some do daily partake of the Lords blood and body on the Lords day which all the ancients do witness was done in the Church-assembly and others only on the Sabbath and Lords day and in other places only on the Lords day Hierom acknowledges the Christians did observe Quartam Sabbati Parasceven and the Lords day although he shews they differed from the Jews in the observation of those dayes The testimonies of the Fathers hitherto mentioned do shew that although the use of the Lords day grew every where yet the Church had in some places oftener in others more rarely their weekly meetings whereupon it seemed equal and just to some to ordain other dayes which the succeeding Church proclaimed for publick meetings to be equallized with the Lords day and that chiefly for three causes first the publick meetings of the Church were held on other dayes besides the Lords Secondly the Christians were bound to the same duties of Religion on other dayes appointed by the Church for meetings which were required by the Church on the Lords day Lastly some Feasts the Anniversary namely were more esteemed in the Church than the Lords and these things are confidently enough affirmed that they might shew if by any means they could that the original and obligation of the Lords day and other Festivals is the same both which they set forth to the world for humane but let them look to it to whom they affirm it lest they be twit with that of Ezek. 43. 8. But that the prerogatives of the Lords Day above others may more clearly appear let us by Gods help weigh of what value the reasons are with which they contend for other feasts to be equallized with the Lords day which that it may be done with plainness we will first clearly distinguish the Church-assemblies held on the Sabbath dayes from others which were held on the Lords day relying upon the gravest testimonies of the ancients then by Gods assistance we will shew the peculiar excellency of the Lords Day for the dignity whereof it is superiour to other dayes while others contend against it in vain First we affirm that excepting the Lords there was no other weekly we speak of stated and ordinary holy day with the whole Church next the Apostles We have heard in the first Chapter that the Christians met on the first day of the week and for the allegations in this chapter out of the Fathers and Historians for the observation of the Sabbath they cannot demonstrate that the Sabbath was observed by the Christian Church as an holy day which unless it be first explicated they that peruse the records of the Ancients will haply fall into a troublous matter After the Apostles death Socrates Sozomen Epiphanius Hieronymus Augustine and if there be any more say that the Church in the publick assembly did perform the duties of piety as the Sabbaths came about yet whoever shall say that the Sabbath was neither accounted holy nor equalled to the Lords day will do no wrong to the truth Who will say the Sabbath is holy when in the holy Records a tittle cannot be read of its institution or observation in the Christian Church as is of the Lords day but that the Lords day was instituted of the Apostles indued with extraordinary power and moved by the Holy Ghosts inspiration we will afterwards by the Grace of God inform you Yea let him tell who can that the Christians in the Apostles age met by themselves on Sabbath dayes which thing yet they did on the Lords dayes is apparent enough from the Scriptures but after the Apostles death I deny not that the Christians met together on Sabbath dayes although they accounted not the Sabbath holy and those assemblies were chiefly in use with the Oriental people according to some because the Jews dispersed in the Orient and accustomed to the Sabbatical solemnity could not easily be contented to be plucked from it although they observed the Lords Day which what is it else to do but brand them with Ebionism or as Baronius thinks because certain Hereticks reproached the Sabbath that the God of the Hebrews whom they called Evil rested on that day therefore they fasted on the Sabbath Contrariwise the Catholicks not Judaizing but that they might worship him as God the Father Creator of heaven and earth with a solemn celebrity said that in honour of him the Sabbath as well as the Lords day to the glory of Christ ought to be celebrated Thus they To whom Vedelius in his notes on Ignatius's tenth Epistle numb 6. doth answer Learnedly and Orthodoxly enough Or because the Sabbath hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. a regard of creation as is defined in the Constitutions which they call the Apostles But how much these kind of conjectures are to be valued that are supported with no reasons of any authority or genuine testimonies of the Fathers let others judge It 's without controversie that the Oriental Christians and others did at that time hold assemblies on the Sabbath day although upon what reasons they were chiefly moved to this it is not well