be free when her pious Sons are so traduced and reproached and that for defending those very doctrines which by her means they sucked from the breasts of both the Testaments A. That must needs follow I confesse Answ In the former declamatory passage these particulars following are to be observed 1 The hypocrisie a August Serm. in Mont. l. 2. c. 3. Qui vult videri quod non est hypocrita est Id. in Psalm 103. Parie dealbatus hypocrisis simulatio paries dealbatus foris tectorium intus lutum Id d. civ D. lib. 2. Malignitas Daemonum nisi alicubi se transfiguret in AngeluÌ„ Lucis non implet negotium deceptionis of this Declamitant who professeth himselfe an obedient Son to his deare and reverend Mother the Church of England wheras in the precedent Section he most contemptuously disgraceth Episcopal Authority ordain'd by the holy Apostles and established in the Ch. of England ever since the reformation accounting the Prelates if they exercise that power of judicature which the Church of England approveth as being descended from Primitive and Apostolicall Ordination Vâ—ines of the Pope And more than so This Dialogue-broacher b Reade this Auth rs Treatise intituled Christs coÌ„fession and complaint pag. 30. anâ— pag. 59. In wh ch he condemneth Episcopall government saying It is prohibited by Christ Luc. 22.24 1 Pet. 5.3 Mat. 20.25 2 Tim. 2.3 4. And he applyes S. Pauls Text Col. 2.20 to the Ceremonies of the Church pag. 60. They look to little but the silencing of such as stumble at their Ceremonies and Hierarchie To defend the injunctions of men and their unprofitable Hieraâ—chie Plea Such kinde of Ministers are not wanting to helpe forward the re-erecting of the Romish Baal in our Land had they but a yong Manasses to restore the Altars and Groves which good King Ezekiah his Father had pulled downe in other Pamphlets declares himselfe to be an adversary to the Ecclesiasticall policy Rites Ceremonies and Canons of our present Church and scarce any professed Schismatick of later dayes hath intreated conformable persons of good quality with more despitefull abuses than this hypocrite who stileth himselfe an obedient Sonne of his Mother the Church hath done 2 This Dialogist falsely accuseth his Adversary in laying to his charge that he hath stigmatized all such as dissent from him in the Question of the Sabbath Venomous Serpents noisome Tares pestilent Weeds and uncleane Beasts for it is apparent ex Pagina secunda of the Epistle Dedicatory that those termes are applyed to notorious Hereticks malicious Schismaticks prophane Hypocrites and proud disturbers of the peace and unity of the Church c Hieron apolog c. Ruff. Tu nimium suspitiosus querulus qui dicta in Haereticos ad tuam refers contumeliam The Bishops words are This being the condition of the Church militant it cannot be otherwise but that in all ages there shall be found among those which professe Christ not only such as are vertuous and sound in faith but also men of corrupt minds and reprobate concerning the faith Venomous Serpents noisome Tares pestilent Weeds d Idem c. Luciferian Non solum in Ecclesia morantur oves nec mundae tantuÌ„ aves volitant sed frumentum in agro seritur inter nitentia culta Lappaeque tribuli steriles dominantur avenae and uncleane beasts Our Saviours owne prediction was There shall arise false Prophets c. S. Paul Oportet Haereses esse c. 3 Another branch of Br. B. his Declamation is The Bishop in his booke brandeth those whose opinions he impugneth with the odious name of Novell Sabbatarians Our answer is 1. The Bishop in his Treatise brandeth not all such as dissent from him in his Tenet of the Sab. c. with that name neither brandeth he any therewith because they teach Christian people to observe the Lord's-day religiously and to spend the same in the performance of holy and spirituall duties so far as is necessary for their godly edification and in such manner as the Canon and Precept of the Christian Church hath enjoyned for he holdeth this to be a necessary duty obliging al good Christians 2 He giveth this Title and Name very justly to all those who proudly and peremptorily maintaine the maine Principles and Positions upon which Sabbatarian Hereticks in ancient and in moderne times have grounded their errour touching the necessary observation of the old legall Sabbath The Reader shall finde these Principles and Positions peremptorily taught for divine truth by those Teachers whose opinions the Bishop impugneth layed downe in his Treatise Page 20. c. The observation of the Seventh day and also the precise resting from worldly affaires is morall neither is there any thing in the fourth Commandement that might intimate it to be Ceremoniall The 4th Commandement can be no more partly morall partly Ceremoniall than the same living creature can be partly a Man and partly a beast The fourth Commandement is part of the Law of Nattre and thus part of the Image of God and is no more capable of a Ceremony than God himselfe The fourth commandement in every part thereof as it is contained in the Decalogue is morall and of the Law of Nature The Decalogue being the same with the Law of Nature is one and the same for ever it followeth necessarily that the Sabbath being a part of that Decalogue is to remain for ever The observation of the seventh day is of the Law of Nature it was established before Christ was promised and therefore it is not ceremoniall but of the Law of nature and perpetuall The Summe and substance of the former Positions is The fourth Commandement of the Decalogue is purely intirely and totally morall it is a Precept of the Law of Nature and of the same quality both for morality and perpetuity with other Commandements of the Law of Nature neither was there any thing Ceremoniall in it Now the judicious Reader will presently observe that the Sabbatarian Heresie concerning the perpetuall observation of the old Legall Sab. is a necessary and undeniable Conclusion issuing out of the former Positions For every Law or Precept purely intirely and totally morall is perpetuall and unchangeable the same must be intirely observed and if nothing positive or Ceremoniall be found therein then no branch or member thereof can cease or be omitted But the keeping holy of the Seventh day Sabbath namely Saturday was a maine part of the fourth Commandement for it was the Subject or materiall Object of that Commandement literally expressely and positively specified and commanded by God Almighty in the Decalogue Therefore from the Premises it will be consequent that the Seventh day Sabbath being Saturday must be kept holy untill the end of the world The first Proposition is confirmed in manner following The prime speciall and expresse materiall Object of every Law is a substantiall part of that Law and it is of the same kinde and
