others or if any doe few I presume will believe him therein Secondly if the Christian Holyday were to consist of a certaine determinate number of houres either the new Testament which alone speaks of this day or the Church of Christ who alone observes it would have directed us where to begin those houres and where to end them For the Iewes were expresly so directed but neither the new Testament nor the Church of Christ hath given any such directions If any say we need no such new information in this point having already the same which the Iewes had in the fourth Commandement we shall I hope give him satisfaction in the answere to the first Argument of the precedent chapter which it doth concerne Thirdly if a Lords night be to be sanctifyed as well as the day this night and all the parts thereof must differ from other nights by some speciall appropriation to the Lord as the day differs from other daies But how can this be unlesse we rest not at all that night in our beds or serve God by dreames and visions Which to affirme were notoriously absurd Ob. If any man demand how did the Iewes then keep their Sabbath from evening to evening Sol. I answere that the reason is not the same for the very corporall rest of the Iewes was simply and of it selfe a Sabbath daies duty so that it was as unlawfull for them not to Rest in their beds that night as to work about their callings that day which I think no man will affirme of Christians under the Gospell Fourthly there is no morall law in nature nor positive law in Scripture but is in it selfe possible to all men in all parts of the world in regard of the thing commanded But a naturall day-day-Sabbath as it is made to consist of a day and a night is absolutely impossible for some men in some parts of the world in regard of the thing commanded in some parts there being nothing but day and in other places nothing but night for a long space together This is so apparent as needs no proofe Therefore c. Ob. It is objected that the Iewes also by this rule might have been as we say perplext had they at any time travailed towards either of the Poles Vnto which I answere Sol. First that the Iewes were in a manner confined unto the land of Canaan except in cases of necessity for the blessing and promise was annexed thereunto being therefore stiled the Lords Land Commerce indeed they had with other nations which proved their ruin but for any voyages they made or Colonies they deduced we read none Solomon it is true sent a navy unto Ophyr which is Peru as most conceive or as Iosephus some place in the East Indies Iehosaphat attempted the like but his ships were broken at Ezion Geber 1. Kings 22 48. For though Solomons navy found prosperous successe intending therein the glory of Gods house yet Iehosaphat having no such warrantable grounds failed in his expectation Some think that the Iewes travelled and tâ—â—ded into that part of the Indies which at this day we call New-England for there they finde a harbour which the natives call Nahum-Keik the harbour of him that comforts or of him that repents It 's usuall in this language to have contrary significations But let it be granted that they meet with some Hebrew words in that tongue what nation is there in whose language you may not make the like observation Say also that the Iewes travailed into the East and west Indies for Gold and Spices I think it easy to shew that those parts of the world in which are either continuall day or night were not known untill after Christ and the destruction of Hierusalem In a word had the Iewes at any time travailed into such places where they could not have kept their Sabbath from evening to evening it had been sinne unto them For when a man shall by any voluntary action of his own cast himselfe into an utter impossibility of fulfilling any positive precept of the law of God it becomes evill unto him though otherwise it be both lawfull and commendable The case therefore is not the same with the Iewes and us in this point they being precisely bound both to places and houses from both which Christ hath set us free The objection is of no weight Fiftly to make the night part of the Lords day to be observed by the Church of Christ is contrary to the ground of the institution thereof which is the Resurrection of Christ For Christ rose not in the night but early in the morning and being risen his Resurrection hath no night But how can the night remember us of that which hath no night If we keep the night before we solemnize not Christs resurrection for he was not as yet risen if the night after we seeme to be enemies of his resurrection as if the Sunne of righteousnesse were set the second time whereas r Rom. 6 9. Christ being risen dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him If any man say he keepeth not the night as a part of the Lords day the memoriall of Christ Resurrection but as a part of his Sabbath in the fourth Commandement He seemeth expresly to forsake Christ and to cleave to Moses and being weary of being a Christian defires to turne Iew. Sixtly A night Sabbath is contrary to the end of the Institution under the Gospell which was Gods publique worship in the congregation for other use thereof we find not in holy Scripture If any man object collections to be made for the poore private prayers and christian exercises c. we shall God willing speak thereof also in its place But night assemblies for the publique worship except in time of persecution are contrary to the Apostles Rule * 1. Cor. 14.40 let all things be done decently and in order Experience in former ages hath made it manifest what abuses were practised under such pretences Ob. If any man say that the publique was appointed for the day and the private for the night Sol. First there is no such rule in Scripture Secondly the Church hath no such custome Thirdly private night-conventicles are as little nay farre lesse to be trusted then publique meetings in the night Lastly the practice of the primitive Church was utterly without any set number of houres and there was much variety in their observation sometime they began their publique worship on Saturday after supper as in Syria and Aegypt Some-time they began their Lords day about the s Tempus publici conventûs fuit Anteluâ—anum Con. Antis cap. 11. dawning the time as they conceived of Christs Resurrection others also began upon satturday noon and held on untill Sunday morning At this day our Sabbatharians are devided in this point some affirming from evening to evening others from morning to morning others from midnight to midnight so that their position of a twenty-foure houres Sabbath
it will not be difficult to dissolue the arguments formerly alleadged To the first therefore I say it is utterly untrue that outward rest and cessation from secular employments is an essentiall duty of Sabbaths in generall but of Sabbaths properly so called which were only the Iewish weekly Sabbaths And this those very Scriptures used for confirmation doe make appeare being all of them branches of the law Ceremoniall The Lords day is a Sabbath but not properly so called and as the word doth signifie but Analogically and in its proportion And therefore the Christian Holy-day is no where stiled by this name either in Scripture or Antiquity as hath already been declared Lastly we deny not but there is a Rest which is Morall and eternall to all dayes of publique and solemne worship as it is laid downe in our fist Conclusion but not as any essentiall duty as essentiall is here taken that is of it selfe and its owne nature without reference to the publique worship For so it was to the Iewes in the fourth Commandement and so our Sabatharians now make it pressing the Letter of that precept in the same nay in a greater rigour then ever it did binde the Iewes This argument therefore is weake in all the parts thereof The second carrieth with it much weight with poore ignorant well-minded people as seeming to be the very words of the holy Ghost But how both they and the Text it selfe haue been abused hath already been shewed and need not here to be repeated We will only adde what the argument it selfe suggesteth that the Prophet Commenteth upon the Law and the Letter of the Law is wholy Ceremoniall as hath also been declared To the third That the Rest of the fourth Commandement was imposed upon Servants and Beasts to take away all occasions of travaile from their Masters and owners or that this was intended by the Law-giver herein is a groundlesse fancy and comes neere to wresting and perverting of Scripture For when the Law-giver shall with his owne mouth render a reason of his owne Law expressing what he aimed at in the severall clauses thereof it is not only vanity but presumption in any other to shew the depth of his reach to tell us of other reasons and those directly contrary to his and all this in his name as being sent from him with He saith It is so in this particular For God hath expressely expounded this clause in the Commandement and shewed his aime therein as first that it was to remember them of their labours in Egypt where they were servants entreated more like beastes then men Secondly it was the Lords goodnes extending it selfe euen to the meanest of his Creatures that their Servants Cattle might be refreshed as well as themselues not therefore for the Masters sakes as a restraint as is pretended but for the poore Servants and Beasts sakes to be refreshed thereby was this added in the Commandement God having thus rendred an account of this passage it is more subtile then solid savors more of acutenesse then of religion to affix to this exposition any glosses and conceits of our owne The fourth hath already been satisfied in the Question concerning the duration of the Lords day To the fift it is indeed true that all impediments of holy duties are forbidden by the same Commandement wherein the duty is required though not immediately as the duty it selfe but inclusiuely by way of reduction only as Privations are reduced to the same Predicaments with their habits But that all secular and civill works words thoughts are such impediments to the duties of the Lords day as are imagined unlesse they hinder us in the publique worship is utterly untrue The text of Leviticus speaks of the carnall Sabbathizing of the Iewes which being of it selfe a duty was broken by any thing done by them But we are Christians not Iewes And whereas it is suggested that secular diversions steale away the minde from holy things choaking the good seed of the word in us it being impossible to serue God and Mammon this is true indeed where the world is made an Idoll and a mans affections are immoderately set upon outward things and so the text alleadged doth expound it selfe Now every mans reason will tell him that there is a great difference between carking and careing for outward things which at all times is unlawfull as being the service of Mammon and the dispatching of some accidentall occurrent or secular discourses or ordinary affaires which are alwayes lawfull but when we ought to attend Gods publique worship To the sixth Were the Minor proposition true it would well neere follow that the actiue life should be most miserable and little better then prophanesse being by reason of infinite secular imployments made uncapeable of Righteousnesse Peace Ioy in the holy ghost a Magni maris fluctthâ—s quatior atque in navi wentis tempestatis validae procellis illidor Greg. dial S. Gregory indeed complaines that when he was taken out of his Monastery and made Bishop of Rome and by the greatnesse of his See forced to engage himselfe in the matters of the world it seemed a new tempest to his soule But what is this to some triviall imployments of particular men which may suddainly be trans-acted without tumult or distraction But to descend to the particulars It 's most true that faith which purifieth the heart is obtained by hearing the world strengthned by meditation and conference doth it therefore follow that by whatsoever else we doe we destroy or overthrow it It is as if in naturall things we should say naturall life doth consist in naturall heart and moisture both these be upheld by naturall food whatsoever therefore is not our naturall food overthroweth our naturall heate and moysture destroyeth naturall life in us and so war me cloathes in winner may kill Saving faith and our honest imployments of this life are so farre from being incompatible as that the one is preserved and cherished by the other when they are vndertaken and performed as they ought to be in the Lords presence with reverence and feare and obedience not intermitting the habituall bent of the soule towards heaven With these conditions the circumstance of time whether on this day or on that day is not materiall so the publique worship be not prejudic'd thereby The same is also most true of b Peractis saâ—r is anâ—mi gratià equiect quis piscetur aut simile quid jaciat non magis prophanat sabbathum quan Christus per sata â—llâ— de Sab. c. 5. Peractis sacris recreationes licitaesunt sed non carnales sâ—urriâ—es-quales in obsâ—â—nis â—udis â—osu chartaâ—â—â—â— tesseâ—acum compoâ—ationibus c. sed lusus priae nochi palesâ—rica exâ—â—citia jacuâ—atus simiâ—ia ad liberagem recreatione â—â—moâ—ò non â—â—ant cum neglectu caltus jacri qui ante omâ—iâ—pt aeceâ—ere dâ—â—er 〈◊〉 c. â— Recreations if they be honest in themselues and lawfull by the
Lord as much presseth the time as the duties Secondly by the Law of contraries For if any sinne as drunkennesse uncleanenesse blasphemie and prophanenesse be more abhominable in the sight of God upon the Lords day then upon any other day it must needs be that the coÌ„trary vertues are more acceptable unto him also from the circumstance of the day But the former is generally affirmed especially of the Scotists and is grounded upon that common Maxime in Morall Philosophy Bonitas malitia actionum pendet à circumst antijs the good and evill of our wayes are to be measured by the circumstances thereof and amongst these the circumstance of time is not to be sleighted Ergo c. Fourthly the day of Christs corporall resurrection from the graue requires of us aboue other dayes a spirituall resurrection from sinne in all the duties of holinesse of what kind soever for this being the generall use to be made of our Saviours resurrectioÌ„ as appeares by the Apostle Rom. 6.4 it should be chiefly practised on that day on which the memory thereof is solemnized All men will acknowledge that when we doe the duty of the day upon the day it selfe it is most seasonable and duties seasonable doth the * Prov. 25.11 wise man compare to apples of gold in pictures of silver But the Lords day is the day of Christs resurrection Ergo c. Fiftly that Law which doth enjoyne publike worship doth also require of us all such duties as are furtherances of the publike For where the end is commanded all such meanes as directly tend unto that end are also under precept But the Lords day requireth publique worship as all acknowledge and the private personall and oeconomicall duties of holinesse are maine helps and furtherances thereof both preparing us thereunto and putting life into our performances and causing us to profit thereby Therefore c. Sixtly that which was shadowed as a Type in the old Sabbath is required as an Evangelicall duty in the new Sabbath which is the Lords day for all the Mosaicall ceremonies were shadowes of good things to come to be performed partly by Christ partly by his spirit in us But this quiet rest of the soule and repose of the spirit in the Lord by all the duties of holinesse was shadowed as a Type of the old Sabbath therefore are they Evangelicall duties on the Lords day Seventhly though the letter of the fourth precept be Ceremoniall yet is the equity thereof morall and of this there is no question But the letter of the Iewish Sabbath required not only publique sacrificing but commanded also private rest For no man was to goe out of his place saith the * Exod. 16.29 text The Christians therefore on their Lords day are in allequitie and proportion bound not only to the publique but private duties of holinesse it is a Iuxta illud legis Mosaicae maneat unusquisque apud seipsum nullus egrediatur ostium domus suae die Sabbathi Bern. S. Bernards argument in his Octo puncta Eightly it is morall in the commandement that every man learne vpon the Sabbath those things which belong to his salvation This proposition is sett down in terminis by a b Quicquid sit de ecclesiae praecepto cer tè lege naturae fidei tenentur Christiani ea discere quae suae Saluti sunt necessaâ—ia Est 3. sent dist 37. par 14. Festivis maximè in praecipuis solennitatibus magis circa â—a quae solennitat is sunt immorandum videtur ut paâ—â—tèr eruâ—iatur animus exciâ—etur affectus Bern. Ser. 3. in Epipâ— Popish Schooleman farre be it from any good Protestant to speake lesse honourably of the Lords day then such But it is not possible for us to learne from the publique those things that belong unto our salvation unlesse we adde thereunto private exercises of holinesse as praying meditating conferring together with actuall motions of all habituall graces in us for by the one wee fasten them in our memories by the other wee incorporate them into our hearts Therefore c. Ninthly the Lords-day is a holy-day not in it selfe and in its own nature as the Anti-Sabbatharians themselves confesse but as it makes us holy by performing holy duties But the exercise of Gods publique worship alone makes us not holy without the private Therefore c. Tenthly the proper duties of this Iewish Sabbath besides publike worship were contemplatiue of the Creation as appeares by the reason of the rest prescribed in the Commandement for in six dayes the Lord made heauen and earth c. recognition of their deliverance out of Egypt remembrance of the fall of Mannah and their setling in the land of Canaan The equity therefore and the proportion of the Commandement requires that we not only worship God in publique but also privately study and be good proficients in the Schoole of nature in regard of the great works of Gods majestie and power and in the Schoole of Christ in regard of the great mercyes of our redemption Ergo c. Lastly Authorities are infinite The c Syn. Arelat c. 19. Syn. Turon c. 40. Syn. Mogun c. 37 Syn. Matiscon c. 7. Syn. Agath c. 47. Synods generally say we should continue in holy duties untill night having our eyes and our hands stretched out unto him all the day long sequestred from all other imployments let us only attend the service of God untill night Hugo de Sancto Victore saith that all the Festivals were appointed as for other ends so that we might be vacant unto prayers and contemplation To which purpose also many passages out of the Fathers might be brought especially in their popular Sermons as every man knoweth Ergo c. CAP. XXVIII The arguments for the Negatiue are breifly expressed FOR the Negatiue tenent it is also said First that which is every daies duty is no duty of the Lords day as it is the Lords day for then there should be no difference at all between the Lords day and other dayes in regard of the duty therein required which were to confound the Lords day to the great disparagement thereof with other dayes But the private exercises of those fundamentall graces of faith hope loue are the duties of every day If any say that the difference consists in this that to common dayes appertaine only private duties to the Lords day both private and publike The scruple still remaineth in regard of those dayes wherein the publike worship of God is also in use as Lecture-dayes Holy-dayes c. unlesse we account those daies also to be Sabbaths which our adversaries in this question will not agree unto If it be farther said that the difference stands in this that in other dayes they are only habitually but on the Lords day actually required I answer that in their other Tractates an habituall serving of God is so farre rejected as that they thinke it impossible to walk with any comfort with the
