Iewes resting from their servile worke to sanctify the seventh day S. g Illud unum de Sabbato usque adeo figuratà diei septimi observatione apud Israelitas velatum fuit in mysterio praeceptum fuit quodam Sacramento figurabatur ut hodie a nobis non observetur dug quest sup Exod. l. 2. q. 172. Austin affirmeth the Sabbath to be a part of the vaile of Moses h Pro die sexto in Hebraeo diem septimum habet arctabimus igitur Iudaeos qui de otio Sabbathi gloriantur quod iam tunc in principio Sabbathum dissolutum sit Hieron tradit Heb in Gen. S. Hierome observing the Hebrew text to bee in the seventh day God ended his worke inferres that therefore the Iewes had little reason to glory in their Sabbath rest because God himselfe did not rest that day I commend neither his antecedent nor his consequent but by this it appears that in his opinion there was no Sabbath commanded or observed in Paradise And more expresly in c. 20. i Haec praecepta iustificationes observantiam Sabbathi dedit dominus in deserto Hieron in cap. 20. Ezek. Ezek. Adde to these k Neque cerre ulla corporis circumcisio illis fuit quia neque nob is est neque Sabbathorum observation quia neque neâ—is est Euseb lib. 1. c. 4. Eusebius in his ecclesiasticall history and l Proinde videtur non temerè interpretibus scripturae diligentioribus praedicendo fortè dominum sanctificasse Sabbathum cum ab exordio rerum sanctificâsse legitur Bulling Praefat. de Sab. Feriâ—â— Bullinger affirming it to be the opinion of the most diligent and accurate expositours of holy scriptures of what sort soever And lastly whereas it is said that Zanchius thinkes that Adam kept holy the first seventh day in Paradise and had Christ in shape of a man to be his preacher I will oppose none other then Mr Perkins that Adam sinned and was cast out of Paradise the sixt day Adde hereunto those a Nehem. 13.8 Exod. 20.31 Ezek 20.12 places of scripture which speak of the Sabbath as given to the Iewes by Moses as a part of his Leviticall covenant with which how this other opinion can agree I understand not b Quod Moses diem septimum nominet quomodo Deut orhem is sex diebus creavit hic est temporarius ornatus quo hoc praeceptum populo suo ornat nam ante Mosen hoc non invenitur neque de Abraham c. Luth. To. 7. epist ad amic vid. Epiph haeres 8. Luther I am sure affirmes that when Moses naming the seventh day addeth that God rested the seventh day having made the world in sixe did it to set it out to the people to whom it was then commanded for before Moses no such observation is to be found either in Abhaham or any of the Patriarches Chap 3. Wherein is briefely declared what is to be thought of the present Question IN this question so hotly debated on both sides I never conceived it of any great consequence which way soever the ballance fell For though they that affirme the question thinke it to make much for the morality of one in seven yet all me know that c Evane scant nugae Pseudo prophetarum abroragatum esse quod ceremoniale erat in hoc mandato remanere veró quod morale est nempe unius diei observationem in hebaomade Calvin Instiâ— lib. 20. c. 8.33.34 Calvin who is their greatest enemy in this joynes with them in the other as well 〈◊〉 he may without coÌ„tradicting himselfe especially if we speake of Adam and the Patriarches after the fall Indeed had it been given our first Parents in Paradise and state of innocency as it must universally have bound all men so neither could it have been in any thing ceremoniall relating unto Christ to bee abolished by him as is alleaged in the third and fourth arguments and wee must still have kept that day on which God rested But if it were in practice only after the fall so were many other ceremonies Altars Sacrifices washings circumcision which yet are not therefore morall but only positive precepts and forerunners of the ceremoniall Law to be established in the hands of Moses Ob. If any man say there is not the same reason because the Law of the Sabbath was afterwards made one of the ten words written in the tables of stone which since it cannot be affirmed of Sacrifices Circumcision c. seemes to make a great difference Ans I answere that the Sabbath being in the Decalogue Sacrifices all other ceremonialls were there also for the Sabbath is there placed as the Summum genus and short epitome of the whole ceremoniall Law as d Ex hisduebus iocis Levit 19. Levit. 26 manisestum est Sabbatho annexum fuisse aultum taber naculi nec modo res fuisse coniunctas insolubili vinculo sedotium à laboribus debuisse reserri ad sacrificia Calvin in Exod. Calvin hath well observed and long before him S. e PostaquaÌ„ descendit Moses de monte opera â—ommendantur rabernaculi coÌ„struendi vestis sacerdotalis de quiâ—â—â—â— faciendis antequam aliud praeciperet locutus est adpopulum de Sabbahi observatione Aug. q. Exod. â—â— 2. q. 72. Austin To the question therefore the whole seemes to move upon two hinges matter of fact and matter of faith The matter of fact is what Adam did or should have done in the state of innocency but this and all such of like nature since Adam stood not are meere speculations knowne only to the Almighty by that part of his infinite wisdome whereby hee beholdeth all possibilities of things The matter of faith may bee thought to be the text of Scripture alleadged out of Genesis Which is not so for not the text but the interpretation is here only questioned how it is to bee understood for circumstance of time only in which case though sundry interpretations be brought none can be said to be de fide as long as all accord with the analogy of faith Vpon those words in the beginning God made Heaven and Earth S. Austin saith they may have a two fold interpretation f Video vere potuisse dict quicquid horum diceretur sed quid horum in his verbis 〈◊〉 cogitaverit non ita video Nemo mihiiam molestus sit dicendo mihi non hoc sentiâ— Moses quod tâ— dicis sed hoc sentit quod ego dico Aug. 1.12 Con. c. 24. 25. The first that God made all things visible and invisible in that perfect and glorious frame in which now they are The second that he made the rudiments of all things out of which they were in their severall orders extracted I see saith the Father both may be true but which only was in Moses mind when he wrote the Story I see not nay who is able so perfectly to know as to affirme this was it
can be pleaded to make it lawfull A man must not lye no though it be a holy fraud Commit Idolatry Rebellion Murther Theft to save his life nay his soule or a thousand soules But the fourth Commandement admits of many excuses and dispensations and that when neither Charity Piety nor necessity require I never heard a Physitian blamed for tending his Patient on the Sabbath though not in extream danger nor a Sheepheard condemned for following or folding his flock upon that day yet the folding of Sheep is neither a worke of Piety towards God nor mercy to the cattell which would be better unfolded only it 's a matter of profit to the owner The c Laurent in Tert. advers Iudaeos ex Rabbinâ—s in Ios c. 6. Iewish Rabbins tell us that the children of Israel never kept but the first Sabbath during their whole pilgrimage in the wildernesse No man will say they were forced by necessity to this long intermission d Chrysost ib. St Chrysostome is of opinion e Abraham cuÌ„m consensiâ— occidere filiuÌ„ non consensic in homicidium quia debitum erat eum occidi per mandatum Die qui est dominus vitae mortis Aquin 12. q. 100. art 8 ad 3. how justly I say not that our Saviour in his own person brake the Sabbath when no occasion compelled him thereunto As when he made clay with his spittle for the blind mans eyes If any object that even morall lawes admit of dispensations as in the case of Abraham who was commanded to sacrifice his owne sonne and of the Israelites who were also commanded to robbe and spoile the Egyptians The f Communitèr dicitur quòd Deus mutare potest materiam praeceptorum sed manente materiâ non potest dispensare Vig. c. 15. v. 7. Schoolemen have long since untied this knot distinguishing between the dispensation of the law and the mutation or change of the thing concerning which the commandement is given And this change of the thing may be made in regard of some of the commandements by the omnipotent soveraignty of the Lord but not in others God by prerogative royall over all create beings may call for any mans life by the hands of whom he pleaseth as in Abrahams case He may likewise deprive any man of his propriety in any of his goods and so give them as a prey to another as in Israels case But God cannot change the matter of other Commandements as make himselfe more Gods then one or worthy to be dishonoured So then in the forenamed particulars there was no dispensation in the commandement but an alteration in the things And the reason of this distinction is plaine for had the Egyptians continued the lawfull owners of their Iewels and ray ment the Israelites must have been theeues keeping them from them without their consents God can no more make theft to be no theft then deny himselfe