fuit imperatum quam id ab Imperatoribus Christianis nequis à rerum sanctarum meditatione abstraheretur neque ita praecise sancitum est It seemes therefore that the Homily hath not most clearely and fully declared all things necessary to be knowne touching this question Againe the Homily saith Whatsoever is found in the fourth Commandement appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needfull for the setting forth of God's glory it ought to be retained of all good Christians Our of the former words it may be collected that nothing in the fourth Commandement is simply morall and of the Law of Nature but that which is most godly most just and necessary for the setting forth of Gods glory And if this be the sence of the Homily as no doubt it is then the fourth Commandement is not in force according to the letter but only according to the equity and Analogie thereof Lastly the Homily saith God hath given expresse charge to all men that upon the Sabbath Day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekely and worke-day labour and God doth command the observation of this Holy day and we must be carefull to keep the Sabbath day which is the Sunday Out of the former passage these questions arise 1. What the Homily intendeth in saying God hath given expresse charge c. and God hath commanded c. Whether God hath immediately by any Divine Law expressely commanded the Observation of Sunday and in what Texts of Scripture this Law and Commandement touching Sunday is to be found Or whether the meaning of the Homily is not that God hath thus commanded Christians by a mediate or ministeriall Law and precept of his Church It may beâ— questioned likewise in what sence the Homily stileth the Sunday the Sabbath day whether in a proper and literall sence according to the stile of the old Law or in a mysticall and analogicall sence as Christ is called our Passeover 1 Cor. 5.7 Now from the precedent observations it is consequent that the Doctrine of the Church of England is not most clearly or so plainly and expressely set forth in the Homily as this Objector pretendeth when he saith pag. 13. The words of the Homily as you have heard and every one may plainely see are so expresse cleare and full that they cannot possibly admit the least ambiguity Reasons to the contrary 1. Evidens censeri solet illud quod ita sufficienter movet intellectum ut in libera hominis potestate non sit dissentire a Aqu. Sum. Greg. Valent. Et alij Scholast Doctores Aug. c. Crescon Gram. li. 3. Ipsa sententia loquatur cujus verba sic fulgerit ut si eam veliâ— abscondere quarumlibet tenebrarum latebras suo nimio splendoâ—e perruâ—peâ—â—t That onely is to be reputed cleare and evident which in such sort affecteth the understanding that it is not in the free power of an intelligent Person to dissent from it But this definition of cleare and evident cannot bee applyed to the words of the Homily for the reasons before delivered 2. According to Tertullian b Tertul. d. Resur Carnis ca. 33. Sententiae et definitiones quarum est aperta natura aliter quam sonant non sapiunt Sentences and Definitions which are cleare and evident cannot be expounded otherwise than as the words sound But the words of the Homily concerning the Sabbath which this Objector produceth doe neither force the understanding of every intelligent Reader to yeeld assent to Br. B. his Exposition and unlesse wee expound them otherwise than the words seeme to sound we shall fall into many absurdities Ergo. It is false which the Objector delivereth to wit The words of the Homily are so expresse cleare and plainely delivered as that they cannot admit the least Question or Ambiguity B. The Homily of the time and place of prayer part first sheweth That our Lord's Day is grounded upon the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue in these words Whatsoever is contained in the Commandement appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needefull for the setting forth of Gods glory it ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian people and therefore by this Commandement we ought to have a time as one day in the weeke wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawfull and needfull workes For like as it appeareth by this Commandement that no man in the sixe dayes ought to be slothfull or idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him even so GOD hath given expresse charge to all men that upon the Sabbath day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekely and worke day labour to the intent that like as God Himselfe wrought sixe dayes and rested the Seventh and blessed and sanctified and consecrated it to quietnesse and rest from labour even so God's obedient People should use the Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily businesse and also give themselves wholly to heavenly excercises of God's true Religion and Service So that God doth not onely command the Observation of this Holy Day but also by his own example doth stir and provoke us to the diligent keeping of the same Good natural children wil not only becom obedient to the Commandement of their Parents but also have a diligent eye to their doings and gladly follow the same So if we will bee the children of our Heavenly Father wee must be carefull to keepe the Christian Sabbath Day which is the Sunday not only for that it is God's expresse Commandement but also to declare our selves to bee loving children in following the example of our Gracious Lord and Father Againe thus it may plainely appeare that God's will and Commandement was to have a solemne time and standing day in the week wherein the People should come together and have in remembrance his wonderfull benefits and to render Him thankes for them as appertaineth to loving kind and obedient People This example and Commandement of God the godly Christian people began to follow immediately after the Ascension of our Lord Christ c. So the Homily and much more whence we plainely observe these conclusions 1 That all Christians ought and are bound in conscience of the fourth Commandement to keep the Lord's-day holily 2 That by the force of the fourth Commandement one day in seven is perpetually to be kept holy 3 That the keeping of the Lord's-day is grounded upon and commanded in the fourth Commandement and so is not of humane institution 4 That the Lord's-day is and may bee called our Christian Sabbath-day therefore it is not Iewish to call it so 5 That this Day is wholly to be spent in holy rest and duties of sanctification and therefore no part of it to be spent in vaine pleasures and prophane pastimes Now the Author of the Treatise doth overthrow all these conclusions for
