the fourth Commandement as it enjoynes the externall observation of the seaventh day is not morall either of these wayes Whence S. Augustine saith That among all those ten Commandements that onely of the Sabbath is figuratively to be observed whereas as hee after saith Wee observe the other Commandements there properly as they are cōmanded without any figurative signification And generally the Ancients as Calvin hath truly observed called this Precept a shadow which as he there saith was truly but not fully said of them And therefore they do better and more fully expresse the nature of this Cōmandement which say it is partly morall and partly ceremoniall So Peter Martyr and generally all Divines both reformed and others use now to speake Now if any shall therefore thinke it unworthy a place in the Decalogue and to be rankt with those precepts which are morall and of perpetuall observance Aquinas may seeme to give them full satisfaction who saith 1. that the Precept concerning the Sanctification of the Sabbath is put among the Precepts of the Decalogue for that which is moral in it 2. That this Precept as Ceremoniall ought rather to have a place in the Decalogue then any other The other Ceremonies being signes of some particular effects of God but this of the Sabbath was a signe of a generall benefit viz. the Creation of the Vniverse So that that which Amesius will have a most certaine rule and received among all the best Divines as he calls them That all and onely the Morall precepts were delivered by the voyce of God himselfe and by Him written in the tables of stone is not true unlesse Saint Augustine Calvin Martyr c. be in his esteeme none of the best Divines Yet perhaps wee may admit that rule so farre as to say That all the Morall Precepts are contayned in the Decalogue and that every Precept there contayned is Morall though all of every Precept be not so but may have something that is ceremoniall annexed to it which haply God thought good to place among the morall precepts to intimate the perpetuall necessity of having some ceremonies in the Church though that ceremonie be not necessarily perpetuall but with the rest of that nature to expire at the death of Christ which though wee admit yet cannot any justly charge us that wee diminish any of the tenne words or that wee expunge one Commandement out of the Decalogue in as much as wee affirme that onely which was ceremoniall in this Commandement to bee expired and out of date and that there is in it a morality still remaining which retaines its full power of obligation and exacts the same obedience under the same penalty which it did at its first promulgation or inscription in the heart of Adam In which respect the Church hath good cause still to use her accustomed Antiphona at the repeating of this Commandement as well as at any of the rest and to pray Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keepe this law And here because some who love to have this Commandement termed morall though thereby they intend no more then what hath beene already granted use so to argue as if they did not acknowledge it at all to be ceremoniall it will not be amisse before wee proceed any further to answere some of the principall arguments that are brought to this purpose And I wil begin with that of our Saviour Math. 5. 17. Thinke not that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets I came not to destroy but to fulfill Which words in their opinion make strongly for the morality and perpetuall obligation of the fourth Commandement For from hence they argue to this purpose That which our Saviour did not destroy but fulfill is still in force but hee did not destroy the law contayned in the Decalogue Therefore it is still in force For answere hereunto I say That in this argument two things are by them supposed First they suppose that by the Law in this place is meant only the law contained in the Decalogue or ten Commandements Secondly That our Saviours fulfilling and not destroying this law was the ratifying and perpetuating of the observation of it under the Gospel If wee grant them both these wee shall condemne the Christian Church for altering the day from the seventh to the eight or first day of the week which cannot stand with this exposition of our Saviours speech who in the words following saith expresly That not one jot or title shall passe from the Law But both these are beside the meaning and intent of our Saviour as will easily appeare to any that with indifferency doth consider his words For First the Law which our Saviour here speakes of is of larger extent and latitude and comprehends not onely the Decalogue or law morall but the Ceremoniall and judiciall also As being indeed put for the Pentateuch or five bookes of Moses And so The Law and the Prophets as much as Moses and the Prophets Which formes of speech are used as a Periphrasis of the old Testament of which these two are the maine essentiall parts The Bookes of Moses so containing and describing the Law that they reserre whatsoever