Original is not known 4. That the Antients joyn not the Lords day with these but take the Lords day for an Apostolical institution written in Scripture though the universal practice of all Churches fullier deliver the certain History of it But the rest they take for unwritten Customs as distinct from Scripture Ordinances As Epiphanius fully sheweth 5. That most Christians are agreed that if these later could be proved Apostolical Institutions for the Church universal it would be our duty to use them though they were not in Scripture So that we reject them only for want of such proof But the proof of the Lords dayes separation being far better by concurrence of Scripture and all antient History it followeth not that we must doubt of that which hath full and certain proof because we must doubt of that which wants it 6. And if it were necessary that they stood or fell together as it is not it were necessary that we did receive those three or four Ceremonies for the sake of the Lords day which â—ath so great evidence rather than that we cast off the Lords day because of these Ceremonies Not only because there is more Good in the Lords dâ—y than there is evil to be any way suspected by a doubter in these Ceremonies but especially because the Evidence for the day is so great that if the said Ceremonies had but the same they were undoubtedly of Divine authority or institution In a word I have shewed you somewhat of the evidence for the Lords day Do you now shew me the like for them and then I will prove that both must be received But if you cannot do not pretend a parity 7. And the same Churches laying by the Customs aforesaid or most of them did shew that they â—â—ok them not indeed for Apostolical institutions as they did the Lords day which they continued to observe not as a Ceremony but as a necessary thing 8. And the ancient Churches did believe that even in the Apostles dayes some things were used as Indifferent which were mutable and were not Laws but temporary customs And some things were necessary setled by Law for perpetuity Of the former kind they thought were the greeting one another with a holy kiss the Womens praying covered with a Veil of which the Apostle saith that it was then and there so decent that the contrary would have been unseemly and the Churches of God had no such custom by which he answereth the contentious yet in other Countreys where custom altereth the signification it may be otherwise Also that a man wear not long hair and that they have a Love Feast on the Lords day which yet Paul seemeth to begin to alter in his rebuke of the abusers of it 1 Cor. 11. And if these ancient Churches thought the Milk and Honey and the white Garment and the Station and Adoration Eastwards to be also such like indifferent mutable customs as it is apparent they did this is nothing at all to invalidate our proof that the Lords day was used and consequently appointed in the dayes of the Apostles Obj. At least it will prove it mutable as they were Answ. No such matter Because the very nature of such Circumstances having no stated necessity or usefulness sheweth them to be mutable But the reason of the Lords dayes use is perpetual And it is founded partly in the Law of nature which telleth us that some stated dayes should be set apart for holy things and partly in the positive part of the fourth Commandment which telleth us that once God determined of one day in seven yea and this upon the ground of his own Cessation of his Creation-work that man on that day might observe a Holy Rest in the worshipping of the great Creator which is a Reason belonging not to the Jews only but to the whole world Yea and that Reason whatever Dr. Heylin say to the contrary from the meer silence of the former History in Genesis doth seem plainly to intimate that this is but the repetition of that Law of the Sabbath which was given to Adam For why should God begin two thousand years after to give men a Sabbath upon the reason of his rest from the Creation and for the Commemoration of it if he had never called man to that Commemoration before And it is certain that the Sabbath was observed at the falling of Manna before the giving of the Law And let any considerate Christian judge between Dr. Heylin and us in this 1. Whether the not falâ—ing of Manna or the Rest of God after the Creation was like to be the Original reason of the Sabbath 2. And whether if it had been the first it would not have been said Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day for on six dayes Manna fell and not on the seventh rather than For in six dayes God created Heaven and Earth c. and rested the seventh day And it is causally added Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it Nay consider whether this annexed Reason intimate not that the day on this ground being hallowed before therefore it was that God sent not down the Manna on that day and that he prohibited the people from seeking it And he that considereth the brevity of the History in Genesis will think he is very bold that obtrudeth on the world his Negative Argument The Sabbath is not there mentioned therefore it was not then kept And if it was a Positive Law given to Adam on the reason of the Creation Rest it was then such a Positive as must be next to a Law of Nature and was given to all mankind in Adam and Adam must needs be obliged to deliver it down to the world So that though the Mosaical Law even as given in Stone be ceased yea and Adams Positives too formally as such yet this is sure that once God himself determined by a Law that one stated day in seven was the fittest proportion of time to be separated to holy Worship And if it was so once yea to all the world from the Creation it is so still Because there is still the same reason for it And we are bound to judge Gods determination of the proportion to be wiser than any that we can make And so by parity of Reason consequentially even those abrogated Laws do thus far bind us still not so far as abrogated but because the record and reason of them is still a signification of the due proportion of time and consequently of our duty Now the Lords day supposing one weekly day to be due and being but that day determined of and this upon the Reason of the Resurrection and for the Commemoration of our Redemption and that by such inspired and authorized persons it followeth clearly that this is no such mutable ceremony as a Love Feast or the Kiss of Love or the Veil or the washing of feet or the anointing of the sick which were mostly occasionall actions and
THE Divine Appointment OF THE Lords Day Proved As a separated Day for Holy Worship especially in the Church Assemblies And consequently the Cessation of the Seventh day Sabbath Written for the satisfaction of some Religious Persons who are lately drawn into Error or doubting in both these Points By Richard Baxter Rev. 1. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Loras Day Col. 2. 