day of the week is longer or shorter then other but if the Lords day as the rest hath not twenty foure houres it must needs be shorter that which is next there unto either going before or comeing after must be longer then any other day Therefore c. Thirdly it is a good Rule which the Rabbins give that we should not take from that which is holy to adde to that which is prophane but on the contrary But if the day of Gods publique worship amongst us have not allowed it so many houres as other daies we take from that which is holy and adde to that which is prophane even our own secular imployments which were impious and sacrilegious Therefore c. Fourthly if the Iewes Sabbath were to consist of twenty foure houres then much more the Christians For we have both received more and greater benefits and we also have more and greater mysteries of Godlinesse to contemplate But the Iewish Sabbath was a whole naturall day Therefore c. Fiftly the Scripture seemes to be plaine to this purpose For the 92. Psalme was the Psalme of the Sabbath as appears by the title thereof and in the very begining thereof the Prophet sets downe the very time of its observation saying i Psal 92.1.2 it is a good thing to praise the Lord and to sing unto thy name O most High to declare thy loving kindnesse in the morning and thy truth in the night season meaning a whole naturall day Therefore c. Sixtly we must rest as God Rested begining to rest from the works of our callings when God began to rest from the worke of Creation For Gods rest is propounded in the Commandement to be our patterne but God began his rest at evening the sixt day immediatly after the making of the woman and so continued the day of his rest which was the seventh If therefore our Rest must be answerable to Gods Rest it must begin at evening and continue till evening Therefore c. Seventhly as Christ rested so must the Christian rest his actions were our instructions and we call the day of our Rest the Lords because it was dedicated unto him but Christ finished his course and began his Rest over night resting in the grave foure and twenty houres at the least Our Rest therefore being grounded upon Christs Rest cannot be lesse then a whole Naturall day Eightly as the Apostles to whom the observation of the day was immediatly prescribed by Christ himselfe kept the day in their own persons so doubtlesse must we their successors in all after ages But the Apostles Sabbath was a whole naturall day This appears by S. Pauls practice at Troas when he preached and administred the Sacrament and communed with the Disciples of holy things all duties of the Lords day k Acts 2â— 11 untill the morning Ergo c. Ninthly as our Saviour who instituted the day observed it in his own person so doubtlesse must the Church for ever But our Saviour appeared and his very apparition was the institution not only early in the morning but also l Iohn 20.19 late at night to his Disciples and even then preached unto them and gave them the holy Ghost with the keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven therefore c. If any object that by night in that place is understood the evening or shutting in of the light only making it thereby a day artificiall the very circuÌ„stances of the Text are against him For first the doores of the house were shut saith the Text which is not usually done in the evening Secondly they feared a search would be made for them which is commonly done in the dead and depth of the night Thirdly m Profundâ jam nocte Aret. in locum Aretius a good Protestant Expositor saith expresly it was very late in the night Tenthly as the Primitive Church observed the day so must we But the Primitive Church kept a night as well as a day as plainly appears by their vigills and over-night assemblies not only in time of persecution but when the Emperours themselves were Christians Every man knowes and we read unto this day the Sermons of the ancient Fathers in their vigils which doubtlesse had never been but that they held themselves obliged to a twenty-foure-houres Sabbath at the least Therefore c. Lastly divers good authorities may be brought to this purpose not only of some private men as n Sicut Antiquis praeceptum est de Sabbatho dicente legislatore à vespere usque ad veâ—eram Aug. de tempore St Augustine and o Irenaeus contra Valent. l. 4. cap. 31. Irenaeus but whole p Observemus igitur Diem Dominicum sanctificemus eum à vespere diei Sabbathi usque ad vesperam Dominici diei sequestrati ab omni negotio Con. Agath cap. 47. Noctem ipsam quae nos insseratae lucd inâ—â—cessibili redidis spiritualibus excubijs exigamus Con. Matis c. 1. Councells have so determined this point nay the very Canon law the sink and dunghill of Popery CHAP. XV. The Arguments against the day naturall are proposed THe negative Tenent hath also its Reasons First our Resting day must be proportionable to our working day for they are relatives and all relatives have their mutuall Respects in all things in which they are Relatives Certaine therefore it is that God requires for himselfe such a day of Rest as he doth proportion unto us for our own imployments But our working daies are Artificiall not naturall Man goeth forth unto his labour till the evening q Psal 104.3 saith the Prophet * Ioh. 11.9 there are twelve houres of the day saith our Saviour * Ioh. 9.4 night cometh wherein no man worketh Therefore c. Ob. May not a man then work by night in his lawfull calling Resp Yes doubtlesse if he offend not against the rules of mercy to himselfe or others or if there intervene not some other irregularity in his working and upon this caution also he may lawfully spend the Lords night in holy exercises But our question is not what some men may doe but what all men must doe under paine of sinne Ob. But doth not then the rule hold that those who sit up late at night about their own workes on week daies should proportionably watch about holy things at night on the Lords day Resp This no way agreeth with the intention of the Lawgiver which in commanding the Sabbath had a twofold intention the one his own publique worship and the spirituall good of mankind the other the corporall refreshing and reviving the bodies of his servants and of all that belonges unto them I would now gladly know what refreshing the body of a man hath by the Sabbath if he must labour about holy things not only all day but most part of the night also But I think no sober minded man will say it is a sinne to goe to bed sooner upon this night then upon
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
6â— saith that because the people are perswaded that none ought to travaile with horses and wagons upon the Lords day and that nothing might be done in dressing of meat or making clean of houses which thing appeares plainly to belong rather to the Iewish then to the Christian observation of the day we appoint therefore that what was heretofore lawfull shall still be lawfull only we think fit that men abstaine from workes of husbandry that so they may the better attend the exercises of the publique worship A f Haec sunt festa in quibus prohibitis aliis operibus conreduntur opera agriculturae carucarum viz omnes diâ—s dominicae c. Syn. Oxon. Synod also held in our own land at OXFORD doth allow both husbandmen Carmen to follow their imployments even upon this day We need not goe beyond our own memory for who knowes not that Markets and Fayres were usually kept upon the Lords day some good space in the raigne of Queene Elizabeth and how afterwards Parliamentary Lawes provided to haue the Lords day kept as it is now in use that to rectifie mens judgements and to settle their consciences his Majesties Declaration hath since been published Ob. If any man reply as our Saviour upon another occasion did to the Pharisees * Math. 19.8 Non fuit sic à principio It was long so and the longer the worser but it was not so from the beginning Sol. I appeale to Ignatius who for ought I know is the the most ancient and authentique witnesse that can in this case be produced Let us keep the Lords day saith he no longer after the Iewish manner with cessation from works for he that doth not labour let him not eat and God hath commanded us in the sweat of our faces to eat our bread First he condemneth all Iewish Sabbathizing in generall Secondly he makes cessation from works to be a part of Iudaisme Thirdly he proues by two places of Scripture that Christian men may lawfully and with a good conscience work upon the Lords day The one taken out of * Gen. 3.19 Moses In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread the other out of the Apostle grounded on that of Moses * Ep. ad Magnes He that will not labour let him not eat * 2. Thes 3.10 It was then lawfull to work on the Lords day why is it not now Vnlesse the Lawes of the Church and State haue since inhibited them Eightly Though it be a thing in it selfe lawfull to labour upon the Lords day unlesse in prohibited cases by the publique Magistrate yet it is not unlawfull for any to obserue it with as great strictnesse as ever the Iewes did so that his observation be accompanyed with these conditions First that we haue no opinion that such a rest is of necessitie to be observed under paine of sinne putting Religion therein for then the conscience is ensnared and our rest is not religious but superstitious For though the Dictates of an erroneous conscience be to be obey'd and therein a man doth well yet his conscience therein subjects it selfe to an Idoll fancie or Chymâ—ra of its own making and so a man doth ill Secondly that when we thus practise it in our own particulars we neither labour to draw others into the like nor presume to condemne those that are contrary minded For by the former we shall betray an unquiet spirit in our selues and may become authors of evill unto our brethren and by the latter we break the common peace and uniformity of the Church wherein we liue and being guilty of schisme become evill members both