page 23. his words are This Position to wit that the fourth Commandement is properly and perpetually morall and is for quality and obligation equall to the other nine Commandements which for many yeares hath raigned in Pamphlets Pulpits and Conventicles and is entertained as an Oracle by all such as either openly professe or doe leane towards the disciplinarian faction is destitute of truth These are his words which comparing with the words of the Homily of our Church already cited are found quite contrary For the Homily saith That the fourth Commandement is a Law of Nature and ought to be retained and kept of all good Christians in as much as it commandeth one day of the Weeke for rest and God hath given an expresse charge to all Men that the Sabbath-day which is our Sunday should be spent wholly in heavenly exercises of God's true Religion and Service Answ The Summe of the former accusation is That the Bishop in his Treatise overthrowes the Doctrine of the Church of England in the point of the Sabbath For his Doctrine is repugnant to the Homily c. which teacheth that the fourth Commandement is of the Law of Nature c. and that all Christians ought to keep it holily and one day in seven is perpetually to be kept holy the keeping of the Lord's-day is commanded by the 4th Commandement The Lord's-day may be called the Christian Sabbath-day Lastly the Lord's-day ought wholly to be spent in holy rest and duties of sanctification Now the Bishop saith the Objector hath opposed all these positions for he hath affirmed in his Treatise of the Sabbath that the fourth Commandement is not properly intirely and perpetually morall like as are the other nine and he hath permitted some bodily exercise and recreation to wit such as is honest and sober upon the Sunday and hee denies that in a legall sense the Lord's-day is to be called the Sabbath-day To the former the Bishops answer is that the Objector hath snatched some words of the Homily but he hath not duly observed the true sense and meaning thereof Athanas Orat. 1. c. Arrian Verba quidem profert veram tamen inde sentontiam sufferatur Tertul. ad Praxean Malo te ad seâ—â—um â—â—i quâ— ad sonum vocabuli exerceas For first the Homily doth not affirme that the fourth Commandement is purely intirely and properly morall and of the Law of Nature like as are the other nine But that whatsoever is found in the Commandement appertaining to the Law of Nature being most godly most just and needfull to the setting forth of Gods glory ought to be retained Now if nothing else in the fourth Commandement is of the Law of Nature but only that which is most just godly and needfull to the setting forth of Gods glory then the Homily maketh not the letter of that Commandement of the Law of nature but the intent and meaning thereof is That the fourth Commandement in respect of the naturall equity b Al. Hal 3. â— 32. m. 5 ar 1. Hoc praecepto praecipitur tempus vacationis aliquoâ— secundum hoc est morale legis naturae hoc secundum indâ—terminationeÌ„ hoc modo secundâ— indeterminationem praecipitur Dominica dies tempore gratiae which is that the Rulers of the Church must appoint necessary convenient and sufficient time for Divine Worship and for religious offices is morall and of the Law of Nature And if the Objector will straine the words of the Homily to a further sense let him well consider into what absurdities and contradictions he will be forced to plunge himselfe For if this Commandement be intirely purely and properly Morall a H. B. Gosp and Law recon p. 38. The CoÌ„mandement of the Sabbath is morall and so no lesse perpetuall then all the rest for if none of the rest of the CoÌ„mandements be abolished then neither the fourth Pag. 42. 49. The Law of the Sabbath was imprinted in Adams heart by the Law of Nature and of the Law of Nature like as the other nine Then it must have all the essentiall characters of the Law of Nature and of Precepts purely and entirely morall But it wanteth all these as is proved by demonstrative arguments in the Bishops book pag. 26. untill pag. 37. and pag. 172. Neverthelesse that I may more fully discover the ignorance and presumption of this Dialogist I shall propound an argument against him which he will hardly be able to solve to wit The Law of Nature was made knowne to all mankinde b Isidor Etimol l. 5. ca. 4. Ius naturale commune est omniuÌ„ nationum eo quod ubique instinctu naturae non constitutioneâ— aliqua habetur by the Common light of naturall reason The same is immutable unchangeable c Decret Dist 5. Naturale jus ab exordio rationalis naturae nec mutatur tempore sed immutabile permanet Aug. Confess l. 2. c. 4. Lex scripta in cordibus hominum quam nec ipsa quidem delet iniquitas eternall indispensable But the fourth Commandement concerning the Sabbath was not imprinted naturally or made knowne to all mankinde by the common light of naturall reason but it was made knowne only and wholly by divine and supernaturall revelation Also the fourth Commandement was changeable and mutable for the Sabbath of that Commandement which was Saturday according to the Objectors owne Tenet was changed into Sunday And lastly it admitted sundry dispensations pag. 34. 67. Now the premises being indubitate Verities The conclusion is firme to wit That the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue is no precept of the Law of Nature d Theod. in Ezek. 20.12 Illud non moechaberis non furtum facies alia cum his conjuncta alios quoque homines naturae lex edocuit At Sabbati observandi non natura magistra sed latio legis Walaeus Alii Synops purior Theolog. disp 21. n. 20. Sabbati praeceptum non est à naturae necessitate ut reliqua praecepta quae menti insita per se cognita sunt sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex voluntaria Dei institutione D. bound d. Sab. l. 1. p. 11. Indeed this Law was given in the beginning not so much by the light of Nature as the rest of the Commandements were but by expresse word For though this be the Law of Nature that some dayes should be separated to Gods worship yet that it should he every seventh day that the LORD himselfe set downe neither is it purely intirely and properly morall like the other nine but meerely positive in respect of any one particular day of the Weeke specified in the same The Bishop desires to receive some reasonable answer from Br. B. to this and to other the like arguments delivered in his Treatise of the Sabbath for if he shall according to his rude manner barke and blatter against his adversaries Positions and dissemble his arguments it is apparent that he maintaines a forlorne and
