the feasts of dedication of Churches or occasionall as marriages and Christning-dinners be forbidden Christian people as prophanations of the Lords day The second generall head and Lerna of perplexities is whether the duties of holinesse by which the day is sanctified be only acts of the publique worship of God in the Congregation or whether the private exercises also of Religion appertaine unto the day as necessary and immediate duties thereof and that during the whole time And under this head a world of particular cases are raised also and many times such as neither wise men nor learned men would imagine as daily appeares by experience to men of Pastorall employment in the Church But these and the forenamed particulars being delivered as Magisteriall dictates and conclusions out of the former Positions my purpose is only to make enquirie into the two generall heads under which they are contained For these being weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary and true iudgement the rest will evidence themselues as Corollaries CHAP. XXII The Question concerning the Corporall rest is proposed with the Arguments for the affirmatiue THat the outward bodily cessation from all secular employments whatsoever is of it selfe a duty of the Christians mans Feast-day may seeme to be proved by many undenyable arguments First that which is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall is an essential duty of every Sabbath in particular But the Lords day is the Christian mans Sabbath may so be called though improperly as hath beene formerly confessed and bodily rest is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall as appeares both by the very name of Sabbath which signifies as much as cessation and more expresly by the letter of the fourth Commandement In it thou shalt doe no manner of work confirm'd by the a Exod â—â— 15 commination of death from the Lords owne mouth upon all those that shall transgresse this Law Ergo c. Secondly the Prophets are the best Commentators of the Law and are therefore usually put together b Math. â—â— 40 The Law and the Prophets But the Prophet Isaiah saith that those who will honour the Lord in his Sabbath must not doe their owne works nor follow their own pleasures nor speak their owne words In which three whatsoever may be any businesse of our own is expresly forbidden us on the Lords Sabbath by which we honour him Therefore c. Thirdly in all Lawes whatsoever that is essentiall and for its owne sake commanded for whose sake other things in the Law are enjoyned according to the common Maxime Illud est perse propter quod est aliud But many things in the fourth precept are commanded that this duty of utter cessation from all secular employments may be performed For wherefore would God haue not only our Children and servants rest but our beasts also to rest unlesse only that all meanes and occasions of not resting might be taken from the Parents Masters and owners themselues Therefore c. Fourthly All theft is directly immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden and of thefts the cheife and capital is Sacriledge But to work upon the Lords day is theft nay sacriledge for we steale so much from God this day being his as we bestow upon our selues and our owne employments whereas on the contrary by resting on that day we abstaine from holy things and giue the Lord his own Therefore c. Fiftly whatsoever doth immediatly hinder any thing which God commandeth is immediatly forbidden in the Negatiue of every Affirmatiue This is a Maxime generally received in expounding the Decalogue But all kinds of works upon the Lords day whether serious or lusorie doe immediatly hinder that which God commands viz. To attend his worship and service suffering him to work effectually in us by his word and Spirit This Moses doth plainely teach us in saying * Lev. 23.3 There shall no work be done therein in is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings c. Where first he repeats his Commandement There shall no work be done therein Secondly he giues the reason for it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings It is not possible for you to performe the duties of the Lords Sabbath or that God should work on you therein unlesse there be an utter cessatioÌ„ from all kindes of works It stands also with reason for worldly imployments steale away the heart from holy things and according to our Saviours rule * Mat 6.24 We cannot serue God and Mammon Sixtly that which immediatly resisteth and overthroweth the Kingdome of God in us * Rom. 14.17 Which is righteousnesse peace ioy in the holy Ghost must needs be immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden by the Law of God But all secular imployments of what nature soever upon the Lords day immediatly resist and subvert the kingdome of God in us Righteousnesse take it how we will either for the righteousnesse of justification which is imputed or righteousnesse of sanctification which is inherent commeth by hearing groweth by praier is strengthned by meditating and conferring not by journying working and sporting on the Lords day and the more these are practised by us on that day the lesse righteousnesse must needs be in us The conscience also is deeply wounded by such grosse prophanations if it be not senselesse seared as appeares by the confessions of Converts Penitents and the Godly feele in themselues by daily experience And it cannot but diminish the joy of the holy Ghost for this is chiefly fed and nourished by holy meetings and godly exercises of religion Nay if it be true which many learned men affirme at least for probable that Christ shall come to judgement on the Lords day What little joy can any man finde in things earthly and sensuall on the day when for ought he knowes he may suddenly heare the voice of the Archangell summoning him before the Tribunall of the Lord whose Sabbath he is then prophaning Seventhly if there were no law prohibiting works on this day the very law of expediency were enough For it 's no way expedient on that day to make such a medly of things heavenly with things earthly to mix the holy things of God with things prophane base and vile things with things honourable and glorious this were to make the Lords-day a garment of linsy-woolsy But the Lords day and the duties thereof are things holy heavenly and glorious All secular imployments prophane vile contemptible The * 1. Cor. 6.2 Apostle calls the things of this life the smallest things Therefore c. Eightly that which was ever blasted in all ages with some extraordinary curse remarkable judgement is doubtlesse not only unlawfull but in an high manner abominable in Gods sight For the Lord * Exod. 34.6 being gracious long-suffering and slow to anger doth not usually reveale his wrath from heaven but against some unsufferable ungodlinesse of men But the prophanation of
it will not be difficult to dissolue the arguments formerly alleadged To the first therefore I say it is utterly untrue that outward rest and cessation from secular employments is an essentiall duty of Sabbaths in generall but of Sabbaths properly so called which were only the Iewish weekly Sabbaths And this those very Scriptures used for confirmation doe make appeare being all of them branches of the law Ceremoniall The Lords day is a Sabbath but not properly so called and as the word doth signifie but Analogically and in its proportion And therefore the Christian Holy-day is no where stiled by this name either in Scripture or Antiquity as hath already been declared Lastly we deny not but there is a Rest which is Morall and eternall to all dayes of publique and solemne worship as it is laid downe in our fist Conclusion but not as any essentiall duty as essentiall is here taken that is of it selfe and its owne nature without reference to the publique worship For so it was to the Iewes in the fourth Commandement and so our Sabatharians now make it pressing the Letter of that precept in the same nay in a greater rigour then ever it did binde the Iewes This argument therefore is weake in all the parts thereof The second carrieth with it much weight with poore ignorant well-minded people as seeming to be the very words of the holy Ghost But how both they and the Text it selfe haue been abused hath already been shewed and need not here to be repeated We will only adde what the argument it selfe suggesteth that the Prophet Commenteth upon the Law and the Letter of the Law is wholy Ceremoniall as hath also been declared To the third That the Rest of the fourth Commandement was imposed upon Servants and Beasts to take away all occasions of travaile from their Masters and owners or that this was intended by the Law-giver herein is a groundlesse fancy and comes neere to wresting and perverting of Scripture For when the Law-giver shall with his owne mouth render a reason of his owne Law expressing what he aimed at in the severall clauses thereof it is not only vanity but presumption in any other to shew the depth of his reach to tell us of other reasons and those directly contrary to his and all this in his name as being sent from him with He saith It is so in this particular For God hath expressely expounded this clause in the Commandement and shewed his aime therein as first that it was to remember them of their labours in Egypt where they were servants entreated more like beastes then men Secondly it was the Lords goodnes extending it selfe euen to the meanest of his Creatures that their Servants Cattle might be refreshed as well as themselues not therefore for the Masters sakes as a restraint as is pretended but for the poore Servants and Beasts sakes to be refreshed thereby was this added in the Commandement God having thus rendred an account of this passage it is more subtile then solid savors more of acutenesse then of religion to affix to this exposition any glosses and conceits of our owne The fourth hath already been satisfied in the Question concerning the duration of the Lords day To the fift it is indeed true that all impediments of holy duties are forbidden by the same Commandement wherein the duty is required though not immediately as the duty it selfe but inclusiuely by way of reduction only as Privations are reduced to the same Predicaments with their habits But that all secular and civill works words thoughts are such impediments to the duties of the Lords day as are imagined unlesse they hinder us in the publique worship is utterly untrue The text of Leviticus speaks of the carnall Sabbathizing of the Iewes which being of it selfe a duty was broken by any thing done by them But we are Christians not Iewes And whereas it is suggested that secular diversions steale away the minde from holy things choaking the good seed of the word in us it being impossible to serue God and Mammon this is true indeed where the world is made an Idoll and a mans affections are immoderately set upon outward things and so the text alleadged doth expound it selfe Now every mans reason will tell him that there is a great difference between carking and careing for outward things which at all times is unlawfull as being the service of Mammon and the dispatching of some accidentall occurrent or secular discourses or ordinary affaires which are alwayes lawfull but when we ought to attend Gods publique worship To the sixth Were the Minor proposition true it would well neere follow that the actiue life should be most miserable and little better then prophanesse being by reason of infinite secular imployments made uncapeable of Righteousnesse Peace Ioy in the holy ghost a Magni maris fluctthâ—s quatior atque in navi wentis tempestatis validae procellis illidor Greg. dial S. Gregory indeed complaines that when he was taken out of his Monastery and made Bishop of Rome and by the greatnesse of his See forced to engage himselfe in the matters of the world it seemed a new tempest to his soule But what is this to some triviall imployments of particular men which may suddainly be trans-acted without tumult or distraction But to descend to the particulars It 's most true that faith which purifieth the heart is obtained by hearing the world strengthned by meditation and conference doth it therefore follow that by whatsoever else we doe we destroy or overthrow it It is as if in naturall things we should say naturall life doth consist in naturall heart and moisture both these be upheld by naturall food whatsoever therefore is not our naturall food overthroweth our naturall heate and moysture destroyeth naturall life in us and so war me cloathes in winner may kill Saving faith and our honest imployments of this life are so farre from being incompatible as that the one is preserved and cherished by the other when they are vndertaken and performed as they ought to be in the Lords presence with reverence and feare and obedience not intermitting the habituall bent of the soule towards heaven With these conditions the circumstance of time whether on this day or on that day is not materiall so the publique worship be not prejudic'd thereby The same is also most true of b Peractis saâ—r is anâ—mi gratià equiect quis piscetur aut simile quid jaciat non magis prophanat sabbathum quan Christus per sata â—llâ— de Sab. c. 5. Peractis sacris recreationes licitaesunt sed non carnales sâ—urriâ—es-quales in obsâ—â—nis â—udis â—osu chartaâ—â—â—â— tesseâ—acum compoâ—ationibus c. sed lusus priae nochi palesâ—rica exâ—â—citia jacuâ—atus simiâ—ia ad liberagem recreatione â—â—moâ—ò non â—â—ant cum neglectu caltus jacri qui ante omâ—iâ—pt aeceâ—ere dâ—â—er 〈◊〉 c. â— Recreations if they be honest in themselues and lawfull by the
