proofe thereof First Acts 20.7 Vpon the first day of the Weeke when the Disciples came together to breake Bread PAVL preached unto them readie to depart upon the Morning and continued his Speech till Midnight Why is it sayd expressely That the Disciples came together to heare the Word preached and receive the Sacraments rather on this day than another rather than on the Iewish Sabbath were it not then a custome to celebrate on that day their publike Meetings the Sabbath of the Iewes beginning by degrees to vanish The Fathers and all Interpreters almost doe so conceive it Though I confesse that from a casuall fact I see not how a solemne institution may bee justly grounded Nor may wee argue in this manner The Disciples met that day together therefore they gave commandement that on that day the Church should alwayes bee assembled for Gods publike worship Who markes not heere a great and notable incoherence Looke therefore next upon the first to the Corinthians cap. 16. vers 2. where wee seeme to have a Commandement Let every man sayth the Apostle upon the first day of the Weeke lay by him in store What Collections for the Saints And why Because hee had so ordered it in the Churches of Galatia Heere then wee have an Ordinance set downe by the Apostle to bee observed in the Church But what is that hee ordereth Not that the first day should bee set apart for the Lords service but that upon the first day of the Weeke they make Collections for the Saints The third and last is Revel 1. and 10. I was sayth the Evangelist in the Spirit on the Lords day And what day is that Had hee meant onely the Iewish Sabbath doubtlesse hee would have called it so If any other of the Weeke not eminent above the rest the title had beene needlesse and ambiguous and rather had obscured than explaned his meaning What therefore rests but that comparing this place with the former two Interpreters both new and old conclude together that here the Apostle meant the first day of the Weeke whereupon Christ rose and the Disciples came together for the discharge of holy duties and Paul commanded that Collections should bee made as was the custome afterwards in the Primitive Church according unto Iustin Martyr who lived verie neere the Apostles times The alteration of the name doth intimate that the Sabbath was also altered not in relation to Gods worship but the appointment of the time SECT VII What then Shall wee affirme That the Lords day is founded on Divine authoritie For my part without prejudice unto any mans Opinion I assent unto it however that the Arguments like mee not whereby the Opinion is supported This inference first offends mee That in the Cradle of the World God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it therefore all men are bound to sanctifie it by the Law of Nature since I both doubt whether the Patriarkes did observe it before Moses time and have learnt also that the Law of Nature is immutable Next this distasts mee That they would have the spending of one day in seven on Gods holy worship to bee perpetuall and Morall As congruous or convenient all men admit it but cannot see so easily that it should bee Morall and perpetuall Nor is it thirdly without scandall that the fourth Commandement should bee so commonly produced to iustifie our keeping of the Lords day by the Text thereof If they required no more but the analogie the equitie or the reason of that Commandement wee would not sticke to yeeld unto it But whiles they stand too close to the very letter they may perhaps bee iustly charged with Iudaisme Fourthly as little like I them who promise much in proofe hereof out of the New Testament which the Text affordeth not For where is any expresse institution of the Lords day in any one of the Apostles or Evangelists Yea or what Text is there whence it may necessarily bee collected in case wee meete an Adversarie who must bee dealt withall exactly and will not easily assent but to solide Arguments Nor lastly am I satisfied with the bare Ordinance of the Church which with the same facilitie may bee broke as it was enacted Which absolutely to affirme of the Lords day were too unadvised Therefore amongst so doth distinguish with us of Divine authoritie strictly and largely taken that so not that alone which is found in Scripture may properly be said to have Divine authoritie but whatsoever by good consequence may bee drawne from thence eyther in reference to the institution or some example of it or at least some analogie thereunto And whereas Calvin Bullinger Bucerus Brentius Chemnitius Vrsine and others of the Reformed Churches affirme That still the Church hath power to change the Lords day to some other Suarez doth thus distinguish in it That it is absolutely alterable but not practically that is as I conceive it That such a Power is absolutely in the Church though not convenient now to bee put in practise The reasons of it two First because instituted as generally the Fathers grant in memorie of our Redemption made perfect on that day by our Saviours resurrection Next because not depending barely upon a Civill or Ecclesiasticall Ordinance but on the practice and expresse tradition of the Apostles who questionlesse were ledde into all truth by the Holy Ghost Which beeing so if any waywardly shall oppose us as if they would compose some Sabbaticall Idoll out of an equall mixture of Law and Gospel they may bee very fitly likened to the Iew of Tewksburie mentioned