desperate cause B. The Homily saith All Christians ought and are bound in conscience of the fourth Commandement to keepe the Lord's-day holily Ans 1. The equity and Analogie of the fourth Commandement obligeth Christians to observe a convenient and sufficient time for Gods worship and service and for the exercise of spirituall and religious duties 2 After such time as the Orthodoxall Catholike Church hath upon the example of the holy Apostles and for other weighty reasons devoted the Sunday of every Weeke to the exercise of Religious duties Christian people in obedience to the Law of the Church grounded upon the equity of the fourth Commandement and the example of the Apostles are bound in conscience to observe that Day holily in the performance of religious duties pag. 100. B. The Lord's-day is and may be called our Christian Sabbath-day and therefore it is not Iewish to call it so Answ 1. The Lord's-day is not the litterall Sabbath of the fourth Commandement and therfore in propriety of speech it cannot be called the Sabbath-day expressely or in particular commanded in the Decalogue but the same is stiled by the Homily our Christian Sabbath in a mysticall and analogicall sense even as mortâ—fication is called Circumcision Rom. 2.29 and sincerity and truth are called unleavened bread 1 Cor. 8.5 B. That this day is wholly to be spent in holy rest and duties of sanctification and therefore no part of it to be spent in vaine pleasures and profane pastimes Answ 1. The Homily according to the Tenet also of other Divines a Bucer in Mat. 12. p. 113. Eximatur è cordibus hominum opinio necessitatis ne quis credat eum diem per se esse aliis sanctiorem vel operari in eo per se esse peccatum Danaeus Eth. Christ l 2. c. 9. Nobis Christianis non tanta tamve severa rigida observatio ne laboremus in die Dominica imposita est Nam ex lege Constantini licet serere metere in die Dominica si commodum sit Aquin. 2. 2. q. 122. ar 4. ad 4. Non est ita arcta prohibitio operandi in die Dominica sicut in die Sabbati sed quaedam opera conceduntur in die Dominica quae in die Sabbati prohibebantur sicut decoctio ciboruÌ„ c. permitteth some kinde of labour upon the Sunday Therefore by wholly it understandeth not every houre and minute of the day but so much thereof as is necessary and morally sufficient for the performance of the religious duties of the day pag. 218 219. 225. 231. 2 If the Objector would have proceeded sincerely he should have declared whether by vaine pleasures and profane pastimes he understandeth all bodily exercise and recreation in generall or such only as is vitious in quality or by reason of circumstances pag. 229. If he meane the first we finde no words in the Homily condemning in generall all recreation to wit such as is sober and honest in quality and which is not attended with evill circumstances But if he understand the Homily in the latter sense to wit that it condemneth ungodly pastimes Then he might have observed the Bishops words pag. 258. The Lawes of our Church and Common-wealth condemne and chastise all things profane and vitious upon the Lord's-day And pag. 259. All obscene lascivious and voluptuous pastimes are prohibited on this day And pag. 229. All kindes of Recreations which are of evill quality in regard of their object or which are attended with evill circumstances c. If they bee used upon the Lord's-day or on other Festival daies they are sacrilegious c. And in the Ep. Dedicat. Profanation of the Lords-day and of other solemne Festivall dayes which are devoted to religious offices is impious and hateful in the sight of God and all good men and therfore to bee avoided by such as feare God and to be corrected and punished in those which shall offend and pag. 109. 110. This Ordinance and observation of the Lord's Day began in the holy Apostles age and hath universally beene continued ever since to the great honour of Christ our Saviour and to the marvellous benefit of Christian soules who upon that holy day are edified weekely in godlinesse vertue and true Religion And therefore we justly account all those who maligne the honour of this blessed day prophane and sacrilegious A. The Author seemes to acknowledge some morality naturall to be in the fourth Commandement for pag. 135. He saith Our resting from labour in respect of the generall is grounded upon the Law of Nature or the equity of the fourth Commandement B. This is nothing to the purpose to acquit him from being an Adversary to the expresse doctrine of our Church Dolosus versatur in Vniversalibus it was the speech of King Iames. The naturall morality of the fourth Commandement is not in generall to imply some Individuum Vagum some certaine uncertaine indefinite time for God's Worship a Vrsin Cat. de Sabba Non sumus allegati ut diem vel Iovis vel Saturni vel Mercurij vel ullum alium certum habeamus Rivet in Exod. 20. pag. 193. Petitur principium cum id pro confesso sumitur ad substantiam maÌ„dati quarti quatenus morale est pertinere circumstantiam dieâ— septimi Phil. Melancht loc Com. d. 3. praecepto Recte dicitur in tertio praecepto duas esse partes unam naturalem seu moralem seu genus altera pars est caeremonia propria populo Israel seu species de die septimo De priore dicitur naturale seu genus esse perpetuuÌ„ non posse abrogari videlicet mandatuÌ„ de conservaÌ„do ministerio publico sic ut aliquo die populus doceatur caeremoniae divinitus institutae exerceantur Species vero quae nominatim de septimo die loquitur abrogata est for the Commandement is expresse for a certaine day in the weeke for the Sabbath Day Remember the Sabbath to sanctifie it It saith not remember to set apart and allow some time for the service of God but it determines the time and day lest otherwise being left undetermined man should forget God Himselfe and allow no time or day at all for God's service or if he did God should bee beholden to him for it Ans 1. Is he Dolosus a deceiver who maintaineth there is a generall equitie in Divine Positive Lawes No man living is able to justifie this For in the Old Iudiciall Lawes yea in many Ceremoniall Lawes there is contained a generall Equity grounded upon the Law of Nature In the judiciall Law set downe Exod. 22.1 2. there is a generall equity implyed obliging Christians to restitution of goods unjustly by them taken away In the Law of Deuteronomy 25.4 Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Corne there was contained a generall naturall equity 1 Corinth 9.9 Therefore he is not Dolosus who maintaineth a generall equity in the fourth Commandement but he is a Dolt who denies