16 17. Let no 〈◊〉 judge you in Meat or in Driak or in respect of an Holy day or Feast or of the New 〈◊〉 or Sabbaths which are a shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ. LONDON Printed for Nevil Simmons at the three Crowns near Holborn Conduit 1671. THE PREFACE Reader IF thou think this Treatise both superfluous and Defective when so many larger have better done the work already I shall not at all gainsay the latter nor much the former The reason of my writing it was the necessity and request of some very upright Godly persons who are lately faln into doubt or Errour in point of the Sabbath day conceiving that because the fourth Commandment was Written in Stone it is wholly unchangeable and consequently the seventh day Sabbath in force and that the Lords day is not a Day separated by God to holy Worship I knew that there was enough written on this Subject long agoe But 1. Much of it is in Latine 2. Some Writings which prove the abrogation of the Jewish Sabbath do withal treat so loosly of the Lords day as that they require a Confutation in the latter as well as a commendation for the former 3. Some are so large that the persons that I write for will hardly be brought to read them 4. Most go upon those grounds which I take to be less clear and build so much more than I can do on the fourth Commandment and on many passages of the old Testament and plead so much for the old Sabbatical notion and rest that I fear this is the chief occasion of many peoples Errours who when they find themselves in a wood of difficulties and nothing plain and convincing that is pleaded with them do therefore think it safest to stick to the old Jewish Sabbath The friends and acquaintance of some of these persons importuning me to take the plainest and nearest way to satisfie such honest doubters I have here done it according to my judgement not contending against any that go another way to work but thinking my self that this is very clear and satisfactory viz. to prove 1. That Christ did Commission his Apostles to Teach us all things which he commanded and to settle Orders in his Church 2. And that he gave them his spirit to enable them to do all this Infallibly by bringing all his words to their remembrance and by leading them into all truth 3. And that his Apostles by this spirit did de facto separate the Lords day for holy Worship especially in Church-Assemblies and declared the cessation of the Jewish Sabbaths 4. And that as this change had the very same Author as the Holy Scriptures the Holy Ghost in the Apostles so that fact hath the same kind of proof that we have of the Canon and the integrity and uncorruptness of the particular Scripture Books and Texts And that if so much Scripture as mencioneth the keeping of the Lords day expounded by the Concent and Practice of the Universal Church from the dayes of the Apostles all keeping this day as holy without the dissent of any one Sect or single person that I remember to have read of I say if all this History will not fully prove the point of fact that this day was kept in the Apostles times and consequently by their appointment then the same proof will not serve to evince that any text of Scripture is Canonical and uncorrupted nor can we think that any thing in the world that is past can have Historical proof I have been put to say somewhat particularly out of Antiquity for this evidence of the fact because it is that which I lay the greatest stress upon But I have not done it so largely as might be done 1. Because I would not lose the unlearned Reader in a Wood of History nor overwhelm him instead of edifying him 2. Because it is done already in Latine by Dr. Young in his Dies Dominica under the name of Theophilus Loncardiensis which I take to be the moderatest soundest and strongest Treatise on this subject that I have seen Though Mr. Cawdry and Palmer joyntly have done well and at greater length and Mr. Eaton Mr. Shephard Dr. Bound Wallaeus Rivet and my dear friend Mr. George Abbot against Broad have said very much And in their way Dr. White Dr. Heylin Bishop Ironside Mr. Brierwood c. 3. I chose most of the same Citations which Dr. Heylin himself produceth because he being the man that I am most put to defend my self against his confessions are my advantage 4. And if I had been willing I could not have been so full in this as the Subject will bespeak because I have almost eleven years been separated from my Library and long from the neighbourhood of any ones else I much pitty and wonder at those Godly men who are so much for stretching the words of Scripture to a sense that other men cannot find in them as that in the word Graven Images in the second Commandment they can find all set Formes of Prayer all composed studyed Sermons and all things about Worship of mans invention to be Images or Idolatry and yet they cannot find the abrogation of the Jewish Sabbath in the express words of Col. 2. 16. nor the other Texts which I have cited nor can they find the Institution of the Lords day in all the Texts and Evidences produced for it But though Satan may somewhat disturbe our Concord and tempt some mens Charity to remissness by these differences he shall never keep them out of Heaven who worship God through Christ by the Spirit even in spirit and truth Nor shall he I hope ever draw me to think such holy persons as herein differ from me to be worse than my self though I think them in this to be unhappily mistaken much less to approve either of their own separation from others or of other mens condemning them as Hereticks and inflicting severities upon them for these their opinions sake THE CONTENTS CHAP. 1. THE state of the Question with the summary proof of the Divine separation of the Lords Day page 1. CHAP II. That Christ commissioned his Apostles as his principal Church-Ministers to teach the Churches all his Doctrine and to deliver them all his Commands and Orders and so to settle and guide the first Churches p. 5. CHAP. III. Christ promised his Spirit to his Apostles to enable them to do what he had commissioned them to do by leading them into all truth and bringing his words and deeds to their remembrance and by guiding them at his Churches Guides p. 9.
Churches unanimously agreed in the holy use of it as a separated day even from and in the Apostles dayes Obj. But the Emperour Constantines Edict alloweth Husbandmen to labour Answ. Only in case of apparent hazard lest the fruits of the Earth be lost as we allow Sea-men to work at Sea in case of necessity And so though by his second Edict Manumission was allowed to the Judges as an act of Charity yet they were forbidden Judging in all other ordinary causes lest the day be profaned by wranglings Gratian Valentinian and Theodosius by their Edict forbad publick spectacles or shews on the Lords day And all seeking and judging of Debts and litigious Suits and afterward Valentinian and Valens make an Edict that no Christian should on that day be convented by the Exactors or Receivers Ob. But saith H. for 300. years there was no Law to bind men to that day Answ. The Apostles Institution was a Law of Christ by his spirit Mat. 28. 20. And how should there be a humane Law before there was a Christian Magistracie Obj. Saith H. p. 95. The powers which raised it up may take it lower if they please yea take it quite away c. Ans. True that is Christ may And when he doth it by himself or by new Apostles who confirm their Commission by Miracles we will obey But we expect his presence with the Apostolical constitutions to the end of the World Mat. 28. 20. Theodosius also enacted that on the Lords day and in the Christmas and on Easter and to Whitsuntide the publike Cirques and Theaters should be shut up For we grant that when Christian Magistrates took the matter in hand other Holy dayes were brought in by degrees whereas before the Christians indeed met yea and Communicated as oft as they could even most daies in the week but did not separate the daies as holy to Gods service as they did the Lords day Only Christmas day and the Memorials of those Martyrs that were neer them to encourage the people to constancy they honoured somewhat early But those were anniversary and not weekly And the Wednesdays and Fridays were kept by them but as we keep them now or as a Lecture day I grant also that when Christian Magistracie arose as the Holy dayes multiplied the manner of the dayes observation altered For whereas from the beginning the Christians used to stay together from morning till night partly through devotion and partly for fear of persecution if they were noted to go in and out Afterward being free they met twice a day with intermission as we do now Not that their whole dayes Service was but an hour or two as Heylin would prove from a perverted word of Chrysostomes and another of Origenes or Ruffinus and from the length of their published Homilies For he perverteth what was spoken of the length of the Sermon as spoken of the length of all the Service of the whole day whereas there was much more time spent in the Eucharistical and Liturgick offices of Prayer Praise Sacraments and Exhortations proper to the Church than was in the Sermon When I was suffered to exercise my Ministry my self having four hundred or five hundred if not