hac die primùm Deus depulsis tenebris formataque materia mundum creauit Iesus Christus quoque noster seruator eadem die resurrexit a mortuis That is We keepe these meetings on the Souday because on this day first God dispelled darkenesse and formed the matter whereof the world was created our Sauiour Iesus Christ also rose againe from the dead the same day In the iudgement of these Ancients the Lords Day was not onely instituted for the worship of God in generall and in that respect called the Lords Day but because Christ rose vpon that day and by his resurrection stamped it to bee a memoriall as well of his resurrection as of the eternall rest whereunto we shall be raised on the last day In a word it was not onely instituted for order and policie but also for a mysterie and therein differs from Ecclesiasticall dayes which are onely appointed for a circumstantiall and not for a mysticall vse These things being premitted I come to answere the particulars First where yee say that albeit Christ did institute a day in remembrance of one benefit men may not for other benefits I grant that men may not institute a mysticall day to be obserued as a part of Gods worship yet they may appoint a commodious day to a 〈◊〉 â—…rued as a fit time for the worship of God and rememâ—… of his benefits Next where yee say the resurrection includes the rest of Christs benefits it is true in some sense that is either as the beginning or originall of some as the Ascension and sending downe of the holy Ghost or as the perfection and consummation of others as of the Natiuitie and Passion And so generally and virtute as wee say in vertue the Resurrection contaynes the rest but it contaynes them not distinctly and expresly as it is necessary we should remember them for then we should not need any moe Articles of our Creede but that one of the Resurrection As the Articles are particular concerning the Natiuitie Passion Resurrection and Ascension so they ought to bee distinctly and seuerally remembred both on the Sabbath and on other conuenient times which the Church shall appoint Thirdly Although the Lords Day was not onely instituted for a memoriall of the Resurrection yet that was one of the principall causes wherefore it was sanctified rather then any other day of the weeke Saint Angustine sayes as before Domini resurrectio consecrauit nobis diem Dominicum dies Dominicus sacratus est declaratus Christiresurrectione inde coepit habere festiuitatem suam And in Tertullian his time it was indeed esteemed a thing vnlawfull eyther to fast or kneele vpon the Lords Day which custome was confirmed in the Councell of Nice Can. 20. When ye say that if it were appointed for remembrance of Christs Resurrection all the diuine Seruice done on the Lords Day should haue relation only to the Resurrection It is no consequent for albeit God blessed and sanctified the Iewish Sabbath because hee rested thereon there were yet other Scriptures read on their Sabbath then the storie of Creation and God his rest from it Fourthly where ye alledge that it was called the Lords Day because it was instituted by the Lord and for the Lord we will not contend about this prouiding it be not denyed that it is called the Lords Day principally because the Lord rose thereupon as Augustine and other Ancients affirme euery-where The Communion is called the Lords Supper because hee appointed it to be kept for a memoriall of his death till his comming againe The Iewish Sabbath was called the Sabbath of the Lord their God not only because it was consecrated to his worship for then the New-moones and all the other Festiuall Dayes should haue beene so named which they are not but also because it was the signe and memoriall of Gods rest that Day Therefore in the fourth Command it is expressed as the reason why the Lord did blesse and sanctifie the Sabbath He rested the seuenth Day therefore namely because hee rested on it hee blessed and hallowed it euen so is the Sonday sanctified and blessed by our Sauiour and called the Lords Day because it hath imprinted in it by his Institution a perpetuall memoriall of his Resurrection whereby hee abolished all the Sabbaticall shad dowes of the Law as first the strict and precise bodily rest by bringing in the spirituall and eternall Secondly the memoriall of their temporall deliuerance out of Egypt by bringing in the eternall and spirituall deliuery from the tyrannie of Satan the slauerie of sin and the seare of death and thirdly the signe and marke of distinction which separated the Iew and Gentile and was a part of the partition wall in respect whereof the Iewes were called Sabbatarij all these shaddowes Christ by his Resurrection at h a bolished and by the obseruation of the Lords Day they are declared to bee abolished which the obseruation of no other day of the weeke could haue done because Christ stamped none of them with the memoriall of his Resurrection but this Day only whereupon he rose Against this ye alledge that it is not typus destinatus but communis factus that is a Type not instituted by God to be a memoriall of Christs Resurrection but a common Type fitted to resemble such a thing the contrary whereof is true For nothing can bee called a common Type but that which hath in it selfe by nature some respect or qualitie wherby it is fitted to make the resemblance of such a thing As in Marriage in the comunction of the head and members there is a fitnesse naturall to resemble our vnion with Christ So in the Pismire there is a qualitie naturall to resemble the vertuous man and in the Lion and Horse to resemble the strong and stately but in this day by nature there is neither qualitie nor respect more then in any other to make such a resemblance Moreouer common Types are neither memorial prognosticall signes but demonstratiue only all memoriall prognosticall signes which are not naturall are signes destinate either by God or by man If ye affirme that the Lords Day was destinate by man to be a signe of Christs Resurrection then yee must grant that it was instituted by man to bee obserued in remembrance of that benefit and so it shall not be a day of Diuine but humane Institution Lastly all the times which God hath marked with some rare worke or euent and hath therefore appointed to bee obserued solemnely haue euer beene destinate by God to be memoratiue signes of these same things So the seuenth Day marked with Gods rest and therefore blessed and sanctified is a memoriall of Gods rest and is called the Sabbath of Iehouah and it is also a prognosticall signe of the rest of God to be communicated with the faithfull who resemble that rest by a corporall cessation This the Apostle witnesseth Heb. 4.9 There remaynes therefore a rest to the
people of God for hee that enters into his rest hee also ceases from his owne workes as God did from his In like manner the fourteenth day of the first Moneth marked with that rare deliuerance from the destroying Angell and their escape out of Egypt and therefore appointed to be solemnly obserued to the honour of God was destinated by God to bee a memoriall of that their deliuerance and called the Passeouer of the Lord. And euen so the Lords Day being marked with that rare and incompatable benefit of the Resurrection and consecrated in the iudgement of all the Ancients to the worship of God insteed of the Iewish Sabbath is a memoriall signe of the Resurrection destinated by the Lord himselfe a demonstratiue signe of our spirituall Resurrection from sinne to newnesse of life and a prognosticall signe of our corporeall Resurrection vnto euerlasting life This Saint Augustine expresseth in the words before cited Dominicus dies Christi resurrectione sacratus aeternam non solum spiritus sed etiam corporis requiem praesigurat In end where yee conclude that the Lords Day was not appointed only for a remembrance of his Resurrection after a mysticall manner but for the remembrance of all his actions and worship in generall if your meaning bee that on the Lords Day all Christs actions may and ought to be orderly remembred as occasion requires and not his Resurrection only it is true that yee say but if your meaning bee that the sanctification of the Lords Day was not ordayned to be a memoriall of Christs Resurrection I deny your assertion preferre to your opinion the iudgement of all the Ancients Vnto that which yee subioyne that it is a superstitious wil-worship and a Iudaicall addition to Christs Institution to diuide Christs actions and appoint Anniuersary and Mysticall dayes for their remembrance I reply that it is a superstitious wil-worship indeed and a Iudaicall addition to Christs Institution so to tye all the worship of God to the Lords Day that no other day nor time may bee appointed for preaching praying or remembring any of Christs benefits seeing vnder the Gospell as Tertullian speakes De Baptismo omnis dies Domini est omnis hora omne tempus habile est baptismo that is euery day is the Lords euery houre and euery time is fit for Baptisme If for Baptisme why not for Doctrine and Prayer and Thankesgiuing and all other parts of Gods Worship For albeit the Lords Day be consecrated to the Worship of God yet the Worship is not tied to it but from one Sabbath to another and from one New-Moone to another all flesh may appeare before the Lord. That which ye speake of diuiding Christs actions and the appointing of mysticall dayes is partly foolish and partly false Is it not a folly to thinke that the actions of Christ ought not to bee diuided and seuerally remembred in Lectures and Sermons seeing the Spirit of God hath diuided them in this Storie and that it is impossible at once to remember them all And it is false also because for rememberance of them no day is appointed to bee kept mystically as a part of the worship but only circumstantially for order and commoditie which kinde of obseruation is not a superstitious wil-worship but a lawfull determination of commodious times for the worship of God belonging to the power and policie of the Church PP It is thirdly obiected that Paul kept the Feast of Pentecost Act. 20.1 Cor. 16. I answere it was the Iewish Pentecost c. ANS If it was the Iewish Pentecost then Saint Paul did not only obserue an Anniuersary Day but such also as was legall and abrogated by the Gospell and such as hee discharges the Church to obserue Yet I hope yee will not say that his obseruation was Superstitious or Pedagogicall because he obserued it not as a necessary part of Gods worship prescribed in the Law in respect whereof only it was Pedagogicall but as a fit circumstance and opportunitie for the worke of his Ministerie like as he did often obserue the Iewish Sabbaths which was not onely lawfull but in those times verie expedient to be done by him Hereby it is manifest that the obseruation of dayes is not condemued by the Apostle as a Iewish Rite because Anniuersarie Monethly or Weekly but because it was conioyned with opinion of necessitie and vsed as a Legall worship therefore although vpon the Iewish Sabbath or vpon their Pentecost diuine worship was performed as the Euangell preached the Sacraments celebrated Prayers publikely conceiued c. If these things were done without any mysticall relation or respect had to the day but only because the time was opportune and happily fit for Gods Worke the exercise was lawfull and could not bee condemned So wee finde in some churches that on euery day the sacramēt was ministred that on the Iewish Sabbath they had an ordinarie Fast and no well aduised Christian did euer thinke these to be vnlawfull by reason of the day For if to the cleane euery thing be cleane all dayes are cleane and sanctified to euery lawfull exercise of the man who is himselfe made cleane by the bloud of Christ Consequently euery day whether it be Weekly or Anniuersarie is cleane and sanctified by Christ to the exercise of any part of his Worship which shall bee thought meete by the Church to be performed to his honour and the edification of her selfe The Legall Sabbath and Pentecost which were abrogated could not make the Euangelicke Worship which was performed on them by the Apostles vnlawfull farre lesse can the Lords Day such as the Christian Pasche and Whitsonday are or any other day of the Weeke Moneth or Yeare which were neuer legally obserued make the Doctrine Prayers and Sacraments administred on them vnlawfull and superstitious To conclude I finde in this Obiection a Solution to all your Arguments for here I find that there may be a lawfull obseruation of dayes which are abrogated let be of dayes which are not discharged so the obseruation bee not legall with opinion of necessitie or of any mysterie in the time but Euangelicali with knowledge of our Christian libertie and for opportunitie of time onely which both may bee lawfull and expedient So Saint Paul keeped many Sabbaths and the Pentecost whereon Saint Peter also conuerted three thousand by his first preaching This is the obseruation for which only we stand against which ye haue neuer concluded a contradictory but either against the Legall of the Iewish or superstitious of the Gentiles So all your Arguments fall vnder one forme of Caption which wee call ignorantia Elenchi when a contradiction seemes to bee where there is none because the tearmes in the apparant contradiction are not taken in the same sense PP It is fourthly obiected out of the Epistles of Polycarpus and Polycrates extant in the Historie of Eusebius and out of Beda following Eusebius that the Apostles kept the Feast of Easter Answ Beda was but
If the speciall sanctification of a day to an holy vse depends vpon Gods commandement and institution then neither King nor Church representatiue may make a Holy day ANS Dayes are sanctified and made holy as are places two manner of wayes some places were made holy by annexing to them a peculiar worship instituted by God which lawfully could not be performed in another place such were the Tabernacle and the Temple which were also holy by reason of the typicke and mysticall signification wherewith they were clothed by diuine institution These places did appertaine to the worship not as mere circumstances onely but as essentiall parts and properties thereof The worship which consisted in sacrificing paying of vowes obseruation of certaine festiuities was not perfect and acceptable except in that place it were performed Other places were holy for their vse onely being dedicated to the seruice of God but they had not the seruice so appropriated vnto them as that it might not be performed in another place and such were the Iewish Synagogues and the Christian Churches Euen so some dayes were made holy not onely because they were dedicated to the worship of God but because a speciall worship was instituted by God and appropriated vnto them And because the obseruation of these times with that worship was typicall and mysticke hauing in it the shaddow of things to come such were the Feasts of the Passeouer of the first greene fruits of Whitsonday of the Trumpets of Expiation and of Tabernacles all these dayes were holy not onely for the vse whereunto they were appoynted to serue as circumstances but by reason also of their mysticke signifitation and of the worship appropriated vnto them which might not at another time be lawfully performed Other times were onely holy by reason of the vse or diuine worship performed on them and not for any mysterie or solemne worship appropriated to them such as these which were appointed for solemne humiliation in the day of calamitie After the first manner our Diuines hold That it is onely proper to God to make times and places holy but after the second manner it is a prerogatiue and libertie of the Church to make places and times holy by dedication of them to the seruice of God So the feast of Purim and Dedication were made Holy-dayes by Mordecai Iudas Macchabeus and by the Church So times are appoynted by our Church for Morning and Euening Prayers in great Townes houres for preaching on Tuesday Thursday c. Houres for weekely exercises of prophecying which are holy in respect of the vse whereunto they are appoynted And such are the fiue dayes which we esteeme not to be holy for any mysticke signification which they haue either by diuine or ecclesiasticke institution or for any worship which is appropriated vnto them that may not be performed at another time but for the sacred vse whereunto they are appoynted to be employed as circumstances onely and not as mysteries This ye know to be the iudgement and doctrine of our best Diuines yet yee presse to refute it in the Section following PP The obseruers of dayes will say they count not their anniuersary dayes holier then other daies but that they keepe them onely for order and policie that the people may be assembled to religious exercises Ans The Papists will confesse that one day is not holier then another in its owne nature no not the Lords day But they affirme that one day is holier then another in respect