enough known by the Writers of that age Yet did they not hold the Sabbath day holy The difference of the Eastern from the Western Church in observing the Sabbath teacheth this while the Oriental people kept holy day on the Sabbath most in the West fasted I say the most of them because they of Millain though in the West and divers others of the West were not attentive to fast on Sabbath dayes but dined soberly Ambrose had a custome to dine on the Sabbath Witness Paulinus Ambrose confesseth this of himself in Augustine Augustine acknowledgeth he dined on the Sabbath without superstitious vacation Ep. 86. Yet the Roman Church and some others and at length every where even they of the East fasted on the Sabbath These things about those who fasted on the Sabbath do not declare that they acknowledged it for a Feast or holy day on which fasting was altogether to be forborn according to the custome of the Church Aug. Ep. 86. and other Authors being witnesses yet that the Lords day was accounted holy at that time is granted of all Moreover the Sabbath was not every where amongst the Christians observed with that solemnity of the Church as the Lords day For the meetings were not held in the same manner on Sabbaths as on the Lords dayes Some things touching both observed out of the Fathers will shew this 1. What things are reported of Historians and others about observing the Sabbath touching gathering assemblies were not used in every Church every where For in the Churches of Rome and Alexandria the manner of meeting on the Sabbath held not Witness Sozom. Hist l. 7. c. 19. and afterwards in other Churches it grew out of use Athanasius Hom. de semente glorieth that he never medled with the Sabbath after the Jews manner namely Tertul.
celebrate the Sabbath He grants then that the Sabbaths observation was according to the law of Nature that is that it was constituted by God at the Creation of Nature St. Austin sayes also that the Jews acknowledge that God sanctified a day since which he began as it were to rest from his labours So Solomon Iarchi in Gen. 26. By whom is cited R. Simson in Is 58. Aben Ezra in Exod. 20. Da. Kimchi Manasses Ben-Israel in Deut. 5. and all the Doctors of the Jews excepting Maimonides These things shew that the Jews had knowledge that the Sabbath was observed from the Creation from whom the observation of the Sabbath was very well known to the inhabitants of the whole World Of the Christians also divers both antient and modern were of this opinion a few of whose testimonies we will lightly touch Theophilus Antiochenus lib. 2. ad Antolicum saith That God finished the work that he made on the seventh day and blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it he rested from every work he made c. He saith not that God did consecrate the seventh day that afterwards only it might be sanctified of the Israelitish Church but so soon as the work of Creation was consummate the seventh day was of God both blessed and sanctified Afterwards he acknowledges that the seventh day was solemnized amongst all men which the Hebrews call the Sabbath and Greeks the seventh day although most know not the cause of that name And what cause was unknown to the most namely the holy resting of God on that day and its sanctification whereof Theophilus made mention a little before Tertullian saith that Christ fulfilled the Law while he made the Sabbath day which was holy from the beginning by the blessing of the Father more holy by his own doing good on it Cyprian confesseth that the Seventh day Holy day from the Creation of the world obtained authority because in six dayes Gods works were finished and the seventh consecrated to rest as holy and sanctifying honoured with a solemnity of vacation and entitled to the sanctifying Spirit Lactantius is of the same opinion God finished the world and this admirable work of the Creation in six dayes space and then ordained the seventh day whereon he rested from his works This is the Sabbath day Lactantius therefore fetcheth the sanctification of the Sabbath from the Creation and not from the History of Manna St. Athanasius saith that God rested when he had finished the former Creation and therefore the men of that generation observed the Sabbath on the seventh day Where he acknowledges that the Sabbath was observed from the Creation till Christ for he saith that all men of that generation did observe the Sabbath where he speaketh of the whole time from the beginning of the world till Christ Greg. Nyssen Lo here is for thee the Sabhath blessed from the beginning of the world mark it by that Sabbath this Sabbath the day of rest which God hath blessed above other dayes Chrysost God hath blessed and sanctified that day What is it that he hath sanctified it he hath set it apart from other dayes After when he tells us the cause why he hath sanctified it he addeth because on that he rested from all his works which God began to make Now God intimateth to us this Doctrine