Arguments for the affirmative are propounded and inforced CAP. VII In which are set down the Arguments for the negative CAP. VIII The question is stated and explained CAP. IX The Arguments for the affirmative examin'd CAP. X. Containing two digressions the first shewing who are the best interpreters of holy things The second wherein the two opposite tenents in this question of the Sabbath are compared one with another CAP. XI Wherein the name of the Christian mans Feast-day is proposed with those Arguments which seem to conclude for the name Sabbath CAP. XII The reasons against the name of Sabbath are briefly alleadged CAP. XIII Wherein is briefly shewed what is to be thought of this Question CAP. XIV Wherein the Question concerning the duration of the day is proposed and the Arguments for the day naturall are set down CAP. XV. The Arguments against the day naturall are proposed CAP. XVI Wherein something concerning the day naturall and artificiall being premised the former Arguments are briefly answered CAP. XVII The Question concerning the institution of the Lords day proposed with arguments for the divine authority CAP. XVIII The Arguments for the negative are briefly set down CAP. XIX The Question is briefly stated and resolved CAP. XX. The affirmative Arguments are breifly answered CAP. XXI A preparative discourse to the two maine questions which follow concerning the observation of the Lords day CAP. XXII The question concerning the corporall rest is proposed with the arguments for the affirmative CAP. XXIII The Arguments for the Negative are also related CAP. XXIV The Question is unfolded in nine propositions CAP. XXV The Arguments brought for the affirmative are answered and in particular that which is drawn from the Iudgements of God is handled more at large CAP. XXVI Wherein is inquired after those duties of holinesse unto which the conscience is bound on the Lords day CAP. XXVII The Arguments which seeme to conclude for all duties of holinesse in generall are set down CAP. XXVIII The Arguments for the Negative are briefly expressed CAP. XXIX Wherein is declared what is to be conceived in this question CAP. XXX Wherein satisfaction is given to the reasons formerly alleadged CAP. XXXI Wherein is contained the conclusion of the whole setting down a short delineation of both the opinions and tenents in these severall questions THE PROEME containing the partition of the whole Work OF the questions of the Sabbath some are fundamentall serving as pillars to support the rest others are lesse principall and subordinate and are the Corollaries of the former Those of the first kinde are two the one concerning the originall and institution of the Sabbath whether it were given to Adam in Paradise or to Moses when Israell came into the Wildernesse the other of the morality of the letter it selfe as it is expressed in the decalogue for by this it will appeare whom the Law-giver intended to bind thereby and how long as also what be the severall shadowes and ceremonies contained therein Those disputes of the latter kind are such as are raised about the Christian mans Feast or Holy-day for this our late Sabbatharians haue of themselves the Scripture being in a manner silent squared in all proportions to the Iewish Sabbath both for doctrine and practice and in a sort confounded them Here therefore we must enquire first quid nominis what name is proper or at least most suitable thereunto Secondly quidrei what this Sabbath is in it selfe and its owne nature And because it may undergoe a two fold consideration the one as it is a day and portion of our time the other as it is the Lords day dedicated to his use and service it is necessary in the next place to enquire of the dimensions of this day of what duration continuance of time it must be then considered quatenus the Lords two things offer themselues to be coÌ„sidered first by what authority it came to be instituted imposed upon the Church of Christ and secondly how it ought to be celebrated observed by us The latter doth also divide it selfe for there being two things which concurre to the nature and being of a Sabbath first the outward rest of the Body or cessation from works which we may call the materiall part secondly the duties of holinesse wherein consists the life and spirit of the observation wee must examine both what that rest is which is enjoyned and what are those holy duties which are commanded CAP. I. Wherein the first question is proposed with the arguments seeming to prove the Sabbath to be as ancient as Adam in paradise AS in the maladies of the body the symptomes are removed when the roote of the disease is purged out so our errors the only sicknesse of our minds are reformed when the foundations on which they are built are overthrowne Our first question therefore is when the Sabbath had its originall whether it were commanded Adam and the Patriarches immediatly from God himselfe in the beginning or only to the Israelites in the wildernesse by the ministery of Moses The former tenent seemeth to have many evidences both from Scripture from reason and from the authority of many of the Learned First from the words of Moses So Gold blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it hee rested from all his works an argument may be framed thus The resting of God from all his works and the blessing and sanctifying of the Sabbath were coetaneous for when Moses saith So God blessed he referrs us both to the reason why and the time when and the manner how the Sabbath was first instituted but God rested from all his works immediatly from the Creation while Adam was yet in Paradise therefore immediatly mediatly from the Creation God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day Secondly Gen. 1.14 in the same Scripture God said let there be lights in the firmament for signes and for seasons for daies and for yeares in which place the word in the Originall signifieth holy convocations From whence thus As soone as there was Sunne and Moone there were times appointed for holy convocations for this was one maine end of their Creation But the Sunne and Moone were from the beginning therefore from the beginning there were times appointed for holy Convocations therefore the Sabbath Thirdly Heb. 4.3.4 from the words of the Apostle who seemeth to Comment upon the words of Moses As I have sworne in my wrath if they shall enter into my rest although the works were finished from the foundation When the works were finished a rest was appointed for Gods people but the works of God creating the world were finished from the foundation therefore from the foundation was a rest or Sabbath appointed Gods people Fourthly a Nondum lata erat lex sed Sabhathum â—am servabatur Bar. Itin. Moses could not haue spoken of the Sabbath unto the Israelites in the Wildernesse as of a thing well known and practised unlesse the
home or abroad This done give not your selves a breathing while suffer neither Child nor Servant to have any recreation for this were to prophane the day Assemble therefore your selves together recount what the Afternoon hath brought forth doe also likewise after supper Nor yet are you by all this discharged of the duties of the holy Sabbath unlesse the former practices have made such deep impression in your phansies as to season the nights sleep with holy dreames which is the last duty of the Sabbath These things thus done you may not only well expect a blessing upon what you have heard but upon all that is yours the whole week after For so highly is the seventh day in Gods favour that he doth not only sanctify it but also blesse it Now let another come and say the commandements of the Decalogue be not all of the same rank but amongst these the fourth is partly Morall partly Ceremoniall The Morall part is that God must have set and standing times for his outward and solemne worship all which times are religiously to be observed But the letter concernes only the Iewes written indeed as other holy things of Moses for our edification and consolation of which every part if full For first we must consider that the Sabbath as it is there litterally expressed was a signe of the separation of the Iewes to be Gods people from all other nations of the world which is now by the coming of Christ abolished as all other peices of the wall of partition are taken down that the Gentiles may glorify God as it is written a Deut. 32.43 Reioyce ye Gentiles with his people It did also shew them the pronenesse of our corrupt nature to doe our own wills and to fulfill our own lusts not suffering the Lord to rule in us by his Spirit whereas he requires perfect conformity of the whole man with an utter cessation from all his servile works of sinne and Satan It did in the third place lead them unto Christ who alone gives us test from these cruell Taskmasters who hath crucified the body of sinne in us and triumphed over Satan in his crosse And therefore as God the Father having made the World in sixe daies rested the seventh so God the Sonne finished all things which were written of him for our redemption on the sixt day and began his rest on the seventh obtaining for us the rest both of grace and glory The rest therefore of the Sabbath given in such severe precepts unto the Iewes doth lead us Christians under the Gospell unto the rest of sanctification which we must endeavour to keep inviolable with all watchfulnesse not suffering the least fire to be kindled in any of our lusts And as it doth thus edify so it ministreth no small comfort assuring us that as God rested from all his works and Christ from his so we also by degrees shall enter into rest in the Church militant till it be perfectly consummated in the Church Triumphant as the Apostle saith b Heb. 4.9 there remaineth a rest for Gods people Now let the indifferent Reader judge whether the former of these doe not burthen and indeed ensnare the consciences of men with many outward unprofitable impossible performances even to superstition and without end whereas this latter doctrine containes the very pith and marrow of Religion promotes the care and study of true sanctification and is most quickening and cordiall to weak and tender consciences But not to stray in this by-path any farther it were much to be wished as one of the greatest blessings of God upon his Church that a Sacra Theolegia pium prudentem Lectorem requirit Brad. L. 2. c. 31. Bradwardines rule were once well observed on all hands the study of Theology saith he requires both a pious and a prudent Reader pious in himselfe prudent in his doctrine a dove for the one a serpent for the other When these are divided in the Ministers divisions must needs be amongst the people and a house divided cannot long continue One looks at the holinesse of his Minister another to the learning of his neither as they ought and therefore the one straines at Gnats the other swallowes Camels both pester the Church the one with loosenesse the other with singularity He that is licentious like the Camels of the Ishmaelites carrying many a sweet burthen but never tasting them Against whom b Erasm Dial. Erasmus hath a bitter Satyr in his Cyclops Evangeliophorus is in shew a friend of the Churches peace a zealous promoter of the goverment thereof but indeed an enemy occasionally increasing that faction which he verbally cries downe For men think of him and all his disciplinarian invectives as c Non nisi magnum bonum à Nerone damnatum Tert. Ap. c. 5. Tertullian speaks of Nero and his persecuting the Gospell it must needs be some good thing which so wicked a man as he condemned In vaine doe these Vipers goe about to devoure with their mouthes that faction which themselves either breed or cherish at least by their lives On the other side he that is singular whom with Aelians Tiger either the sound of a Bell or musick of a Timbrell causeth to run mad cares not whether he runs and drawes others after him so long as he runs as the phrase is on the right hand By this meanes his duties in Religion daily grow and multiply as either his own or some other mans head and fancy runs this is Idolatry that superstition this is prophane that is abomination and Antichristian and what not And he that dares think otherwise is tantùm non Anathema But did these men rightly consider of errours they should find little difference in regard of their malignity He that fals from a bridge hath as little safety as comfort though it be on the right hand Nay it would be no paradoxe to affirme that errours of this kind are most dangerous being lesse discerneable in themselves lesse burdensome to the conscience lesse hopefull to be reformed and being indeed the illusions of Satan transforming himselfe into an Angell of light in which shape he becomes the fowler Divell CHAP. XI Wherein the name of the Christian mans Feast day is proposed with those arguments which seem to conclude for the name Sabbath THe names of things if rightly given serve much to disover their natures On the other side a Omnia periâ—litanâ—ur alitèr accipi quà m sunt amittere quod sunt dum aliter accipiuntur si aliter quà m sunt cognominantur Tert. de car Chr. Tertullian saith well all things are in danger to be mistaken if they retaine not their true and proper names Being therefore to treat of the Christian festivall and the Questions moved concerning the same the first thing which offers it selfe is whether it must or fitly may be stiled the Sabbath day The affirmative tenent is supported by these reasons First those names which God himselfe
hath imposed are without all question most proper and most fit to be retained But God himselfe hath imposed the Name Sabbath upon all daies of his solemne and publique worship and such is the Christian mans feast day The Assumption appears For not only the seventh day in the fourth Commandement but all the new Moones and other festivals of the Iewes are commonly called Sabbaths Therefore c. Secondly those names are commonly best which are most ancient Inquire saith b Iob. 8.8 Iob of the former ages and prepare thy selfe to the search of their Fathers But the name Sabbath is more ancient then any other being the name that was first given to daies of this nature Therefore c. Thirdly that name is alwaies best which doth most acquaint us with the nature of the thing In this the excellent Wisdome which God gave unto Adam appeared that he gave names to all the creatures answerable to their natures But the name Sabbath given to the daies of publique worship is such for they are daies of rest unto us and they were instituted in remembrance of Gods rest at the Creation and of Christs rest in the Resurrection and are pledges of our future rest in glory What name therefore can better agree unto them then Sabbath which is as much as Rest Fourthly that name is doubtlesse best which best directs us to the duties of the day For if c 1. Cor. 1â— 26 all things must be done for edifying such names are best to be imposed and used as are most accommodated unto edifying But the name Sabbath best leads us unto the duties of this day both outward and inward Outward Resting from all Corporall and worldly employments Inward resting from the spirituall slavery of sin and Satan Adde thereunto that it doth not only best direct us unto the duties of the day but it doth also help to confirme our faith and hope in the promises of God concerning the life to come and our d Math. 8.11 sitting down to rest with Abraham Isaack and Iacob in Gods kingdome Therefore c. Fiftly we must not affect to be singular in anything not so much as in words and Phrases Loquendum cum vulgo saith the proverbe But not only the vulgar but all men whaâ—soever speak religiously and reverently of the Sabbath day Therefore c. CHAP. XII The reasons against the name of Sabbath are briefly alleadged FOr the Negative opinion stand these reasons First he speaks best of things whose language is most conformable to the holy Ghost in the Scripture But the holy Ghost doth every where in the new Testament which alone speaks of the Christian mans Holy-day as having being and existency call it the Lords day no where the Sabbath day The name of the Lords day is therefore best and fittest to be used Secondly we should retaine those names which the Primitive Church in the purest times the first three hundered yeares chiefly used unlesse through any corruption or abuse they are scandalous But the name of the Lords day hath been chiefly used in the Primitive Church and in the purest times neither is it since through any abuse become scandalous Ergo c. Thirdly we of the reformed Churches should not forsake the Roman Church but where necessity doth inforce us For then we are guilty of that Schisme which is made in the Christian world Neither should we vary from our selves so much as were it possible in sounds and Syllables for then we may be justly noted for singularity and affectation But both the Romane Church and all reformed Churches use to stile it the Lords day not the Sabbath Ergo c. Fourthly we that are Christians should beware how we gratify the Iewes in their superstitious obstinacy against Christ and his Gospell in the least things least we partake with them in their hardnesse of heart the ancient Christians fasted Saturday especially for this reason because the Iewes fasted on Sattâ—rday But in using the name Sabbath we gratify the Iewes in their obstinacy against Christ and his Gospell For they abhorre the name of the Lords day as the greatest Blasphemy Therefore c. Fiftly it is one of the chiefest points of a Christian mans wisdome so to speak as not to put a stumbling block before his weaker Brethren He that doth otherwise a Rom. 14.15 walketh not charitably saith the Apostle But the name Sabbath may be and is become a snare to many weak ones especially in reading of the Scriptures For where ever they find the name Sabbath they presently conceive it to be spoken of and to agree to the Lords day and many times by this means fall into flat Iudaisme as appears by their quoting of the old Testament in the Questions in hand Therefore c. Sixtly that name which doth lesse edify is lesse proper This I thinke will easily be agreed on by all parties But the name Sabbath doth lesse edify For it leads us only to an outward cessation from bodily labour which of it selfe and precisely considered was indeed a duty of the Iewish Sabbath but is not so of the Christian Festivall as hereafter shall appeare On the contrary the name Lords day doth best open and explain the whole nature and duty of the day as the remembrance of Christs resurrection the acknowledgment of his Lordship over the Church and all other Creatures in the world Ergo c. CHAP. XIII Wherein is briefly shewed what is to be thought of this Question IT is a frequent rule in c Cùm de re constat propter quam ver ba dicuntur de verbis non debere contendi si quis id facit imperitiâ docendum esse simalitiâ deserendum Aug. cont Acad. lib. 3. cap. 13. lib. 2. cap. 11. S. Austine that wise men should not strive about words unlesse when there is some reall difference in the things But I doubt whether this question be only a fight about words For as the d Non illos viros â—os fuisse arbitror qui rebus nescirent nomina imponere seâ— mihi videntur haec vocabula elegisse ad occultandum tardioribus ad significandum vigilantioribus scientiam suam Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 10. same father speaks of the Academicks so may we without breach of charity suspect of our Sabbatharians at this day They are not saith he such simple men as know not to give things their proper names but they purposely make choice of such words as may best serve both to hide from the simple and to intimate to the wiser sort of their disciples their opinions Else I see no reason at all why the name Sabbath should be so common and that of Lords day so seldome used I deny not but the name Sabbath is lawfull and may also be used by such as have their wits well exercised in Scriptures if without superstition fraud or scandall But yet notwithstanding the name Lords day is both more fit in it selfe serving
c Lex nova in exterioribus illa solum praecipere debuit vel prohibere per quae in gratiam intrâ—ducimur vel quae pertinenâ— ad rectum usum gratiae ex necessitate Aquin 1.2 q. 108. art 2. Gospell commands only such observations which are either meanes of Grace as the word and Sacraments or wherein the use and excercise of grace doth consist as the duties of love towards God and man But that the first day of the weeke should be observed Sabbath nothing concernes the kingdome of God within us because it s neither a meanes of grace nor exercise of grace Ob. If any man say the keeping of the Lords day Sabbath is both these first a meanes of grace by reason of the word and Sacraments then administred and an exercise of grace for then we returne prayses and send vp our prayers to the throne of grace and manifest our loue both to Christ and our brethren Sol. I answere that he wholy mistakes for the question is not whether the duties done upon the day be either meanes or exercises of grace for this is of it selfe manifest but whether the keeping of this day Sabbath more then an other be such The day is one thing the duties are an other these belong to the kingdome of God preserving and encreasing them in us that is but a circumstance of time and of it selfe nothing in this respect All things of this nature as time place manner are not precisely and of themselues considered of the essence or necessity of grace and therefore are not commanded in the Gospell but left to the wisdome and descretion of the Church Fiftly that day which cannot be kept universally through the whole world was never commanded the whole Church of Christ by an Evangelicall Law for the law of the Gospell is given to all nations But the first day of the weeke which is the Lords day observed in memory of the Lords resurrection cannot be thus universally kept considering the diversity of Meridians and the unequall rising and setting of the Sunne in diverse Climates in the world Some of our adversaries foresaw this objection but could never avoyd it only they tell us that it was so with the Iewes in regard of their Sabbath and therefore d Practice of piety affirme that they were not bound to keepe their Sabbath upon that precise and just distinction of time called the seventh day from the Creation For the Sunne stood still in Iosuah's time it went back ten degrees fiue houres in Hezekia's time besides the variation of the Climates throughout the world Vpon this they inferre two things 1. that God by his prerogatiue might dispence with men in these cases 2. that the Commandement meaneth not the determinate seventh from the Creation but indefinitely a seventh But what absurdities doe hence follow First they seem to affirme that the standing still and the going back of the Sunne made an alteration in the day as it was the seventh from the creation Indeed they made it longer and to consist of a greater number of houres for the present but what is this to the number of seven One and the selfe same day may be longer in Summer shorter in Winter yet keeps its ranke amongst the other daies of the week for place and number Secondly they affirme that the Iewes were not bound to any determinate day not to this seventh but a seventh Expresly contrary to the words of Moses * Exod. 20.10 the seventh is the Sabbath Thirdly there is the same reason in all the forenamed particulars between the Iewes Sabbath and the Christians If therefore their day were indefinitely a seventh ours must also be indefinitely a first and by this meanes they say and unsay with one and the same breath the first day is our Sabbath by divine institution and yet not the first but a first which is to yeeld the question Sixtly there is the same reason of keeping a determinate set Sabbath under the Gospell that there is of preaching praying and administring the Sacraments Ordaining of Ministers doing works of mercy at set-times For I think no man is so farre infatuated with this paradox as either to preferre the Sabbath before these or to sever the day from the duties which are the main end of the daies observation But all these are commanded in generall not prescribed in particular when or where or how so all things be done decently and in order We no where read how often in a year we must receive the Sacrament of the Lords supper how often we should hear a Sermon or when to give or how much either publikely or privatly If therefore there be no set times appointed for the maine duties of religion under the Gospell there is no set time appointed to be kept Sabbath Therefore c. Seventhly That which is expresly against Christian liberty was never commanded by Christ or his Apostles but to have the conscience burthened with any outward observations putting Religion in them as being parts and branches of Gods worship is directly against Christian liberty for how is he free that is thus bound to times and daies We have then only exchanged not shaken off the Iewish bondage If any man say that this was both the argument and error of the Patrobrusians of old and Anabaptists of late he is much mistaken for they pretend not to Christian liberty when the conscience is not burthened immediatly from God but to unchristian licence and confusion to be exempted from the lawes of men and decent order of the Church Eightly There is no duty I think essentiall in religion ordained by Christ or his Apostles of which we find not either exhortations in respect of performance or reprehensions in regard of their neglect either in the Gospell the Acts or the Epistles But the keeping of the first day of the week Sabbath is no where pressed or exhorted unto the neglect thereof no where reproved or forbidden in all the new Testament Ergo. Ob. If any man say it is frequently mentioned with approbation Resp I answer that so are divers things besides which are no divine institutions binding the Church of Christ as extream unction the Presbytery womens vayles widdowes these are mentioned with honour but so is not the manner of observing the Lords day which is now cried up nor any divine institution thereof Whereupon these things will necessarily follow That either the Apostles never held this observation to be a divine precept or that having given it for such to the primitive Christians in the Churches planted by them they never failed in the observation thereof which is not imaginable considering what grosse abuses and prophanations were found amongst them or lastly that the Apostles knowing the Lords day which they had injoyned theÌ„ as a divine precept to haue been neglected winked connived thereat though so ready even with the rod to reforme all other disorders which also cannot be well conceived Ninthly Had the
