rest yea from our lawfull and needfull workes For like as it appeareth by this Commandement that no man in the six 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 weekly and worke day labour to the intent that like as God himself wrought six dayes and rested the seventh and blessed and sanctified it and consecrated it to quietnes and rest from labour Even so Gods obedient people should use the Sunday holily and rest from their common and dayly businesse and also give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises of Gods true Religion and service So that God doth not onely command the observation of this holy day but also by his owne example doth stirre and provoke us to the diligent keeping of the same Good naturall children will not onely become obedient to the Commandement of their Parents but also have a diligent eye to their doeings and gladlie follow the same So if wee will be the children of our heavenly Father wee must be carefull to keep the Christian Sabbath Day which is the Sunday not onely for that it is Gods expresse Commandement but also to declare our selves to be loving children in following the example of our gratious Lord and Father So the Homily And againe as followeth Thus it may plainlie appeare that Gods will and Commandement was to have a solemne time and standing day in the weeke wherein the people should come together and have in remembrance his wonderfull benefits and to render him thanks 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 VVhence wee plainely observe these conclusions 1. That all Christians ought and are bound in conscience of the fourth Commandement to keep the Lords Day holily 2. That by the force of the fourth Commandement one day in 7. is perpetually to be kept holy 3. That the keeping of the Lords Day is grounded upon and commanded in the fourth Commandement and so is not of humane institution 4. That the Lords Day is and may be 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 dueties of sanctification and therefore no part of it to be spent in vaine pleasures and profane pastimes Now the Author of the Treatise doth overthrow all these conclusions as is to be seene throughout his booke A. I pray you shew some instances hereof B. Pag. 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 VVhich comparing with the words of the Homily of our Church already cited are found quite contrary For the Homily sayth 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 commands 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 Gods true Religion and service So as this man doth most unjustly condemne all those Godly Preachers that have for so many yeares maintayned the expresse doctrine of our Church in their writings and Sermons and so hee flatly condemneth our Church and her doctrine of the Sabbath wherein shee is more cleare and sound then any Churches in the world And long may this doctrine still florish amongst us maugre all the malicious opposers thereof who are so bold as to affirme that it is destitute of truth A. I assure you I begin now to suspect the man that hee hath not dealt uprightly in the cause B. Nay it is past all suspition for his words are so expresse that they can admit of no favorable interpretation but that they condemne the cleare Doctrine of our Church touching the perpetuall morality of the fourth Commandement for one day in the weeke and so our Lords Day or Sunday the first day of the weeke our Christian Sabbath day which God hath given expresse charge to all men to keep holy A. I confesse the words of the Homily are most cleare without all ambiguity or obscurity But yet the Author seemes to acknowledge some morality naturall to be in the fourth Commandement For pag. 135. hee sayth 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 universalibus 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 Gods worship For the Commandement is expresse for a certaine day in the weeke for the Sabbath day Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it It sayth not Remember to set apart and allow some time for the service of God but it determines the time and day least otherwise being left undetermined man should forget God and himself and allow no time or day at all for Gods service or if hee did God should be beholden to him for it But it is a Law of nature that every Lord and Master should have the power in himself to appoint not onely the kind of service but the time when it should be performed of his servants As Alexander d'Ales sayth upon the fourth Commandement The time of this rest it is not in mans power to determine but Gods Againe the adversary acknowledgeth an equity in the fourth Commandement VVhat equity if as it bound the ancient people of God to one day in the weeke it doe not also bind the Christian people to keep one day in the weeâ—â—nd if it be the equity of the fourth Commandement to prescribe one day in seaven then they are very unjust that deny the keeping of the Lords day to be grounded upon the equity of the fourth Commandement It were well if they would stand to equity But this doth our adversary fly from For hee sayth in the next words The particular forme and circumstances of resting are prescribed unto us by the precepts of the Church Our spirituall actions according to that which is maine and substantiall in them are taught by the Euangelicall Law Their modification and limitation in respect of rituall and externall forme and in