from the beginning teaching us that within the compass of a week one whole day is to be set apart and spent in spiritual work Therefore according to Chrysostom the Sabbath Day since the Creation was set apart from other dayes and plainly it appears that for that ordination the world is bound to dedicate one whole day of the week to the worship of God Aug. ult cap. postrem lib. de Civitate Dei while he is describing that everlasting Sabbath which the Saints shall enjoy in heaven he referrs the institution of the Sabbath to the resting of God from the work of creation He doth the like in Epist. ad Casulanum where he saith that God sanctified the seventh day when he rested on it from all his works and afterwards gave command about its observation to the Hebrew people Augustine therefore doth acknowledge that the use of the Sabbath was amongst the ancients before it grew common amongst the Hebrews namely first at the beginning before Moses and afterwards in the Church of the Jews Theodoret. He hath bestowed a blessing on the seventh day instead of creating lesâ— that day only above others should want its hoâ— nour and he hath put Hallowed it foâ— set it apart And afterwards In blessing the seventh day he hath shown that he thought it not an unprofitable and superfluous day but hath ordained it to be applied to rest Who doth not see that in Theodorets opinion from the beginning the Sabbath was set apart for the worship of God from other dayes So when he answers the question why he commanded not the Sabbath to be celebrated on another day because the God of all hath created every thing in six dayes but on the seventh day he made nothing but honoured this day with a blessing as it is added in six dayes the Lord thy God made Heaven and Earth and rested the seventh wherein he teaches us that even then this day was consecrated of God to rest and sanctification from the beginning of the world Alexander Hales affirmes that the Sabbath before the Law was observed of the Fathers and of the same opinion are divers of the Schoolmen Now if any have a mind to reckon up the grave opinions of the aforesaid Fathers he will not deny that the Sabbath day was solemnly kept from the very beginning of the world because by the judgment of them all the Sabbath was sanctified by God nor do the Fathers speak of the purpose of God as though it was not then really set apart for the worship of God but according to his purpose it was only destined for this that after two thousand years it should be set apart for this end for say they when God had finished his work of Creation the Sabbath was sanctified from the beginning or from the creation of the world when he had rested from his works from the Creation till Christ c. and therefore they acknowledge that the Sabbath day was solemnized amongst all men or all men of the former generation that is from the beginning of the world till Christ a long time before its use was established amongst the Jews All these things are affirmed in round words by the Fathers Out of which it clearly appears that one day of the week was alwayes set apart to the worshipping of God publickly And as the best of the ancients were of this opinion so the chief of our late writers that have flourished in the Reformed Churches do affirm that God did from the beginning of the world sanctifie the seventh day for his
authority of this command then that morality doth plainly perish when now there is not any other weekly Sabbath besides the Lords day without which as I said the Moral part of the Sabbath in the New Testament would not remain By right therefore as Alexander Hales hath it the vacation of the Lords day is the Moral part of the Decalogue in the time of grace as the seventh day in the time of the Law Moreover some may with great reason doubt why the Jewish Sabbath should be translated to the Lords day which yet we see hath been done for above one thousand six hundred years if so be that Christians be not obliged to observe the fourth Command as it is moral whenas otherwise there would be no need of any festival to succeed in place of the ancient Sabbath But because that Law doth perpetually bind all the worshippers of God to the observation of the Sabbath it necessarily follows that the day on which the Sabbath is to be observed must be determined by some positive Law and is designed by God for this purpose to be the seventh day in the Old Covenant and the the first in the New For it 's not for man saith Alexander Hales quaest 32. fol. 128. to determine but God when that time is c. It 's in Gods power only to define a fit time for performing his worship But we read this question of the Morality of the fourth Command discussed at large by divers amongst whom the famous Wallaeus doth it most excellently who to the great fruit of the Church hath copiously taught us what is Ceremonial and what Moral in writing of that Command of the Sabbath I will not therefore add any more about this question but do send the Reader to the learned labours of others in which this question is examined I will only add this one thing for a conclusion out of the observations of this Learned Divine namely an explication of the Sabbath's being a sign between God and men Since saith he it is in bred by nature in all Nations that in the external worship of that Deity which they take for supreme they should have some Symbole of Document which may shew to others whom they take for God as may be observed in the sacrifices of Bacchus and therefore in the Revelation they that worshipped God and the Lamb are read to have the mark of God in their foreheads Rev. 14. 