six hundred to administer the Sacrament to though twice the number kept themselves away it took up the time of two Sermons usually to administer it besides all the ordinary Readings Prayers and Praises Morning and Evening Heylin noteth by the way 1. That now officiating in a white garment begun 2. And Kneeling at the Sacrament which last he proveth from two or three words where Adoration only is named But 1. A late Treatise hath fully proved that the White garment was not a Religious Ceremony then at all but the Ordinary splendid Apparel of honourable persons in those times which were thought meet for the honour of the Ministry when Christian Princes did advance them 2. And he quite forgot that Adoration on the Lords dayes was ever used standing and that he had said before that it was above a thousand years before the custome was altered The inclinations to overmuch strictness on the Lords day The destruction of the Gothish Army by the Romans in Africa because they would not fight on that day c. see in Heylin p. 112 113 c. His translation of the words of the Synod or Council at Mascon 588. I think worthy the transcribing It is observed that Christian people do very rashly slight and neglect the Lords day giving themselves thereon as on other dayes to continual labours c. Therefore let every Christian in case he carry not that name in vain give eare to our instruction knowing that we have care that you should do well as well as the power to bridle you that you do not ill It followeth Custodite Diem Dominicum qui nos denuo peperit c. Keep the Lords day the day of our new birth whereon we were delivered from the snares of sin Let no man meddle in Litigious Controversies or deal in actions or Law suites or put himself at all on such an exigent that needs he must prepare his Oxen for their daily work but exercise your selves in Hymnes and singing praises unto God being intent thereon both in mind and body If any have a Church at hand let him go unto it and there pour forth his soul in tears and Prayers his Eyes and Hands being all that day lifted up to God It is the everlasting day of rest insinuating to us under the shadow of the seventh day or Sabbath in the Law and Prophets And therefore it is very meet that we should celebrate this day with one accord whereon we have been made what at first we were not Let us then offer to God our free and voluntary service by whose great goodness we are freed from the Goal of error not that the Lord exacts it of us that we should celebrate this day in a corporal abstinence or rest from labour who only looks that we do yield obedience to his holy will by which contemning earthly things he may conduct us to the Heavens of his infinite mercy However if any man shall set at naught this our Exhortation be he assured that God shall punish him as he hath deserved and that he shall be also subject unto the Censures of the Church In case he be a Lawyer he shall lose his cause if that he be an Husbandman or Servant he shall be corporally punished for it But if a Clergy-man or Monk he shall be six Moneths separated from the Congregation His reproof of Gregorius Turonensis for his strictness for the Lords day sheweth but his own dissent from him and from the Churches of that Age. King Alfreds Laws for the observation of the Lords day and against Dicing Drinking c. on it are visible in our own Constitutions in Spelman and others And many more Edicts and Laws are recited by H. himself of other Countreys Two are worthy the observation for
of the beginning of a new Creation And Hom. de Sem. The Lord transferred the Sabbath to the Lords day Though Nannius question the Hom. de semente so do few others and none that I know of question that de Sab. Circ Greg. Nyss. Orat. in s. Pasc. saith As God rested on the Sabbath from all his works which he had done in the Creation so did the only begotten Son of God rest in truth from all his works c. August Epist. 119. The Lords day was declared to Christians by the Lords Resurrection From that time or thence it began to have its Festivity Maximus Taurinensis saith Hom. 3. de Pentec The Lords day is therefore set apart because on it our Saviour as the rising Sun discussing the infernal darkness did shine forth in his resurrection And for Fasting Tertul. de Cor. Mil. c. 3. saith We account it unlawful to fast on the Lords day And though the Montanists fasted excessively they excepted the Lords day Tertul. adv Psych c. 15. Ignatius and the Apost Const. Can. are forecited of this Austin saith Ep. 86. It is a great scandal to fast on the Lords day Which the Manichees were accused of The Concil Gangr Can. 18. saith If any on pretense of abstinence fast on the Lords day let him be Anathema The Concil Caesar-august c. 2. is against fasting on the Lords day either for the sake of any time as Lent or perswasion or superstition whatsoever So the Concil Agath c. 12. Concil Aurel. 4. c. 2. And the Concil Carth. an 398. Can. 64. Let him be taken for no Catholick who purposely fasteth on the Lords day And the prohibition of kneeling in adoration I have opened before ex Concil Nic. c. 20. Concil Trulâ— Epiphan c. To which I adde Collect. Can. Johâ—n Antioch sub titulo L. Tertul. de Cor. Mil. c. 3. now cited Hieronym adv Lucifer cap. 4. Die dominico per omnem Pentecosten nec de geniculis adorare jejunium solvere multaque alia que non Scriptâ— sunt rationabilis sibi observatio vindicavit yet Paul kneeled Act. 20. in that time vid. Justell ad Can. 20. Conc. Nic. Question ad Orthod inter Justin. opera qu. 115. p. 283. Die Dominico genua non flectere symbolum est Resurrectionis c. Germanus Constantinop in Theoria Eccles. p. 149. Our not kneeling on the Lords day signifieth our erection from our fall by Christs Resurrection c. see also Basil de spir Sanc. c. 27. To. 2. p. 112 113. Balsamon theron p. 1032. Zonari in c. 20. Conc. Nic. p. 66. see Casp. Suicerus de bisce sacr observ c. 6. 2. Your Historical observations are utterly mistaken The observation of the Lords day was in all the Churches past all Controversie from the beginning while the time of Easter was in Controversie as I have proved Why would you not name those Churches in East and West which I never read or heard of yea or that person that was for the seventh day alone I am confident because you could not do it Indeed all Churches called the seventh day alone by the old name Sabbath while they maintained the Sabbath to be ceased But under the name of the Lords day the first was solemnly observed 3. In Hoveden and Mat. Paris there is not a word of what you say so much do you mis-cite History There is indeed an 1201. which as I remember is Hovedens last the story that many Authors talk of and Heylin mentioneth of one that sound a Letter pretended from Heaven upon the Altar reproving the crying sins of the times and especially the prophanation of the Lords day and requiring them to keep it strictly for the time to come which was so far from being the initiation of the Lords day that it was about 1167 years after it And how could men pretend such a Divine reproof for such a sin if the day not been received before I pray read Heylins History against us which will set you righter in the matter of fact And there is no mention of any such Council as you talk of for the initiation of the Lords day nor any resistance of the Kings or Scots There is nothing of all this in Hoveden or Mat. Paris 4. But what if England had been ignorant of the Lords day till then which is utterly untrue it followeth not that they kept the Sabbath on the seventh day Nor would a Barbarous remote corner of the World prejudice the testimony of all Christs Churches in every age 5. But that you may see how greatly you mistake the case of England read but our eldest English Historian Beda Hist. Eccles. As l. 1. 