regard of place duration gesture habit and other externall circumstances are prescribed by the Law of the Church So hee Thus you see how hee limits the prescription of circumstances which comprehend time place persons and namely Duration when and how long God shall be served unto the prescription of the Law of the Church which hee expresseth more fully pag. 270. saying It was in the free election of the Church to appoint what day or dayes or times shee thought good or found convenient for Religious dueties for the Euangelicall Law hath not determined any certaine day or time and those actions or circumstances which are not determined by Divine precept are permitted to the liberty and authority of the Church to be determined and appointed So hee But cleare it is that the Church of England disclameth all such power but ascribes all authority of prescribing a time and day of holy rest unto the Lord of the Sabbath who hath expressed his will and pleasure herein in his Law of the fourth Commandement as our Homily sayth A. But the Homily seemes to favour his opinion saying that Godly Christian people began to chuse them a standing day of the weeke c. And therefore it seemes to be at the Churches choyce B. Our choyce doth not necessarily imply a power of institution Wee are sayd to chuse life and truth before death and errour are wee therefore the authors of them Againe our choyce herein is according to Gods Commandement Thirdly the Homily sayth expresly that those Godly Christian people did in their choyce follow the example and Commandement of God Now what example had they but Christs rising and resting on that day after the example of Gods resting the seventh day And for Commandement they had both the fourth Commandement and an Apostolicall precept 1. Cor. 16. and that place in the Revelation appropriating this day as holy to the Lord and so ratified by God himself And who were they which taught those Godly Christian people to keepe this day viz. the Apostles And therefore wee must put a vast difference betweene the unerring Apostles and the succeeding Churches so as the Homily is cleare against him A. But see this seemes to me the maine knott of the whole controversy namely about the designation of the particular and speciall time consecrated to Gods worship whither 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 Now although you have a little touched upon this point already yet considering it is the maine hindge of the whole matter in question and the maine ground whereon the whole waight of the controversy relyeth I pray you a little more fully to elucidate this point and the rather not onely for the settling of my judgement but for the clearing of our Homily from all false interpretations which the Adversary might make for the eluding of those things which you have observed out of it B. Your motion is very opportune and no lesse important For the Adversary doth the more easily play fast and loose in the myst of his generalities while though hee cannot or dare not for shame utterly deny the morality of the fourth Commandement which all Divines doe hold yet hee 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 stoppe this hole that hee may not have the least evasion but by the cords of strong reasons be bound and forced to confesse that either the fourth Commandement doth prescribe and determine a sett certain fixed proportion of time consecrated by God himself unto his solemne and sacred worship or els that it commaunds to us Christians no certain 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 A. Sir I conceive and apprehend it to be so B. Now I shall proove and make it evident that the fourth Commandement either prescribes a certain proportion of time and a fixed day consecrate to God and in that very respect is perpetually morall binding us Christians to the same proportion or els if it determine no sett proportion of time but leaves it at large to the Church to proportionate whither longer or shorter then there remaines no such obligatory equity in the fourth Commandement as to bind 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 20 or 40 or 100 or one day in the yeare or so or but one peece of a day in such a revolution of time and not one whole or intyre day much lesse one whole day in every seven the Church in this sinneth not as being not guilty of the breach of the fourth Commandement which bindeth us Christians to no certain proportion of time as the Adversary himself would have it but in this respect is now abrogated His words are The fourth Commandement in respect of any one definite and speciall day of every weeke was not simplie and perpetuallie morall but positive and temporary onely Which assertion of his as it is directly and in terminis contrary to the doctrine of our Homily fore-alledged which sayth By this Commandement the fourth wee ought to have a time as one day in the weeke c. and this appartaineth to the Law of nature as a thing most Godly most just and needfull for the setting forth of Gods glorie and therefore ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian people So the Homily No sayth D. Whiâ— one day in the weeke was but positive and temporary onely and therefore not appartaining to the Law of nature as a thing most Godly most just and needfull for the setting forth of Gods glory and so ought not in that respect to be retained and kept of all good Christian people But wee will not presse him downe with the bare authority of our Church without showing the grounds and reasons whereupon it is grounded Now first observe wee the words of the Commandement Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy which words sayth the learnest Zanchie are the very morall substance of the fourth Commandement The Lord sayth not Remember to sanctify some convenient and sufficient time as the Church shall thinke fit The Commandement prescribeth a certain and sett time yea a day the Sabbath day one day in the weeke which is the Sabbath day Againe it teacheth us