of the Church and State With these cautions Vnusquisque abundet sensu suo Every man may doe as he listeth For the Law of the Magistrate allowing works of any kinde serious or lusorious doth not forbid any man to forbeare them Lastly any work of what kinde soever which may be beneficiall unto any in a speciall and extraordinary manner the benefit whereof would be utterly lost were the present opportunity neglected may lawfully be done upon the Lords day unlesse some circumstance adhere thereunto which may make it unexpedient as in case of scandall or the like For example the husbandman may lawfull saue his corne in the time of long dangerous unseasonable weather Fisher-men may doe well to take Fish offering themselues upon the Coast upon the Lords day which would be carried away the next tide to which adde drawing of Cole-pits and Mines travailing of publique Posts the sittings and consultations of the Councels of State c. This also is consented unto in regard of some of the particulars even by our adversaries themselues as in cases of Mines and publique Posts But upon what grounds they should dissent from us in the latter I understand not unlesse they will condemne themselues in those things which they doe allow Ob. Perhaps it will be said that those former works are imployments of extraordinary consequence which is equivalent to extreme necessity Resp But let things be impartially considered and compared together it will appeare to be otherwise at least many times I conceiue a greater benefit may redound to the Common-wealth by a Shole of fish taken upon the Lords day then doth many times by a packet of Letters brought by a publique Post a day sooner then otherwise The substance of the Letters may perhaps be of great importance most times though not alwayes but the comming of them upon the Lords day may not be so So the saving of Corne in hazardous weather may sometimes happen to be a greater benefit to the state then the assembling of the Councell of State and conferring together for some short time Ob. But say they what if a present benefit offer it selfe he is very earthly minded and neerely allied unto prophane Esau that will not denie himselfe all advantages where the Lords honour is so highly interested as it is in this particular Nay it argueth not only a carnall minde but an heart full of vnbeleife For may not the Lord and will he not think we make a recompence of all such losses sustained in Contemplation meerely of his holy Sabbath Resp These be I confesse goodly popular shewes but empty of substance and a begging of the question For were such precise restings under any precept of God or the Magistrate Gods deputy the honour of the Lord were indeed engaged therein and we should for his sake wholy deny our selues without all hope of recompence though never any man was a looser in this kind but let it be first proved that such an utter cessation as is here spoken of is that wherein the Lords honour is any way engaged Sure I am the arguments already produced doe not conclude it CAP. XXV The Arguments brought for the affirmatiue are answered and in particular that which is drawne from the Iudgements of God is handled more at large THese Conclusions being thus premised
State and used as they ought to be with moderation in regard of the things and good intention in regard of the person they are so farre from hindering as that they serue to advance the kingdome of God in us first enabling the body secondly putting life cheerfulnesse into the mind thirdly encreasing our thankfulnesse unto God for being so indulgent a Father unto us in Iesus Christ allowing us all things whereof our frailties stand in need Nay the c Ludorum esâ— triplex differentia quidaâ— ex se turpitudinem habent tales ab omnibus sunt vitandi alij qui ex gaudiâ— devotionis procedunt â—â—cut David dixit Ludam ut violior fiam quidam ludi sunt â—â—hiâ— turpitudinis habentes sunt materiâ— Eutrapeliae servatis debit is circumâ— stantijs possunt laudabilitèr fieri à poeaitentibus ad quietem propriam alijs delectabilitèr convivendum Aq. 4. sent dist 16. q. 4. art â— Schoolemen haue long since determined that if men were to be professed Penitents no recreations of this kind thus qualified would hinder them Yea but the Conscience is wounded and the Ioy of the holy Ghost is ecclipsed by such prophanations I answer that these be indeed the effects of prophanation and that worthily but it doth not as yet appeare that works and recreations on the Lords day doe prophane the same And Whereas it is said that many haue felt and confessed their wounded Consciences from hence First it must be knowne whether their cases were such as the question is stated to be Secondly we must remember that there be many needlesse and causelesse wounds of Conscience For not only a Conscience rightly informed which is not hearkned unto but also an erring and doubting Conscience may and doe wound and that deeply especially when they meet with Emperickes that undertake to cure them The Conscience is one thing the feare Scruple of ConscieÌ„ce is an other saith Gerson And I verily beleiue if these converts were well look'd into the wounds were from the feares and scruples and not from the Conscience it selfe And lastly whereas it is said that probably Christ will come to judgement on the Lords day The very words of our Saviour reclaime saying * Math. 34.36 that day and houre knoweth no man but suppose that Christ should then come doubtlesse whatsoever is just honest and lawfull not forbidden eitherby God or man may confidently be averred at his comming To the seventh These secular imployments of which we speak are not so unexpedient to be mixt upoÌ„ the same day with holy things as is supposed For. First who is there that doth not intermix them in the whole course of his life and why they should be expedient upon one day and not upon another I cannot understand Secondly true it is that in all outward things taken in a divided sense by themselues considered there is this vilenesse and basenesse as is said but considered as they are or at least should be used by a Christian man in obedience unto God who hath imposed them upon us and with faith in his promises to sanctifie them unto us accompanied with an unfained desire to glorifie God in them and for them they begin to change their natures and are no more base and vile but honourable and glorious To conclude therefore Omnia munda mundis * â— Tiâ— 3. â—3 To the pure all things are pure but to them that are defiled unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mindes and consciences are defibed To the Eight drawn from the judgements of God which haue been exemplary upon works and recreations used on the Lords day I say that this and most of like nature are first rash vaine Secondly weak and concluding nothing It is rash for who hath knowne the minde of the Lord at any time his waies are past finding out and of all others the waies of his judgements are unsearchable This our Saviour hath sufficiently taught as in the * Iohn 9. case of the man borne blinde * the fall of the Towre of Siloam and * Luk. 13.2 massacre committed on the Galileans The whole book of Iob serues to shew the folly of vaine men presuming to particularize the foot-steps of the Lord as if hee proceeded in his justice according to our fancies yet with * Iob. 38.2 Elihu we will not leaue off to darken his Counsels by words without knowledge It is as weak as rash for if it be denied that either the evill inflicted is a judgement or that it was for this inflicted we are forth with put both to shame and silence Ob. You will say perhaps that by this reply we make all applications to particulars in this kinde utterly unlawfull and so the remarkable judgements of God shall no way serue to our edification Resp I answer that neither of these inconveniences will follow hereupon For certainly it is lawfull in some cases to apply particular judgements to particular sinnes of particular men but then we must proceed with these rules First when the spirit of God shall be pleased to reveale so much we may warrantably publish unto others what the Lord hath revealed unto us So it was lawfull for any man in Davids time to say that when Ammon was murthered Thamar deflowred his wiues and Concubines dishonoured in the sight of the Sun all this befell him for his murther and Adultery for for the Prophet * 2. Sam. 1â— 11 â—2 Nathan had foretold it by his Propheticall spirit So Nehemiah after their returne from the captivity might warrantably say that God brought that evill upon their Fathers for such and such sinnes because the Prophets had formerly foretold the same Whensoever therefore the spirit doth reveale it unto us by immediate and extraordinary inspirations or mediatly by the word threatning those particular sinnes with those particular judgements which we see to be executed upon them we may nay we ought both to obserue it in others and to lay it to heart in our selues Secondly we must be well assured that the thing which we will suppose to be punished by the Lords immediate hand be not only in our opinions but truly and indeed a sinne This hath ground upon the former for if it be threatned by God in Scripture we may be well assured it is indeed an evill and hatefull in his sight If therefore it be a disputable point in the Church of God suppose the ballance be equally carried on both sides who are we that we should take upon us to pronounce a definitiue sentence condemning our Brethren which * Rom. 14.4 stand or fall to their own master Thirdly when we finde by observation that it ever hath been and continually is so at least for the most part we may though not infallibly yet more safely particularize in this kinde So if the Barbarians had not mistaken St Paul for a murtherer their judgement had been rightly pronounced out of that generall maxime