else they containe unto that receive their denomination from it as from the principall subject of them The Prophets that is their Bookes comprehend all the rest of the old Testament which the Hebrewes divide into the former and latter Prophets and the Hagiographa All which though they be not Prophesies being written by divine inspiration and by holy men as they were moved by the Spirit of God may justly be termed The word of Prophecy and passe under the name of the Prophets That the Law is taken in this sense is manifest by the use of the same phrase else where Where not only the duties commanded in the Decalogue but Christ and faith in him is said to be taught and witnessed by the Law to which purpose the Apostle S. Paul useth the same phrase Acts 28. 23. Rom. 3. 21. Now what word in all the Decalogue gives witnesse to Christ or perswades the faith which is required in him Certainly however some have found not onely the faith in Christ but the Sacraments also of the New Testament commanded in the Decalogue yet there is no one word there which imports any such thing Yea the very context evinces thus much for our Saviour having thus prefaced his exposition of the Law keeps not himselfe within the bounds of the Moral Law as appeares verse 18. And therefore Interpreters generally upon this place shew how our Saviour did not destroy but fulfill the Ceremoniall Law also as well as the Morall which were altogether needlesse if by the Law that onely were understood Now the Law being as it must needs be thus largely taken any man may easily perceive that the not destroying but fulfilling of it is not the ratifying and the perpetuating of
A DISCOVRSE OF THE SABBATH AND THE LORDS DAY WHEREIN THE DIFFERENCE BOTH IN THEIR INTSITUTION and their due OBSERVATION is briefly handled BY CHRISTOPHER DOW B. D. LONDON Printed by M. FLESHER for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill MDC XXXVI To the Reader THe substance of this discourse being at first the materialls of some letters written for the satisfaction of a private friend was afterwards drawne together into the forme in which it now appeares and found the favour from some unto whom it was communicated to bee desired to the Presse for which end it hath lyen in the Licensers hand now above a yeare expecting the cōduct of that Reverend Prelate who upon speciall occasion then offered as it appeares by command undertook this argument Which having performed like himselfe with such variety of learning and profoundnesse of judgement this Pamphlet of mine may now justly seeme as unnecessary to follow as heretofore it was unable and unworthy to leade the way yet considering that the brevity of it might make it passe and finde acceptance with some and that being of a mean straine it might better meete with common capacities then larger and more elaborate tractates I was willing it should see the light and that in its owne garbe without any polishing or alteration And so I commend thee and it to Gods blessing PErlegi hunc tractatum Theologicum cuititulus est A discourse of the Sabbath and of the Lords day c. in quo nihil reperio sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribus contrarium quominus cum utilitate publicâ imprimi possit ita tamen ut si non intra tres menses proximè sequentes typis mandetur haec licentia sit omnino irrita Ex Aedibus Lambethanis Novemb. 18. 1635. GUIL BRAY. R. P. D. Arch. Cant. Capel Domesticus A DISCOVRSE OF THE SABBATH AND LORDS DAY THat men may not bee deceived with shewes and mistake Iudaisine for Christianity or that they who so mistaking use to disrellish all things which suit not with the principles of their Catechismes may not thinke they have ingrossed all Religion and Piety to themselves and they thereby incouraged to proceed in their hard censures of those that concurre not with them And that the piety and religious care which is eminent in the Governours of our Church and State may appeare in their true lustre and outshine those mists wherewith some seeke to obscure them And that it may appeare also that they whose chiefest care next to their duty to God is to yeeld all ready and cheerefull obedience to Gods Vicegerent and to those Reverend Fathers which under God and His Sacred Majesty have the oversight of this Church are not hood-winkt in their obedience or blindly led to yeeld to their Commands without respect to religion or conscience as if they had rather obey them then God I have adventured upon that obloquie which hath beene the lot of such as though upon never so good grounds dissent from these men in opinion And this I the rather doe in this subject for as much as in it I have not onely the authoritie of the sacred Scriptures which are the rule of things to be beleeved and done but the consent also of the whole Church of Christ neither the Ancient Fathers nor the Reformed Churches to omit the Church of Rome whose Doctrine though in this case not to be condemned is of little credit with those whom I dissent from ever teaching other Doctrine then that which