26. he mentioneth an old Church named St. Martins built in the Romans time and cap. 33. a Church built by the ancient faithful Romans And by the way I think it most probable that the Roman Souldiers first brought Christianity into Brittain so he oft describeth the Worship as agreeable to other Churches And l. 2. c. 2. he begins his reproof of the Britains for not keeping Easter on the due Lords day but never reproveth them for not keeping the Lords day it self And though the Britans and the Scots had so little regard of the English Bishops sent from Rome that they awhile refused so much as to eat with them yea or to eate in the same Inne cap. 4. li. 2. yet about the Lords day there was no Controversie Lib. 3. c. 4. he tells you that the Scots difference about Easter day continued till an 716. for want of intelligence from other Churches though Columbanus and his followers were very holy persons And that you may see you errour he there tells you that they did not keep Easter day with the Jews on the fourteenth day still as some thought but on the Lords day but not in the right week For saith he they knew as being Christians that the Lords Resurrection which was on the first day of the week was alwaies to be celebrated on the first day of the week But being Barbarous and Rusticks they had not yet learned when that same first day of the week which is now called the Lords day did come Here you see that it was past Controversie with them that the Lords day must be Celebrated in memorial of Christs Resurrection and the Scots kept not Easter on any other Week day And that they had not been like Christians if they had not owned and kept the Lords day only they had not skill enough in Calculating the times so as to know when the true Anniversary Lords day came about but kept Easter on a wrong Lords day The same he saith again in the praise of Fâ—nan lib. 3. cap. 17. that though he kept not Easter at the due time yet he did not as some falsâ—y think keep it on any week day in the fourteenth Moon with the Jews but he alwayes kept it on the Lords day from the fourteenth Moon to the
of History Mahomet and his followers more numerous than the Christians pretend that Mahomets name was in the Gospel of John as the Paraclet or Comforter promised by Christ and that the Christians have blotted it out and altered the Writings of the Gospel And how shall we disprove them but by Historical Evidence As the Arrians and Socinians pretend that we have added 1 John 5. 7. for the Trinity so others say of other Texts And how shall we confute them without Historical Evidence III. Therefore we cannot make good the Authority of any one single Verse or Text of Scripture which we shall alledge without historical evidence Because we are not certain of that particular text or words whether it have been altered or added or corrupted by the fraud of Hereticks or the partiality of some Christians or the oversight of Scribes For if a Custome of setting apart one day weekly even the first for publick Worship might creep into all the Churches in the World and no man know how nor when much more might one or a few corrupt Copies become the exemplar of those that follow For what day all the Churches meet men women and children know Learned and unlearned know the Orthodox and Hereticks know and they so know as that they cannot choose but know But the alterations of a Text may bâ— uâ—â—nown to all save the Learned and the observing â—iligent part of the learned only and 〈◊〉 that they tell it to And besides Origen 〈◊〉 a Heretick and Hierome alas how few of the Fathers were â—ble and diligent Examiners of such things Therefore in the case of various Reâ—dings such as Ludov. Capellus treats of in his 〈◊〉 Sacra contradicted in many things by Bishop Vsher and others who are those Divines that have hitherto appealed either to the Spirit or to the proper light of the words for a decision Who is it that doth not presently fly to historical evidence And what that cannot determine we all conâ—ess to be uncertain And if Copies and History had delivered to us as various Readings oâ— every Text as they have done of some every Text would have remained uncertain to us Let none say that this leaveth the Christian Religion or the Scriptures uncertain I have fully answered that elsewhere 1. Christian Religion that is The Material parts of the Scripture on which our salvation lyeth hath much fuller evidence than each particular Text or Canonical Book hath And we need not regard the perverse zeal for the Scriptures of those men that would make all our Christianity as uncertain as the authority of a particular Text or book is And therefore God in mercy hath so ordered it that a thousand Texts may be uncertain to us or not understood no not by any or many Divines and yet the Christian faith be not at all shaken or ever the more uncertain for this When as he that understandeth not or believeth not every essential Article of the faith is no Christian. 2. And those books and Texts of Scripture are fully certain by the subservient help of History and usage which would be uncertain without them Therefore it is the act of an enemy of the Scriptures to cast away and dispute against that History which is necessary to our knowledge of its certainty and afterwards to plead that they who take in those necessary helps do make it uncertain Even as if they should go about to prove that all writings are uncertain and therefore that they make Christs doctrine uncertain who rest upon the credit of writings that is the Sacred Scriptures IV. Without historical notice how should we know that these Books were written by any of the same men that bear their names As Matthew Mark Luke John Paul Peter c. Especially when the Hereticks did put forth the Gospel of Thomas Nicodemus the Itinerary of Peter and many Books under venerable names Or when the name of the Author is not notified to all Christians certainly either by the spirit within us or by the matter And though our salvation depend not on the notice of the Pen-man yet it is of great moment in the matter of faith V. And how should we be certain that no other Sacred Books are lost the knowledge of which would tell us of that which these contain not and would help us to the better understanding of these I know that a priore we may argue from Gods Goodness that he will not so forsake his Church As a Jew might have done before Christs incarnation that the Gospel should be written because it is best for the world or Church But when we consider how much of the world and Church God hath forsaken since the Creation and how dark we are in such Prognosticks and how little we know what the Churches sins may provoke God to we should be less confident of such reasonings than we are of Historical Evidence which tells us de facto what God hath done So much of the use of the History as to the Cause of the Scriptures themselves Next you may observe that the denyal of the certainty of humane History and usage doth disadvantage Christianity in many great particular concernments As 1. Without it we should not fully know whether de facto the Church and Ministry dyed or almost dyed with the Apostles And whether there have been any true Churches since then till our own dayes Christs promise indeed tells us much but if we had no History of the performance of it we should be ready to doubt that it might be yet unperformed as far as the promise to Adam Gen. 3. 15. and to Abraham in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed were till the coming of Christ. Nor could we easily confute the Roman or any hereticall Usurpation which would pretend possession since the Apostles daies and that all that are since gone to Heaven have gone thither by their way and not by ours II. Nor could we much better tell de facto whether Baptism have been administred in the form appointed by Christ In the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Indeed we may well and truly argue a priore Christ commanded it Ergo the Apostles obeyed him But 1. That Argument would hold good as to none or few but the Apostles And 2. It would as to them be though true yet much more dark than now it is because 1. We read that Peter disobeyed his command in Gal. 2. And 2. That after he had commanded them to Preach the Gospel to every Creature and all the World Peter scrupled still going to the Gentiles Act. 10. And 3. That when he said to them Pray thus Our Father c. yet we never read that they after used that form of words so when he said to them Baptize in the name of the Father c. yet the Scripture never mentioneth that they or any other person ever used that form of words But yet usage and