or lessen the time appointed by the Church for holy duties but this makes no more for twenty foure houres then it doth for forty or fifty or any other It is all men will confesse sacriledge to rob God of his time but it must be made to appear that God hath claimed unto himselfe this time in question till when nothing can be concluded The fourth indeed were unanswerable if the case were as is pretended between us and the Iewes But First the ground upon which this argument is builded is sandy for it supposeth that God appointed them from Evening to Evening to contemplate the mysteries of Godlinesse and mercies vouchsafed unto them whereas it was both memorative and mysticall as hath been proved neither did they spend the night of their Sabbath in contemplation but in bodily Rest Secondly it is utterly untrue that we under the Gospell have more work for the Lords day then the Iewes had for their Sabbath For as e Lib. 4. c. 4. Eusebius observes their religion was the same with Christian Religion which at this day we professe f 1. Cor. 10.2 For they all were baptized unto Moses and did all eat of the same spirituall meat and drink of the same spirituall Rock which was Christ his meaning is that the body and substance was the same only it was cloathed with many shadowes and as the Apostle cals them * Gal. 4.9 Beggarly rudiments so that their Sabbath daies work was in this respect as much as our Lords can be Thirdly I say it was much greater for how cumbersome was Gods worship to them by Sacrificings Purifyings Washings How did God seem to hide himselfe and his mercies from them in Types and figures whereas he reveales himselfe to us even in the face of Iesus Christ * 2. Cor. 3. And not only Moses had a vaile put upon him * 3.15 but also their hearts which remaineth unto this day There was also a restraint of Gods spirit unto them as of the raine in the daies of Elias whereas now the fountaine is opened and the spirit powred out All men know that when any thing is enquired after it is sooner found when it lies open then when it is hid by a man of understanding then by a child one that hath eyes to see then by one that is hoodwinked by one that hath many helpes then by one that hath none So is it between the Iewes and us in holy things This argument therefore is a meere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither can any more prevaricating reason be produced To the fift it were to be wished that Scripture might be handled if not with more reverence yet with greater gentlenesse not thus to be racked The 92. Psalme was the Psalme of the Sabbath and it makes mention of night and day to be spent in the Lords prayses But what then will any reasonable man imagine that they then had night meetings in the Temple or sate up late in their families that night Those times of morning and evening if we restraine them as spoken of the Sabbath day are metonymically to be understood for the whole worship of God whensoever performed upon that day and are as much as when we say Morning-prayer and Evening-prayer But farther notwithstanding the Psalme was the Sabbath-Psalme yet whatsoever is therein contained may not respectively be spoken of the Sabbath only And this is i Tantùm vult docere nisi nos nostra socordia impediat nunquam deesie argumentum laudandi Deum nec verè defungi officio gratitudinis nisi in eo siâ—â—us assidui sicut ipse bonitatem fidem erga nos perpetuat Calvin in locum Mr Calvins observation upon the very words alleadged affirming that day and night are there put in indefinitely for all times whatsoever as appears saith he by that which followes For his loving kindnesse and his truth are alwaies towards us But as those that have yellow eyes think every thing to be of that colour so these men cannot meet with the Lord to be praised night and day especially in the Sabbath-Psalme but it must presently conclude a foure and twenty houres-Sabbath To the sixt as Gods rest began so must ours is a proposition Atheologicall For the Iewes themselves who observed the Sabbath in imitation of Gods Rest looked not at their patterne in this particular but only at their deliverance out of Egypt into which deliverance they entred when they sacrificed the Passover The example of God is not proposed without limitation in the Commandement he so rested as that he never since returned to his labours from which he rested he so rested as that he blessed it in neither of which ought we to presume to imitate his Rest Lastly I wonder how the example of Gods rest proposed in the Commandement can concerne our Lords day which was not the day of the Lords Rest but the begining of his labours The seventh is not much unlike First therefore we observe not the Lords day in memory of Christs resting in the grave For though in some respects he may then be said to have entred into Rest yet was the grave part of his humiliation also and our Redemption and no compleat and perfect Rest Secondly let it be supposed that the grave to Christ was only a place of Rest and that he entred thereinto over-night what is this to a twenty foure houres-Sabbath unlesse perhaps Christ rested but just so many houres in the Grave but how then was he three daies and three nights in the Bowels of the earth This therefore is a meere pretence no proof The eight drawn from Apostolicall practice is in all parts thereof unsound Plaine it is that Apostolicall practice binds not the conscience but where there is a precept annexed Nay where there is a precept annexed both precept and practice may be as they say ambulatorium in lege of no lasting continuance But in this point we have neither precept nor practice either for the present or for after ages I presume that no man well considering the place alleadged can deny what k Curavit scriptor libri causam producendi sermonem produ cere Aug. epist 86. ad Cus S. Austine long since observed that S. Paul at that time took the advantage of the present occasion and necessity and not otherwise Sure I am that if the Apostles practice there recorded were a president for us to follow neither the whole Church of God can be excused who never since hath observed such a Sabbath nor the Apostle himselfe can be acquitted who for ought we read never did the like before or after in any part of the world Besides all this l Calv. in locum Mr Calvin thinks that the day there spoken of was the Iewes Sabbath not the Lords day reading in stead of uno Sabbathorum quodam Sabbatho upon a certain Sabbath day not Lords day But if any list to be contentions herein sure wee are out of
shall be broken fulfilled both in the paschall a Numb 9.12 Lamb and b Ioh. 19.36 Christ our passover Out of Egypt have I called my Sonne first verified of c Hos 11.1 Israel his adopted Sonne then of d Math. 2.15 Christ his naturall Sonne A voyce was heard in Ramah understood first of the captivity of the Iewes foretold by the e Jer. 31.15 Prophet then f Math. 2.18 of the number of the Innocents by the cruelty of Herod As it is in these and divers other places of this kind so it is in the letter of the fourth Commandement where either we have two literall sences one for the Iewes Sabbath an other for the Christians or at least one literall sence twice fulfilled once under Moses and once under Christ Now whatsoever is commanded the Church in the Scripture under any literall Sence is of divine institution But the Lords day is commanded in the fourth precept though not in the first yet in the second literall sence Therefore c. Fourthly that which was foretold and typified in the old Testament is of divine institution in the new for where the ceremony is commanded the Iew the substance is commanded the Christian for example where unleavened bread is commanded them there sincerity and truth is commanded us But the Lords day was thus typified and foretold in the Testament This the Rabbins themselues have observed in sundry passages First in the words of God saying let there be light therefore the Messiah should rise the first day of the week Secondly from the fall of Adam on the sixt day therefore the Messiah should suffer that day rest in the grave the seventh and rise the next Thirdly from the words of Boaz to Ruth g Ruth 3.13 sleep untill the morning therefore the Messiah should sleep in the grave all night and rise in the morning Fourthly from the cloud covering the people first on this day from Aaron and his sonnes executing their Priesthood first on this day from the Princes of the congregation who made their offerings towards the erecting of the Tabernacle on this day From the fire also which first came down from heaven and consumed the Sacrifices upon this day And if any man be so prophane hearted as not to be convinced by these grave collections of the Iewish Rabbins he shall find the same averred by the Fathers and Synods in the Church of Christ Both h Hic dies octavus i. e. SabbathuÌ„ primus praecessit in imagine quae imago cessavit superventente post-modâ—â— veritate Cyp. ad Fid. Ep 59. Saint Cyprian and i Sanctos patrer plenos spirita octavae dieâ— sacramentum non latebat quo figuraâ—atur resurrectio nam pro octavâ— Psalmus inscribitur octava lic circumciâ—e bantur â—â—â—â—nteâ— Aug. ad Lan. Fo. 119. Saint Austin make the Administration of the Circumcision on this day a Type and Figure of its future observation The Synod called Foro-Iuliensis affirmes that Isaiah prophesied of this day An other Synod held at Matiscon said expresly that this day which was intimated unto us by the shadow of the Iewes seventh-day is made known unto us both by the Law and Prophets what can be more evident Fiftly that day which the Lord himselfe hath made must needs be a day of the Lords own instituting for to make and to ordaine and appoint are in this case termes equivalent But the Lords day is a day of the Lords own making and appointing k â—pse est dâ—e◠〈◊〉 perpetâ—â—â— ipse nobis per septimae dici umbram insinuatus noscitur in lege Prophetis Câ—nâ— â—â—â—atis c. â— Syn For. c. 13. so saith the Prophet David l Psal 118. This is the day which the Lord hath made And therefore m Exultemus Laetemur in eo qui