to understand the text Papists indeed gladly extend it farther but cannot To the three and twentieth that it descended from the Apostles by tradition may with more ease be denied then ever the contrary can be proved But we must remember to distinguish of Apostolicall inspirations and traditions according to the doctrine of the Traditionaries themselves before delivered that it descended from them as Pastors not Apostles as a thing of their owne instituting not of the Lords commanding S. Augustines definition we acknowledge and desire no other Iudge For first it is cleare that d Quo tempore Christiani se à Iudaeis seiunxerunt diem dominicam feâ—iari caeperunt non est memoriae proditum Magd. Cent. 1. lib. 2. c. 6. no man can shew when the Iewes and Christians severed their assemblies Secondly many particular Churches varied one from another in this poynt as it hath been said Thirdly the Lords day was never observed as a Sabbath with cessation from works till Constantines edicts commanded it which were afterwards enlarged or restrained by Ecclesiasticall constitutions That the Primitive Church in the time of persecution observed the Lords day as a Sabbath hath no ground at all in Scripture and is not consonant unto reason because certaine it is that they kept the Iewish Sabbath till the Synagogue was buried Neither is it likely that they kept two daies together or if they did is it probable that neither the Iewes should quarrell at this observation nor the Heathens who derided the Iewes for mispending the seventh part of their lives in idlenesse note it in the Christians over whom they held watchfull eyes Or is it likely that the Primitive Fathers who wrote Apologies for the Church either to the Emperour or against the Gentiles in which they expressed the whole carriage of the Church should never so much as mention this daies observation as taken up and kept as the Iewish Sabbath by divine institution If we consider Sabbath duties named in the argument certaine it is that they preached no more nor so much on that day as they did upon others for this they alwaies did on the Iewes Sabbath because of the concourse of people S. Peters sermon upon the day of Pentecost which was the Lords day was accidentall occasioned by those that mocked at them and their gifts of tongues S. Pauls sermon at Troas hath beene already examined and as for their collections on the Lords day I wonder from whence it should be so generally conceived that they were then either commanded or made S. Paul bids theÌ„ indeed provide a benevolence for the poore Saints at Hierusalem against his comming and that they might be in readinesse he wils every man the * 1 Cor. 16.2 first day of the weeke to lay apart by himselfe not to collect in the assembly So that this being a particular occasion was particularly ordered by the Apostle as their wise Pastor not as a ruled case to bind the Church for ever Nay farther we may affirme that collections are no essentiall duties of the Lords day neither are they so esteemed and used in most congregations living as we doe in a setled estate wherein the law hath provided for the poore in another kind The Sacrament of the supper was indeed constantly administred every Lords day but the reason was no way Sabbatharian for the Sacrament being the badg of Christianity could not be received in the Iewish Synagogue wherein they performed other duties Besides they much mistake which judge of their Communions by ours as if they only received upoÌ„ resting daies with sermons before and collections after they only met together in some private Chamber to break bread without any more adoe And this they did upon the Lords day as most sutable to that service wherein Christ was to be remembred Lastly admitte all the argument requires we have only the ancient practice of the Church but this makes no divine institution by the confession of them that most advance the Churches power e Non ideò aliquid est iuris divini quiâ— olim illud Ecclesâ—a usurpaverit Greg. Val. de Euch. q. 7 the Papists themselves To the foure and twentieth That the Apostles should be guilty themselves and make the Church guilty of so damnable a presumption as this argument speaketh of were indeed a blasphemous consequence but the best is this terrible inference hath no acquaintance at all with the antecedent the reputed Father thereof For what was the presumption of Ieroboam and Antiochus figures of that which shall be practised by Antichrist But the changing of those times which God appointed to be observed by his Church commanding others to be kept in their places and that out of impious and blasphemous intentions to subvert true Religion and to set up Idolatry in the roome thereof Did the Apostles so God forbid But the Iewish Sabbath being expired and having breathed out its last gaspe that the publike worship of God might be upheld with decency and order they commanded the observation of the Lords day unto the Primitive Christians which hath no likenesse at all with those things here spoken of To the five and twentieth It is true that the practise of holy men in Scripture not seconded by precept bindeth not the conscience only their example sheweth us the lawfulnesse and expediency of the things practised upon like occasions with like circumstances and this is our warrant for observing the Lords day But for despising the Saturday-sabbath we have more then the naked practice of the Apostles For in all their Epistles they proclaime all Leviticall ordinances and such was that Sabbath to be ceased under the Gospell Christ who was the substance being come To the six and twentieth Whether Pentecost fell on the Lords day is questioned by some and denied by many their reason is because the fifty daies were to begin the morrow after the Passover Levi. 23.16 But plaine it is that our Saviour did eate the Passover upon Thursday-night and so Saturday the Iewes Sabbath must be the first and last from the fifty daies To avoyde this objection f In Ex. c. 39. Rupertus reads the text Thou shalt account from the next day after the Sabbath understanding it of the Sabbath properly so called or weekely Saturday-sabbath and so our Lords day being the next following is made the first and the last of the fifty But this is a plaine mistake of the text For the first day of unleavened bread being commanded to be a Sabbath is that Sabbath there spoken of from whence they were to begin their account Secondly therefore others interpret those words Thou shalt number fifty dayes from the first day of unleavened bread for not only the first but the last also of those dayes was a Sabbath exclusively shutting out the first day after from the beginning of the number of the fifty and by this meanes they bring it also to be the Lords day But whether doth this hold for
the feasts of dedication of Churches or occasionall as marriages and Christning-dinners be forbidden Christian people as prophanations of the Lords day The second generall head and Lerna of perplexities is whether the duties of holinesse by which the day is sanctified be only acts of the publique worship of God in the Congregation or whether the private exercises also of Religion appertaine unto the day as necessary and immediate duties thereof and that during the whole time And under this head a world of particular cases are raised also and many times such as neither wise men nor learned men would imagine as daily appeares by experience to men of Pastorall employment in the Church But these and the forenamed particulars being delivered as Magisteriall dictates and conclusions out of the former Positions my purpose is only to make enquirie into the two generall heads under which they are contained For these being weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary and true iudgement the rest will evidence themselues as Corollaries CHAP. XXII The Question concerning the Corporall rest is proposed with the Arguments for the affirmatiue THat the outward bodily cessation from all secular employments whatsoever is of it selfe a duty of the Christians mans feast-Feast-day may seeme to be proved by many undenyable arguments First that which is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall is an essential duty of every Sabbath in particular But the Lords day is the Christian mans Sabbath may so be called though improperly as hath beene formerly confessed and bodily rest is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall as appeares both by the very name of Sabbath which signifies as much as cessation and more expresly by the letter of the fourth Commandement In it thou shalt doe no manner of work confirm'd by the a Exod â—â— 15 commination of death from the Lords owne mouth upon all those that shall transgresse this Law Ergo c. Secondly the Prophets are the best Commentators of the Law and are therefore usually put together b Math. â—â— 40 The Law and the Prophets But the Prophet Isaiah saith that those who will honour the Lord in his Sabbath must not doe their owne works nor follow their own pleasures nor speak their owne words In which three whatsoever may be any businesse of our own is expresly forbidden us on the Lords Sabbath by which we honour him Therefore c. Thirdly in all Lawes whatsoever that is essentiall and for its owne sake commanded for whose sake other things in the Law are enjoyned according to the common Maxime Illud est perse propter quod est aliud But many things in the fourth precept are commanded that this duty of utter cessation from all secular employments may be performed For wherefore would God haue not only our Children and servants rest but our beasts also to rest unlesse only that all meanes and occasions of not resting might be taken from the Parents Masters and owners themselues Therefore c. Fourthly All theft is directly immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden and of thefts the cheife and capital is Sacriledge But to work upon the Lords day is theft nay sacriledge for we steale so much from God this day being his as we bestow upon our selues and our owne employments whereas on the contrary by resting on that day we abstaine from holy things and giue the Lord his own Therefore c. Fiftly whatsoever doth immediatly hinder any thing which God commandeth is immediatly forbidden in the Negatiue of every Affirmatiue This is a Maxime generally received in expounding the Decalogue But all kinds of works upon the Lords day whether serious or lusorie doe immediatly hinder that which God commands viz. To attend his worship and service suffering him to work effectually in us by his word and Spirit This Moses doth plainely teach us in saying * Lev. 23.3 There shall no work be done therein in is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings c. Where first he repeats his Commandement There shall no work be done therein Secondly he giues the reason for it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings It is not possible for you to performe the duties of the Lords Sabbath or that God should work on you therein unlesse there be an utter cessatioÌ„ from all kindes of works It stands also with reason for worldly imployments steale away the heart from holy things and according to our Saviours rule * Mat 6.24 We cannot serue God and Mammon Sixtly that which immediatly resisteth and overthroweth the Kingdome of God in us * Rom. 14.17 Which is righteousnesse peace ioy in the holy Ghost must needs be immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden by the Law of God But all secular imployments of what nature soever upon the Lords day immediatly resist and subvert the kingdome of God in us Righteousnesse take it how we will either for the righteousnesse of justification which is imputed or righteousnesse of sanctification which is inherent commeth by hearing groweth by praier is strengthned by meditating and conferring not by journying working and sporting on the Lords day and the more these are practised by us on that day the lesse righteousnesse must needs be in us The conscience also is deeply wounded by such grosse prophanations if it be not senselesse seared as appeares by the confessions of Converts Penitents and the Godly feele in themselues by daily experience And it cannot but diminish the joy of the holy Ghost for this is chiefly fed and nourished by holy meetings and godly exercises of religion Nay if it be true which many learned men affirme at least for probable that Christ shall come to judgement on the Lords day What little joy can any man finde in things earthly and sensuall on the day when for ought he knowes he may suddenly heare the voice of the Archangell summoning him before the Tribunall of the Lord whose Sabbath he is then prophaning Seventhly if there were no law prohibiting works on this day the very law of expediency were enough For it 's no way expedient on that day to make such a medly of things heavenly with things earthly to mix the holy things of God with things prophane base and vile things with things honourable and glorious this were to make the Lords-day a garment of linsy-woolsy But the Lords day and the duties thereof are things holy heavenly and glorious All secular imployments prophane vile contemptible The * 1. Cor. 6.2 Apostle calls the things of this life the smallest things Therefore c. Eightly that which was ever blasted in all ages with some extraordinary curse remarkable judgement is doubtlesse not only unlawfull but in an high manner abominable in Gods sight For the Lord * Exod. 34.6 being gracious long-suffering and slow to anger doth not usually reveale his wrath from heaven but against some unsufferable ungodlinesse of men But the prophanation of
For all these are commended to Christian Liberty in regard of determinating circumstances as where when in what manner how long how often And some of theÌ„ whether at all yet are things of greater importance and haue more probability of Divine precept then bodily cessation on the Lords day Ergo c. Sixtly that which is not so much as mentioned in the new Testament for a Christian duty is not commanded Christian people under the penalty of sinne This must needs be true of all such duties which Christ and the Gospell hath brought in imposed upon the Church as distinguished from the Iewish Synagogue But corporall rest such as our Sabbatharians require upon the Lords day is not so much as mentioned in the new Testament and yet the Lords day the observation thereof was brought in and imposed upon the Church as contra-distinguished from the Iewish Synagogue Ergo c. Seventhly Had this been an immediate Christian duty so essentiall as it 's now made doubtlesse the first Christians living under persecuting Emperours would haue made as great a conscience of this as of any thing else whatsoever Especially because it concern'd the Lord himselfe to whom the day is devoted and persecution maks men stick closest unto Christ and all Christian duties commanded by him But the Primitiue Christians did all manner of works upon the Lords day under the persecuting Emperours unlesse whilst they assembled themselves by stealth to break bread This appeares by Constantines edict against working upon this day wherein notwithstanding are excepted all labours of Husbandry whatsoever It is a true rule that the manners and customes of men are the Mothers of the Lawes of Kings and States A law prohibiting the doing of any thing is a strong presumption that the thing was done especially when the Law is exceptiue Plaine therefore it is by the Law of Constantine who was the first Christian Emperour that the Primitiue Christians made not cessation from works upon the Lords day a matter of conscience Ob. If any man say that Constantine did only reviue the duty which Persecution had almost defaced Sol. I answer that Constantine was not the reviuer but the first enactor of this observation in regard of bodily cessation if not why can it not be shew'd who preceded him herein But let it be that Constantine renewed the Discipline which was decayed it seemes then that the labours of Husbandry then what more toylesome were in use amongst Primitiue Christians upon this day because they are excepted by Constantine which renewed the Discipline of the Church in this behalfe or else Constantine insteed of a reviuer must needs be made a depraver and corrupter Ob. If any man say the nature of the times required this indulgence Sol. I answer that those were the most peacefull and happy times that ever the Church saw But suppose what malignity you please in the times sure I am that nothing can make a sinne to be no sinne or let the conscience loose from any necessary and essentiall duty though but positiuely commanded vnlesse as David did eate the Shew-bread which cannot be averr'd of those times of Constantine Lastly authorities also are not wanting e Cont. Manich lib. 2. Epiphanius against the Manichees saith that God regardeth not outward cessation from works more upon this then any other day because by his providence the Sunne riseth and setteth the Moone waxeth and waneth the Winds blow and Women bring forth as well on this as any other dayes And against Ebion the same f Idem cont Ebion Epiphanius saith that the Disciples plucking the Eares of Corne upon the Sabbath day shewed that the outward rest of the Sabbath was ended when Christ who is our great Sabbath was once come g Cogitans requiem in Deo tuo propter ipsam requiem omnia faciens abstine ab opere â—ervili omnis enim qui facit peccatum servus est peccaâ—i Aug. Ps 32. S. Augustine also upon the 32. Psalme which is mistaken by our Adversaries as speaking against all sorts of works serious and lusory faith We must seeke rest in the Lord our God abstaining from all servile works for he that committeth sinne is the servant of sinne Our servile works are our sinfull works from which to abstaine is all the rest required of us under the Gospell h Luther de bonis operibus Luther expressely faith that the outward rest spoken of in the Commandement is no longer under precept in the profession of Christianity Calvin thinks it strange that man should imagine that God is delighted with bodily cessation And to confesse my ignorance I know none either Protestant or Papist new or old our English Sabbatharians set aside which teach corporall rest to be of it selfe a duty of the day under positiue precept CHAP. XXIV The Question is briefly vnfolded in nine Propositions THE whole question may be easily clear'd in these following propositions First I conceiue it is out of all controversy that the outward rest from all manner of works as it is expressed in the letter of the fourth Commandement was of it selfe precisely considered and without relation to any thing else to the Iewes an especiall duty of religion and part of Gods worship For though it be true which i Calvin in Levit. 19. v. 13. M. Calvin hath observed upon these words of Moses You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary that God commanded them cessation from works with reference to the duties of the Sanctuary yet were it also of it selfe a Sabbath-dayes duty For that which is of its selfe and for its owne sake commanded may also be made a subordinate duty to help and further another duty So Prayer which is of it selfe a maine part of Gods worship is made a subordinate help to encrease our dependance upon God and to beget in our hearts an awfull reverence of his Majestie It 's so here for also if it had stood commanded only in relation to the worship of the Sanctuary why were they to begin it over night where as nothing was done in the Sanctuary till the next Morning If any man say that which was done ouer night was only by way of preparation He much deceived himselfe For the preparation is one thing the Sabbath another They had their preparation and their prepreparation which tooke up almost the whole day precedent both of their owne invention But they began not their Sabbath-rest till after Sun-set in the evening And howsoever they imposed many things upon themselues of their owne Traditions by way of Preparation yet the first use and true end thereof was to provide for themselues what to eate upon the Sabbath in which it was unlawfull for them to dresse any thing or so much as to kindle a fire Their over-nights rest had no relation at all to the Sanctuary but to their comming out of Egypt the memory whereof they were commanded to solemnize thereby As therefore unleavened