factions Sabbatarian Novellists But what instances can you bring of any that were eminent in this Church for learning and parts and not any way inclined to the Disciplinarian Faction that concurre with you in the same judgement and understanding of the doctrine of our Church layd downe in the Homily B. First the words of the Homily as you have heard and as every one may plainely see are so expresse cleare and full that they cannot possibly admit of the least ambiguity And for instances I could give many I will content my self with two witnesses enough to establish the matter VVhat say you to the learned Hooker and to the learned Dr. Andrewes were these any way inclined unto the Disciplinarian Faction or were they novell Sabbatarians A. No surely I thinke D. VVh himself will not say so of them but will admit them for very competent witnesses in this cause as without all exception B. First then for Mr. Hooker Hee in his fift booke of Ecclesiasticall Policy Sect. 70. hath these words If it be demanded whether wee observe these times to wit holy dayes as being thereunto bound by force of Divine Law or els by the onely positive Ordinances of the Church I answer to this that the very Law of nature it self which all men confesse to be Gods Law requireth in generall no lesse the sanctification of times then of places persons and things unto Gods honor For which cause it hath pleased him heretofore as of the rest so of time likewise to exact some parts by way of perpetuall homage never to be dispensed withall nor remitted againe to require some other parts of time with as strict exaction but for lesse continuance and of the rest which were left arbitrary to accept what the Church shall in due consideration consecrate voluntarily unto like Religious uses Of the first kind amongst the Iewes was the Sabbath day Of the second those Feasts which are appointed to 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 us 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 wee are bound to account the sanctification of one day in seven a duety which Gods immutable Law doth exact for ever So hee there VVhere you see how in terminis hee agreeth and jumpeth with the expresse doctrine of our Church in the Homily touching the perpetuall morality of the fourth Commandement Wee are bound sayth hee to account the sanctification of one day in seven which before hee sayth is now the Lords day a duety which Gods immutable Law doth exact for ever The second instance is the late Reverend and learned B. of VVinkc who in his speech in the Starre-chamber which with other of his workes hath been by the great diligence and care of the now Archbishop of Cant. published in print confuting Trasks opinion about the Iewes Sabbath hath these words It hath ever been 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 Lords day presently came in place of it Dominicus c. The Lords day was by the Resurrection of Christ declared to be the Christians day and from that very time of Christs Resurrection it began to be celebrated as the Christian mans Festivall For the Sabbath had reference to the old Creation but in Christ wee are a new creature a new creation by him and to have a new Sabbath And a little after The Apostles they kept their meetings on that day On that day they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is held their synaxes their solemne assemblies to preach to pray to break bread or celebrate the Lords Supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords Supper on the Lords day For these two onely the Day and the Supper have the Epithet of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominicum in the Scriptures to shew Dominicum is alike to be taken in both This for the practise then If you will have it in Precept The Apostle gives it and in the same word still that against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first day of the weeke the day of their assembly every one should lay apart what God should moove him to offer to the Collection for the Saincts and then offer it which was soever in use That the day of oblations So have you it in practise and in precept both c. And after A thing so notorious so well knowne even to the heathen themselves as it was in the Acts of the Martyrs ever an usuall question of theirs even of Course in their examining What Dominicum Servasti Hold you the Sunday and their answer knowne they all averre it Christianus sum intermittere non possum I am a Christian I cannot intermit it And besides others hee cites Athanasius who shewes the abolishing of the Iewes day and the succeeding of the Lords day in place of it and that so full as no man can wish more Last of all hee both quotes and commends the Councell of Laodicea for that Canon 29. That Christen men may not Iudaize or grow Iewes that is not make the Sabbath or Saturday their day of rest but that they are to worke on that day giving their honour of celebration to the Lords day So hee I will adde onely a brief note of the same Author in one of his Sermons on those words This is the day which the Lord hath made The day of Christs Resurrection made by God Dies Dominicus and to it doe all the Fathers apply this verse So hee I might here also adde what is sayd in that Booke which is intituled A Patterne of catecheticall Doctrine and printed at London 1630. which though it have not Dr. Andrewes name prefixt unto it yet it is well knowne it was his worke even ex ungne Leonem being his Catecheticall exercise in Cambridge as I have been credibly informed and whereof I have the Manuscript by mee which I keep as an Antiquity I know the booke will not very well relish with our adversaries palate For there pag. 233. are these passages Quest. But is not the Sabbath a ceremony and so abrogated by Christ Answ. Doe as Christ did in the cause of divorce looke whither it were so from the beginning Now the beginning of the Sabbath was in Paradise before there was any sinne and so before there needed any Saviour and so before there was any Ceremony or figure of a Saviour Object And if they say it prefigured the rest that wee shall have from our sinnes in Christ. Answ.