à lumine vero nostras tenebras fugaturus illuxit nos ergo constituamus diâ—m dominicam in frequentationibus usque ad cornua altaris Arnob. in locum Arnobius upon this place saith let us also make our Lords day a great day since God himselfe hath so made it A learned Prelate also of our Church hath a Sermon extant upon that text much to the same purpose Therefore c. Sixtly that day which the Lord ever doth and will blesse unto his Church and people which religiously observe it is doubtlesse a day of his own ordaining and appointing therefore sanctified and blessed are put together in the Commandement But God hath and continually doth and ever will blesse this day with groth of grace and all spirituall blessings in Christ to all such as Religiously observe it Therefore c. Seventhly that which the example of God the Creator resting from all his works was to the Iewes in regard of their Sabbath that also the example of God the Redeemer is and must be to us that are Christians in regard of ours But the example of God the Father resting from his works was a sufficient institution of the Iewes Sabbath for therefore they rested because God rested it should therefore be a sufficient Institution unto us under the Gospell to rest on the Lords day because in it Christ rested Eightly If a day of holy rest were instituted by God the Father in memory of the worlds Creation which was the lesse much more was there a day of holy rest instituted by God the Sonne in remembrance of the worlds redemption which was the greater The consequent is authorized by n Athan Hom. de â—â—â—en Athanasius in his Homily of the Sower But a day of holy rest was ordained by God the Father in memory of the Worlds creation as is undenyable Therefore c. Ninthly Certaine it is that nothing but divine authority can bind and overcome the Conscience in regard of any outward observations in their own natures indifferent for the Conscience is a Throne in which God only sits and commands But the conscience is bound and over-awed to the observation of the Lords day as all men confesse and feel by experience unlesse they bely their consciences Therefore c. Tenthly That day which the Church observeth in regard of some mysticall signification therein contained is a part of Gods worship and must therefore be under precept unlesse we will worship God after our own fancies But the Church observes the Lords day in regard of some mysticall doctrine therein contained the Lords resurrection our own future glorification therefore it must be under precept Eleventhly Whatsoever is not under divine precept is mutable and may utterly be abolished in the Church of God by the authority of the Governors thereof but the Lords day cannot by any humane authority whatsoever be changed and abolished Therefore c. Twelfthly If the observation of the Lords day be not of divine but only Ecclesiasticall constitution then are all festivalls or holy-daies of the yeare of equall dignity and honour with it But it were little lesse then blasphemy to affirme
Synod and Fathers produced in the argument are nothing to the purpose For in the first place S. Cyprian is wilfully mistaken he treats in the place cited of Baptisme for Infants at two or three dayes old this Fidus a Bishop to whom he wrot held very unfit if not unlawfull for diverse reasons amongst the rest because circumcision was not administred unto any untill the eight day To this p Quod in Iadaticâ circumcisione carnali octavus dies observabatur sacramentum est in umbrâ in imagine nam quia octavus dies iâ—est post SabbathuÌ„ primus futurus erat nos viâ—iâ—icaret quo dominus resargeret circumcisâ—nem spiritualem daret hic dies praecessit in imagine Cyp. ad Fidum S. Cyprian replyes that to the Iewes the eight day was to be that where on Christ should rise and spiritually circumcise us the legall circumcision was given upon that day as a Type and figure thereof In which words of S. Cyprian we haue two Types and two things Typified first the carnall Circumcision is made a Type of the spiritual secondly the day wherein one was administred is made a Type of that day wherein the other should be performed but what is either of these to thâ— keeping of the Sabbath S. Augustine ad Ianuarium is no better handled for he saith indeed that the Type of the eight day was not unknowne to the Fathers filled with the spirit of prophecy for David hath a * Psal 118. Psalme intituled for the eight day Infants also were circumcised on that day A figure it was then and well knowne unto the Fathers but of what This followes expressely in S. Augustine of Christs resurrection and of our quickning and circumcision by him The q Inchoante noctis initio idest vespere Sabbathi c. 13. Omnibus mandamus Christi anis abstinere ab omni peccato ab omni opere carnali etiam â propriis coniugibus Ibid. Synod called Foro-Iuliensis commands divers things concerning the Lords day viz. to begin with Saturday Evening prayer to abstaine from all works sinnes companing of Men with their Wives c. Their reason is because the choysest of Gods mercies were vouchsafed unto the Church on this day they adde also that this is the Sabbath of the Lords delight spoken of by the Prophet * Isai 58.13 Isaiah for r Diceret taÌ„tùm Sabbathum non delicatum Jbid. saith the Synod had he spoken in that place of the Iewes Sabbath he would haue called it barely a Sabbath without any such attributes of delightfull or mine When this interpretation of the Prophet shall be averred by the Opponents we will thinke of an answer to this authority The Synod of Matiscon is more ancient then the former and purposely held concerning the Lords day here amongst other things we have this passage This is the perpetuall day of rest which is knowne by the law and the Prophets and insinuated unto us by the shaddow of the seventh day But that Synod intends no more then the former viz. That upon the day of Christs resurrection we were admitted into everlasting rest appeares evidently by that which followes it is Å¿ Iustum est ut hanc diem celebremus per quam facti sumus quod non fuimus Con. Matis ubi supra but equall therefore that we should celebrate this day by which we are made that which we were not Not therefore the keeping of the day it selfe but the mercies of the day peace and liberty in Christ is that which the Synod affirmes to be intimated unto us in the Type and to be knowne by the law and the Prophets To the fift the day of which the Psalmist speaks is literally the day wherein David was setled in his Kingdome and the unction of Samuell took effect As if the prophet should have said God long since annointed me to be King over his people but this was a day on which he decreed to settle me actually in my Kingdome There is no question but that Psalme is mystically spiritually to be understood as well as litterally of Christ and his Throne as of David and his Scepter one was a figure of the other I deny not also but that Davids day was a figure of Christs day though it did not appeare that David was setled in his Kingdome the same day of the week that Christ rose out of his grave But understand the place how we please all that can be gathered thence are but these three things First that God had in his counsell determined a sett day to performe his promise unto David making him King of Israel Secondly that God had also decreed a sett period of time wherein Christ should be exalted and set upon the Throne of his glory in the Kingdome of the Church Thirdly that as the Iewes had cause to rejoyce in the dayes of David God having given them a man after his own heart so the Christians have much more reason to rejoyce in Christ their King and to embrace the mercies of his glorious resurrection If any man now say that either the ancient or moderne Arnobius mentioned in the argument collect from hence the institution of the Lords day I answere they find it there instituted no otherwise then the whole Church hath ever found it viz. Logically because they ground the observation of the day upon the mercy of the day not morally as being formally and positively instituted either in that or any other Scripture To the sixt we have here a well known fallacy the effect being attributed to that which is no way the true cause thereof As when the wolfe in the fable quarrelled with the Lamb for troubling the water when the Lamb stood all the while below the Woolfe in the river And when the heathen in the daies of t Mala quae civitas pertulit Christo imputant bonâ— verò non imputant Christo nostro sed fato suo Aug. de civit lib. 10. c. 1. S. Austine charged the Christian religion to be the cause of the scourge of the Goths and Vandalls and all other evills which then afflicted the world But to returne to our Opponents I will only demand whether God doth not blesse his ordinance unto his people upon Lecture daies as well as upon Lords daies If not why are they in vaine so much frequented if so then evident it is that Gods ordinance may blesse the day and make it happy unto his people But the day doth not blesse the ordinance unto us the words in the Commandement hath blessed and sanctified are Exegetically put the one expounding the other To the seventh the example of God the Father resting from his works of creation was that indeed upon which the institution of the Iewes Sabbath was grounded but not the institution it selfe For to this there was required a law to be given which was not untill the daies of Moses and the fall of Manna in the wildernesse The