1. and they that worshipped the Beast received his mark in their forehead or hand Rev. 14. 9. which were nothing else but external tokens by which they would plainly signifie that they worshipped either God or the Beast So of old we read that the Sabbath was instituted of God that it might be a symbole or sign to manifest to all the world who was the God of the Jews So Ezek. 20. 20. the Sabbaths are said to be signs between God and them that it might be known that the Lord was their God Now what it was that was shewn by that sign Moses tells us in divers places especially in Exod. ch 31. 16 17. Therefore the children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual Covenant It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever he speaks of the Sabbath for in six dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed As if he should say the pious observation of the Sabbath amongst them when every seventh day returns doth intimate that the Almighty Creatour of Heaven and Earth is their God In this sense Athanasius de Sabbatho Circumcisione saith The Sabbath is a sign whereby the day might be known on which the Creation was finished which being known they might ascend to the knowledge of the Creatour And by observing the Sabbath they attained unto that two manner of wayes First inasmuch as one day of the seven was solemn or because after they had ended their labours in the six dayes they must rest on the seventh Secondly by determining that rest on the last day of the weekly compass both wayes the Jewes signified that they worshipped none other than God the Creatour of Heaven and Earth because whereas they sanctified the seventh day after the six dayes labours were ended they openly professed that they were worshippers of that God who created Heaven and Earth and having finished his labour in beautifying that stupendious work on the seventh day he ceased from working for which cause he enjoyned them the observation of the seventh day that they might follow his fore-going example both in working and in resting He hath commanded saith Philo de Decalogo that whosoever received these Institutions as in other things so in this also they should follow God in working six dayes and resting the seventh and attending on the contemplation of things and study of VVisdome c. Afterwards Follow God thou hast Gods example and prescript in working six dayes And farther they set apart no other day in the weekly course but the seventh for the exercises of piety that they might profess they were the servants of that God which redeemed the Israelites out of the Land of Egypt and brought them out of the house of bondage which is collected from the repetition of the Decalogue Deuteronom 5. 15. where Moses omitting the argument taken from the Creation which he had used in the Decalogue doth excite them to sanctifie the Sabbath from their being freed out of the Land of Egypt namely because whenas they served in the Land of Egypt the Lord their God brought them out thence with a strong hand and stretched out arm and therefore he commanded them that they should observe the very day of the Sabbath in whose morning watch they came out of Egypt as the Learned Junius observes in his notes on Deuteronom 5. out of Exod. 12. 15. This seems to have been the cause of appointing this day rather than any other And thus much of the Jews Sabbath whereby as by a manifest document they professed to worship the Lord the Creator of this universe and their mighty Redeemer out of Egypt for which cause the Sabbath was had for a sign between God and them CHAP. X. A day in every week is to be sanctified under the Gospel which is not the seventh but first the celebrating of the Jewish Sabbath Col. 2. 16. and Gal. 4. 10. examined the places whereon the observation of the Lords Day in the New Testament is bottomed The Fathers acknowledge its Divine authority neither can the Church change that day and substitute another in its place A Stated Day in every Week being granted to perform Gods Worship on it remaineth now farther to find out what day is determined by God for his worship since the Light of the Gospel was up and down dispersed And whereas thus far we have spoken of the Jews Sabbath it remains in the second place to be considered Whether Christians or