To call them together before they go to the solemn Assembly and to Pray with them and praise God and if there be time to read the Scripture and tell them what they have to do in publick 3. To see that Dinner and other common employments make no longer an intermission than is needful And to advise them that at their meat and necessary business they shew by their holy speeches that their minds do not forget the day and the employments of it 4. To sing Gods praises with them if there be time and bring them again together to the Church-assembly 5. When they return either to take some account of them what they have learned or to call them together to pray for a blessing on what they have heard and to sing praises to God and to urge the things which they have heard upon them 6. At Supper to behave themselves soberly and piously And after Supper to shut up the day in Prayer and Praise And either then or before either to examine or exhort inferiours according as the case of the persons and families shall require For in some Families it will be best on the same day to take an account of their profiting and to Catechize them And in other Families that have leisure other daies may be more convenient for Catechising and Examinations that the greater works of the Lords day may not be shortened IV. So much of the day as can be spared from publick and family worship must be spent in secret holy duties such as are 1. Secret Prayer 2. Reading of the Scriptures and good Books 3. Holy Meditation 4. And the secret Conference of bosome friends Of which I further adde 1. That where publick or family worship cannot be had as in impious places there secret duties must be the chief and make up the defect of others And it is a great happiness of good Christians who have willing minds that they have such secret substitutes and supplies That they have Bibles and so many good Books to read That they may have a friend to talk with of holy things But much more that they have a God to go to and a Heaven to Meditate on besides so many Sacred Verities 2. That my judgement is that in those places where the publick Worship taketh up almost all the day it is no sin to attend on it to the utmost and to omit all such Family and secret exercises as cannot be done without omission of the publick And that where the publick exercises allow but a little time at home the Family duties should take up all that little time except what some shorter secret Prayers or Meditations may have which will not hinder family duties And that it is a sinful disorder to do otherwise Because the Lords day is principally set apart for publick worship And the more private or secret is as it were included in the publick Your Families are at Church with you The same Prayers which you would put up in secret you may usually put up in publick and in Families And it is a turning Gods Worship into a Ceremony and Superstition to think that you must necessarily put up the same Prayers in a Closet which you put up in the Family or Church when you have not time for both Though when you have time secret prayer hath its proper advantages which are not to be neglected And also what secret or family duty you have not time for on that day you may do on another day when you cannot come to Church Assemblies And therefore it is an Errour to think that the day must be divided in equal proportions between Publick Family and Secret Duties Though yet I think it not amiss that some convenient time for Family and Secret duties be left on that day but not so much as is spent in publick nor nothing neer it If any shall now object I do not believe that we are bound to all this ado nor so to tire out our selves in Religious exercises Where is all this ado commanded us I answer 1. I have proved to you that in Nature and in Scripture set together as great a proportion of time as this for holy exercises is required 2. But O what a Carnal unthankful heart doth this objection signifie What do you account your Love to God and the Commemoration of his Love in Christ a toile What if God had only given you leave to lay by your worldly business and idle talk and Childish play for one dayes time and to learn how to be like Christ and Angels and how to make sure of a Heavenly Glory should you not gladly have accepted it as an unspeakable benefit O what hearts have these wretched men that must be constrained by fear to all that is good and holy and spiritual and will have none of Gods greatest mercies unless it be for fear of hell And they shall never have them indeed till they love them What hearts have those men that had rather be in an Ale-house or a Play-house or asleep than to be in heart with God That can find so much pleasure in jesting and idle talking and foolery that they can better endure it than to peruse a Map of Heaven and to read and hear the Sacred Oracles Who think it a toile to praise their Maker and Redeemer and a pleasure to game and dance and drink Who turn the glass upon the Preacher and grudge if he exceed his hour and can sit at a Tavern or Alehouse or hold on in any thing that 's vain many hours and never complain of weariness Do they not tell the world what enemies they are to God who love a pair of Cards or Dice or Wanton Dalliance better than his Word and Worship Who think six dayes together little enough for their worldly work and profit and one day in seven too much to spend in the thoughts of God and life Eternal Who love the dung of this present World so much better than all the joyes above as that they are weary to hear of Heaven above an hour at a time and long to be wallowing in the dirt again Is it not made by the Holy Ghost a mark not only of wicked men but of men notoriously wicked to be Lovers of pleasures more than of God 2 Tim. 3. 4. O Sinners that in these workings of the wickedness and malignity of your hearts you would at last but know your selves Is it not the Carnal mind that is thus at enmity to God and neither is nor can be subject to his Law Rom. 8. 6 7 8 Which will you take to be your friend Him that loveth your company or him that is a weary of it and is glad when he hath done with you and is got away What would you think of Wife or Child or Friend if they should reason as you do and say What Law doth bind 〈◊〉 to be so many hours in the House or Company or 〈◊〉 of my Husband my Father or my Friendâ—
hath allowed them so liberal a portion of time wherein to provide for themselves and their families There being no other proportion of time that can so well provide for the necessities of families as six dayes of every Week and that is so well fitted to all Functions Callings and Employments And the light of Nature when cleared up will tell men that all labour and motion being in order to rest and rest being the perfection and end of labour into which labour work and motion doth pass that therefore the seventh day which is the last day in every Week is the fittest and properest day for a religious rest unto the Creator for his Worship Gen. 2. 1 c. Exod. 20. 9. Deut. 5. 13 14. Heb. 4. 1. 11. Exod. 31. 17. Rom. 14. 13. Exod. 23. 12. 34. 21. Answ. How far a day is of Natural due I have shewed before In all the words of this reason which I set down as I received them there is much which is no matter of Controversie betwen us As that there is a Light and Law of Nature which few men doubt of who are worthy to be called men And that by this Law of Nature God should be solemnly worshipped and that at a set or separated time I hope the Reader will not expect that I weary him with examining the Texts which prove this before it is denyed But the thing denyed by us is that the seventh day Sabbath as the seventh is of Natural Obligation The proofs which are brought for this I must examine For indeed this is the very hindge of all our Controversie For if this be once proved we shall easily confess that it is not abrogate For Christ came not to abrogate any of the Law of Nature though as I have said such particles of it may cease whose Matter ceaseth by a change in Nature it self The first proof is Exod. 20. 