like we also affirme of the example of God the Sonne at the worlds redemption resting from all his labours for though it be not a Law instituting yet it is sufficient ground and warrant why it was at first instituted and hath ever since been observed To the eight all arguments of this kind from the lesse to the greater are but probable and must be understood of great and lesse in the same kind For that which is lesse in one respect may be greater in another it 's so in this particular For the creation of the world is a greater work of power 〈…〉 then the redemption and the redemption is a greater work of goodnes then the creation Besides in reasons of this kind we must alwaies adde si caeterasint paria for any disparity in any circumstance of time place person overthroweth all conclusions built upon comparisons Now suppose that the argument speak of the same kind of great and lesse which yet it doth not nothing can be concluded because the circumstances of time and persons are not equall For the Iewish Sabbath was given in the child-hood and nonage of the Church to a people of dull eares stiffe necks heavy hearts to such the appointing of a determinate time was necessary but the children of the light men of ripe eares that have their eares bored their hearts illuminated need no such childish rudiments as the observation of daies And this a Sicùt praeceptum de sacrificiis habuit aliquam causam moralem non simplicitèr sèdsecunduÌ„ congruentiam llorum quibus ilex dabatur qui ad Idololatriam proni erant sic praeceptum de observatione Sabbathi habuit aliquam causam moralem ex conditione eorum quibus lex dabatur qui propter avaritiam iis inditam c. Aqu. in 3. sent dist 37. art 5. in corp Aquinas long since observed The words of Athanasius alleadged in the Homily of the Sower c. are a meere allusion or illustration shewing only the conveniencie which was never doubted not the necessity of this observation which is the point in question To the ninth I briefly answer that he whose conscience is not over-awed by the lawes of the Church states in outward observations in things lawfull and in different established upon good grounds Christian considerations is neither good subject nor good Christian It is true indeed that the conscience is the Throne of God yet I think no man will so restrain him to that Throne as to say he cannot put another thereinto That b Lex aliqua potest condâ— cui sit necessariò etià m 〈◊〉 mortali parendum quaeque vi suâ quamvis non nisi dependentèr à lege divinâ aeternâ obliget sub mortali Greg. Val. de lege hum Vbi pater iubet quod centra dominum non sit sic audiendus est quomodo Deus Aug. in Ps 70. our superiors especially those that derive their power immediatly from God himselfe may if cause so require lay their authority immediatly upon the conscience binding it to sinne in cause either of neglect disobedience or contempt is to all sober mindes a Maxime in Divinity To the tenth the mysticall signification of any ceremony or observation whatsoever is either of divine imposing as in the sacraments and all such ceremonies as are parts branches of Gods worship or of humane invention as building of Churches East and west bowing towards the Altar usingthe surplice the Crosse after baptisme upon infants or otherwise as the Primitive Christians used Such as those are no parts of Gods worship neither is the conscience bound thereunto but in obedience only to authority To the eleventh the observation of the Lords day is not only metaphysically and speculatively mutable but also Morally and practically as well in our times as in the Primitive Church For amongst the first Christians for some hundred yeares we cannot find any regular and constant practice thereof Supposing therefore the decrees of Councells the practice of the Christian world the edicts of Emperors the statutes of the Land it is unchangeable in sensu composito all things standing as they doe but supposing c Neque Christus neque Apostolus celebrationem primi diei lege aliquâ praeccperunt sed propter praesentem commtaitatem ita sanxeâ—â—nâ— Ã qua quidem sanctione recedere possumus si evidens Ecclesiae utilitas posâ—ulaverit Bald. de Sabbath cap. 20. that the Church and state should find sufficient cause to repeal all such constitutions it may and ought to be changed in sensu diviso as well as any other observation whose ground is only decency and order when it comes to be abused to superstition To the twelfth if we consider all daies which the Church hath set apart for publique worship absolutely as being so set apart I hope it will not be thought blasphemy to affirme that the Lords day and all other holy-daies are equall So I am sure d Omnes diâ—s aeaquales esse Hier. in Gal. 4 S. Hierome affirmed of old and our learned Bishop e Down tables Downham of late but in some respecttive and accidentall considerations one day may be said to be greater and better then another And this may be either from the ground or reason of its observation so it is said by the * Ioh. 19.31 Evangelist that the Sabbath was a high day because the feast of the passover fell upon that day by translation which was the manner of the Iewes when any of their feasts fell out to be the day before the Sabbath and in this respect we may call the Lords day the Queen of daies because it is kept in memory of Christs resurrection which is farre to be preferred before any festivall celebration in memory and for imitation of any Saint whatsoever Or from the solemnity of the publique worship according to the custome of the Church Or lastly from the intention of the Church appointing as when she intends only halfe or some part of the day to be kept holy forbiding all manner of works upon some daies but allowing them upon others as Markets and Faires In this latter respect also no Holy-day is equall with the Lords day especially in the Church of England however it be in forraine parts notwithstanding if we look to the outward solemnity of Gods worship some holy-dayes may be greater then it To the thirteenth that one day should have more holinesse in it then another as it is this day or that day by divine institution under the Gospell is a proposition Atheologicall and part of the Egyptian and Iudaicall superstition which the Apostle condemneth in the Epistle to the Galathians and against which S. Hierom reasons irrefragably For then this holinesse faith a Aut haberent sanctitatem ex lapsu syderum aut Dei beneficio aut hominum inssituto hee must be derived either from the motion and influence of the heavens or from the impression of Gods holinesse made upon it
to understand the text Papists indeed gladly extend it farther but cannot To the three and twentieth that it descended from the Apostles by tradition may with more ease be denied then ever the contrary can be proved But we must remember to distinguish of Apostolicall inspirations and traditions according to the doctrine of the Traditionaries themselves before delivered that it descended from them as Pastors not Apostles as a thing of their owne instituting not of the Lords commanding S. Augustines definition we acknowledge and desire no other Iudge For first it is cleare that d Quo tempore Christiani se à Iudaeis seiunxerunt diem dominicam feâ—iari caeperunt non est memoriae proditum Magd. Cent. 1. lib. 2. c. 6. no man can shew when the Iewes and Christians severed their assemblies Secondly many particular Churches varied one from another in this poynt as it hath been said Thirdly the Lords day was never observed as a Sabbath with cessation from works till Constantines edicts commanded it which were afterwards enlarged or restrained by Ecclesiasticall constitutions That the Primitive Church in the time of persecution observed the Lords day as a Sabbath hath no ground at all in Scripture and is not consonant unto reason because certaine it is that they kept the Iewish Sabbath till the Synagogue was buried Neither is it likely that they kept two daies together or if they did is it probable that neither the Iewes should quarrell at this observation nor the Heathens who derided the Iewes for mispending the seventh part of their lives in idlenesse note it in the Christians over whom they held watchfull eyes Or is it likely that the Primitive Fathers who wrote Apologies for the Church either to the Emperour or against the Gentiles in which they expressed the whole carriage of the Church should never so much as mention this daies observation as taken up and kept as the Iewish Sabbath by divine institution If we consider Sabbath duties named in the argument certaine it is that they preached no more nor so much on that day as they did upon others for this they alwaies did on the Iewes Sabbath because of the concourse of people S. Peters sermon upon the day of Pentecost which was the Lords day was accidentall occasioned by those that mocked at them and their gifts of tongues S. Pauls sermon at Troas hath beene already examined and as for their collections on the Lords day I wonder from whence it should be so generally conceived that they were then either commanded or made S. Paul bids theÌ„ indeed provide a benevolence for the poore Saints at Hierusalem against his comming and that they might be in readinesse he wils every man the * 1 Cor. 16.2 first day of the weeke to lay apart by himselfe not to collect in the assembly So that this being a particular occasion was particularly ordered by the Apostle as their wise Pastor not as a ruled case to bind the Church for ever Nay farther we may affirme that collections are no essentiall duties of the Lords day neither are they so esteemed and used in most congregations living as we doe in a setled estate wherein the law hath provided for the poore in another kind The Sacrament of the supper was indeed constantly administred every Lords day but the reason was no way Sabbatharian for the Sacrament being the badg of Christianity could not be received in the Iewish Synagogue wherein they performed other duties Besides they much mistake which judge of their Communions by ours as if they only received upoÌ„ resting daies with sermons before and collections after they only met together in some private Chamber to break bread without any more adoe And this they did upon the Lords day as most sutable to that service wherein Christ was to be remembred Lastly admitte all the argument requires we have only the ancient practice of the Church but this makes no divine institution by the