will perceive that the Bishop in his Doctrine concerning Recreations hath proceeded plainely distinctly and without equivocations or contradictions For. 1. He delivereth a definition of Recreation in generall out of approved Authors pag. 229. 2 He divideth Recreations into two kindes to wit into honest and lawfull and into such as are vicious and unlawfull 3 He defines these two species of Recreations approoving the first kind if they be used in due time and with due circumstances and condemning the latter upon all dayes and seasons But it seemes this sonne if confusion is offended because the Bishop's Treatise concerning Recreations is so cleare and exact that he can finde no defective passage in it on which he might fasten his envious jawes B. If I might bee bold a You haue superlative boldnesse but little truth and honesty I would aske him what he thinkes of promiscuous meetings of wanton youth in their May-games setting up of May-poles dancing about them dancing the Morice and leading the Ring-dance and the like unto which Dr. Wh. in the former passage pag. 266. doth not obscurely point as it were with the finger Are not these obscene or lascivious and voluptuous Pastimes Answ 1. This Momus deales like one Vrbicus in Saint Augustine Who wanting Arguments to prove That Christians were obliged to make the Sabbath of every weeke a fasting day fell into a bitter invective against luxurious feasting drunken bâ—nquetting and lewde drinkings a Aug. Ep. 86. Cum cum argumeÌ„ta deficiunt quibus probet Sabbato jejunandum in luxurias convivarum temulenta convivia nequissimas ebrietates invehitur quasi non jejunare hoc sit inebriari Brother B. is destitute of firme Arguments to prove that all bodily exercise and civill recreation is simply unlawfull upon any part of the Sunday and therefore he imitates that Sectarian and declaimeth against lascivious and prophane sports and pastimes Now his Adversary maintaineth no Recreation which is prophane and lascivious or which is vicious in quality or circumstances either upon Sunday b Clem. Apost Const. li. 5. ca. 9. Neque in Dominicis diebus qui sunt dies laetitiarum permittimus vobis quicquam inhonestum loqui aut agere or upon any day of the Weeke Page 229 c. 2 Whereas the envious man demandeth what wee thinke of promiscuous meetings of wanton youth setting up May-Poles c. Our answer is that when hee hath proved by sound arguments such meetings and pastimes as the lawes of our kingdom and the Canons of our Church have permitted after that the Religious offices of the day are performed to be in quality or circumstance dishonest or vicious we must proclaime them to be unlawfull at all times but especially upon the holy day c B. Ely Treat p. 230. If they bee used upoÌ„ the Lord's Day or on other festivall dayes they are sacrilegious because they rob God of his honour to whose worship and service the Holy day is devoted they defile the soules of men for the clensing and edifying whereof the Holy Day is deputed B. I note how poorely he playes the Divine or Doctor by giving indulgence or more liberty to such as have quesie stomacks and cannot digest those wholesome meats which God's word and all sound Divines and Doctors doe prescribe a This Goose-quil antiquum obtiner for be gaggles only but produceth no sentence of Gods word truly applyed nor one sound Divine or Doctor who is adverse to the Bishop's Tenet c. Give Man a power thus to dispense with part of the Lord's-day which is an incroachment upon the fourth Commandement according to the Doctrine of our Church and why may not Man assume unto himselfe a power as the Pope doth to dispense with Servants and Children by allowing them some time wherein they shall bee free from the Controle of their Masters and their Parents Answ If there be no Divine Law prohibiting people to use honest and sober recreation upon some part of the Holy-day then he is no poore Divine or Doctor which yeeldeth such liberty to people as God hath not denyed them But there is no Divine Law written or unwritten prohibiting people to use honest and sober recreation upon some part of the Holy-day Therefore hee that yeeldeth such liberty to people is no poore Divine or Doctor But hee which upon false grounds denieth it them is a proud Pharisee 2 They which grant liberty to Children and Servants to disobey their Parents and Masters take upon them power to dispense with a Divine Law which is properly morall and of the Law of Nature But they that grant license to Christian people to use sober and honest recreation upon some part of the Holy-day dispense with no Divine Law either Morall Naturall or Positive Therefore the Objector's comparison is betweene things which are altogether unlike B. Our Treatiser doth miserably abuse the Scripture and so turne the grace of God into wantonnesse for he saith p. 257. The Law of Christ is sweet and easie Mat. 11.30 And his Commandements are not grievous 1 Iohn 5.3 Answ He abuseth not the Scripture who expoundeth and applyeth the same rightly But the Bishop hath expounded and applyed the two Texts of Scripture Matth. 11.30 and 1 Iohn 5.3 truly and rightly Therefore the Objector is a false accuser in saying the Treatiser hath abused the Scripture The Assumption is proved in manner following The Bishop delivered this Proposition All Divine Evangelicall Ordinances necessary to the salvation of every Christian are possible with ordâ—nary diligence and likewise with comfort to be observed for the Law of Christ is sweet and easie Mat. 11.30 and his Commandements are not grievous 1 Iohn 5.3 Now the foresaid Texts are truly expounded and they do fully confirme the Bishop's Proposition Therefore the Dialogue-dauber is a rude Blatterant a Hieron ad Ripar Quicquid amens loquitur vociferatio clamor est appellandus in saying the Treatiser hath miserably abused the Scripture B. And what then is Christ's Law so sweet and easie as that it gives indulgence to profane libertinisme This is to make the Gospell a sweet Fable as that Atheisticall Pontifician said Answ 1. Christ's Law is so sweet and easie as that it commandeth no externall service or duty necessary Necessitate medii to be performed by all Christians which they may not by the assistance of Divine Grace be able to performe with ordinary diligence and comfort b Arausic Concil ca. 25. Hoc etiam secunduÌ„ fidem catholicaÌ„ credimus quod accepta gratia per baptismum omnes baptizati Christo auxiliante cooperante quae ad salutem pertinent possint â—c debeant si fideliter laborare voluerint adimplere This Position is confirmed by the Bishop pag. 257. both by sentences of holy Scripture and by testimonies of ancient Fathers And from hence it is consequent that it is no sin much lesse no mortall crime equall to Murder Adultery and