Object But perhaps you will say that the matter of the fourth commandement is also changed in the former instances the law not dispensed with at all Ans I answere that the matter of the fourth commandement is the seventh day the sanctifying thereof the forme but how the seventh day can be changed and not be the seventh day to the Physitian or sheepheard or any other is not imagineable Omne quod est dum est necessariò est Whatsoever hath being whilest it hath being must necessarily be that which it is Seventhly whatsoever is contained under the name of legall sacrifice in the old Testament is not morall for not only the Leviticall sacrifices but even those which were offered by Adam and the Patriarches were Ceremoniall But the Sabbath is referred unto this head by g Mat. 9.13 vide Mald. in locum In voce Misericordiâ Synecdoche est notando nam sub hoc nomine Christus omnia humanitatis officia comprehendit ut nomine sacrisicâ—â— omnes caeremonias quiequid est externum Marlor Christ himselfe disputing with the Pharisees and citeing against them the Prophet Hosea For as under mercy are comprehended all works of love to our neighbours so under the title of sacrifice are contained all the rites of the Mosaicall Law Eightly that Commandement for the observing whereof man was not made is not Morall h Ordinatur homo ad Deum non per interiores actus mentis sid etâ—am per exteriora opera quibus divâ—â—am servitutem prositetur ista opera cultus Caeremonia vocatur Aquin. 1. 2â— q. 99. art 3. in corp for therefore God made man that by the observation of the Morall Law he should beare his own image in the world serving him in righteousnesse and holinesse to the glory of his Creator But man was not made to keep the Sabbath in regard of any circumstances of the commandement but on the contrary the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath Therefore c. Ninthly that Law which determines Ecclesiasticall rites and ceremonies prescribing set times of holy worship and the outward solemnities there of is not Morall but Ceremoniall This I take to be a Theologicall Maxime among all sorts i Lex Caeremontalis est quae praescribit riâ—us Ecclesiasticos externas Caereinonias sacrificia vasa loca tempera But. loc com of Divines the reason is because the law Morall being the same with that of Nature doth not descend to any particular circumstances But the fourth commandement prescribes and determines set and particular times of holy worship and the outward solemnities of the same saying the seventh is the sabbath in it thon shalt doe no manner of work Therefore c. Lastly may be produced many witnesses of all kinds * Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes Ignatius saith that old things are passed away applies it to the Sabbath in the fourth Commandement k In quibus fingulis lex non dicam impossibilis infirma sed planè ià m mortâ—ae Orig lib. 6. in Rom. cap. 8. Origen upon these words of the Apostle the law was weak through the flesh expounds it of the Ceremoniall law which saith he understood according to the letter and so observed was weak and not able to doe us good His first instance is in the law of the Sabbath l Tertul. adversus Iudoeos Tertullian calleth it a Temporall Sabbath m Iam temporegratic revelatâ— observatio illa Sabbathi quae unius dici vacatione figurabatur ablata est ab observatione fidelium Aug. in Gen. ad lit lib. 4. c. 11. S. Augustine doth every where distinguish the fourth from the other as being Ceremoniall and not belonging to the new Testament n Hier. lib. 28. in Galatas S. Ierome makes it a Iewish observation o Literalis illa observatie Sabbathi sonantis requiem non dantis indictus saerisifciorum ritus interdictus porcinae carnis esus pluvia est ex illa nube Mosi descendens sed nolo in hortum meum descendat Bern.
time should be set apart not Morall in regard of the letter in which it is expressed If therefore the proposition be of the sounds and syllables of the Decalogue so that whatsoever is written in the letter thereof is affirmed to be Morall it is utterly untrue For what think you a Jllud in primo praecepto quieduxit te c. illuà in quinto ut diù vivaâ— c. of those words in the very front of the Decalogue I brought thee on t of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage are they Morall If any say these words are a preface no law he speaketh nothing to the purpose for the proposition in question is universall of whatsoever is written in the tables of stone with Gods own finger Besides give us liberty to exclude from being morall whatsoever is not a law and thereby the reasons of the fourth Commandement will be denied Morality for the reasons of any Law are no more the law it selfe then the preface thereof Indeed there is an implicit Morality in that preface Egypt being a type of the Kingdom of Sathan the house of Bondage the dominion of sinne and under the deliverance of these are contained the rest of Gods mercies to his Church If such a morality as this be all they seek for in the law of the Sabbath no man I presume will gainsay them herein But to give an other instance what shall we think of that clause in the fifth commandement That thy daies may be long in the land which thy Lord thy God giveth thee I am sure it is no principle in Nature nor conclusion flowing from any naturall principle nature can only say God will blesse all dutifull and obedient Children but that it shall be with this or that particular blessing as this is nature cannot teach us Besides this is only a positive and conditionall promise not universally and perpetually performed therefore not Morall And farther let us consider not only what is promised but to whom and it will appeare that those words concerned b Nullo modo ad nos possumus accommodare Luther tom 7. Epist ad Amicum the Iewes only and the land of Canaan and are applyable to us only by way of proportion I am not Ignorant how some labour to patch up a Morality in these words perhaps because they find them written in the tables of stone But their distinction of old in yeares and old in grace though otherwise of good use is in this place of no validity For the promise is without equivocation of long life in the earth as the Apostle expounds it Ephe. 6.3 But what speak we of things circumstantiall Our adversaries confesse the taxation of the seventh day to be Ceremoniall though the very heart of the Commandement and written with Gods own finger Although therefore it be written in tables of stone and that by Gods own finger and that in the very heart of the whole Decalogue which also is pressed that therefore it must be Morall must needs be acknowledged no good consequent unlesse men have a mind to play fast and loose with this argument Ob. Oh! but this commandement is in the very heart of the Decalogue Sol. To which I answere that if by the heart of the Decalogue we understand the midst then c Philo deleg Philo the Iew tels us that the first Commandement is the heart of the whole being written part in the first part in the second table But if by the heart we understand that which gives life to all the rest so the first commandement Thou shalt have no other Gods but me is the very vitall spirit of the whole Law of God Ob. Yea but the Decalogue was spoken with Gods own mouth and so were not the rest this therefore must needs be Morall Sol. Not to trouble the reader about the manner of Gods delivering the ten Commandements I briefly answere that the Ceremonials and Iudicials were also spoken by Gods own mouth so that herein there is little difference save that he delivered the Decalogue publikely in the audience of all the people the rest only apart but still face to face and mouth to mouth And the reason hereof is given in the text not to be any precedency in the lawes themselves but fear in the people being no longer able to hear the voice of so great and terrible a lawgiver When therefore Moses presseth this circumstance Deut. 5. 22. thus he spake and added no more d Quod refere Moses Deum nihil adjecisse eo perfectam vitae regulam decem praeceptis comprehendi significat Calv. in Deut. 5. v. 23. Calvins glosse which was the common marginall note viz. that these ten words are perfect directions needing no additions is indeed true but comes short of the meaning of the holy Ghost in that place for the true reason of that clause is expresly set down in the words following when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darknesse you came unto me and said if we heare the voice of the Lord our God any more we shall dye As if Moses should have said you heard but these ten words he added no more and you were thus afraid What if he had held on as he began So that it is their feare at that time of which Moses puts them in mind to beget in them an awfull reverence of God and heedfull observation of his Law and is nothing to our purpose To the second by placing the fourth commandement being Ceremoniall amidst the Morals in the Decalogue there is neither confusion of things nor distraction of the Church unlesse by accident as the law begets sinne through our own corruptions For will any man say that in Leviticus and Deuteronomy Moses did purposely confound things to distract the Church this were blasphemy and yet Morals and Ceremonials are commonly mixed in those Scriptures Nay we may with more reason affirme that had not this law of the Sabbath been thus place we might justly have complained of confusions and distractions For it being a Commandement mixtly Ceremoniall it could not without distraction have been ranged amongst the meerly Ceremonials and on the other side it being mixtly Morall reason requires it should be e Si quaeratur quare aliae Iudâ—â—orum festivitates praecipiebantur in decalogo diâ— quòd fuerunt tantum Caremoniales Sabbathum autèm magismorale est quum Caeremoniale Greg. de 10. praeceptis Caeremoniale islud determinabat naturale Greg. de Val. tom 2. disp 7. q. 7. p. 4. set amongst the meerly Morals in honour to the Morall parts thereof For the Morall and Ceremoniall parts thereof cannot well be severed one from the other the generall which is Morall from the particulars which are Ceremoniall Lastly though it were in no respect morall yet the Law of the Sabbath being that wherein is f The Lord prescribeth the feasts of the old Testâ—mentin these words Remember that thou keepe holy