in our Common Annals who on a Saturday fell by chance into a Priviâ— and would not then permit himselfe to bee taken out because it was the Iewish Sabbath nor could bee suffered to bee taken thence the next day following because the Lords day celebrated by the Christians And so betwixt both dayes hee died most miserably that understood not rightly the celebration and true use of eyther Of which the celebration of this day I am next to speake SECT VIII Prayse waiteth for thee O Lord in Sion and unto thee shall the Vow be performed O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come The life of Pietie and Religion is Gods publike worship the soule of publike worship is the due performance of the same They which esteeme not this as they ought to doe whether prophane carnall or schismaticall persons doe not alone as much as in them is teare the Church in pieces which is the seamelesse Coat of CHRIST but doe renounce the Heritage bought for us at so great a price and offered to us with so great mercie Hee that endevours to pursue the severall by-wayes and dissonant clamours of particular men in this present Argument entreth into a most inextricable Labyrinth But generally those things which others have propounded in some obscuritie may bee reduced most fitly unto these two heads First that wee marke distinctly in the
the practice of the Apostles not on the fourth Commandement which he calls a scandalous Doctrine Sect. 7. nor any other expresse authoritie in holy Scripture Sect. 6. 7. Then fourthly that the Church hath still authoritie to change the day though such authoritie be not fit to be put in practise Sect. 7. Fifthly that in the celebration of it there is no such cessation from the workes of labour required from us as was exacted of the Iewes but that we lawfully may dresse Meat proportionable unto every mans estate and doe such other things as be no hinderance to the publike Service appointed for the day Sect. 8. Sixtly that on the Lords day all Recreations whatsoever are to be allowed which honestly may refresh the spirits and encrease mutuall love and neighbourhood amongst us and that the names whereby the Iewes did use to call their Festivals whereof the Sabbath was the chiefe were borrowed from an Hebrew word which signifieth to dance and to be merry or make glad the countenance If so if all such Recreations as encrease good neighbourhood then Wakes and Feasts and other Meetings of that nature If such as honestly may refresh the spirits then Dancing Shooting Wrastling and all other Pastimes not by Law prohibited which either exercise the body or revive the minds And lastly that it appertaines to the Christian Magistrate to order and appoint what Pastimes are to be permitted and what are not obedience unto whose commands is better farre than sacrifice to any of the Idols of our owne inventions not unto every private person or as the Doctors owne words are not unto every mans rash zeale who out of a Schismaticall Stoicisme debarring men from lawfull Pastimes doth incline to Iudaisme Sect. 8. Adde for the close of all how doubtingly our Author speakes of the name of Sabbath which now is growne so rife amongst us Sect. 8. Concerning which take here that notable Dilemma of Iohn Barklay the better to incounter those who stil retaine the name and impose the rigour Cur perro illum diem plerique Sectariorum Sabbatum appellaetis c. What is the cause saith hee that many of our Sectaries call this day the Sabbath If they observe it as a Sabbath they must observe it because God rested on that day and then they ought to keepe that day whereon God rested and not the first as now they doe whereon the Lord began his labours If they observe it as the day of our Saviours resurrection why doe they call it still the Sabbath seeing especially that Christ did not altogether rest that day but valiantly overcame the powers of death This is the summe of all and this is all I have to say unto thee Good Christian Reader in this present businesse God give thee a right understanding in all things and a good will to doe thereafter THE DOCTRINE OF THE SABBATH OR A Speech delivered in the Act at OXON at the proceeding Doctors Of CHRIST GREENE IO. TOLSON THO. IACKSON THO. BINSON IO. HARRIS In the yeere of CHRIST 1622. touching the Sabbath LEVIT 9.30 Yee shall keepe my Sabbath and reverence my Sanctuarie I am the Lord. OF THE SABBATH SECT I. MY annuall taske learned and courteous Auditors is as you see returned againe whereto being bound as I may say like Titius unto Caucasus I must of necessitie expose my selfe to so many Vultures Divinitie tossed with so many stormes and by her owne unworthily handled hath not which was much feared as yet miscarried Behold I and the sonnes which God hath given mee And though shee doe not glory as before shee hath done of a numerous issue yet shee is comforted with these few whose modestie doth promise to supply that want and hide her nakednesse It is my Office as you know according to the custome of this place honestly to dismisse them hence being now furnished and provided after all their labours And being it is the seventh yeere since I first attained unto this place and that there want not some litigious differences about the Sabbath which have of late disturbed the quiet of the Church I hope it will not seeme unseasonable Fathers and Brethren to speake unto you somewhat of this argument and therein rather to explode their errors who either