those that were absent of what they heard in publick after they were departed from the publick assembly So Chrysostom Hom. 10. in Gen. And he sharply taxes those that did not thus Hom. 32. in Joh. whom when they are gone home he affirms they set upon no work beseeming a Christian Whilst they do not search out the sense of the Scriptures which they heard in the assembly And at length requires them that when they are gone home they endeavour the doing of what they are commanded c. Hom. 3. in Joh. Bafil was of the same mind who seriously wished that what they had heard at both morning and evening assembly all that might be the table talk to the hearers that is when they sat down to table they should talk of what they heard St. Austin counsels his hearers to conferr with those that were absent of what they heard and so their memory would be as his voice Praef. in Psal 50. And in the end of the interpretation of that Psalm he saith As it belongeth to us to speak in the Church to you so it belongeth to you to speak of it in your houses Thirdly Because the Lords Day is not onely ordained for a pious celebration of the memory of Christs Resurrection but also Basil the Great being witness is an image of the world to come although it be no type of the rest and happiness in the life to come yet as after he explaines it that in this daily commotion we neglect not to provide viands for a removal into that life that never will have end Basil de Spiritu Sancto cap. 27. Such viands shall he provide that on that day while he hath leisure from external things shall seriously think with himself that this is not his Countrey but he an Exile and at length he must remove hence into Heaven the Countrey of all the faithful Augustine or whoever it was else affirms in the Book De decem chordis cap. 3. that a Christian is commanded to observe the Sabbath spiritually in hope of the future rest which the Lord promiseth And elsewhere The Lords Day being consecrated by the Resurrection of Christ doth not onely prefigure the eternal rest of the Spirit but body also Aug. de Civitate Dei lib. 22. cap. 30. Christians therefore are on this day principally to think of this eternal rest taking an occasion from the rest of the Lords Day although as I said it be not properly instituted to signifie this rest as a type of that thing What Ignatius Epist ad Magnes delivers of the manner of observing the Sabbath may fitly be applied to the celebration of the Lords Day He would have every one to keep a Sabbath in a spiritual manner in meditating of the Law not in refreshing and releasing of the body and admiring the works of God which especially do agree to the solemnity of a Christian Sabbath on which Christians are to bend their care hither to recollect themselves and feed their souls with the pious thoughts of that eternal rest of which the Lords Dayes rest is an image according to Basil in the world to come by what means they can Therefore when the publick meeting was ended there followed also a pious meditation which very well agreeth to the sanctification of the Lords Day when the minds of men by hearing of the Word publick Prayers and other publick Offices of Religion performed on that day are inflamed with exceeding love to desire heavenly things And that the Ancients were of that mind the testimonies cited Book 1. Chap. 5. without me saying ought do bear witness For the Fathers as we have seen do acknowledge that the Lords Day was dedicated to Divine Worship and judged that nought was to be done on that day by Christians whether in their assemblies or after they were dismissed from them but what tended to the salvation of the soul This Origen alone for all will manifest Hom. 23. in Num. who while he shews in what things the observation of the Christian Sabbath consisteth bids in among other things to think of heavenly things to be careful about the future hope to have before our eyes the Judgment to come and not to look at present and visible things but at invisible and future These things do shew that pious meditation is of necessity to be had on the Lords Day by help whereof the minds of Christians may be carried up from earthly to heavenly things to the end that their conversation may be in heaven from whence they look for the Saviour Phil. 3. 20. even while they live on earth Chrysostom is earnest with his hearers Hom. 15. in Gen. that they would remember what was spoken in the Auditory and that they would weigh all things with themselves that what they had heard might settle in their thoughts Nor doth he ask this onely of them but doth also earnestly request it of God that not onely while they were present in the Auditory they would remember what he had said but that they would weigh them at home by themselves and in the market and wheresoever they did abide Hom. 5. ad Pop. Now if a Religious meditation on the Lords Day of what we have heard be a way to the eternal observation of a Sabbath in the Heavens for Christians for whom there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remaineth a Sabbatism Heb. 4. 