which God rested and which he sanctified which the Church of Christ neither doth nor ought to keep Ergo. Fiftly if the Sabbath had been observed by the Patriarches before Moses it is no way likely but that some footsteps of such their observation would have appeared in the Story wherein many things of lesse weight lesse tending to edification are punctually recited In the first sacrifice Moses observes the names of the men the quality of their oblations the successe of both All men know that the fittest time for such observances was the Sabbath would Moses think you haue omitted this circumstance who is so exact in all other For ' its most congruous to think if they had then a Sabbath they would have offered their Sacrifices chiefly upon that Sabbath In the daies of Seth men began to call upon the name of the Lord replanting and reforming religion every man will acknowledge that the observation of the Sabbath is a maine point of reformation and therefore sure if their fore-fathers had ever observed a Sabbath day that especially defaced no question among other things would have been reformed and this had been a materiall point in the story which yet speakes nothing thereof It is afterwards said that Noah offered a sacrifice of rest what fitter time for a sacrifice of rest then the day of rest But had this sacrifice of rest been offered upon the day of rest it had been as remarkable a thing in the story as that he builded an altar and offered of every beast and every fowle yet not a word hereof Come to Abraham we read of many Altars which he made to call upon the name of the Lord a world of small things are recorded of him yet no mention of any Sabbath which he ever observed If he had been bound to any set Sabbath doubtlesse he would have sealed the promises of God unto himselfe and his family upon that day especially but the Texttels us He circumcised himselfe and his houshold the selfe same day in which the Lord talked with him It is hard to proue that this was the seventh-day Sabbath and suppose it every man will confesse it to be an important circumstance which yet we read not The story of Iacob is full and exact but neither in his flight to Padan-Aram nor in his returne to Canaan nor going up to Bethel upon speciall command and reforming his houshold nor going down into Egypt nor in his abode there the least mention is made of a Sabbath observed by him I confesse that a negative argument from authority doth not conclude de rebus agendis to shew what is or is not to be done but de rebus actis to prove what was or was not done with such a concurrence of circumstances of times places persons occasions in this case I say a negative argument is more then probable a Lâ—gant proserant aliquem ducem norbarum praecepisse ut arrup to oppido naâ—us serireâ—ur qui in illo out in illo teÌ„plo suisset inventus de civ lib. 1. c. 6. Saint Austin thinkes it strong enough even against Heathens for being to prove that Christian religion is indeed the true religion and came from God he useth this medium because the barbarous Gothes in all their bloody conquests in Italy Spaine and Africa spared the temple of Christians and all such as fled unto them for sanctuary which was never vouchsafed in any conquests to the Idolatrous worshippers of Heathen Gods But how doth this appeare His proofe is only negative from authority let men saith b An illi saciebant et scriptores earunden rerum gestarum isla rettechantâ— It inc vero qui ea quâ— laudarent maxime requir ebant ill a praeclarissima pietatis indicia praeteâ—nent lb. c. 6. he read and alleadge any such example was any such thing done and did their historians hold their peace what would they who diligently sought for matter and occasion to commend the states and persons of whom they write passe over in silence such excellent monuments of piety Sure if this argument of Saint Austin be strong enough ours much more for the Holy Ghost omits not any thing in the story of the Saints which might apparently make for the pious instructions of after ages Sixtly had the Sabbath been so anciently observed by the Patriarches in all likely hood either Moses or some of the Prophets would have reproved the profanation and pressed the observation thereof upon the Israelites from their practice and examples I am sure Nehemiah doth so after the Law was given Nehem. 13.17 Then reproved I the rulers of Iudah and said unto them what evill thing is this that you doe and breake the Sabbath day did not your fathers thus and our God brought all this plague upon us Certaine also it is that the Israelites were superstitious observers of their fathers especially of Abraham Isaac and Iacob They eate not of the sinew that shranke in the hollow of his thigh unto this day saith Moses But neither Moses nor any of the Prophets though in other things they make frequent mention of their forefathers examples speake a syllable of this upon any occasion ergo Lastly this opinion is supported by men of farre greater authority then the former c Instituta legalia quae in typo data sunt populo Jsrael Orig. Hom. 5. in Num. Gen. 32.32 Origen reckons it amongst those legalls instituted by Moses and given unto Israell as types Tertullians treatise against the Iewes is nothing but the relation of a conference which passed betweene him and a Iew in which hee proves that the legall ceremonies of Moses are no way necessary unto salvation and amongst the rest d Qui contendunt Sabbathum adhuc observandum quasi salutis medelam doceant in praeteritum iustos Sabbatizasse Et paulo post Doceant sicut iam prâ—locuti sumus Adam Sabbatizasse ant Abel c. Tert adv Iuâ— daeos Sed dicturi sunt Iudaei ex quo hoc praeceptum datum est Per Mosen exin de observan dum suisse hee speakes of the Sabbath saying let them shew us that Adam or Abel or Enoch or Noah or Abraham or Melchisedech received the precept of the Sabbath Having made this challenge hee brings in the Iew replying that because it was given to Moses therefore it was to bee observed of all nations in Tertullians time therefore this truth was acknowledged even by the Iewes themselves To this purpose also is e Dicit Rabbi magister observatio Sabbathi in lege fuit instituta ut in fide po puli firmitèr permaneret novit is mundi Tho. in l. 2. Sent. dist 15. art 3. Rabbi Moses cited by Aquinas that the observation of the Sabbath was instituted in the Law S. f Cessanti a servilibus operibus populo iubetur ut dies Sabbathi sanctificet Cypr. de spirit Sancto Cyprian following the foot-steps of his master saith that it was commanded the
that this is meere sophisme supposing that which is in controversy viz. whether the word sanctified in that place doth signify destinated For if so then this interpretation is warranted from the letter it selfe If not this must be proved by some other medium for to say the text doth not warrant your exposition is only to deny that the world sanctified is in that place so to be understood which is the question Ob. Secondly it is said that the very connection of the words overthroweth this desination and restraineth the act of God spoken of in the third verse unto that period of time spoken of in the second verse else how can And the copulative tye all together Now plain it is that the words of the second verse are to be under stood of the time present immediatly after the creation for then God ended his works then he rested from his works therefore he then sanctified the seventh day to be forthwith observed by Adam and his posterity Answere Vnto this I answere that the connection between the verses is acknowledged that as God then actually rested so he then actually sanctified the day but that therefore he then commanded Adam to observe the day doth no way follow For that God did then sanctify that is destinate the day to be the Churches Sabbath in due time is one thing and to command Adam to observe it is another A man may determine with himselfe that one of his sons having many shall be his heire may we therefore conclude that he did presently put him into the inheritance the antecedent is true the consequent false Ob. Thirdly to interpret sanctified by destinated for times to come is not warranted by any other place of Scripture therefore it may justly be suspected in this Answere I answere that it is cleere enough by that which hath been already said that the word sanctified is put for destinated very frequently in Scripture a Es 13.3 The Medes were Gods sanctified ones that is destinated to be in time to come the destroyers of Babylon and the restorers of his Church b Ioh. 10.36 The father sanctified his sonne sent him into the World ordaining or destinating him to be the redeemer of the World And the same word which is here translated sanctified is used in the c Ier. 12.3 12. of Ieremy third verse to signify to prepare or preordaine And that it is so to be understood here also it shall I hope appeare by other places of Scripture in answere to that which followes Ob. Fourthly it is said that the great works of God as soone as they are wrought are forthwith to have their memorials observed and it is unreasonable to thinke that God working so great a work as the creation never to be forgotten would only destinate a day for its memoriall to be kept holy so many yeares after Answere But I answere that this is no new thing nor any way unreasonable For what were the great festivals of the Iews but the memorials of Gods great works wrought by his outstretched arme Yet were these ordaine â— in Sinai to be kept when they came into the land of Canaan forty yeares after neither were any of them observed before in the Wildernesse no not the d Numb 9.2 Passover save once that we read of which was by an especiall command from God himselfe Concerning this the words of c Exod. 13.5.11.12 Moses are plaine when the Lord hath brought thee into the land of the Canaanites c. then shalt thou keepe this service in this month So that I affirme two things First that although the great works of God are so done as to be had in remembrance yet many of them had never any set times appointed for their memorials by God himselfe unlesse perhaps by such a destination of which we speake Was not the drying of the earth from the flood much the same with creating the sea and dry land Yet Noah who was then as it were another Adam is not commanded to keep that day holy Was not the birth of our blessed Lord not to speake of his conception passion ascension c. as glorious as the first daies workes and was it not then also in a manner said let there be light a light to lighten the Gentils and the glory of his people Jsrael Yet the Angels which rejoyced to see that day had no commission to proclaime it holy neither did God himselfe appoint it for holy unlesse by destinating it to be hereafter observed by the precept and practice of the Church as we see at this day Secondly when God actually commands his Church the memorialls of his mercies there is many times a great distance set betweene the institution and the observation as appeares in the instances given in the Iewish festivals Ob. You perhaps will say that the reason is not the same betweene those feasts and this of the Sabbath and that they were put off till the sanctuary was built and the people setled in the land of Canaan because till then they could not with any conveniency haue beene observed But the Sabbath was the great festivall of all man-kind in memory of the creation and might without any incongruity have beene observed from the beginning Sol. Vnto this I answere that the Patriarches retained without question the memory of the creation with the manner and order thereof all which they received from their ancestors by tradition yet that in all probability they observed not the Sabbath for the selfe same reasons for which those other Iewish festivalls were put off in the wildernesse For the Sabbath also as well as those others had relation unto their bondage in Egypt and rest in Canaan f Deut. 5.15 Remember saith Moses that thou wert a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord brought thee out thence with a mighty hand therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to observe the Sabbath day Plaine therefore it is that the law of the Sabbath was grounded upon their deliverance out of Egypt for the one is rendred as a reason of the other So that howsoever it please some to tell us that the word Remember call'd the people back to consider the practice of this law in former ages and that this precept hath morality in it because of the word Remember yet they must give us leave to thinke Moses the best Expositor thereof saying remember thou wert a servant in the land of Egypt Ob. You will reply that it remembred them indeed of the bondage of Egypt but primarily of the works of creation for God rested the seventh day saith the commandement and therefore he blessed and sanctified it The Sabbath therefore was grounded upon the creation as well as upon their redemption nay this last seemes to be but accidentall and accessory to the former Sol. But who sees not that this is to little purpose For wee say with a Est duplex Sabbathi
Sabbath but only the spirituall rest which the faithfull under the Gospell receive in Christ The words are plaine we which doe believe doe enter into rest nor is the present tense put for the future as the Iesuit suggests without any ground For it is the sin of apostacy falling from the faith of Christ against which the Apostle so much laboureth in that place and throughout the whole Epistle and apostacy is a falling away from some estate in which we already are Indeed our spirituall rest which we finde in Christ Rev. 21.4 endeth in that heavenly rest described Revel 21.4 but this was not first and immediatly typified by the Sabbath and the land of Canaan and therefore in a secondary and subordinate construction only to be found in that place of the Apostle Leaving therefore this lesuiticall interpretation to those that like to follow it the text is plaine enough as a Praecipua huius loci difficultas hinc provenit quòd violentèr à multis torquetur Marâ—o in Loc. one hath well observed to all those that desire not to wrest it For the Apostle exhorts the Hebrews to whom he writes to take heed least by their Apostacy they deprive themselves of that rest of God which he ever proposed and promised to their Fathers and so preventeth two objections For they might say we can be in no such danger having already entred into Gods rest two manner of waies First into that rest of his which was from the begining when he finished his works into this the Sabbath which he gave our Fathers as a speciall pledge and badge of his people hath admitted us Our imitation of him is our communication with him To this the Apostle answereth that indeed the Sabbath was given as a memoriall of Gods rest but that this is not the rest of God of which the Prophet David speakes Secondly we are entred into Gods rest being brought by Ioshua into the land of Canaan the land of rest But this plea is also rejected by the Apostle because David whose text is quoted lived long after Ioshua The summe therefore of that Scripture is only that neither the rest of the Sabbath nor the rest of Canaan was that rest into which God promised to bring his people but only types and shadowes thereof To conclude this argument hangs together like a rope of sands because the text saith the works were finished from the foundation when God rested it infers that therefore also Adam and the Patriarches kept a Sabbath from the begining in which is no coherence at all as any man may see To the fourth it is confessed that there was a Sabbath before the Law was given in Sinai but the question is not of Sinai but the wildernesse after Israels departure out of Egypt till when we say there was no Sabbath And whereas it is said that Moses speaks thereof in that place as of a thing well known he that looks better into the text shall easily perceive the contrary To this purpose observe these circumstances First the occasion of those words of Moses to morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord they are his reply to a relation of a new accident in the gathering of Mannah viz. that whereas all the weekbefore whether they gathered more or lesse every man had an Omer full now on the sixt day every man gathered two Secondly this new accident is expounded by a new oracle or revelation this is that which the Lord hath said for so the words are used v. 16. Thirdly what is this new Oracle but the reason of this new accident God teaching them thereby a new observation viz. that of the Sabbath For surely if the Sabbath had been so well known as is pretended neither the rulers of the congregation would have wondred so much at the double portion of Mannah which fell on the sixt day they might easily have concluded to morrow is Gods resting day neither needed Moses have given them a new oracle for their satisfaction Fourthly we may observe the peoples disobedience for notwithstanding all this some went out upon