seeme to tend on the one side to Atheisme or on the other side to Iudaisme than any way to brand their persons And that our following discourse may issue from the purer Fountaine we will derive it from the 19. of Levit. v. 30. which doubtlesse for the greater certaintie thereof is againe repeated cap. 26. v. 2. Yee shall keepe my Sabbaths Now for the first word Sabbath the learned in the Hebrew Language derive it not from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which being interpreted is Seven but from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to cease leave off or rest from labour and seemes to have affinitie with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to set downe and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to adore and praise all which doe intimate unto us as well the use of the Sabbath as the duties also of all those who are bound to keepe it It is not my intent to lay before you such further Etymologies as either are afforded us from Plutarch and the rest of Greece who fetch it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to triumph dance or make glad the countenance or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sirname of Bacchus or at the least some sonne of his in Coelius Rhodiginus whence Bacchus Priests are frequently called Sabbi Moenades or Saliares in ancient Authors nor from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Spleene from the distempers of the which as Giraldus thinkes the Iewes though very much thereunto inclined were that day released nor last of all from any foule disease in the privie parts by the Aegyptians called Sabba which Fl. Iosephus worthily derides in his second booke against Appion It is well knowne from what corrupt Channell these derivations have beene drawne by the elder Iewes who by their Bacchanalian Rites gave the World just occasion to suspect that they did consecrate their Sabbath unto Revels rather than Gods service As for these Sabbaths they either were the Weekely Sabbaths or those which in the Scripture are called Sabbaths of yeeres and these againe either each seventh yeere in the which the Earth lay fallow or every fiftieth yeere called otherwise the Yeere of Iubile wherein each man returned againe to his owne Possession and Inheritance as the Law appointed There were at least five other meanings of this word in holy Scripture of which consult Hospinian in his booke de festis Iudaeorum But for the Weekely Sabbath mentioned in the Decalogue being it is become to many a Rocke of offence it will not happily be unwelcome to the wavering mind so to determine of the Point that they may have something whereupon to fasten There is not any thing now more frequent in some Zelots
mouthes than that the Lords day is with us licentiously prophaned the fourth Commandement produced and expounded literally as if it did as much oblige us Christians as once the Iewes And to this purpose all such Texts of the Old Testament which seeme to presse the rigorous keeping of that day are alledged at once and thereupon some men most superstitiously perswaded neither to kindle fire in the Winter time wherewith to warme themselves or to dresse Meat for sustentation of the poore or such as these which trench not more upon the bounds of Christian libertie than they doe breake the bonds of Christian charitie Not so much therefore to abate their zeale but if it may be done to direct it rather I shall in briefe and as the time will give me leave handle especially these three things about the Sabbath First the Institution secondly the Alteration of it and thirdly the Celebration of the same that these my Sonnes together with the rest may know the better how carefully they are to walke in this doubtfull Point neyther diverting on the left hand with the prophaner sort of people nor madly wandering on the right with braine-sicke persons SECT II. And first the Institution of the Sabbath is generally referred to God by all who are instructed by the Word of God that hee created all things and hath since governed the same But touching the originall of this Institution and promulgation of the same it is not yet agreed upon amongst the Learned Some fetch the originall thereof from the beginning of the World when God first blessed the seventh day and sanctified it Whence well this question may be raysed Whether before the publishing of Moses Law the Sabbath was to be observed by the Law of Nature They which are commonly more apt to say any thing than able afterwards to prove it maintaine affirmatively that it was For what say they Is it not all one to blesse and sanctifie the seventh day in the beginning of the World as to impose it then on the posteritie of Adam to be blest and sanctified If all the rest of the Commandements flow from the Principles of Nature how is this excluded Can wee conceive that this onely Ceremoniall Law crept in wee know not how amongst the Morals Or that the Prophet Moses would have used such care in ordering the Decalogue onely to bring the Church into greater troubles Adde hereunto that Torniellus thinkes it hardly credible that Enosh should apart himselfe from the sonnes of Cain to call upon the name of the Lord without some certaine and appointed time for that performance Nor were the frequent Sacrifices as Calvin thinks performed by Abraham and the other Patriarkes without relation to this day Tell mee say they who can Wherefore before the publication