confession of them that most advance the Churches power e Non ideò aliquid est iuris divini quiâ— olim illud Ecclesâ—a usurpaverit Greg. Val. de Euch. q. 7 the Papists themselves To the foure and twentieth That the Apostles should be guilty themselves and make the Church guilty of so damnable a presumption as this argument speaketh of were indeed a blasphemous consequence but the best is this terrible inference hath no acquaintance at all with the antecedent the reputed Father thereof For what was the presumption of Ieroboam and Antiochus figures of that which shall be practised by Antichrist But the changing of those times which God appointed to be observed by his Church commanding others to be kept in their places and that out of impious and blasphemous intentions to subvert true Religion and to set up Idolatry in the roome thereof Did the Apostles so God forbid But the Iewish Sabbath being expired and having breathed out its last gaspe that the publike worship of God might be upheld with decency and order they commanded the observation of the Lords day unto the Primitive Christians which hath no likenesse at all with those things here spoken of To the five and twentieth It is true that the practise of holy men in Scripture not seconded by precept bindeth not the conscience only their example sheweth us the lawfulnesse and expediency of the things practised upon like occasions with like circumstances and this is our warrant for observing the Lords day But for despising the Saturday-sabbath we have more then the naked practice of the Apostles For in all their Epistles they proclaime all Leviticall ordinances and such was that Sabbath to be ceased under the Gospell Christ who was the substance being come To the six and twentieth Whether Pentecost fell on the Lords day is questioned by some and denied by many their reason is because the fifty daies were to begin the morrow after the Passover Levi. 23.16 But plaine it is that our Saviour did eate the Passover upon Thursday-night and so Saturday the Iewes Sabbath must be the first and last from the fifty daies To avoyde this objection f In Ex. c. 39. Rupertus reads the text Thou shalt account from the next day after the Sabbath understanding it of the Sabbath properly so called or weekely Saturday-sabbath and so our Lords day being the next following is made the first and the last of the fifty But this is a plaine mistake of the text For the first day of unleavened bread being commanded to be a Sabbath is that Sabbath there spoken of from whence they were to begin their account Secondly therefore others interpret those words Thou shalt number fifty dayes from the first day of unleavened bread for not only the first but the last also of those dayes was a Sabbath exclusively shutting out the first day after from the beginning of the number of the fifty and by this meanes they bring it also to be the Lords day But whether doth this hold for
the Lords day by servile works hath beene ever thus blasted whether done about sun-rising that day and being a matter of no great importance or after evening prayer in the afternoone to take away all evasions from the circumstance of time Of this there hath beene much and lamentable experience ever since the Kings Declaration he being confuted as it were herein by the King of Kings Ninthly The consent of the whole Church ever since Constantines time as appeares by the Edicts of that Emperour with sundry Synodicall constitutions in all ages many wholsome statutes made to this purpose in all parts of the Christian world The Fathers also haue been large in the same argument utterly condemning even those speeches and conferences which withdraw our mindes from the serious meditation of what we haue heard in the congregation a Chrys Ho◠5. c. 1. Math. S. Chrysostome hath much to this purpose which he doth also illustrate by two familiar similitudes The one of men that goe into the hot Bathes for their health as soone as they come out they retire themselues to rest and sweat in their beds least by going abroad about their businesse they depriue themselues of the benefit of their bathing The Lords day is as it were the day of the soules spirituall bathing in the living and wholsome waters of the word of God and the blood of Christ. This day therefore should be a most retired day wherein we should be secluded frō all earthly things least we depriue our selues of the wholsome profit thereof The second is of Scholars at Schoole when they haue their tasks sett them they labour and beat upon it the whole day and all is little enough Vpon the Lords day we sitt at Christ feet in his Schoole to be taught from his mouth What we haue heard from him in the Congregation must be our worke the whole day after unlesse we affect to be like broken vessels which receiue much but retaine little S. b Aug. in Ps 32. Augustine also bitterly inveighs against sports and pastimes upon this day and by name against Dancing saying a man were better upon the Lords day goe to plough By which it seems he condemnes all kinde of works and recreations concuring with that c Oportet Christianos in laude Dei gratiarum actione usque ad vesperam perseverare Syn. Tur. c. 4. Synod held at Tours in France which faith that Christians ought upon the same day to persevere in the praises of God and in giving of thanks untill the night To which purpose runnes the unanimous consent of all those worthies in the Church of England which haue treated on this subject almost since the Reformation CAP. XXIII The Arguments for the Negative are also related THE Negatiue also is supported by sundry reasons First that which is not under any Law Naturall or Positiue can be no essentiall duty unto which the conscience is bound under the penalty of sinne for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression But cessation from work upon the Lords day is under no Law Naturall or Positiue not naturall for it is neither a principle in nature knowne unto all men nor any conclusion to be deriv'd from any naturall principle I meane such a totall cessation as is here questioned For that men should haue times of rest and refreshing is naturall that God should haue part of our time sequestred for his worship is also naturall but neither the question nor arguments produced intend this naturall rest but an artisiciall kinde of cessation which our Sabbatharians haue fancied unto themselues and cannot be knowne unto us unlesse by Revelation Neither is it under any positiue precept for then it might be shewed in some Evangelicall writer and we need not fly to the Law and the Prophets of the old Testament to which satisfaction will soone be given Secondly Nothing commanded the Iew as a Ceremonie under Moses is or can be an essentiall duty of Religion unto the Christians in the time of the Gospell And the reason is plaine for the ceremoniall law was the application of things in their own natures indifferent to mysticall and holy uses and otherwise there could be no distinction between Morall Ceremoniall But that utter and totall cessation from works here spoken of was a ceremony commanded the Iew under Moses hath already been manifested Therefore c. Thirdly That which is not in it's selfe in its own nature an act of Religion cannot be in its selfe and its own nature a universall Christian duty binding all men under the penalty of sinne But an utter cessation from bodily labour upon the Lords day is not in its selfe and its own nature an act of Religion for then it must be some part of Gods worship inward or outward wherewith if rightly performed God is well pleased But God saith M. Calvin is not taken with any bodily rest and cessation of his creatures precisely and of it selfe considered upon what day soever which I think all men of sober mindes will acknowledge it cannot therefore be of it selfe a Christian duty upon the Lords day If any man say it is a part of Gods worship being an ordinance commanded by him Let him shew us any such command for the Christian festivall and I will subscribe Fourthly that which of it selfe doth no way further our spirituall edification in Christ is not a Christian duty binding the conscience upon any day But corporall rest from the works of our lawfull callings doth no way further our spirituall edification For if * 2. Tim. 4.8 Bodily exercise profiteth nothing bodily cessation profiteth lesse If any man say it helpeth much to Edification for by this meanes we may wholy attend the things of God I answer that is not the thing in question for then it edifieth not by and of it selfe but by and through the holy exercises If it be further said that it doth edifie remembring us of our spirituall rest required of us and the eternall rest promised unto us I answer that this Edification proceedeth not from the d Significatio alia est divina seu à Deo rebus addita a◠ob signationem cultum ut significatio Sacramentorum alia humana ecclesiastica hominū instituto rebus addita utsit occasio memorandi rem gestam illa est necessaria haec libera significatio dominicae est humanitūs Parae in Ro. 14. thing it selfe but as affix't thereunto by our own inventions and institutions And so the Surplice the Crosse standing at the Creed all Church Ceremonies doe edifie which yet of themselues are not Christian duties Fiftly if Christian liberty extend it selfe to things of greater consequence carrying with them far greater shew of divine command then doubtlesse we are much more free in things of lesse importance But we are left free under the Gospell to many things of greater weight as Vowing Fasting Preaching Catechizing receiving the Sacraments Confession