9. if they are to have before their eyes the future hope and the tremendous judgment on that day and to exhilerate their minds with the thoughts of a future life if they are to hearken to what is said with an attentive mind not onely while they are present in the Auditory but after their their departure thence where-ever they abide they be to call to mind what they have heard Lastly if those vigilant Fathers were earnest with God that their Auditors minds might be perswaded to do this all which are manifest by the cited testimonies then not without cause have we affirmed that when the publick assemblies are ended Meditation upon what we have heard is of necessity required of Christians Fourthly we read that Gifts which afterwards they called Collects were given on the Lords Day for the use of the poor So St. Paul gave order 1 Cor. 16. 2. That upon the first day of the week every one of you lay by you in store as God hath prospered him c. The Apostle did very fitly make choice of a day of a sacred assembly for gathering Almes on That the minds of Christians might by hearing the Word publick Prayers and holy Lessons had on that Day be the better inflamed to bestâ—â— them upon the poors use Add also the consent of the antient Church Justin Martyr Ap. 2. saith that when the Church was met on the Sunday there was a larger contribution as their ability would bear and what they so gathered they committed to him that was the Praepositus to be bestowed for the use of all that were
no be bound by the Fourth Command in the Decalogue to sanctifie one day weekly Amongst equal estimates of things saith the foresaid Learned Divine it cannot but be without controversie that it is as well for Christians as Jews having finished their labours on the six dayes to sanctifie the seventh that with the Jews they acknowledge that they worship the most blessed and Almighty God the Maker of Heaven and Earth But although in this both Jew and Christian do agree that when they have spent six dayes in their labours on the seventh they should rest yet they differ amongst themselves in the determination or designation of the day destined to this holy rest For the Christians keep holy that day which to the Jews was the first in the week and call it the Lords day that they might prove themselves the servants of God who in the dawning of that day subdued the Devil that spiritual Pharaoh and redeemed his people from a spiritual servitude by raising up Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead who hath regenerated the Christian Church not unto a sublunary Canaan but unto a lively hope of an immortal inheritance preserved for us in the Heavens And that I may dispatch in a word The Christian by sanctifying the Lords day doth prosess that he is a Christian that is as St. Peter interprets it believes in hinâ— that raised up Christ from the dead Hence it easily appears that both Jews and Christians though the same day be not solemnized amongst them both were led by the same reason to sanctifie the seventh day which to the Jews might call to mind their liberty restored from Egypt and servitude of a worldly Pharaoh and to Christians from a spiritual Egypt and Pharaoh But lest any one should object unto me Christians might profess this by sanctifying the last day in the week I add moreover they could not do so by right for if the Christians should keep holy day after the manner of the Jews then they would declare that their spiritual Redemption was not yet perfected but yet did look for it especially whenas the Redemption of Israel out of Egypt by the Ministry of Moses was a type and pledge of our future and spiritual liberty by Christ and the inheritance of the earthly Canaan which those that were freed from Egyptian bondage did seek after prefigured a celestial inheritance which the redeemed by the holy Blood of Christ did look for Since therefore the shadow vanished when the body was present we must not believe in God foretelling future things by types and shadows but in him that hath most faithfully accomplished the truth according to the prophecies foretold by him So Austin against Faustus the Manichee It is not saith he a diverse doctrine but a different time it was one thing for these things that they must be foretold by figurative prophecies and another thing that they must now be fulfilled by the truth made manifest and accomplished As by an apt similitude Mr. D. G. illustrateth it There is saith he in all Nations the same law of all the Stars and the same motion although a great variety may arise from the difference of the Horizon whereupon it may be our day when it 's night with our Antipodes so the law of Nature is the same with us and the Jews yet in some things it admitteth of some mutation from the difference of the Horizon as I may say whilst they inhabited the old world and we the new that is the Sun of Righteousness on the seventh day came to their Meridian