the seventh day By this it probably appeares that they knew not yet what belonged to the keeping of a Sabbath This was it seemes the first that they ever heard of therefore they neither beleeved nor observed it whereas afterwards being acquainted therewith they kept it even to superstition Fiftly marke the Lords expostulation with them how long refuse you to keep my commandements and my lawes Had he spoken in the singular number then indeed how long might have seemed to intimate that the law of the Sabbath had been of greater antiquity but when the Israelites are reproved for breaking the Lords commandements and lawes it is still meant of those which God gave them by Moses neither can any place be shewed to the contrary Sixtly we may note that God doth only reprove not punish this violation whereas afterwards when the Sabbath was known and established the gatherer of sticks must be stoned Now what difference I pray you between stick-gathering and Mannah-gathering but that the one sinned of presumption against an ordinance newly setled and by consent established The other against a law only newly proposed and made known but not fully assented unto And this I am sure is the reason rendred by a Quare qui 〈◊〉 colligebut punichatur certe quoniam si statim dâ—principio quando feruntur leges ac jere in promulgatione ipsâ— contemnerentur nullo mode possunt postea cusâ—odiri Chain Mat. c. 12. hom â—â— Saint Chrysostom for stoning the stick gatherer because if lawes should be contemned as soone as they be made and almost in their very promulgation they would never afterwards be observed Seventhly the words of Moses are remarkable see how the Lord hath given you the Sabbath see betokeneth the novelty of the thing how sheweth the occasion of the Sabbath to you saith the text not to your Fathers or to all man kind To which point the words of Nehemiah are so plaine as it is a wonder to me how any man can imagine a Sabbath commanded before Moses b Nehem 9.14 Thou madest knowne unto them thine holy Sabbath by the hand of Moses thy servant Lastly marke the conclusion of the story so the people rested on the seventh day By reason of this new accident new revelation gentle reproofe and admonition were they brought to keep a Sabbath Vnto all which adde the glosse of c Trem. in locum Iunius Tremelius affirming that there were three causes of the Sabbaths institution the remembrance of the creation the deliverance out of Egypt and the fall of Mannah No effect can precede its cause in nature and time which the Sabbath needs must doe if it preceded Mannah in observation and yet the fall of Mannah be a cause of its institution It doth not therefore appeare by this Scripture that the Sabbath was a thing well known and practised
of the law giving men sixe for one for God ever was and ever will be alike liberall to all men in all ages in this kind The second drawn from Gods interest in the seventh day The Seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord and what sons of Adam are exempted from giving God his owne The third is Gods example proposed for our imitation for all men are bound by the very light of nature to be followers of God as deare children The fourth is the promise which is made therein For it will be as blessed a day or a day as full of blessing unto us if we sanctify it as ever it was to the Iews God being not lesse good nor his grace lesse powerfull nor his promise lesse sure The fift is the ease refreshing of our servants and beasts to whom Christians must not be lesse mercifull then the Iews Lastly the Sabbath taught them that they were the Lords people and no man will say but that we also are so by as many and by more strong tyes and relations then were ever any Ergo c. Sixtly the law Ceremoniall and Iudiciall were given only to the Iewes and such as were circumcised but the fourth commandement was directed not only to those within the covenant but also to strangers and aliens The strangers within thy gates And upon this ground a Neh. 13.16 Nehemiah reproved the Tyrian Merchants which were strangers therefore c. Seventhly from the words of Christ in the Gospell b Mat. 24.20 pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath day Those words were spoken to the disciples foreshewing that if their flight should happen to befall them on the Sabbath their affliction would thereby be increased But if the fourth commandement be not Morall what addition of sorrow had it been if their flight had befallen them that day Christians and such were the disciples need not trouble themselves about a law Ceremoniall Thus then That commandement the breaking whereof might justly grieve a Christian forced thereunto by flight is doubtlesse morall but the fourth commandement is such therefore c. Eightly that commandement against which humane corruptions doe especially arise and band themselves both in the Godly and the wicked must needs be morall but our corruptions doe chiefly fight against the Sabbath as the Godly feele by experience in themselves and experience doth also make evident in the wicked of the world therefore c. Ninthly that cannot be a truth of God which overthrowes all religion le ts in Atheisme Epicureisme and all prophanesse no good tree can bring forth such evill fruit But that doctrine which denieth the morality of the Sabbath overthroweth all religion le ts in Epicureisme and Prophanesse as appeares in those Churches wherein it is taught in forraine parts Ergo. Tenthly that wich the Church of England teacheth in her Homilies ought to be held for truth by all the obedient children of that Church but the morality of the Sabbath is that which the Church of England teacheth in her Homily of the time and place of prayer as will appeare to every one that will read the same Therefore all the obedient children of the Church of England ought to acknowledge it to be true Eleventhly if you make the fourth commandement Ceremoniall you make the Church of England guilty of Iudaisme For that Church which readeth to her children a Ceremoniall Law and commands them to kneele whilst it is read in acknowledgment of their subjection thereunto and at the end to pray Lord have mercy vpon us and incline our hearts to keep this law cannot but be a Iewish Church But the Church of England thus teacheth her children Ergo. Twelfthly unlesse the fourth commandement be morall there will be but nine commandements in the Decalogue which is contrary not only to the received opinion of all men but to the calculation of the whole Catholique Church in all ages and is no meane Sacriledge to affirme Ergo. Thirteenthly that which is taught by men which are most spirituall and alone discerne the things of God must needs be true and so on the contrary But the Morality of the Sabbath is taught by men that are most spirituall the contrary by men that are carnall therefore c. Lastly we have the authority of all our English writers almost ever since the reformation unto this time neither was it hitherto ever contradicted for at least these threescore and ten yeares unlesse by Papists Anabaptists or Familists Ergo. CHAP. VII In which are set downe the arguments for the negative THe negative tenent hath also its arguments which in the next place must be produced and First it is alleadged That commandement over which Christ was absolute Lord as he was the sonne of man is not morall for a morall precept is part of Gods eternall law over which the sonne of man can have no power being made under the law But Christ as the sonne of man was Lord of the Sabbath as himselfe upon two sundry occasions hath twice told us Math. 12. Mark 2. To these Texts these exceptions have been made 1 Excep 1. That this phrase doth no more import the Sabbath to be a ceremony then the same used by the Apostle doth conclude the dead and the living to be a ceremony for he rose againe that he might be the Lord of the dead and of the living But this is to play with the ambiguity of the word it 's one thing to be Lord of the Church to guide governe perfect quicken raise glorify her for this is the meaning of the Apostle upon which that in the Ephesians may seeme as a comment Eph. 1.20.21.22 And another thing to be Lord of the Law or constitution to moderate dispence order alter abolish for in what other construction can any one be said to be Lord of a law 2 Except 2. It is said that Christ did not intend by these words of his any such Lordship because he did not then abrogate the Sabbath Nor is this to the purpose for never any man yet dreamed that Christ did in those words abolish the Sabbath for both it and the rest of the legall ordinances were in force till they were nailed with him to the Crosse 3 Except 3. It is excepted that our Saviour in those words doth only dispence with his Disciples in that particular case and challenge to himselfe the power and prerogative of expounding the Law against the Pharisees who pretended only to the Chayre and to give interpretations of the Law But to satisfy this also and to cleare the Text we affirme 1 That Christ doth not there or in any other place ever dispence with the law in himselfe or any other for he took upon him the form of a servant and came not to break the Law but to fulfill it 2 That in those words Christ doth not intend to expound the law only for this he had done before by the example of David and by the
time should be set apart not Morall in regard of the letter in which it is expressed If therefore the proposition be of the sounds and syllables of the Decalogue so that whatsoever is written in the letter thereof is affirmed to be Morall it is utterly untrue For what think you a Jllud in primo praecepto quieduxit te c. illuà in quinto ut diù vivaâ— c. of those words in the very front of the Decalogue I brought thee on t of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage are they Morall If any say these words are a preface no law he speaketh nothing to the purpose for the proposition in question is universall of whatsoever is written in the tables of stone with Gods own finger Besides give us liberty to exclude from being morall whatsoever is not a law and thereby the reasons of the fourth Commandement will be denied Morality for the reasons of any Law are no more the law it selfe then the preface thereof Indeed there is an implicit Morality in that preface Egypt being a type of the Kingdom of Sathan the house of Bondage the dominion of sinne and under the deliverance of these are contained the rest of Gods mercies to his Church If such a morality as this be all they seek for in the law of the Sabbath no man I presume will gainsay them herein But to give an other instance what shall we think of that clause in the fifth commandement That thy daies may be long in the land which thy Lord thy God giveth thee I am sure it is no principle in Nature nor conclusion flowing from any naturall principle nature can only say God will blesse all dutifull and obedient Children but that it shall be with this or that particular blessing as this is nature cannot teach us Besides this is only a positive and conditionall promise not universally and perpetually performed therefore not Morall And farther let us consider not only what is promised but to whom and it will appeare that those words concerned b Nullo modo ad nos possumus accommodare Luther tom 7. Epist ad Amicum the Iewes only and the land of Canaan and are applyable to us only by way of proportion I am not Ignorant how some labour to patch up a Morality in these words perhaps because they find them written in the tables of stone But their distinction of old in yeares and old in grace though otherwise of good use is in this place of no validity For the promise is without equivocation of long life in the earth as the Apostle expounds it Ephe. 6.3 But what speak we of things circumstantiall Our adversaries confesse the taxation of the seventh day to be Ceremoniall though the very heart of the Commandement and written with Gods own finger Although therefore it be written in tables of stone and that by Gods own finger and that in the very heart of the whole Decalogue which also is pressed that therefore it must be Morall must needs be acknowledged no good consequent unlesse men have a mind to play fast and loose with this argument Ob. Oh! but this commandement is in the very heart of the Decalogue Sol. To which I answere that if by the heart of the Decalogue we understand the midst then c Philo deleg Philo the Iew tels us that the first Commandement is the heart of the whole being written part in the first part in the second table But if by the heart we understand that which gives life to all the rest so the first commandement Thou shalt have no other Gods but me is the very vitall spirit of the whole Law of God Ob. Yea but the Decalogue was spoken with Gods own mouth and so were not the rest this therefore must needs be Morall Sol. Not to trouble the reader about the manner of Gods delivering the ten Commandements I briefly answere that the Ceremonials and Iudicials were also spoken by Gods own mouth so that herein there is little difference save that he delivered the Decalogue publikely in the audience of all the people the rest only apart but still face to face and mouth to mouth And the reason hereof is given in the text not to be any precedency in the lawes themselves but fear in the people being no longer able to hear the voice of so great and terrible a lawgiver When therefore Moses presseth this circumstance Deut. 5. 22. thus he spake and added no more d Quod refere Moses Deum nihil adjecisse eo perfectam vitae regulam decem praeceptis comprehendi significat Calv. in Deut. 5. v. 23. Calvins glosse which was the common marginall note viz. that these ten words are perfect directions needing no additions is indeed true but comes short of the meaning of the holy Ghost in that place for the true reason of that clause is expresly set down in the words following when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darknesse you came unto me and said if we heare the voice of the Lord our God any more we shall dye As if Moses should have said you heard but these ten words he added no more and you were thus afraid What if he had held on as he began So that it is their feare at that time of which Moses puts them in mind to beget in them an awfull reverence of God and heedfull observation of his Law and is nothing to our purpose To the second by placing the fourth commandement being Ceremoniall amidst the Morals in the Decalogue there is neither confusion of things nor distraction of the Church unlesse by accident as the law begets sinne through our own corruptions For will any man say that in Leviticus and Deuteronomy Moses did purposely confound things to distract the Church this were blasphemy and yet Morals and Ceremonials are commonly mixed in those Scriptures Nay we may with more reason affirme that had not this law of the Sabbath been thus place we might justly have complained of confusions and distractions For it being a Commandement mixtly Ceremoniall it could not without distraction have been ranged amongst the meerly Ceremonials and on the other side it being mixtly Morall reason requires it should be e Si quaeratur quare aliae Iudâ—â—orum festivitates praecipiebantur in decalogo diâ— quòd fuerunt tantum Caremoniales Sabbathum autèm magismorale est quum Caeremoniale Greg. de 10. praeceptis Caeremoniale islud determinabat naturale Greg. de Val. tom 2. disp 7. q. 7. p. 4. set amongst the meerly Morals in honour to the Morall parts thereof For the Morall and Ceremoniall parts thereof cannot well be severed one from the other the generall which is Morall from the particulars which are Ceremoniall Lastly though it were in no respect morall yet the Law of the Sabbath being that wherein is f The Lord prescribeth the feasts of the old Testâ—mentin these words Remember that thou keepe holy