of the Law of Moses there fell no Mannah on the seventh day Had not the Sabbath according to Gods first example beene kept continually from the foundations of the World These are indeed such arguments as make a faire flourish but conclude nothing Tertullian a most ancient Writer maintaines the contrarie Doceant ADAM Sabbatizasse aut ABEL hostiam Deo sanctam offerentem c. Let them sayth hee in a particular Tract against the Iewes assure mee if they can that ADAM ever kept the Sabbath or ABEL when hee offered unto God his accepted Sacrifice had regard thereof or that NOAH kept the same when hee was busied in preparing of the Arke against the Deluge or finally that ABRAHAM in offering his sonne ISAAC or that MELCHISEDEC in execution of his Priesthood tooke notice of it So hee Besides Eusebius doth by this argument maintaine the ancient Patriarkes to have beene Christians as wee are in very truth though not in name because that neyther they nor wee observed the Sabbath of the Iewes Hist. lib. 1. cap. 4. And thereupon it is affirmed by Iustin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho and Bede in his Hexameron that many of those former times were renowned for sanctitie which neither kept the Sabbath or were circumcised Which also is expressely held by Abulensis It is true that Torniellus doth collect from these words of IOB Where wast thou when I layed the foundations of the Earth when the morning Starres sung together and all the sonnes of God shouted for joy IOB 38.4 7. that in the accomplishment of the Creation the Angels did observe the Sabbath But then hee addes that the observance of it heere upon the Earth was not till many Ages after It is true that Calvin hath affirmed that it may probably be conjectured that the sanctification of the Sabbath was before the Law But many of our later Writers are not therewith satisfied and therefore it concernes them who maintaine the Affirmative to make it good by Texts of Scripture SECT III. For what weake proofes are they which before were urged God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it therefore hee then commanded it to be kept holy by his people Moses as Abulensis hath it spake this by way of anticipation rather to shew the equitie of the Commandement than the originall Enosh might call upon the Lord and Abraham offer sacrifice without relation to a set and appointed time oftner and seldomer as they had occasion And as for the not falling of the Mannah on the Sabbath day this rather was a preparation to the Commandement than any promulgation of it For put the case that Iacob on the Sabbath had neglected Labans Flocks and that the Israelites under Pharaoh had not made up their tale of Bricks neyther had hee escaped a chiding nor they the insolent furie of their Task-masters And now according to the Principles of these Sabbatarians what would you counsaile them to doe Did they observe the Sabbath They were sure of punishment from man Did they neglect it They were sure of vengeance from the Lord. Vnto such straits are they reduced who would impose the Sabbath as a perpetuall Law of Nature upon the consciences of their poore brethren Some men perhaps will say that as the Fathers before Moses had Gods Word amongst them although not written and that it was committed unto writing when as their severall Families were growne into a Nationall and a setled Church even so the Sabbath had a voluntarie observation from the first Benediction of the same in private houses which after when the Church was growne and released from bondage was imposed thereon as a Commandement Suppose it so Yet still the observation of it is founded on the fourth Commandement which whether it bee Naturall and Morall or else Ceremoniall wee must consider more distinctly For that a meere and perishing Ceremonie should equally be ranked amongst Morall duties which are alwayes binding seemes at the first sight not to stand with reason Therefore it is resolved on by the wiser sort that there is in the fourth Commandement something Morall and some things Ceremoniall the circumstances Ceremoniall but the
noted by a corrupt Copie of Iosephus But howsoever for the Rabbins they are thus silenced by Galatinus Si fluvius ille dum erat c. In case sayth hee that River whiles it was in being was a good argument that the Iewish Sabbath was to be observed now since there is no such River extant it is a better argument that their Sabbath is not any where to be regarded Our fanatick and peevish spirits it were best to send to make enquirie for this River while in meane time wee doe unfold and for as much as in us is compose the Differences which have beene raysed in this Point amongst wiser heads SECT V. They then which are perswaded that the Lords day succeedes in place of the Iewish Sabbath affirme it eyther as established by the Law of God and of Divine authoritie or introduced by Ecclesiasticall constitution They which pretend the first eyther derive their arguments more weakely from the Old Testament or else more warily from the New And from the Old Testament they produce two arguments one borrowed from the sanctification of the seventh day in the first Creation of the World the other from the institution of the Sabbath in the fourth Commandement Of those which build upon the constitution of the Church some doe affirme it absolutely as doe the Papists and Arminians as may bee made apparant out of the Iesuites Canonists and Schoole-men and the Confession of the Remonstrants To whom adde Brentius on Levit. 