d. Pec. Mer. Remiss li. 1. ca. 16. Et li. 2. ca. 4. A seventh Passage of Brother B. All were the true bred Children of the Church of England c. who maintained Brother B. his dictats concerning the old Sabbath and the Lord's-day witnesse Master Cartwright Master Fenne Old Master Gilby Master Snape Master Lord Master Dâ—d Mr. Cleaver Mr. Oxenbridge Master Sheere-wood Master Iohnson Master Nutter c. An eighth Passage of Brother B. The fourth Commandement is simply and intirely morall binding Vs Christians to observe the Lord's-Day The reason is because the Law of the fourth Commandement according to the proper and literall sence thereof was given to the Iewes only for keeping holy the Saturday and not to the Gentiles for the observation of Sunday A ninth Passage of Brother B. The Holy Apostles presently and immediately after Christ's Ascension taught and commanded all Christians to observe the Lord's-Day weekely and to renounce the Old Sabbath The reason because Saint Paul some twenty yeares after Christ's Ascension a Chytr in Cronol Anno Christi quinquagessimo quinto venit Paulus in Troadem inde in Macedoniam commanded the Corinthians to give Almes upon the first day of the weeke 1 Cor. 16.2 and Saint Iohn many yeares after that stiled Sunday by the name of the Lord's Day A Tenth Passage of Brother B. The first day of every weeke throughout the whole yeare is the Sabbath day of the 4th Commandement because our Saviour began to rest from some of his Redemptive actions upon the latter part of Good-Friday and because he rested in his grave the whole Sabbath day before his Resurrection and because hee rested as much upon Munday Tuesday and upon other dayes following as â—e did upon Sunday An Eleventh Passage of Brother B. To give Christian people any liberty to doe any manner of worke or to use any bodily exercise or pastime upon any part of the Sunday is to imitate the Pope in dispensing against God's morall Law Proved because brother B. is able to produce no Divine or Evangelicall Law recorded in holy Scripture which prohibiteth all bodily exercise and sober and honest recreation upon some part of that day A Twelfth Passage of Brother B. It is unlawfull to use any sober and honest recreation to wit such as is neither vicious in quality or circumstance upon any part of the Lord's-day because all profane ungodly obscene and lascivious pastime is prohibited upon that day and upon all other dayes throughout the yeare as if one should say it is not lawfull to eat or drink upon Sunday because surfeâ—ting and drunkennesse are unlawfull upon that day and upon all other dayes A Thirteenth Passage of Brother B. The Bishops of the Church of England have not power to instruct the inferiour Clergie in matters of Religion because they have not received miraculous grace Ex opere operato Proved because brother B. by his mother wit without ordinary grace or morall honesty supposeth himselfe qualified like an Apostle to correct and instruct all men both simple and learned in the most profound Questions of Theologie A Fourteenth Passage of H. B. It is a grosse Solecisme in Divinity Law and Gospell reconciled pag. 52. to admit an Institution to be Apostolicall and yet to deny it to be of Divine Authority and consequently to make it temporary and mutable Proved because Episcopall Authority was of Apostolicall institution c Iren. lib. 3. ca. 3. Fundantes igitur instruentes beati Apostoli Ecclesiam Lino EpiscopatuÌ„ administrandae Ecclesiae tradiderunt Succedit autem ei Anacletê° post euÌ„ tertio loco ab Apostolis EpiscopatuÌ„ sortitur Clemens Polycarpus in Asia in ea quae est Smyrnis Ecclesia constitutê° Episcopus ab Apostolis Tertul. c. Haer. cap. 32. Hier. Catalog in Clement Ignatio Polycarpo c. neverthelesse according to Br. B. the same is not Divine but the Prelats of the Church of England who exercise such Authority are Veines of the Pope and the maintainers thereof are guided by a Papall spirit Dialog pag. 3. A Fifteenth Passage of H. B. The fourth Commandement being a part of the Law written in Adam's heart needed not any expresse Commandement more than the rest d Ib. pag. 42. Proved because it was made knowne by Divine Revelation only and not by a naturall impression that God created Heaven and Earth in six dayes and rested the seventh and if the observation of the Sabbath was commanded Adam the same was the Saturday Sabbath of every weeke and not the Sunday and God Almighty himselfe appointed the first day of the Weeke to be one of the six working dayes A Sixteenth Passage of H. B. Ib. pag. 45. The seventh Day being an inseparable Circumstance of the substance of the fourth Commandement cannot be separated from the Sabbath The Reason because Christians were taught by the Apostles to make the first day of the week their weekly Festivall and not the seventh day A Seventeenth Passage of H. B. To rest from all labour Ib. pag. 47. is of the very Essence of the Sabbath The Reason because our Saviour maintained that some labour which was not of absolute necessity might lawfully be used upon the Sabbath-day An Eighteenth Passage of H. B. Who can deny the keeping of the Sabbath to be morall Ib. pag. 41. but he must withall proclaime open enmity to God's worship and Man's salvation The reason because the Apostles taught Christians to observe the Lord's-day being not the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement but a new Holy day grounded upon the Resurrection of Christ A Nineteenth Passage of H. B. The Commandement of the Sabbath is morall and so no lesse perpetuall than all the rest Ib. pag. 38. The reason because it was a shadow of good things to come and it was abrogated by the Apostles and changed into another day The last remarkable Observation concerning Br. B. It is lawfull when a man cannot otherwise solve an Objection to passe by both the Premisses of an Argument propounded in due forme and to deny the Conclusion for example No Law which is mutable in respect of the proper materiall Object is a Law of Nature But the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue was mutable in respect of the proper materiall Object Ergo the Law of the fourth Commandement was not a Precept of the Law of Nature Againe no morall action is unlawfull unlesse it be prohibited by some Divine Law expresse or virtuall or by some humane or Ecclesiasticall Law But bodily exercise or Recreation not being vicious in quality or circumstance if it bee used upon some part of the Holy day is prohibited by no Divine Law expresse or virtuall nor by any humane or Ecclesiasticall Law Ergo some bodily exercise or Recreation not being vicious in quality or circumstance may be permitted and used upon some part of the Holy day This Doctor indocilis when hee meeteth with any such Arguments will not be so