of the end and vse and so doe we They call them Holy dayes and so doe we They vse them as memoriall signes of sacred mysteries wherof they carrie the names as Natiuitie Passion Ascention c. and so doe wee ANS Antiquum obtinet yee keepe still your old custome for before yee did extenuate the Idolatrie of the Papists in adoring Images that with some appearance yee might prooue these that kneele at the Sacrament to be guiltie of the same abomination and now ye trauell to extenuate their superstition in obseruing dayes that yee may inuolue vs in the same impietie Yet our act in the beginning sayes Wee abhorre the superstitious obseruation of the Festiuall dayes of the Papists Thus we professe our disagreement from them in this poynt which they also acknowledge Bellarmine in the tenth Chapter of his third Booke De culiu Sanctorum rehearses the Doctrine of Luther and Caluine to which wee adhere and reproues the same as erronious in these wordes Tertiò docent dies determinatos ad feriandum non debere haberi caeteris sanctiores quasi mystery aliquid vel piam significationem continerent sed solum haberi tanquam determinatos Discipline ordinis ac politia causa ita vt cum hac determinatione etiam consistat aequalit as dierum in hoc nos accusant quasi habeamus discrimen dierum Iudaico more He sayes that we teach the dayes appoynted for holy exercises not to bee holier then others or to be esteemed as if they contayned any mysterie or diuine signification but onely as determined for discipline order and policie with which determination the qualitie of dayes may consist And hee sayes that we accuse them for putting difference amongst dayes after the Iewish manner which is the doctrine indeed of our best Diuines Against this Bellarmine setteth downe this proposition Festa Christianorum non solùm ratione ordinis politia sedetiam ratione mysterij celebrantur suntque dies festi verè alijs saenctiores sacratiores pars quaedam diuini cultus that is The Festiuities of Christians are not onely kept for order and policie but also by reason of a mysterie and the Festiuall dayes are more holy and sacred then other dayes and a part of diuine worshippe This is the Papists opinion which wee with all the reformed Churches abhorre as superstitious and idolatrous But yee take part with Bellarmine against the Doctrine of Luther and Caluine labouring to prooue that the reformed Churches obserue these dayes not onely for discipline order and policie but for memoriall signes of sacred mysteries as Papists doe PP The presence of the Festiuitie putteth a man in minde of the mysterie howbeit he haue not occasion to be present in the holy Assembly ANS It follows not of this that we obserue the dayes for signes of sacred mysteries because they put vs not in minde of Christs birth passion c. as ceremonies significant or sacramentall signes instituted by God or the Church for that effect but as circumstances onely determined for celebration of the religious action whereby the commemoration of these benefits is made And there is nothing more vsuall then by considering the circumstances of times places and persons to remember the actions and businesse whereunto they are destinate PP We are commaunded to obserue them in all poynte as the Lords Day both in publique Assemblies and after the dissoluing of the same ANS This is manifestly false for the Lords Day is commaunded
to the Iewes as elements and rudiments for their instruction it followes that the obseruation of anniuersarie dayes is of it selfe a rudimentarie instruction Otherwise the Apostles reason will not hold Thirdly Dayes and Meates are paralelled therefore as it is Iudaicall to esteeme some meates cleane and some vnclean so to esteeme one day holier then another is Iudaicall Fourthly To substitute other dayes in place of the Iewish as a Christian Pasche and Whitsonday for the Iewish is to substitute rudiments to the Iewish and not to chase them away Fiftly The Iewish anniuersarie dayes were not onely abrogated as shaddowes of things to come but as memorials of by gone benefits In euery respect all their anniuersarie daies are abolished Therefore in euery respect they belong to the Ceremoniall Law ANS These arguments yee vse to prooue the obseruation of anniuersarie dayes to be ceremoniall I answer them one by one First where yee say that anniuersarie dayes in the Law were distinguished from the morall Sabbath if ye will of this conclude that the anniuersarie dayes were not morall but typicall I will not deny it But if yee conclude anniuersarie daies to be therefore simply ceremoniall I say it followes not and that your argument is a caption à dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter The obseruation of a weekely day amongst the Iewes was not onely morall but a typicallishadow of things to come Is the Lords Day then because it is weekely not onely morall but also typicall But perhaps ye reason thus Anniuersarie dayes are eyther ceremoniall or morall but so it is they are not morall ergo To this I say that your diuision is not full nor perfect for there be anniuersarie dayes that are naturall as the Aequinoctiall and Solstitiall Others that are ciuill as dayes of Markets and Weapon-shewings c. And there be dayes Ecclesiasticall which are neyther morall nor mysticall but meerely circumstantiall to the worship whereunto they are appoynted To the second I answer that anniuersarie dayes are not called by the Apostle Elements and Rudiments otherwise then the New Moones which are monethly dayes and Sabbaths which were weekely dayes And therefore if the Apostle had called dayes Shadowes by reason of their yeerely reuolution he could not haue concluded that Sabbaths and New-moones were Shaddowes It is neither the weekly nor monethly nor anniuersarie reuolution that made these dayes ceremoniall for then ciuill and naturall and all kinde of dayes should be ceremoniall but it was the mysticall signification which they had and the ceremoniall worship appropriated vnto them That the Apostle forbiddeth the obseruation of these dayes and not simpliciter of dayes is manifest both by that which goeth before vers 9. and that which followeth vers 21. The dayes whereof hee speakes were Elements of the Law from the which that we might be deliuered Christ was made vnder the Lawe And the obseruation of these dayes was a remayning still vnder the seruile yoake of the Law But there was neuer man before you that did thinke the obseruation prohibited for any naturall respect such as the yeerely weekely or monethly reuolution is but onely for some legall consideration or some heathenish superstition And seeing for these respects onely the religious obseruation of dayes is discharged it is a caption ab accidenti to conclude that the obseruation of anniuersarie dayes is forbidden I answer to the third that to esteeme one day holier then another for any inherent holinesse they haue by nature is superstitious and to esteeme one day holier then another for any sacramentall holinesse that they haue by diuine institution is Iudaicall but for the vse whereunto the day is applied as a meere and commodious circumstance so to esteeme it is no more superstitious and Iudaicall then to esteeme a Temple holier then a priuate house and the instruments vessels and clothes that are vsed in the ministration of Sacraments more holy then other common instruments and vessels These we call holy onely by reason of their separation from a common vse to a religious So this argument is a caption ab homonymia I answer to the fourth That one thing is properly said to be substitute to another when it is applied to the same vse Our Pasche and Pentecost are neyther applied to be memorials of the deliuerance out of Aegypt nor testimonies of our thankfulnesse for the First-fruits of the earth nor to be shaddowes of our spirituall deliuerie to come and of the First-fruits of the Holy Ghost neyther doe wee offer the Passeouer nor the First-fruits nor any legall sacrifice and so in no respect are they substitute to these times but they are dedicated to the commemoration of Christs resurrection and the comming downe of the Holy Ghost not as mysticall and sacramentall ceremonies and a part of the diuine worshippe which the Papists esteeme them to be but as they are fit and meete circumstancess onely for these holy exercises To the fift and last argument I answer That the anniuersarie dayes of the Iewes are abolished in euerie respect for which by them they were obserued and so are the weekely and monethly daies but as the weekly and monthly course was not the respect for which the Sabbath and New-moons are abolished no more is the anniuersarie reuolution of the feasts the respect wherefore they were abrogate but because they were shaddowes of things to come and remembrances of temporall benefits as of their deliuerie out of Aegypt which was also typicall And because they had a legall worship appropriated vnto them which was likewise ceremoniall Now to conclude vpon this that the obseruation of anniuersarie dayes vnder the Gospell is abolished is a caption à non causa pra causa For the anniuersarie daies kept vnder the Gospell are not obserued as any part of diuine worship or as shaddowes of things to come or as memoriall signes and Sacraments of by-past temporall and typicall benefits but they are obserued as commodious circumstances for the worship appointed to be done on them to wit the commemoration of the inestimable benefits of our redemption which are not temporall and peculiar to any People or Nation such as the deliuerance of the Iewes out of Aegypt and their dwelling in Tents remembred by their Pasche and their Feast of Tabernacles but eternall and common to all Nations and People Neither is the worship performed on them legall and ceremoniall but euangelicall and spirituall Thus the obseruation is wholly different The time is appointed to be obserued not as a shadow but as a circumstance onely the worship is not the sacrificing of beasts or oblation of First-fruits but the Preaching of Christ who is the body the veritie the yea and amen and end of the Lawe and the Oblation of prayers thankesgiuing and praises in his name to the Father and the benefits which are remembred are not temporall and typicall but eternall and spirituall PP The prerogatiue belonging to God in the Old Testament
quietnesse aboue all the Nations that are about vs. PP To conclude then to esteeme one day aboue another in respect of any mystery certainly knowne or commonly reputed to haue beene wrought vpon that day to testifie this estimation by cessation from worke To deuise a particular seruice to be done vpon it accounting that forme or part of seruice acceptable to God because it is performed on that day is to obserue a day And in this manner doe wee obserue the Anniuersarie dayes The same reason may bee applyed to an Anniuersary houre ANS The Proposition I admit the Assumption I deny for albeit any mysticall or memorable worke were certainly knowne to haue beene wrought vpon such a time yet to esteeme aboue another except it were sanctified by diuine Institution wee count it Superstition So albeit wee certainly know the memorable workes of his Maiesties deliuerance to haue beene wrought vpon the fist of August and the fist of Nouember yet we doe not esteeme these dayes aboue other dayes as if the seruice done on them were more acceptable to God in respect of the time but wee doe only esteeme them as meete circumstances for the thankesgiuing appointed to be made on them to God The same estimation we haue of the fiue dayes as wee haue ost said before That our Sauiour was borne vpon the 25. of December no man I thinke knowes certainly the common reputation we hold as vncertaine Therefore wee doe not thinke the commemoration of Christs Natiuitie vpon that day and our thankesgiuing therefore more acceptable to God by reason of the day nor doe wee thinke cessation from worke on that day a part of diuine worship at it was held in time of Papistry and is yet by many of our common Professours that lacke instruction but the worship we doe is vnto God for his honour not for the day and the cessation from work is for the commoditie and celebritie of the worship The Act of Perth ordaynes the people to be thus instructed and the superstitious conceite of the time rebuked Finally choice is made of this and the other dayes not for any mysterie esteemed to bee in them more then in other dayes but for conformity with the Primitiue Church the reuerence of whose authoritie in matters of this nature must be of great force to draw Churches of diuers iurisdictions that agree in doctrine to vnity in points of externall policie which vnity is far to be preferred to the priuate custome of any Church or the singularity of any mans opinion and fantasie And therefore ZANCHIVS said well and wisely in the places cited before That albeit the reformed Churches haue liberty to sanctifie what dayes they thinke good yet it is more laudable honest and profitable to sanctifie these which the most pure Apostolick and Primitiue Church sanctified So to conclude we obserue no day for mystery or with opinion of necessitie but only for commodity and policie And this obseruation is approued by the iudgement of the best Diuines in the reformed Church The consent of the Reformed Churches and Diuines for keeping the fiue Holy Dayes Heluetica Confessio de Ferijs Art 24. PRaetera si Ecclesiae pro Christiana libertate memeriam Dominicae Natiuitatis Circumcisionis Passionis Resurrectionis Ascensionis item in Coelum missionis sancti Spiritus in Discipulos religiosè celebrent maximoperè probamus That is to say If the Churches according to their Christian Libertie doe celebrate religiously the memory of the Lords Natiuitie Circumcision Passion Resurrection his Ascension to Heauen and the sending downe of the holy Ghost wee doe exceedingly approue it Beza speaking of this Confession in his first Epistle sayes Dico Helueticam Gallicam Confessionem cui innumerabiles paenè Ecclesiae subscripserunt nullare prorsus differre that is The Church of Heluetia and France differ in nothing and haue but one Confession whereunto innumerable Churches haue subscribed All the reformed Churches did agree in this point of the Confession touching the obseruation of the fiue dayes our Church only excepted which now hauing condescended to a Conformity with the rest by the Ordinance of the Assembly at Perth the same will bee allowed of all that preferre the peace and vnitie of the Reformed Churches to the singularitie of their owne opinions CALVIN Col. 2.16 ATque dicet quispiam nos adhuc retinere aliquam dierum obseruationem Respond Nos dies nequaquam seruare quasi in ferijs esset aliqua religio aut quasi fas non sit tunc laborare sed respectum haberi politiae ordinis non dierum that is Some will say that we yet retayne some obseruation of dayes I answere We keepe not dayes as if there were any Religion in the festiuall time or as if it were not lawfull to labour on them but a respect is had of Policie and Order not of dayes ZANCHIVS in the Confession which hee made to be published when he was seuentie yeares of age in name of himselfe and his Family De Ferijs cap. 15. Sect. 30. POst diem Dominicum non possumus non probare illorum quoque dierum sanctificationem quibus memoria recurrit celebrataque in veteri Ecclesia fuit Natiuitatis Domini nostri Iesu Christi Circumcisionis Passionis Resurrectionis Ascensionis in Coelum Missionisque sancti Spiritus in Apostolos that is Next vnto the Lords Day we cannot but allow the Sanctification of these dayes wherein the memory returnes of the Natiuity of our Lord Iesus his Circumcision Passion Resurrection Ascension into Heauen and the sending downe of the Holy Ghost vpon the Apostles which memorie was celebrated in the ancient Church CHEMNITIVS de diebus Festis in examine Concilij Tridentini ATque haec sunt quae in Scriptura noui Testamenti ad festa pertinentia tradita sunt iuxta quam normam vt deuota religiosa Festorum celebratio ad augendam pietatem restituatur nemo improbat sed omnes pij optant that is These are the things which are deliuered in the Scriptures of the new Testament concerning festiuall times according to which rule no man dislikes the deuout and religious celebration of festiuall dayes but all the godly wish it because it serues to encrease godlinesse To this hee subioynes a long Narration of the dayes obserued in the Primitiue Church which he approues BVLLINGERVS ad Rom. 14. APud Veteres quidem Eusebium inprimis Augustinum inuenias memorias quasdam pijs quibusdam institutas â—…sse hominibus sed longè alia ratione ac modo nimirum parùm differente à nostroritu quo adhuc in Ecclesia nostra Tigurina Natiuitatis Circumcisionis Passonis Resurrectionis Ascensionis Domini Missionisque sancti Spiritus Deiparae Virginis Ioannis Baptistae Magdalenae Stephani Apostolorum Domini Festa celebramus neminem eorum interim damnantes qui post Dominicam aliam nesciunt Festiuitatem videmus enim veterum monumenta perlustrantes liberuÌ„ hoc Ecclesiae semper fuisse vt quisque