I shall endeavour the defence of For whereas in other things which they dislike among us they have for Patrons the principall Authors of the Reformation abroad and the Prime Doctors among them whose learning and piety much admired by them may seeme to pleade for their over-earnest and heedlesse embracing of their Principles In these Sabbatarian Paradoxes they are singular and left alone without the Patronage of those whom otherwise they so much admire and without the example of any Church in Christendome And I beleeve further being ledd thereunto by their doctrine delivered in their Writings extant and by the generall and constant relation of all that have knowne their practise and compared it with ours that there is not a State in Christendome who have made better provision for the due observance of the Lords Day and the decent performance of the sacred Acts of Gods Worship then are to bee found in the Ecclesiasticall and Temporall Lawes of this Realme nor where such Lawes are more duely executed by those in Authority or more generally observed or practised by all then they are at this day among us These considerations have animated mee to this worke hoping thereby to settle the mindes of such as are contrary minded rather for want of due consideration then out of wilsulnesse and contempt of Authority Hee that goes about to vindicate the just liberty of Christians in the use of lawfull recreations on the Sunday shall finde himselfe upon a double disadvantage 1. In regard of the preconceived opinion among weake people of their pietie and religious zeale which hold the contrary And 2. in that the strict observance of that day is by some made a prime character of a good Christian to distinguish him from a carnall Worldling and so the Question in hand accounted as an infallible marke to know the state of Religion which stands or falls according as it is either way determined It behoves mee therefore to walke with a wary and sure foot and following the truth to strike an equall course betweene an over nice strictnesse and a profane licence and so to speake in this cause as that the soberly religious shall have no just cause to complaine nor the profane be incouraged to go on in licentiousnesse Either of which wayes as it is easie to offend so in whether of the two a man offends most is as uneasie to determine the one letting loose the other ensnaring mens consciences the one shutting up the kingdome of Heaven and making the way thither more narrow then it is the other making it broader and enlarging the mouth of Hell My aime and endeavour shall bee to avoid both Among those things which have occasioned the generall prevailing of the Opinion That the Sunday or Lords Day ought to bee observed with such strictnesse as will admit no works which may be called Ours that is as they call them workes of our particular Callings and much lesse Recreations it is none of the least that now of a long time among us contrary to the use of the Primitive Church yea and of our owne in the memory of our Fathers it hath lost its Christen name and entertained the Iewish being vulgarly knowen and called by the name of the Sabbath Whence it comes to passe that men prone more to respect names then things never heeding the difference betweene the old Sabbath and our Sunday or thinking it to bee little or none
at all take those places of Scripture which so severely prohibit all work upon the Sabbath as if they did no lesse belong to us now then heretofore to the Iewes and by this meanes those precepts threatnings and promises which concerned the observation of the Sabbath are pressed upon us point blanck Whereas indeed they concerne us onely indirectly and cannot without fetching a compasse be alledged at all for our Sunday Now the Scripture being so expresse as it is apprehended for the strict observance of our Sunday under the name of the Sabbath no marvell if men have made it a prime Case of Conscience and that so many scruples are dayly raised and so many traditions broached about the beginning and ending of the Sabbath about the works of a mans particular Calling what they are and how farre lawfull on that Day what are the proper duties of the Day and the like For the cleare resolution therefore of this Question Whether the use of Recreations may stand with the due observation of the Lords Day it is convenient that I have some recourse to the Sabbath Where because I love not Cramben saepiùs coctam apponere or to stuffe my discourse with a tedious explanation of those things which are commonly known and every where to be found I will with as much brevity as the cause will suffer inquire into these 4. particulars 1. Whether and how farre forth the fourth Commandement concerning the Sabbath is moral and perpetuall and so belonging to Christians 2. When and by whom the Lords day was instituted 3. What workes the lews might doe on their Sabbath 4. Whether and what liberty Christians now have on the Sunday more then they had and how farre that liberty is to be extended To begin with