concludeth not To the fift briefly both propositions are faulty The first that whatsoever is backt with a Morall reason is a Morall Law for what think you of the Law of the first fâ—uits No man I think but will say it was Ceremoniall yet the reason given of it is morall n Prov. 3.6 Honour the Lord with thy substance So the reason of the fift commandement is it Morall or Ceremoniall If Ceremoniall then how standeth it writen in the tables of stone If Morall then that which is Morall may be the reason of a law Ceremoniall and so the proposition is not true ex gr o Deut. 26. â— Thou shalt not kill the damme with the young that thy daies may belong in the land c. The second proposition is also faulty for let the reasons of the Commandemen be well scand and they will come farre short of that Morality which is pretended Aske naturall reason at best refin'd what proportions were fit to be observed between God and man would it answere we must have sixe for one and not rather on the contrary or any other what principle of naturall reason can guide us to the number of six herein God you say hath interest in the seventh but this is the question let this interest be discovered by naturall light we will grant the Morality All men are as much bound to follow Gods example in resting as the Iewes but First we deny that this example of God is or may be known by the light of Nature Secondly that it is there proposed to all men in their generations being given particularly to the Iews only For the commandement speaketh not of the seventh but of that seventh from the creation wherein the Church followes not Gods example keeping the first of these seaven For unlesse we rest that very seventh in which God rested we no more resemble his rest then a man that hath a ladder resembles Iacob that had a vision of a ladder But God hath promised a blessing unto our rest as well as unto theirs for the Lord even blessed the seventh day to the right observers thereof But the text is strained for though God hath promised alway to blesse his own ordinances in the publique worship yet for any blessednesse to be communicated to the day or affixed to one more then to another we read not That servants and beasts should now rest and be refreshed is confessed to be Morall but that they should have rest upon such and such a day just so many houres from all manner of imployment was partly Ceremoniall partly judiciall as hath bin said Which also farther appears because it is added o Levit. 26.5 as a reason of the seven yeares rest which I think no man will say was Morall neither doe I see why the one should not hold as well as the other Lastly true it is that the Sabbath was a token unto them that they were the Lords people and that we under the Gospell are also the Lords people is most true But was not Circumcision also a badge unto them that they were the Lords people must Circumcision therefore be Morall and perpetuali God forbid We see therefore the vanity of this argument likewise To the sixt first if by strangers we understand all that are aliens from the commonwealth of Israell plaine it is that the Sabbath was no more given unto them then Circumcision for it was a signe of Gods covenant and God never covenanted with the Heathen Moses was the Law-giver of the Iewes neither doth any law bind the Gentiles because Moses gave it but because only it is written on their hearts If by stranger we understand bondslave or sojourner not yet made Proselyte the commandement indeed speaks of him but not to him of him for his ease and restraint not to him for his observation such were not obliged unlesse first adopted as appears in the law of the Passover If any say why then did Nehemiah threaten the Merchants of Tyre for breaking the Sabbath day I answere he did it not because he thought them bound to keep the Sabbath but because a Ne quid occâ—rreret Israelitis ante oculos contrarium c. Cal. in Deut. 5.15 they occasioned the breaking of it amongst the Iews and offended against the present goverment of the state For if Nehemiah conceived those Tyrians to be under the Sabbath why did he shut the gates to keep them out he should rather have compelled them to come in and constrained them to keep the Sabbath being now under his power and jurisdiction To the seventh how superstitious the people of the Iews were in their observation of the Sabbath even in case of life and death notwithstanding they had the example of divers of Gods Saints their predecessors to the contrary as of b Elias fugit à facie Iezabel die Sabbathi Anton. tit 9. Elias and Iudas Machabeus and how their superstition continued not only when the City was destroyed by Titus and Vespasian but long after as appears by the history of the Iew in Rome that would not be taken up out of a Iakes because it was his Sabbath what advantages the enemies of that nation took from their superstition in this kind is evident of it selfe Our Saviour therefore in the Scripture glanceth at their superstitious and d Quod malum luxuriae hoc nomine significatum est quia haec erat nunc est pessima Iudaeorum consuetudo Aug. de Cons Evangelist c. 75. lib. 2. luxurious observation of the Sabbath foreshewing that it should be no small promoter of their lamentable destruction e Orate ut fuga vestra fit expedita nullis impedita remoris vel tempestatis vel religionis Marl. in locum so the best and ancientest Expositors c Sabbatha sancta câ—lo de stercore surgere nolo Laziard in hist universali But you will say what was this to the Disciples that they should pray against it I answere that the Christians also observed the Sabbath among the Iewes f Dicet aliâ—uis Iudaei sciebant licere in Sabbatho fugere ut vitam morti â—riperent Respondeo Iudaeos plerosque hoc ignorâsse vel putâsse fugere quidem fas esse hostibus insequentibus aliter esse â—efas Bar. in locum till the Gospell was sufficiently preached and the Synagogue was honourably buried Some therefore that were weak amongst theÌ„ might be entangled in that superstition Others that were stronger might be hindred and prejudiced in their safety by those that were contrary minded and all were bid to pray against the judgement of God which hanged over the head of the bloody City and whatsoever might in any degree further and increase the same though themselves were not engaged therein To the eight the riseing of mans corruption against any law gives no true estimate of the Morality thereof It is generally the effect of lawes of restraint to beget an appetite in men to the thing forbidden
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
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