to celebrate that holy action vpon the day of the Natiuitie which wee call Yule and vpon Easter day which we call Pasche The ground of this power is first the abolishing of the New-moones Festiual daies and Sabbaths by the coming of our Sauiour in whom the body of all these shadows is and next the libertie giuen by God to the Christian Church mentioned by Isaiah as ye heard before For as by the first we are freed from the bondage of the Law and the obseruation of the set times therein prescribed so by the second all times are sanctified to the worship of God in so farre that the Christian Church may make choyce of any time in the weeke any day in the moneth or yeere for their publique meetings to his worship And as for the Lords Day which hath succeeded to the Iewish Sabbath albeit God hath cōmanded to sanctifie it by the publike exercise of religiō yet neither is the whole pub like worship nor any part of it appropriated to that time but lawfully the same may be performed vpō any other conuenient day of the weeke of the Moneth or of the yere as the Church shall think expedient Vpon this ground Zanchius affirmed Ecclesiae Christi liberū esse quos velit praeter dominic dies sibi sāctificādos deligere And by this warrant did the primitiue Church sanctifie these fiue anniuersarie dayes of Christs Natiuitie Passion Resurrection Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Ghost Where it is obiected that it is onely proper to God to make holidayes I answer That it is onely proper to God to make times and places holy by appropriating to them a diuine worship which may not bee performed lawfully but in these places and on these times such as the Tabernacle and Temple and the Iewish Festiuities vnder the Law were for vnto them was appropriated by God a worship which might not be performed on another day and so these dayes did not only belong to the worship as meere circumstances but were proper parts or points thereof and could not bee omitted without marring of the whole action In which respect these dayes were holier then other dayes because a part of Gods worship consisted in obseruation of them Such holy dayes the Church cannot make But to make times and places holy by consecration of them to an holy vse the Church hath power for the dayes that she appoints are obserued only for order and policie and haue no relation to the worship performed on them as any Rite or religious Ceremonie belonging necessarily to the integritie thereof The Natiuitie of our Sauiour may bee remembred and publike thankes giuen to God therefore vpon any other time as well as vpon the twentie fiue of December likewise the Passion Ascension and the rest of these benefits yet wee remember them at certaine set times not because the times require such a worship or the worship such a time to the integritie and lawfulnesse thereof but to the end the worship may be performed orderly once euery yeare in euery place vpon one day that all people wheresoeuer they be at home or abroad may bee instructed and admonished to prayse and magnifie the grace of God and goodnesse of their Sauiour Herein the reformed Churches differ from the Papists who Iudaize in obseruation of those Festiuities because they professe to obserue them not for order only but esteeme them to be sacratiores sanctiores alijs diebus Bellar. de cultu sanctorum lib. 3. cap. 10. pars diuini cultus which we doe not For the Lords Day it hath succeeded to the Sabbath and is holy by diuine Institution hauing for euidence and confirmation thereof both a morall Precept and the exemplarie practice of Christ and his Apostles in Scripture In the forth command after the labour of six dayes the seuenth is appointed to bee sanctified in memoriall of Gods rest from his six dayes worke and the particular day not being expressed in the command was notified to the people either by the exemplary practice of Moses and the Church in the Wildernesse or by tradition of the Fathers going before if so it be that from the Creation that day was obserued Now after the legall shaddowes are abolished whereof the Iewish Sabbath was one if any will demand what day must bee obserued in the Christian Church wee answere that questionlesse for the quotient of the number the day cannot bee altered which by the Law is appointed Heauen and Earth shall perish but one iot of the Law shall not perish Our Sauiour came not to dissolue the Law but to fulfill it In the Law wee heare that God rested the seuenth Day that he blessed and sanctified it and there is a libertie giuen to labour six dayes but the seuenth is commanded to be kept holy so howbeit the Iewish Sabbath which was the shaddow be materially abolished as touching the particular Day yet the Day commanded in the Law formally must remayne and euer be the seuenth after six dayes worke But if yee will aske seeing the seuenth Day in particular is not expressed in the Law and that day which the Iewes obserued is abolished by Christ as the shaddow by the body how the particular and materiall Day may bee knowne that the Christian Church should obserue Vnto this we answere that the particular Day was demonstrated by our Sauiours Resurrection and his Apparitions made thereon by the Apostolicall practice and the perpetuall obseruation of the Church euer since that time of the Day which in Scripture is called the Lords Day as that which the Iewes obserued was called the Lords Sabbath because as the one was appointed by the Lord for a memoriall of his rest after the Creation so the other was inflituted by the Lord for a memoriall of his Resurrection after the Redemption For this wee must hold as a sure ground whatsoeuer the Catholike Church hath obserued in all Ages and is found in Scripture expresly to haue beene practised by Christ and the Apostles such as the sanctification of the Lords Day the same most certainly was instituted by the Lord to bee obserued and his practice in that is exemplar and hath the strength of a particular precept Hereby it is manifest that the sanctification of the Lords Day is of diuine Institution as well by reason of the diuine Precept commanding the seuenth Day in generall to bee obserued as of the diuine practice of Christ and the Apostles their specifying the Day which hath the force of a particular diuine Precept In respect whereof the obseruation of this Day is a point of diuine Worship and is holy not by Ecclesiasticall Constitution but by diuine Institution Moreouer this Day is holy by appropriation of it to a certaine religious vse whereunto no other Day can be applyed namely to bee a memoriall of the Lords rest after the Creation and of his Resurrection after the Redemption As also to be a signe of our sanctification here and of
that selfe-same Synode perceiuing the obstinacy of Macarius Bishop of Antiochia and his followers Stephanus Polychronius Constantius and others not onely threatned them bitterly but likewise in presence of the Synode presently caused to depriue Macarius of his Bishopricke by taking his Episcopall cloake from him and did cast him and his Associates forth of the Councell by the necks Ceruicibus eijcientes foras as the words are Vide Concil Constantinop 3. Act. 8.9 15.16 Binni Annotat. Then yee say yee were threatned by the vtter subuersion of the Estate and order of the Church And is it not lawfull to lay before your eyes the danger that may follow vpon your disobedience for looke all the Letters and harrangues of the godly Emperours the generall Councells and such as were speciall persons therein yee shall finde them euer lay before the eyes of such as were conuocated as the speciall motiues that might serue to induce them to condescend vnto things that were proponed and serued to the good and peace of the Church And to insist in the same example brought by your selfe reade the Letter which Constantine writes to Agatho and yee shall find the chiefe and onely Argument almost hee vses to moue him to condescend to an agreement with the Greeke Church is by laying before him the danger wherein the whole Church lyes by their dissention Tacere quippe hoc terribile existimamus vt ne plebs quae vt sanctificetur accedit ad sanctas Dei Ecclesias contrarijs cogitationibus occupetur considerans Antistitum ad inuicem dissonantiam And againe Propter viles igitur inquisitiones ne sit insinita contentio Ne nobis insultent Pagani Haeretici neque in nobis vsque quaque locum accipiant semina aduersarij c. Looke likewise that graue Harrangue of Constantine the great in the Councell of Nice where hee sayes Nolite ergo pati vt denuo perditus Daemon diuinam Christi disciplinam Religionem maleuolorum obtrectationibus lacerandam obijciat quandoquidem intestina seditio in Ecclesia Dei conflata multo plus molestiarum acerbitatis quam quoduis bellum pugnave videtur mihi in se complecti c. Finally as to that yee obiect That the party defendant was forced to pursue It was not so but the party refusing obedience was vrged to obey or then giue sufficient reasons of their disagreement which was most iust and equitable For by one Statute made in the Assembly at Dundie Anno 1597. 14. Maij Sess 7. it is ordayned That hee that sustaynes the negation with his vote shall giue rationem negandi The rest of your Assertions are manifest lyes and calumnies For all the Contradictors were heard with great patience the space of two dayes both in the priuy Conference and face of the Assembly while they had no more to obiect PP In free and lawfull Assemblies priuate reasoning is not sufficient but it is requisite that there bee also free reasoning in publique for the full information of all who haue the right of voting Neuerthelesse in this Assembly publique reasoning was hardly obtayned it was not full and free to propone and pursue with replyes ANS Publike reasoning was neuer refused neither was any man hindered to speake freely prouiding he spake pertinently but onely by the Lawes of disputation the President comptrolled those who transgressed the Lawes when either they reasoned not formally or not to the purpose or repeated arguments vnnecessarily which had beene already sufficiently discussed and this is the power of the Moderator by the Assembly at Saint Andrewes Anno 1571. in March But the falshood of this exception is cleared sufficiently by the true Narration of the proceedings of the Assembly PP In all free and lawfull Assemblies humble requests for mature deliberation in matters of great importance hath beene heard and granted but in this Assembly humble supplication for continuation till matters were more ripely considered or till his Maiesties answer were returned to the Petition of the defenders of the established order was peremptorily refused ANS If these matters had neuer beene proponed before or if we had not knowne his Maiesties will by his Letters hereabout perchance this exception might haue had some force but seeing some of these Articles had beene discussed in an Assembly at Abirdene and all proponed thereafter in an Assembly at Saint Andrewes at the which time the same request of continuation was proponed and an humbly sute sent to his Maiestie to accept of this delay to the end euery man might consider the matters more deeply with promise that if it would please his Maiestie to grant them leisure to aduise and instruct their flocks in the lawfulnesse of these Articles they should doe their best to giue his Maiestie satisfaction a longer continuation could not be harkened vnto especially since this Assembly was conuocated to trie the effects of their promises and that it was euident how a number of them against their promise were so farre from the instructing of their people in the lawfulnesse of the Articles that in the contrary they pressed most sediciously to stirre vp both their owne flocks and others to disobedience So at this time that proposition of continuation could not bee granted for three weightie reasons first because the former continuation was abused to the stirring vp of discontentment amongst the popular Secondly the Moderator and the Commissioners could not graunt it because of his Maiesties peremptory declaration of his will in his Highnesse Letter directed to the Assembly Thirdly because they perceyued by the disposition of the party that a further continuance would haue serued for nothing but to haue augmented the Schisme and diuision begun PP Pope Leo excepteth against the second Councell of Ephesus called praedatorie that Dioscorus who challenged the chiefe place kept not priestly moderation and would not suffer the Synodall Letters of the west to be read In all free and lawfull Assemblies good aduisements haue been heard and followed but in this Assembly some difficulties presented in writing to be considered and remoued before the voting were peremptorily reiected ANS That this reiection of these difficulties is a iust exception against the lawfulnesse of this Assembly yee proue it by the example of Pope Leo who excepted against the second Councell of Ephesus called Praedatorie because Dioscorus who was President there would not suffer the Synodal Letters of the West to be read in the Councell I will answere first to your proofe and then to the matter it selfe The reason yee vse is captious for yee reason from a partiall cause to a totall rejection The Councell of Ephesus was iustly reiected for diuers errours committed both in matter and forme yet yee choose onely one of the smallest and applie it falsly to this Assembly The errours in matter were That first it did approue hereticall doctrine peruerting the grounds of our Faith Next it restored pernicious Heretickes alreadie condemned in a Councel at Constantinoplo as Eutyches
so it is that sitting at the Table in the acte of receiuing hath bin established by Lawes Customes long prescription of time and confirmed by oathes and subscriptions as is euident by the former deduction It is notwithstanding expedient to descend further in opening vp the vnlawfulnesse of kneeling First as it is a breach of the Institution Secondly as it is a breach of the second Commandement Thirdly as it is without the example and practise of the ancient Church Fourthly as it disagrees from the practise of the Reformed Churches ANS After yee haue laid downe your grounds some for sitting and some against kneeling yee subioyne the tenor of the acte concluded at Perth but most corruptly as we haue noted in the margine and then yee forme this argument That which hath been established by so many lawes Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall by so long custome and prescription of time and confirmed by oathes and subscriptions we may not lawfully alter But so it is that sitting at Table in the acte of receiuing hath beene established by lawes customes long prescription of time and confirmed by oathes and subscriptions A man that had heard the proposition only would expect some great matter in the assumption belonging to some article of Faith or precept of obedience set downe in Gods Word and all resolues in an indifferent ceremonie of sitting at the Sacrament But yet to make simple people beleeue that it were some necessary or substantiall point of Religion that might not be altered ye make a great shew of lawes customes c which being examined shall vanish as smoake before the winde And where yee beginne with a strong alleageance that it was established with so many lawes Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall I aske you first by what Ciuill lawes Yee say so many yet in your deduction whereby you affirme the assumption to be euident yee cite not one law neither can yee albeit yee are not ashamed to say so many For your Ecclesiasticall lawes yee cite first the words set downe in the second head of the first booke of Discipline the Table of the Lord is then rightly ministred c. These words are not a law for that booke of Discipline was neuer receiued nor confirmed either by the Ciuill or Ecclesiasticall estate some of the Nobility subscribed it but others who had the chiefe authority as Master Knox complaines in his History reiected the same calling it Deuout imaginations Next yee cite the ordinance of the generall Assembly 1562 appointing the order of Geneua to be obserued this Act cannot establish your sitting for in Geneua they stand or passe as they Receiue and sit not at Table The last Acte which yee cite in anno 1564 ordaineth Ministers in the ministration of the Sacraments to vse the order set downe in the Psalme book In that Act there is no mention of sitting and by the order set downe in the Psalme bookes that may be meant which before was called the order of Geneua How soeuer it be there is no particular law for sitting no Ciuil law at all and none Ecclesiasticall but this onely one which is generall Your second probation is That sitting is established by so long a custome and prescription of time Who would not when he heares