the Parliament sedente curia should alter the law or the King by a non obstante should for this cause publish an alteration or by his and the Courts example should change the day from Friday to Saturday in memory of that Deliverance Friday being made thereby rather a Day of Feasting then Fasting I thinke no wise man will say that the law was repealed or suffered any detriment by this So c. Christ came not to give new lawes but to renew the old upon a new condition and in this sense was it a new Commandement to love one another And thus is the Lords Day a renewed Sabbath not given as a new law but altered by example For ours is a new Sabbath as the Covenant is said to be a new Covenant which is only in exhibition not in substance For there was nothing but by the coming of Christ it was ground under one of these two wheeles either it suffered abrogation or qualification But the Sabbath suffered not abrogation Therefore Qualification And which was proper to Christ who though he came not to give new lawes yet he was to qualifie and renew the old upon Evangelicall tearmes Broad 2. Opinion By this first opinion though the fourth Commandement bindeth to keep the Sabbath yet not the seventh Day but others teach that it bindeth to keep the seventh day as heretofore it did Those have then to prove that the Lords-day is the seventh or last of the weeke Now how can they prove this They deale wisely herein for they have not the least shew of proofe Nay I know not any that hath so much as gone about it hitherto and to save their pains hereafter I would have them know that the Scriptures Fathers and Reason are against them in this matter 1. The Scriptures are against them for they terme the Lords-day the first of the weeke in two places Act. 20. 2 Cor. 16. It is imagined that Christ before his Ascension or the Apostles presently after commanded to keep the Lords-day for Sabbath which if Christ or his Apostles had done and it had been needfull that the Lords-day should be the seventh day Either the Sabbath was not so soone changed into the Lords-day or it was not then needfull that the Lords day should be the seventh day doubtlesse order should have been taken for this also and then Saint Paul would not have tearmed it the first of the weeke well-neere twentie yeeres after this time writing especially unto the Gentiles 2. The Fathers are against them for they tearmed Wednesday the fourth of the weeke Si dies observare non licet Origen Nicephorus have the like saying menses tempora annos nos quoque simile crimâ—n incurrimus quartum Sabbati observantes parascenem diem Dominicum c. Hieron in Gal. 4. 3. Reason is against them for if the Iews Sabbath untill the change were the seventh day how should the next day be the seventh also Consider that the name seventh hath reference to other dayes going before Either there must be once two seventh dayes together or there must be one monstrous weeke consisting of eight dayes or else one day must be in no weeke Answer It is not needfull to prove the Lords-day to be the last day of the weeke It is enough to hold correspondencie with the Commandement if we prove it to be the seventh day not in order but in number For though the Commandement bindeth perpetually to the number it was and is the present condition of the Church in regard of our benefit from God and Gods Covenant to us which bindeth us to the order first or last In which adjournment we as is requisite retain and observe the scope and equitie of the Commandement since God hath afforded us sixe dayes for the dispatch of our own businesses that we should willingly dedicate the seventh to his worship For the altering of the circumstance of time doth not abolish the substance of the Commandement This difference is evident and usuall in other matters as for instance It was one thing to have the Tridentine Councell translated to Bolonia and the ending of it was another thing So there is a difference between the adjourning of the last to the first and the dissolution of the Sabbath day And although the Sabbath be now the first day of the weeke in one respect to wit according to order yet it remaines still the last in another respect to wit as they are seven in number And that it was thus even in the Christians account the last as well as the first appeareth in the 1 Cor. 16. where Paul biddeth them that every first day of the weeke every one should contribute as God had prospered him to wit in the sixe fore-going work-dayes And as touching your reason I answer that every thing must have a time of institution and beginning Had God made Adam the first day then had he kept Gods seventh day Sabbath but God making him the sixth day and he being first to spend sixe dayes in one kinde of imployment and the seventh in another thereupon it is more then likely he was to keepe the thirteenth day from the first day of the Creation as his first Sabbath and not the fourteenth day as his second * Had Adam kept Gods seventh day Sabbath then had he kept a Sabbath in Innocency for it was instituted before his fall Againe if to be God did raine Mannah on the first day according to the computation of the Creation then they kept that seventh day Sabbath But if he did not begin to raine Mannah on that day but on some other in the weeke then was that computation broken and yet the Sabbath rightly kept So had Christ risen on the last day of the weeke but then had not Isaiah his prophecie been fulfilled 65. 17. then had we observed that day but the Sonne of man as you say being Lord of the Sabbath its fit the Sabbath should waite on him and not he on the Sabbath and therefore as he chose the first day to rise on as likewise the morning and not the evening to rise in so have we done well after Saint Pauls rule in imitating him as he imitated Christ in keeping the Lords-day Sabbath ever since which as I have noted before was not darkly prefigured in the keeping the first and seventh day in the time of the Passeover As like wise to being the Sabbath in the morning and not in the evening which yet cannot be done without some losse of time being that the Iewes Sabbath ended at the evening for if we change the day because of Christs resurrection and by Pauls example why not then the terminations of the day according to the time of Christs resurrection and example of Paul in his practice at Troâ—s I speake this as an argument against some that are of opinion the Sabbath still beginneth at evening as in the time of the Iewes and first
