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A16523 The doctrine of the sabbath plainely layde forth, and soundly proued by testimonies both of holy scripture, and also of olde and new ecclesiasticall writers. Declaring first from what things God would haue vs straightly to rest vpon the Lords day, and then by what meanes we ought publikely and priuatly to sanctifie the same: together with the sundry abuses of our time in both these kindes, and how they ought to bee reformed. Diuided into two bookes, by Nicolas Bownde, Doctor of Diuinitie. Bownd, Nicholas, d. 1613. 1595 (1595) STC 3436; ESTC S113231 229,943 300

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THE DOCTRINE OF THE SABBATH Plainely layde forth and soundly proued by testimonies both of holy Scripture and also of olde and new ecclesiasticall writers Declaring first from what things God would haue vs straightly to rest vpon the Lords day and then by what meanes we ought publikely and priuatly to sanctifie the same Together with the sundry abuses of our time in both these kindes and how they ought to bee reformed Diuided into two Bookes by Nicolas Bownde Doctor of Diuinitie Hieron Prolog Galeat In the Church of God euery one doth offer that which he is able some gold siluer and pretious stones others blew silke and purple and skarlet and fine linen t is well for our part if we offer skinnes and goates haire AT LONDON Printed by the Widdow Orwin for Iohn Porter and Thomas Man 1595. HONI SOYT QVY MAL Y PENSE TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE MY VERY GOOD LORD ROBERT Deuoreux Earle of Essex Ewe Vicount of Hereford Lord Ferrers of Chartley c. Master of the Q. Maiesties horse Knight of the most noble order of the Garter and one of her Maiesties most honorable priuie Counsel the increase of all true honor and fauour with God and men RIght Honorable if there were so many good reasons to moue your Honour graciously to accept these my labours as I haue iust causes to induce me to preferre them to your Honor then I should haue good hope that as they haue most willingly come from mee so they should haue good countenaunce at your Honors hands For besides your late Honorable fauour extended vnto me requireth this and al other duties of me wherby I might shew my selfe thankefull to your Honour for the same euen so the desire also that I haue that this truth of GOD might come forth with the best credite hath moued me in the conscience of mine ovvne tenuitie to become humble sutor in the behalfe thereof for your honorable gracious protection Wherein if I haue intruded my selfe further then I ought and pressed neerer to your Honor then it becommeth mee crauing your Honorable pardon for this my boldnes I beseech your Honor to accept either my feruent desire to tender all duties vnto you or my great care to purchase best fauour for this worke or both vvhich haue compelled me hereunto And herein I am so much the more importunate vvith your Honor not for my selfe but for this part of Gods holie truth that it might be countenanced as one of your Honors fauorites because as wee be fallen into these euil daies wherin too many are readie vnaduisedly to set themselues against whatsoeuer they dislike and therfore the best causes are driuen to seeke patronage where it maie doe them most good So the Lorde hauing inlarged your honorable name aboue a great manie which as a precious ointment flowing from your selfe comfortablie refresheth and perfumeth a great number this part of Gods trueth also might enioie the common benefit of it with other to be ouershadowed thereby and by that meanes haue entertainment there where otherwise happily it should be finally regarded And so it becomming for your Honors sake a welcome guest vnto them it might deliuer vnto them in the name of God as sent by your Honor that message of his that it centaineth to the honor of his name to whom all honor is due from whō all honour commeth whome trulie to honour is the greatest honor Thus ceasing anie further to interrupt your Honor from your weightie affaires my praier vnto God is long to preserue your Honor zealous of the glorie of God faithful to her Maiestie profitable to the whole realme and comfortable to your owne soule most humblie with all dutifulnesse taking my leaue Your Honors most humble at commandement alwaies in the Lord Nicholas Bownd Norton in Suff. Iune 1595. To the Godlie and Christian Readers and namely to the reuerend wise and godly learned Fathers and brethren Ministers and Preachers of the Gospell grace and peace hee multiplied RIght reuerend and welbeloued in the Lord when as about nine yeeres since I was solicited to publish my Sermons vpon the tenne Commaundements by certaine of my godly brethren auditors then of the same I had manie reasons that preuailed to disswade me from that enterprise and especially be●ause I thought it superfluous in such great variety of learned writers of that matter especially wherein I haue been since more ●onfirmed by all those who of later times haue trauailed in that ●●nde And moreouer besides mine own vnsufficiencie for so great 〈◊〉 matter J was of opinion that hee that bendeth himselfe vnto ●riting had neede to haue some relaxation from preaching vn●esse hee bee of great gifts and meruailously fitted for both and ●herefore being necessarilie tyed vnto the one I durst not vnder●ake the other yet their importunitie preuailed thus farre