For all these are commended to Christian Liberty in regard of determinating circumstances as where when in what manner how long how often And some of theÌ„ whether at all yet are things of greater importance and haue more probability of Divine precept then bodily cessation on the Lords day Ergo c. Sixtly that which is not so much as mentioned in the new Testament for a Christian duty is not commanded Christian people under the penalty of sinne This must needs be true of all such duties which Christ and the Gospell hath brought in imposed upon the Church as distinguished from the Iewish Synagogue But corporall rest such as our Sabbatharians require upon the Lords day is not so much as mentioned in the new Testament and yet the Lords day the observation thereof was brought in and imposed upon the Church as contra-distinguished from the Iewish Synagogue Ergo c. Seventhly Had this been an immediate Christian duty so essentiall as it 's now made doubtlesse the first Christians living under persecuting Emperours would haue made as great a conscience of this as of any thing else whatsoever Especially because it concern'd the Lord himselfe to whom the day is devoted and persecution maks men stick closest unto Christ and all Christian duties commanded by him But the Primitiue Christians did all manner of works upon the Lords day under the persecuting Emperours unlesse whilst they assembled themselves by stealth to break bread This appeares by Constantines edict against working upon this day wherein notwithstanding are excepted all labours of Husbandry whatsoever It is a true rule that the manners and customes of men are the Mothers of the Lawes of Kings and States A law prohibiting the doing of any thing is a strong presumption that the thing was done especially when the Law is exceptiue Plaine therefore it is by the Law of Constantine who was the first Christian Emperour that the Primitiue Christians made not cessation from works upon the Lords day a matter of conscience Ob. If any man say that Constantine did only reviue the duty which Persecution had almost defaced Sol. I answer that Constantine was not the reviuer but the first enactor of this observation in regard of bodily cessation if not why can it not be shew'd who preceded him herein But let it be that Constantine renewed the Discipline which was decayed it seemes then that the labours of Husbandry then what more toylesome were in use amongst Primitiue Christians upon this day because they are excepted by Constantine which renewed the Discipline of the Church in this behalfe or else Constantine insteed of a reviuer must needs be made a depraver and corrupter Ob. If any man say the nature of the times required this indulgence Sol. I answer that those were the most peacefull and happy times that ever the Church saw But suppose what malignity you please in the times sure I am that nothing can make a sinne to be no sinne or let the conscience loose from any necessary and essentiall duty though but positiuely commanded vnlesse as David did eate the Shew-bread which cannot be averr'd of those times of Constantine Lastly authorities also are not wanting e Cont. Manich lib. 2. Epiphanius against the Manichees saith that God regardeth not outward cessation from works more upon this then any other day because by his providence the Sunne riseth and setteth the Moone waxeth and waneth the Winds blow and Women bring forth as well on this as any other dayes And against Ebion the same f Idem cont Ebion Epiphanius saith that the Disciples plucking the Eares of Corne upon the Sabbath day shewed that the outward rest of the Sabbath was ended when Christ who is our great Sabbath was once come g Cogitans requiem in Deo tuo propter ipsam requiem omnia faciens abstine ab opere â—ervili omnis enim qui facit peccatum servus est peccaâ—i Aug. Ps 32. S. Augustine also upon the 32. Psalme which is mistaken by our Adversaries as speaking against all sorts of works serious and lusory faith We must seeke rest in the Lord our God abstaining from all servile works for he that committeth sinne is the servant of sinne Our servile works are our sinfull works from which to abstaine is all the rest required of us under the Gospell h Luther de bonis operibus Luther expressely faith that the outward rest spoken of in the Commandement is no longer under precept in the profession of Christianity Calvin thinks it strange that man should imagine that God is delighted with bodily cessation And to confesse my ignorance I know none either Protestant or Papist new or old our English Sabbatharians set aside which teach corporall rest to be of it selfe a duty of the day under positiue precept CHAP. XXIV The Question is briefly vnfolded in nine Propositions THE whole question may be easily clear'd in these following propositions First I conceiue it is out of all controversy that the outward rest from all manner of works as it is expressed in the letter of the fourth Commandement was of it selfe precisely considered and without relation to any thing else to the Iewes an especiall duty of religion and part of Gods worship For though it be true which i Calvin in Levit. 19. v. 13. M. Calvin hath observed upon these words of Moses You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary that God commanded them cessation from works with reference to the duties of the Sanctuary yet were it also of it selfe a Sabbath-dayes duty For that which is of its selfe and for its owne sake commanded may also be made a subordinate duty to help and further another duty So Prayer which is of it selfe a maine part of Gods worship is made a subordinate help to encrease our dependance upon God and to beget in our hearts an awfull reverence of his Majestie It 's so here for also if it had stood commanded only in relation to the worship of the Sanctuary why were they to begin it over night where as nothing was done in the Sanctuary till the next Morning If any man say that which was done ouer night was only by way of preparation He much deceived himselfe For the preparation is one thing the Sabbath another They had their preparation and their prepreparation which tooke up almost the whole day precedent both of their owne invention But they began not their Sabbath-rest till after Sun-set in the evening And howsoever they imposed many things upon themselues of their owne Traditions by way of Preparation yet the first use and true end thereof was to provide for themselues what to eate upon the Sabbath in which it was unlawfull for them to dresse any thing or so much as to kindle a fire Their over-nights rest had no relation at all to the Sanctuary but to their comming out of Egypt the memory whereof they were commanded to solemnize thereby As therefore unleavened
bread the not Ploughing of their Land in the yeare of Iubile were necessary duties of the ceremoniall worship so was the outward rest in the fourth Commandement This I take to be k Sabbathum commendatur primo populo in otio temporalitèr ut figura Aug. ad Ian ep 119. Colebatur Deus Sabbatho in ipsâ exteriori quiete ab operibus servilibus quia quiescebant ad repraesentandam divinam quietem à creatioone mundi Cajet in Aquin. 22. q. 122. art 4. generally agreed upon Secondly It is also out of question that this utter cessation which was unto the Iewes a duty of Religion permitted them notwithstanding first works of piety for the Priests saith our Sauiour * They oblerved their rest as being properly and simply and in its selfe a Sabbath dayes duty But vve c. Willeâ— Syn. 9. Gen. Cont. q. 7. breakethe Sabbath and were blamelesse Secondly works of mercy both to men and beasts It was lawfull on that day to heale the diseased as appeares both by our Saviours practice and those defences which he makes for himselfe justifying his practice against the calumniations of the Pharisees It was lawfull also to * Math. 12.3 help a beast out of the ditch to * Math. 12.11 giue him meat * Luk. 13.15 Elias fugieâ—at die Sabbathi Antoâ—â—n tit 9. to leade him to the water which be our Saviours owne instances upon the former occasions Thirdly works also of necessity were allowed them whether they were the necessities of nature or casuall or accidentall necessities as defending themselues from unexpected incursions of their enemies The lawfulnesse of works of this kind they learned from deare bought experience as appeares by Iosephus and the history of the Macchabees Thirdly I conceiue it also to be evident that whereas works of mercy and of necessity be of two sorts some which are of extreame necessity which cannot be deferr'd if we hope to preserue the being of our selues and others some which are only of moderate and convenient necessity which may be put off though with some losse and detriment The Iewes were allowed not only the former but those also of the latter kind unlesse such as were by name expressely forbidden them Those were three First Iournying They were not to goe out of their places this day Exod. 16.29 This they afterward interpreted of themselues to be 2000. paces or two Italian miles which they called a Sabbath-daies Iourny concerning which God never delivered any thing unto them in his word As therefore in other things they superstitiously contracted the Law and made it straighter then ever God intended so in this they extended it and made it larger then the Letter of the Law could beare Ob. If any man say that Christ himselfe journyed upon the Sabbath day with his Disciples when they passed through the fields of Corne which surely he would not haue done had all journying on that day been forbidden Resp The answere is easie if we compare the Evangelists together For that which * Mat. 12.1 S. Mathew * Mark 2.23 S. Marke call the Sabbath * Luk. 6.1 S. Luke cals the second Sabbath after the first By which it appeares for the latter Evangelists doe ever expound the former that this Sabbath was some anniversary Festivall not the weekly Sabbath secondly They were not to kindle a fire upon this day in all their habitations Exod. 35.3 This also was an absolute precept admitting of no exception unlesse in cases of Piety Charity and extteame necessity Ob. If any man say that it had relation only to their dressing of meat or service of the Tabernacle on that day Resp First the Text is against him which forbids in that place all manner of worke upon paine of death and giues instance in the kindling of fire without reference to the dressing of their meat or any other addition whatsoever Secondly they had an expresse prohibition for matters of Cookery upon the Lords day Exod. 16.23 and therefore the day before was the Preparation to the Sabbath Thirdly they were forbidden to carry Burthens on the day of their Sabbath too and fro as appeares by * Nehem. 