AN EXAMINATION AND CONFVTATION of a Lawlesse Pamphlet INTITVLED A briefe Answer to a late Treatise of the SABBATH-DAY Digested Dialogue-wise betweene two Divines A and B. By Dr. FR. WHITE L. Bishop of ELY â— COR. 13. We can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth Hieronymuâ— de Luciferianis dicit Facilius eos vinci posse quam persuaderi LONDON Printed by Richard Badger and are to be sold in S. Pauls Church-yard 1637. TO THE CHRISTIAN AND IVDICIOVS READER THe Reason and Occasion inducing my Superiours to imploy mee in a service of the Church for penning and publishing a Treatise of the Sabbath and of the Lord's-day is delivered in my Epistle Dedicatory to the Lord's Grace of Canterbury And my intention in performing thereof was to deliver and maintaine the Orthodoxall Doctrine of the Primitive Church and the Doctrine of the Church of England authorised by the Lawes and Statutes of our Kingdome against the Sabbatarian Error of one Theophilus Brabourne and because this Errant had grounded the most of his Arguments upon certaine Principles borrowed from some Moderne Teachers of our owne Nation I was compelled to examine and confute the same This service being with much Care and Diligence performed by me I expected some thankes for convicting and converting that Errant and for preventing the farther spreading and infection of his Error But at least I presumed to have obtained a charitable Construction of such Passages in my Treatise as were subservient to a farther discovery of Verity and that if any had found cause of dissenting from me they would in a charitable and peaceable manner have propounded their Exceptions It hath now so fallen out that contrary both to my desert and expectation A certaine clamorous and audacious Scripturient a Person of a very weak judgement but yet exceeding confident and arrogant hath vented a Lawlesse and unlicensed Pamphlet digested Dialogue-wise c. wherein he Proclaimeth with open mouth that my Treatise of the Sabbath overthroweth the publike Doctrine of the Church of England touching that Question Now the whole matter and frame of his Dialogue is so rude and indigested and the Author thereof is so notorious for his ignorance envy and presumption that it rather merits execration than confutation and many Persons of worth and quality have perswaded me rather to contemne than to confute either the worke or the workeman But when I consider the cause it selfe and the humour of factious people who are alwaies ready to conceive their owne fancies to be irrefragable Verities if they passe in publike without just reproofe I conceive it can be no indiscretion in Me or dishonour for Me to appeare in defence of Veritie against falsitie and iniquitie how base and unworthy soever the Author is with whom I shall contest Now all which I shall desire of the judicious Reader is first that he take into consideration the maine accusation of the Dialogist which is That in my Treatise of the Sabbath I have overthrowne the publike Doctrine of the CHURCH of ENGLAND touching this Question Secondly that he will duely and impartially consider and examine in the ballance of true judgement the Adversaries Exceptions and Objections against my Arguments and Positions and my Answere and confutation of the same Concerning the maine accusation of the Objector before mentioned the Reader may easily discerne the falsity and iniquitie of it for the Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the Sunday and other Holy dayes is in plaine and expresse termes delivered in the Statute of Quinto and Sexto of King EDWARD the sixt cap. 3. in manner following Neither is it to be thought that there is any certaine time or number of dayes prescribed in holy Scripture but that the appointment both of the time and also of the number of the dayes is left by the authoritie of God's Word to the libertie of CHRIST'S Church to be determined and assigned orderly in every Countrey by the discretion of the Rulers and Ministers thereof as they shal judge most expedient to the setting forth of God's glorie and the edification of their people Be it therefore enacted by the King our Sovereigne Lord with the assent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled by the authority of the same that all the dayes hereafter mentioned shall bee kept and commanded to be kept holy dayes and none other that is to say All Sundayes in the yeere The dayes of the Feasts of the Circumcision of our Lord IESUS CHRIST of the Epiphanie of the Purification of the blessed Virgine of S. Matthias the Apostle c. And that none other day shall be kept holy day or to abstaine from lawfull bodily labour The former Statute being repealed Anno primo Mariae cap. 2. was revived An. prim R. IACOBI cap. 25. and is at this day in force as appeareth by the booke of Statutes pag. 894. and by the judgement of the Reverend Iudges and Masters in our Lawes A Second passage which I desire the judicious Reader to observe is That the Doctrine concerning the Sabbath day and the Lord's day maintained in my Treatise agreeth exactly with the unanimous Tenet of the Orthodoxall Catholike Church of ancient times and the same agreeth likewise with the Tenet both of all the Schoole Doctours ancient and moderne and also with the Tenet of the best learned and most religious Divines of the reformed Churches beyond Sea And lastly the same is agreeable to the Tenet of the Holy Martyrs of our owne Church Bishop Cranmer Iohn Frith William Tindall D. Barnes c. And the other opinion That the fourth Commandement is a Precept of the Law of Nature and purely and intirely Morall And that the observation of the Lord's Day is expresly commanded by that Precept of the Decalogue is a novell Position repugnant to all or most Orthodoxall Divines who have instructed Christian people in the wayes of godlinesse in former or moderne times Every one of the former passages is so fully prooved and confirmed in my Treatise of the Sabbath that no just exception can be taken against my proceeding in handling this Question and therefore the boldnesse and impudency of this blattering Dialogist is detestable when he affirmeth that my Treatise of the Sabbath overthroweth the Doctrine of the Church of England Lastly all the Reward which I desire to reape for my travell in this or in any other service of the Church is that the Truth which I have faithfully delivered may bee maintained and my integrity be protected against gracelesse impudent and irreverent Calumniators such as the Author of the Dialogue hath proclaimed himselfe to be in this and in some other of his lewd and lawlesse Pamphlets For although this Dialogue penner hath concealed his name yet Ex ungue Leonem the world may easily conjecture who the Creature is by his foule paw The Scope of his writing in his Pamphlets is to magnifie his owne Zeale piety