by Creation to ours on the eighth day by Christs Resurrection whence that which was a festival to them to us is none Although the Sabbath be translated to the Lords day yet for that reason its being a sign between God and his people is not taken away but translated to another day Neither is the thing changed that was signified by that sign but only the manner and circumstance of time and clearness of signification I will hasten therefore to demonstrate the cessation of celebrating the Sabbath after the Jewish manner and substitution of the Lords Day into its place both out of Scriptures and Fathers The holy writings of the Apostles do testifie that the observation of the Jewish Sabbath as well as other festivals in use amongst them is removed from off the Christians shoulders So St. Paul Col. 2. 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath dayes In that Chapter while the Apostle mentions various corruptions of the Sacred Religion which he teacheth will be profitable for the Church diligently to shun he reckons up three sorts of them the first whereof by false teachers was drawn from Philosophy the second from humane traditions the third from the rudiments of the world Now by the rudiments of the world he means the pedagogy of Moses out of which ver 16. he brings forth two corruptions to wit of the choice of meats prohibited by the Law and sanctifying of Festivals observed under the same Amongst the Jews there were divers Feasts some of great name and authorty celebrated yearly namely of the Passover Pentecost and Tabernacles and then besides these they celebrated their New Moons every Month and their Sabbath every week the Apostle affirms that all these Festivals which after a manner were the shadow of Christ to come and Christ their truth and body that is they did portend what afterwards were truly exhibited of Christ had their end when Christ was once come for when the body is come the shadow vanisheth Even as in the Emperours absence his image hath authority but when he is present hath not so these things also before the coming of the Lord in their time were to be observed but when he is come do want authority And therefore they that contend for observing the Sabbath after the Jewish manner do deny that Christ is come witness the blessed Apostle for gaping at the shadow they embrace not the body There was a time when they were to be trained up by the shadow but he that follows the shadow when the body is present is deceived Therefore from that place of the Apostle we must believe that the Jewish Sabbath of which he speaks under the number of a Multitude Sabbaths because it was celebrated every week and seldome do we meet with it in the singular number as before was observed is ceased by the coming of Christ or that Christ is not yet come The same Apostle sharply taxeth the Galatians for observing of days that having rejected the wholsom Doctrine of the Gospel they returned to the same beggarly Elements that is legal observations Gal. 4. 10. Ye observe saith he dayes and months and times and yeares Where according to Tertullian contra Marcion lib. 1. c. 20. Chrysostom Theodoret Primasius c. in Gal. 4. by dayes the Apostle understandeth
they in City were obliged to be present at Church-assemblies Which things being considered I see not to what purpose any should conclude out of the Elib Council that they which live in the Countrey are not to attend on the Lords Festival although in the Canon there be express mention of those who live in Cities because the Bishops and Presbyters to whom it belonged to go before the other members of the Church in celebrating the Lords day did dwell in the Cities and in that age there was not every where a supply of them afforded for the Villages therefore the Fathers of that Synod by name did express these who were supplied with them that laboured in the Word And a long time after the Eliberitan Council was gathered divers Villages were not furnished with Churches witness Chrysostom Hom. 18. in Act. Besides when it 's plain that the unlearned and unbelievers were admitted into the Church-assembly in the Apostles dayes 1 Cor. 14. 23. why should not the Countrey men after the Apostles death be bound to be present at the assemblies of the Church as if they who had bestowed their pains in tilling the earth had forthwith forsworn their barbarity And because they who live in the Countrey are as well Members of Christ as Citizens why should not Christ impart his communion as well to these as those in the exercises of Religion on the Lords dayes It is expresly commanded in the Constitutions which they call the Apostles that on the Lords day servants attend in the Church to hear the Doctrine of Religion And Sozomen tells us that amongst the Arabians and Cyprians he found ordained Bishops in Villages If at that time Bishops were set over some Villages then certes they who inhabited them were instructed by the Bishops in the Doctrine of Christ on all especially