so long looke at least for a three or foure hundred yeares and all this length of time yee can alledge to is since the yeare of God 1560 not halfe an age before which time kneeling was in vse many hundred yeares on the Lords day and on other dayes in the weeke euer since the first Institution as afterwards shall be proued with better reasons then any yee can bring for the necessity of sitting This long custome and prescription for kneeling yee esteeme to be of no moment albeit it was a gesture instituted by God but for sitting a gesture instituted by man yee count eight and fifty yeares a long prescription So men esteeme their owne Dwarfes to be Giants Nostrum sic nanum Atlanta vocamus The last argument wherein yee glory most is that sitting is confirmed by oathes and subscriptions This is a childish and false alledgeance for there was neuer oath nor subscription giuen in our Church that by any consequence can import a confirmation of sitting or of any other indifferent alterable ceremonie for all times following Seeing no man is astricted longer vnto the obseruatiō of it then the Ecclesiasticall Constitution stands which being altered by the Church that made it their oath and subscription bindes them to obserue that which in stead of the former is ordained to be receiued This is manifest by the Constitutions set downe in the seuenteenth chapter of the booke of Discipline receiued and confirmed in the generall Assembly holden at Glasgow the 24. of Aprill anno 1581 the tenor whereof followes The finall end of all Assemblies is first to keepe the Religion and Doctrine in purity without errour or corruption Next to keepe comlinesse and good order in the Church for this orders cause they may make certaine rules and constitutions pertaining to the good behauiour of all the members of the Church in their owne vocation They haue power also to abrogate and abolish all statutes and ordinances concerning Ecclesiasticall matters that are found noysome and vnprofitable and agree not with the time or are abused by the people And after a few words it is subioyned That it appertaines to the Presbyteries to cause the Ordinances made by the Assemblies Prouinciall and generall to be kept and put in execution Hereby it is manifest that when the Church alters indifferent thing in policie that they who are astricted by their oathes to obey the Discipline of the Church are tyed both not to practise these things which the Church hath discharged and to obserue these things which the Church in stead thereof hath established to be done Whereupon I conclude That so many as haue sworne and subscribed after the forme contained in the Oath to continue in the obedience of the Discipline of the Church are all obliged by their subscriptions now not to sit but to kneele at the Communion because the Church hath found it meete that sitting should bee interchanged with kneeling Thus I haue answered your reasons lawes customes subscriptions and oathes which yee bring for sitting I come to consider the ordinances made as ye alledge against kneeling where first yee alledge an Act made in the Assembly 1591 that an Article should bee formed and presented vnto his Maiesty and the Estates for order to be taken with them who giue or receiue the Sacraments after the Papistical manner but by Papistical maner is meante the giuing of the Sacrament by a Masse Priest and the receiuing the same after the order of the Romane Church which may be cleared by an Act of the Assembly anno 1565. Decemb. 26. Sess 2. The tenor wherof is this Persons reuolting from the profession of the Gospell by offering their children to be baptized after the Papisticall maner
body he meanes the body of Christ lying in the Manger and these wicked and barbarous men leauing their houses and Countrey hauing finished a long iourney and comming to the place they adored with great feare and trembling Let vs therefore sayeth hee that are Citizens of heauen imitate these Barbarians Thus farre Chrysostome Now to imitate them is not to come with inward reuerence onely but to shew it also in outward gesture for of them the Scripture saith That falling downe they adored CHRIST And it is manifest by the words following that Chrysostome meanes not of the inward adoration onely but also of the outward Non solum hoc ipsum corpus vides sicut illi c. Thou doest not onely see the same body as they did but thou knowest both his power and dispensation and thou art ignorant of no thing done by him as being exactly and accurately imitated in all mysteries Let vs therefore stirre vp our selues with feare Et longe maiorem quà m illi Barbari ostendamus reuerentiam that is Let vs shew foorth much more reuerence then these Barbarians The word Ostendamus manifestly shewes that Chrysostome exhorteth his people not to the inward adoration of Christ onely at the Sacrament but to the externall also The practise of all Churches since the dayes of Christ confirmeth the same for there was neuer any Church wherein the Sacrament was receiued without some externall signe and gesture of adoration To stand before the Lord in a solemne act of diuine worshippe is a gesture of adoration and as yee obserued before out of Drusius in the 51. Page of this Pamphlet standing is taken for prayer because it was the vsuall gesture at prayer The discouering of the head in our Church is an externall signe of adoration otherwise our people who are wont to sitte at the reading of the Word singing of Psalmes and publike prayers did vse no externall signe at all And as in these actions the discouering of the head is a signe of adoration so is it in the receiuing of the Communion and was so euen when wee did sit at the receiuing for the reuerence of the bare head was not giuen at that time to the externall Minister nor to the externall Elements but to Christ himselfe his body and bloud Now it is certaine that the externall reuerence giuen to Christ in an act of diuine worship is diuine and therefore the reuerence of adoration as your selfe affirmed pag. 48. This conslant and vniuersall practise compared with the testimonies of the Ancients cuidently shewes the vanitie of your answeres against externall adoration vsed in all ages at the receiuing of the Sacrament Leauing them therefore I come to your conclusion PP The proofes already made for standing vpon the Lords day for 1000. yeeres in the Church doe euince that geniculation had no place in the act of receiuing all that time It hath therefore followed vpon bodily presence and transsubstantiation ANS Your proofes haue euinced nothing except yee grant that to receiue the Sacrament is an act of adoration for all the testimonies ye bring runne that way And at most yee haue onely proued that on the Lords day they stood at the Sacrament whereupon if yee conclude that geniculation had no place yee must vpon the same ground that sitting had no place yea it shall euince that sitting had no place in the Church vnto the yeere 1560. at which time it was receiued in our Church for after these 1000. yeeres wherein yee proue that standing was vsed kneeling succeeded and hath continued euer since in the Church vntill the time of reformation So sitting was neuer in vse by your owne argument As to the gesture vsed by our Sauiour at the Paschall Supper which yee affirme was continued at the institution of the Sacrament it was not sitting at a Table vpon fourmes or chaires but lying and leaning vpon beds and it is vncertain as I shewed before whether that gesture was continued or not and albeit it had beene continued there was neuer Church or Diuine that thought it exemplary for if they had done they would neuer haue vsed standing or passing or kneeling in stead of it If we might bee bold to coniecture with what gesture the Apostles receiued the Sacrament as yee are bold to affirme that they sate or what gesture Christ would haue vs to obserue it were doubtlesse surest to thinke that the Apostles receiued with that same gesture which they vsed at the thanksgiuing and blessing wherewith the Institution begins and therefore that the gesture which the Church thinketh most meet to be vsed at the thankesgiuing is the gesture fittest for the people to receiue because the action it selfe is a reall thankesgiuing and should haue conioyned with it the thankesgiuing and blessing wherewith the action beginnes in the minde and affection of the receiuers and because euer since the first Institution wee finde the Church to haue vsed the same gesture at the receiuing that they vsed at the thankesgiuing and prayer For when for the space of a thousand yeeres they stood and prayed as you your selfe affirme and so doth your namelesse Master of table gesture then they stood and receiued the Sacrament and after that when on the Lords day the Church began in stead of standing to vse kneeling at prayer they began also to receiue the Sacrament kneeling which forme of receiuing hath continued to our times But to returne againe to your argument where yee say that the proofes made for standing doe euince that for the space of a thousand yeeres kneeling had no place I will let you see how futile your argument is The Church stood on the Lords day at the Sacrament for the space of a thousand yeeres Ergo say yee they kneeled not for the space of a thousand yeeres May you not by the very same reason conclude The Church laboured not nor fasted on the Lords day for the space of a thousand yeeres Ergo they neither fasted nor laboured at all for the space of a thousand yeeres If during all that time the Sacrament had been onely celebrated on the Lords day your argument were probable but seeing the Sacrament as S. Augustine writes was giuen euery day and to giue it on the first fourth and sixt dayes of the weeke was held to bee an Apostolike constitution Therefore as on the rest of the weeke dayes except the Lords day they prayed fixis in terram genibus with their knees close to the ground so with that same gesture they receiued the Sacrament for the Church did euer receiue with the same gesture which they vsed in prayer as I haue proued by induction The Apostles receiued with the same gesture which they vsed at the thankesgiuing This yee cannot denie except yee ouerthrow all the grounds that yee laid for the example and precept of Christ to bee obserued The Church on the Lords day hath euer vsed to stand at the Sacrament when they stood at prayer and if you
change according to the Proclamation is not spoyled of his liberty but maketh vantage by the right vse thereof Here it shall not bee amisse to recite Zanchius opinion in this purpose who defending their opinion that esteeme the words to contayne a command moues a doubt and answers it after this manner Verùm enimuerò videtur cum hac sententia pugnare c. That is But this fights against their opinion that hold the words to be a command that it was euer lawfull to Gods people to assemble themselues on other dayes beside the Sabbath to heare Gods Word to bee present at Prayers to offer Sacrifices and such other things belonging to outward worship which farre lesse can bee denyed to vs and therefore beside the Lords Day other dayes are instituted in the Church ad feriandum ab operibus seruilibus to rest from feruile workes if not for the whole day yet for the morning time He answeres Facilis est horum conciliatio sicut opera diuini cultus praeponenda sunt operibus seruilibus ita haec sunt omittenda quando illis vacandum est c. that is These things may be easily reconciled as the workes of Gods worship are to bee preferred to seruile workes so these must be omitted when those are to bee performed And a little after We sinne not against this precept sayes hee when wee ceasse from our seruile labour to waite on Gods worship quoties ordo Ecclesiae aut necessitas postulat so often as the order of the Church and necessitie requires This is Zanchius iudgement vpon the fourth precept of the Law in the sixe hundred sixty two page of that Worke. And if a precept cannot impede the appointing of solemne times for the worship of God farre lesse can a permission The Muscouites saying that it is for Lords to make Feasts and abstaine from labour is true yet amongst them Festiuall Dayes are obserued That the Citizens after diuine Seruice on these Dayes betake themselues to their labour wee doe not reproue because it is agreeable to their policie PP It may be obiected that Constantine the Emperour made a Law that none but the Prince may ferias condere erect an idle day The Prince then may enioyne a day of cessation Answ The Lawes of the God are not Rules of Theologie A Prince may not enioyne cessation from Oeconomicall and Domesticke workes but for weapon-shewing exercise of Armes defence of the Countrey or other publike workes and affaires But that is not to enioyne a day of simple cessation but to enioyne apoliticke worke in place of the Oeconomicall ANS Though the Lawes of the God bee not Rules of Theologie yet where they are not contrary to Scripture they are good Rules of Gouernment to Princes and of obedience to Subiects That the Prince may enioyne a day of cessation from seruile worke for the worship of God is not only not contrary but most agreeable to Scripture The Festiuall Dayes of Purim kept by the Iewes were confirmed by the Decree of Queene Esther Esth 9.32 It is written in the Booke of Ionah the third Chapter and seuenth verse That ye the Decree of the King of Niniue and his Nobles a Fast was proclamed The Feast of Dedication graced with the presence of our Sauiour was instituted by Iudas Machabaeus and the people 1. Mach. 10. And if the King may command a cessation from Oeconomicall and priuate workes for workes ciuill and publike such as the defence of the Crowne the liberty of the Countrey c. What reason haue yee why hee may not enioyne a day of cessation from all kind of bodily labour for the honour of God and exercise of Religion Is hee not custos vtriusque tabulae If the one may be done as yee grant for the weale of the politicall body much more may and should the other bee done for the weale of the Mysticall especially when the order of the Church so requires PP What if the Church representatiue enioyne a weekly holy day as another Sabbath ought the Church to bee obeyed What power hath the Church representatiue to enioyne an Anniuersary day more then a weekly or hebdomary holy day ANS I aske you againe what power hath the Church to appoint one houre or two in the day for publike Prayer in Cities at morning and euening more then six or seuen houres Or why may she appoint an houre or two in the weeke for preaching more then a day or two Is it not because the one cannot stand with Charitie the inseparable companion of Pietie as the other may The obseruation of these Anniuersary dayes agrees with Pietie and Charitie but to enioyne the obseruation of a weekly day besides the Sabbath were against Charitie and Equitie Is this a good Argument The Church may not doe that which is vnlawfull therefore shee may not enioyne that which is lawfull or this The King may neyther banish nor put to death an honest and peaceable Subiect therefore he may not execute a Traytor or banish a seditious man This kinde of reasoning is more then childish PP I say further that the poore Crafts-man cannot lawfully bee commanded to lay aside his Tooles and goe passe his time no not for an houre let be for a day And yet farther that he ought not to be compelled to leaue his worke to goe to diuine Seruice except on the day that the Lord hath sanctified ANS This is a strong argument confirmed with the great authoritie of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say further But what say yee to that which is ordayned in the first Booke of Discipline out of which yee tooke your first argument in this dispute of daies In the ninth Chapter thereof we haue these words In euerie notable Towne we require that one day beside the Sonday be appoynted to Sermon and prayers which day◠during the time of Sermon must be kept free from all exercise of labour aswell to the Maister as to the seruant When yee discussed the oath yee cited the ordinances of this Booke as poynts of Discipline sworne vnto and subscribed If it bee not lawfull to commaund and compell a man to goe to diuine Seruice except vpon the Lords day why did yee sweare in the assertorie oath that it was lawfull But yee will say I sware not that he might be compelled but if he may be lawfully commanded to cease from his labour during the time of diuine seruice he may be as lawfully compelled to obey the cōmand Necessitie ye know excuses the breach of the Sabboth it selfe But the precepts of this Booke ye vse or vse not as they may serue to your purpose Such of them as yee allow must all be obserued vnder the paine of periurie others that are contrarie to your opinion must be reputed reiected as vnlawfull PP It is the priuiledge of Gods power to appoynt a day of rest and to sanctifie it to his honour The second Reason as our best Diuines maintaine c.