bread the not Ploughing of their Land in the yeare of Iubile were necessary duties of the ceremoniall worship so was the outward rest in the fourth Commandement This I take to be k Sabbathum commendatur primo populo in otio temporalitèr ut figura Aug. ad Ian ep 119. Colebatur Deus Sabbatho in ipsâ exteriori quiete ab operibus servilibus quia quiescebant ad repraesentandam divinam quietem à creatioone mundi Cajet in Aquin. 22. q. 122. art 4. generally agreed upon Secondly It is also out of question that this utter cessation which was unto the Iewes a duty of Religion permitted them notwithstanding first works of piety for the Priests saith our Sauiour * They oblerved their rest as being properly and simply and in its selfe a Sabbath dayes duty But vve c. Willeâ— Syn. 9. Gen. Cont. q. 7. breakethe Sabbath and were blamelesse Secondly works of mercy both to men and beasts It was lawfull on that day to heale the diseased as appeares both by our Saviours practice and those defences which he makes for himselfe justifying his practice against the calumniations of the Pharisees It was lawfull also to * Math. 12.3 help a beast out of the ditch to * Math. 12.11 giue him meat * Luk. 13.15 Elias fugieâ—at die Sabbathi Antoâ—â—n tit 9. to leade him to the water which be our Saviours owne instances upon the former occasions Thirdly works also of necessity were allowed them whether they were the necessities of nature or casuall or accidentall necessities as defending themselues from unexpected incursions of their enemies The lawfulnesse of works of this kind they learned from deare bought experience as appeares by Iosephus and the history of the Macchabees Thirdly I conceiue it also to be evident that whereas works of mercy and of necessity be of two sorts some which are of extreame necessity which cannot be deferr'd if we hope to preserue the being of our selues and others some which are only of moderate and convenient necessity which may be put off though with some losse and detriment The Iewes were allowed not only the former but those also of the latter kind unlesse such as were by name expressely forbidden them Those were three First Iournying They were not to goe out of their places this day Exod. 16.29 This they afterward interpreted of themselues to be 2000. paces or two Italian miles which they called a Sabbath-daies Iourny concerning which God never delivered any thing unto them in his word As therefore in other things they superstitiously contracted the Law and made it straighter then ever God intended so in this they extended it and made it larger then the Letter of the Law could beare Ob. If any man say that Christ himselfe journyed upon the Sabbath day with his Disciples when they passed through the fields of Corne which surely he would not haue done had all journying on that day been forbidden Resp The answere is easie if we compare the Evangelists together For that which * Mat. 12.1 S. Mathew * Mark 2.23 S. Marke call the Sabbath * Luk. 6.1 S. Luke cals the second Sabbath after the first By which it appeares for the latter Evangelists doe ever expound the former that this Sabbath was some anniversary Festivall not the weekly Sabbath secondly They were not to kindle a fire upon this day in all their habitations Exod. 35.3 This also was an absolute precept admitting of no exception unlesse in cases of Piety Charity and extteame necessity Ob. If any man say that it had relation only to their dressing of meat or service of the Tabernacle on that day Resp First the Text is against him which forbids in that place all manner of worke upon paine of death and giues instance in the kindling of fire without reference to the dressing of their meat or any other addition whatsoever Secondly they had an expresse prohibition for matters of Cookery upon the Lords day Exod. 16.23 and therefore the day before was the Preparation to the Sabbath Thirdly they were forbidden to carry Burthens on the day of their Sabbath too and fro as appeares by * Nehem. 13.19 Nehemiah the Prophet * Ierem. 17.21 Ieremiah These therefore excepted the Iewes were permitted any workes whatsoever which were of convenient though not of extreme and eminent necessity This conclusion appeares both by our Saviours doctrine and practice By his doctrine in those Maximes delivered to this purpose * Math. 9.13 I will haue mercy and not sacrifice * Mark 2.27 The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath By his practice * Math. 12.3 when he justified his Disciples for plucking the eares of corne on the Sabbath day though mistaken by the Pharisees For I beleiue no man will say that they were in extreme necessity that they must either haue starved or fainted or incurr'd any incurable disease The Text tels us they were hungry and the place was not farre from the City When our Saviour vsually healed men diseased upon that day and most of them carried their greife many yeares I think no man will say the diseases would haue killed them or growne mortall had they not been taken upon the very instant But to giue instance in a thing beyond exception when he commanded those whom he healed to take up their beds and to carry them to their owne houses was this any worke of extreme or pressing necessity Or might it not haue been deferred with little or no inconveniency at all Ob. If any man say that Christ gaue such extraordinary dispensations to some such particulars to make his Miracles the more glorious and conspicuous Sol. I answer First with m Iraeneus adversùs Valent cap. 16. Irenaeus that our Saviour never did any thing which was contrary to the Law of the Sabbath which God commanded his people by the Ministery of Moses And the reason hereof is evident for he was made under the Law and performed perfect and entire obedience thereunto Neither can any man shew any particular in the Law Morall Ceremoniall and Iudiciall which he alwayes observed not and therefore doubtlesse he was as farre from dispensing with others as he was in dispensing with himselfe Supposing therefore that this had been a meanes to make his Miracles more illustrious yet had the thing in its selfe been repugnant to the Law he neither would haue permitted it in any much lesse haue commanded it so often though to haue gayned both credit to his doctrine and glory to his Miracles He well knew that evill is not to be done that good may come thereof But that which is thus supposed hath no ground or shew of truth For I conceiue it to be more rationall to affirme that the differring of the taking up of their beds and carrying of them to their owne houses the next day upon notice given thereof a greater concourse of people would haue been gathered
Mor. l. 1. c. 10. Gregory setting before their eyes our Saviours mildnesse we men saith he for for the most part labouring to preserue judgement justice utterly abandon mildnesse and mercy and on the contrary when we would be milde we cease to be just But our Saviour cloathed with our flesh was never so milde but that withall he was just neither was he so severely just as to forget to be mercifull and he giues instance in the womaÌ„ taken in adultery in which he excellently observed both For when he said Cast the first stone at her he satisfied the rule of justice even in the rigour of the letter of the Law but when he added Let him that is without sinne amongst you cast this first stone he so qualified it with equity and moderation that the woman escaped Let us be zealous in Gods name against all prophaners of the Lords day but let us not be so intemperate in our zeale as to usurpe Gods throne pronounce our pleasures upon our brethren take them out of their graues and brand them to posterity as men plagued and smitten of God for prophanation I will conclude with the words of the same c Postulatus â—udicare dominus de peccatrice non station dedit judicium sed priùs incâ—inans se deorsùm digito scribebat in â—errâ nos typicè instituens ut cùm proximorum peâ—â—ata conspicimus non haec antè reprehendenda iudicemus quà m digito discretionis soâ—ertèr exculp amus Greg. S. Gregory upon the same story in another place Our Lord saith he being required to judge the Adulteresse did not presently pronounce her doome but first stooped downe and wrote with his finger upon the ground he intended hereby to instruct us saith the Father that when we seethe apparent errors of our brethren before we proceed to our peremptory sentences we first wisely consider of the thing and with the finger of discretion note what was pleasing or displeasing unto God therein What our Saviours intention was in this action of his I cannot say I am sure S. Gregories observation is graue and substantiall according unto which if we reflect upon the clamorous determinations of our Sabbatharians the point being yet in controversie and defin'd against them by the most and the learned'st in the Church it will appeare that they neither weigh things in the ballance of moderation nor distinguish of things with the finger of discretion To the ninth the authorities alleaged speak for the most part as forced witnesses quite contrary to that for which they are produced as the Edicts of Constantine the Synodicall decrees The rest shall receiue answer in the next Question to which they more properly belong Those who haue writen to this purpose in the Church of England of late yeares are parties and therefore cannot be competent judges in this controversie CAP. XXVI Wherein is inquired after those duties of holinesse unto which the Conscience is bound on the Lords day THere remaines only the last scruple which is or can be incident to this subject viz. What duties of holinesse are proper and essentiall to the Lords day whether only the acts of publike worship with the congregation or the private exercises also of those head-graces faith hope loue unto which whatsoever is in Christian Religion may be reduced And this is indeed a point of chiefest consideration because it is practicall and practice being the life and spirit of knowledge the conscience can never be throughly setled untill this be discovered Our literall Sabbatharians affirme in this question and so affirme that they make the observation of the Lords day the very abridgment of Godlinesse in respect of the first Table and of righteousnesse in respect of the second Table And from hence proceed these wide outcries against any that shall contradict them that Religion is laid upon the back and prophanenesse set up in the roome thereof Nay they so affirme in this point as that their doctrine is made an open and professed snare such a manner of holinesse being exacted as that it is impossible for any man living in the state of corruption to sanctifie a Sabbath in that manner as is required of him either in thought word or deed I confesse were it true that upon the Lords day a man forsaking the naturall rest of his bed sooner then vpon other daies must begin early in the morning with the acts of repentance then proceed to the acts of faith and after the duties of loue conclude with repentance and this with that manner of solemnity and formality which some require it must needs be even to the best an utter impossibility whether we looke at parts or degrees But that the observation of the Lords day in that manner as the Lord himselfe expects whatsoever men please to impose is not such a Chimaera as they fancy will appeare I hope in its due place In the meane while we will set downe these arguments which seeme to support this opinion CHAP. XXVII The Arguments which seeme to conclude for all duties of holinesse in generall are set downe FIrst from the letter of the Commandement Remember to keepe holy the Sabbath day we many reason thus where no one kind of holy-daâ—â—s are spoken of there all duties of holinesse are to be understood it is generally so in other places of Scripture as in that of the Apostle * Peter 1.16 be yee holy for I am holy and elswhere * Heb. 12.14 follow holinesse without which no man shall see God But in the words of the Commandement holinesse in generall is required of us Therefore c. Secondly that which is and ought to be a common duty of all daies is much more a particular duty on the Lords day The reason hereof is both because the Lords day is in many respects to be preferred before all other daies and because it is set apart from all others unto holinesse But the private exercises of all gracious habits with our selues and our families are and ought to be common performances upon all daies For as they binde alwayes so are they indefinitely commanded without restraint to any set dayes they are therefore much more required upon the Lords day being the common duties of all dayes Thirdly any duty is more required upon that time on which if rightly performed it is more acceptable to God then at any other time For by this appeares that God hath regard as well to the time as to the duty But all the duties of holinesse even the private and personall and oeconomicall are more acceptable unto God if performed on the day of his Sabbath this appeares first by the words of the * Isay 58.13 Prophet saying if thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath from doeing thy pleasure upon my Holy-day and call my Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine owne wayes c. In which words plaine it is that the
Lord vnlesse we also adde thereunto sundry actuall performances the time and manners whereof they also shew us If therefore any difference be it is that we must be wholy taken up with such performances during the whole Sabbath for 24. houres and turne meere Euchites upon the day which is not required in other dayes But that the Sabbath is of no such length hath been already declared and that God giues no such continuate taskes of holy performances shall I hope before we part be made evident Secondly d Finis non seper est de substantià praecepti neque secundùm veros Theologos cadit sub praecepto Med. Inst Non idem est finis praecepti id de quo praeceptum datur Aquin. 1.2 qu. 100. art 9. ad 2. the end is not comanded by that Law in which the meanes are prescribed for though the precept of the end include also the precept of the meanes yet not on the contrary This proposition is laid downe by the Moralists as an undoubted maxime and doth evidently appeare For example when we are commanded to heare the word we are not by the force there of commanded to beleeue in Christ Iesus yet * Rom. 10.17 Faith as saith the Apostle cometh by hearing That rule which commandeth to beate downe the body and to keepe it in subjection doth not require of vs the vertues of humility chastity c. but on the contrary these being the end require the other as the meanes But the law of sanctifying a holy Sabbath is a law of the meanes whereby we are taught and enabled to serue the Lord in the private duties of holinesse and to exercise in our selues the graces of faith hope loue c. This also is plaine of it selfe and requires no farther proofe For why doe we resort to the congregation on the Lords day But partly to be instructed by the word partly to be inflamed with the loue of God and zeale unto his service the whole weeke after as well as to tender him our publike homage in acknowledgement of his soveraigne dominion Thirdly no affirmatiue precepts are to be extended beyond that which the letter doth containe though it be otherwise in precepts which be negatiue For example honour thy father and mother when we know what it is to honour our Superiours we haue the whole latitude of this Law It is not so I say in negatiues as appeares by our Saviours confutation of the Pharisees glosses upon the seventh Commandement But the law of the Sabbath is an affirmatiue precept and prescribes the publique worship of God in the congregation therefore is not farther to be extended Fourthly if all duties of piety and mercy whatsoever were commanded by the law of the Sabbath then were there no difference at all between this and the other precepts of the Decalogue at least for that day so that upon one day of every weeke the other Commandements were needlesse and superfluous But this is not to be affirmed Ob. If any say that one and the same duty may be under divers precepts Resp I answer that though this be most true yet must we not confound the Law of God and make an intricate maze thereof to the entangling of mens consciences for the Decalogue is said to be ten words ten for their number words for their distinction I denie not that one and the same duty may be under divers precepts but then they are diversly considered as referred to divers ends The object of different commandements may be materially the same but formally distinct So temperance and sobriety may be both under the sixt and under the seventh precept under the sixt as meanes of preservation of breath under the seventh as the helps unto chastity and mortification But what formality can distinguish the duties of holinesse on the Lords day from the same duties on other daies I know not if you say to sanctifie the Sabbath the question is begged and so nothing said Fiftly were the whole practice of Religion both publique and private the duty of the Lords day then it would follow which is also affirmed that to obserue the Lords day were impossible to any man in the state of corruption For I think no man unlesse he be some braine-sick Perfectist will challenge to himselfe such a measure of holinesse though but for a day But that the law of the Lords day is thus impossible being not a Legall but Evangelicall observation of positiue command for all such are light yokes and easie burthens is utterly untrue Therefore c. Sixtly nothing but what is naturall and eternall is commanded in the fourth precept of the Decalogue binding us under the Gospell but that private and personall acts of religion should be performed by us precisely upon this or that day of publique worship in that manner as is required is not naturall and eternall binding us under the Gospell For the Law of nature prescribes only in generall not any thing for any time or day or manner in particular Seventhly that which is no where spoken of much lesse commanded in the new Testament bindes not the conscience of any under the Gospell but the private exercises of religion upon the Lords day are not spoken of much lesse commanded in the new Testament For then such commands were easily shewed all men would readily submit themselues thereunto Eightly this manner of observation seemeth to change the nature of the Lords day from being the Christian Feast and transformeth it rather into a day of Fast humiliation For let their doctrine of Sabbathizing be compared to the doctrine of fasting and we shall finde them the same saue only that a totall abstinence from all things wherein nature delighteth is required in the one but not so in the other But we must not metamorphize the Lords day which is and ought to be the Christian mans Festivall wherein he should not only inwardly but out wardly also rejoice in the Lord his God Ob. If any say that the true beleiver takes no greater comfort then in the exercises of humiliation nothing being so sweet unto him as the teares of contrition Resp I answer that what the * Heb. 12.11 Apostle speaketh of affliction in generall That afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby is true also of the day of humiliation of the bruising of the soule in particular the affliction is one thing the fruit thereof another this ioyfull that for the present grievous and doth not so well sort with the nature of the Lords day Vpon which ground it was expresly forbidden the e Hoc ab omni ecclesiâ Orientali Occidentali observatum contra haereticos Can. Apost 61. Christians by Antiquity to fast upon the Lords day Ob. But is it not lawfull then for a man to repent and be converted unto God comming out of the state of sin into the state of grace through the troubles and anguishes
of the new birth upon the Lords day Resp God forbid happy doubtles that man unto whom the Lords day or any day is the day of his returne unto the great Bishop and Sheepheard of his soule but the question is not of any sinners conversion But of the Sabbaths observation by men supposed to be in the the state of grace of whom the habituall practice of holinesse with the actuall duties of the publike worship is alone required CHAP. XXIX Wherein is declared what is to be conceived in this Question HAving thus laid downe that may probably be said upon either part for the better setling of the conscience herein these conclusions are to be observed First that holinesse which is required of a Christian is of a large extent taking in all the duties which we owe to God our brethren and our selues For * Pet. 1.16 We must be holy as God is holy being created after his image and this image doth consist in holinesse and righteousnesse as in the two integrall parts thereof holinesse relating in a restrained sense unto piety and godlinesse righteousnesse unto justice and judgement unto both which we stand alwaies obliged and must practise them when we are required thereunto Secondly the duties of holinesse as contradistinct unto righteousnesse are perfectly contained in the foure Commandements of the first Table which are so many distinct Predicaments of all true piety For although the duties of righteousnes in the second Table put on the attributes of holinesse as directed unto the Lord performed in obedience to his Majestie yet are they not formally so in themselues considered And although the same duties of piety may be comprehended within divers severall precepts yet there is still to be observed some peculiar and distinct consideration which puts them formally under such or such a precept Thirdly that therefore the law of the Sabbath in the fourth Commandement is no transcendent comprehending all the duties of all the rest either of the first or second Table for then it must needs be the Summum genus to the rest out of which they all may be deduced and into which they may be resolved This is verified alone of those two great Commandements as our * Math 22.38 Saviour calls them Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy soule with all thy heart with all thy minde with all thy strength and thy neighbour as thy selfe but cannot be affirmed of the fourth precept For how can we either extract the rest or almost any of them out of this or fold them up all therein It would be a strange inference to say Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day therefore thou shalt haue no other Gods therefore thou shalt make no graven images therefore thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine c. and as strangely would all these being put together make up that one Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day Fourthly that therefore there is something appertaining to pietie which is only to be found in this and in no other precept of the Decalogue Now what this is will easily appeare if we take a short view of Gods worship as it is prescribed in the severall Commandements The worship of God is the immediate act of religion which inclineth the heart and the whole man to the service of God And because God must be served not after our fancies but as he himselfe hath appointed therefore it is a good Etymologie of Religion à relegendo sese intra suos fines contracting her selfe within the bounds and limits which are prescribed her For this indeed is the difference between true false religion that the one useth a wandring extravagant licentiousnesse whereas a Major parâ— mundi quicquid obvium est temerè aâ—cipit pietas autem ut in firmo gradu consistat sese intra suos fines relegit Cal Inst lib. 10. c. 12. the other is fixed and keepes to those limits which God hath set her This our Saviour teacheth us in that answer of his unto the Pharisees * Math. 22.1 giue unto God the things which are Gods For we must not tender him any thing whereby to worship him which is not his own so that what justice is amongst men one towards another the same is religion on mans part towards God Religion is writen naturally upon the heart of man and rooted in his very conscience though the print thereof by much defaced by originall is more and more daily blotted out by actuall transgressions For not only b Quaâ—â—â—â— sui numinis intelligenti aâ—â— universis ' Deuâ— ipse indidit Cal. ibid. c. these that are within the pale of the Church but the Heathens themselues and the worst of wicked men haue a naturall sense and a feeling of religion There is a kinde of naturall pietie in the soule saith c Anima nihil de Deo discens ' Deuâ— nominat nihil de iudicio eius admittens Deo commendare se dicit c. Terâ— de carâ— ne Christi Tertullian having for it's object both God himselfe as the chiefest good and supreme Lord of the whole world and the holy things of God whatsoever The practice of this dutie of religion belongs both to the outward and the inâ—â—â—d man from the inward man are required religious Adoration Invocation Dependance and Thanksgiving Thus to giue God his own is Iohn 4.24 as our Saviour * Iames 1.27 stiles it to worship him in spirit and in truth and is properly that which we call the feare of God from whence as from a fountaine all good duties whatsoever are derived For it doth not only produce it 's own operations but doth command as a Soveraigne Lady all other vertues according to that of S. Iames true religion and undefiled is to visit the father lesse and the widdowes ad to keep himselfe unspotted of the world This is religion not formally but effectually religion being the cause which doth produce them But God having not only made us spirits but bodies in which our spirits dwell as in houses of clay the duty of religion extends it selfe unto the outside of man also which must likewise giue God his owne And religion in this notion is under the second precept of the Decalogue in which as we are forbidden all Idolatrous services whatsoever so are we commanded such bodily testifications of our spirituall worship as may best stand with the nature and will of that God which is worshipped by us This though it be distinct from the former yet is not exclusiuely to be understood as if it only exacted formal postures and corporall prostrations for the * Isai 29.13 Prophet assures us that those that think to worship God with these only are abhominable in his sight Outward reverence must ever be accompanied with inward worship and so performed it is commanded in this second precept Now it being a necessary consequence that persons so