peccatum Quod quamdiu in peccato vixerint non dimittitur Pro. 28.13 Esay 1.16 17. 55.7 An Adulterer therefore continuing in his sin committing the same as oft as opportunity serveth is not justified before God For God who calleth it an abomination in us Men to justifie the wicked Prov. 17.15 cannot himself justifie any sinner continuing in his wickednes and therefore every such sinner ceaseth to be justified untill hee have repented and forsaken his sinne The Author of the Appeale at this present a learned and Reverend Bishop maintained the former Doctrine by the words of the Homily affirming that the Doctrine delivered in the Homily was the Doctrine of the Church of England pag. li. 32. In answer to the former Brother B. sets his glosse upon the Homily saying a Plea to the Appeale lb. As neither the Church of England her self avoucheth or concludeth any thing for Doctrine matters of faith but so far as is consonant to the word of God so neither are we to measure her doctrines but by the only line and rule of the Scriptures Ib. For the Articles and Hâ—milies of the Church of England wee subscribed unto theÌ„ indeed but not to the private sense which every particular man may put upon them Idem Christ Conf. Compl. pâ—g 92. that we are to measure the Doctrines of the Church of England by the line and rule of holy Scr pture and that we must not take the words of the Homily at the first rebound according to our owne fancy but so far as the same is consonant to the word of God pag. 14. But if this Rule which the Dialogue Dauber hath approved is authenticall then we can see no reason wherefore it may not be lawfull for us as well as for him to expound the words of the Homily in point of the Sabbath according to the sense of holy Scripture And if we may do this then it is undoubtedly true that it was not the intent of the Homily to make the 4th Commandement a Precept of the Law of Nature or a morall Precept purely intirely and properly such Our request likewise is that Br. B. would make a review of a confident Argument propounded by him against the Appealer in his Plea pag. 17. the scope whereof is That a Person once justified and in the state of Grace if afterwards he become an Adulterer or wilfully commit any other the like crime or sin and continueth therein yet he still remaineth in the state of Grace without any diminution of his faith no not in the degrees His Argument is as followeth A mortall Father begets a mortall Son So the immortall God can beget no Son but he is immortall Now it is impossible for the immortall God to dye no not for a moment Of this nature also is the Borne of God a H. B. Plea to the Appeal Now this being so cleare a proofe if any places of Scripture seeme to be opposit they are so onely in sound not in sence he cannot fall away totally that is dye in his spirituall life no not for a moment But upon the foresaid ground Br. B. may proceed further and conclude that no person once regenerate can possibly sin at any time in thought word or deed neither can hee die a temporall death For if God Almighty being a Father of the regenerate hath begotten all his sonnes in nature like himselfe and it is impossible for God Himselfe either to dye or to sinne Then it will likewise be impossible for any Regenerate Persons to sinne in thought word or deed they cannot at any time covet or lye or transgresse any Divine Law neither can they dye a temporall Death The learned Author of the Appeale beleeveth that Br. B. was pleased to act Asotus his part although hee stiled himselfe Orthodoxus when hee propounded the former Argument For although it is true that an immortall father begetting a son of the same nature and substance with himselfe every such naturall sonne must be immortall like unto his naturall father as appeareth in the second person of the Trinity according to his Deity b Aug. c. Faust Manich. li. 3. ca. 3. Vnicum filium habet Deus quâ—m genuit de substantia sua de quo dicitur cum in forma Dei esset non rapinam arbitratus est se aequalem esse Deo Nos autem non de substantia sua genuit creatura enim sumus quam non genuit sed fecit yet it is extreme false and most absurd to affirme that all such Persons as are the Sonnes of God meerely by his Voluntary Election free gift or by Creation or Adoption and so farre as they imitate and obey him * Id. Serm. Dom. in Mont. c. 46. Vnus naturaliter filius est qui nescit omnino peccare Nos autem potestate accepta efficimur filii in quantum ea quae ab illo praecipiuntur implemus Id. in Psa 44. Ille creando pater sed nos illum imitando filii Matth. 5.45 doe partake the essentiall and naturall proprieties and Attributes of God himselfe their heavenly Father For Adam was the sonne of God by Creation Luk. 3.38 And Infants baptized are regenerate with the Holy Spirit and made the Children of God by Adoption and yet notwithstanding Adam by disobedience fell from grace and became mortall and all Infants regenerate in Baptisme are mortall and many of these comming to yeares of discretion by sinne and Infidelity fall away from the state of Grace and Adoption a August Ep. 59. Quid dicturus est de Infantulis parvulis qui plerique accepto in illa aetate gratiae SacrameÌ„to qui sine dubio pertinerent ad vitaÌ„ aeternam regnumque caeloruÌ„ si continuo ex hac vita emigrarent sinuntur crescere noÌ„nulli etiam Apostatae sunt received in their Baptisme Prosper Aquitauicus b Prosp ad artic fals impos cap. 7. Cyprian Ep. 76. Nonnulli de illis qui sani baptizantur si postmodum peccare caeperint Spiritu immundo redeunte quatiuntur ut manifestum sit diabolum Baptismo fide credentis excludi si fides postmodum defecerit regredi S. Augustine's Disciple and interpreter saith as followeth Ex regeneratis in Christo Iesu qâ—â—sdâ—â— relicta fide â—â—is moribus apostatare à Deo impiam Vitamin suâ—â—versione finire multis quod dolendum est probatur exemplis Among those which are regenerate in Christ Iesus that some persons by forsaking faith and good manners fall away from God and â—nd their wicked life in Apostasie is proved the more is the pitty by many examples A. Sir you have abundantly satisfied me in this point and I suppose every Rationall man and true bred sonne of the Church of England and surely I wonder so learned a man should commit so foule an error as not to search better into the Doctrine of our Church so clearely expressed in the Homily Answ In the Bishop's Epistle prefixed