to be obserued of necessitie for conscience of the diuine Ordinance as a day sanctified and blessed by God himselfe These are commanded to be obserued onely for ecclesiasticall order and policie and doe not oblige men in conscience to obedience but for eschewing scandall and contempt Secondly the Lords Day is to be obserued as the Sabbath of IEHOVAH that is not onely for a day wherein we are appointed to rest to God but as a day whereon God himselfe did rest after the Creation So it is obserued as a remembrance and resemblance of Gods rest Thirdly the Lords Day is obserued as is the Lords Supper this in remembrance of his death that in remembrance of his resurrection Fourthly the Lords Day is obserued as a pledge of that rest wherein hee that enters shall rest from his labours as God hath done from his And fiftly we obserue the Lords Day as a perpetuall signe betweene God and vs to signifie and declare that the God who hath sanctified vs to be his people and whom wee adore as IEHOVAH the Father who created the World in sixe dayes and rested the seuenth IEHOVAH the Sonne who redeemed the World and rising that day to life abolished sinne and death and brought life and immortalitie to light and IEHOVAH the Holy Ghost who on that day descended vpon the Twelue Apostles sanctifying them and the whole World by them with the truth of Gods Word In none of these fiue poynts doe we obserue the Festiuall dayes as the Lords Day PP It is left free to teach any part of Gods Word on the Lords day but for solemnitie of the festiuall solemne Texts must bee chosen Gospels Epistles Collects Psalmes must bee framed for the particular seruice of these dayes and so the mysticall dayes of mans appointment shall not onely equall but in solemnities surpasse the morall Sabbath appointed by the Lord. ANS If by the solemnitie of the Festiuall yee vnderstand the honour done to the Day wee deny that wee are appointed to choose any Text or frame our Doctrine and Exhortations thereto but if by the solemnitie of the Festiuall yee vnderstand the cōmemoration of the benefits made on these daies it is true that euery Minister is ordayned to choose pertinent Texts and frame his Doctrine and Exhortations thereto But vpon this yee will neuer conclude that these dayes which yee falsly call mysticall doe not onely equall but surpasse the morall Sabbath in solemnitie for the whole solemnitie hath onely respect to the benefits which on these times are remembred and no respect at all to the Time The solemnitie not being obserued for the Time but the Time for the solemne remembrance of these benefits The Lords Day otherwise is not onely obserued for the diuine seruice that is performed thereon but the same seruice and publike worship which may bee omitted on all the sixe dayes must be performed on the Lords Day because God hath appointed it to be sanctified with these holy Exercises PP If they were instituted onely for order and policie that the people may assemble to religious exercises wherefore is there but one day appointed betwixt the Passion and the Resurrection Wherefore fortie dayes betweene the Resurrection and Ascension and ten betweene the Ascension and the Pentecost Why follow we the course of the Moone as the Iewes did in our moueable feasts making the Christian Church clothed with the Sunne to walke vnder the Moone as Bonauentura alludes Wherefore is there not a certayne day of the Moneth kept for Easter aswell as for the Natiuitie Does not Bellarmine giue this reason out of Augustine that the day of Natiuitie is celebrated onely for memorie the other both for memorie and for Sacraments ANS Saint Augustines opinion alleadged by Bellarmine Epist 119. is not receiued by the reformed Churches as the reason moouing them to obserue these times for they expresly deny that they keepe these times for any mysterie or Sacrament that is in them but onely for order and policie which directeth all things to bee done to edification and allowes vs to make choyce of such circumstances as are most meet to promoue the spirituall businesse whereunto they are applyed And this is a kinde of Christian prudence and dexteritie for who knowes not what moment there is in the opportunity of Times and Places to aduance actions Now because no times can be found more conuenient for a solemne commemoration of the Birth Passion c. then these which are either he same indeed by reuolution or in cōmon estimation they follow in this the iudgement of the primitiue Church esteeming it pietie to prefer vnitie with the Catholike church in things indifferent and lawfull to the singularitie of any priuate mans opinion or the practice of any particular Church The allegation of Bonauentura his allusion in such a graue point is ridiculous for if the Sunne and the Moone bee taken mystically as they are in the Reuelation in this case the Church clothed with the Sunne that is with the light of the Gospell walkes not vnder the Moone that is according to the opinions and fashions of the world but treading these vnder foote followes the rules of order and decency for edification If by the Sunne and Moone these two Planets be vnderstood which God created for signes seasons dayes and yeares So long as the Church is militant on earth shee must vse the benefit of these Creatures in the determination of times for all her actions PP If the Anniuersary commemorations were like the weekely preachings Why is the Husband-man forced to leaue his plough at the one and not at the other Why did not Master Galloway curse the people for absence from the one aswell as from the other ANS I answere Although the circumstance of Time whereon the Anniuersary commemoration is made differs not in holinesse or any mysticke signification from the weekly dayes of preaching yet it differres in frequency and raritie for the dayes of weekely preaching doe returne and to astrict the Husband-man to leaue his plough so often were against equitie and charitie but the times of these commemorations being so rare to wit three seruile dayes onely in the yeare and the exercise so profitable Reason would if the Husbandman willingly did not leaue his plough at these times that by authoritie he should be forced aswell for his owne benefit as for eschuing scandall and contempt And Master Galloway had reason to curse these who for contempt and with offence of their Brethren absented themselues from the Sermons of Christs Natiuitie Lastly the difference of the seruice on these dayes from the weekely and ordinary makes them not to differ in holinesse or mysterie from the weekely dayes more then the difference in seruice which is performed on the fift of August and fift of Nouember makes these two dayes to bee mysticke or more holy then other times PP To make solemne commemoration of Christs Natiuitie vpon any other day then vpon the putatiue day
of his Natiuitie would be thought a great absurditie ANS If yee haue not fallen into this absurditie yee must grant that yee neuer made in your time any solemne commemoration of Christs Natiuitie And I verily beleeue that in this omission yee haue many companions by whose negligence God hath beene defrauded of the honour due to him for this benefit and the people lacked instruction in a principall Article of Faith This Article is the ground of all the rest for as Chrysostome sayes If our Sauiour had not beene borne he had neither suffered nor risen againe from the dead and thereupon he calls the day of this commemoration Metropolim omnium Festorum Euen for this it was expedient that a certayne time of the yeare should haue beene appointed for this commemoration which otherwise would haue been neglected and as yee say thought absurd But to returne to your Argument The commemoration of Christs Natiuitiy is no more astricted to the 25. of December then to any other time for although the 25. of December by ordinance of the Church bee dedicated to that religious seruice yet the seruice is not astricted to the time as the seruice of the Iewish festiuities which lawfully might not be performed on any other dayes then the festiuall The commemoration appointed by our Church to bee made on these fiue dayes may lawfully be performed at other conuenient times although on these dayes the same must not bee omitted For the seruice ar I haue said is not appointed for the Time but the Time is appointed for the worship So it is not absurd to remember Christs Natiuitie so oft as occasion is offered with all conuenient solemnitie as it may serue to his honour and the edification of the Church Thus wee haue seene that according to the Doctrine of the reformed Churches Anniuersarie dayes are and may bee obserued though not for any mysterie or holinesse that is in them more then in other dayes but for order and policy onely Against this all the Reasons which Bellarmine or yee haue brought or can inuent shall neuer preuaile more then the barking of a dogge against the Moone PP Next it may be obiected that the people of God might haue indicted dayes of fasting at their owne determination and an interdiction of all kind of worke Ans They had a generall warrant from God Ioel. 2.15 to proclayme a generall fast according to the occurrence of their calamities and other affaires of the Church The light and Law of Nature leades a man to this obseruation of an occasionall fast The like may be said by analogie of thanksgiuing that wee ought to praise God in the meane time when wee receiue the benefit But to make of the occasionall dayes of fasting or feasting anniuersarie and set festiuall and fasting dayes is without warrant It remaynes therefore that it is the Lords soueraignty to make or ordayne a thing to bee holy God first sanctifies by commandement and institution man sanctifies thereafter by obseruation applying to an holy vse the time sanctified by God ANS The conclusion agreeth not with the premisses for if it be Gods soueraigntie to make or ordayne a thing to bee holy how may the Church make a thing holy by appointing an occasionall feast or fast as yee grant shee may doe The instinct of nature and that command out of Ioel is a generall warrant onely The particular calamitie or benefit wherefore a fast or feast should be proclaymed is not expressed neither is the time particularly determined whereupon the solemne festiuitie or fast should be kept but the one is left to the estimation and the other to the determination of the Church So by that warrant libertie is giuen to the Church to consider and define the causes for the which a fast should bee proclaymed and to determine the time when the same should be obserued and to separate that time from common businesse and consecrate the same to the spirituall exercise of preaching hearing praying fasting c. as our Church hath vsed to doe very often Now if the Church hath power vpon occasionall motiues to appoint occasionall fasts or festiuities may not shee for constant and eternall blessings which doe infinitely excell all occasionall benefits appoint ordinary times of commemoration and thanksgiuing Ye say that this hath no warrant but yee speake without warrant for there is as great warrant to appoint such dayes as is for any other point of Ecclesiasticall policie touching the determination of times places formes and order to be obserued in the worship of God according to these generall grounds Let all things bee done to the glorie of God 1. Cor. 10. to edification 1. Cor. 14. with order and decencie 1. Cor. 14.16 The whole policie of our Church touching the vse of these circumstantiall things is ordered by these rules and according to these did our Church in the first booke of Discipline which yee cite often ordayne for the purpose now in hand That in euery notable Towne a day beside the Sonday should bee appointed weekely for Sermon that during the time of Sermon the day should be kept free from all exercise of labour as well by the Master as by the seruant That euery day there be either Sermon or prayers with reading of the Scriptures That Baptisme be orderly ministred either on the Sonday or after Sermon and the dayes of prayer That at foure seuerall times of the yeere the Sacrament of the Lords Supper be ministred viz. on the first Sonday of March on the first Sonday of Iune first Sonday of September and the first Sonday of December That in euery towne where Schollers are and learned men repaire a certaine day euery weeke be appointed for the exercise of Ministers in prophecie And the said booke affirmes The dedication of times and houres for such generall and particular exercises of the Word and Sacraments and Prayer to appertayne to the policie of the Church If the Church hath power after this manner to appoint times for Doctrine and diuine Seruice and Doctrine and diuine Seruice for times as the doctrine of the Catechisme on Sonday at afternoone reade the 9. Chapter of the said booke it cannot be denyed but the Church hath also power to appoint a certaine time day and houre for commemoration of Christs Natiuitie Passion c. For what more power had our Church at that time to appoint the Sacrament to be ministred the first Sondaies of March Iune c. then she hath now to appoint a Sermon to be made of Christs resurrection vpon Easter day and a Sermon of the sending downe of the holy Ghost vpon Whitsunday and does not the light of Nature teach vs that rare and great benefits should be remembred with more then ordinary thankefulnesse Hereby it is cleere that it is not the Lords soueraignty onely to make or ordayne a thing to be holy but it is a prerogatiue that God also hath giuen to the Christian Church But to the end
this matter may be fully cleered it is to be obserued as we said before that times are made holy and places two manner of wayes so things are made holy either by some inherent qualitie of holynesse or by consecration of them to holy vses After the first manner Angels and men were made holy in the creation sinners are made holy by regeneration and sanctification of the holy Ghost and of this holynesse God onely is the author Next things are made holy by consecration of them to holy vses which vses are either mysticall or politicall The consecration of things to holy mysticall vses as of water in Baptisme to be a signe of the bloud and Spirit of Christ the elements of Bread and Wine in the Supper to be the Sacrament of his Bodie and Bloud the Sabbath to bee vnto the Iewes a memoriall of the Creation a type of signification and a badge of their profession the Temple the Altars the Sacrifices and Priests to bee shaddowes of things to come all these and such like are made and ordayned holy by God but the consecration of things to holy vses for policie as for maintayning religion or for order and decency to be obserued in the worship of God is not onely Gods prerogatiue but a priuiledge and liberty granted by him to the Church for example to build and consecrate places to be Temples houses to bee Hospitals to giue rent lands money and goods to the Ministry poore to appoint Vessels Vestures Instrumēts for the bublike worship as Tables Table-clothes Napkins Basens Cups and Lauers for the holy Sacraments these things and the like are made holy by the dedication and consecration of men After this last manner the Church hath power to consecrate the fiue Anniuersary dayes to the commemoration of our Sauiour his benefits to separate them from all other ordinary workes and so to make them sacred and holy dayes It was I grant a part of Idolatry to proclaime a holy day vnto the golden Calfe or to any Idol or Creature as ye affirme but it will not follow that it is Idolatry to proclaime a holy day for the honour and worship of the true God And as it was one of Ieroboams sins to despise the Festiuities appointed by God for his worship and instead of these to ordaine a Feast after the deuise of his owne heert so if we should despise the Lords Sabbath and instead thereof appoint some other as the Machomet hath done it were a presumptuous sinne But this wee are farre from acknowledging the Lords Day to bee holy by his institution and appointing the rest to bee kept only for his worship PP We come from priuiledge to fact as de iure none may The third Reason so de facto none did appoint holy dayes vnder the Law but God and that eyther by himselfe or by some extraordinary direction Therefore none can bee allowed vnder the Gospell without the like warrant Seeing the times vnder the Gospell are not so ceremonious as the times vnder the Law ANS I answered before that if holy dayes bee taken for times whereunto God did appropriate the exercise of some particular forme of worship or for times clothed with some relatiue and respectiue holinesse as to bee signes or types of things to come God only may make dayes holy but if by holy dayes wee vnderstand times dedicated to Gods worship and the commemoration of his benefits as mee to circumstances for Discipline Order and Policie such as our Diuines hold the holy dayes vnder the Gospell to bee I denie that either they might not or did not lawfully appoint such dayes vnder the Law or yet may not be appointed vnder the Gospell The answeres which you make to the dayes of Purim instituted by Queene Estther and Mordecai and the Feast of Dedication instituted by Iudas Macchabaeus are not solid First where ye say that the obseruation was ciuill because Hospinian sayes they might haue wrought vpon the dayes of Purim his opinion in that is not probable seeing these dayes were instituted to bee dayes of feasting and ioy and sending of portions one to another and gifts to the poore because on them God had giuen rest to his people from their enemies It is not probable when rich and poore did feast in remembrance of the rest that God had giuen them from their enemies that they did not rest and obserue the dayes according to the Institution for the Text sayes expresly Est. 9.17 That they rested and kept a day of feasting and gladnesse with the which seruile labour sorts not Neither will it follow that these dayes were not kept for holy Festiuities albeit in them they might haue wrought some kind of labour for on the sixe dayes of the Passeouer and on the sixe dayes of the Feast of Tabernacles seruile worke was not vtterly prohibited but on the first and eight only yet all these dayes are called Festiuall and holy Finally dayes instituted for Documents and Memorials of holy things as of their Fasting and Prayers by which they obtayned deliuerance such as yee affirme these to haue beene cannot bee called nor counted Ciuill And Willet compares them not euill with the fist dayes of August and Nouember but hee does not say this as counting them Ciuill but because they were not diuina sed Ecclesiasticae institutionis non mysterij sed politias and if ye thinke the fift of August and Nouember to be ciuill dayes in so farre as vpon them Commemoration is made of his Maiesties Deliuerances with Preaching Thankesgiuing and Prayer you are in a manifest errour for a day which is dedicated to diuine Seruice and the honour of God not to a ciuill vse cannot be esteemed ciuill but sacred and holy Againe where yee say that these dayes had more then humane warrant because it is thought that Mordecai was the Penman of the Booke of Esther and consequently a Prophet and that it appeares that these dayes might not haue beene altered by the Iewish Church which if they had bin of Ecclesiasticke Constitution might haue bin done thoughts and appearances are not sure probations to conclude a certaintie as yee doe of a more then humane warrant And if they had receiued from God any particular direction concerning them the Prophet of God would not haue omitted the same in the Historie A generall warrant they had such as the Church must haue for the determination of circumstances in the worship of God as that of the hundred and fifth Psalme Giue thankes to the Lord call on his Name make knowne his deeds amongst the people Sing vnto him sing Psalmes vnto him talke of all his wondrous workes that he hath done But to say that they had any particular warrant is to be wise aboue that which is written As to the Feast of Dedication yee answere first that if it were Anniuersary in Salomon and Zorobabels time Iudas Macchabaus followed the example of these who had Propheticall direction and if it