griefe of heart to others of Gods people Resp I answer that such haue the greater sin It is a fearefull condition when even the truth it selfe shall thus cooperate unto their destruction but better it is that some offences come then either truth be lost or people nurst up in Hypocrisie and superstition For my own part I think all kinds of holy frauds under which perhaps these Sabbatharian tenents may be ranged by whomsoever practised or what advantages soever may acrue there from to be grosse delusions of men meere mockings of God and most unbeseeming the profession of the Gospell As for the well-minded Christian that takes offence he is rather to be pitied then humoured and ought to be well informed of passiue scandalls For it is not enough to say we are offended but we must consider how justly whether of weaknesse or obstinacy I meane in regard of the publique declaration of the Magistrate For in cafe of this nature a reason being rendred protesting against the prophanation of the day nothing being intended but the informing of the judgement the setling of the conscience the good of poore people preservation of unity and uniformity howsoever our private judgements incline us we should rather comply with Authority then be scandalized especially in points that are so disputable These things thus premised we shall easily satisfie the adverse arguments CHAP. XXX Wherein satisfaction is given to the reasons formerly alleaged TO the first the words of the Commandement are mistaken for not all holy duties in grosse but only that kinde of holinesse which is proper to the Lords day is there spoken of the words are plaine Keep holy the Sabbath day and the fourth precept is no transcendent as is said in the second third conclusions Ob. If any say that the Lords day differs from others in this that the whole Sabbath is to be spent in holinesse whereas in other dayes such portions only as may be well spared from other imployments are required of us Resp I answer first this is only said secondly we haue no president hereof in the Iewish Synagogue Thirdly the contrary doth appeare by the Question formerly disputed concerning the duration of the Lords day Lastly how can the conscience be satisfied herein being utterly lest to seeke by our adversaries themselues where to begin or where to end the day nay the scripture being utterly silent in this particular if we speak of the Lords day as being our Christian Sabbath To the second the Lords day may be considered First in it's absolute nature as a part of our time in this respect it is most true that what is the common duty of all daies should be also that daies duty the rather because all other imployments are abandoned and therefore more leasure is afforded Secondly in his relatiue nature as separated from the rest of the week to the service of the congregation and so there are especiall duties appointed which are not common to other daies by vertue of the fourth Commandement The reason from the lesse to the greater is of no force because it speaks not adidem for the Lords day as it is a day and part of our time is no better then other daies but as it is the Lords day devoted by the Church to the Lords service it is indeed the Queene of daies and therefore therein the highest and noblest Christian duties are performed in the publique worship even by the precept of sanctifying the Sabbath day To the third familie-Familie-duties are not acceptable unto God performed upon one day more then upon another if there be no other considerations concurring thereunto He that is no accepter of persons is likewise no accepter of times otherwise then the Apostle expresseth it out of the Psalmist ◠Heb. 3.7 To day if yee will heare his voice harden not your hearts by which is meant the whole time of the Gospell Nor are the sinnes of men more hatefull because committed upon that day unlesse they carry with them an open or secret malignity hindring either the duties of the day themselues or our holy and religious performing of them as the * Aquin. Sylv. Cajet Nav. Sot Canus Med. Schoolemen teach And so the words of the Prophet Isaiah are to be understood for their covetous desires voluptuous living and cruell practices made them come before the Lord in his sanctuary onely in outward appearance formally personating what God really required nay abounding and persevering in their wicked waies as * An circumstantia divini sesti sit necessariò consitenda Duae sunt opiniones prima Modernorum qui tenent partem affirmantem 2d sancti Thom. Ios Ang. Iustin Martyr expounds that place More to this argument in that which followeth To the fourth the day of Christs resurrection from the graue requires no more our resurrection from sin then other daies unlesse only by way of motiue or remembrance Thus indeed this day * Vide Iustinum Martyr◠in Dial. cùm Triphone as all other consecrated things doth receiue from its consecration an especiall qualitie to beget in the hearts of men the sparks of devotion unlesse they be hindred in them by want of reverence What therefore a Quanquam vallis haec miseriae universalitèr sit locus poenitentiae nihilominùs Templorum locus suâ quidem religione qualitate est adpoenitentiam provocativus Gersen de vita Clerico Gerson affirmes of Churches consecrated places in regard of repentance we doubt not to affirme of the Lords day in regard of all holy duties The Church or consecrated place saith he is by reason of its venerable condition ad poenitentiam provocativus a place provoking unto repentance from hence he hath these conclusions First that ordinarily it is a work more holy in it selfe more pleasing unto God more profitable unto us to pray in consecrated places then elsewhere because the Majestie of the consecrated place doth more incite us unto devotion Secondly that all blasphemy either in words deeds or signes is so much the more execrable by how much the place is more holy Thirdly that one cause why wicked Priests are worse then wicked Lay-men which S. Augustine faith he often found by experience is that they abuse those things which should winne them unto repentance Fourthly that those affections which separate from God are every where damnable but much more in the Temple as appeares by our * John 2 16. Saviours overthrowing the Tables of the mony-changers there So say we that the Lords day by reason of the glorious dedication of it to the Lord Christ as the memoriall of his resurrection is in it's selfe provoking unto newnesse of life that holy duties are on this day ordinarily performed with greater fervency of spirit benefit to our selues and therefore acceptance with God because the Glory of the day is apt to put life unto our performances that all irreligious conversation is therefore the more execrable upon that
day that the reason why wicked ecrable upon that day that the reason why wicked Christians are worse then Godlesse Heathens manytimes is because they abuse all such things whereby the Lord would draw them unto himselfe amongst others the Lords day that all thoughts words and waies which separate from God are alwaies damnable but much more upon the Lords day from this ground and no other But hence as it doth not follow on the one side that it is not lawfull elsewhere to repent of our sinnes or to make our prayers unto God saue in consecrated places or that whensoeuer we come there we sin if we performe not these duties so neither here on the other side must we conceiue that no holy duties are to be done but on the Lords day or that we break the Law of the Sabbath if during the whole day we doe not performe them And by this which hath been hath said not only the present argument receiues full satisfaction but if I mistake not that great stumbling block of these times of bowing toward the Communion Table is removed out of the way of all well-affected people For the Table being amongst consecrated things either it acquires something by vertue of its consecration or a Consecrationes Ecclesiae nan sunt rantùm opera sed sunt efficaces Cajet in Tho part t. qu. 83 Art 3. Res Consecratae habibes dicuntur ad excâ—tandam in nobis reverentiam devotionem ibidem else the action of the Church is not only voyd but also vaine idle which no man will I think affirme That which the consecration conferres cannot be any reall quality of holinesse for of this it is not capeable it must needs be therefore only a fitnesse or aptnesse in the thing consecrated to work upon the minds and understandings of men considering it as consecrated And is nothing else but an b Deus est preseâ—s Altari Ecclesiae aliis hujusmodi speciali modo sicut novo instrumento ad excitandam reverentiam devotionem circa divinum cultum c. Cajet ibidem aptitude to stirre them up to holy thoughts upon those things represented and acted upon that holy place which multiplying themselues doe at last break forth into the act of holy worship in generall of the whole Trinity but particularly of the glorious person of the Sonne of God who humbling himselfe unto the death of the Crosse tendred unto his Father an universall and holy sacrifice for the sins of the whole world Not the Table therefore is worshipped for this is so palpable Idolatry as cannot be incident to any Heathen nor any thing set upon the Table the reserving of the consecrated Elements we leaue to the Church of Rome and therefore there is no thought here of Transubstantiation but Christ as the Messias slaine the propitiation for our sinnes by whole stripes we are healed The Table is only a memoratiue instrument unto which the assistance of grace is never wanting either to beget in our minds such thoughts of the death of Christ or to extract from our persons such a worship of him if we c Ecclesiâ Alrare alia huiusmodi ex consecratione adipiscuntur quandam spiritualem virtutem per quam apta redduntur divino cultui ut scilicèt homines devotionem quandam exindè percipiant sint paratiores ad divina nisihoc propter irreverentiam impediatur Aquin. parte 3. qu. 83. art 3. ad tertium be not otherwise wanting to our selues And for my part if this be all which is practised I am sure it 's all which is taught by the Learned even in the Popish Schoole it selfe I see no reason why if a day quatenus a separated day may be thus memoratiue a Table or ALTAR call it what you please thus separated may not be so likewise or why we should not readily imbrace all occasions opportunities helps and furtherances of worshipping the person of our Lord Christ whose honour is generally impaired by sundry Heretiques and most maliciously fought against by Satan Anti-Christ and all his complices Which is some had well understood it had not been possible for them to haue stumbled thereat at least they would haue forborne many uncharitable invectiues against their brethren who upon those grounds exercise this worship To the fifth all meanes directly tending to any good end are included in the precept of the end but private duties as they are here required are no where commanded as meanes unto the publique but rather on the contrary for we doe not therefore accustome our selues to private duties that so we may be able to serue God in publique but we therefore attend the publique that thereby we may be the better enabled to worship him the whole week after So that if the Lords day be indeed sanctified by the syncere performance of publique duties the conscience is not farther obliged under the penalty of sinne by any precept yet reveal'd concerning the Lords day To the sixth it is most true that the spirituall repose of the soule was shaddowed out unto us by the corporall rest of the body in the Iewish Sabbath so that our whole life should be a holy rest unto the Lord from the servile works of sinne and Satan and how men sinne against the Lords day in particular if the Consecrated day be not a motiue unto them of holynesse hath already been said But that the day it selfe and the sanctification thereof such as is here prescribed us was prefigured by the old Sabbath we vtterly deny that which was shaddowed thereby being the duty of the whole time of the Gospell not of any particular day To the seventh there is no proportion at all betweene these pretended observances and the Iewes private rest for certaine it is that when amongst them no man went out of his place upon the Sabbath day they performed a publique duty celebrating thereby that common rest which they had now obtained from the slavery of Egypt wherein every family and person amongst them shared Ob. If you say it 's so here God being privately worshipped by all there doth result out of the particulars the publique honour of God acknowledging our spirituall deliverance from sinne and Satan Resp I answer that though this be most true yet the case is most different for First they had an expresse precept in that kind and the whole time was chalked out unto them it is not so with us Secondly that only was required of them which was most easy for every one to performe whereas those holy performances which are here required come not within the reach of every mans measure To the eight supposing that which many of the Schoolemen teach concerning our edifying in holy things on the Lords day the argument is faulty in its other proposition For that we cannot learne of the Lord in publique without private exercises so varied and spunne along throughout the whole day is not true neither can any
thing be universally affirmed herein considering the different states graces and abilities of men To the ninth the Lords day is said to be holy no otherwise then other things which are consecrated to Gods publique and holy worship and how farre things of this nature are apt of themselues and therefore doe often cooperate unto holinesse in us hath already been declared To the tenth it is most true that God intended by the Law of the Sabbath to mind his people of the worlds creation in six dayes but that he did bind them thereby to contemplate the particulars thereof which few but Philosophers are able to doe I think no man will affirme So the Lords day was sett a-part for the memory of Christs resurrection But what those private duties are unto this I see not unles you say that article is to be studyed And to speak truth if men would upō this day preach Christ in publique spend their private meetings only upon this subiect for Christ is a Theame seldome insisted upon true Christianity would be better knowne mens consciences would be better setled those meetings more charitable and innocent and none could oppose them therein But as the Proverb is Quid haec ad Icphali boves to the continuate and un-interrupted exercises of which we speak Lastly those Authorities which are and may be brought to this purpose to which may be added that Canon of the Church of England in the dayes of King Edward for spending the Lords day in private prayer and thanksgiuing acknowledging our offences reconciling our selues unto our brethren visiting the sick comforting the afflicted releiving the necessities of the poore instructing children and servants in the nurture and feare of the Lord are not delivered by the Church or ancient Fathers as expositions upon the fourth Commandement as if they were the duties of the Lords day as it is a Sabbath but only as pious and Godly admonitions where by to traine up men in religion and allure them unto holinesse Num. 11.29 Moses would had been glad if all the Lords people had been Prophets but no man will say that Moses therefore commanded them to prophecy The * Acts 26.29 Apostle wisheth all men were such as himselfe was shall we therefore condemne as transgressours those that were not such It is so here for although the Church doe not account for evill doers those that either cannot or doe not spend the Lords day as aforesaid yet I assure my selfe that both the Magistrates and every good man will be glad to see men make a good progresse in true piety and religion But what may commendably be done by some and what must necessarily be done by all are distinct things and herein stands the present Question Ob. If any say that therefore the Sabbatharian tenent must needs be better and safer then the contrary Resp I answer it doth no way follow for though the practice may be better being rightly qualified which seldome is yet the doctrine is worse for First it is false in it selfe Secondly unnecessary burthens are laid upon the conscience Thirdly many doubtfull perplexities are occasioned thereby Lastly an apparant schisme is made and fomented in the Church CAP. XXXI Wherein is contained the conclusion of the whole setting downe a short delineation of both the opinions and tenents in these severall Questions FOR conclusion of the whole it will not be amisse to present the Reader with a summary of the doctrine on both sides that so with one cast of his eye he may be able to see both wherein they dissent and which is more rationall in it selfe and more suitable to the word of God And here let the Reader take notice first of that which a The observation of the Christian Sabbath Pag 15. Mr Sprint hath well observed that in the most materiall points we consentingly agree though in certaine circumstances we differ each one abounding in his severall fence which makes it strange to me that our Adversaries should so stick in these points even against Authority it selfe since we so consentingly agree in points materiall This I say being premised not to take notice of every thing which might be collected out of the severall treatises hitherto extant I conceiue that the finest thread in which these Sabbatharian positions can be spun may be thus drawn First that God having created Adam in Paradise revealed unto him the creation with the order and manner and time thereof within the compasse of six dayes That the seventh therefore was the day of his rest which he would haue observed as a Sabbath by him and his posterity That this day was most fit to be appointed not only in regard of God who then rested but in regard of man also who was on the seventh day to enter upon the domion of the world as the Master thereof and what better entrance then with the service of his Creatour in sanctifying the Sabbath day That hence came all his time to be divided by weeks the boundary whereof was and that by diuine institution the Sabbath God having blessed the seventh day and hallowed it That this hallowing the day was the declaration of Gods will not what himselfe meant to doe long after but what he would haue men to doe from that time forth in all their generations That thus it continued in the practice of the Patriarches before and after the flood for else it had been impossible for the Israelites to haue known as it is plaine they did by their gathering of Manna which were the six dayes of the creation and which the seuenth of Gods resting For sure we are the time was first divided into weeks moneths yeares being not knowne till by long observation found out by the course of the Sunne Moone That though in this manner the Sabbath was given Adam by positiue Law yet easy it is to follow the footsteps of nature guiding us thereunto For all men acknowledge even by naturall light that some time is to be sett a-part for the publique worship but being to seek of the proportion in speciall and portion in particular nature kindly reacheth forth her hand guiding us to these also assuming as followeth That not only some time but a sufficient proportion there of is necessarily required as to all other workes so to this of the publique service That reason teacheth it is fit the Creature should waite the leasure of his Creatour in the designation of this sufficient proportion the Creature being under his absolute power and being no equall carver to it selfe in things of this kind and reaping also greater comfort in any observance for which it hath the warrant of its Creatour That seeing the week was the originall partition of time it must needs be more convenient to sett one day of the week a-part for the service of God then one in a fortnight or one in a month That herein an uniformity ought to be observed by all man-kind throughout all generations