with ●●ne as to make triall what I could doe in this commaundement which I had then in hand whereunto also I was the rather indu●●ed because it contained that argument which as it is of all o●her most excellent so it was least of all dealt in by anie largely ●●nd of purpose Hauing then within a fewe moneths at my best ●●asure finished this treatise as diuers of my fellowe Ministers ●●n whose hands it hath bin are sufficient witnesses and by them further encouraged to communicate it vnto all men I yeelded thereunto slowly indeede because I knewe a reuerend godly M. Robert Greenchā and learned father who for the most part of his life time greatly trauailing in this matter by his own reading meditation and conference with sundrie learned men had long before finished a great volume and wayted but his opportunity to furnish it to the presse though I neuer read one leafe of that booke whome I did for iust cause so highly reuerence that I was vnwilling to preiudice any of his godly proceedings especially in this thing wherein I knewe he had trauailed aboue most of his time and thereupon suspending my purpose for a time when I had imparted vnto him what I had done he gaue me this aduise to take his booke and to compare it with mine owne and to make one of them both which I refusing as being vnmeete for such a purpose and not knowing how I should well sorte out to the Reader such varietie of matter as was like to arise out of them both nor cunningly to fit the one to the other as it were to put a new piece of cloth to an old garment determined wholly to suppresse mine own expecting the comming foorth of his in time whereunto also I solicited him by writing and that also was my iust defence to those that still called vpon me for the comming foorth of mine owne In which expectation I continued vntill most vntimely I vnderstoode to my great grief and to the vnspeakable losse of the Church of God that hee was fallen a sleepe in the Lord And then I reuiued my former purpose and
reuerenced the Catholike custome of the Church which was from the Apostles time rather then that hee did euen thē first ordaine it Bucer in Mat. 12.11 For as Master Bucer sayth The Lords day was appointed by the common consent of the Christians for the publike assemblies of the Church ipso statim tempore Apostolorum euen at the first in the Apostles time Nowe seeing the alteration was made in the Apostles time And by the Aposles themselues Ioh. 16.13 they did yeeld vnto it by their practise by whom can we imagine that this shuld be done but by thē who had receiued the spirite that should leade them into all trueth then by them I say who for their excellent giftes were able to see further into things then all the Church besides who for their great and Apostolicall authoritie would preuayle more then any other who were appoynted by Christ to be the chiefe builders and planters of the Churches both in doctrine and discipline And therefore S. Augustine saith plainely August de temp serm 251 Dominicum diem Apostoli Apostolici viri c. The Apostles and men of Apostolicall authoritie did ordaine this day in the Church M. Fox in Apoc. 1.10 And M. Foxe concluding out of his words saith From hence it is manifest that the obseruation of this Lords sabbath Aucoritate niti Apostolicae institutionis doth leane vpon the authoritie of the Apostles institution If indeed they had resisted it as they did many other things that crept into the Church in their time we would haue suspected it or rather vtterly refused it but seeing they haue commended it vnto vs by their practises as appeareth in that Scripture which we know to be Canonicall and Authenticall wee doe acknowledge that the Lorde furnishing them with his holy spirite as he vsed them according to his good pleasure like worthie instruments to conuey vnto vs the holy scriptures which wee receiue from their hands without all gaine saying so we beleeue that they had his extraordinarie direction in abrogating the former day and placing this in the roome of it For as the learned Doctor Fulke sayth D. Fulke vpon Rhem. Test. Apoc. 1.10 Acts 1.2 Now for the prescription of this day before any other of the seuen the Apostles had without doubt either the expresse commaundement of Christ before his ascension when hee gaue them precepts concerning the Kingdome of God and the ordering and gouernment of Church or else the certain direction of his spirite that it was his will and pleasure that it should bee so and that also according to the Scriptures And as we doe not dispute of the authoritie and credite of their writings which wee know not to haue proceeded from the spirite of man so wee doe not call into question the lawfulnes of this change which wee see in their writings allowed and by themselues commended vnto vs in the same So that I may conclude with him that saith Wolph Chronol lib. 2. cap. 1. Fecerunt hoc Apostoli The Apostles did make this change as appeareth by their writings whose examples wee doe well to follow as of whom it is sayd Iunij praelect in Gen. 2.3 hee that heareth you heareth mee And so concludeth Iunius Quamobrem cum dies Dominicus c. Wherefore seeing the Lords day is both by the fact of Christ s his resurrection and often appearing to his Disciples vpon that day by the example and institution of the Apostles and by the continuall practise of the ancient Church and by the testimonie of the scripture obserued substituted