of his worship consist in the observation of times or places neither did Christ or his Apostles command us Christians to any day whatsoever yet this generall Commandement we have 1 Cor. 14. Let all things be done to edifying decently and in order yea and Nature teacheth that there should be Times and Places set apart for publike meetings as we see the Gentiles had by the very light of nature 2. This order to assemble on the Lords-day had his beginning in the time of the Apostles and was approved by them neither is there the least doubt to be made but that were Saint Paul now alive he would approve of it in like manner onely he would be much more earnest then I have been aâ— or can be to have all superstition cleere weeded out of mens minds After the Apostles time the succeeding churches observed the same order as partly appeareth by these sayings of Iustin Martyr and others before alleadged and thus it hath continued ever since and no doubt shall so continue to the second coming of Christ. Some of late have made it a question whether the Church may change the Lords-day into any other day of the weeke but in my judgement they might well have spared their pains therein for what can be imagined wherefore any Church should attempt such a matter unlesse it be to withdraw some from a superstitious conceit they have of the day Let this errour be reformed and there is no feare of a change Answer To this changing of the Lords-day into another I answer That as the order of the last day in the weeke was significant in the time of the Iewes So is the first day now as I have observed before and as therefore that was commanded so was this prophecyed by Isaiah * I have formerly shewne how both by Isaiah and David this was cleerly foretoâ—dand promised in the old Testament and accordingly practised in the new and therefore can no more be altered now without contradiction of divine authority then the other could in the time of the Iewes Except you can imagine God hereafter to bestow a benefit on us as much greater then our Redemption as our Redemption was then our Creation Besides the Church hath no liberty to alter any day the which hath a cleare ground and warrant in the word which the Christian Sabbath or Lords-day hath And moreover you say Christ is Lord of the Sabbath if so then sure the priviledge and authority of altering belongeth only to him Broad The Apostle Hebrews 13. giveth this charge Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves and againe Rom. 13. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Some peradventure hearing that God hath not immediately commanded us Christians to sanctifie the Lords-day as he did the Israelites to sanctifie the Sabbath will be ready to demand what need we then forbeare any worldly businesse on the Sunday for answer unto whom though unworthy of any let me also demand what need you repaire to the Church the place of prayer That you may so doe must we teach that God in expresse termes hath commanded to build Churches and in such places in every Parish Had these men lived in the time of the Law though they had forborne worke on the Sabbath yet certainly they would not have repaired to the Synagogues when they had been called they would have answered with Dathan and Abiram we will not come for God hath not bidden us come to such a place nor at such a time of the day Even in the time of the Law some things were lest to bee ordered by the Magistrate Should thy soâ—â—e being sent of thee into the field thinke with himselfe I need not goe for it is not written in the Scriptures that I should goe plow to day As God in generall termes hath charged thy sonne to obey his father so God in generall tearmes hath charged thee an inferiour to obey thy Governours both spirituall and temporall by whose joynt Commandement thou art bound to sanctifie the Lords-day and if thou wilfully breakest this double bond know that it is by the comming of another spirit upon thee then came upon Sampson heretofore even such a spirit as the man had that brake the yron chaines and setters in pieces Mark 5. Answer Pray you turne the point of this Argument into your owne breast and consider if the same authority which commandeth you to sanctifie the Lords-day doe not likewise in the Liturgy command you to pray for inablement to keep the fourth Commandement * Have a better nion of your 〈◊〉 then to think she wil command you to pray for that which you oâ—ght not to beleeve and practise but it sâ—emeth whosoever is in authority you will be supreme binding that authority that should rather bind you But if the authority be thus as you would make it in the hand of the Magistrate onely to appoint the time of Gods solemne worship and that the fourth Commandement is now of no force nor yet the prophecy or Apostolicke practice to bind us then you may say with Ames in his Medulla pag. 355. ut si ipsis videatur diem 〈◊〉 ex viginti aut triginta huic usui assignare non posint hoc nomine argui alicuius 〈…〉 aut scripturae Nay rather we may hence argue it as a