place in Hosea 3 That he doth therefore begin a new argument against the Pharisees consisting of two things the first of the end and intention of the Law which was the good of man the other from his own office which was to be head both of men and Angels and therefore being to dispose of all things which tended unto mans good 4 That he intended by those words to rectify their superstitious conceits of the Sabbath As if he had said you magnify the Sabbath as if it were one of the greatest of all the commandements a maine end of mans creation but you must know that it was made for man and not man for it as were all the legall rites and ceremonies And if this be so I that am the Messiah am by my office Lord of the Sabbath and can and will abrogate the same in due time And that this abrogation of the law of the Sabbath was that which our Saviour did there at least insinuate unto them is plaine if we compare the text with that other of S. Matthew where he tels them that he is greater then the Temple having absolute jurisdiction a Templum Sabbatho serviebat ipse autem dominus erat Sabbathi Mald. in locum and Lordship over all Legall and Mosaicall rites Secondly that for which no man is to be censured and condemned is not a Morall Law for the Law of nature teacheth us to condemne the transgressors of all Morall precepts but no man is to be judged or condemned for the Sabbath b Col. 2.16 Col. 2.16 If any man say that the Apostle speaketh of the other feasts of the Iewes which also are called Sabbaths not of the seventh-day Sabbath in the commandement I answere First that he contradicts all Ancient and Moderne expositions Secondly that in all other places of Scripture where mention is made of their Sabbaths the weekly Sabbath is also included Nehem. 20.33 Esai 1.13 Hose 2.11 why not here Thirdly the Apostle had reason to have excepted this especially considering that his doctrine in that place is a doctrine of liberty for in cases of this nature unlesse men have their bounds set them they easily turne their lawfull and warrantable liberty into unwarrantable licentiousnesse Fourthly it is not likely nor agreeable to any rule that when all which are denominated are expressed as Sabbaths that which doth denominate viz. the weekly Sabbath should be excepted but on the contrary Fiftly the enumeration of the text is sufficient New-moones Holydaies What Ceremoniall feasts had the Iewes distinct from their weekly Sabbath which stands not under one of these heads Either therefore the Apostle useth tautologies which is not likely his discourse being in that place Polemicall a Multa festa habebant Iudaei quaedam quotanuis celebrari oportebat quaedam ineunte quolibet mense quaedam fingulis septimanis ut SabbathoruÌ„ haecomnia tanguntur ab Apostolo hoc in loco Salisbut in locum Or that Tripartite enumeration of new-moones holy daies Sabbath daies includeth also the weekly Sabbath Lastly the weekly Sabbath which the Iewes observed and circumcision were the two maine heads of Iudaisme for which in those times the Seducers so much contended therefore this weekly Sabbath is there especially to be understood Thirdly that which is a shadow of good things to come whose body was Christ cannot be a morall law for morall duties are eternall verities no fleeting and vanishing shadowes But the Sabbath in the fourth Commandement was such a shadow of good things to come As hath in part appeared by that place of the Apostle Heb. 4. and shall be farther evidenced in that which followes and hath generally been taught by all a Epâ—ph l. â— hae 8. Antiquity Ergo. Fourthly that which cannot be deduced out of the principles of naturall reason rightly informed without revelation cannot be Morall But the sanctifying of the Sabbath as it is set downe in the letter of the fourth commandement cannot be so deduced For first naturall reason cannot teach us that one of seven must be observed much lesse that it must be the seventh from the creation or that it must be one of seven in imitation of Gods rest For though men by the light of nature may know the creation and that God was the Creator I will adde though it be impossible the order how things were made yet that all this was done in sixe daies which is the ground of the Sabbath naturall light cannot reveale Neither can nature teach that a whole day from evening to evening is to be kept holy For this is the rule of the Sabbath in the fourth commandement which is rather against nature For nature teacheth to calculate from morning to evening as b Aquinas 1 â— 2. ae q. 74. Art 3. ad Sextum Aquinas sheweth nor doth nature shew us that straight exact resting from all manner of works as the Commandement and the exposition thereof given by Moses doth require If any man say that some shreads of all these were found amongst the Heathen in practice and that they were doubtlesse guided thereunto by the light of nature He speaks nothing to the purpose The question being not of their practice but the principles of naturall reason which must be produced and the deduction made according to those principles Now let any Philosopher or Divine laying aside his Bible make the demonstration out of meere naturall principles erit mihi magnus Apollo Fiftly which is also a Manifestum est itaq non aeternum nec spirituale sed temporale fuisse praeceptuÌ„ quod aliquando cessaret Tert. advers Iud. Tertullians reason whatsoever is de facto abrogated and abolished for practice whether by Christ or his Apostles cannot be morall for precept For whatsoever is morall must be perpetuall but the letter of the fourth Commandement is thus abolished for practice For first not the seventh from the creation but the eight is observed Secondly this eight was never observed by the Christians as the Iews observed their seventh neither for time from evening to evening nor for manner in any respect Lastly we keep not our day upon the same reason and ground with theirs as in memory of the creation of the deliverance out of Egypt of the fall of Mannah but of Christs resurrection Nor to the same end to represent unto us our spirituall rest in Christ For the faithfull have already obtained that for parts though not degrees neither was the Lords-day ever appointed to Shadow out unto us the eternall consummation thereof in Heaven The letter therefore of the fourth Commandement is in all the branches thereof vanished and abolished Ergo. Sixtly that which is morall admits no dispensation upon any ground of necessity Charity Piety or what else soever And this b Chrysost Hom. 40. in cap. 12. Math. St Chrysostome makes good saying in those things which are altogether unlawfull as whatsoever is forbidden by a morall Law 〈◊〉 excuse whatsoever
Neque circumcisio ita ipsos ab aliu distinguebat ut Sabbathum Theod. in Ez. 20. Ioh. 7.22 Theodoret also saith that many other nations communicated with the Iewes in circumcision and we know it to be true at this day in Turkes and Mahumetanes But the Iewes alone even unto this day observed a Sabbath as the only proper seale of Gods covenant Lastly our Saviour is observed to have joyned the Sabbath with circumcision as being both of like nature and use The second Character of ceremonies is that they served to mind the people of their naturall uncleannesse This we see in all their washings cleansings purisyings sacrifices therefore called also expiations The same like wise did their feasts and new Moones represent unto them some more some lesse And this also did the rest of the Sabbath For as circumcision remembred them of the superfluity of malitiousnesse to be done away by the circumcision of the spirit so did the rest of the Sabbath mind them of their pronenesse to follow their sinfull lusts walking in their own waies and of their aversnesse from suffering God to dwell and raigne amongst them This also appears out of that which hath already been said for being a signe and representation of their covenant with the Lord it not only remembred them of a Vt scilicèt ludaei seirent non aliter vitam suam posse Deo prohari nisi rationem consilia sensus omnes carnis exuerent Calv. in Exod. what he required of them but also of their own crooked dispositions thereunto It appears also by the Prophets expostulation with his people to this purpose for seeking their owne wills doing their own works and speaking their own words for by these things cannot be understood ordinary works thoughts words at other times lawfull as is commonly expounded to the entangling of weak consciences For first though the commandement forbad them ordinary works and their very sitting still was a Sabbaths duty as we shall shew hereafter yet to speak common words in ordinary communication or to think of any ordinary things as occasion required was never forbidden If any man say that the other negative precepts take in also the heart and the tongue and therefore that this also in the Sabbath must be so extended I answere that all other negative precepts are of things simply and in their own natures evill To kill with the tongue by slandering and railing so to murder in the heart by malice envy hatred evill wishes are things in their own nature simply evill and therefore no marvaile if in this case negative commandements thus enlarge themselves it is not so here Secondly this interpretation crosseth the maine scope of the Prophet which is to discover the deep hypocrisy of their hearts not any outward visible prophanation of the Sabbath As if the Prophet should have said the Lord hath sent me to cry aloud against your deep dissembling with him in two principall points the one of fasting the other b Esaias hypocritas objurgat quod in externo tantum cessandi ritu insistâ—rent Cal. ibid. Instis lib. 20. of resting before him In both these you are so outwardly formall for they did outwardly fast and Sabbathize most precisely as that you think God doth you much wrong not to accept both your persons and c Arguunt dominum quòd bona opera non respiciat Hier in locum performances d Sinon prophanes Sabbathum sequendo volantatem id est libitum passionum tuarum à vitij suti ab opere otium agas Cornel. à Lapid in locum You seek me daily and will know my waies even as a nation that did right and had not forsaken the statutes of their God and aske of methe ordinances of justice they will draw neere unto God saying wherefore have we fasted and thou seest it not But saith the Prophet I am sent to tell you you neither fast nor rest aright you should fast unto sinne and rest unto holinesse fast unto mortification rest unto sanctification not following in either regard your own corrupt immoderate desires Fast and rest in this manner then see whether your light all manner of felicity break not forth as the morning and thou mount not up on the high places of the earth Thus it is generally understood by all ancient and moderne Expositors and therefore is quitted by Amesius as being nothing to that purpose for which it is commonly avouched and by e Greenham Catech. Mr Greenham not to belong to the Christians at this day but in proportion The third character of Ceremonies is that they represented unto them that inward and spirituall worship which God requires of them that fear him So unleavened bread signified sincerity truth and the like This also is plaine in the Sabbath representing unto them the inward repose which we ought to have in the Lord denying of our selves crucisying our carnall wills and affections suffering the Lord wholy to governe our hearts by his holy spirit Lastly the Sabbath was a visible Sermon of the glad tidings of the Gospell of that rest which Christ should bring us of reconciliation with God of peace of conscience through the powerfull operation of a true and lively faith For this last the f Heb. 4. Apostles testimony is so evident as whosoever gainesaieth it fighteth against the light it selfe we which have believed doe enter into rest What restâ— even g Interpretatur Apostolus Sabbathum cum dicit remanet igitur Sabbatisinus pobulo Dei Aug. contra Adam c. 16. that which is shadowed in the Sabbath instituted and grounded upon Gods resting from his works from the foundation and what rest was thus shadowed but that which Christ and his Gospell brings them By all which I think it is manifest that the Sabbath was not only a Type or figure as the brazen Serpent as many of their Iudges Priests Kings Prophets also were for this is that which is replyed but properly and truly a Leviticall shadow and ceremony abolished in Christ the true Sabbath indeed as h Epiph contra heresi lib. 1. Tom. 2. cap. 30. Epiphanius stiles him To proceed therefore if the rest commanded in the Sabbath were thus a figure of our spirituall rest in Christ then doubtlesse also that proportion of rest which is the strictnesse of Sabbathizing according to the sound of the letter shadowed unto them that proportion of holy and spirituall rest which God requires of his redeemed ones and unto which Christ will at last bring them by degrees The Iewes we know were forbidden all kinds of servile works even the kindling of fires and that upon paine of death I confesse some are of opinion that this was but a temporary injunction during Israels abode in the wildernesse Their reason is because our Saviour dined saith the Text with a chiefe Pharisee upon the Sabbath and it is probable so great a man entertained so great a personage with a great feast
more for edification and the Arguments to the contrary doe not conclude To the first true it is indeed that God himselfe in Scripture imposeth the name Sabbath upon all daies of publique worship in the Iewish Synagogue and the reason was because the very corporall rest was a chiefe thing aimed at in them being both memorative of some things passed and figurative of things also to come But that therefore the daies also of Christian Assemblies should be so called doth not follow because the reason is not the same as shall appear in it's proper place The name Sabbath therefore is no more Morall and to be retained in the times of the Gospell then the name Priest Altar Sacrifice which perhaps our adversaries themselves will allow of in a common large and Analogicall construction If therefore we look to the e Si vocis primaevam significationem spectemus Sabbathum erit omnis dies festus At Scripturae consuetudine Sabbathi nomâ— ferè appropriatum est diei septimo Estius 3. Sent. d. 37. first and originall signification of the word every Holy-day wherein men rest from their labours and attend the publique worship may be called a Sabbath but if we look at the application of it in Scripture we shall find it appropriated in the first and chiefest sense to the Sabbath day or Satturday in the fourth commandements in the next and subordinate construction to all the Iewish festivals never to the Lords day To the second No man will deny but that antiquity is a good guide in the search of the truth for all errors are upstarts even those that are gray-headed The f Ier. 6.16 Prophet therefore adviseth to ask for the the old way which is the good way but his meaning is that which is simply old not comparatively only The corrupt Glosses of the Pharisees were very ancient * Math. 5.38 Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time an eye for an eye The superstitions of the Romanists are like so many old aches in the body of the Church yet as the one so also the other meere novelties in religion Should I grant the name Sabbath as applyed to the Christian Feast to be of some good standing yet without all Controversy it was not known to the true Primitive times Indeed antiquity ever used one of these foure either Sunday not from g ' Dum solâ—s lâ—ttâ—iae indulgemus longè aliâ ratione quam religione solis Tert. Ap. cap. 16. the Sunne in the firmament but h Mal. 4.2 the Sonne of Righteousnesse with healing in his wings or the Day of light from the Sacrament of Baptisme called by the Fathers our Illumination or the Day of Bread not from holy bread as Papists now use it but from the other Sacrament of the Supper administred every Lords day or the Lords day which doth and will continue to the worlds end To the third The name Sabbath doth not best acquaint us with the Nature of the Lords day as is pretended For the nature thereof consisteth not either in our corporall or Spirituall Rest or in Remembring the Rest of God in the Creation or in being a pledge unto us of our eternall rest All these are accidentall considerations of the Lords day Indeed the memory of Christs resurrection is essentiall thereunto but not so much in regard of his rest as of his conquest over death and the grave and being made the Lord of the Quick and the Dead It being therefore the Lordship of Christ made evident to all creatures both in heaven and in earth by the Glory of his Resurrection which is then celebrated it ought to be stiled the Lords day not a Sabbath To the fourth What the duties of the day be we shall see hereafter Let it be granted therefore for the present whatsoever the Argument doth suggest the consequent is denied For whatsoever duties are then performed are or at the least ought to be directed in a speciall manner unto the Lord Christ as our service of him The day therefore is to be named not from the nature of the things done but from the quality of the person to whom they are intended and therefore not Sabbath but Lords day And whereas it is said that the name Sabbath may serve to confirme our faith and hope of our eternall Rest I answere that indeed it may be so used by us but was never so intended in the first institution thereof and being a consideration so remote it cannot claime to denominate To the fifth It is indeed most rue that we ought not especially in matters of Religion to innovate though but words and Phrases although perhaps insignificant and improper much lesse ought we to swarve from such language as is most savory and religious but which name hath most salt the Sabbath or Lords day I hope it doth appear by this which hath been said And who speaks most Religiously the Apostles and the whole Church or some few private persons of late yeares is easy to determine CHAP. 14. Wherein the Question concerning the duration of the day is proposed and the arguments for the day naturall are set down AMongst those things which disquiet and perplexe the consciences of the weak concerning the Lords day this is not the least where it is to begin and how long it lasteth For God requiring of us perfect and entire obedience without diminution or defalcation and h Iames 2.10 S. Iames saying that he that faileth in one point is guilty of all unlesse every minute of time which the Lord requireth of us as his tribute and homage be duly tendred to him our whole labour bestowed upon the parts and peices of the day is not regarded It is also that which concernes the most sort of our inferiour people to be satisfied in leâ—st the Commandement requiring one thing their employments another they many times wound their Consciences and rob themselves of that peace which otherwise they might enjoy We must therefore before we proceed any farther inquire whether the Lords day be to consist of any certain determinate number of houres as being a Naturall day or Artificiall And here our Adversaries are very positive that the Christian mans Sabbath as well as that of the Iewes is to consist of full twenty foure houres and they have these reasons First all the time that the Commandement requires is to be observed But that the Commandement of the Sabbath requires a whole naturall day from evening to evening is undenyable Therefore c. If any man say the Commandement was Ceremoniall and so proves nothing for the Christian observation it may be replied that this being granted of all the other branches yet it is not so in this For no man can shew how the time of twenty foure houres can be in any respect mysticall Though therefore the rest of the latter should vanish as a shadow yet in this particular it must needs continue Morall Secondly no one
day of the week is longer or shorter then other but if the Lords day as the rest hath not twenty foure houres it must needs be shorter that which is next there unto either going before or comeing after must be longer then any other day Therefore c. Thirdly it is a good Rule which the Rabbins give that we should not take from that which is holy to adde to that which is prophane but on the contrary But if the day of Gods publique worship amongst us have not allowed it so many houres as other daies we take from that which is holy and adde to that which is prophane even our own secular imployments which were impious and sacrilegious Therefore c. Fourthly if the Iewes Sabbath were to consist of twenty foure houres then much more the Christians For we have both received more and greater benefits and we also have more and greater mysteries of Godlinesse to contemplate But the Iewish Sabbath was a whole naturall day Therefore c. Fiftly the Scripture seemes to be plaine to this purpose For the 92. Psalme was the Psalme of the Sabbath as appears by the title thereof and in the very begining thereof the Prophet sets downe the very time of its observation saying i Psal 92.1.2 it is a good thing to praise the Lord and to sing unto thy name O most High to declare thy loving kindnesse in the morning and thy truth in the night season meaning a whole naturall day Therefore c. Sixtly we must rest as God Rested begining to rest from the works of our callings when God began to rest from the worke of Creation For Gods rest is propounded in the Commandement to be our patterne but God began his rest at evening the sixt day immediatly after the making of the woman and so continued the day of his rest which was the seventh If therefore our Rest must be answerable to Gods Rest it must begin at evening and continue till evening Therefore c. Seventhly as Christ rested so must the Christian rest his actions were our instructions and we call the day of our Rest the Lords because it was dedicated unto him but Christ finished his course and began his Rest over night resting in the grave foure and twenty houres at the least Our Rest therefore being grounded upon Christs Rest cannot be lesse then a whole Naturall day Eightly as the Apostles to whom the observation of the day was immediatly prescribed by Christ himselfe kept the day in their own persons so doubtlesse must we their successors in all after ages But the Apostles Sabbath was a whole naturall day This appears by S. Pauls practice at Troas when he preached and administred the Sacrament and communed with the Disciples of holy things all duties of the Lords day k Acts 2â— 11 untill the morning Ergo c. Ninthly as our Saviour who instituted the day observed it in his own person so doubtlesse must the Church for ever But our Saviour appeared and his very apparition was the institution not only early in the morning but also l Iohn 20.19 late at night to his Disciples and even then preached unto them and gave them the holy Ghost with the keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven therefore c. If any object that by night in that place is understood the evening or shutting in of the light only making it thereby a day artificiall the very circuÌ„stances of the Text are against him For first the doores of the house were shut saith the Text which is not usually done in the evening Secondly they feared a search would be made for them which is commonly done in the dead and depth of the night Thirdly m Profundâ jam nocte Aret. in locum Aretius a good Protestant Expositor saith expresly it was very late in the night Tenthly as the Primitive Church observed the day so must we But the Primitive Church kept a night as well as a day as plainly appears by their vigills and over-night assemblies not only in time of persecution but when the Emperours themselves were Christians Every man knowes and we read unto this day the Sermons of the ancient Fathers in their vigils which doubtlesse had never been but that they held themselves obliged to a twenty-foure-houres Sabbath at the least Therefore c. Lastly divers good authorities may be brought to this purpose not only of some private men as n Sicut Antiquis praeceptum est de Sabbatho dicente legislatore à vespere usque ad veâ—eram Aug. de tempore St Augustine and o Irenaeus contra Valent. l. 4. cap. 31. Irenaeus but whole p Observemus igitur Diem Dominicum sanctificemus eum à vespere diei Sabbathi usque ad vesperam Dominici diei sequestrati ab omni negotio Con. Agath cap. 47. Noctem ipsam quae nos insseratae lucd inâ—â—cessibili redidis spiritualibus excubijs exigamus Con. Matis c. 1. Councells have so determined this point nay the very Canon law the sink and dunghill of Popery CHAP. XV. The Arguments against the day naturall are proposed THe negative Tenent hath also its Reasons First our Resting day must be proportionable to our working day for they are relatives and all relatives have their mutuall Respects in all things in which they are Relatives Certaine therefore it is that God requires for himselfe such a day of Rest as he doth proportion unto us for our own imployments But our working daies are Artificiall not naturall Man goeth forth unto his labour till the evening q Psal 104.3 saith the Prophet * Ioh. 11.9 there are twelve houres of the day saith our Saviour * Ioh. 9.4 night cometh wherein no man worketh Therefore c. Ob. May not a man then work by night in his lawfull calling Resp Yes doubtlesse if he offend not against the rules of mercy to himselfe or others or if there intervene not some other irregularity in his working and upon this caution also he may lawfully spend the Lords night in holy exercises But our question is not what some men may doe but what all men must doe under paine of sinne Ob. But doth not then the rule hold that those who sit up late at night about their own workes on week daies should proportionably watch about holy things at night on the Lords day Resp This no way agreeth with the intention of the Lawgiver which in commanding the Sabbath had a twofold intention the one his own publique worship and the spirituall good of mankind the other the corporall refreshing and reviving the bodies of his servants and of all that belonges unto them I would now gladly know what refreshing the body of a man hath by the Sabbath if he must labour about holy things not only all day but most part of the night also But I think no sober minded man will say it is a sinne to goe to bed sooner upon this night then upon