into the place of the Iewish Sabbath Ineptè faciunt They do very foolishly who say that the obseruation of the Lords day is of tradition not from the scripture that by this meanes they might establish the traditions of men And that it might be fully known to the whole church in time that the day was changed indeed they gaue it a new name calling it the Lords day that the very name it selfe might proclayme with a loude voyce as it were with the sound of a Trumpet thus much vnto the whole world yea among them which had not yet submitted themselues to the obseruation of this day For thus Saint Iohn calleth it in the Reuelation Reuel 1.10 I was rauished in the spirite on the Lords day by which as it is agreed vpon of all sides that hee meaneth this very day which wee obserue so when he giueth it this name writing vnto the Church to whom he would commend this prophecie he sheweth that then it began at least to bee so called and was in his time known by that name to some he liuing longer then the rest of the Apostles And so as the bounds of the Gospell were enlarged and it was by little and little in more places intertained neither could so great a thing in all places be done at once so with it also was the obseruation of this new day together with the change of the name thereof in the same places intertayned also And therefore Ignatius Bishop of Antioche liuing in the time or this Apostle Ignat. ad Magnes saith of it Omnis qui Christum amat Let euery one that loueth Christ keepe holy the Lords day renowned by his resurrection which is the Queene of all dayes in which death is ouercome and life is sprong vp in Christ. And so after him in other places it was thus called and kept Euseb lib 4. cap. 22. For as Eusebius makes mention in his Ecclesiasticall historie Dionisius Bishop of Corinth who liued about the yeare of Christ 106. speaketh thus Hodie to day we haue celebrated the Lords holy day And Iustinus Martyr Iustin. apol 2. not long after him doth not onely name the Lordes day but sheweth how it was obserued then euen as it is of vs when he saith That they met in one place to heare the writings of the Prophets c. Tertul. lib. de Idololat And Tertullian after him among the solemne dayes of the Christians then obserued doth first of all name the Lords day Thus wee may see that this change was made and approued of the Church from the beginning and so hath continued vnto our time But least it shuld seeme strange vnto vs Then also was changed the Ministers and the ministerie of the lawe that any such change should be made in the day we must call into our remembrance how many things were changed at that time For first of all the Ministers were changed and in stead of Priests and Leuites there were giuen Apostles Ephes 4.11 Prophets Euangelists Pastors and Teachers Secondarily all the sacrifices were changed so that we doe not offer vp the dead bodies of Rams Calues goates and such like but we giue vp our selues a liuing sacrifice Rom. 12.1 holy and acceptable vnto God Thirdly the Sacraments were changed for in stead of Circumcision and the Passeouer wee haue Baptisme and the
other times but to bee occupied altogether in the holy seruice of God and in an holy place And this was a thing not peculiarly belonging to some one day but generallie commanded and practised vpon euery Sabbath day namely to haue holy meetings that the day might be kept holy And indeed it was so inseparably adioyned vnto the Sabbath that it was not onely ordinarie vpon the seuenth day which is onely properly called the Sabbath but vpon all other festiuall dayes of the Iewes commanded by God vnto them to obserue which had also the nature of the first and true Sabbath as appeareth most plentifullie in this one forenamed chapter of Leuiticus in many verses where their seuerall feastes are reckoned vp of which as he afterwards speaketh in particulars Leuit. 23.4 so thus of them all in generall These are the feasts of the Lord and holy conuocations which yee shall proclayme in their seasons calling them feastes vnto the Lord that is dayes of reioycing before him thanksgiuing to him for his benefites and praying to God for the continuance of them wherein that they might bee furthered they had the exercises of the worde and offering vp of sacrifices euen as they did rest from their other busines that they might wholy attend vpon these and so the conuocations or assemblies of the people were holie which if it were true of those daies that were but appurtenances vnto the weekely Sabbath then must it needes much more be verified of it whereunto all the other were referred And if the other dayes could not be feastes vnto the Lord as they are called vnlesse they were holie assemblies then much lesse can this bee a Sabbath vnto the Lord which is the very name of it vnlesse their meetings be in the Lord and for his worships sake For this cause the Prophet Esay calleth it the Lords holie day and a day consecrated as glorious vnto the Lord saying If thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath Esay 58.13 from doing thy will on my holie day and call the Sabbath a delight to consecrate it as glorious vnto the Lord and shalt honour him c. whereby he doth declare that the especiall thing in the Sabbath day is the honor and seruice of God vpon which we must so altogether attend that it may appeare that wee haue dedicated the day vnto him indeede and made this the chiefe glorie