was not Anniuersary as first yee leaue it vncertaine yee thinke the same was an addition of the Pharisies who inlarged the glory of this Feast as they did their Phylacteries but this is a friuolous coniecture and the interpretation of Iunius words out of the Talmude is no better to wit that the Wisemen who decreed that the eighth dayes of that Feast should bee yeerely dayes of ioy were the Pharisies because they are called Sapientes Israelis for it behoued these that appointed the Festiuities not onely to bee Wisemen but men of Authoritie also And therefore it is more probable that the Wisemen in the Talmude were the Masters of the great Synagogue that had power to appoint such Festiuities But how would our Sauiour who censured the Pharisies for inlarging their Phylacteries and corrected the abuses of the Law brought in by them haue omitted such a grosse Errour and Superstition as the Institution and keeping of these holy dayes vnrebuked if it had beene a Pharisaicall Addition and not a lawfull Constitution Then yee teach your Reader a great cunning to play fast and loose in answering all the instances brought from the Iewish Church and that is whether hee grant or denie them to bee lawfull yet to eschew the dint of the Argument for if hee grant them to bee lawfull then he may flye to this refuge that the Iewes had extraordinarie directions which wee want as Prophets who were only Prophets by the Spirit vnto the dayes of Malachie Vrim and Thummim vnder the first Temple and in place thereof vnder the second a slender voyce sounding from Heauen called Bathcoll But if hee denie the same to haue beene lawfull then to alleadge that they were Pharisaicall Additions and that wee should not imitate the Pharisies and fond Iewes I assure my selfe that no honest-hearted man will either follow the Pharisies in their Superstition nor you in vsing such sophisticall euasions of which none will serue against the instances alledged for if yee say that the obseruation of the dayes of Purim or Dedication were Pharisaicall Additions the exact diligence of our Sauiour in rebuking and correcting all such abuses and superstitious Nouations as were brought into the worship of God by the Pharisies will controll you And if ye say that they had extraordinarie directions yee speake without warrant of Scripture which is presumption in you to doe So it remaines for any thing ye haue said that holy dayes were and might bee lawfully kept vnder the Law without any particular warrant from God But put the case that the same might not haue beene done vnder the Law it followes not that the Christian Church hath not libertie to appoint dayes and times for religious exercises without particular direction For vnder the Law God not only set downe the substance of his worship but all the circumstances also as the persons in particular by whom the place where and the times when he should be worshipped so fully as little or nothing was left to the abitrement of the Iewish Church and as yee say these times were so ceremonious that the greatest part of the externall worship consisted in Ceremonies vnder the Gospell it is not so for in the Gospell the substance of these Ceremonies and of the worship of God is perfectly set downe but the circumstantiall Ceremonies of time place persons and formes which are no part of the worship but pertinences only are left to bee determined by the Church according to the generall Rules of Order and Decencie It is true because the Iewes had one place only appointed by God for his worship to wit the Temple and Tabernacle whereunto the people could not resort at all times therefore to their owne election was permitted the appointing of other commodious places for their Synagogues And now vnder the Gospell there is one onely Day of diuine Institution to wit the Lords Day whereunto to tye the worship of God is a Iudaicall Pedagogie against the Christian libertie and practice For the time is now come that from one new Moone to another and from one Sabbath to another all flesh shall come and worship before God Isa 66.23 According to the which Pro phesie the Apostolike and Primitiue Church did not only conuene on the Lords Day to worship God but on such other times as they thought commodious to obserue Saint Paul taught often on the Iewish Sabbath and at Ephesus daily for the space of two yeares in the Schoole of one Tyrannus Saint Augustine testifies that in some Churches they conuened daily not onely to preaching praying and Lectures but to the celebration of the Sacrament also Epiphanius in his Epitomie or Abridgement of Christian Faith affirmeth Apostolos instituisse synaxes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Apostles to haue instituted their holy meetings for diuine Seruice on Wednesday Friday and the Lords Day Socrates witnesses that on these dayes through the whole World for the greatest part the holy mysteries were celebrated Hereby it is manifest albeit the Church was tyed to worship God solemnly and publikely on the Lords Day that yet they were not tyed to that Day only but that all dayes were sanctified by Christ that the Church might choose and determine of them for the Seruice of God as she pleased So to conclude the Church vnder the Gospell hath power without any particular warrant of God keeping the general Rules of Pietie Charitie and Decencie to dedicate times and places and set downe formes and orders for the worship of God The Ceremonies in the Iewes Church were not only Circumstantiall but Mysticall for the greatest part and a part of diuine worship it selfe such as the Church vnder the Law and vnder the Gospell hath no power to institute but the Geremonies vnder the Gospell are meerely Circumstantiall for the greater part not Mysticall and a part of the worship it selfe but onely accessorie thereto these the Christian Church hath power to appoint And such are the fiue dayes of old obserued by the Primitiue Church and now restored againe in our Church and such were the dayes of Purim and the Feast of Dedication which were not obserued as a part of religion instituted by God but only for commemoration of Gods benefits bestowed vpon his people in these times PP The obseruation of Anniuersary dayes pertayned to the Ceremoniall Law The fourth Reason but so it is that the Ceremoniall Law is abolished Yet confirme the Antecedent by the reasons following First The Anniuersary Dayes were distinguished from the Morall Sabbath many were the preheminences of the ordinary Sabbath aboue the Anniuersary dayes Secondly The Apostle cals them weake beggerly rudiments Gal. 4.9.10 The elements of the world Col. 2.20 Shaddowes of things to come Col. 2.16 17. The Apostle sayes not the obseruation of Iudaicall dayes but simpliciter the obseruation of dayes serued to the people of God for a typicall vse and rudiment of Religion If the obseruation of some anniuersarie dayes was prescribed
The fift Reason was transferred to Christ God and Man the Law-giuer in the New-Testament one that was faithfull in all the house of God But so it is that Christ neither by his owne commandement nor by direction of his Spirit inspiring the Apostles instituted any other day but the Lords Day c. ANS The Theologie of your Preface or Proposition I vnderstand not I learne in the Scripture that the Prerogatiue of the Father is communicated with the Son and that all power in heauen and in earth is giuen to our Lord Iesus Christ But I neuer read that God hath made any translation and denuded himselfe of any prerogatiue in the New Testament that belonged to him before in the olde That which ye subioyne that Christ and his Spirit hath instituted no other day but the Lords Day we freely graunt for if it were euident that the fiue dayes had beene instituted by Christ then we behoued to obserue and esteeme them as necessary parts of Gods worship and not circumstances determined by the Church to the worship of God for order and policie which we hold with our best Diuines And therefore wee say in the verie first wordes of our Act Wee abhorre the superstitious obseruation of Festiuall dayes This superstitious obseruation is nothing else but an obseruation of them with opinion of necessitie that is as necessarie parts of Gods worshippe instituted by Christ So in this wee agree yet I doe not allow of the reasons which yee vse for probation hereof Your first argument is If there had beene any other dayes dedicated to Christ the Apostle spake vnproperly and obscurely when he said Hee was rauished in the Spirit vpon the Lords Day For if there had beene a day for his Natiuitie and another for his Passion he should haue said that he was rauished in the Spirit vpon one of the Lords Dayes This argument is friuolous Although all the Festiuall dayes vnder the Law were dedicated to God and were called Sabbaths yea sometimes Sabbath Sabbathôn yet none of them is called the Sabbath of IEHOVAH or the Lords Sabbath that is reserued to the seuenth day of the Weeke and the seuenth Yeere which resembled Gods rest And although all the Synagogues were Houses dedicated to God yet the Temple is not called one of Gods Houses but the House of God euen so the Day of Christs resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the excellencie thereof is called the Lords Day albeit other times had beene appoynted for his honour Your next Argument is false in it yee affirme That the Apostle condemnes not onely the obseruation of Iewish dayes and the Iewish obseruation of the Iewish dayes to a typicall vse for the conuerted Iewes yee say did not obserue them as shadowes of things to come for then they had denyed Christ but he condemnes the obseruation of dayes as a Pedagogicall and rudimentarie instruction not beseeming the Christian Church But howbeit the conuerted Iewes did not obserue the Iewish dayes as shadowes of things to come yet they might haue obserued them as memorialls of by-past temporall and typicall benefits and for present temporall blessings as the benefit of their deliuery out of Egypt and for the Fruits of the earth which vse was also typicall Further they did obserue them with opinion of necessitie as things instituted by God for his worship and their saluation which sort of obseruation was Legall but this proceeding from infirmitie and for want of sufficient instruction was not a denying of Christ as it had beene if the same had proceeded from pertinacy after the knowledge of the Truth receiued And this was it which the false Apostles vrged vpon the Galatians and Saint Paul condemnes in that Epistle written to them and not simply the obseruation of any day for as after shall bee made manifest euery obseruation of the Iewish dayes is not damned by the Apostle who did sometime obserue them in his owne person after a most lawfull manner Neither can the obseruation of all dayes bee a Iewish custome and rite and Pedagogicall or rudimentarie instruction but the obseruation onely of these dayes which are prescribed in the Law otherwise the Festiuities appointed by Ieroboam and the festiuall dayes kept by the Heathen should all bee Iewish Customes and Pedagogicall instructions which yee will not say I hope PP Zanchius speaks to this purpose after this manner Magis consentaneum est cum prima institutione cum scriptis Apostolicis vt vnus tantum dies in septimana sanctificetur It is more agreeable to the first institution and the writings of the Apostles that one day of the weeke onely bee sanctified ANS It is your custome I perceiue to falsifie mutilate and corrupt the Acts of Assemblies and testimonies both of the ancient and moderne Diuines Beza his testimony yee adulterated in the dispute of kneeling here yee mutilate Zanchius his testimonie and bring it directly against his owne minde He writing vpon the fourth Precept of the Law pag. 671. mooues this question An plures habere festos debeat Ecclesia Christi c. for answere to this question he setteth downe two Propositions and confirmes them at length the first whereof is this Tametsi magis consentaneum est cum prima institutione cum scriptis Apostolicis vt vnus tantum dies in septimana sanctificetur cum scripturis tamen minime pugnat si plures vno sanctificentur modò omnis absit superstitio faciant ad aedificationem that is Albeit it be more agreeable to the first institution and the Apostles writings that one day onely in the weeke be sanctified yet it is not repugnant to the Scripture if moe then one be sanctified prouiding that all superstition bee auoyded and that they serue to edification Hauing confirmed this by the testimonies of the Ancients as Euseb de vita Constant lib. 4. Sozom. lib. 1. cap. 8. lib. 2. cap. 19. August tom 2. Epist. 118. Epiphan Tertull. de Idololat and the practice of the reformed Churches he concludeth with these wordes Dubitari igitur non potest quin liceat Ecclesiae plures dies festos constituere sanctificare that is It may not be doubted but the Church may lawfully appoint and sanctifie moe festiuall dayes His second position makes a full answere to the question Quanquam Ecclesiae Christi liberumest quos velit praeter Dominicum dies sibi sanctificandos deligere honestius tamen est laudabilius atque vtilius eos sanctificare quos etiam vetus atque Apostolica puriorque Ecclesia sanctificare solita fuit that is Howbeit the Christian Church hath libertie to make choyce of dayes to sanctifie them besides the Lords Day yet it is more honest commendable and profitable to sanctifie these which the ancient and Apostolique and most incorrupt Church hath beene in vse to keepe holy What dayes these were he shewes in the same place numbering out the dayes of the Natiuitie Passion Resurrection Ascension and Pentecost as
time is meete for Baptisme The solemnitie may be lesse but the grace is not diminished So that which ye say that Baptisme was tied of olde to Pentecost and Easter is false But that which the Bishop sayes is true that on these daies the Sacraments were lwaies solemnely ministred PP I will now frame one argument against this conceit of Apostolicall tradition and obseruation of Pasche The Apostles were led all their life-time by the infallible direction of the Spirit If they had accorded on the obseruation of Easter they had not disagreed on the day But their most ancient Records the bastard-Epistles aboue mentioned report that Philip and Iohn kept the fourteenth day of the Moone as the Iewes did And Peter the Lords Day following the fourteenth day of the Moone ANS In these Epistles there is no mention of Peter and so by these Epistles ye cannot proue that Iohn and Peter disagreed on the day It is said that Polycarpus and Anicetus disagreed on the day yet they accorded in the obseruation of the Feast which is directly contrarie to your argument But ye say the Apostles who were gouerned by the Spirit could not disagree on the day Did not Paul and Barnabas agree in planting of the Gospell yet they disagreed in chusing of their Fellow-Labourer Paul Peter agreed on this ground that a man is not iustified by the workes of the Law but by the Faith of Iesus Christ yet in the practise of the workes of the Law they disagreed Gal. 2. They agreed in the substance yet in the matter of circumstance and vse of things in their owne nature indifferent they disagreed But for these diuersities of opinion neither did they cast the substance away nor broke they the bond of charitie amongst themselues as ye doe who can brooke no man but him who will be sworne to your opinions as if they were Oracles But to be short this argument is answered by the learned Bishop in that Sermon so fully as may giue contentment to any that delights not in contention His words are these Pag. 25. Iames Bishop of Ierusalem and others who succeeded him the sooner to win their Brethren the Iewes condescended to keepe Easter 14. Luna the 14. of the Moone as they did That which by them was done by way of condescension was after by some vrged as a matter of necessitie So we see S. Paul when he came vp to Ierusalem to the Pentecost was counsailed or not scandalizing the Iewes to carrie himselfe as one that obserued the Law and practise some legall ceremonies to that effect which he did vsing them not as a part of diuine worship but as indifferent things and meanes expedient to win him credite with the Iewes that hee might edifie them in the truth So himselfe sayes He became all things to all men that he might winne some The keeping of the 14. day by Iohn and Iames is not an argument that they disagreed from the rest in iudgement touching the set day if any then was determined more then the practise of other ceremonies proues their disagreeing from S. Paul in the poynt of Christian libertie for this they did onely by way of condescension So the Apostles in these times might haue kept Easter vpon diuerse daies by the direction of the Spirit because the solemne commemoration of our Sauiours resurrection which we call Easter is not to be kept at any set time for any mystery that one day hath more then another by diuine institution The contentions therefore about the day were iustly blamed by the reformed Churches who acknowledge no day except the Christian Sabbath to haue greater prerogatiue then anothen But the greater part of the world keeping the solemnitie of Easter vpon the Lords Day which followed the 14. of the Moone the Churches of Asia being a fewer number did not well to preferre the singularitie of their opinion and custome to vnitie and conformitie with the greater part of Christendome in such a poynt Againe