place the hope of our affaires in weapons and bodily strength Sozomen in his tripartite history testifieth thus That day which is called the Lords day which the Hebrewes call the first day which the Grecians attribute to the Sunne and which is before the seventh day he ordained that all should cease from suites and other businesses and should onely bee occupied in prayers upon it t Sozom Hist Eccles tripert l. 1. c. 10. Behold Constantine against Constantine Secondly your Constitution is read Cod. l. 3. tit 12 l. 3. This Constitution was reversed by Leo the Emperour and another made in these words We ordaine according to the true meaning of the holy Ghost and of the Apostles thereby directed that on the sacred day wherein our integrity was restored all doe rest and surcease labour that neither husbandmen nor other on that day put their hands to forbidden workes for if the Iewes did so much reverence their Sabbath which was but a shadow of ours are not we which inhabit the light and truth of grace bound to honour that day which the Lord himselfe hath honoured and hath therein delivered