fault in the Apostles and primitive times that they would take upon them of their authority to create so neere a semblance to the Sabbath and not rather an annuall remembrance of the Resuâ—â—ection and by an humane institution to shoulder out a divine one anâ— yet the substance thereof to wit the benefit of the Creation still remaineth to be remembred But it is strange that the Church should either assume this liberty or that we should give it to the Church 1. Seeing the fourth Commandement doth dictate to us both the proportion of time which we are to celebrate to God and the reason of that celebration the Time is the seventh day the reason is Gods resting from or consummating his greatest and beneficiallest worke which Christ the author and actor of the new Creation God and Man hath now fulfilled by his Resurrection and so pointed and appointed us the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the particular seventh day nothing dissenting from the Commandement nor destroying it but fulfilling and establishing it upon better tearmes 2. Seeing God commandeth to labour six dayes and to rest a seventh And Christ hath not exempted us from labouring in our calling to the end of our lives therfore a seventh day is to be kept for Sabbath weekly to the end of the world And it is not left in the power either of the Church or any humane authority doctrinally to shorten or enlarge this proportion of dayes for our labour and holy Rest or any way to abrogate or alter this Commandement Broad  Gal. 5. 13. For brethren ye
what you thinke sufficient for the present day and for the rest let it bee laid up to bee baked or boyled to morrow Which 〈◊〉 bee the meaning for these reasons 1. Because of the example of the man aforesaid that was stoned for gathering stickes it is probable to that end 2. 〈…〉 the difference betweene this Sabbath and their other Sabbaths would bee confounded whereas they were distinctly in expresse termes allowed to make ready what they should eate And thirdly because it would have clouded the significancy of their gathering and preparing a large proportion of Christ to assure them of the Sabbatisme to come And fourthly because when the Sabbath day came Moses in the 25. verse of 16. Chap. said not as before in the 23. versâ— Bake that yee will bake to day and seeth that yee will seeth But hee saith onely eate that to day to wit which they had layed up baked or sodden since the day before And fifthly Those words bake what yee will bake to day and seeth what yee will seeth and that which remaineth lay it up is not meant in respect of the indifferency of proportion as if hee had said bake what proportion and seeth what proportion yee thinke good and lay up the rest raw but it respects the indifferency of their cooking it intimating that they might either bake it and seeth it or bake it or seeth it as their fancy liked best so that they did it on that day before the Sabbath for on the Sabbath they were not to alter the property but to eate what they had leâ—â— as they left it In this new-sangled fancy you shall find Doctor 〈…〉 Brahourne agreed part I. pag. 100. 101. where to backe this exposition Doctor Heylyn objectâ— that it were no wonder if being baked it purified not To which I answer that the wonder was that 〈…〉 kept it untill the morning 〈…〉 to the command 〈…〉 either raw or baked a great deale longer time without putrifying Though it having the formerly 〈…〉 first which among so many it is like was reserved of all sorts some raw some baked some boyled all which yet purified alike it was then indeed a wonder that it did not the like the second time when they kept it lawfully which sheweth that it was of God and not of the nature of the thing both that it putrified the first time and that it putrified not the second time that it was kept But to put this upstart exposition utterly out of question besides the reasons aforesaid Let them compare the 23. verse with the 5. verse whither Moses relates and there they shall find God commanding them to prepare that which they bring in on the 6. day and what was that why it followeth twice so much as they gather daily So that they were to prepare all they brought in and they brought in all they gathered and they gathered twice as much as they gathered on the other dayes So that in summe it is euident that on the sixth day they were to prepare that is to cooke or make ready by seething or baking the whole double proportion which they had gathered on that day Nor is it without ground as you affirme to say of this mans gathering stickes that his manner of doing it did aggravate his offence for there are these grounds to induce it 1. Because if it had beene necessary it had not beene unlawfull no more then Davids eating the Shew-bread for Christ sayth in this very case of the Sabbath That God will have mercy and not Sacrifice 2. It is more then probable by the context that his Sinne was out of Presumption for in the verses immediatly foregoing it is said Hee that doth ought presumptuously shall bee cut off from his people and then followeth the instance of this mans fact as it were an example of this fault and this punishment which wee never read afterwards to be inflicted upon any 3. Wee find no excuse he made for his fact so that it either was not necessary or if necessary yet occasioned by his wilfull and carelesse neglect of making his Mannah ready the day before according to the Commandement and so not excusable Now as touching your marginall consideration how that the Sabbath was ordained in memoriall of Gods resting To this I answer That wee doe not celebrate on the Sabbath the memory of Gods bare resting no more then wee do Christs bare rising but wee celebrate the consummation of the worke of Gods goodnes