can be no better then a snare to weak Consciences there being no certainty wherein to fasten CHAP. XVI Wherein something concerning the day naturall and artificiall being premised the former arguments are briefly answered TO give better satisfaction to weak and unstable minds we must know what a Naturall day is and where it is to begin where to end Some have of late fondly denied this distinction because it is not found as they think in Scripture And indeed the termes Naturall and Artificiall are not there read but what matter is it for sounds and syllables if we have the sence and substance a Math. 28 2â— St Mathew is plaine that it was the end of the Sabbath when the first day of the week began to dawn so that all that night untill the dawning of the first day was part of the Sabbath which were not possible without the distinction of Naturall and Artificiall Ob. If any say that the Iewes kept their Sabbath from evening to evening and therefore that the night following could be no part of the Sabbath Sol. I answere that S. Matthew in that place speaks not according as the Iewes accounted from evening to evening but as the Romanes from morning which was a naturall day of twenty-foure houres But not to spend time in so needlesse a point we must proceed to enquire where the naturall is to begin and end In this there is no small variety of opinions Astronomers begin at noon b Manè diem Gens Graecorum incipit astra sequentes in medio lucis Iudaei vespere sancta inchoat ecclesia medio sub tempore noctis Iewes at Sun-set the Grecians at morning the c Dies naturalis secundum ecclesiam Romanam incipit à mediâ nocte Aqui parte 3. q. 8. ad 5. Church of Rome with the Vmbrians at Mid-night But this is to find knots as they say in Bulrushes For if the naturall day be measured by the revolution of the Sunne as all confesse sure it is that untill the Sunne begin his course the day cannot begin At what time now did the Sunne set forth upon the fourth day at the creation Common reason will say when he first appeared in the Horizon the rising therefore of the Sunne in the Horizon must needs be the first period of the naturall day And so the words of d Gen. 1.5 Moses are to be understood saying the evening and the morning were the first day that is the shutting up of the day which is there called the evening and the begining of the next there called the morning e Permittitur autem vespere quia cum à luce dies inciperet priùs terminus occurrit lucis quod est vespere quam terminus noctis quod est mane vel secundum Chrysost ut designetur quòd dies naturalis non terminatur in verspere sed in maâ—e Aquin. parte 1. q. 74. art 3. ad 6. was the first day The words also of S. Mathew before cited make it apparent in which not only midnight but to the very dawning belonged not to the first but last day of the week It was not of it but towards it as the end of one contiguum is the begining of another By all which it is apparent that when God commanded the Iewes their Sabbaths from evening to evening the order of the naturall day was inverted by him not so much looking to the number of foure and twenty houres as to the time of Israels deliverance out of Egypt which began when the Passover was eaten at even of which their deliverance the Sabbath is a memoriall as hath been said Some thing also must be said of the day Artificiall which we may define to be a certain proportion of houres appointed by men and employed by Artificers about their crafts and trades This is not the whole time between Sunne and Sunne but generally I think conceived by all nations to be measured by twelve houres according to that of our Saviour * Iohn 11.9 Are there not twelve houres of the day And as the * Math. 27. Evangelist describes the passion of Christ by the third sixt and ninth houres Having thus briefly set down the day Naturall and Artificiall whereas it is generally supposed by all men almost that the Lords day must be measured by one of these two proportions of houres the truth is there is no such portion of time set us in the New Testament which alone can direct us in the Lords day neither expresly nor implicitly Vnlesse therefore we will have recourse unto the Iewish Sabbath and begin the observation thereof over night and that Analogically because Christ himselfe our Passover was sacrificed at Evening and our Redemption from the spirituall Egypt set on foot the Conscience hath no ground to settle upon But what warrant Christians have to follow the Iewes in observing the Lords day in regard of any circumstantialls I see not And that Analogicall respect before spoken of between the sacrificing of ours and their Passover cannot bind the conscience The whole therefore is left to the Church and Magistrates under the Gospell the time being such by their appointment as may be convenient for the publique worship of God neither doe the Arguments to the contrary conclude To the first the Iewes indeed were prescribed a naturall day not properly but equivocally so called consisting of twenty foure houres but that the time which limited them doth also limit us is utterly untrue And whereas it is said that the twenty-foure hovres were no way Mysticall or Ceremoniall It will be replyed that though the number of houres spoken of which are not so much as mentioned in Scripture was in no respect mysticall yet the time named from evening to evening was partly memorative looking to the time of their deliverance out of Egypt partly positive looking to the publique worship the morning and the evening sacrifice which concernes not us but only in a proportion For as the Iewes worshipped the Lord upon the day of their Sabbath and had set times of assembling themselves on that day both morning and evening so it is fit and convenient that the Christians also worship the Lord in their publique assemblies both in the begining and towards the evening of their Lords day To the second A day may have a twofold consideration the one Absolute as it is a day the other Relative as appointed for any use or service The fifth of November may be considered either as such a day of such a moneth and so it 's neither longer or shorter then any other naturall day or as a day set apart by the Church for publique thanksgiving and so it consists only of a morning as appears by the Statute from whence it hath authority The case is the same in the Lords day which continueth no longer then the duties of the day require To the third the saying of the Rabbines is a good admonition to all men not to abbreviat
the latter and clean contrary to that of o Ignatìus Ep. ad Magne sianos circa medium epistolae Ignatius who lived wrote in the purest times styling it the Queene of daies Therefore c. Thirteenthly It 's only the divine prerogative of God himselfe to put holinesse into times and daies for he only is the fountaine of holinesse But the Lords day is an Holy-day and hath holinesse in it more then other daies whence it is that the Fathers frequently call it Sacred Mysticall Religiously to be observed Therefore doubtlesse made holy by God himselfe Fourteenthly None can appoint any thing to be a part of Gods worship in the Church but Christ who is the head of the Church to rule and govern her who can command the spouse but the husband But the observation of the Lords day is a speciall branch of Gods worship in the Church therefore none can none ought to institute it but Christ himselfe Fifteenthly There being a change of the Priesthood there was also a change of the Law saith the p Heb. 7.12 Apostle * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word there used in the Originall signifieth the transposing of things one being put in the room and steed of another But the Iewes Sabbath was one of those things thus to be exchanged being Ceremoniall therefore our high Priest put an other in the room thereof but no other therefore the Lords day Sixteenthly Only Christ is Lord of the Sabbath to appoint and dispose thereof as he thinks good the Church can claim no such Lordship but the Sabbath is changed and another appointed in the place thereof which the whole Church observeth this change therefore was made by Christ not the Church Seventeenthly Old things are passed away all things are become new so the q 2. Cor. 5.17 Apostle The meaning is that Christ hath made all things new in his Church as new Creatures new Man new Covenant new Commandement new Way new Names new Song new Garments new Hierusalem new Heaven new Earth But unlesse Christ hath also made a new Sabbath he hath not made all things new Ergo c. Eighteenthly It is no way to be beleeved that Christ would leave his Church under the Gospell in worse condition then he found the Synagogue under Moses But if Christ left not his Church under the Gospell a Sabbath of Divine Institution he left it in a farre worse condition then he found the Synagogue which received a Sabbath from God himself as a speciall token of his love Ergo c. Ninteenthly If Christ hath left us no day of his own appointment and Institution it were our safest way to turne Iewes as some have done upon this very motive at least in this point for the Iewes day we are well assured was from God but we may say of the Lords day as they did of the Lord himselfe we know not whence it is But no man will say it is best for us to turne Iewes in this point Ergo c. Twentiethly The very Name is a sufficient demonstration of a Divine Institution for all things belonging to Gods worship which have the Lords own name stamped upon them were ordained by the Lord himselfe as the Lords Prayer the Lords Supper c. But the observation of the Christian Sabbath is a thing appertaining to Gods worship and hath the Lords own name engraven upon it by the r Rev. 1.10 holy Ghost himselfe Ergo c. The one and Twentieth That which Christ did immediatly institute in his own person and with his own mouth ordaine must needs be of divine institution But that Christ did immediatly in his own person institute the Lords day the * Ioh. 20.19.22 Evangelist makes apparent for he came into the midst of his Disciples the holy assembly the two first daies of the two first weekes then he blessed them breathed on them gave them the keyes of the Kingdome It 's very likely he did this every first day of the week from his Resurrection to his Assension * Act. 1.2.3 speaking unto them the things appertaining to the Kingdome of God Ergo c. The two and twentieth Christ whiles he was upon the earth after his Resurrection gaue the Apostles instruction and commands Acts 1.2 what these commands were may be knowne say Divines partly by their Doctrine and partly by their practice But if Christ gaue them such commands as is most apparent without question he would not omit to command them a day to remember him and his Resurrection in and to performe vnto him holy worship nay that this he did appeares also by their practice Ergo. The three and twentieth makes it more evident thus Whatsoeuer is an Apostolicall tradition is of Divine Institution for they deliuered nothing but what they first receiued But the lords-Lords-daies obseruation is certainly an Apostolicall tradition * 1. Cor. 10. ◠for they appointed collections to be made for the poore that day the ordaining of the one doth necessarily inferre the other the duty of the day supposeth the day And withall this day hath been constantly obserued by the whole Church in all ages and that without the authority of any generall Councell the very definition of an Apostolicall tradition deliuered by ſ Illa quae non scripta sed tradita custodimus quae quidè toto terrarum orbe observantur Aug. ad Ian. ep 118. S. Augustine Ergo. The foure and twentieth If the Lords day were not of Christs institution to his Apostles then surely they by their practice haue drawne the Church of Christ into an horrible presumption as great as that of Ieroboam Antiochus and Antichrist himselfe changing times and seasons But God forbid any man should thinke so uncharitably of the Apostles therefore certainly they receiued warrant for what they did from Christ himselfe The fiue and twentieth If we keepe the Lords day warranted thereunto only by the Apostles practice for which they themselues receiued no precept then by the same reason we haue only the Apostles practice for abolishing the Iewes Saturday-Sabbath But we forbeare not Saturday-Sabbath only upon the Apostles practice and example for which doubtlesse they receiued a precept And indeed the examples of holy men not seconded by precepts shew what we may doe the case being the same not what we must doe Now the Church not only may but must forbeare Satterday-Sabbath and obserue the Lords day Ergo c. The six and twentieth That day on which the holy Ghost was giuen with all his graces with such efficacy that * Acts 2.41 S. Peter immediately with one short Sermon conuerted three thousand soules must needs be a day of Christs owne Instituting But this day was the Lords day the day of Pentecost Ergo c. The seuen and twentieth That day on which Christ reuealed himselfe unto S. Iohn acquainting him with his whole counsell concerning his Church to the worlds end was doubtlesse a day
which he himselfe had especially selected out of all other daies for himselfe and his seruice But the * Rev. 1.10 Lords day was the day of Reuelation to S. Iohn Therefore c. The eight and twentieth That day whose Prophanation is revenged with miraculous judgments even reuealed from Heauen must needs be of Diuine institution for why else should the Lord so seuerely require it But the Prophanation of the Lords day hath beene in all ages miraculously revenged as an t Tom. 3. Conc. â—dem fere concil Paris tomo 3. ancient Synod held in Scotland and sundry other good Records make it apparent Therefore c. The nine and twentieth A cloud of many Arguments all of which are at the least probable are equivalent to a demonstration But here is such a cloud Therefore c. Lastly there wants not the authority of the learned Ignatius stiles it the Queene of dayes Iustin Martyr saith the Lord himselfe changed it Athanasius affirmes the same as we see Argument the eight The latine Fathers call it sacred as Argument the thirteenth Augustine Leo and the Councell of Palestina inlarge themselues in the prayses and prerogatiues of the day Amongst the Schoolemen some are found which maintaine it to be of diuine Authority Nay some Antisabatharians themselues haue acknowledged the same So mighty is truth and prevailing CHAP. 18. The Arguments for the Negatiue are breifly set downe FOR the Negatiue it is said First that whatsoeuer is of Diuine institution is to be found either in the naturall or positiue law of God for all lawes are writen constitutions say Civilians And the Schooleman giues the reason for otherwise they were a Leges constituuntur cum promulgantur alioqui constitationes positivae non essent nisi in laqueum offensiones scandalum nedù◠insipientum sed sapientum Gers no lawes but snares for mens consciences and stumbling blocks not only * to the simple but to wise men themselues But that the first day of the weeke should be the Christian mans Sabbath is not found to be writen either naturally vpon the heart or positiuely in the Scripture either expresly in the letter or implicitly to be deduced by necessary and vndeniable consequence Not naturally vpon the heart for then it were a principall of nature which no man affirmes Nor positiuely in Scripture for then the text might be produced not by vndeniable consequence for we shall see the weaknesse of all these deductions which hitherto are or as I conceiue may be made and in this poynt we must wholy be guided by probabilities saith Mr Perkins If any man except against the sufficiency of this enumeration and conceiue it to be a diuine ordination because it hath authority from the practice of the Apostles and their example recorded in Scripture I answere that in deed the Papists make much vse of this Maxime b Ab Apostolis per doctrinam spiritus sancti instituta omnibus saeculis post Apostolica tempora succedentibus celebraâ—a est Bel. de bonis oper lib. 2. cap. 34. Bellarmin maintaines the fast of Lent to be a necessary observation by no other way But me thinks when a man speaks of holy things to which the consciences of men are bound vnder the obligation of sinne it is too much loosenes to say we are bound to follow the examples of Gods Saints when no precept can be produced For only the examples of Christ in such things which are moâ—rall vertues or wherein he dischargeth the office of a Mediator and wherein he is proposed unto us to be immitated by us are to be admitted for necessary instructions and obligations And surely were it otherwise so that a man should distinguish betweene a divine precept and a divine ordination as the Iesuite Lainez did in the Councell of Trent what a wide gappe were opened to usurpe upon mens consciences St Augustines rule is safe I beleeue not what I read not If any man say that this daies observation was an Apostolicall tradition we shall I hope giue him satisfaction when we come to those arguments which formerly were made to this purpose Secondly if Christ had given any command to forbeare the Iewish Sabbath and in its roome to obserue the Lords day the Apostles holding their first Synode would doubtlesse haue expressed as much in their letters to the Gentiles for they professe by that their decree to lay upon them all necessary burthens in regard of outward observations But the keeping of the Lords day in the place of the Iewish Sabbath is an outward observation and the Apostles burthen them not therewith therefore c. The Argument gathers strength from the circumstance of the text because the question was at that time which also occasioned the Synode betweene the Iewes and Gentiles how farre forth they were bound to the law of Moses of which the Sabbath was one speciall branch Ob. If any man say that Baptisme was an outward observation and yet they burthened them not therewith and therefore no marvaile if they silenced the Lords day as also that the Apostles prescribed negatively not affirmatiuely Sol. I answere to the first that Baptisme was already made knowne unto them both by precept and practice to be a necessary Sacrament of the Gospell and therefore needed not to be then repeated And to the second that indeed their directions were only negatiue and from hence we may well inferre that the first Christians were tyed to no affirmatiues but such only as were expresse duties commanded by precept of the Gospell But the observation of the Lords day is affirmatiue and no where so precepted Therefore c. Thirdly whatsoever is of divine institution and as they say by necessity of precept laid upon the whole Church of Christ is to be observed as a necessary meanes unto salvation by the particular members thereof unlesse we be debarred therefrom by some inevitable impossibility for he that is guilty of one is guilty of all But that the obseruation of the Lords day ever since Christs resurrection or ascension hath been a necessary duty without which if it might possibly haue beene observed no salvation were to be had were desperate rashnesse to affirme For many doubtlesse there were which never kept the Lords day in the Apostles time as most beleeving Iewes and many beleeving Gentiles Many also in these times very seldome or never keepe a Sabbath by reason of their callings as workers in Mines Colepits Shepheards Cookes Physitians whose salvation notwithstanding we may not doubt Ergo. c. Fourthly no outward observation is under precept in the Ecclesiasticall Law which concernes not the kingdome of God * Rom. 14.17 defined to be Righteousnesse peace ioy in the holy Ghost and therefore is the Gospell called Evangelium Regni the Gospell af the kingdome and the Law of the Spirit This proposition is laid down by the Schoolemen for a Maxime in Divinity and is thus proved by way of induction for the