hath imposed are without all question most proper and most fit to be retained But God himselfe hath imposed the Name Sabbath upon all daies of his solemne and publique worship and such is the Christian mans feast day The Assumption appears For not only the seventh day in the fourth Commandement but all the new Moones and other festivals of the Iewes are commonly called Sabbaths Therefore c. Secondly those names are commonly best which are most ancient Inquire saith b Iob. 8.8 Iob of the former ages and prepare thy selfe to the search of their Fathers But the name Sabbath is more ancient then any other being the name that was first given to daies of this nature Therefore c. Thirdly that name is alwaies best which doth most acquaint us with the nature of the thing In this the excellent Wisdome which God gave unto Adam appeared that he gave names to all the creatures answerable to their natures But the name Sabbath given to the daies of publique worship is such for they are daies of rest unto us and they were instituted in remembrance of Gods rest at the Creation and of Christs rest in the Resurrection and are pledges of our future rest in glory What name therefore can better agree unto them then Sabbath which is as much as Rest Fourthly that name is doubtlesse best which best directs us to the duties of the day For if c 1. Cor. 1â— 26 all things must be done for edifying such names are best to be imposed and used as are most accommodated unto edifying But the name Sabbath best leads us unto the duties of this day both outward and inward Outward Resting from all Corporall and worldly employments Inward resting from the spirituall slavery of sin and Satan Adde thereunto that it doth not only best direct us unto the duties of the day but it doth also help to confirme our faith and hope in the promises of God concerning the life to come and our d Math. 8.11 sitting down to rest with Abraham Isaack and Iacob in Gods kingdome Therefore c. Fiftly we must not affect to be singular in anything not so much as in words and Phrases Loquendum cum vulgo saith the proverbe But not only the vulgar but all men whaâ—soever speak religiously and reverently of the Sabbath day Therefore c. CHAP. XII The reasons against the name of Sabbath are briefly alleadged FOr the Negative opinion stand these reasons First he speaks best of things whose language is most conformable to the holy Ghost in the Scripture But the holy Ghost doth every where in the new Testament which alone speaks of the Christian mans Holy-day as having being and existency call it the Lords day no where the Sabbath day The name of the Lords day is therefore best and fittest to be used Secondly we should retaine those names which the Primitive Church in the purest times the first three hundered yeares chiefly used unlesse through any corruption or abuse they are scandalous But the name of the Lords day hath been chiefly used in the Primitive Church and in the purest times neither is it since through any abuse become scandalous Ergo c. Thirdly we of the reformed Churches should not forsake the Roman Church but where necessity doth inforce us For then we are guilty of that Schisme which is made in the Christian world Neither should we vary from our selves so much as were it possible in sounds and Syllables for then we may be justly noted for singularity and affectation But both the Romane Church and all reformed Churches use to stile it the Lords day not the Sabbath Ergo c. Fourthly we that are Christians should beware how we gratify the Iewes in their superstitious obstinacy against Christ and his Gospell in the least things least we partake with them in their hardnesse of heart the ancient Christians fasted Saturday especially for this reason because the Iewes fasted on Sattâ—rday But in using the name Sabbath we gratify the Iewes in their obstinacy against Christ and his Gospell For they abhorre the name of the Lords day as the greatest Blasphemy Therefore c. Fiftly it is one of the chiefest points of a Christian mans wisdome so to speak as not to put a stumbling block before his weaker Brethren He that doth otherwise a Rom. 14.15 walketh not charitably saith the Apostle But the name Sabbath may be and is become a snare to many weak ones especially in reading of the Scriptures For where ever they find the name Sabbath they presently conceive it to be spoken of and to agree to the Lords day and many times by this means fall into flat Iudaisme as appears by their quoting of the old Testament in the Questions in hand Therefore c. Sixtly that name which doth lesse edify is lesse proper This I thinke will easily be agreed on by all parties But the name Sabbath doth lesse edify For it leads us only to an outward cessation from bodily labour which of it selfe and precisely considered was indeed a duty of the Iewish Sabbath but is not so of the Christian Festivall as hereafter shall appeare On the contrary the name Lords day doth best open and explain the whole nature and duty of the day as the remembrance of Christs resurrection the acknowledgment of his Lordship over the Church and all other Creatures in the world Ergo c. CHAP. XIII Wherein is briefly shewed what is to be thought of this Question IT is a frequent rule in c Cùm de re constat propter quam ver ba dicuntur de verbis non debere contendi si quis id facit imperitiâ docendum esse simalitiâ deserendum Aug. cont Acad. lib. 3. cap. 13. lib. 2. cap. 11. S. Austine that wise men should not strive about words unlesse when there is some reall difference in the things But I doubt whether this question be only a fight about words For as the d Non illos viros â—os fuisse arbitror qui rebus nescirent nomina imponere seâ— mihi videntur haec vocabula elegisse ad occultandum tardioribus ad significandum vigilantioribus scientiam suam Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 10. same father speaks of the Academicks so may we without breach of charity suspect of our Sabbatharians at this day They are not saith he such simple men as know not to give things their proper names but they purposely make choice of such words as may best serve both to hide from the simple and to intimate to the wiser sort of their disciples their opinions Else I see no reason at all why the name Sabbath should be so common and that of Lords day so seldome used I deny not but the name Sabbath is lawfull and may also be used by such as have their wits well exercised in Scriptures if without superstition fraud or scandall But yet notwithstanding the name Lords day is both more fit in it selfe serving
more for edification and the Arguments to the contrary doe not conclude To the first true it is indeed that God himselfe in Scripture imposeth the name Sabbath upon all daies of publique worship in the Iewish Synagogue and the reason was because the very corporall rest was a chiefe thing aimed at in them being both memorative of some things passed and figurative of things also to come But that therefore the daies also of Christian Assemblies should be so called doth not follow because the reason is not the same as shall appear in it's proper place The name Sabbath therefore is no more Morall and to be retained in the times of the Gospell then the name Priest Altar Sacrifice which perhaps our adversaries themselves will allow of in a common large and Analogicall construction If therefore we look to the e Si vocis primaevam significationem spectemus Sabbathum erit omnis dies festus At Scripturae consuetudine Sabbathi nomâ— ferè appropriatum est diei septimo Estius 3. Sent. d. 37. first and originall signification of the word every Holy-day wherein men rest from their labours and attend the publique worship may be called a Sabbath but if we look at the application of it in Scripture we shall find it appropriated in the first and chiefest sense to the Sabbath day or Satturday in the fourth commandements in the next and subordinate construction to all the Iewish festivals never to the Lords day To the second No man will deny but that antiquity is a good guide in the search of the truth for all errors are upstarts even those that are gray-headed The f Ier. 6.16 Prophet therefore adviseth to ask for the the old way which is the good way but his meaning is that which is simply old not comparatively only The corrupt Glosses of the Pharisees were very ancient * Math. 5.38 Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time an eye for an eye The superstitions of the Romanists are like so many old aches in the body of the Church yet as the one so also the other meere novelties in religion Should I grant the name Sabbath as applyed to the Christian Feast to be of some good standing yet without all Controversy it was not known to the true Primitive times Indeed antiquity ever used one of these foure either Sunday not from g ' Dum solâ—s lâ—ttâ—iae indulgemus longè aliâ ratione quam religione solis Tert. Ap. cap. 16. the Sunne in the firmament but h Mal. 4.2 the Sonne of Righteousnesse with healing in his wings or the Day of light from the Sacrament of Baptisme called by the Fathers our Illumination or the Day of Bread not from holy bread as Papists now use it but from the other Sacrament of the Supper administred every Lords day or the Lords day which doth and will continue to the worlds end To the third The name Sabbath doth not best acquaint us with the Nature of the Lords day as is pretended For the nature thereof consisteth not either in our corporall or Spirituall Rest or in Remembring the Rest of God in the Creation or in being a pledge unto us of our eternall rest All these are accidentall considerations of the Lords day Indeed the memory of Christs resurrection is essentiall thereunto but not so much in regard of his rest as of his conquest over death and the grave and being made the Lord of the Quick and the Dead It being therefore the Lordship of Christ made evident to all creatures both in heaven and in earth by the Glory of his Resurrection which is then celebrated it ought to be stiled the Lords day not a Sabbath To the fourth What the duties of the day be we shall see hereafter Let it be granted therefore for the present whatsoever the Argument doth suggest the consequent is denied For whatsoever duties are then performed are or at the least ought to be directed in a speciall manner unto the Lord Christ as our service of him The day therefore is to be named not from the nature of the things done but from the quality of the person to whom they are intended and therefore not Sabbath but Lords day And whereas it is said that the name Sabbath may serve to confirme our faith and hope of our eternall Rest I answere that indeed it may be so used by us but was never so intended in the first institution thereof and being a consideration so remote it cannot claime to denominate To the fifth It is indeed most rue that we ought not especially in matters of Religion to innovate though but words and Phrases although perhaps insignificant and improper much lesse ought we to swarve from such language as is most savory and religious but which name hath most salt the Sabbath or Lords day I hope it doth appear by this which hath been said And who speaks most Religiously the Apostles and the whole Church or some few private persons of late yeares is easy to determine CHAP. 14. Wherein the Question concerning the duration of the day is proposed and the arguments for the day naturall are set down AMongst those things which disquiet and perplexe the consciences of the weak concerning the Lords day this is not the least where it is to begin and how long it lasteth For God requiring of us perfect and entire obedience without diminution or defalcation and h Iames 2.10 S. Iames saying that he that faileth in one point is guilty of all unlesse every minute of time which the Lord requireth of us as his tribute and homage be duly tendred to him our whole labour bestowed upon the parts and peices of the day is not regarded It is also that which concernes the most sort of our inferiour people to be satisfied in leâ—st the Commandement requiring one thing their employments another they many times wound their Consciences and rob themselves of that peace which otherwise they might enjoy We must therefore before we proceed any farther inquire whether the Lords day be to consist of any certain determinate number of houres as being a Naturall day or Artificiall And here our Adversaries are very positive that the Christian mans Sabbath as well as that of the Iewes is to consist of full twenty foure houres and they have these reasons First all the time that the Commandement requires is to be observed But that the Commandement of the Sabbath requires a whole naturall day from evening to evening is undenyable Therefore c. If any man say the Commandement was Ceremoniall and so proves nothing for the Christian observation it may be replied that this being granted of all the other branches yet it is not so in this For no man can shew how the time of twenty foure houres can be in any respect mysticall Though therefore the rest of the latter should vanish as a shadow yet in this particular it must needs continue Morall Secondly no one