in the Creation and of his Mercy in our Redemption for Gods resting on that Day from the Creation was no part of the Sabbaths sanctification but a cause in him why he appointed the seaventh Day to be a sanctifyed Sabbath unto us no more then Christs Resurrection on the first Day of the Weeke was a part of the sanctification of that Day but only the cause why wee sanctify it or dedicate it to Rest and Divine imployment ever since And therefore in vaine doth B. White object p. 302. that Christs Resurrection was no Commandement containing an institution of a new Sabbath in that he erringly saith as elsewhere I shew that it was not spent in resting but in action seeing saith he the ground of the old Sabbath was Rest. But wee doe not simply celebrate Gods rest but his Rest or accomplishment of our Creation as it hath relation to us not as that rest simply respecteth God for so it is meant only as a patterne and serves as an occasion to beget this ordinance of the Sabbath as wee may see by the manner of expression that is used to set forth the Sabbaths first institution Gen. 2. 2. 3. where Gods rest is not only mentioned to be on the seaventh Day but also his compleating the worke of Creation verse 2. upon both which joyntly followeth the institution of the Sabbath verse 3. and as wee may also see by the prophecy in Isai. 65. 17. where the commemoration of the benefit of one Creation shall eate out the other Indeed Gods resting the seaventh Day was of twofold use The one of illustration for thereby was signified the Rest of Gods Church in Heaven as appeareth in the 4 of Heb. The other was to give us an example of retiring our selves from earthly things on that Day * For so on that Day God as it were returned to Heaven againe only to be conversant there for ever after having as it were been absent during the Creation As it is said Gen. 17. 22. And he left of talking with him and God went up from Abram that so wee might devote it to his glory for this Resting of God was only set as an example for us to imitate the better to obey his Commandement But more are willing to observe his example then to obey his precept that is to cease from bodily labour then to be spiritually imployed in the sanctifying of that Day by making it a Day of holy businesses and consequently a day of
Israel gathered unto him So that I say the duty of the Sabbath followed as a Law together with the Law for us alwayes to observe and that the signification of it went before to signifie that our claime to this heavenly Sabbatisme is now onely by Christ. And thus you may see how you have laid your foundation upon a false ground or principle by mistaking the Sabbaths signification and in what manner it referreth to Christ. And thus by consequence your whole building falleth to the ground although it bee granted that the Sabbath is both typicall and rebus sic stantibus hath relation to Christ also Broad What God requireth on the Sabbath THe duties which God required of the people of Israel Hee required another of the Priests namely to offer two Lambs Num. 28. but this I will not stand upon on the Sabbath were two especially I. To rest from worke By servile the Scripture meaneth all worke except that is bestowed about things to eate Lev. 23. 7. 8. compared with Exod. 12. 16. that is to forbeare the doing of every thing which is commonly so called and accounted as the killing â—of beastes kindling of fires going to plow travailing c. on the first and last dayes of the feast of Passeover and some other holydayes onely servile worke is prohibited Levit. 23. 7. 8. 21. c. Num. 28. 18. 25. so that they might provide things to eate Consider that the Sabbath was ordained for a memoriall of Gods resting whereas the holy-dayes were instituted upon other occasions Exod. 12. 16. No manner of worke must bee done in them save that which every one must eate that onely may bee done of you But now on the Sabbath-day they might not doe so much For Gâ—d never that I find mentioning the word servile both in the commandement and other places saith in it Thou shalt not doe any worke They might not bake nor seeth their Mannah Exod. 16. 23. though on the other Holy-dayes they might both gather and dresse it yet they might not so much as dresse it on the Sabbath They were forbidden to kindle a fire which when a man belike would have done Exod. 35. 5. and therefore gathered stickes hee was put to death and bee it as some say though without any ground that the manner of doing did aggravate the offence yet sure I am that it did not make that an offence which had other-wayes beene none they might not then ordinarily picke up a few stickes II. A second speciall duty which God required oâ— the Sabbath was to have an holy convocation for it was not enough to worship God privately they must goe to the assemblies and praise him in the congregation To worship God privately was every dayes duty as likewise to doe works of charity for the Iew as wee was bound by the Law of nature to fulfill the nine morall commandements to the utmost of their power every day though indeed hee might performe the duties of piety and charity in greatèr measure and therefore was bound so to doe on the Sabbath as having then more opportunity idlenes being unlawfull at all times Answer By the first of these duties you seeme to mee to insinuate a Dilemma intimating by it that either the Sabbath is meerely Iewish or else that in all respects both of the duty and strictnes of rest it belongeth to us as to them Which strictnes you prove by comparing it with the other Sabbaths which had onely servile worke forbidden in them The proofe I graunt and the thing â—roved But that the Sabbath is therefore onely Iewish or that wee are bound so to observe it I deny upon these