questioned Are not we say they the faithfull Ministers of God men more spirituall then others who use not to mislead our people And are not our opposites men that seeke themselves that please the times having all the marks and characters of false Prophets Whereas the words of the Apostle exceed not the bounds of a modest and just defence But it will be farther objected that by this meanes we bring in the Papists Evangelicall counsels if any things were delivered by the Apostles in Scripture which are not precepts I answer that this is a meere calumniation For these Evangelicall counsels upon which the Romanists build their works of merit and supererrogation are they say Counsels of perfection by embracing of which they become higher in Gods favour and haue done more then is required at their hands for which they shall be more extraordinarily rewarded in Gods kingdome and by which they daily augment the Churches treasury Such counsels we utterly disclaime notwithstanding the Apostles haue advised many things of themselves in Scripture Inspired then the Apostles were as Pastors but these were not divine constitutions And hence it comes to passe the goverment which they erected for this appertained not to their Apostolicall but Pastorall charge was no setled or binding constitution Lastly directed also they were as private persons which belongs not to this place to enquire into * Ex traditionum vinculo quas à Christo acceptas Apostoli servandas reliquere Ecclesia eximere fideles non potest in aliis vero quae Apostoli constituerunt tanquam Ecclesiae pastores poterit summus Pontifex dispensare ibid. We must in the next place enquire of Apostolicall traditions These the Papists themselves the great admirers and advancers of them distinguish into two ranks For some h Alia divisio est Apostolicae traditionis nam alteras Apostoli à Christo domino acceperunt alteras spiritu sancto suggerente in Ecclesiae utilitatem tradiderunt Canus lib. 3. loc cap. 5. they say the Apostles immediatly received from Christ to be delivered to the Church forever to be kept As that Matrimony Confirmation Extreame Vnction are Sacraments of the Gospell These they delivered as Apostles from Christ and cannot be changed by any law or custome to the contrary no not by Papall authority it selfe Other Apostolicall traditions there are say they which they received not from Christ but were suggested unto them by the spirit for the profit of the Church and they instance in the fast of Lent and threefold immersion in Baptisme These they delivered as Pastors not Apostles and may be dispenced with as occasion shall require More plainly those Traditions which they received of Christ were saith Canus fidei dogmata articles of faith against which whosoever pertinaciously erreth is an Heretike but those other which they delivered by the motion of the spirit as Pastors only are not fixed but moveable in the Church According to this sense also I find the Fathers to speake of Traditions S. Cyprian relating what Pope Stephen had writen unto him against Rebaptization that nothing should be innovated in the Church but what was anciently a Tradition in this thing should be observed True saith i Vnde ista traditio uti une de dominicâ Evangelicâ authoritate descendens an de Apostolorum mandatis Epistolis veniens Ea enim facienda esse quae scripta sunt Deu◠testatur Cyp. Ep. ad Pomp. 74. S. Cyprian but whence comes this Tradition from Christ in the Gospell or from the Apostles in their Epistles If so then God himselfe saith the Father hath commanded by his servant * Ioshua 1. Ioshua to keep all such Traditions there we haue the first kind But in another place k Diligenter de traditione divinâ Apostolicâ traditione observandum est tenendum ut ad ordinationes ritè celebrandas Episcopus eligatur plebe praesente Cyp. ep 68. S. Cyprian writing to the Clergy and people of Spaine commending them for deposeing Basilides and Martialis from their Sees and placing in their roomes Sabinus and Felix saith that the choyce of Bishops and Ministers in the presence and with the approbation of the people was of divine and Apostolicall Tradition and observation Now who seeth not that here S. Cyprian speaks of those other Traditions deliuered and practised by the Apostles as the Churches Pastors which are no longer in force then the Church shall like For this choyce of Bishops and Ministers we are sure is neither delivered in the Gospell the Acts or the Epistles If I mistake not this also is that which the Professors at Leyden in their body of the Purer sort of Divinity as they call it hammer upon when they thus distinguish of Traditions Some say they there are whose cheife heads are contained in the Scriptures as the Apostles Creed Baptisme of Infants that Women should receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and here they adde that the Lords day be kept holy These they receive for divine but all other whatsoever they reject It were to be wished that they had expressed themselves in purer clearer tearmes their summa capita are so obscure as if purposely devised not to be understood For if they understand by the cheife heads of things the substance and matter of the thing delivered though in other words in Scripture as it should seeme to be their meaning by their instances in the Apostles Creed childrens Baptisme and Womens communicating they speak of things vnder precept and concurre with us in our distinction But if they understand by cheife heads whatsoever is named and mentioned in the writings of the Apostles as it seemes they also doe by instancing the Lords-daies observation then must they also receive Extreme Vnction the selling of possessions having all things common the Presbytery for Apostolicall traditions necessarily to be received for all these haue generall ground and footing in Scripture But to draw towards a conclusion in this poynt according to the doctrine of the Traditionaries themselves we affirme these things First that the observation of the Lords day is no divine Traditions delivered by Christ immediatly to his Apostles to be laid as a necessary duty upon his Church and the reason is because it s no where so delivered by them in the Acts or in the Epistles and because it is no Article of faith or practice necessary to salvation Neither haue they which haue gainesaid ever been reputed for Heretiques by the Church or any sober minded man Secondly we say notwithstanding that it is very probable for probability is our surest ground that the Apostles commended this day unto the Christians of those times in honour of Christs resurection and giue it the title of Lords day Thirdly that they never imposed it upon the Church as a necessary observation nay that themselves observed it not in those places where the Iewes had Synagogues and observed their Sabbath unlesse it were for breaking
the text saith expressely from the day after the first Sabbath or as our old translation hath it thou shalt number unto that day And g Verba includuut diem non excludunt Ioseph Ant. lib. 3. c. 13. Iosephus himselfe a Iew saith the words are inclusive not exclusive Others h Bell. de cultu Sanctorum lib. 3. cap. 13. therefore say that the first day of unleavened bread which was to be a Sabbath happening to be Friday and the morrow after being their weekely Sabbath the Iewes transfer'd the former into the latter and kept two Sabbaths in one as their custome was propter olera mortuos making it by this meanes a greater or higher day as the * Ioh. 12.31 Evangelist cals it This being done they begin to account from that great or high day and so the Lords day was the first and last of those fifty But when all this stirre is made about the day of Pentecost on which the holy Ghost was given first this fell out by meere accident and from the superstitious conceit of this people concerning their Sabbaths that it was not lawfull for them in them to bury the dead Secondly what loosenesse is in the conclusion gathering any thing from any thing The holy Ghost was given on that day therefore it was a Sabbath of Divine institution To the seven and twentieth This also savours of the like loosenesse Indeed if God did never reveale himselfe unto his Prophets but on Sabbath dayes the inference were tolerable but this I thinke no man will affirme I presume God revealed as much to Daniel in his kind as S. Iohn in his must therefore the daies of Daniels revelations be Sabbaths Besides who can tell whether the Lords day of which S. Iohn speaks were the Lords day which we keepe or Easter day the solemnity of Christs resurrection which S. Iohn his Disciples observed as it fell out according to the Iewish supputation To the eight and twentieth This being drawne from the Iudgements of God is full of rash presumption For * Esa 55.8 Gods wayes are not as mans but secret and unsearchable his judgements past finding out But in this place it is as fallacious as presumptuous affirming Non causam pro causa assigning that to be the cause of the judgements which is not For the day is one thing the prophanation irreligious contempt of Gods ordinances appointed upon that day by the Constitutions of the Church and the law of the Land is another These indeed be sinnes highly provoking Gods wrath but no respects which God hath to this day more then to another doth pull down his judgements And therefore I doubt not but if the day were changed into any other there would be as exemplary judgements of God revealed from heaven against this kind of ungodlinesse of men as ever were in any ages upon the Lords day I denie not but that a Synod held at Paris reports diverse strange accidēts which befell the Prophaners of this day Some killed with Lightnings whil'st they were at Plough others taken with a suddain shrinking of the Sinews others consumed in a moment as Iobs * Iob. 1.16 Cattle and Servants by fire from heauen Et multa alia terribilia iudicia many more dreadfull Iudgements as that Synod speaks But let any man cast his eyes upon the beginning of that i Nullo modo divinae authoritati concordat quod religio Christiana sicut à sanctis patribus traditū accepit et Ecclesiae authoritas se habet diem Dominicū reverentèr venerabiliterque non colit Con. Par. cap. 50. Chapter and he shall find that they esteemed and taught the Lords day to be observed only by Ecclesiastical authority And though they enlarge themselves in the praises of the day yet they speak not a syllable of any divine institution either from Christ or his Apostles To the nine and twentieth Indeed here is a Cloud of witnesses as darke as thick and I hope sufficiently dispelled by the light of truth That these arguments are all probable I cannot find but on the contrary they cannot therefore be Demonstratiue that are not Topicall But grant them to be probable let them be pressed for such and no more let not the conscience of our hearers be fettered with probabilities Lastly the authorities alleaged are for the most part also satisfied in their severall places CAP. XXI A preparatiue discourse to the two maine questions which follow concerning the observation of the Lords day HAving examined the originall and institution of the Lords day it remaines only that in the last place wee enquire after what manner it ought to be observed in the Church what be those duties of the day unto which in particular the conscience is bound under the penalty of sinne For how soever this be the last conclusion in our adversaries positions yet it is the first in their intentions and I doubt not but they would willingly shake hands with us in all the rest might this be yeelded Necessary therefore it is that this be knowne not only for the satisfying of many weake consciences who are wavering herein and therefore daily wounded but also for the better according of these Questions formerly disputed But should we be exact in the discussing hereof it would proue to be a Hydra of many doubts For it being agreed betweene us that the whole observation of the Lords day doth consist in a Dichotomy being divided betweene rest and holinesse there arise out of both sundry scruples which may be ranged under these two heads First whether they be ioyntly and equally commanded as essentiall duties or whether the duty of holinesse be essentiall and that wherein the sanctification of the day consists The duty of rest being on the other side only accidentally commanded as it stands in relation to the duties of holinesse Now supposing as it is commonly taught that corporall rest and cessation from workes is enioyned as an essentiall dutie it is necessary to know in what measure and degree it is required of us Christians in the time of the Gospell whether in that rigour and strictnesse as was exacted of the Iewes under the Law And under this head come fiue particulars by name about which many disputes haue beene raised amongst the weake First whether all workes of profit which are not of absolute necessity be forbidden as sinnes upon that day how lawfull and commendable soever they be upon other daies as journyes Harvest workes ordinary trades Secondly works of pleasure honest recreations in themselues lawfull and not prohibited by the Church and State Thirdly works of the minde as the studying of Arts and Sciences which are not parts of Divinity but only usuall hand-maids thereof as the tongues Philosophy Fourthly all conferences discoursings consultations about things of common life and meerely civill Lastly Whether a more liberall use of Gods creatures in feasts and entertainments of friends neighbours either Anniversary as
the Lords day by servile works hath beene ever thus blasted whether done about sun-rising that day and being a matter of no great importance or after evening prayer in the afternoone to take away all evasions from the circumstance of time Of this there hath beene much and lamentable experience ever since the Kings Declaration he being confuted as it were herein by the King of Kings Ninthly The consent of the whole Church ever since Constantines time as appeares by the Edicts of that Emperour with sundry Synodicall constitutions in all ages many wholsome statutes made to this purpose in all parts of the Christian world The Fathers also haue been large in the same argument utterly condemning even those speeches and conferences which withdraw our mindes from the serious meditation of what we haue heard in the congregation a Chrys Ho◠5. c. 1. Math. S. Chrysostome hath much to this purpose which he doth also illustrate by two familiar similitudes The one of men that goe into the hot Bathes for their health as soone as they come out they retire themselues to rest and sweat in their beds least by going abroad about their businesse they depriue themselues of the benefit of their bathing The Lords day is as it were the day of the soules spirituall bathing in the living and wholsome waters of the word of God and the blood of Christ. This day therefore should be a most retired day wherein we should be secluded frō all earthly things least we depriue our selues of the wholsome profit thereof The second is of Scholars at Schoole when they haue their tasks sett them they labour and beat upon it the whole day and all is little enough Vpon the Lords day we sitt at Christ feet in his Schoole to be taught from his mouth What we haue heard from him in the Congregation must be our worke the whole day after unlesse we affect to be like broken vessels which receiue much but retaine little S. b Aug. in Ps 32. Augustine also bitterly inveighs against sports and pastimes upon this day and by name against Dancing saying a man were better upon the Lords day goe to plough By which it seems he condemnes all kinde of works and recreations concuring with that c Oportet Christianos in laude Dei gratiarum actione usque ad vesperam perseverare Syn. Tur. c. 4. Synod held at Tours in France which faith that Christians ought upon the same day to persevere in the praises of God and in giving of thanks untill the night To which purpose runnes the unanimous consent of all those worthies in the Church of England which haue treated on this subject almost since the Reformation CAP. XXIII The Arguments for the Negative are also related THE Negatiue also is supported by sundry reasons First that which is not under any Law Naturall or Positiue can be no essentiall duty unto which the conscience is bound under the penalty of sinne for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression But cessation from work upon the Lords day is under no Law Naturall or Positiue not naturall for it is neither a principle in nature knowne unto all men nor any conclusion to be deriv'd from any naturall principle I meane such a totall cessation as is here questioned For that men should haue times of rest and refreshing is naturall that God should haue part of our time sequestred for his worship is also naturall but neither the question nor arguments produced intend this naturall rest but an artisiciall kinde of cessation which our Sabbatharians haue fancied unto themselues and cannot be knowne unto us unlesse by Revelation Neither is it under any positiue precept for then it might be shewed in some Evangelicall writer and we need not fly to the Law and the Prophets of the old Testament to which satisfaction will soone be given Secondly Nothing commanded the Iew as a Ceremonie under Moses is or can be an essentiall duty of Religion unto the Christians in the time of the Gospell And the reason is plaine for the ceremoniall law was the application of things in their own natures indifferent to mysticall and holy uses and otherwise there could be no distinction between Morall Ceremoniall But that utter and totall cessation from works here spoken of was a ceremony commanded the Iew under Moses hath already been manifested Therefore c. Thirdly That which is not in it's selfe in its own nature an act of Religion cannot be in its selfe and its own nature a universall Christian duty binding all men under the penalty of sinne But an utter cessation from bodily labour upon the Lords day is not in its selfe and its own nature an act of Religion for then it must be some part of Gods worship inward or outward wherewith if rightly performed God is well pleased But God saith M. Calvin is not taken with any bodily rest and cessation of his creatures precisely and of it selfe considered upon what day soever which I think all men of sober mindes will acknowledge it cannot therefore be of it selfe a Christian duty upon the Lords day If any man say it is a part of Gods worship being an ordinance commanded by him Let him shew us any such command for the Christian festivall and I will subscribe Fourthly that which of it selfe doth no way further our spirituall edification in Christ is not a Christian duty binding the conscience upon any day But corporall rest from the works of our lawfull callings doth no way further our spirituall edification For if * 2. Tim. 4.8 Bodily exercise profiteth nothing bodily cessation profiteth lesse If any man say it helpeth much to Edification for by this meanes we may wholy attend the things of God I answer that is not the thing in question for then it edifieth not by and of it selfe but by and through the holy exercises If it be further said that it doth edifie remembring us of our spirituall rest required of us and the eternall rest promised unto us I answer that this Edification proceedeth not from the d Significatio alia est divina seu à Deo rebus addita a◠ob signationem cultum ut significatio Sacramentorum alia humana ecclesiastica hominū instituto rebus addita utsit occasio memorandi rem gestam illa est necessaria haec libera significatio dominicae est humanitūs Parae in Ro. 14. thing it selfe but as affix't thereunto by our own inventions and institutions And so the Surplice the Crosse standing at the Creed all Church Ceremonies doe edifie which yet of themselues are not Christian duties Fiftly if Christian liberty extend it selfe to things of greater consequence carrying with them far greater shew of divine command then doubtlesse we are much more free in things of lesse importance But we are left free under the Gospell to many things of greater weight as Vowing Fasting Preaching Catechizing receiving the Sacraments Confession
or lessen the time appointed by the Church for holy duties but this makes no more for twenty foure houres then it doth for forty or fifty or any other It is all men will confesse sacriledge to rob God of his time but it must be made to appear that God hath claimed unto himselfe this time in question till when nothing can be concluded The fourth indeed were unanswerable if the case were as is pretended between us and the Iewes But First the ground upon which this argument is builded is sandy for it supposeth that God appointed them from Evening to Evening to contemplate the mysteries of Godlinesse and mercies vouchsafed unto them whereas it was both memorative and mysticall as hath been proved neither did they spend the night of their Sabbath in contemplation but in bodily Rest Secondly it is utterly untrue that we under the Gospell have more work for the Lords day then the Iewes had for their Sabbath For as e Lib. 4. c. 4. Eusebius observes their religion was the same with Christian Religion which at this day we professe f 1. Cor. 10.2 For they all were baptized unto Moses and did all eat of the same spirituall meat and drink of the same spirituall Rock which was Christ his meaning is that the body and substance was the same only it was cloathed with many shadowes and as the Apostle cals them * Gal. 4.9 Beggarly rudiments so that their Sabbath daies work was in this respect as much as our Lords can be Thirdly I say it was much greater for how cumbersome was Gods worship to them by Sacrificings Purifyings Washings How did God seem to hide himselfe and his mercies from them in Types and figures whereas he reveales himselfe to us even in the face of Iesus Christ * 2. Cor. 3. And not only Moses had a vaile put upon him * 3.15 but also their hearts which remaineth unto this day There was also a restraint of Gods spirit unto them as of the raine in the daies of Elias whereas now the fountaine is opened and the spirit powred out All men know that when any thing is enquired after it is sooner found when it lies open then when it is hid by a man of understanding then by a child one that hath eyes to see then by one that is hoodwinked by one that hath many helpes then by one that hath none So is it between the Iewes and us in holy things This argument therefore is a meere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither can any more prevaricating reason be produced To the fift it were to be wished that Scripture might be handled if not with more reverence yet with greater gentlenesse not thus to be racked The 92. Psalme was the Psalme of the Sabbath and it makes mention of night and day to be spent in the Lords prayses But what then will any reasonable man imagine that they then had night meetings in the Temple or sate up late in their families that night Those times of morning and evening if we restraine them as spoken of the Sabbath day are metonymically to be understood for the whole worship of God whensoever performed upon that day and are as much as when we say Morning-prayer and Evening-prayer But farther notwithstanding the Psalme was the Sabbath-Psalme yet whatsoever is therein contained may not respectively be spoken of the Sabbath only And this is i Tantùm vult docere nisi nos nostra socordia impediat nunquam deesie argumentum laudandi Deum nec verè defungi officio gratitudinis nisi in eo siâ—â—us assidui sicut ipse bonitatem fidem erga nos perpetuat Calvin in locum Mr Calvins observation upon the very words alleadged affirming that day and night are there put in indefinitely for all times whatsoever as appears saith he by that which followes For his loving kindnesse and his truth are alwaies towards us But as those that have yellow eyes think every thing to be of that colour so these men cannot meet with the Lord to be praised night and day especially in the Sabbath-Psalme but it must presently conclude a foure and twenty houres-Sabbath To the sixt as Gods rest began so must ours is a proposition Atheologicall For the Iewes themselves who observed the Sabbath in imitation of Gods Rest looked not at their patterne in this particular but only at their deliverance out of Egypt into which deliverance they entred when they sacrificed the Passover The example of God is not proposed without limitation in the Commandement he so rested as that he never since returned to his labours from which he rested he so rested as that he blessed it in neither of which ought we to presume to imitate his Rest Lastly I wonder how the example of Gods rest proposed in the Commandement can concerne our Lords day which was not the day of the Lords Rest but the begining of his labours The seventh is not much unlike First therefore we observe not the Lords day in memory of Christs resting in the grave For though in some respects he may then be said to have entred into Rest yet was the grave part of his humiliation also and our Redemption and no compleat and perfect Rest Secondly let it be supposed that the grave to Christ was only a place of Rest and that he entred thereinto over-night what is this to a twenty foure houres-Sabbath unlesse perhaps Christ rested but just so many houres in the Grave but how then was he three daies and three nights in the Bowels of the earth This therefore is a meere pretence no proof The eight drawn from Apostolicall practice is in all parts thereof unsound Plaine it is that Apostolicall practice binds not the conscience but where there is a precept annexed Nay where there is a precept annexed both precept and practice may be as they say ambulatorium in lege of no lasting continuance But in this point we have neither precept nor practice either for the present or for after ages I presume that no man well considering the place alleadged can deny what k Curavit scriptor libri causam producendi sermonem produ cere Aug. epist 86. ad Cus S. Austine long since observed that S. Paul at that time took the advantage of the present occasion and necessity and not otherwise Sure I am that if the Apostles practice there recorded were a president for us to follow neither the whole Church of God can be excused who never since hath observed such a Sabbath nor the Apostle himselfe can be acquitted who for ought we read never did the like before or after in any part of the world Besides all this l Calv. in locum Mr Calvin thinks that the day there spoken of was the Iewes Sabbath not the Lords day reading in stead of uno Sabbathorum quodam Sabbatho upon a certain Sabbath day not Lords day But if any list to be contentions herein sure wee are out of