the Text that S. Paul and the congregation met not till they came together to break bread which in those times was commonly after supper and so it * Acts 20.7 came to passe that he continued his preaching till after midnight This therefore can be no president for a naturall daies-Sabbath but may be alleadged for a night-Sabbath only and such Sabbaths were never yet heard of To the ninth the practice of our Saviour is I confesse of great force and the argument drawn from thence of more probability though it conclude not For First the ground thereof is but loose that our Saviours apparition was the Institution of the Lords day For if ever our Saviour instituted the day it must be by his Resurrection which is a thing distinct from his Apparition Our Saviour instituted the observation of this day by his Resurrection as God the Father instituted the Iewish Sabbath day by his ceasing to work which was only the ground and Reason of the Institution as hath already been said Besides if the appearing of Christ after his Resurrection were the institution of the day it must needs follow that to whom he first appeared to them the day was first instituted and commanded now these must needs be the Souldiers or Mary Magdalene and if so what inconveniencies follow For by this means a publique and everlasting ordinance for the whole Church of Christ must be delivered either to those that are not of the Church as the Souldiers or to a woman whom nature it selfe inhibits to teach in the Church And whereas it is commonly affirmed that Christ kept the first Lords-day with his Disciples leaving an example to us therein I cannot sufficiently wonder at the boldnesse and rashnesse of this Assertion For let the Text be looked into and we find therein these particulars First he having appeared to Mary early in the morning he appears to the whole College of the Disciples Thomas only excepted late at night Then having given them his ordinary benediction Peace be unto you he shewes them his hands and his feet Lastly he imparts unto them their Apostolicall mission and indowes them with power the keyes of the holy Ghost But what are all these to the observation of a Sabbath or Pastorall charge What Preaching Catechizing What Sacraments administred Vnlesse Orders shall be thought a Sacrament It 's a strange keeping of a Sabbath and such as our adversaries will not avow to begin early in the morning with one or two and let all the rest of the day slip doeing nothing amongst their people till late at night and then neither Preach Pray nor administer the Sacrament But what then was the reason why our Saviour appeared so late in the night and the Apostles in all likelyhood sate up so late expecting his coming The Text doth satisfy both scruples first on the Disciples parts that were assembled together not thinking of Christ but for fear of the Iewes then on our Saviours part this seeming unto his wisdome the fittest opportunity to shew himselfe unto them to comfort them in their present feare and to furnish them with the holy Ghost against future temptations to which tend both his wordes and gestures And this m Clavieniâ—â— manus fixeruÌ„t lanceâ latus ejus aperuerant ubi ad dubitantium corda sananda sunt servata vulnerum vestigia Aug. tract â—â— Ioh. 12â— Saint Austine saw upon the passage of the Text where he shewed his hands and side for the print saith he of his wounds were reserved to heale the doubt of their fearfull hearts and the effect followed for they were glad saith the Text when they had seen the Lord. To the tenth Certain it is that the first originall of Vigils or night-assemblies was persecution as appears Acts 12.12 but persecution ceasing they were continued of devotion and the Fathers constantly preached in these vigils or Eve of any Festivals In processe of time they began to be corrupted and by little and little degenerated into superstition as being a work of merit and supererrogation They were therefore because otherwise also abused not only despised but forbidden and by name n Placuit prohibere ne foeminae in Coemiterio pervigilen â—ò quòd saepi sub obtentu orationis scelera latentèr commiâ—tantur â—on Elibâ—â—aâ— to women By which it appears that it was not an essentiall duty or observation Lastly these vigils being alwaies the night before cannot advantage our Sunne-rising-Sabbatharians which observe the night following which are the best and greatest part Lastly the authorities alleadged as Saint Austine Irenaeus the Synods of Agatho and Matiscon not to question the validity of them speak according to the custome of the times wherein vigils were not yet so grossely abused not enforcing any thing upon mens consciences herein The Canon Law also shewes the Practice of the Church of Rome begining at midnight as was before observed out of Aquinas But me thinks they that are so suspicious of Rome fearing every thing to be a relique thereof and to smell of Popery should not have been so hardy as to avouch the Canon Law which they think no small horne of the beast CHAP. XVII The Question concerning the institution of the Lords day proposed with arguments for the divine authority of it HAving thus entreated of the Lords day as it is a portion of our time to be set apart for holy uses we must now consider it in regard of the institution and observation thereof and first whether it be enjoyned by the Church by Divine or Ecclesiasticall authority To prove a divine institution either immediatly from Christ or mediatly from the Apostles are brought such and so many arguments as are able in the opinion of their owners to convince any mans judgement not corrupted with prophanesse of heart or darkned with pride and prejudice We must therefore faithfully muster them up in their full strength that all men of sober mindes may take their dimensions First it is said that God by his precept requires one of seven to be for ever observed his words are * Exod. 20.10 The seventh is the Sabbath but the Lords day is one of the seven and no other of the seven is to be kept Sabbath therefore this Secondly all holy resting daies are in the fourth commandement as every species is contained in the genus and every Individuum in the species It must needs be in this as in all other things For example Honour the King is a generall precept under which the honour of all particular Kings is comprehended honour King Richard King Henry King Charles But the Lords day is an holy resting-day as appears by the practice of the whole Church and was never yet denied by any enemy thereof unlesse he were some malicious person Therefore c. Thirdly one and the same Scripture hath many times two literall senses or at least is twice fulfilled in one and the same literall sense for example Not abone of him
the latter and clean contrary to that of o Ignatìus Ep. ad Magne sianos circa medium epistolae Ignatius who lived wrote in the purest times styling it the Queene of daies Therefore c. Thirteenthly It 's only the divine prerogative of God himselfe to put holinesse into times and daies for he only is the fountaine of holinesse But the Lords day is an Holy-day and hath holinesse in it more then other daies whence it is that the Fathers frequently call it Sacred Mysticall Religiously to be observed Therefore doubtlesse made holy by God himselfe Fourteenthly None can appoint any thing to be a part of Gods worship in the Church but Christ who is the head of the Church to rule and govern her who can command the spouse but the husband But the observation of the Lords day is a speciall branch of Gods worship in the Church therefore none can none ought to institute it but Christ himselfe Fifteenthly There being a change of the Priesthood there was also a change of the Law saith the p Heb. 7.12 Apostle * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word there used in the Originall signifieth the transposing of things one being put in the room and steed of another But the Iewes Sabbath was one of those things thus to be exchanged being Ceremoniall therefore our high Priest put an other in the room thereof but no other therefore the Lords day Sixteenthly Only Christ is Lord of the Sabbath to appoint and dispose thereof as he thinks good the Church can claim no such Lordship but the Sabbath is changed and another appointed in the place thereof which the whole Church observeth this change therefore was made by Christ not the Church Seventeenthly Old things are passed away all things are become new so the q 2. Cor. 5.17 Apostle The meaning is that Christ hath made all things new in his Church as new Creatures new Man new Covenant new Commandement new Way new Names new Song new Garments new Hierusalem new Heaven new Earth But unlesse Christ hath also made a new Sabbath he hath not made all things new Ergo c. Eighteenthly It is no way to be beleeved that Christ would leave his Church under the Gospell in worse condition then he found the Synagogue under Moses But if Christ left not his Church under the Gospell a Sabbath of Divine Institution he left it in a farre worse condition then he found the Synagogue which received a Sabbath from God himself as a speciall token of his love Ergo c. Ninteenthly If Christ hath left us no day of his own appointment and Institution it were our safest way to turne Iewes as some have done upon this very motive at least in this point for the Iewes day we are well assured was from God but we may say of the Lords day as they did of the Lord himselfe we know not whence it is But no man will say it is best for us to turne Iewes in this point Ergo c. Twentiethly The very Name is a sufficient demonstration of a Divine Institution for all things belonging to Gods worship which have the Lords own name stamped upon them were ordained by the Lord himselfe as the Lords Prayer the Lords Supper c. But the observation of the Christian Sabbath is a thing appertaining to Gods worship and hath the Lords own name engraven upon it by the r Rev. 1.10 holy Ghost himselfe Ergo c. The one and Twentieth That which Christ did immediatly institute in his own person and with his own mouth ordaine must needs be of divine institution But that Christ did immediatly in his own person institute the Lords day the * Ioh. 20.19.22 Evangelist makes apparent for he came into the midst of his Disciples the holy assembly the two first daies of the two first weekes then he blessed them breathed on them gave them the keyes of the Kingdome It 's very likely he did this every first day of the week from his Resurrection to his Assension * Act. 1.2.3 speaking unto them the things appertaining to the Kingdome of God Ergo c. The two and twentieth Christ whiles he was upon the earth after his Resurrection gaue the Apostles instruction and commands Acts 1.2 what these commands were may be knowne say Divines partly by their Doctrine and partly by their practice But if Christ gaue them such commands as is most apparent without question he would not omit to command them a day to remember him and his Resurrection in and to performe vnto him holy worship nay that this he did appeares also by their practice Ergo. The three and twentieth makes it more evident thus Whatsoeuer is an Apostolicall tradition is of Divine Institution for they deliuered nothing but what they first receiued But the Lords-daies obseruation is certainly an Apostolicall tradition * 1. Cor. 10. ◠for they appointed collections to be made for the poore that day the ordaining of the one doth necessarily inferre the other the duty of the day supposeth the day And withall this day hath been constantly obserued by the whole Church in all ages and that without the authority of any generall Councell the very definition of an Apostolicall tradition deliuered by ſ Illa quae non scripta sed tradita custodimus quae quidè toto terrarum orbe observantur Aug. ad Ian. ep 118. S. Augustine Ergo. The foure and twentieth If the Lords day were not of Christs institution to his Apostles then surely they by their practice haue drawne the Church of Christ into an horrible presumption as great as that of Ieroboam Antiochus and Antichrist himselfe changing times and seasons But God forbid any man should thinke so uncharitably of the Apostles therefore certainly they receiued warrant for what they did from Christ himselfe The fiue and twentieth If we keepe the Lords day warranted thereunto only by the Apostles practice for which they themselues receiued no precept then by the same reason we haue only the Apostles practice for abolishing the Iewes Saturday-Sabbath But we forbeare not Saturday-Sabbath only upon the Apostles practice and example for which doubtlesse they receiued a precept And indeed the examples of holy men not seconded by precepts shew what we may doe the case being the same not what we must doe Now the Church not only may but must forbeare Satterday-Sabbath and obserue the Lords day Ergo c. The six and twentieth That day on which the holy Ghost was giuen with all his graces with such efficacy that * Acts 2.41 S. Peter immediately with one short Sermon conuerted three thousand soules must needs be a day of Christs owne Instituting But this day was the Lords day the day of Pentecost Ergo c. The seuen and twentieth That day on which Christ reuealed himselfe unto S. Iohn acquainting him with his whole counsell concerning his Church to the worlds end was doubtlesse a day
Mor. l. 1. c. 10. Gregory setting before their eyes our Saviours mildnesse we men saith he for for the most part labouring to preserue judgement justice utterly abandon mildnesse and mercy and on the contrary when we would be milde we cease to be just But our Saviour cloathed with our flesh was never so milde but that withall he was just neither was he so severely just as to forget to be mercifull and he giues instance in the womaÌ„ taken in adultery in which he excellently observed both For when he said Cast the first stone at her he satisfied the rule of justice even in the rigour of the letter of the Law but when he added Let him that is without sinne amongst you cast this first stone he so qualified it with equity and moderation that the woman escaped Let us be zealous in Gods name against all prophaners of the Lords day but let us not be so intemperate in our zeale as to usurpe Gods throne pronounce our pleasures upon our brethren take them out of their graues and brand them to posterity as men plagued and smitten of God for prophanation I will conclude with the words of the same c Postulatus â—udicare dominus de peccatrice non station dedit judicium sed priùs incâ—inans se deorsùm digito scribebat in â—errâ nos typicè instituens ut cùm proximorum peâ—â—ata conspicimus non haec antè reprehendenda iudicemus quà m digito discretionis soâ—ertèr exculp amus Greg. S. Gregory upon the same story in another place Our Lord saith he being required to judge the Adulteresse did not presently pronounce her doome but first stooped downe and wrote with his finger upon the ground he intended hereby to instruct us saith the Father that when we seethe apparent errors of our brethren before we proceed to our peremptory sentences we first wisely consider of the thing and with the finger of discretion note what was pleasing or displeasing unto God therein What our Saviours intention was in this action of his I cannot say I am sure S. Gregories observation is graue and substantiall according unto which if we reflect upon the clamorous determinations of our Sabbatharians the point being yet in controversie and defin'd against them by the most and the learned'st in the Church it will appeare that they neither weigh things in the ballance of moderation nor distinguish of things with the finger of discretion To the ninth the authorities alleaged speak for the most part as forced witnesses quite contrary to that for which they are produced as the Edicts of Constantine the Synodicall decrees The rest shall receiue answer in the next Question to which they more properly belong Those who haue writen to this purpose in the Church of England of late yeares are parties and therefore cannot be competent judges in this controversie CAP. XXVI Wherein is inquired after those duties of holinesse unto which the Conscience is bound on the Lords day THere remaines only the last scruple which is or can be incident to this subject viz. What duties of holinesse are proper and essentiall to the Lords day whether only the acts of publike worship with the congregation or the private exercises also of those head-graces faith hope loue unto which whatsoever is in Christian Religion may be reduced And this is indeed a point of chiefest consideration because it is practicall and practice being the life and spirit of knowledge the conscience can never be throughly setled untill this be discovered Our literall Sabbatharians affirme in this question and so affirme that they make the observation of the Lords day the very abridgment of Godlinesse in respect of the first Table and of righteousnesse in respect of the