Victor Bishop of Rome cannot bee excused who first did vrge conformitie pressed it by violence vpon the Churches that were without his Iurisdiction and to excommunicate them was an insolent tyrannie seeing they were not subiect to his power Yet after the Nicene Councell had setled that controuersie and determined the day these must iustly be blamed that contentiously troubled the Christian peace disobeyed the Canon of the Councell and were disconforme to the rest of the Churches not by mistaking the day as some were but through wilfulnesse and pride the parents of contention PP Lastly they reason with Augustiue a posteriori That seeing the Lords passion resurrection ascension comming down of the Holy Ghost is celebrated with anniuersary solemnity through all the World they must needs haue beene ordayned eyther by the Apostles or by generall Councels But so it is that these daies were obserued before there was any generall Councell It must follow therefore that the Apostles ordained them Ans Augustines distinction is not necessarie for many customes crept in and thereafter preuailed vniuersally which were neither ordained by the Apostles nor generall Councels Socrates in his Historie sayes I am of opinion c. ANS Socrates in the testimonie which yee alledge lib. 5. cap. 22. for probation of your answere sayes that he is of opinion that the Feast of Easter hath preuailed amongst people of a certaine priuate custome and not by Canon He confirmes his opinion by this reason that they who keepe Easter on the 14. day of the Moone bring Iohn the Apostle for their author Such as inhabite Rome and the West parts of the World alledge Peter and Paul and yet there is none of them can shew in Writing any testimonie for confirmation of their custome First here it is to bee marked that Socrates in this testimonie calls his allegation an opinion onely that is a likely and probable conceit but that is not sufficient to infringe Saint Augustines rule and the probations that he brings are of no force for first it makes nothing against Augustines rule that the Easterne Churches kept the solemnitie on one day and the Westerne on another because Saint Augustine sayes not that the commemoration of these benefits was made vpon one and the selfe-same day onely hee sayes Anniuersaria solennitaie celebrantur that is They are yearely celebrated after a solemne manner The diuersitie of the day consuteth not this assertion but confirmes rather his saying namely that the solemnitie was obserued through all the World seeing in one part it was celebrated for winning of the Iewes according to the practise of S. Iohn and in the rest of the World on Pasche Sonday whereon our Sauiour rose according to the tradition of Saint Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles So this same solemnitie being kept through the whole Church although not on the same day Saint Augustines rule remains good that the solemne commemoration of Christs resurrection is Apostolicke The next probation is no
better to wit that there is no testimonie in writing for the confirmation of that custome for by this reason it would follow that the obseruation of Sonday in stead of the Iewish Sabbath hath preuayled by a priuate custome only For in the Apostolique writings we haue no testimonie for the confirmation of that custome In Scripture we reade that our Sauiour rose on that day that on that day he appeared to his Disciples that on that day the Apostle appointed collections to be made for the poore that on that day at Troas the Disciples were assembled to breake bread and that S. Paul preached All these actions make aswell for the obseruation of Pasche Sonday and as the Bishop of Winchester saith somewhat more seeing it is after a sort the same day by reuolution whereon our Sauiour did rise yet all these practises exercises and meetings on the Lords day had not demonstrate the sanctification of it if it had not beene perpetually and vniuersally obserued afterwards by the Church This constant and vniuersall obseruation of the Church hath declared these practises to be exemplarie and that our Sauiour did consecrate that day by his resurrection and apparitions to be in stead of the Sabbath Vpon this ground S. August Epist ad Ianuar. 118. sayes Illa quae non scripta sed tradita custodimus quae quidem toto Terrarum orbe obseruātur dantur intelligi vel ab ipsis Apostolis vel plenarijs Concilijs quorum est in Ecclesia saluberrima auctoritas commendata atque statuta retinere Sicuti quod Domini Passio Resurrectio Ascensio in coelum aduentus de coelo Spiritus Sancti anniuersaria solennitate celebrantur that is Those things which come to vs by Tradition and not by Writing and yet are obserued in the whole world must bee esteemed to haue beene commended vnto vs and instituted either by the Apostles themselues or by generall Councells whose authoritie hath euer beene wholsome to the Church as by example the Passion Resurrection Ascension and the descent of the holy Ghost from heauen which wee solemnely keepe euery yeare This rule of Saint Augustine if it bee not demonstratiue yet it is more probable then Socrates his opinion for it is more like a custome receiued by the vniuersall Church should proceed from the authoritie of the Apostles or some generall Councell rather then from a priuate obseruation as Socrates thinks Yet to confirme his opinion yee say that Iustine Martyr mentions no Holy day but the Lords Day What then Hee had not the occasion yet Tertullian who flourished but fortie yeares after him in the second booke directed to his wife hath these wordes Quis denique solennibus Paschae abnoctantem seeurus sustinet And in his booke De Praescriptionib aduers Haereticos mentions one Blastus whom hee calls an Heretike for maintayning that Pasche should bee kept on the 14. day of the Moone as the Iewish custome was Tertullian flourished in the yeare of our Lord 183. and speaking thus of Pasche not as of a new Constitution but as of a custome long before receiued in the Church does confirme the Bishop of Winchester his iudgement That in all likelihood this obseruation was Apostolique By Apostolique I meane not a doctrinall point which is to bee obserued as a substantiall part of diuine worship or a condition necessary to saluation but the imitation onely of an Apostolique practice concerning order and policie neither doe I meane such a practice as is expresly set down in Scripture and vniuersally obserued through the world such as the Lords Day is for such a practice hath the strength of a diuine Precept but I vnderstand such a practice as albeit it be not recorded in Scripture to haue beene done by the Apostles themselues or the Churches in their time yet the same being vniuersally receiued in the world and obserued since the Apostles dayes is most probably presumed to haue beene practised in their times and allowed by them And in this the Lords Day differs from Pasche and the other three dayes mentioned by Saint Augustine that the Lords Day hath not onely the vniuersall and perpetuall obseruation of the Church since the dayes of the Apostles but also the practice of our Sauiour his Apostles and the Church in their times expresly recorded in Scripture The other haue onely an vniuersall and constant practice of the Church since the Apostles time which not the lesse ought to be preferred to any priuate or late particular custome And to returne to the Act of Perth it ordaynes none of these dayes to be kept for Diuine and Apostolique but onely that on them once in the yeare a solemne commemoration be made of the benefits of our Redemption and therefore the Reasons ye bring to proue that these dayes are not Apostolique impugne no wayes the lawfulnesse of the act Where yee say that the obseruation of the Passion day hath brought into the Church set dayes of fasting condemned by our Diuines I aske you how yee doe proue that affirmation It is enough yee haue said it But to conclude this point I doe verily thinke That to fast and pray at some set times were lesse offensiue to God then to bee often feasting and surfetting pratling and lying traducing our Brethren and condemning the good order and policie of Gods Church PP If it had beene Gods will The sixe Reason that the seuerall acts of Christ should haue beene celebrated with seuerall solemnities the holy Ghost would haue made knowne to vs the dayes wheron they were done Secondly if the actions of Christ aduance the dayes wherein they were wrought as Hooker sayes or consecrate them as Bellarmine sayes they ought to be knowne otherwise it will fall out that we shall keepe the dayes holy that were neuer aduanced nor consecrated by Christs action or institution But so it is the day of Christs Natiuitie is hid from mortall men ANS It is true that if it had beene Gods will to haue aduanced and consecrated the dayes of Christs Natiuitie Passion c. by annexing to them some particular exercise of Religion such as the festiuall dayes of the Iewes had and clothing them with some mysticall signification the holy Ghost had made the dayes knowne otherwise they could not haue beene obserued But from the beginning we haue declared according to the iudgement not of Bellarmine but of our best reformed Churches and Diuines that these dayes are not kept for any relation that the worship hath to them as if by Christs actions or institution they were to be honoured with some religious exercise but for order and policy only as the most meet and oportune occasions in the iudgement of the primitiue Church and in our estimation most meet for testifying our conformitie with her and with the whole Christian world euer since The long discourse and dispute which yee subjoyne to proue the time of Christs Natitutie to be vncertayne because it is not contradictorie to the
your reason it must be Iewish Where yee say that cessation from workes is one of the chiefe Elements of a holy day it is true if the cessation and rest be a part of the worship but if it bee only accessorie to the worship and a circumstance thereof it is no Element of a holy day The rest of the Iewish Sabbath and Iewish Festiuities was a mysticall part of the worship but the cessation which is only appointed for cōmoditie celebrity of the worship such as that which is commanded to be kept by the Proclamation on these fiue dayes and we are in vse to keepe at our weekly preaching and Prayers and vpon the sift dayes of August and Nouember is only accessory and serues for commoditie and celebritie of the worship without which the same could not duly be performed PP Grant the keeping of holy dayes to haue beene at the beginning a matter indifferent The seuenth Reason and setting aside all the former Reasons yet ought they to be abolished because according to the rule of the Fathers commended to vs by Zanchius Non male igitur fecerunt qui omnia praeter diem Dominicum aboleuerunt Things indifferent when they are abused and polluted with Superstition ought to be abolished ANS If all things indifferent which haue beene polluted with Superstition ought to be abolished then all the Parish Churches in Scotland should be demolished for to preach or not to preach in them is a thing indifferent Ringing of Bels in time of Popery was abused superstitiously kneeling an indifferent Ceremonie which may bee vsed and not vsed at Prayer hath beene most vily abused to Idolatry in praying to Idols singing was abused to Superstition and Idolatry for Hymnes were sung to the Virgin Mary yea to her the hundred and fiftie Psalmes of Dauid were diuerted or peruerted and sung in a strange Language Shall it therefore follow that there should be no ringing of Bels no kneeling at Prayer no singing or reading of Psalmes This is absurd to say Albeit Zanchius sayes non male fecerunt c. Hee sayes not simply that they ought to bee abolished nor does hee reprooue them who retayned the dayes kept by the ancient Apostolike Church Quanquam Ecclesiae Christi liberum est sayes he quos velit praeter Dominicum dies sibi sanctificandos deligere honestius tamen laudabilius atque vtilius est eos sanctificare quos etiam vetus atque Apostolica puriorque Ecclesia sanctificare solita fuit Now if ye demand what Zanchius vnderstood by the Apostolike Church hee answeres it himselfe Nomine veteris Apostolicae Ecclesiae cam intelligo quae à tempore Apostolorum per annos fere quingentos durauit vsque ad Gelasium qui praefuit Romanae Ecclesiae Anno 495. I maruell how ye can cite Zanchius so confidently for you as if he had disallowed the obseruation of these dayes And if ye will stand to his doctrine and iudgement our controuersie shall soone be at an end For this hee sayes expresly that the Church hath power to make choice of the dayes shee likes best and sanctifie them besides the Lords Day If ye will haue vs yeelding to Zanchius when he sayes non male fecerunt doe ye also yeeld to him when hee sayes Ecclesiae liberum est quos velit dies sibi sanctificare But to the end the singularitie and noueltie of your doctrine may bee euident and our defence may bee seene to agree with the Primitiue Church her practice and the iudgement of the best Diuines amongst the reformed wee grant with Zanchius that they who abolished all dayes did not ill but well in respect of the time and estate of their Church As for example it was not euill done by our Church to discharge the obseruation of all Festiuall Dayes because in the beginning they could not be lawfully obserued for the raritie of Preachers at least vniuersally for in Congregations where Pastours were wanting to inform the people the obseruation of them should haue entertayned the superstitious conceit which the Papists formerly had of them Neither did they euill in Zanchius iudgement that retayned the dayes obserued by the Primitiue Church consequently in appointing on these 5 dayes Sermons to be preached and diuine Seruice done cannot be euil Specially if we shall consider how notwithstanding of all the Acts Ciuil and Ecclesiastick made against the superstitious obseruation and prophane abuse of Zule day our people could neuer bee induced to labour on that day and leaue their idlenesse and wheresoeuer diuine Seruice was done that day as in Townes that haue alwayes morning and euening Prayers they were euer perceiued to resort in greater numbers on that day then any other to the Church So these dayes being spent prophanely by the greatest sort and superstitiously by many these euils could not be better remooued then by Doctrine and diuine Seruice whereby the time is well spent and these conceits of the people driuen away and their opinions consuted in the time when the same are most pregnant Saint Paul tooke occasion by inscription of the Altar in Areopage To the vnknowne God to preach the true God to the Gentiles thereby he did not authorize their Superstition which he there cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but refuted it with a diuine Sermon he also kept the Iewish Sabbaths and Pentecost which both were abolished not to confirme the Iewes in the Pedagogie of the Law but to take the commoditie of the time and confluence of people in it for preaching the Gospell that he might draw them with time from the shaddowes to the substance and truth in Christ So wee who haue the like occasion by confluence of our people on that day to Church haue not done euil to appoint sermons to bee made on the day of the Natiuitie that the people may thereby be drawne from profanenesse and superstition to the true worship of God and to the religious exercises vsed in the Primitiue Church on that day whereof the Sermons preached by Saint Augustine and many others yet extant in their Monuments beare witnesse as also that in obseruing this and the remanent dayes we might keepe a conformitie with them which Zanchius holds to be honest laudable and profitable Finally that in so lawful a thing we might giue odience to his Maiestie our Souereign desiring an vniformity amongst the Churches of his Maiesties Dominions in things which are neither against pietie nor good manners and haue beene obserued vniuersally throughout the World in the most pure Ages of the Church PP The same Zanchius sayes in the place aforesaid If any Feasts were celebrate before religiously and holily but therafter were contaminate with Superstition and Idolatry that worthily they were taken away by our Reformers who imitated herein the example of Ezechias breaking to poulder the brazen Serpent when it was abused to Idolatry ANS Zanchius in these words compares not the Brazen Serpent with the diuine Worship and Sermons appointed