the Lords dayes as the custome of the Church was Eusebius also confesseth that men and women old men and children bond and free noble and ignoble learned and unlearned did almost daily assemble together in every place where-ever the men lived to receive the discipline of Christ from the rising of the Sun to the setting thereof If all men of whatever condition or quality were daily intent upon the Doctrine of Christ then they that lived in the Countrey did not refuse it on the Lords day Yea the same Author as formerly we have seen affirmeth that Christ hath prescribed all the inhabitants of the world whether at land or sea to celebrate the Lords day Eusebius therefore acknowledges not that it 's only for Noble men and others of great name to be present at Church-assemblies from which servants and those of inferiour condition should be excluded but saith that the Lord himself hath otherwise commanded Also in Theodoret that pious Emperour Theodosius witnesseth that the doors into the holy Temple are open for servants and beggars and therefore in this age they were present with other Christians in the Church-assembly and were not excluded from the same But let us return to examine that indulgence granted by the Emperour Constantine to Countrey men for working their labours on the Lords day Where first we may make a question with the learned Divine Mr. S. A. Whether any such was ever granted of him for the countrey mens sakes or no since Eusebius who was Constantius's contemporary and who well enough knew all things that the Emperour did speaking of the Law he made about observing the Lords day makes no mention of this indulgence Euseb de vita Constantin l. 4. c. 18. but only relates how the Emperour commanded that all should rest from their works In the same manner Sozomen recites the same law although lib. 1. c. 18. and in both there be a deep silence about excepting country labours Which things being considered it may justly be doubted whether ever such an indulgence were granted by that Emperour of blessed memory But come on and granting this indulgence for the authority of the Book relating it let us seek out the reason and sense thereof This was the true reason of that liberty if there was any granted Because Constantine subjected all the subjects of the Roman Empire whether they had embraced the Christian faith or had not yet tasted it to the law of observing the Lords day witness Eusebius Which though it could be known by no other argument might be judged of by this that he calls not that day in the Church manner as Baronius The Lords day but by the Heathen manner Sunday Thence I say may it be gathered that the same Law was not prescribed by him to Christians only but Heathens also for whose sake he uses an appellation peculiar to them Since therefore the Gentiles also were to rest from their labours by virtue of the Law made by â—…stantine therefore he granted them a liberty to look after their countrey labours Whereas he knew that those who were not turned Christians could not easily be brought in to be bound by the Christians lawes he yielded something for these mens sakes and Constantine was sufficiently hated by them for neglecting their idolatry and therefore by little and little he studied to draw them to the true worship of God as Eusebius ubi supra Moreover the liberty of medling with countrey labours on the Lords day was granted to countrey men only in case of necessity which thing the very words of the indulgence do declare lest through occasion of a moment the profit yielded by the heavenly providence perish by the occasion of one moment the profit of fruits might perish therefore in gathering in the fruits sometimes a regard of a moment may be had no labours are therefore permitted but to undergo which they were induced by a certain necessity lest the fruits should perish in which case also we have observed worldly labour is permitted That exception therefore of Constantine cannot be brought to patronize labour used upon no necessity because he indulged this liberty for the sake of the Heathen only whom he with all lenity studied as far as he could to perswade them to embrace the Christian faith and in case of necessity which being afterwards continued a while Leo declares void by a new law set forth to the contrary and calls that indulgence a decree differing from the Apostles But because Leo doth very aptly answer the reason of this indulgence assigned by Constantine I will set down his very words for the Readers sake Because saith he it is apparent that another law doth contradict that law which commands all to reverence the day of the Lords Resurrection by a cessation from labours which determines that all generally are not prohibited working others have a liberty to work for it saith Let all Judges c. as above in the Law of Constantine the cause of which profaning that day is grounded on no reason for although the preservation of fruits may be pretended yet that is of