second Table And from hence proceed these wide outcries against any that shall contradict them that Religion is laid upon the back and prophanenesse set up in the roome thereof Nay they so affirme in this point as that their doctrine is made an open and professed snare such a manner of holinesse being exacted as that it is impossible for any man living in the state of corruption to sanctifie a Sabbath in that manner as is required of him either in thought word or deed I confesse were it true that upon the Lords day a man forsaking the naturall rest of his bed sooner then vpon other daies must begin early in the morning with the acts of repentance then proceed to the acts of faith and after the duties of loue conclude with repentance and this with that manner of solemnity and formality which some require it must needs be even to the best an utter impossibility whether we looke at parts or degrees But that the observation of the Lords day in that manner as the Lord himselfe expects whatsoever men please to impose is not such a Chimaera as they fancy will appeare I hope in its due place In the meane while we will set downe these arguments which seeme to support this opinion CHAP. XXVII The Arguments which seeme to conclude for all duties of holinesse in generall are set downe FIrst from the letter of the Commandement Remember to keepe holy the Sabbath day we many reason thus where no one kind of holy-daâ—â—s are spoken of there all duties of holinesse are to be understood it is generally so in other places of Scripture as in that of the Apostle * Peter 1.16 be yee holy for I am holy and elswhere * Heb. 12.14 follow holinesse without which no man shall see God But in the words of the Commandement holinesse in generall is required of us Therefore c. Secondly that which is and ought to be a common duty of all daies is much more a particular duty on the Lords day The reason hereof is both because the Lords day is in many respects to be preferred before all other daies and because it is set apart from all others unto holinesse But the private exercises of all gracious habits with our selues and our families are and ought to be common performances upon all daies For as they binde alwayes so are they indefinitely commanded without restraint to any set dayes they are therefore much more required upon the Lords day being the common duties of all dayes Thirdly any duty is more required upon that time on which if rightly performed it is more acceptable to God then at any other time For by this appeares that God hath regard as well to the time as to the duty But all the duties of holinesse even the private and personall and oeconomicall are more acceptable unto God if performed on the day of his Sabbath this appeares first by the words of the * Isay 58.13 Prophet saying if thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath from doeing thy pleasure upon my Holy-day and call my Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine owne wayes c. In which words plaine it is that the
Lord vnlesse we also adde thereunto sundry actuall performances the time and manners whereof they also shew us If therefore any difference be it is that we must be wholy taken up with such performances during the whole Sabbath for 24. houres and turne meere Euchites upon the day which is not required in other dayes But that the Sabbath is of no such length hath been already declared and that God giues no such continuate taskes of holy performances shall I hope before we part be made evident Secondly d Finis non seper est de substantià praecepti neque secundùm veros Theologos cadit sub praecepto Med. Inst Non idem est finis praecepti id de quo praeceptum datur Aquin. 1.2 qu. 100. art 9. ad 2. the end is not comanded by that Law in which the meanes are prescribed for though the precept of the end include also the precept of the meanes yet not on the contrary This proposition is laid downe by the Moralists as an undoubted maxime and doth evidently appeare For example when we are commanded to heare the word we are not by the force there of commanded to beleeue in Christ Iesus yet * Rom. 10.17 Faith as saith the Apostle cometh by hearing That rule which commandeth to beate downe the body and to keepe it in subjection doth not require of vs the vertues of humility chastity c. but on the contrary these being the end require the other as the meanes But the law of sanctifying a holy Sabbath is a law of the meanes whereby we are taught and enabled to serue the Lord in the private duties of holinesse and to exercise in our selues the graces of faith hope loue c. This also is plaine of it selfe and requires no farther proofe For why doe we resort to the congregation on the Lords day But partly to be instructed by the word partly to be inflamed with the loue of God and zeale unto his service the whole weeke after as well as to tender him our publike homage in acknowledgement of his soveraigne dominion Thirdly no affirmatiue precepts are to be extended beyond that which the letter doth containe though it be otherwise in precepts which be negatiue For example honour thy father and mother when we know what it is to honour our Superiours we haue the whole latitude of this Law It is not so I say in negatiues as appeares by our Saviours confutation of the Pharisees glosses upon the seventh Commandement But the law of the Sabbath is an affirmatiue precept and prescribes the publique worship of God in the congregation therefore is not farther to be extended Fourthly if all duties of piety and mercy whatsoever were commanded by the law of the Sabbath then were there no difference at all between this and the other precepts of the Decalogue at least for that day so that upon one day of every weeke the other Commandements were needlesse and superfluous But this is not to be affirmed Ob. If any say that one and the same duty may be under divers precepts Resp I answer that though this be most true yet must we not confound the Law of God and make an intricate maze thereof to the entangling of mens consciences for the Decalogue is said to be ten words ten for their number words for their distinction I denie not that one and the same duty may be under divers precepts but then they are diversly considered as referred to divers ends The object of different commandements may be materially the same but formally distinct So temperance and sobriety may be both under the sixt and under the seventh precept under the sixt as meanes of preservation of breath under the seventh as the helps unto chastity and mortification But what formality can distinguish the duties of holinesse on the Lords day from the same duties on other daies I know not if you say to sanctifie the Sabbath the question is begged and so nothing said Fiftly were the whole practice of Religion both publique and private the duty of the Lords day then it would follow which is also affirmed that to obserue the Lords day were impossible to any man in the state of corruption For I think no man unlesse he be some braine-sick Perfectist will challenge to himselfe such a measure of holinesse though but for a day But that the law of the Lords day is thus impossible being not a Legall but Evangelicall observation of positiue command for all such are light yokes and easie burthens is utterly untrue Therefore c. Sixtly nothing but what is naturall and eternall is commanded in the fourth precept of the Decalogue binding us under the Gospell but that private and personall acts of religion should be performed by us precisely upon this or that day of publique worship in that manner as is required is not naturall and eternall binding us under the Gospell For the Law of nature prescribes only in generall not any thing for any time or day or manner in particular Seventhly that which is no where spoken of much lesse commanded in the new Testament bindes not the conscience of any under the Gospell but the private exercises of religion upon the Lords day are not spoken of much lesse commanded in the new Testament For then such commands were easily shewed all men would readily submit themselues thereunto Eightly this manner of observation seemeth to change the nature of the Lords day from being the Christian Feast and transformeth it rather into a day of Fast humiliation For let their doctrine of Sabbathizing be compared to the doctrine of fasting and we shall finde them the same saue only that a totall abstinence from all things wherein nature delighteth is required in the one but not so in the other But we must not metamorphize the Lords day which is and ought to be the Christian mans Festivall wherein he should not only inwardly but out wardly also rejoice in the Lord his God Ob. If any say that the true beleiver takes no greater comfort then in the exercises of humiliation nothing being so sweet unto him as the teares of contrition Resp I answer that what the * Heb. 12.11 Apostle speaketh of affliction in generall That afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby is true also of the day of humiliation of the bruising of the soule in particular the affliction is one thing the fruit thereof another this ioyfull that for the present grievous and doth not so well sort with the nature of the Lords day Vpon which ground it was expresly forbidden the e Hoc ab omni ecclesiâ Orientali Occidentali observatum contra haereticos Can. Apost 61. Christians by Antiquity to fast upon the Lords day Ob. But is it not lawfull then for a man to repent and be converted unto God comming out of the state of sin into the state of grace through the troubles and anguishes
the whole Church but a more remote and subordinate end and last of all intended by the Law-giver But her we must remember that finis praecepti nō est sub praecepto that is if we come short of the end for which any thing is commanded so we faile not in the thing it selfe we sinne not against the precept wherein the thing it selfe is commanded This faith a Neta has regulas quibus toties uti oportet Scilicèt non esse idem sinem praecepti id de quo praeceptum datur quia finis praecepti non cadit sub praecepto ut id quod praecipitur sed ut intentū à Legislatore Quonià m ex hinc habes solutionem multarum quaestionum pro omnibus erudit is bonis mentibus metuentibus culpara ubi non est Cajet in Aquin. 1.2 q. 100. art 9. Caietan * Lopez parte 1. c. 34. de circumst Lopez others is a good rule to be observed for the quieting of weake consciences which feare many times where no feare is conceiving that they transgresse more Commádements then they doe indeed He that is not bettered by the publique Assemblies sins indeed but not against the Commandement of the Sabbath which injoynes those Assemblies Although therefore men must not think it enough to stand in the congregation as Images in the glasse-windowes yet if we joyne with our brethren in the acts of Gods service suppose we receiue not improuement of grace therefrom we must not presently be arraigned for prophaners of the Lords day You will say our edification in religion being required say by other precepts we are alwaies bound to forbeare such things as are destructive thereof as sports playes and all other waies which haue no affinity there with I would gladly know what difference there is between the publique worship upon the Lords day and the same upon other daies The same word is preached the same prayers used the same hymnes are sung the same Minister imployed the same people present yet neither honest recreations nor lawful vocations nor manuall operations are then thought to be hinderances to our profiting by the publique Asséblies Then they steale not away the seed sowne they choak not the good word of God they driue not out of our hearts either the exhortations of the Minister or secret motions of the spirit why then must they doe this upon the Lords day haue the ordinances of God lesse vertue hath the day lesse promise of grace Are our hears then more unreachable Are they not destructiue of good things at other times and are they so at this time By this it plainly appeares that we place some holinesse in the day it selfe Besides there is a grosse ignominie and fowle aspersion cast upon those whom they oppose in this point as if they countenanced such licentious waies as must needs destroy the work of grace in the Lords people not honest recreations which serue to refresh them are intended but luxurious delights in which the Iewes did Sabbathize are insinuated serving onely as provocations to lust and incentiues of sensuall pleasures Charity thinketh not evill faith the * 1. Cor. 13.5 Apostle evill be to him that thinketh evill faith the Proverb It is the easiest point of Rhetorick to be eloquent in speaking evill he that hath a galled minde a discontented fortune an unquiet spirit and hath been accustomed to a rash censuring humour may soone become a bitter Satyrist Ob. But what else are May-games and Morrice-daunces but carnall and brutish delights and why may we not call a spade a spade Resp I presume no man will say that they are in themselves and in their own natures sinfull but only by use or abuse rather but we please not to obserue what care is taken to prevent such abuses the time allowed being very little the company restrained the ministers of justice to be very watchfull herein that they may indeed recreate the spirits of the meaner people not corrupt their minds Ob. But the Saints take no such pleasure as in holy things Resp Indeed there is no joy to that of the holy Ghost no delight to that of the inward man no comfort to the comforts of God but what then is all the refreshing of nature pleasing of the sense solace of art unlawfull in their times and seasons Ob. But though these sports be circumscribed to certain houres after Evening prayer yet in the mean while they draw away the minds of the vulgar their harts runne after them though their bodies moue not in them hence the Lords Sabbath is a wearisomenesse and they say within themselues when will it be ended Resp I answere that this is an inward and spirituall wickednesse of their secret thoughts which none is able to discover and therefore none should presume to judge But suppose it for there is no evill imaginable by any which is not practised by some are they therefore unlawfull and not to be permitted Doe not many tyre their best Auditours sometimes with as long as empty discourses Are not think you many poore servants wearied with private exercises and wish they were at an end Ob. If you say this proceeds from their wicked hearts Resp Change but the names and answer your selues Ob. If you reply the reason is not the same for these things are good in themselues and under precept Resp I answer indeed the things are such but not under the precept of which we speak much lesse that manner of performing them which is prescribed from whence the wearisomenesse doth arise Ob. But those recreations which are permitted doe not as is pretended refresh the spirits but on the contrary many of them being violent exercises waft and consume them Resp As if a thing toylsome in performance may not recreate the performer A Scholar that hath spent his spirits in his study doth he not betake himselfe to some bodily exercise usque ad ruborem nay sudorem to reviue them For these being wasted by nothing more then by the continuall bent of the minde as the strength of a bow that stands alwaies bended relents alwaies by degrees untill it come to be of no strength our severall recreations cause severall diversions by which the minde being let loose and the body in agitation the spirits receiue a kinde of new life Ob. But if you open a dore to liberty it will soone become a wide gate to licence Resp I answer that the dore of true Christian liberty should in all things stand open to all the Professours of the Gospell with the Apostles limitations that it neither be * 1. Pet. 2.16 a cloake on the one side nor evill spoken of on the other side as an occasion of falling to our brethren with these cautions I never knew that truth did harme in Gods Church Ob. If any say that many use it only as a cloak under which they vent their prophanations so it becomes an occasion of falling to some and of