of it that it is holie vnto him Therefore it was commanded in the lawe that the sacrifices and so consequently al other parts of Gods worship which were neuer seuered from them should bee doubled vpō the Sabbath day And then the daily seruice of God was doubled that so they might altogether be occupied about them and doe nothing els the whole time being taken vp with them as is in expresse words set downe by Moses Numb 28. Num. 28.9.10 where hauing spoken before of the daily morning and euening sacrifice he addeth But on the Sabbath day ye shall offer two lambes of a yeare old without spot and two tenth deales of fine flower for a meate offering mingled with oyle and the drinke offering thereof this is the burnt offering of euery Sabbath beside the continuall burnt offering and drinke offering thereof And Chrysostome speaking of this thing sayth Chrysost de Lazar. conc 1. The Sabbath was not giuen for idlenes sake but rather that wee being drawne away from the cares of temporall things might bestow all our leisure vpon spirituall things Nam sacerdos eo die duplicat hostiam For sayth he the priest vpon that day doth double his sacrifice And if wee looke into the 17. chapter of the Prophet Ieremie where he promiseth from God a blessing to the Iewes if they would keepe the Sabbath and threatneth a most grieuous destruction to them if they did breake it wee shall finde that in many verses speaking of the true manner of keeping that Commandement how he not onely requireth a resting from bodily labour but also the bestowing of it vpon Gods seruice when alwaies he ioyneth these two together Iere. 17.22 25.27 If ye doe no worke but sanctifie the Sabbath as I commanded your fathers Whereunto agreeth the practise of the whole Church from time to time as appeareth by the very reading of the storie of the new Testament in which from the one end of it vnto the other nothing is more cleare then the ordinarie reading preaching and hearing of the law publikely with all the rest of Gods seruice practised vpon the Sabbath with one consent which as it is confirmed by infinite testimonies so the time would not serue to stand vpon them I will content my selfe with that one which is set downe in the Acts of the Apostles For Moses of old time hath in euery citie them that preach him Act. 15.21 seeing he is read in the Synagogues euery Sabbath day And when the day was chaunged all the exercises of religion were chaunged together with it and did still accompanie it In the time of the Gospell these meetings are and ought to be vpon the Lords day So that the holie meetings of the Church were vpon the first day of the weeke I call them holie as before because they were taken in hand and continued only for the holie seruice of God as it is apparant in the 20. chapter of the same booke besides many other places where the Euangelist S. Luke writeth thus The first day of the weeke the Disciples being come together to breake bread Paul preacheth vnto them Act. 20.7 c. Whereunto no doubt the Apostle S. Iohn had respect in his Reuelation when he calleth this new day Reuel 1.10 by this new name the Lords day deriuing it from the Lord Iesus who was made Lord and heire of all things who as hee did rise againe vpon this day so he did institute a new seruice and a new ministerie and a new day in the honour of the new worke which he had now finished So that it is true which Master Bucer sayth Communi Christianorum consensu dies Dominicus cōuentibus ecclesijs publicis dicatus fuit ipso statim tēpore Apostolorū Bucer in Mat. 12.11 The Lords day was appoynted for the common assemblies of the Church euen in the Apostles time And therefore as it hath been declared before this was not first brought in by the Christian Emperours but allowed and approued by them or rather by publike authoritie established whereas the Christians did without law by the authoritie of Gods word obserue it before So that it may truely be called the Lords day as it is indeed not only because the Lord Iesus did arise from the dead vpon that day and so declared that he had made an end of the worke of our redemption but also and especially because by seruing of him vpon that day in that manner that he hath appoynted not onely the memorie of it is kept but we are made
vnacquainted with feare thē with this or that iudgement executed vpon such a people comfort them with such a mercie shewed vnto such a man it moues thē not they know no such thing they are altogether strāgers in those matters nay some cānot tell in what part of the Bible any such book as is alleaged stands Therfore wheras we may obserue it in the new Testamēt that our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles in alleaging the places of the olde Testament doe generally say thus it is written Matth. 21.13 Luke 20. 42. Act. 1.23 cap. 2 16. Matth. 