serm 50. in Cant. S. Bernard sticks not to say that the literall observation of the Sabbath was one of the precepts which Ezechiel calls not good and numbers it with the Law against Swine-flesh p Damascen de fide orthod lib. 4. cap. 4. Damascen is large and particular in this point shewing where and how it was Ceremoniall q Quies ab operibus licet non amplius sit in Christianismo praecepta ficut scribit Apostolus Col. 2. necessaria tamen est instituta ab Ecclesiâ propter imperfectos Luth de bonis operibus Luther saith plainly that the outward Rest of the Sabbath is not commanded us Christians under the Gospell and alleadgeth for proofe the Prophet Isaiah cap. 66. and the Apostle S. Paul Colos 2. r Evanescant nugae pseudo-prophetarum qui Iudaicâ opinione populum superioribus saeculis imbuerunt nibil aliud asserentes nisi abrogatum esse quod ceremoniale erat id vocant diei septimae taxarationem remanere autem quod morale est nempe untus diei objervationem in hebdomade atqui id nihil aliudest quam in Iudaeorum contumeliam diem mutare diei sanctitatem eandem animo reâ—inere Calv. inst lib. 2. c. 8. Calvin sharply confuteth the maintainers of a seventh day Sabbath for false Prophets and Iewes All the Protestants by what names soever distinguished follow these their leaders except a few in comparison in the Church of England which have all started up since the daies of Queene Mary And therefore s Bellarm. de cultu Sanctum lib. 3. c. 10. Bellarmine setting downe the Doctrine both of the Lutherans and Calvinists reduceth all to these heads First they affirme that the Law of God requires us to keep some daies holy Secondly that those daies are not determined by the Law of God but that this determination is left wholy to the Church Thirdly that those daies which the Church shall determine are not in themselves more holy then other daies Fourthly that this determination of the Church doth not bind the conscience but in case either of contempt or scandall Now if this be the Doctrine both of the Lutherans and Calvinists they cannot affirme the fourth Commandement to be morall For if so then God had determined a set day and time wherein to be worshiped then one day had been more holy then another being set thus a part by God himselfe for his holy use and then also all mens consciences had been bound to the observation thereof even out of the case of contempt and scandall If any man suspect Bellarmines honesty in this his report of Lutherans and Calvinists let him shew wherein he hath unfaithfully collected I am sure Amesius who hath taken upon him to weakeÌ„ enervate his whole Doctrine toucheth not upon this It were an endlesse piece of worke to set down the particular writers of the reformed Church I will only name Bullinger and Pellican and that in those places where they purposely treat of this subject Because the common evasion is that heretofore the Protestants of all kinds were so taken up with the common adversary of the reformation that they never sufficiently studied this point a Seimus Sabbâ—thum esse Ceremoniale quatenùs coniunctumest cum sacrificiâ—s reliquis Iudaâ—cis Caeremoniis quatenus alligatum est tempori Caeterùm quatenus Sabbatho reli gio pietas â—opagatur iusâ—us oracretinetur in Ecclesiâ ipsà charitas proximo servatur perpetuum non temporale est Bul. dec 2. ser 4. Bullinger therefore writing purposely of this subject saith we know that the Sabbath was Ceremoniall as joyned and annexed to the Sacrifices and other Iewish rites and as confined to a set time b Die septimo vacandum catenùs morale est quod sâ—ato tempore domino vacandum sit quod ne deferatur ob occupationes temporarias Caeremoniale decretum est ut septimum diem non praetereat quocunâ— tandem die supputare incipias Pell in Exod. 18. Pellican likewise thus expresseth himselfe A seventh-daies rest is so farre Morall as that God must have a certaine time appointed for his worship but that we must not let slip the seventh day wheresoever we begin to reckon is Ceremoniall I know arguments from humane Authority are unartificiall and that some men are so wise in their own conceits as that they stick not to cry down all others when they oppose their fancies The immediat symptome of singularity This therefore shall suffice CHAP. VIII In which the question is stated and explained THe Morality of the letter of the fourth Commandement is thus eagerly maintained even with way wardnesse to make way only to that which concernes the Lords day of which we will also speak God willing in its place For there being neither precept nor practice in the Scripture nor any other good record for that which hath of late yeares been imperiously thrust upon the consciences of men in that point the broachers of those doctrines were of necessity to shelter themselves under the letter of the fourth Commandement And indeed this hiding place being once granted them we could never be Iewish enough in Sabbatizing But if it be made appeare that this is but a pretence only and a covering of Fig-leaves the nakednesse of their doctrine will soon be seen and that they have though unawares laid snares and ginnes for mens consciences therein For the opening now of this point we must first enquire what a Morall law is And then how the fourth Commandement is Morall and how not Lastly what be the particular Ceremonies therein contained Morall is derived a Moralus sunt de illis quae secundum se ad honos mores pertinent cum autem humani mores dicuntur in ordinâ— ad rationem quae est proprium principium humanorum actuum illimores dicuntur boni qui coÌ„gruunt rationi Aq. 1. 2. ae q. 100. art 1. in corpore from Mores which signifies manners That therefore in a large and generall construction of the word may be said to be a Morall law which doth any way prescribe concerning the manners of men Now the manners of men being good or evill as they either agree or disagree with right reason a Morall Law is that which prescribeth a man to governe himselfe as right reason neither blinded nor corrupted doth require Hence it is that the Law Morall is the Law Naturall for that only is right reason not corrupted which God imprinted in the heart of manin the creation with an indeleble character never to be blotted out And therefore the reliques thereof remaine ever since the fall of Adam in the worst of the heathen This kind of law is alwaies in force though it never be proclaimed because it commandeth those things that are of themselves simply good and forbids those things which are of themselves simply evill Yet because it was much obscured in mans heart the fall of Adam making us the children of darknesse God was
revelation From hence to clude that therefore God appointed them the Sabbath is no good consequent for God appoints men many duties but prescribeth no certaine time of performance For time is no part of the worship but an accident and adjunct thereof left for the most part to discretion and opportunity I hope that no man will deny but that God is publikely worshipped amongst us upon Holy-daies Wednesdaies and Frydaies and yet God never sets us thosetimes From the worship thereof to inferre the time is no good deduction But let all be granted that God both prescribed worship and time the Sabbath at most is but a positive precept as the sacrifices also were no morall duty which is the thing aimed at in this question and shall be handled in that which followeth Lastly the testimonies of the learned are not and as I conceive cannot be very many and those that are may easily be reconciled To begin with Philo the very addition which is given him that he is a Iew is sufficient exception against his testimony And so for M. Broughton it may be reputed a part of his Rabbinicall learning to which he was so much addicted M. Calvin is not constant to himselfe in this point for in his book of a Perpetuam islam cessationem Iudaeis repraesentahat unius diei ex septem observatio Cal. inst l. 2. c. 8. Institutions he plainely speaks thereof as given to the Iews by Moses b Videtur Deus per diem septimum populo suo delineâsse futurū sui Sabbathi in ultimo die perfectionem Ibid. not by God to Adam Catharinus and Alcuinus are held but Innovators amongst the Schoolemen in this point and are generally forsaken of all their followes Lastly that of Zanchius is but a fancy of his own and that also far fetched and thus much of the first question CAP. V. The second question is proposed whether the letter of the fourth Commandement be a morall precept A Law being once enacted we take into consideration the binding power thereof for all lawes doe naturally bind all such upon whom they are imposed untill it doth appeare that they be repealed Hence though Critickes say lex à legendo yet Divines take up another Etymology lex à ligādo it s therefore a law because it doth oblige But all Lawes being not of the same kind doe not bind after the same manner neither as they are lawes nor as they are intended by the lawgivers This is most true not only of humane lawes whose authors are men but of such also as proceed immediatly from God himselfe For there be some lawes of his which oblige all people nations and languages upon the face of the whole earth even every son of Adam Others of them are prescribed either to particular persons or some one people nation only some of them also are of perpetuall and everlasting continuance never to be revoked others were ordained only for a certaine period of time Lawes of the first kind are properly stiled morall which are in both the forenamed respects universall the dictates of nature and included in the divine essence which is not subject to any shadow of change Lawes of the latter kind are all the ceremoniall and judiciall ordinances The second question therefore is whether the fourth commandement of the Decalogue be a morall law binding all men throughout all ages to the end of the world or whether it were given only to the Israelites till the fulnesse of time and exhibiting of the Messiah The affirmative seems to some men as cleer as the day it selfe and to be a point of that high consequence in religion as that we ought rather to suffer as Martyrs then to quit this truth We will therefore muster up all such arguments as make