grounds 1. I deny that therefore the Sabbath is onely Iewish 1. Because that though this strict rest was typicall yet not properly Iewish because not of the same nature with Iewish types For that those which were properly types in a Iewish sence had relation to Christs and the constitution of his Church as considered properly and primarily upon Earth in its militant being in the time of grace during Christs regiment * For though Aarons bearing the names of the Tribes on his shoulders and breast signified Christ doing the same for his elect in Heaven yet it is his elect still on Earth not for his elect when they shall bee triumphant in Heaven sic de caeteris but the signification typified in this rest was of a different nature for propetly it signified the Church triumphant in Heaven it selfe which typicall difference may easily appeare onely by comparing this Sabbath with the other Sabbaths as shall bee seene anon And secondly because that this strict rest was no part of the substance of the Sabbath but onely an occasionall circumstance proper for the season of their prerâ—grination For so sooone as Mannah failed that strict rest failed so that you never after knew them condemned for providing their necessary food on the Sabbath-day although you find them often complained on for other breaches 2. And although that thus I deny this strict rest to be properly Iewish yet I deny it not to bee proper onely to the Iewes but affirme it both in respect of the duty * I meane here by duty sanction or positive holines else to rest is our duty as well as theirs of this rest as also in respect of the precisenes of it 1. For the duty of this rest I say that that was proper to the Iewes and not to us now Because that types in the time of their Discipline * Which was the time that the letter bare sway and comparatively not the Spirit carried with them a positive holines being for its continuance ordinances and not accidents But now that externall religion which consisted in types is properly no part of our worship although the thing it selfe in this particuler being a perpetuall type remaineth in the use and signification of it but as I say not in its temporary holines or occasionall precisenes for the Kingdome of Heaven now consists in righteousnes peace and joy in the holy Ghost and not in typicall sanctions For wee must understand that the Sabbath in it selfe considered without accidents was of a perpetuall typicall meaning intending the absolute rest that should bee to the Church of God in Heaven as is notoriously evident in the fourth of Hebr. by comparing the 4. verse with the 9. and 10. For which cause it may well bee conceived to bee holy even with an externall holines as other types were in the minority of those typicall times in respect of the bare rest therein commanded which yet in that sense is no part of our sanctification for our sanctification in respect of this rest properly consisteth in the signification thereof spiritualized in our hearts and in the privative sense thereof because our resting from worldly affaires is a necessary privative meanes to our sanctifying the Sabbath Like as in the Antitype our rest in Heaven
Creation when indeed evening and morning made the day and darknesse was to goe before light As for the disorder which you say this innovation must needs produce let it lye upon the Apostles who can answer it well enough and so may we building on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles In the meane time Pauls example which is not in vaine set downe in the 20. Acts 6 7. where no day of the seven but only the last which was the first day of the weeke is thus disposed of is a sufficient warrant for us hence forwards to observe it from the 4 th Phil. 9. The things which you have seen in me doe and the God of peace shall be with you And as for that in your margin where you say that the number seven hath reference to other going before I answer you in this figure 7000007 where you see the first as well as the last in some respect may be the seventh to wit in number though not in place and order Broad But let it be imagined although I can scarce see how it can be imagined only that our day is become the seventh and last of the weeke what would follow hereupon That God might well be said to have rested on our day and to have enjoyned one day on Mount Sinai But then it might not be said that Christ rose upon one day He that saith both God rested and Christ rose upon one day may as wel say that God both rested and began to make the world upon one day which I will not beleeve any man will say untill I know it Answer I know none that goeth about to make Gods Rest and Christs Resurrection to be upon one and the selfe-same day Nor need it for it is enough that the one was and the other is observed holy as the seventh day in opposition to the six work-daies The change not onely being granted by us but argued as necessary and significantly materiall Broad 3. Opinion Others there are which by the seventh day in the beginning of the Commandement Amâ—s Theol. liâ— 2. cap. 15. sect 8. vâ—l unus è sâ—ptem but doth the Scripture so speak or doth he so much as goe about to prove 〈◊〉 He and others doe wisely to take that for granted which they cannot prove understand one of the seven daies but the seventh day is the Sabbath that is say they but one of the seven daies is the Sabbath and the first day is one of the seven daies as well as the seventh Answ. 1. Then shall the words seventh day have one sence in the 2. Gen. and another here Will any man say that God ended his worke upon one of the seven daies and not upon the seventh day only 2. Then shall the words seventh day have one sense in the beginning of the Commandement and another after for after it