13.19 Nehemiah the Prophet * Ierem. 17.21 Ieremiah These therefore excepted the Iewes were permitted any workes whatsoever which were of convenient though not of extreme and eminent necessity This conclusion appeares both by our Saviours doctrine and practice By his doctrine in those Maximes delivered to this purpose * Math. 9.13 I will haue mercy and not sacrifice * Mark 2.27 The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath By his practice * Math. 12.3 when he justified his Disciples for plucking the eares of corne on the Sabbath day though mistaken by the Pharisees For I beleiue no man will say that they were in extreme necessity that they must either haue starved or fainted or incurr'd any incurable disease The Text tels us they were hungry and the place was not farre from the City When our Saviour vsually healed men diseased upon that day and most of them carried their greife many yeares I think no man will say the diseases would haue killed them or growne mortall had they not been taken upon the very instant But to giue instance in a thing beyond exception when he commanded those whom he healed to take up their beds and to carry them to their owne houses was this any worke of extreme or pressing necessity Or might it not haue been deferred with little or no inconveniency at all Ob. If any man say that Christ gaue such extraordinary dispensations to some such particulars to make his Miracles the more glorious and conspicuous Sol. I answer First with m Iraeneus adversùs Valent cap. 16. Irenaeus that our Saviour never did any thing which was contrary to the Law of the Sabbath which God commanded his people by the Ministery of Moses And the reason hereof is evident for he was made under the Law and performed perfect and entire obedience thereunto Neither can any man shew any particular in the Law Morall Ceremoniall and Iudiciall which he alwayes observed not and therefore doubtlesse he was as farre from dispensing with others as he was in dispensing with himselfe Supposing therefore that this had been a meanes to make his Miracles more illustrious yet had the thing in its selfe been repugnant to the Law he neither would haue permitted it in any much lesse haue commanded it so often though to haue gayned both credit to his doctrine and glory to his Miracles He well knew that evill is not to be done that good may come thereof But that which is thus supposed hath no ground or shew of truth For I conceiue it to be more rationall to affirme that the differring of the taking up of their beds and carrying of them to their owne houses the next day upon notice given thereof a greater concourse of people would haue been gathered
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
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
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
without which there must needs follow a manifest Schisme in the Church rent in the State and also in the world if some in some places obserue one day Sabbath others in other places another day That there is no such ground of uniformity as the word of God to whom all men owe and professe there ready subjection as for mens constitutions though upon never so good groundes there are others as wise good as they at least in their owne opinions which will take liberty to vary from them That therefore it is fit God himselfe should shew us not only the specificate proportion but the particularity of that specification That in such designations as these the will of God is made manifest unto us sometimes by his words sometimes by his works so that if the Scripture were silent as it is not yet this is a generall direction that the work of God done upon any day is and ought to be the ground of its hallowing If therefore we discerne one day to be preferred before another in some great and notable work naturall reason teacheth that day of all others to be chosen for our publique Sabbath That thus stands the case both in regard of the Iewish and Christian Sabbath God having marked out unto them their Sabbath by the work of creation ours by the work of resurrection That there needs no such recourse notwithstanding to the works of God having so expresse a Text as that of the second of Genesis for the making good whereof against the fond Dreame of Anticipation may be brought whole Iuries of Fathers and moderne Divines And reason it selfe averreth it by an unanswerable Dilemma for that passage must be written either before the Law and then God must reveale to Moses before hand what he meant to doe in the Mount which is not probable or after the law and then what reason had Moses to speak there of in the story since it was so fully declared in the Tables That of those three things before spoken of the time in generall the proportion in speciall and taxation in particular the first only is generally received for Moral the other two are Positiue rather then Ceremoniall for what need of Ceremonies in Paradise That the specification of one in seven was ceremoniall only respectiuely to the rest of the seventh day not of the seventh it selfe for what ceremony can be found in the time indefinitely considered which is one of seven That the Iewes resting upon their seventh did prefigure Christs rest in the graue in which fence also it is abolished but not our rest from sinne here and from misery hereafter for these were common to the Iewes together with the Christians The rest therefore of the day was partly Morall partly Ceremoniall but not that one in seven should be sanctified for that this is simply Morall we haue the full cry of the Schoole-men themselues That the particular taxation of this one in seven more then of another was also Positiue not Ceremoniall for there is the same taxation of one in seven under the Gospell and yet no Ceremony is put therein nay God having as it were chalked it out unto us by his works it may well be reputed Moral As therefore God commanded the Iewes their day so hath he also appointed us ours even the first day of the week for our Christian Sabbath That herein the wisdome of God is most remarkable in his Law saying not Remember the Seventh day but Remember the Sabbath day the day of Rest to sanctifie it For by this meanes we also keep the fourth Commandement in sanctifying the Lords day For as the Jewes were tyed to the observation of the Sabbath and had one of he seven preferred unto them So we haue also our Sabbath and one also of seven prescribed us That though we take not the Lords day as it is such a day of seven from the Commandement yet the rest and sanctification thereof we justly deriue from thence That undoubtedly the Gospell doth not allow a worse proportion of time for the worship of God nor a worse manner of observing it then the law did and a greater doth not well stand with our ordinary callings That seeing the day of the Creatours rest is abolished none of the seven can be more proper for a Christian mans observation then the day on which his Redeemer rested whom the * Mark 2.23 Scripture stiles Lord of the Sabbath For God marked it out unto the Apostles to whom the translation of the day appertained by the resurrection of Christ a work no way inferiour to the Creation This therefore is the day which the Lord himselfe hath made faith the Prophet Psalme 118. ver 4. That although there be no expresse proofe in Scripture yet sufficient it is to proue an institution from the continuate un-inrerrupted practice of the Church which cannot be casuall and indeed nothing else can satisfie any whose judgment and conscience cannot be overawed by the ordinance of the Church That therefore we must remember this to be our Christian Sabbath for so we may justly call it though neither Scripture nor Antiquity so stile it because all acts of Parliament and Proclamations of the State so entitle it being I say our Sabbath we are to sanctifie it in all points as the Iewes did theirs both for the time which must be 24. houres and for the rest doing nothing which may be an avocation from holy things As for sports and pastimes howsoeuer the guilded titles of Christian liberty honest recreations and the like be put upon them yet it may justly be feared least prophanesse and luxurie be thereby intended and a wide gapp set open to all licentiousnesse That all men know how syncere soever the mind of the Magistrate be how greedily the vulgar are set upon these sports how incroaching upon liberty how undiscreet in enjoying it how impatient of any restraint therein On the other side that the Saints delight in consecrating a Sabbath gloriously unto the Lord so that when others instead of refreshing toyle themselues in May games or Morricedaunces or worse finding perhaps their own pleasure therein the Saints finde nothing so sweet as the Lords statutes nothing so ravishing as the refreshings of the holy Ghost nothing so amiable as the Assemblies of their Brethren being made thereby more painefull and conscionable in their severall callings the whole weeke after How these things which seeme thus handsomely contrived doe hang together like a rope of sand consisting of some truths more falsehoods most uncertainties let the indifferent Reader judge It is true that God created Adam in Paradise but not true that the creation of the world was made knowne unto him by revelation for then to what pupose was his excellent knowledge in which he was created and which many preferre beyond that of Solomons imparted unto him That God commanded the first seventh day to be his Sabbath is very improbable for what needed Adam a