to this purpose CHAP. VI. The arguments for the affirmative are propounded and enforced ANd first it is alleadged that all the commandements of the Decalogue are morall being parts and branches of the law of nature But the fourth commandement is one of these placed in the very heart of the rest spoken by Gods owne mouth written by Gods own finger and that in tables of stone to teach us their perpetuity laid up with the rest in the Arke therefore the fourth commandement must needs be morall Secondly if this be not morall as well as any of the rest not only Moses but God himselfe who placed it so might seeme purposely to confound things of different natures intending as it were to breed distractions in the Church as we see at this day But this is no way to be imagined for God is the author of peace and not confusion therefore doubtlesse the fourth commandement is equally morall with all the rest Thirdly that which is naturally written upon the hearts of the very heathen themselves must needs be morall but the whole fourth commandement is thus naturally written Ergo. First the Sabbath must be the seventh day for this number was ever reputed the number of perfection and the holy number not only a Cyprian de Spiritu S. S. Cyprian so cals it but Homer also Hesiod and Callimachus Secondly the whole day was spent even by heathens after an holy manner in publique worship and private contemplation Thirdly they also observed their Sabbaths with severe strictnesse from all manner of works Their Idolatrous Priests affirmed that the holy daies were polluted if any work were done in them By all which it is plaine that the very Heathen observed the Sabbath not by revelation for this they never had but by the very light of nature therefore c. Fourthly that commandement is moral which hath all the characters of morality As first that it appertaines to all nations in all ages Secondly that the more understanding amongst the Heathen approved and taught it Thirdly that it may be discerned by reason rightly informed Fourthly that it containes something which is necessary to humane nature to attaine its end and finall happinesse Fiftly that it is such as if it were observed with the rest would make the conversation of man compleat without the addition of any other law but all these markes of morality are to be seen in the fourth commandement The two first are apparent by the precedent argument for it was ever observed approved and taught by Heathens in all ages The third is a necessary consequent of the former for if the Heathens observed it this their observation must needs proceed from reason rightly informed The fourth no man can be so wicked as to deny for if any thing be necessary to bring men unto everlasting happinesse it is the observation of the Sabbath The last also is evident for if all the rest of the Decalogue together with this were observed what need we any other lawes either of God or man Ergo. Fiftly that commandement is morall whose reasons are morall but such are the reasons in the fourth commandement As the first which is taken from the equity
place in Hosea 3 That he doth therefore begin a new argument against the Pharisees consisting of two things the first of the end and intention of the Law which was the good of man the other from his own office which was to be head both of men and Angels and therefore being to dispose of all things which tended unto mans good 4 That he intended by those words to rectify their superstitious conceits of the Sabbath As if he had said you magnify the Sabbath as if it were one of the greatest of all the commandements a maine end of mans creation but you must know that it was made for man and not man for it as were all the legall rites and ceremonies And if this be so I that am the Messiah am by my office Lord of the Sabbath and can and will abrogate the same in due time And that this abrogation of the law of the Sabbath was that which our Saviour did there at least insinuate unto them is plaine if we compare the text with that other of S. Matthew where he tels them that he is greater then the Temple having absolute jurisdiction a Templum Sabbatho serviebat ipse autem dominus erat Sabbathi Mald. in locum and Lordship over all Legall and Mosaicall rites Secondly that for which no man is to be censured and condemned is not a Morall Law for the Law of nature teacheth us to condemne the transgressors of all Morall precepts but no man is to be judged or condemned for the Sabbath b Col. 2.16 Col. 2.16 If any man say that the Apostle speaketh of the other feasts of the Iewes which also are called Sabbaths not of the seventh-day Sabbath in the commandement I answere First that he contradicts all Ancient and Moderne expositions Secondly that in all other places of Scripture where mention is made of their Sabbaths the weekly Sabbath is also included Nehem. 20.33 Esai 1.13 Hose 2.11 why not here Thirdly the Apostle had reason to have excepted this especially considering that his doctrine in that place is a doctrine of liberty for in cases of this nature unlesse men have their bounds set them they easily turne their lawfull and warrantable liberty into unwarrantable licentiousnesse Fourthly it is not likely nor agreeable to any rule that when all which are denominated are expressed as Sabbaths that which doth denominate viz. the weekly Sabbath should be excepted but on the contrary Fiftly the enumeration of the text is sufficient New-moones Holydaies What Ceremoniall feasts had the Iewes distinct from their weekly Sabbath which stands not under one of these heads Either therefore the Apostle useth tautologies which is not likely his discourse being in that place Polemicall a Multa festa habebant Iudaei quaedam quotanuis celebrari oportebat quaedam ineunte quolibet mense quaedam fingulis septimanis ut SabbathoruÌ„ haecomnia tanguntur ab Apostolo hoc in loco Salisbut in locum Or that Tripartite enumeration of new-moones holy daies Sabbath daies includeth also the weekly Sabbath Lastly the weekly Sabbath which the Iewes observed and circumcision were the two maine heads of Iudaisme for which in those times the Seducers so much contended therefore this weekly Sabbath is there especially to be understood Thirdly that which is a shadow of good things to come whose body was Christ cannot be a morall law for morall duties are eternall verities no fleeting and vanishing shadowes But the Sabbath in the fourth Commandement was such a shadow of good things to come As hath in part appeared by that place of the Apostle Heb. 4. and shall be farther evidenced in that which followes and hath generally been taught by all a Epâ—ph l. â— hae 8. Antiquity Ergo. Fourthly that which cannot be deduced out of the principles of naturall reason rightly informed without revelation cannot be Morall But the sanctifying of the Sabbath as it is set downe in the letter of the fourth commandement cannot be so deduced For first naturall reason cannot teach us that one of seven must be observed much lesse that it must be the seventh from the creation or that it must be one of seven in imitation of Gods rest For though men by the light of nature may know the creation and that God was the Creator I will adde though it be impossible the order how things were made yet that all this was done in sixe daies which is the ground of the Sabbath naturall light cannot reveale Neither can nature teach that a whole day from evening to evening is to be kept holy For this is the rule of the Sabbath in the fourth commandement which is rather against nature For nature teacheth to calculate from morning to evening as b Aquinas 1 â— 2. ae q. 74. Art 3. ad Sextum Aquinas sheweth nor doth nature shew us that straight exact resting from all manner of works as the Commandement and the exposition thereof given by Moses doth require If any man say that some shreads of all these were found amongst the Heathen in practice and that they were doubtlesse guided thereunto by the light of nature He speaks nothing to the purpose The question being not of their practice but the principles of naturall reason which must be produced and the deduction made according to those principles Now let any Philosopher or Divine laying aside his Bible make the demonstration out of meere naturall principles erit mihi magnus Apollo Fiftly which is also a Manifestum est itaq non aeternum nec spirituale sed temporale fuisse praeceptuÌ„ quod aliquando cessaret Tert. advers Iud. Tertullians reason whatsoever is de facto abrogated and abolished for practice whether by Christ or his Apostles cannot be morall for precept For whatsoever is morall must be perpetuall but the letter of the fourth Commandement is thus abolished for practice For first not the seventh from the creation but the eight is observed Secondly this eight was never observed by the Christians as the Iews observed their seventh neither for time from evening to evening nor for manner in any respect Lastly we keep not our day upon the same reason and ground with theirs as in memory of the creation of the deliverance out of Egypt of the fall of Mannah but of Christs resurrection Nor to the same end to represent unto us our spirituall rest in Christ For the faithfull have already obtained that for parts though not degrees neither was the Lords-day ever appointed to Shadow out unto us the eternall consummation thereof in Heaven The letter therefore of the fourth Commandement is in all the branches thereof vanished and abolished Ergo. Sixtly that which is morall admits no dispensation upon any ground of necessity Charity Piety or what else soever And this b Chrysost Hom. 40. in cap. 12. Math. St Chrysostome makes good saying in those things which are altogether unlawfull as whatsoever is forbidden by a morall Law 〈◊〉 excuse whatsoever