griefe of heart to others of Gods people Resp I answer that such haue the greater sin It is a fearefull condition when even the truth it selfe shall thus cooperate unto their destruction but better it is that some offences come then either truth be lost or people nurst up in Hypocrisie and superstition For my own part I think all kinds of holy frauds under which perhaps these Sabbatharian tenents may be ranged by whomsoever practised or what advantages soever may acrue there from to be grosse delusions of men meere mockings of God and most unbeseeming the profession of the Gospell As for the well-minded Christian that takes offence he is rather to be pitied then humoured and ought to be well informed of passiue scandalls For it is not enough to say we are offended but we must consider how justly whether of weaknesse or obstinacy I meane in regard of the publique declaration of the Magistrate For in cafe of this nature a reason being rendred protesting against the prophanation of the day nothing being intended but the informing of the judgement the setling of the conscience the good of poore people preservation of unity and uniformity howsoever our private judgements incline us we should rather comply with Authority then be scandalized especially in points that are so disputable These things thus premised we shall easily satisfie the adverse arguments CHAP. XXX Wherein satisfaction is given to the reasons formerly alleaged TO the first the words of the Commandement are mistaken for not all holy duties in grosse but only that kinde of holinesse which is proper to the Lords day is there spoken of the words are plaine Keep holy the Sabbath day and the fourth precept is no transcendent as is said in the second third conclusions Ob. If any say that the Lords day differs from others in this that the whole Sabbath is to be spent in holinesse whereas in other dayes such portions only as may be well spared from other imployments are required of us Resp I answer first this is only said secondly we haue no president hereof in the Iewish Synagogue Thirdly the contrary doth appeare by the Question formerly disputed concerning the duration of the Lords day Lastly how can the conscience be satisfied herein being utterly lest to seeke by our adversaries themselues where to begin or where to end the day nay the scripture being utterly silent in this particular if we speak of the Lords day as being our Christian Sabbath To the second the Lords day may be considered First in it's absolute nature as a part of our time in this respect it is most true that what is the common duty of all daies should be also that daies duty the rather because all other imployments are abandoned and therefore more leasure is afforded Secondly in his relatiue nature as separated from the rest of the week to the service of the congregation and so there are especiall duties appointed which are not common to other daies by vertue of the fourth Commandement The reason from the lesse to the greater is of no force because it speaks not adidem for the Lords day as it is a day and part of our time is no better then other daies but as it is the Lords day devoted by the Church to the Lords service it is indeed the Queene of daies and therefore therein the highest and noblest Christian duties are performed in the publique worship even by the precept of sanctifying the Sabbath day To the third Familie-duties are not acceptable unto God performed upon one day more then upon another if there be no other considerations concurring thereunto He that is no accepter of persons is likewise no accepter of times otherwise then the Apostle expresseth it out of the Psalmist ◠Heb. 3.7 To day if yee will heare his voice harden not your hearts by which is meant the whole time of the Gospell Nor are the sinnes of men more hatefull because committed upon that day unlesse they carry with them an open or secret malignity hindring either the duties of the day themselues or our holy and religious performing of them as the * Aquin. Sylv. Cajet Nav. Sot Canus Med. Schoolemen teach And so the words of the Prophet Isaiah are to be understood for their covetous desires voluptuous living and cruell practices made them come before the Lord in his sanctuary onely in outward appearance formally personating what God really required nay abounding and persevering in their wicked waies as * An circumstantia divini sesti sit necessariò consitenda Duae sunt opiniones prima Modernorum qui tenent partem affirmantem 2d sancti Thom. Ios Ang. Iustin Martyr expounds that place More to this argument in that which followeth To the fourth the day of Christs resurrection from the graue requires no more our resurrection from sin then other daies unlesse only by way of motiue or remembrance Thus indeed this day * Vide Iustinum Martyr◠in Dial. cùm Triphone as all other consecrated things doth receiue from its consecration an especiall qualitie to beget in the hearts of men the sparks of devotion unlesse they be hindred in them by want of reverence What therefore a Quanquam vallis haec miseriae universalitèr sit locus poenitentiae nihilominùs Templorum locus suâ quidem religione qualitate est adpoenitentiam provocativus Gersen de vita Clerico Gerson affirmes of Churches consecrated places in regard of repentance we doubt not to affirme of the Lords day in regard of all holy duties The Church or consecrated place saith he is by reason of its venerable condition ad poenitentiam provocativus a place provoking unto repentance from hence he hath these conclusions First that ordinarily it is a work more holy in it selfe more pleasing unto God more profitable unto us to pray in consecrated places then elsewhere because the Majestie of the consecrated place doth more incite us unto devotion Secondly that all blasphemy either in words deeds or signes is so much the more execrable by how much the place is more holy Thirdly that one cause why wicked Priests are worse then wicked Lay-men which S. Augustine faith he often found by experience is that they abuse those things which should winne them unto repentance Fourthly that those affections which separate from God are every where damnable but much more in the Temple as appeares by our * John 2 16. Saviours overthrowing the Tables of the mony-changers there So say we that the Lords day by reason of the glorious dedication of it to the Lord Christ as the memoriall of his resurrection is in it's selfe provoking unto newnesse of life that holy duties are on this day ordinarily performed with greater fervency of spirit benefit to our selues and therefore acceptance with God because the Glory of the day is apt to put life unto our performances that all irreligious conversation is therefore the more execrable upon that
day that the reason why wicked ecrable upon that day that the reason why wicked Christians are worse then Godlesse Heathens manytimes is because they abuse all such things whereby the Lord would draw them unto himselfe amongst others the Lords day that all thoughts words and waies which separate from God are alwaies damnable but much more upon the Lords day from this ground and no other But hence as it doth not follow on the one side that it is not lawfull elsewhere to repent of our sinnes or to make our prayers unto God saue in consecrated places or that whensoeuer we come there we sin if we performe not these duties so neither here on the other side must we conceiue that no holy duties are to be done but on the Lords day or that we break the Law of the Sabbath if during the whole day we doe not performe them And by this which hath been hath said not only the present argument receiues full satisfaction but if I mistake not that great stumbling block of these times of bowing toward the Communion Table is removed out of the way of all well-affected people For the Table being amongst consecrated things either it acquires something by vertue of its consecration or a Consecrationes Ecclesiae nan sunt rantùm opera sed sunt efficaces Cajet in Tho part t. qu. 83 Art 3. Res Consecratae habibes dicuntur ad excâ—tandam in nobis reverentiam devotionem ibidem else the action of the Church is not only voyd but also vaine idle which no man will I think affirme That which the consecration conferres cannot be any reall quality of holinesse for of this it is not capeable it must needs be therefore only a fitnesse or aptnesse in the thing consecrated to work upon the minds and understandings of men considering it as consecrated And is nothing else but an b Deus est preseâ—s Altari Ecclesiae aliis hujusmodi speciali modo sicut novo instrumento ad excitandam reverentiam devotionem circa divinum cultum c. Cajet ibidem aptitude to stirre them up to holy thoughts upon those things represented and acted upon that holy place which multiplying themselues doe at last break forth into the act of holy worship in generall of the whole Trinity but particularly of the glorious person of the Sonne of God who humbling himselfe unto the death of the Crosse tendred unto his Father an universall and holy sacrifice for the sins of the whole world Not the Table therefore is worshipped for this is so palpable Idolatry as cannot be incident to any Heathen nor any thing set upon the Table the reserving of the consecrated Elements we leaue to the Church of Rome and therefore there is no thought here of Transubstantiation but Christ as the Messias slaine the propitiation for our sinnes by whole stripes we are healed The Table is only a memoratiue instrument unto which the assistance of grace is never wanting either to beget in our minds such thoughts of the death of Christ or to extract from our persons such a worship of him if we c Ecclesiâ Alrare alia huiusmodi ex consecratione adipiscuntur quandam spiritualem virtutem per quam apta redduntur divino cultui ut scilicèt homines devotionem quandam exindè percipiant sint paratiores ad divina nisihoc propter irreverentiam impediatur Aquin. parte 3. qu. 83. art 3. ad tertium be not otherwise wanting to our selues And for my part if this be all which is practised I am sure it 's all which is taught by the Learned even in the Popish Schoole it selfe I see no reason why if a day quatenus a separated day may be thus memoratiue a Table or ALTAR call it what you please thus separated may not be so likewise or why we should not readily imbrace all occasions opportunities helps and furtherances of worshipping the person of our Lord Christ whose honour is generally impaired by sundry Heretiques and most maliciously fought against by Satan Anti-Christ and all his complices Which is some had well understood it had not been possible for them to haue stumbled thereat at least they would haue forborne many uncharitable invectiues against their brethren who upon those grounds exercise this worship To the fifth all meanes directly tending to any good end are included in the precept of the end but private duties as they are here required are no where commanded as meanes unto the publique but rather on the contrary for we doe not therefore accustome our selues to private duties that so we may be able to serue God in publique but we therefore attend the publique that thereby we may be the better enabled to worship him the whole week after So that if the Lords day be indeed sanctified by the syncere performance of publique duties the conscience is not farther obliged under the penalty of sinne by any precept yet reveal'd concerning the Lords day To the sixth it is most true that the spirituall repose of the soule was shaddowed out unto us by the corporall rest of the body in the Iewish Sabbath so that our whole life should be a holy rest unto the Lord from the servile works of sinne and Satan and how men sinne against the Lords day in particular if the Consecrated day be not a motiue unto them of holynesse hath already been said But that the day it selfe and the sanctification thereof such as is here prescribed us was prefigured by the old Sabbath we vtterly deny that which was shaddowed thereby being the duty of the whole time of the Gospell not of any particular day To the seventh there is no proportion at all betweene these pretended observances and the Iewes private rest for certaine it is that when amongst them no man went out of his place upon the Sabbath day they performed a publique duty celebrating thereby that common rest which they had now obtained from the slavery of Egypt wherein every family and person amongst them shared Ob. If you say it 's so here God being privately worshipped by all there doth result out of the particulars the publique honour of God acknowledging our spirituall deliverance from sinne and Satan Resp I answer that though this be most true yet the case is most different for First they had an expresse precept in that kind and the whole time was chalked out unto them it is not so with us Secondly that only was required of them which was most easy for every one to performe whereas those holy performances which are here required come not within the reach of every mans measure To the eight supposing that which many of the Schoolemen teach concerning our edifying in holy things on the Lords day the argument is faulty in its other proposition For that we cannot learne of the Lord in publique without private exercises so varied and spunne along throughout the whole day is not true neither can any