is said that God rested on the seventh day 3. Then had the Israelites sanctified our day or any other and not the seventh they had not broke the fourth Commandement Answer This opinion of the seventh day to intend one of seven is doubtlesse most true and is therefore spoken in the Commandement exclusively implying thus much That thou art not to keep the sixth day or one of six or the eight day or one of eight but the seventh day or one of seven For the substance of the Commandement hath respect unto the number for it opposeth seven to sixe as if it had said six daies shall be for labour and the seventh for Rest although I deny not but the example of God in respect of order was then significaÌ„tly binding during the inforcemeÌ„t of the reasonof the creation I would not be mistaken and be thought when I say one of seven to meane any one but as Ames in that place being rightly understood and set downe dies septimus vel unus è septem that is the seventh day or one of seven not of six or eight For I know the Iewes were to celebrate the seventh day the last in order both for example and signification sake during the Covenant of works For the order both was and is exceeding usefull in respect of its signification and helpeth much to the fulfilling the duty of sanctifying the Sabbath And therefore hath God been ever carefull not only to give the generall Commandement to his Church for the observation of the seventh day But he hath likewise prescribed them a terminus a quo a day or an occasion whence and whereby they were to number their seven daies which yet was not alwaies one thesame seventh day As unto Adam he gave the first day of his being created to number from and therefore was he carefull to give him this Commandement in due time to wit the second day of his Creation so soone as he had given an example that so he might remember it against the seventh day came So likewise to the Iewes he appointed by Moses the first day of Mannah for them to reckon upon And so to us by his owne and the Apostles examples he hath given the day of the Resurrection to be the ground of our Computation Broad 4. Opinion Some of late tell us of the substance and circumstances of the fourth Commandement Give way to this new doctrine of the substance and circumstance of a divine law and open a wide gap to manifold errors we shall now have seeking after the substance as there was after the Allegory heretofore by the substance they meane the sanctifying of one day in the weeke by circumstances the keeping of the seventh day and strict resting Answ. 1. That the sanctifying of one day in the weeke is the substance of the fourth Commandement you have not learned from the words thereof for they speake only of sanctifying the seventh day 2. No Prophet nor Apostle nor Father I beleeve hath thus interpreted the Commandement either in cleere or darke termes 3. No other Commandement of God is to be interpreted after such a manner 4. Then had not a Iew broken the Commandement though hee had laboured on the seventh day so that before he had sanctified one of the six daies If God had said Remember to sanctifie one day of the week six daies thou shalt labour and the seventh thou shalt sanctifie ye had some colour for your doctrine although this had bin nothing in very deed For God said thou shalt keep a Feast to me Neither was the resting of the land one yeare in seven the substance of that Law Exod. 23. 10. 11. thrice in the yeare thou shalt keep the Feast c. Exod. 23. 14 15 16. and yet the keeping of the Feast thrice in the yeare was not the substance of that Law who ever so imagined But onely God there first telleth the Israelites in generall what hee would have done and afterwards acquainteth them with his minde particularly and fully You your selves I am sure will acknowledge that the keeping of a feast thrice
a yeare is as well the substance of the foresaid Law as the keeping of the Sabbath once in a weeke is the substance of the fourth Commandement and the worshipping of God was one end of the feast as well as of the Sabbath Yet Christ hath blotted out that whole Law The like may be said of that Law Exod. 23. 10 11. By this opinion not the substance but only the circumstances of the fourth Commandement are mentioned in the Decalogue which circumstances also are not to be observed Answer That in the fourth Commandement is both substance and circumstance is evident By substance I understand the sanctifying the seventh day not as it is last in order but as it is opposed to all other numbers by circumstance I understand the order and the reason * For the reason did as well bind to observe the order as to establish the Commandement it selfe til I there was a new reason of a new order but never of a new commandement Which two that I may use your phrase in the conclusion of your seuenth Chapter have been manifested to have been circumstantiall by the event I say the very reason of the Commandement as it did bind the order was circumstantiall and changable Wee see how it received an addition in that their remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt which was a Type of our spirituall deliverance was made a reason of this fourth Commandement as well as the Creation And so is now our redemption it selfe by Christ and yet nothing of the substance abolished or altered but the maine duty of sanctifying the seventh day is still observed And the reason as I conceive why this Commandement was more circumstantiall then others was because it was preter-ordained to the Law of Nature for the continuall use of the Church in all states and conditions And therefore was it to be brought to the state and made sutable to the condition of the Church * In regard of the circumstantiall parts of it the morall part