pleased to give a copy thereof in writing to his people and in them to his whole Church for ever The Morall law therefore of which we speak in this place in its proper and restrained sence is not every rule of right reason but only that which is naturally engraven upon the conscience So that the Schooles have well distinguished the rules of right reason into three kinds First there be some so common and obvious as that man retaining humane reason cannot erre in them as that God is to be loved good to be embraced evill to be avoided and such like practicall principles ex terminis evidentia and all conclusions necessarily and immediatly flowing from the same And so Morall saith b Non omnia decalogi praecepta sunt de lege naturae strictè acceptà lib. 3. sent dist 37. q. 1. art 2. con 1. Duo praecepta negativa primae tabulae sunt de lege naturae propriè â—b con 2. Gab. Biel extends it selfe but only to two Commandements of the decalogue Thou shalt have no other Gods but me and Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine For it being a naturall principle nay c Quod Deus fit est primum principium complexorum Bradvv de causâ Dei lib. 1. cap. 12. the first and ground of all the rest that there is a God those practicall conclusions are known of themselves without farther teaching Lawes thus Morall are utterly undispensable even by God himselfe who cannot deny himselfe Secondly some of these rules and directions of manners are not so obvious and manifest of themselves yet such as every vulgar and mean capacity may easily find out even by the light of nature as that parents are to be honoured that God is publikely to be worshipped with d Secundae tabulae praecepta sunt de lege naturae non strictè sed largè accepta Biel ib. con 3. the precepts of the second table These are not so plaine and evident as the two former and therefore men doe the more easily erre in them as we see by the practice both of heathens and of the ignorant Christians These may in particular cases be dispensed with e Non rapiebant alienum quia Deus erat superior verus Dominus omnium bonorum Aegypti totius univer sitatis ita poterit transferre Dominium infilios Israel Biel. ib. Dub. 4. by changing the nature of the things about which they are conversant as hath already been shewed Thirdly some of the rules of right reason directing mens actions are yet more dark and obscure then the former and therefore are known only to wise men or by revelation Such are all good positive lawes superadded to those of the decalogue either by God or man and may be stiled Responsa prudentum the answers of the wise In this last and largest construction of Morall all the Holy rites prescribed by Moses being appendices to the fourth commandement and all the Iudicials appendices to the severall precepts of the first and second table may be termed Morall The question therefore is not of this kind of Morality but of the two former only viz. Whether the law of the Sabbath be either a principle in nature known and evident of it selfe or at least such as every man that hath the use of pure naturall reason may without revelation easily find out For that it is under positive precept in the fourth Commandement was never doubted We must in the next place understand how we speak of the fourth commandement in this question whether of the whole and every part thereof or of one or more parts and clauses And first there are that say that according to the law of God and rules of right reason there ought not to be in the time of the Gospell any distinction of daies as being directly contrary to Christian liberty So our Anabaptists Perfestists Libertines On the other side there are that affirme every letter and Syllable therein to be Morall as the lews and such Christians as in this particular doe Iudaize expresly as the Familists and others together with our rigid Sabbatharians who although they stand not for that very day of which the commandement speaketh the seventh from the creation as the others yet keep the Lords day as being a seventh intended also in the commandement and to be observed in all things according to the sound of the letter by all men in all ages which is no better then implicit Iudaisme And herein they stand for ought I know alone unlesse they will claime kindred of the ancient Hereticks the Ebionites There are others in the third place that affirme the fourth commandement to be partly Morall partly Ceremoniall And this is the most generall voice of Divines ancient and moderne Protestants Papists Lutherans Calvinists except those before named But this their agreement is not without great disagreement some affirming in one sence some in another some of more some of fewer branches of the commandement Many in the Popish Schoole with some Protestants especially Lutherans put morality in two clauses the first is Remember thou keep holy the resting day where a day is commanded say g Morale est sanctificare unum è septem Baldvv c. de Sab. casu 2. Manet hoc morale esse nimirum aliquod tempus vel diem aliquem singulis septimanis ad exercitia divina peragenda tribuendum Conradus Dietericus dom 17. post Trin. Morale est quod sacra requies die septimo non determinatè hoc vel illo sed uno è septem piè observanda est Thum. in expl d ee they in generall They second is the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God wherein say they the former generality is restrained and determined to be one of seven But k Evanescant nugae pseudoprophetarum qui Iudaic â opinione populum superioribus saeculis imbuerunt nihil aliud asserentes nisi abrogatum esse quod caeremoniale erat in hoc mandato id vocant su â linguâ septimae diei taxationem remanere vero quod morale est nempe unius diei observationem in hebdomade Calv. instit lib. 2. c. 8. Calvin and all those that insist in his steps flye from this as from false doctrine and Iudaisme I meane this latter assertion for they joyne with them in the former and acknowledge a morality for a set day but say they the determination to one in seven or five or ten c. is wholy arbitrary and in the power of the Church to prescribe And herein Calvin hath the voices of many both Papists and Lutherans One thing more must be added that when Divines put morality in the first clause Remember thou keep holy the resting day those words may undergoe a twofold consideration for they may be taken Either formally as they lye in the commandement and thus considered they are not Morall because they speak of that particular Sabbath given unto the Iewes even the
man though otherwise simple doth understand oftentimes more in the mysteries of Godlinesse then the great profound studied Doctors of the world This he confirmes by the words of our Saviour I thank thee o Father c. and by the example of the sheepheards to whom the Angels appeared preached Christ when the wise men of the East Herod the King the high Priests and Elders knew not where to find him Besides it is the nature of the word to be plaine and facill to such as are of a semblable disposition thereunto but hard and difficult to those that are Rebellious It giveth light to the simple saith n Psal 19. the Prophet where there is humility of spirit simplicity of mind syncerity of heart a conscionable walking with God the light of the word shineth even to the perfect day For as in naturall things there must be a proportion between the eye and the object so in things spirituall he must have a strong vigorous eye that must look upon the Sunne The eye of a child because it is tender and weak is dazeled as soon as it feeles the aire a blear eye smarts at every looking up The naturall unregenerate man hath the eyes of the Nycticorax or night crow compared with divine truths as Aristotle himself acknowledgeth Lastly there be many impediments in the unregenerate which serve as strong barres to keep out the light of truth as pride vanity deceit hypocrisy sensuality A vessell so full of filth and rottennesse cannot be capable of the syncere milk of the word or if any thereof happen to enter it receives a taint from the vessell that receives it the liquor smels of the Cask and the spider converts all things into poison Nay certain it is that every carnall affection once grown habituall doth harbour at least in the spawn and seed some heresy or other so that men of vitious and lewd lives doe believe