Sabbath in Paradise And if he sinned the sixt day as most conceiue this was a bad preparation to the next dayes Sabbath such as was likely to disturb the whole work If he stood the sixt day and sinned the seventh long he stood not all agree was the day of his fall think you the day of his Sabbath That he entred upon the dominion of the creatures upon the seventh day contradicts the very Text it selfe which saith they were delivered up unto him upon the sixt day unlesse we like to interpret Moses by the figure Anticipation in that Chapter which is so much condemned in the next That time was first divided by weeks afterward by months which is the very pillar of all the rest is as weakly as confidently affirmed For not to speak of the circle here used the division of time into weeks being brought to proue the Sabbath to haue beene from the beginning the Sabbath being blest sanctified from the beginning to proue this division of time by weeks no such thing can be concluded from that Text unlesse we grant that all separated and sanctified daies and such were all the Iewish Festivalls are presently to be the divisions of time On the other side sure we are that man in the beginning was put to Schoole unto the creature and that the Sunne and Moone were purposely set in the Firmament to shew him times and seasons Is it now probable or can it stand with the intention of the Creator that man should come by the divisions of times otherwise then by observing the Sunne and Moone especially since the Changes of the Moon doe so punctually lead us unto weeks In the next place it was wisely foreseene that a positiue precept serues not our turne and therefore we fetch about for a morality also therein which cannot be without sundry suppositions That nature tels us of time to be set apart for Gods worship is most true but that shee directs us to this in speciall or that in particular is fallaciously collected For what if the creature be under the absolute power of the Creator are therefore no Circumstantials left to the discretion of the Church in holy things What though some particular persons would unequally carue therein as Prometheus did betweene himselfe and Iupiter would the Church alwaies assisted by Gods spirit think we doe the like So for the comfortable performance which is pretended I would aske which is more comfortable when we haue some things voluntary which may be a free gift or when we are fettered in our performances like flaues more then sonnes Lastly that uniformity in publique actions cannot be observed unlesse God interpose his immediate authority savours of something else then Sabbatharian tenents If those daies are alwaies holy which are honoured with some notable work of God I see no reason why the day of our Saviours incarnation and hypostaticall union the most unsearchable a Nunquam ' Deus adeò grande fecit miraculum in caelo aut terrâ sive resuscitando mertuos sive illuminando caecos sic de aliis sicut est miraculum hoc ' unionis humanitatis addivinitatem Gers parte 4 â ser de Nativitate and glorious work ad extra or Friday wherein was finished the work of our redemption should not be a Sabbath as b Euseb lib. 4. c. 18. Constantine made it Surely although all Sabbaths haue beene kept upon daies chalked out by Gods famous works yet all daies thus chalked out haue not been forthwith Sabbaths by divine institution That the proportion of one in seven to be kept Sabbath cannot be ceremoniall that never any found any Ceremony therein is utterly untrue For to omit others c Videri ergo possit Dominus per diem septimum populo suo delineasse suturam sui Sabbathi perfectionem Cal. de 4. prae Sic eliam Clemens Alexandrinus ex Elatone lib. 5. Stlomaâ— Calvin hath long since observed that it did not only historically teach the Iewes the perfection of the works of nature but mystically also the perfection of the works of grace and that nothing should be wanting unto us in the person of the promised Messias the number of seven being the number of perfection Alike solid is that which followeth that the Rest of the seventh day had relation unto Christs rest only in the Graue but was not mystically referred unto the grace of the Gospell which is contrary both to the Scripture and to the streame of all Divines Ancient and Moderne And what if the Iews were partakers of the grace of Christ yet were they led thereunto by the hand as children in these and the like figures and how doth this hang together There is a taxation of one in seven under the Gospell therefore that which the Iewes had under Moses could not be ceremoniall That we under the Gospell keep the fourth Commandement is most true understood in generall of the substance of the Commandement for times of publique worship but in nothing else For thought it say Remember the Sabbath day not the seventh yet immediatly it addeth by way of exposition the seventh is the Sabbath and which it meaneth of the seventh even the next after the creatioÌ„ We must not then make God wise according to our fancies by making his word a Lesbian rule broken asunder and patched together at our own pleasures But say it speaks of a Sabbath in generall how doth it speak of a seventh day-Sabbath in speciall under the Gospell or of the Lords day in particular This therefore must be helped with another heap of superstâ—â—ons Christians you say must not giue a worse time unto the Lords service then did the Iewes must it therefore be just the same that a better would proue a publique grievance is a plausible put off why might we not giue him every sixt day if the whole Church should think it fit would it not be all one upon the matter to Trades-men Labourers But the Lord hath marked out unto us his own day by his own resurrection This is most true and therefore the Church alwaies hath and I doubt not but ever wil obserue it to the worlds end though only by the Churches authority But supposing it to be our Sabbath must it not be kept for time and manner as that of the Iewes was If it be not the Iewish why should we keep the Iewish time of just so many houres with the Iewish manner of rest for such or such cessations As for the rest he that is a Teacher of prophanenesse and an Abettour of licentiousnesse an untempered morter-dauber let him be accursed The other patterne of doctrine therefore in this point is That God created man in that high measure of knowledge as made him little lower then the Angels Psal 8.5 That man continued in this estate but a very short time perhaps not many houres That notwithstanding his fall a great part of his wisdome remained with him especially his naturall knowledge of the creature and the worlds creation That God admitting fal'n man into the state of grace through repentance was pleased to converse with him though not so familiarly as otherwise he would haue done by apparitions and revelations That the light of nature remaining taught him that this God must be publiquely worshipped That he being not unmindefull of his fall and the curse which thereby was brought upon him death and being instructed in the faith of the Messias to be slaine hence God came to be publiquely worshipped by the sacrifices of slaine beasts That the set time of this publique sacrificing is not mentioned in Scripture That the place in the second of Genesis was written by Moses after the Law was given and had relation thereunto That nothing can be averred of the Patriarchs practice till Israels comming into the wildernesse and the fall of Manna That the Law delivered in the fourth precept is morall for substance as that God must haue times for publique worship Ceremoniall for circumstance in the rest binding the Iewes only leading them partly backward to their state in Egypt the fall of Manna partly forward to good things to come in Christ That Christ therefore and the Gospell being exhibited this circumstantiall Sabbath must cease but expired not quite untill the destruction of the Temple That during this while the Apostles kept the Iewish Sabbath as they did other Ceremonies That withall they kept in a manner the Lords day also for breaking of bread though this was not alwaies done upon that day only That whatsoever the Apostles did in the Churches by them planted was not by Apostolicall authority they being the Churches Pastors as well as Christs Apostles That the discipline of the Church of which the time and manner of publique Assemblies is not the least part was established by them as Pastors not Apostles and might afterward receiue such changes as the state of succeeding times should require That therefore the institution of the Lords day is by Ecclesiasticall authority and that this is a sufficient tye of conscience to all such as list not to be obstinately wilfull That the Lords day thus established must be observed and set apart for Gods publique worship and all meanes used for the supporting thereof That those that joyne not with the Congregation therein are guilty of prophanation That whatsoever doth hinder this in any man of which no generall rule can be given ought to be avoided by him and that herein every mans experience can best informe him That such things as are used only as diversions of the minde and recreations of the body are lawfull on this day so they offend not in any other circumstance That those that are inclined and inabled to private holy exercises performed without fraud or sinister respect doe that which is most profitable and commendable though not bound thereto by the Law of the Lords day That all men should be watchfull over themselues to keep a spirituall Sabbath from the servile works of sinne throughout the whole course of this life having alwaies an eye to that Sabbath of Sabbaths promised us in the kingdome of GOD our Father and of his deare Sonne IESUS CHRIST to whom be honour and glory now and for ever more Amen FINIS
Lord as much presseth the time as the duties Secondly by the Law of contraries For if any sinne as drunkennesse uncleanenesse blasphemie and prophanenesse be more abhominable in the sight of God upon the Lords day then upon any other day it must needs be that the coÌ„trary vertues are more acceptable unto him also from the circumstance of the day But the former is generally affirmed especially of the Scotists and is grounded upon that common Maxime in Morall Philosophy Bonitas malitia actionum pendet à circumst antijs the good and evill of our wayes are to be measured by the circumstances thereof and amongst these the circumstance of time is not to be sleighted Ergo c. Fourthly the day of Christs corporall resurrection from the graue requires of us aboue other dayes a spirituall resurrection from sinne in all the duties of holinesse of what kind soever for this being the generall use to be made of our Saviours resurrectioÌ„ as appeares by the Apostle Rom. 6.4 it should be chiefly practised on that day on which the memory thereof is solemnized All men will acknowledge that when we doe the duty of the day upon the day it selfe it is most seasonable and duties seasonable doth the * Prov. 25.11 wise man compare to apples of gold in pictures of silver But the Lords day is the day of Christs resurrection Ergo c. Fiftly that Law which doth enjoyne publike worship doth also require of us all such duties as are furtherances of the publike For where the end is commanded all such meanes as directly tend unto that end are also under precept But the Lords day requireth publique worship as all acknowledge and the private personall and oeconomicall duties of holinesse are maine helps and furtherances thereof both preparing us thereunto and putting life into our performances and causing us to profit thereby Therefore c. Sixtly that which was shadowed as a Type in the old Sabbath is required as an Evangelicall duty in the new Sabbath which is the Lords day for all the Mosaicall ceremonies were shadowes of good things to come to be performed partly by Christ partly by his spirit in us But this quiet rest of the soule and repose of the spirit in the Lord by all the duties of holinesse was shadowed as a Type of the old Sabbath therefore are they Evangelicall duties on the Lords day Seventhly though the letter of the fourth precept be Ceremoniall yet is the equity thereof morall and of this there is no question But the letter of the Iewish Sabbath required not only publique sacrificing but commanded also private rest For no man was to goe out of his place saith the * Exod. 16.29 text The Christians therefore on their Lords day are in allequitie and proportion bound not only to the publique but private duties of holinesse it is a Iuxta illud legis Mosaicae maneat unusquisque apud seipsum nullus egrediatur ostium domus suae die Sabbathi Bern. S. Bernards argument in his Octo puncta Eightly it is morall in the commandement that every man learne vpon the Sabbath those things which belong to his salvation This proposition is sett down in terminis by a b Quicquid sit de ecclesiae praecepto cer tè lege naturae fidei tenentur Christiani ea discere quae suae Saluti sunt necessaâ—ia Est 3. sent dist 37. par 14. Festivis maximè in praecipuis solennitatibus magis circa â—a quae solennitat is sunt immorandum videtur ut paâ—â—tèr eruâ—iatur animus exciâ—etur affectus Bern. Ser. 3. in Epipâ— Popish Schooleman farre be it from any good Protestant to speake lesse honourably of the Lords day then such But it is not possible for us to learne from the publique those things that belong unto our salvation unlesse we adde thereunto private exercises of holinesse as praying meditating conferring together with actuall motions of all habituall graces in us for by the one wee fasten them in our memories by the other wee incorporate them into our hearts Therefore c. Ninthly the Lords-day is a holy-day not in it selfe and in its own nature as the Anti-Sabbatharians themselves confesse but as it makes us holy by performing holy duties But the exercise of Gods publique worship alone makes us not holy without the private Therefore c. Tenthly the proper duties of this Iewish Sabbath besides publike worship were contemplatiue of the Creation as appeares by the reason of the rest prescribed in the Commandement for in six dayes the Lord made heauen and earth c. recognition of their deliverance out of Egypt remembrance of the fall of Mannah and their setling in the land of Canaan The equity therefore and the proportion of the Commandement requires that we not only worship God in publique but also privately study and be good proficients in the Schoole of nature in regard of the great works of Gods majestie and power and in the Schoole of Christ in regard of the great mercyes of our redemption Ergo c. Lastly Authorities are infinite The c Syn. Arelat c. 19. Syn. Turon c. 40. Syn. Mogun c. 37 Syn. Matiscon c. 7. Syn. Agath c. 47. Synods generally say we should continue in holy duties untill night having our eyes and our hands stretched out unto him all the day long sequestred from all other imployments let us only attend the service of God untill night Hugo de Sancto Victore saith that all the Festivals were appointed as for other ends so that we might be vacant unto prayers and contemplation To which purpose also many passages out of the Fathers might be brought especially in their popular Sermons as every man knoweth Ergo c. CAP. XXVIII The arguments for the Negatiue are breifly expressed FOR the Negatiue tenent it is also said First that which is every daies duty is no duty of the Lords day as it is the Lords day for then there should be no difference at all between the Lords day and other dayes in regard of the duty therein required which were to confound the Lords day to the great disparagement thereof with other dayes But the private exercises of those fundamentall graces of faith hope loue are the duties of every day If any say that the difference consists in this that to common dayes appertaine only private duties to the Lords day both private and publike The scruple still remaineth in regard of those dayes wherein the publike worship of God is also in use as Lecture-dayes Holy-dayes c. unlesse we account those daies also to be Sabbaths which our adversaries in this question will not agree unto If it be farther said that the difference stands in this that in other dayes they are only habitually but on the Lords day actually required I answer that in their other Tractates an habituall serving of God is so farre rejected as that they thinke it impossible to walk with any comfort with the