the first The law which God gave unto his people the Iewes according to the three-fold variety of the object or things prescribed is three-fold Morall Ceremoniall and Iudiciall The Morall is that which concernes the manners of men and belongs to them as men and this commands those things which are in themselves acceptable and well-pleasing to God and those which hee will have all men every where and at all times to observe as the perpetuall and unchangeable rule of living being the expresse image of the minde of God according to which hee who is the Law-giver judges it meete and right that the reasonable creatures should order their lives The Ceremoniall belongs to men as joyned together in that Society which is called the Church and this containes those precepts which concerne the externall worship of God and were given by him to the Iewish Church in accommodation to the times in which the Church was under age and under the promise and therefore instituted for the signifying prefiguring and sealing of the truth of the promises made to them to be fulfilled in the exhibition of our Saviour and withall for the preservation of order and decencie in their Ecclesiasticall meetings and performances The judiciall belongs to men as joyned in a civill Society or Cōmon-wealth contayning the forme of civill government to be used by them tending to their good as they were a Society and to the preservation and exacting of the eutward worship of God and the discipline thereof as it was commanded in the Morall and Ceremoniall Lawes So that the Ceremoniall Law determined the Morall in order to God the Politicall or judiciall in order to men in a civill society and both in accommodation to that state of the Church And these though they have in them something which is juris moralis and so farre forth are contained under the Morall precepts yet being fitted to serve that state of the Church which was to be held in expectation of the Messias when the time came that he was actually exhibited and so the promise fulfilled the shadowes were then of no longer use the body being come and therefore at the time of the death of Christ they were abrogated de jure so that they became unnecessary and unprofitable and had their power of obligation taken away And afterward when by the Apostles doctrine Christians came to understand that Christ was the end of the Law and when the Temple the seate of their religion and the place destined to the use of those ceremonies was destroyed they were de facto actually and fully taken away and those things which before the death of Christ were commanded and in that interim betweene his death and the destruction of the Temple which was the space allotted for the solemne funeralls of the Iewish Synagogue were tolerable though already dead became from that time forward deadly and intolerable So that onely the Morall Law remaines now in force for the practise of Christians The ceremoniall and judiciall excepting in that wherein they are reducible to this are antiquated and out of date Now the precepts of the Morall Law are summarily comprehended in the Decalogue or ten Commandements which had this prerogative peculiar to them that they were delivered not by Moses but by God himselfe and by him written in tables of stone and preserved in the Arke to shew their dignity above others and to note out the perpetuity of observance which was due unto them Where before wee apply these things to our present purpose two things are to be noted First That howsoever all the precepts of the Morall law belong to the Law of Nature as being agreeable to reason which is the rule of Humane actions and are in that respect of perpetuall observance yet all of them are not of the same ranke nor belong in the same degree and manner to the law of Nature There are some things which by the instinct of nature and naturall light of the understanding wee presently see to be good or bad and which are so plaine that without any great consideration they may by the first principles or common notions implanted in us be either approved or rejected and these are absolutely of the law of nature Others there are that require more consideration of circumstances and the use of Discourse to apprehend and judge of them and these are so of the law of nature that notwithstanding they require the helpe of discipline by which those which are ignorant and not able by diligent consideration or discourse to attaine to the knowledge of them may be instructed by the wise and learned And lastly there are some to the knowledge whereof humane reason stands in neede of Divine Instruction And these two latter sorts especially the last though they in some sort belong to the Law of Nature and were haply at our first Creation written in the tables of mans heart in more plaine Characters and more easie to be read then now since the fall they are may in respect of the other be termed morall non ratione naturae sed disciplinae not in regard of nature dictating but in regard of Discipline informing nature Secondly that