nothing which may prejudice their corrupt affections Vnlesse therefore saith n Nisi mactaverimus cupiditates carnis nostrae non possumus esse idonei ut in actionibus nostris intelligamus quae sit voluntas Dei sed quod nostro sensui vehementèr arridet interpretamur esse voluntatem Dei Saâ—b in Rom. 12. Sasbot we sacrifice subdue and mortify the lusts of the flesh we can be no way fit to understand the will of God but will ever interpret that to be Gods will which is most agreeable to our own humours Therefore o Non haec dixit Dominus ut osâ—endat omnes viros honos per se intelligere posse omnia loca scripturarum sed ut doceat viros probos carere quibusdam impedimentis propter quae alij nec perse nec per alios fidei veritatem intelligere possunt Bell. de interp verb. Bellarmine himselfe doth confesse that pious and good men have not so many lets and hindrances to keep them from truth as others have in whom their judgements being corrupted by their affections neither doe nor can by themselves or others understand the doctrine of faith preached unto them This being that which is thus speciously said in the defence of this Paradox we will briefly discover the falshood and vanity thereof for the satisfaction of the judicious and indifferent reader by distinguishing those things which are thus confusedly heaped together For he that hath truth to himselfe in grosse may well vent to others errour by retaile We must therefore distinguish First of the persons of men unregenerate Secondly of the spirituall estate or being spirituall Thirdly of the things of God Fourthly of the knowledge of those things Vnregenerate men are of divers kinds either such as are apparently known may be averred for such both by the judgement of faith and the judgement of charity as Heathens Infidels Apostates Hereticks Or they are such as are in the bosome of the visible Church known unto us only in generall by the judgment of faith which saith there are such but unknown unto us by the judgement of charity when we come to look upon particulars Besides the unregenerate within the Pale of the Church are either private and ordinary people or publique persons guifted and qualified to the service of the Church To be spirituall is also of doubtfull signification for as the spirit of God dwelleth and worketh in men diversly so are they in different kinds spirituall Now the spirit worketh by his graces and these are either such as well call saving graces as faith hope love feare obedience given to men for their own profit by the help whereof they work out their own salvation or such as we call common graces as miracles tongues healings c. which God bestows upon men for the good of the Church and the promoting the salvation of other men The things of God are also of two sorts some are only in fide Circumstantiall things in and concerning faith and religion without the knowledge of which we may well be saved Others are de fide substantiall truths such as Athanasius hath in his Creed of which he saith he that believeth them not cannot possibly be saved Lastly the knowledg of holy things is two fold speculative and experimentall by the one we know what the things are in themselves by the other we have a lively sense and feeling of them in our own soules These distinctions being applyed to our present purpose the truth opens it self in these propositions First the unregenerate and unsanctified without the Church discern no kind of heavenly truths of what sort soever unlesse they be also naturall to be found out by discourse of reason or morall written upon their hearts Of such as these the words of the Apostle are to be understood The naturall man perceiveth not the things of God and that of our Saviour my sheep hear my voice And in this condition S. Augustine speaks of himself in that passage of his confessions There is indeed no proportion between the light of their darkned minds and the light of supernaturall saving truths Secondly the unregenerate within the Church if publique persons if sufficiently qualified by nature education and common graces being diligent in their places with the ordinary concurrence and assistance of the spirit may as infallibly deliver the doctrine of religion as any other not superiour unto them in the fore named indowments especially if they be accompanied in them with common modesty and civility p Qui expoâ—unt scripturas sint ingenio praediti studio exercitati in judicio humiles aâ— affectato vitio immunes Ger. de Com. Gerson therefore expressing how the Expositors of Scripture should be qualified requires first that they have naturall parts secondly that they be well grounded studied thirdly that they be of humble judgements fourthly that they be free all from grosse and affected vices And q Sub utrâque comparandi sunt igitur doctores doctoribus illi quos constat habere conditiones positas in regulâ—
more for edification and the Arguments to the contrary doe not conclude To the first true it is indeed that God himselfe in Scripture imposeth the name Sabbath upon all daies of publique worship in the Iewish Synagogue and the reason was because the very corporall rest was a chiefe thing aimed at in them being both memorative of some things passed and figurative of things also to come But that therefore the daies also of Christian Assemblies should be so called doth not follow because the reason is not the same as shall appear in it's proper place The name Sabbath therefore is no more Morall and to be retained in the times of the Gospell then the name Priest Altar Sacrifice which perhaps our adversaries themselves will allow of in a common large and Analogicall construction If therefore we look to the e Si vocis primaevam significationem spectemus Sabbathum erit omnis dies festus At Scripturae consuetudine Sabbathi nomâ— ferè appropriatum est diei septimo Estius 3. Sent. d. 37. first and originall signification of the word every Holy-day wherein men rest from their labours and attend the publique worship may be called a Sabbath but if we look at the application of it in Scripture we shall find it appropriated in the first and chiefest sense to the Sabbath day or Satturday in the fourth commandements in the next and subordinate construction to all the Iewish festivals never to the Lords day To the second No man will deny but that antiquity is a good guide in the search of the truth for all errors are upstarts even those that are gray-headed The f Ier. 6.16 Prophet therefore adviseth to ask for the the old way which is the good way but his meaning is that which is simply old not comparatively only The corrupt Glosses of the Pharisees were very ancient * Math. 5.38 Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time an eye for an eye The superstitions of the Romanists are like so many old aches in the body of the Church yet as the one so also the other meere novelties in religion Should I grant the name Sabbath as applyed to the Christian Feast to be of some good standing yet without all Controversy it was not known to the true Primitive times Indeed antiquity ever used one of these foure either Sunday not from g ' Dum solâ—s lâ—ttâ—iae indulgemus longè aliâ ratione quam religione solis Tert. Ap. cap. 16. the Sunne in the firmament but h Mal. 4.2 the Sonne of Righteousnesse with healing in his wings or the Day of light from the Sacrament of Baptisme called by the Fathers our Illumination or the Day of Bread not from holy bread as Papists now use it but from the other Sacrament of the Supper administred every Lords day or the Lords day which doth and will continue to the worlds end To the third The name Sabbath doth not best acquaint us with the Nature of the Lords day as is pretended For the nature thereof consisteth not either in our corporall or Spirituall Rest or in Remembring the Rest of God in the Creation or in being a pledge unto us of our eternall rest All these are accidentall considerations of the Lords day Indeed the memory of Christs resurrection is essentiall thereunto but not so much in regard of his rest as of his conquest over death and the grave and being made the Lord of the Quick and the Dead It being therefore the Lordship of Christ made evident to all creatures both in heaven and in earth by the Glory of his Resurrection which is then celebrated it ought to be stiled the Lords day not a Sabbath To the fourth What the duties of the day be we shall see hereafter Let it be granted therefore for the present whatsoever the Argument doth suggest the consequent is denied For whatsoever duties are then performed are or at the least ought to be directed in a speciall manner unto the Lord Christ as our service of him The day therefore is to be named not from the nature of the things done but from the quality of the person to whom they are intended and therefore not Sabbath but Lords day And whereas it is said that the name Sabbath may serve to confirme our faith and hope of our eternall Rest I answere that indeed it may be so used by us but was never so intended in the first institution thereof and being a consideration