23. Chemnitius in his Common Places and of our owne Writers not a few Others so fortifie and corroborate this Constitution Ecclesiasticall as if the Church did onely publish and continue that which by the Apostles was first ordered But as it seemeth to mee these Differences are of no great moment save that the first Opinion inclines too much to Iudaisme and doth too much oppugne whether more impudently or more ignorantly that I cannot say the received Opinion of Divines For who knowes not that common Principle of the Schoole-men out of the seventh unto the Hebrewes The Priesthood being changed there is made of necessitie a change also of the Law Whence they conclude that at this day the Morall Law bindeth not as it was published and proclaimed by Moses but as at first it appertained no lesse unto the Gentiles than the Iewes and afterwards was explaned and confirmed by Christ in his holy Gospel Zanchius doth strongly prove the same amongst other things out of this Commandement about the Sabbath Si Decalogus quatenus per MOSEN traditus fuit Israelitis ad gentes quoque pertineret c. If the Commandements sayth hee as they were given by MOSES unto the Israelites appertained also to the Gentiles the Gentiles had beene bound by this Commandement to sanctifie the Sabbath with as much strictnesse as the Iewes But since it is most evident that the Gentiles never were obliged to keepe that day holy it plainely followeth that they neyther were nor could be bound to keepe the rest of the Commandements as published and proclaimed by MOSES unto them of Israel Nor doe these hot-spurres well observe how they intangle themselves by borrowing the authoritie of the Lords day from the Law of Moses For if they ground themselves upon that Commandement Why keepe they not that day precisely which the Text commandeth By what authoritie have they substituted the first day of the Weeke for the seventh day exactly from the Worlds Creation What dispensation have they got to kindle fire to dresse and make readie Meat which was prohibited the Iewes by the same Commandement In case they bee ashamed of these and such like beggerly elements and tell us that the Morall duties of the day are onely now to bee observed not to say any thing of a distinction so infirme and which the Text affordeth not they desert their Station and will they nill they ioyne with them who letting passe the veile of MOSES seeke for the originall of the Lords day in the Sunne-shine onely of the Gospel SECT VI. For those that make their boast that they have found the institution of the Lords day in the New Testament expressely let them shew the place Our Saviour oftentimes disputed with the Pharises about their superstitious observation of the Sabbath day and many times explaned the meaning of that Commandement But where is any the least suspition of the abrogation of it Where any mention that the Lords day was instituted in the place thereof Well Christ ascended up on high and left behind him his Apostles to preach the Gospel And what did they Did they not keepe the Iewish Sabbath without noyse or scruple And gladly teach the people congregated on the Sabbath dayes Nay more than this Did not the Primitive Church designe as well the Sabbath as the Lords day unto sacred Meetings These things are so notorious that they need no proofe The Papists hereupon inferre that the Lords day is not of any Divine Institution but grounded onely on the Constitution of the Church A Civill Ordinance sayth Brentius not a Commandement of the Gospel And the Remonstrants have declared in their late Confession That by our Lord CHRIST IESVS all difference of dayes was wholly abrogated in the New Testament All which accord exactly with that generall Maxime which in this very Argument is layd downe by Suarez and by him borrowed from the Schooles In Lege nova non sunt data specialia Praecepta Divina de accidentalibus observantiis That in the New Testament there were given no speciall Precepts or Directions touching accidentall Duties Yet notwithstanding this even in the Church of Rome Anchoranus Panormitan Angelus and Sylvester have stoutly set themselves against these luke-warme Advocates in affirmation of the Divine authoritie of the Lords day For as it rightly is observed by the defenders of the fourth Opinion it seemed a dangerous thing to the whole Fabricke of Religion should humane Ordinances limit the necessitie of Gods holy worship Or that the Church should not assemble but at the pleasure of the Clergie and they perhaps not well at one amongst themselves For what would men busied about their Farmes their Yoakes of Oxen and Domesticke troubles as the invited Guests in the holy Gospel would they not easily set at naught an humane Ordinance Would not prophane men easily dispense with their absenting of themselves from Prayers and Preaching and give themselves free leave of doing or neglecting any thing were there not something found in Scripture which more than any humane Ordinance or Institution should binde the Conscience Well therefore and with good advice the Acts and practice of the Apostles hath beene also pressed besides the constant and continuall tradition of the Church That so it may appeare that in a thing of such great moment the Church did nothing without warrant from those blessed spirits Three Texts there are which are most commonly produced in full