fitting all states as an help of their obedience and not the condition of the Church to be brought to it as were also the Sacraments and yet so as that God hath himselfe ever ordered these changable circumstances in it either by the doctrine or example of his Prophets or Apostles notvery darkly Indeed as touching the seventh day to be any other then the last in the time of the Prophets is not to be imagined because then that order was in force but now in the Apostles time the event doth cleerly manifest the contrary in the practice of the Apostles which giveth sufficient authority for ours * It is altogether an unlikely thing that the Church without a pregnant Commandement which there is none in scripture would take upon them to abolish the fourth commandement enjoyning a duty upon an universall and perpetuall benefit and yet of their owne authority bring up a custome equivalent And whereas you say that no other Commandement is to be interpreted with circumstances and substance I answer That beâ—ides that circumstance of the Israelites deliverance prefixed to the whole Law me thinks you should acknowledge this to be true in the fifth Commandement where there is a promise made of a reward in Canaan to them that keep it which yet is a changable circumstance * And in answer to your marginall note if it were not a changable circumstance you mâ—y imagine what absurdity would follow in respect of the precise meaning For though in that respect it be void yet it is still of force and use according to the present state and residence of the Church as appeareth in the 6. Eph. 2. And notwithstanding the cessation of the Egyptian Deliverance and the precise meaning of this promise in the fifth Commandement and their alterations into a more spirituall proper meaning for the present Church yet do the Commandements themselves for their substance remaine to this day the same For the change of significant circumstances may be upon good grounds without impeachment to the being of the law as the Israelites supposed changing the gesture from standing to sitting when they were a Sedentary Church did no whit abolish the Passeover And thus did David change the order that God had appointed among the Levites how that till thirtie yeeres old they were not to officiate when the reason of it failed and the Arke had rest then without prejudice to the Ordinance he ordained that they should officate at twentie as is 1 Chron. 23. As a man may alter his temperament and yet continue a man still so long as for substance he remaineth the same in soul and body So if so be the Sabbath had been changed from being kept every seventh day to every sixth then the whole frame of the fourth Commandement had suffered shipwrack But in the change of one seventh day to another upon such a ground and reason the substance suffereth not For as Bishop White observes pag. 136. against T. B. who affirmes that in all Divine lawes whensoever any part is taken away the whole is abolished That if by part he understand such a part as is substantiall and constituent his position is granted but if he understand a circumstantiall or accidentall part the position is false For saith he the Law of Prayer or Divine worship is still in force as it was in Davids and in Daniels time in respect of substantiall actions but many circumstances of time place and gesture are abolished in the time of the Gospel as Daniels praying with windows open toward Ierusalem c. And therefore a little to vary the words and sence of his conclusion against T. B. the substance of the fourth Commandement may be continued and yet the Circumstance altered As touching your following instance of the three feasts a yeere I see not that it holds good Analogie with the Sabbath But your marginal instance of the â—arths seventh yeere Sabbath is proper In which Commandement I say there is both circumstance and substance The substance is the Law it selfe of resting the seventh yeere in opposition to the other sixe But the precise order is added by the God of order for the better execution of this Law without confusion which must needs follow if it were left arbitrary Like as in the Law of Tythes God chose to himselfe one in ten which for orders sake and that they might have a rule to walke by he appointed to be every tenth as it passed under the rod. And so of the Sabbath wherein for order sake God did not only appoint the seventh day to be the last but also gave a computation from Mannah that so they might also know which should be that last and so avoid confusion Which yet doth nothing hinder but that the same God may upon occasion appoint another order by his Apostles as he did that by Moses and not harme the Law it selfe or the substance of the Commandement in so doing
down the writings of the Apostles and turne Anabaptist in point of baptizing of Infants For as for the Scriptures what expresse precept of Christs have we to his Apostles for writing of them and 〈◊〉 the Epistles were most of them occasionally written by the Apostles and yet who of us for these reasons denyeth them to be the work of God universall and 〈◊〉 diviâ—o Fâ—urth Poâ—ke Church châ—p 〈◊〉 For as Feild saith in answer to the Papists 〈◊〉 the imperfection of the Scriptures because they were written by the Apostles and Apostolicall men of their own motions and not by Commandement from Christ which is a paralel argument to this of the Christian Sabbath and the answer equall to both who knoweth not saith he that the Scriptures are not of any private motion but that the holy 〈◊〉 of God were moved impelled and carryed by the Spirit of truth thâ— the performance of this worke doing nothing without the instinct of the Spirit which was 〈◊〉 theâ— a Commandement And why may not all these reasons and grounds