10. The stranger To which I answer Our question is not whether the Sabbath was to be rested onâ— by Strangers that are among the Jews but Whether it was part of the Law of Nature If it be intended that whatever such strangers were bound to was of the Law of Nature But strangers were bound to keep the Sabbath Ergo I deny the Major which they offer not to prove And I do more than deny it I disprove it by the Instances of Exâ—d 12. 19. Was eating leavened bread forbidden by the Law of Nature V. 48. 49. One Law shall be to him that is home-born and to the stranger that sojourneth among you Circumcision was not of the Law of Nature Lev. 16. 29. Resting from all work on the tenth day of the seventh Moneth was not of the Law of Nature though made also the strangers duty So eating blood and that which dyeth or was torn Lev. 17. 12 15. So Lev. 25. 6. Numb 15. 14 15 16 26. 29. 19. 10. 35. 15. Deut. 31. 12. Jos. 8. 33 34 35. 20. 9 c. The next pretended proof is Rom. 2. 14 c. where there is not one syllable mentioning the Decalogue as such but only in general The Law so far as it was written in the Gentiles hearts But where is it proved that the Law or the Decalogue are words of the same signification or extent any more than the whole and a part are Or where is it proved that none of the rest of the Law is written in Nature but the Decalogue only Or else that every word in the Decalogue it self is part of the Law of Nature which is the question I shall prove the contrary anon In the mean time the bare numbring of Chapters and Verses is no proof 3. It is next said that Adam was made and framed to the perfection of the ten words Answ. Adam was made in the Image of God before the ten words were given in stone But so much of them as is of the Law of Nature and had matter existent in Adams dayes no doubt was a Law to him as well as it is to us But that 's nothing to the question Whether all things in the ten words are of Natural Obligation 4. It is said that the Law of the seventh day Sabbath was given before the ten words were preclaimed in Sinai Answ. So was Circumcision and so was sacrificing yea so was the Law about the dressing of the Garden of Eden and about the eating or not eating of the fruit thereof even in innocency which yet were no parts of Natures Laws but Positives which now cease 5. It is said that it was given to Adam in respect of his humane nature and in him to all the world of humane creatures Answ. So was the Covenant of Works or Innocency which yet is at an end But what respect is it to his humane nature that you mean If you suppose this Proposition Whatever Law is given with respect to humane nature and to all men is of natural and perpetual Obligation I deny it The Law of Sâ—crinces and Oblations was given with respect to humane nature that is in order to its reparation and it was given to mankind and yet not of natural perpetual obligation The Law of distinguishing clean Beasts from unclean and the Law against eating blood were given to Noah and to all mankind with respect to humane nature Gen. 8. 20. 9. 4. and yet not wholly of natural or perpetual obligation All common Laws have some respect to humane nature But if your meaning be that this Law was given in and with the Nature of Man himself or that it is founded in and provable by the very essentials of mans nature or any thing permanent either in the nature of man or the nature of the world I still deny it and call for your proof Positives may have respect to humane Nature as obliged by them and yet not be written in humane nature nor provable by any meer natural evidence 6. It is said Set times of Divine appointment for solemn assembling c. are directed to by the great Lights c. Psal. 19. Rom. 10 c. Ans. But the question is not of set times in general that some there be But of this set time the seventh day in particular It will be long before you can fâ—tch any cogent evidence from the Lights of Heaven for it Nor do any of the Texts cited mention any such thing or any thing that can tempt a man into such an opinion It must be the Divine appointment and institution which you mention that must prove our obligation to a particular day and not any nature within us or without us 7. The only appearance of a proof is at the end that time being measured by Weeks and the end of the Weeks being fittest for Rest therefore nature points us to the last day Answ. But 1. You do not at all prove that nature teacheth all men to measure their time by Weeks 2. Nor is your Philosophy true that all motion is in order to rest
of Nature would have been the making of the Law But here are two arguments against that in the Text. 1. Blessing and sanctifying are positive acts of supernatural institution superadded to the works of nature They are not Divine Creating acts but Divine instituting acts 2. That which is blessed and sanctified Because God rested in it from all his works is not blessed and sanctified meerly by those works or that Rest And if neither the works of Nature nor the Rest of God from those works did sanctifie it then it is not of natural sanctification and so not of natural obligation 5. If the very Reason of the day be not of natural but of supernatural Revelation then the sanctification of the day is not of natural but supernatural revelation and obligation But the former is certain For no man breathing ever did or can prove by Nature without supernatural Revelation that God made and finished his works in six dayes and rested the seventh Aristotle had been like to have escaped his Opinion of the worlds eternity if he could have found out this by nature 6. The distinction of Weeks is not known by nature to be any necessary measure of our time Therefore much less that the seventh day of the Week must be a Sabbath The Antecedent is sufficiently proved in that no man can give a cogent reason for the necessity of such a measure And because it hath been unknown to a great part of the world The Peruvians Mexicans and many such others knew not the measure of Weeks And Heylin noteth out of Jos. Scaliger de Emend Temp. li. 3. 4. and Rossinus Antiq. and Dion that neither the Chaldees the Persians Greeks nor Romans did of old observe Weeks and that the Romans measured their times by eights as the Jews did by sevens Hist. Sab. P. 1. Ch. 4. p. 83 84. And p. 78. he citeth Dr. Bounds own words p. 65. Ed. 2. confessing the like citing Beroaldus for it as to the Roman custom Yea he asserteth that till near the time of Dionys. Exig an 500. they divided not their time into Weeks as now In which he must needs except the Christians and consequently the ruling powers since Constantine And if they were so unsetled through the world in their measure by Moneths as Bishop Vsher at large openeth in his Dissert de Macedonum Asianorum Anno solari see especially his Ephemeris in the end where all the dayes of each Moneth are named without Weeks the other will be no won-wonder I conclude therefore 1. That one day in seven rather than in six or eight may be Reason be discerned to be convenient when God hath so Instituted it But cannot by Nature be known to be of natural universal obligation 2. That this one day should be the seventh no Light of Nature doth discover Therefore Dr. Bound Dr. Ames and the generality of the Defenders of one day in seven against the Anti-sabbatarians do unanimously assert it to be of Positive supernatural institution and not any part of the Law of Nature Though stated dayes at a convenient distance is of the Law of Nature CHAP. IV. Whether every word in the Decalogue be of the Law of Nature and of perpetual obligation And whether all that was of the Law of Nature was in the Decalogue BUt the great argument to prove it the Law of Nature is because it was part of the ten words written in stone To which I say that the Decalogue is an excellent summary of the Generals of the Law of Nature as to the