15.7 or as it is written in the book of the Psalmes or this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Ioel or well prophesied Esaias of you c. Now men are driuen to name the book the chapter the verse and all too little to helpe men to finde it out so vnacquainted are they with searching the Scriptures by priuat reading no not vpon the Lords daie which is one of the peculiar workes of it Moreouer though wee bee something skilfull in the Scripture we cannot well presently in the Church stand reading euery place that shall bee alleaged least in the meane season some other most necessarie doctrine ouerslip vs and we not marking what went before followed after cannot tel to what ende the place was alleaged and so we lose the profit of it therefore dooing our endeauours to marke the Scriptures alleaged it shall bee profitable for vs afterwards at home to reade them ouer when wee shall bee more free from distraction and haue more leasure to doe it conueniently which is that that is commended vnto vs by the practise of the church in Berea that when Paul had preached vnto them Christ Iesus and had proued him to be that Sauiour of the world that was promised Act. 17.11 they reade ouer those Scriptures to see whether it were so or no according to the commaundement of our Sauiour Christ Iohn 5.39 searche the Scriptures for they are they which testifie of me Therfore so many as can read let them doe it vpon the Lordes daye and they that cannot let them see the want of it to be so great in themselues that they bring vp their children vnto it and in the meane season repayre to those places where they may haue the Scriptures read vnto thē let them get the bible into their houses that when any come that can read they may haue it in a readines lose not the oportunitie that is offered euen as they are contented to haue many other things in their houses which though they knowe not how to occupie themselues yet some of their friends may when they come especially when the benefite of it shall redound not onely to him that occupieth it but to himselfe and all his household Vnto the forenamed exercises wee must ioyne meditation as a most notable part of Gods seruice We must vse priuate meditation vpon that which we haue heard and read which is the very life and strength of the former and without the which they are made weake and vnprofitable vnto vs. For meditation is that exercise of the minde whereby we calling into our remembrance that which we know doe further debate of it as it were with our selues reasoning about it so and applying it to our selues that we might haue some vse of it in our practise and therefore it frameth the affections of our harts accordingly so that it is an occupying of the whole minde both of the reasonable part whereby we doe remember some thing and furthermore we being reasonable creatures do gather some other things vpon it by finding out the causes of it espying the fruite of it or considering the properties of it and so doe make some profitable vse of it to our selues whereby also our affections must needs be framed some one way or other to loue ioy desire hatred feare c. according to the diuersitie of our meditations and all those affections in their seuerall kindes shall be so much the more vehement by howe much the meditation is more serious and earnest As for example What meditation is how vntoward naturally we are thereunto to meditate vpon the word is diligently to call into our remembrance that which wee haue learned by hearing or reading before and to muse vpon it so that we be able to goe from point to point then to apply the generall thing to our selues and be persuaded that we must make our vse of it and therefore wisely to examine howe the case standes betweene the Lord and ourselues in that very thing and then what is like to follow vpon it whereby our hearts being stirred they might driue vs to put some thing in practise And here I would gladly speake as plainely as possibly I might euen to the capacity of the most rude and ignorāt because I know that it is so little practised of men that they are not so much as acquainted with it to know what it meanes I confesse it is an hard thing indeed but most profitable and therefore we are almost vnfit vnto it and the diuell laboureth most of all to hinder vs in it in so much that if he cannot keepe vs from hearing and reading the word and receiuing the sacraments at the time appointed yet hee will endeuour as much as may be to hinder vs from meditating vpon these that wee might lose the profit of them And if we marke our selues narrowly we shall finde our vntowardnes this way most of al for when we haue gone cheerfully vnto the church and there with the rest of Gods people behaued our selues orderly because these are outwarde things and in them it might seeme vnto vs that we haue had to deale but with men it is that which is not so yrksome vnto vs and wherunto the wickedest man may very easily come but afterwards to take some fit time to our selues wherin wee will seuer our selues from men and call ourselues to an account before Gods iudgement seate for that which we haue heard and to deale with our owne harts in good earnest for the doing or not doing of that which we haue learned and casting off al the cloakes of hypocrisie to lay our hearts naked before God accusing our selues where we come short of any thing praying vnto him for his grace therein confessing our sinnes that we haue beene rebuked of crauing the forgiuenes of them acknowledging his mercy where we haue receiued any thing intreating him for the continuance of it and so to depart away either more humbled in our selues to auoide sinne more carefully or comforted in the Lord to goe on forward in well doing more couragiously this I say as it doth especially builde vs vp in godlines so by due proofe we shall find that without the especiall assisstance of Gods holy spirit there is nothing more lothsome in the world and more tedious vnto vs. And I am assured that it is a thing so