so remote it cannot claime to denominate To the fifth It is indeed most rue that we ought not especially in matters of Religion to innovate though but words and Phrases although perhaps insignificant and improper much lesse ought we to swarve from such language as is most savory and religious but which name hath most salt the Sabbath or Lords day I hope it doth appear by this which hath been said And who speaks most Religiously the Apostles and the whole Church or some few private persons of late yeares is easy to determine CHAP. 14. Wherein the Question concerning the duration of the day is proposed and the arguments for the day naturall are set down AMongst those things which disquiet and perplexe the consciences of the weak concerning the Lords day this is not the least where it is to begin and how long it lasteth For God requiring of us perfect and entire obedience without diminution or defalcation and h Iames 2.10 S. Iames saying that he that faileth in one point is guilty of all unlesse every minute of time which the Lord requireth of us as his tribute and homage be duly tendred to him our whole labour bestowed upon the parts and peices of the day is not regarded It is also that which concernes the most sort of our inferiour people to be satisfied in leâ—st the Commandement requiring one thing their employments another they many times wound their Consciences and rob themselves of that peace which otherwise they might enjoy We must therefore before we proceed any farther inquire whether the Lords day be to consist of any certain determinate number of houres as being a Naturall day or Artificiall And here our Adversaries are very positive that the Christian mans Sabbath as well as that of the Iewes is to consist of full twenty foure houres and they have these reasons First all the time that the Commandement requires is to be observed But that the Commandement of the Sabbath requires a whole naturall day from evening to evening is undenyable Therefore c. If any man say the Commandement was Ceremoniall and so proves nothing for the Christian observation it may be replied that this being granted of all the other branches yet it is not so in this For no man can shew how the time of twenty foure houres can be in any respect mysticall Though therefore the rest of the latter should vanish as a shadow yet in this particular it must needs continue Morall Secondly no one
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
of the law giving men sixe for one for God ever was and ever will be alike liberall to all men in all ages in this kind The second drawn from Gods interest in the seventh day The Seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord and what sons of Adam are exempted from giving God his owne The third is Gods example proposed for our imitation for all men are bound by the very light of nature to be followers of God as deare children The fourth is the promise which is made therein For it will be as blessed a day or a day as full of blessing unto us if we sanctify it as ever it was to the Iews God being not lesse good nor his grace lesse powerfull nor his promise lesse sure The fift is the ease refreshing of our servants and beasts to whom Christians must not be lesse mercifull then the Iews Lastly the Sabbath taught them that they were the Lords people and no man will say but that we also are so by as many and by more strong tyes and relations then were ever any Ergo c. Sixtly the law Ceremoniall and Iudiciall were given only to the Iewes and such as were circumcised but the fourth commandement was directed not only to those within the covenant but also to strangers and aliens The strangers within thy gates And upon this ground a Neh. 13.16 Nehemiah reproved the Tyrian Merchants which were strangers therefore c. Seventhly from the words of Christ in the Gospell b Mat. 24.20 pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath day Those words were spoken to the disciples foreshewing that if their flight should happen to befall them on the Sabbath their affliction would thereby be increased But if the fourth commandement be not Morall what addition of sorrow had it been if their flight had befallen them that day Christians and such were the disciples need not trouble themselves about a law Ceremoniall Thus then That commandement the breaking whereof might justly grieve a Christian forced thereunto by flight is doubtlesse morall but the fourth commandement is such therefore c. Eightly that commandement against which humane corruptions doe especially arise and band themselves both in the Godly and the wicked must needs be morall but our corruptions doe chiefly fight against the Sabbath as the Godly feele by experience in themselves and experience doth also make evident in the wicked of the world therefore c. Ninthly that cannot be a truth of God which overthrowes all religion le ts in Atheisme Epicureisme and all prophanesse no good tree can bring forth such evill fruit But that doctrine which denieth the morality of the Sabbath overthroweth all religion le ts in Epicureisme and Prophanesse as appeares in those Churches wherein it is taught in forraine parts Ergo. Tenthly that wich the Church of England teacheth in her Homilies ought to be held for truth by all the obedient children of that Church but the morality of the Sabbath is that which the Church of England teacheth in her Homily of the time and place of prayer as will appeare to every one that will read the same Therefore all the obedient children of the Church of England ought to acknowledge it to be true Eleventhly if you make the fourth commandement Ceremoniall you make the Church of England guilty of Iudaisme For that Church which readeth to her children a Ceremoniall Law and commands them to kneele whilst it is read in acknowledgment of their subjection thereunto and at the end to pray Lord have mercy vpon us and incline our hearts to keep this law cannot but be a Iewish Church But the Church of England thus teacheth her children Ergo. Twelfthly unlesse the fourth commandement be morall there will be but nine commandements in the Decalogue which is contrary not only to the received opinion of all men but to the calculation of the whole Catholique Church in all ages and is no meane Sacriledge to affirme Ergo. Thirteenthly that which is taught by men which are most spirituall and alone discerne the things of God must needs be true and so on the contrary But the Morality of the Sabbath is taught by men that are most spirituall the contrary by men that are carnall therefore c. Lastly we have the authority of all our English writers almost ever since the reformation unto this time neither was it hitherto ever contradicted for at least these threescore and ten yeares unlesse by Papists Anabaptists or Familists Ergo. CHAP. VII In which are set downe the arguments for the negative THe negative tenent hath also its arguments which in the next place must be produced and First it is alleadged That commandement over which Christ was absolute Lord as he was the sonne of man is not morall for a morall precept is part of Gods eternall law over which the sonne of man can have no power being made under the law But Christ as the sonne of man was Lord of the Sabbath as himselfe upon two sundry occasions hath twice told us Math. 12. Mark 2. To these Texts these exceptions have been made 1 Excep 1. That this phrase doth no more import the Sabbath to be a ceremony then the same used by the Apostle doth conclude the dead and the living to be a ceremony for he rose againe that he might be the Lord of the dead and of the living But this is to play with the ambiguity of the word it 's one thing to be Lord of the Church to guide governe perfect quicken raise glorify her for this is the meaning of the Apostle upon which that in the Ephesians may seeme as a comment Eph. 1.20.21.22 And another thing to be Lord of the Law or constitution to moderate dispence order alter abolish for in what other construction can any one be said to be Lord of a law 2 Except 2. It is said that Christ did not intend by these words of his any such Lordship because he did not then abrogate the Sabbath Nor is this to the purpose for never any man yet dreamed that Christ did in those words abolish the Sabbath for both it and the rest of the legall ordinances were in force till they were nailed with him to the Crosse 3 Except 3. It is excepted that our Saviour in those words doth only dispence with his Disciples in that particular case and challenge to himselfe the power and prerogative of expounding the Law against the Pharisees who pretended only to the Chayre and to give interpretations of the Law But to satisfy this also and to cleare the Text we affirme 1 That Christ doth not there or in any other place ever dispence with the law in himselfe or any other for he took upon him the form of a servant and came not to break the Law but to fulfill it 2 That in those words Christ doth not intend to expound the law only for this he had done before by the example of David and by the