ends to which it was given but that I. It hath more in it than the Law of Nature II. It hath less in it than the Law of Nature And therefore was never intended for a meer or perfect transcript of the Law of Nature but for a perfect general summary of so much of that Law as God thought meet to give the Jews by supernatural revelation containing the chief heads of Natures Law lest they should not be clear enough in Nature it self with the addition of something more I. That the Decalogue written in stone hath more than the Law of Nature is proved 1. By these instances 1. That God brought them out of the Land of Egypt and out the house of servants and that he is to be worshipped in that relation is none of the Law of Nature universally so called 2. That God is merciful and therefore reconciled to thousand Generations of them that Love him notwithstanding mans natural state of sin and misery and all mens actual sin this is of supernatural Grace and not the Law of meer Nature 3. The great difference between the wayes of Justice and mercy expressed by the third and fourth Generation compared to Thousands is more than the meer Law of Nature 4. Those Divines who take all Gods positive Institutions of Worship to be contained in the Affirmative part of the second Commandment must needs think that it containeth more than the Law of nature Though I say not as they but only that as a General Law it obligeth us to perform them when another Law hath instituted them 5. To rest one day in seven is more than the Law of Nature 6. To rest the seventh day rather than the sixth or first is more than the Law of Nature 7. The strictness of the Rest to do no manner of Work is more than a Law of Nature 8. That there be Man servants and Maid servants besides natural inferiours is not of the primitive or universal Law of Nature 9. The distinction of the Israelites from strangers within their Gates was not by the Law of Nature 10. That Cattle should do no manner of work as for a Dog to turn the spit in a wheel or such like is more than a Law of Nature 11. That God made Heaven and Earth in six dayes and rested the seventh is not of Natural Revelation 12. That this was the reason wherefore God blessed the Sabbath day aud hallowed it is not of Natural Revelation 13. Some will say that more Relations than Natural being meant in the fifth Commandment maketh it more than a Law of Nature 14. That the Land of Canaan is made their reward is a positive respecting the Israelites only 15. That length of dayes in that Land should be given by Promise is an act of Grace and not of Nature only 16. That this promise of length of dayes in that Land is made more to the Honouring of Superiours than to the other commanded duties is more than Natural 2. I prove it also by the Abrogation of the Law written in stone which I proved before If the Decalogue had been the Only and Perfect Law of Nature it would not have been so far done away as the Apostle saith it is of which before II. All the Law of Nature was not in the Tables of Stone Here I premise these suppositions 1. That a General Law alone obligeth not to all particulars without a Particular Law E.
the Kings in their Drunkenness There are few in such sportful Assemblies that are not Drunk with Concupiscence and whose reason is not drowned in voluptuousness and vain imaginations Let those Divines if I may so call the Advocates of Sensuality and Sin which are otherwise minded give us leave to oppose against all their Cavils and the false names of harmless recreations but 1. Our own experience who in our youth have alwaies found such sports and revelling Assemblies to be corrupters of our minds and temptations to evil and quenchers of every holy motion and enemies to all that 's good 2. The experience of the visibly corrupted undone sensual youth that are round about us in all Countreys where we have lived 3. And the judgement of Sâ—lomon who saith as much for pleasure as any Sacred Writer Eccl. 7. 2 3 4 5 6. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting For that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the Countenance the heart is made better The heart of the wise is in the house of mouâ—ning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth I pray you do not say I raile at you by the reciting of these words nor that I diminish the honour of the Reverend Advocates for Wakes and Lords day Sports and Dancings It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the Song of fools For as the sound of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the fool 3. Moreover these sports and pleasures and riotings are worse than Plowing and Labouring on the Lords day because as they are more adverse to spiritual and heavenly joyes so they do less good to recompense the hurt A Carpenter a Mason a Plowman c. may do some good by his unlawful unseasonable labour some one may be the better for it But Dancing and Sports and Gaming do no good but hurt They corrupt the Fantasie They imprint upon the Thinking faculty so strong an inclination to run out after such things and upon the Appetite so strong a list and longing for them that carnality is much encreased by them Mortification hindred Concupiscence gratified the flesh prevaileth the spirit is quenched and the soul made as unfit for heavenly things as a School-boy is for his Book whose heart is set upon his play Yea abundance more as Nature by Corruption is more averse to spiritual things than to the things of Art or Nature 4. These Dancings and Playes and Wakes and other riotous sports are a strong temptation also to them that are not of the riotous societies but have convictions on their hearts that they have greater and better things to mind Without accusing others I may say that I know this by bad experience I cannot forget when my Conscience was against their courses and called me to better things how hardly when I was young I passed by the Dancing and the Playing Congregations and especially when in the Passage I must bear their scorn And I was one Year a School-master and found how hard it was for the poor Children to avoid such snares even when they were sure to be whipt the next day for their pleasures 5. And those Riots and Playes are injurious to the pious and sober persons who dislike them For it is they that shall be made the Rabbles Scorn and the Drunkards Song Besides that the noise oft times annoyeth them when they should be calmely serving God And they are hindered from governing and instructing their Families while their Children and Servants are thus tempted to be gone and their hearts are all the while in the playing place Never did a hungry dog more grudge at his restraint from meat than Children and young Servants usually grudge to be Catechised or kept to holy exercises when they hear the pipe or the noise of the licentious multitude in the Streets I cannot forget that in my Youth in those late times when we lost the labours of some of our Conformable Godly Teachers for not Reading publickly the Book for Sports and Dancing on the Lords dayes one of my Fathers own Tenants was the Town Piper hired by the Year for many Years together and the place of the Dancing Assembly was not an hundred yards from our door and we could not on the Lords day either read a Chapter or Pray or sing a Psalm or Catechise or instruct a Servant but with the noise of the Pipe and Taber and the Whootings in the Street continually in our Ears And even among a tractable people we were the common Scorn of all the Rabble in the Streets and called Puritans Precisians and Hypocrites because we rather chose but to read the Scriptures than to do as they did Though there was no favour of any Non-conformity in our Family And when the people by the Book were allowed to Play and Dance out of publick Service-time they could so hardly break off their Sports that many a time the Reader was fain to stay till the Piper and Players would give over And sometimes the Morrice-Dancers would come into the Church in all their Linnen and Scarfs and Antick Dresses with Morrice-bells jingling at their leggs And as soon as