warrant and give equall force to their practice in the point of our Christian Sabbath or Lords-day as well as to their writing of Scripture So speaketh D r. Ames med pag. 359. Si dies bac dominica concedâ—â—ur fuisse Apostoâ—â—◠〈◊〉 author it as 〈…〉 est divina quia divino Spiritâ— agebantur Apostoli non minus in Sacris institutionibus quam in ipsa doctrina Evâ—ngelii vel verbo vel script is proponenda Especially seeing that the same things that accompanied the Gospel did accompany the Sabbath the better to approve it to be of God to wit The gift of the holy Ghost And now we know there is nothing more ordinary in Scripture then for God to grace the first institutions of his Ordinances with extraordinary tokens of his savour which are of an argumentative nature and of an establishing and instituting force As at the first setting up of the Sanâ—drin among the Iewes Numb 11. 25. Every one of the seventy Elders prophecyed for a while to testifie that their calling was from heaven And though divers others besides these have had the Spirit of Prophecy bestowed on them that yet nothing detracts from Gods sealing the ordination of this Councell or Sanedrin by the Seventies prophecying So though Christ appeared to his Disciples on other dayes besides the first day of the weeke yet it detracteth not from his instituting and authorizing that day by his remarkable apparitions and operations thereon as D r. Heylyn would insinuate part 2. pag. 13. Againe at the instituting of the Leviticall priesthood and sacrifices there came a fire from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering also at Christs baptizing we see how extraordinarily the Spirit came down in likenesse of a Dove and so at Peters first preaching to the Gentiles what an extraordinary worke was there wrought Acts 10. 44. And may not we well conclude the divinity of the Lords-day from these manifold rare occurrences which fell out in the practice or usage of it * We have Davids example in a like case for in the 1 Chron. 22. he there concludeth Ieruselem to be the place that God had chosen for his more solemne worship by that speciall token of Gods favour to it in delivering it from the destroying Angell and such as are most remarkably and eminently recorded in Scripture mentioning the Time as well as the things themselves As That Christ appeared to them on the first day of the weeke and the first day of the weeke they had the gifts of the Holy Ghost given them and on the Lords day Saint Iohn was ravished in the Spirit not any other day in the weeke having the honour to be denominated the day of his appearance in all the New Testament though no doubt he did appeare to them on other dayes of the weeke besides the first in those other times of his appearances And why is all this But to give the better authority and estimate to that day Which we may the rather judge because that since then God hath shewne extraordinary judgements upon the breakers and prophaners of it which being frequently and remarkably instanced I will referre you for them to the Martyr-booke Practice of Piety and M r. Richard Byfeild pag. 99. 100. 101. As also if we consider the benefits which nationally we have enjoyed therby above all other Protestant Churches of Peace Plenty and also powerfull Preaching and Professing * Which now begin to leave us and to decline together with the Sabbaths declension For as one piously observeth The Ark shaketh through the old Sinnes and new Doctrines of our land for a long season and which doe experimentally and personally redound to the due observers of it how extraordinarily and feelingly they delight themselves in the Lord according to that promise Isai. 58. ult So that then beleeve it for the works sake as Christ saith in another case And indeed Argumentum ab effectis is an argument of no small evidence and power with those that professe Christianity in the power of it The want of which medium in the experiences of men either not at all wrought in them or else not taken notice of by them is the cause of so many false conclusions in these dayes as well as it was amongst the Galathians till Paul a man of spirit put them in minde Gal. 3. 2. And observe it as a maine argument in this way of experience That at the first beginning of mens conversions when God enlighteneth and convinceth the Conscience commonly the first thing the Conscience fastens on is the mispending the Sabbath and the first duty that he conscionably putteth in practice upon his conversion is commonly the better sanctifying and keeping the Sabbath Now as touching the baptizing of Infants there is neither an expresse precept for it nor yet an example of expresse practise delivered in Scripture and yet the grounds causes and reasons of the necessity of that practice and the benefit or good that followeth on it are evidently contained in the Scripture and for this respect it is named a tradition But yet the grounds of it being in Scripture as Feild in the fore-quoted place observes it is not therefore a bare tradition but is therefore of Divine authority and unalterable in the Church of God The same in all respects holdeth good concerning the Sabbath and with some advantage for that there is the expresse practice of the Apostle Paul in this point mentioned in the Scripture which is not so in the baptizing of Children And this is apparant that those things which had their grounds and reasons in Scripture the Apostles were not curious or exact in commanding them expressely nor intreating of them largely except they were then controverted and scrupled at which it seemeth the Lords-day was not but was currantly received and practised among the Gentile converts the Infant Iewes being born withall for on that day they ordinarily were wont