Common Prayer was read did haste out presently to their Play again Was this a Heavenly Coversation Was this a help to holiness and Devotion or to the Mortification of fleshly Lusts Was this the way to train up youth in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord And were such Assemblies like to the primitive Churches Or such Families governed Christianly and in the fear of God O Lord set wise and holy Pastors over thy poor Flocks that have learnt themselves the holy Doctrine which they Preach and who love or at least abhorr not the service and imitation of a Crucified Christ and the practice of that Religion which they themselves profess Obj. But poor labouring people must have some recreation and they cannot through their poverty have leisure any other day Answ. 1. A sad Argument to be used by them that by racking of Rents do keep them in Poverty They that cannot live without all those superfluities which requireth many hundred pounds a Year to maintain them must for this gratifying pride and fleshly lusts set such bargains to their poor Tenants as that they confess they cannot live without taking the Lords day to recreate them from the toile and weariness of their excessive labours And will not God judge such self-condemning oppressours as these are 2. But is this an Argument fit for the mouth of a Minister or any Christian who knoweth how much the soul is more worth than the body and Eternity more valuable than the pleasures of this little time If Poverty deny the people liberty to play on the week dayes doth it not as much deny them liberty to Pray and to read the
Scriptures and to learn their Catechisms and the Word of God Surely it better beseemeth any man that believeth another life a Heaven and a Hell to say Poor Labourers have so little time to Learn to Meditate to Read to Pray on the week dayes that if they do not follow it close upon the Lords day they are like to perish in their ignorance For if the Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4. 3. which do you think it better to leave undone if one of them must be left undone Whether the learning of Gods Word or the Pleasures and Recreations of the flesh 3. It is either their Bodies or their Minds that need Recreation When the Body is tired with toilesome labour it is ease rather than toilesome Dancings or Plays that are fit to recreate it Or else God will be charged with mistake in the reasons of the ancient Sabbath But if it be the Mind that needeth recreation why should not the Learning of Heavenly truth and the Joyful Commemoration of our Redemption and the foresight of Heaven and the Praises of God be more delightful than the noise of Thornes under a pott even than the laughter and sport of fools or than the Dancings and Games that now you plead for But the truth is It is not the Minds of poor labouring men that are over-workt and tired on the week dayes but it is their bodies And therefore there is no Recreation so suitable to them as the ease of the body and the holy and joyful exercise of the mind upon their Creator their Redeemer and their Everlasting Rest. 4. But if you will needs have daies of temptation and sinful sports and pleasures for them let Landlords abate their Tenants as much Rent as one dayes vacancy from labour in a Month or a Fortnight will amount to or let the Common ` Saints dayes which of the two are more at mans disposal be made their sporting dayes and rob not their souls of that one weekly day which God hath separated for his Worship Obj. But there are Students and Lawyers and Ministers and Gentlemen whose labour is most that of the Brain and not the Plow-mans bodily toile and these have need of bodily Recreation Answ. And there are few of these so poor but they can take their bodily Recreation on the week dayes And many of them need as much the whole Lords day for their souls Edification as any others And no one that knoweth himself will say that he needs it not If any men need remission of Studies and bodily Exercise it is Ministers themselves And is it themselves that they plead for Sports and Dancing for Would they be companions of the vain in such like vanities Obj. But the mind of man is not able to endure a constant intension and elevation of devotion all the day long without recreation and intermission And putting men upon more than they can do will but hinder them when a little recreation will make them more fresh and fervent when they return to God Answ. O what an advantage is it to know by experience what one talketh of And what an inconvenience to talk of Holiness and Heavenliness by hearsay only 1. To poor people that have but one day in seven that one day should not seem too long 2. If it be from a Carnal enemity to God and spiritual things shortness and seldomeness will be no Cure But they have need rather to be provoked to diligence till they are cured than to be indulged in that averseness and floth which till its cured will prevail when you have done your best against it 3. But if it be a weariness of the flesh as the Disciples when they slept while Christ was Praying or a weariness through such imperfection of Grace and Remnant of Carnality which the sincere are lyable to then giving way to it will increase it and resisting it is the way to overcome it 4. How many necessary intermissions are there which confute this pretense of weariness Some time is taken up in dressing And some with poor Servants in waiting on their Masters and Mistrisses and in preparing Meat and drink some in going to Church and coming home some in eating usually more than once some in preparing again for sleep besides what Cattle and by-occasions will require And is the remainder of one day in a week yet too much for the business which we are Created preserved and Redeemed for and on which our endless life dependeth O that we knew what the Love of God is and what it is to regard our souls according to their worth Would not a soul that loveth God rather say Alas how short is the Lords day How quickly is it gone How many interruptions hinder my delight Shall I think a Week short enough for my worldly labours and one day thus parcelled too long to seek the face of God I see blind Worldlings and sensualists can be longer unwearied at Market in their Shops and Fields especially when their gain comes in and at Cards and Dice and Bowling and idle Prating c. And shall I be weary so soon of the most noble and necessary Work and of the sweetest pleasures upon Earth An Hypocrite that draweth near to God but with the lips whilest his heart is far from him as he never truly seeketh God so he never truly findeth him and hath none of the true spiritual delights of holiness nor ever feeleth the pleasure of exercising his Love to God by the help of faith in the hopes of Heaven And therefore no wonder if he be weary of such unprofitable sapless and unpleasant work as his dead formalities and affectations are But it is not so with the sincere experienced Christian who serving God in spirit and truth hath true and spiritual recreation pleasure and benefit in and by his Service And therefore we see that the holy experienced believers are still averse to these sensual diversions and do not think the Lords da or his Service too long And O Christian what happy advantage in such controversies have you in your holy sincerity and sweet experience 5. But yet I am not such a stranger to man to my self or others as to deny that our naughty hearts are inclined to be weary of well doing But mark what a cure God in Wisdom and mercy hath provided for us As it is but one day in seven which is thus to be wholly employed with God and as much of this day is taken up with the bodily necessaries aforesaid so for the rest God appointeth us variety of exercises that when we are weary of one another may be our recreation When we have heard we must pray and when we have prayed we must hear again We must Read we must Sing and speak Gods Praises we must celebrate the memorial of Christs death in the Sacrament we must Meditate we must Conferr we must instruct our Families And we have variety of subjects for each