to bee made by our Church vpon the fiue dayes for in them there is neither superstition nor false worship nor is there any burthen layd vpon the Church but a profitable policie established hee onely compares the Brazen Serpent abused to Idolatry to the abuses superstitions false worships wil-worships and the intollerable but thens laid on the Church in Popery by the multiplication of Festiuall Dayes which were indeed to bee abolished because the same did not only equall but surpasse the Legall Ceremonies of the Iewes PP Wee pretend that wee place no part of Gods Worship in the obseruation of dayes But how can wee obserue a day to the honour of Christ and not worship him by that obseruation ANS We worshippe not Christ by obseruation of the day but by the obseruation of an euangelicke and lawfull worshippe done to him vpon the day With this ambiguitie from the beginning ye presse to abuse the Reader for the obseruation of a day is taken as wee said before two waies eyther for a sacramentall and mysticall obseruation that is when the day is obserued as a type of some spirituall or eternall benefit to come This obseruation of a day is a part of the worship and we condemne it as yee doe or it is taken for the obseruation of a fit occasion and time to the exercise of religious and diuine Seruice as we obserue the dayes of fasting houres of prayers preaching and exercise This manner of obseruation is onely accessorie to the worship and is no part thereof and so we obserue the fiue dayes The Papists in dedicating dayes to Saints appointed dayes to be kept mystically and not circumstantially onely When we dedicate a day to Christ we dedicate it not as a mysticall signe and make it a part of his worship but as a meete circumstance for the worship to be performed to him And whosoeuer he bee that holds Christ may not be worshipped on these dayes and on all dayes and times priuately and publiquely is a dogmatist and teacher of will worship for if the Apostle call this a Doctrine of will worship Touch not taste not such and such things as are in themselues indifferent certainely by the same reason he who out of the temeritie of his singular proud and wilfull opinion sayes Teach not on such a purpose Heare not such a purpose Worship not after such a manner Giue not thanks for such a benefit vpon such a day not because the doctrine and worship is vnlawfull in it selfe but by reason of the time which is an indifferent circumstance Non est verus Apostoli interpres sed verè dogmatistes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 PP That which lawfully hath beene abolished by ciuill and Ecclesiasticall Lawes The eighth Reason and by consent and vniforme practise in the contrarie without interruption and beyond the prescription of time allowed to things moueable put the case that Holy-daies were things moueable and indifferent and hath beene borne downe by Sermons of all the most reuerend Preachers since the reformation corrected with censures and abiured by publique oathes of Preachers and Professours cannot lawfully be receiued and put in practise againe ANS Your assumption must be this But to make commemoration of the inestimable benefits of our redemption vpon the fiue anniuersarie daies hath beene abolished lawfully by ciuill and Ecclesiasticall Lawes c. This assumption is false in all the parts of it for first as we haue shewed the obseruation ordayned by the Act at Perth was neuer abolished by Ciuill or Ecclesiasticall Lawes nor yet by consent and vniforme practise of the contrarie Onely the superstitious obseruation of these dayes with opinion of necessitie as a part of diuine worship and the profane abuse thereof with excessiue banqueting playing and carroling was condemned Secondly to your prescription of time in things moueable I answer that circumstantiall ceremonies belonging to Religion are alwaies alterable and neither can bee abolished nor established by prescription for if prescription had force in such things then the space of 1200. yeares during which time these fine dayes were obserued vniuersally throughout the whole Christian world should haue greater force to establish the obseruation of them then the abrogation of seuen and fiftie yeares in durance onely Continuance of time does not establish without change such things but giues occasion to alter them rather when the alteration makes for the honour of God the edification of his Church and auoyding corruption Thirdly the Sermons of reuerend Preachers condemned onely the superstitious and profane obseruation of these dayes and not the obseruation made by the Primitiue and by the reformed Churches in our time which is the obseruation onely commaunded by the Act of Perthe Fourthly If any were censured it was not for any fault in the action it selfe but for transgression of the Ecclesiasticall order and the scandall which might haue followed thereupon as the censures which wee now vse against these that refuse to performe the diuine seruice appoynted to be done on these times are not inflicted for any fault that is in omission in regard of the time but onely in regard of the order and policie of the Church which being contemned giues offence to the simple and breaks peace and vnitie Fiftly we neuer abiured with oathes publique or priuate the obseruation now required the dedication of dayes imposed vpon the conscience with opinion that they are sanctiores sacratiores alijs diebus pars diuini cultus we detest and abiure for nothing can be imposed vpon the conscience but by the precept of God onely The Canons of the Church in matters indifferent doe not oblige the conscience ratione rei praeceptae quasi pars sit aliqua aiuini cultus sed ordinis politias causa tantum So the Canons of the Church made for obseruation of these fiue dayes bindes not the conscience to the obseruation thereof as a part of diuine worship and as the commaundement of God bindes vs to the obseruation of the Lords Day for it is the will of God that on the Lords Day we be religiously exercised and therefore our obedience in that point is a part of his worship but to be exercised in Gods publique worship on another day is not Gods expresse will yet it is his will that we should heare the Church and obey her ordinances in all things that tend to edification and serue for good order whereof God is the Author To conclude seeing the obseruation of these fiue daies as the same is prescribed in the act at Perthe is neither contrarie to any Law Ciuill or Ecclesiastique nor condemned by the practice doctrine and censures of our Church nor abiured by oathes And therefore may lawfully be restored receiued and put in practise againe by our Church PP Hooker and Sarauia vrged for maintenance of their ceremonies Law custome prescription and craues that the impietie and vnlawfulnesse of their ceremonies be proued or else let the Non-conformists conforme May we
not plead after the same manner for our former order so long established that they proue it was impious and vnlawfull before we make a change ANS Ye may not pleade because the change is alreadie made in a lawfull Assembly which had power to abrogate all Statutes of Ecclesiasticall matters that are found noysome vnprofitable disagreeing with the time and abused by the people as is set down in the confession of Faith and seuenth Chapter of the Booke of Discipline concluded anno 1581. Such were the acts made before concerning Holy-dayes for first they were noysome in that they were not conforme to the practise of the Primitiue Church or yet of the later reformed and so in that poynt did breake vnitie Next vnprofitable because they fostered prophanenesse and superstition in the hearts of the people who by want of information of Doctrine did superstitiously or prophanely obserue these dayes Thirdly they agreed not with this time wherein it was expedient that the religious Commemoration of the benefits of Christ should be restored iure pastliminio for it is not enough to dispossesse idolatrie and superstition the violent eiecters and occupiers of the possessions of true Religion but she ought to be restored to the old right and priuiledges of times and places lawfully and wisely dedicated to her before Last of all the discharge of diuine Seruice on these daies was come into abuse amongst the people the preciser sort counting it a part of Gods worship and obedience to his will not to doe seruice vnto God on these dayes and the profane taking thereby occasion to be more licentious And therefore it was needfull in a manner to restore the obseruation of these times PP Our Oath by it selfe bindes more then Law Custome and Prescription farre more when it concurres with them The assumption is euident by that which I haue set downe in the beginning ANS The assumption is alreadie considered I answere to the oathe Lawes Customes Prescription and Oathes in order and policie touching indifferēt alterable things such as these are binde a man no longer to the obseruation then the order remaines vnchanged Your Oath bound you to the gouernement of Superintendents set downe in the first Booke of Discipline from which yee esteeme your selfe absolued because that gouernement was altered by that new Booke of Discipline confirmed in the generall Assembly anno 1581. a yeare after the Oath was set forth Now the order set downe in the same first Booke of Discipline touching the abolishing of Holy-dayes anno 1560. is altered by the late generall Assembly holden at Perthe and by the same Reason whereby yee esteeme your selfe absolued from the gouernement of Superintendents yee should thinke your selfe freed of the act touching the abolishing of Holy-dayes which yee would doe if ye were not contentious PP If Zanchius approued the abolition of Holy-Dayes in some Churches where they were because they had been polluted and grossely abused much more would he and other Diuines knowing the truth of our case thinke it vnlawfull to reinduce them amongst vs. ANS It is true that in the Churches of Bearne Mattins and Euening-Song were abolished for the abuse thereof in Poperie and not many yeares since there was great contention before these Churches could be induced to receiue Morning and Euening Prayers in stead of them So the Popes cursing was abolished out of the Church of Geneua and great contradiction made as Beza testifies in Caluines life before excommunication could be established in place therof yet I hope neither Zanchius nor your selfe will thinke that the reinducing of these was vnlawfull although formerly excluded If Zanchius vnderstood the case of our Church as I haue set it down a little before how we haue not reinduced the Popish obseruation of dayes but made choice of these times for special seruices to be performed on them with a speciall direction to Ministers to rebuke superstition and licentiousnesse both he and other Diuines would approue the constitution of our Church and condemne this your seditious Pamphlet whereby the simple are abused and the peace and quietnesse of our Church disturbed The iudgement of the Reformed Churches of Holy-daies PP OF the ancient Church I haue spoken before Some excuse the Ancients with good intention because to winne the Gentiles they conuerted their dayes into Christian Holy-daies Others excuse them with the circumstance of time that dwelling amongst Pagans they made profession before their eies of Christs birth passion c. by obseruing such dayes But the wisdome of their intention hath proued folly as the seuenth reason maketh manifest The like circumstance of time is not offered therefore we may not be excused ANS Before the penner of this Pamphlet bring the iudgement of the reformed Churches some reason he must pretend for his credite why he reiects the doctrine and practise of the reformed Church which stands wholly in his contrarie First he sayes that he hath spoken before of the Ancient Church But what hath he spoken before that they obserued Easter-day by custome and not by tradition this is all What argument hath he brought against their doctrine against their religious custome and practise of this poynt He sayes some excuse them with their intention Who be these he is ashamed of their names and so he may be for where there is no fault to make an excuse is a sort of calumnious and secret accusation But for their intention who did acquaint him with their intention In Tertullian Chrysostome Ierome Ambrose Augustine and others who all make mention of these dayes there is not so much as any coniecture to bee found for that intention In the end he concludes that the intention of the Ancients hath proued folly and this he sayes is manifest by the seuenth reason because the obseruation of these daies hath beene abused to superstition But so hath the Lords Day beene so hath the Word so haue the Sacraments beene abused and all the other parts of Gods worship Shall therefore the intention of the Holy-Ghost and his wisdome in prescribing these meanes to the Church be esteemed folly They who abuse the good intention of God and his Church to their owne damnation are fooles indeed but Wisdome is iustified of her owne children And although the winning of the Gentiles was one good end wherefore the Ancients obserued these dayes yet their principall end was the honour of God and edification of his Church These ends doe still remaine and iustifie the obseruation of these dayes by the reformed Churches which no man that loues the honour of God and the weale of his Church will condemne PP It is grosse ignorance to say that Holy-dayes were so many hundreth yeare before Papistrie for Papistrie hath been in the Church euer since the daies of the Apostles yea the mysterie of iniquitie was working in their times The errours of the Orthodoxe Church were the beginnings of Papistrie at length they grew to a great masse So howbeit the
whole lumpe was not formed till the Antichrist came to his full strength yet many particulars were entered before and like brookes came into the great riuer As the Antichrist was borne and did grow in yeares so did Papistrie ANS Here ye insinuate that the obseruation of the fiue Daies in the Primitiue Church was Papistrie or else this Discourse is idle But Papistrie it could not be before it was receiued and confirmed by the Pope so in these dayes it was not Papistrie formally And if it were not an errour of the Orthodoxe Church but a lawfull order as at length we haue proued it was neyther materially nor formally Papistrie The obseruation of these dayes with a superstitious and idolatrous worship is Papistrie Such was not the obseruation of the Primitiue Church and such is not the obseruation of the Reformed But as the lawfull obseruation vsed in the Primitiue Church was abolished by the introduction of a superstitious and idolatrous worship in Papistrie so is the superstitious and idolatrous obseruation in Papistrie abolished in reformed Churches by the restitution of the lawfull and religious obseruation vsed in the Primitiue Church which of all reformations is the most perfect and profitable Iehn abolished Idolatrie of the Heathen but he restored not the true worship of God therefore his reformation was imperfect But the reformation made by Ezechias and Iosias was perfect because Idolatrie was not onely abolished but the true worship of God established in place thereof This was not so sufficiently prouided for at our reformation in this poynt for the want of Pastours and is well supplied by the Act made at Perth PP As for the reformed churches except our neighbor Church they haue abandoned daies dedicated to Saints ANS Now yee come to the iudgement of the reformed Churches And here I wish the iudicious Reader to obserue whether ye bring either the iudgement of any reformed Church or of any learned Diuine that consents with you in opinion namely that the obseruation of the fiue anniuersarie dayes with the lawfull exercise of true Religion is a Iudaicall Pedagogie a rudimentarie instruction and a superstitious wil-worship And to the end all that ye say may be exposed to the view of the World I shall set all fully downe which yee bring to this purpose First where ye alledge that all the reformed Churches haue abandoned the dayes dedicated to Saints In this their practise is no way contrarie to the Act made at Perth for by it no day is ordained to be kept which is or was dedicate to any Saint except vnder the name of Saints yee reprehend him who is the most holy Next the exception ye make of our neighbour Church is calumnious and false It is a calumnie that they obserue any day dedicated to Saints All the dayes which they obserue are dedicated to the honour of God either for the inestimable benefits that by our Sauiour he hath bestowed vpon the World or in regard of the blessings that haue come to man by the Ministrie of his seruants and Saints And it is false that all the reformed Churches except they haue refused the obseruation of these dayes For Bullinger in his Commentary vpon the 14. to the Romans affirmes that the Church of Tigurie obserues the Feasts of the blessed Virgin of S. Iohn the Baptist of Magdalene of Stephen and of the Apostles PP Some admit dayes dedicated to Christ some two some fiue but not with the full consent and liking of the learned but either forced by the authoritie of the Magistrate or wilfulnesse of the people or because remaining in the middest of their enemies they are not permitted otherwise to doe ANS They in Geneua who obserue the day of Natiuitie and Easter approue the practise and order of the Church of Heluetia who obserue all the fiue and there is as great reason why on the other three dayes the Passion Ascension and sending downe of the holy Ghost should be remembred as the Natiuitie and Resurrection If by the learned ye vnderstand these whom ye doe afterwards name Farellus Viret and Caluine I am perswaded no man will thinke that either they or any other such Pastors of the Church would haue bin forced to practise that which was vnlawfull in it selfe and a superstitious will-worship either by Magistrate or People PP Farellus and Viret remooued all Holy-dayes out of the Church of Geneua as Caluine testifies The same decree which banished Farellus and Caluine out of Geneua brought in other Holy-dayes They were all againe abrogate except the Sabbath day Howsoeuer after came in the keeping of Pasche and the Natiuitie ANS The iudgement of Caluine touching the abolition of the Festiuall dayes in Geneua may be seene in his 118. Epistle where he professes that it was done se inscio ac ne optante quidem And a little after subioynes Ex quo sum reuocatus hoc temperamentum quaesiui vt Christi Natali◠celebraretur vestro more alijs autem diebus extraordinariae supplicationes tabernis mane clausis fierent à prandio ad suas operas res agendas quisque abiret And albeit in that place he confesses that the abrogation of the Festiuall dayes did not grieue him yet he protests as followes Hoc tamen testatum esse volo si mihi delata optio fuisset quod nunc constitutū est non fuisse pro sentētia dicturum If Caluine had thought as ye doe that December Christmas is a iust imitation of December Saturnall of the Ethnicke Romanes and that the obseruation of the rest of the Festiuall dayes had beene a superstitious kinde of Will-worship and a Iudaicall Pedagogie he would neuer haue consented to the keeping of the Natiuitie and would not only haue abolished the holy dayes by his suffrage if the same had beene in his option but also testified to the world his dislike of them by his Pen and writing But that all may see how different his iudgement is from yours he concludes with these words Nectamen est cur homines adeo exasperentur si libertate nostra vt Ecclesiae aedificatio postulat vtimur quemadmodum nec vicissim praeiudicio esse morem nostrum aequum est By these words it is manifest that in Caluines iudgement the obseruation and abrogation of these dayes consists in the power and libertie of the Church and that the obseruation of them in it selfe is not vnlawfull but a thing indifferent to be vsed and not vsed as the edification of the Church requires which iudgement wee imbrace and follow PP Caluine was so farre from liking of Holy dayes that hee was slandered of intention to abolish the Lords Day ANS His Doctrine shewes the last to bee a calumnie his practise and iudgement declares that hee did not mislike the obseruation of the dayes vsed in the Primitiue and other reformed Churches PP The Belgike Churches in their Synode holden at Dort Anno 1578. wished that only the Lords Day might be celebrated Luther
himselfe in his Booke De bonis Operibus set forth Anno 1520. wished that there were no Feast Dayes amongst Christians but the Lords Day And in his Booke to the Nobilitie of Germany he sayes Consultum esse vt omnia festa aboleantur solo die Dominicoretento ANS This wish Luther and the Belgike Churches conceiued out of their miscontentment at the number corruptions and superstitions of the Festiuall dayes besides the Lords Day as ye doe The late Councell holden at Dort Anno 1618. did celebrate the Feast of Christs Natiuitie most solemnely for the space of three dayes so the practise of these Churches and of Luther shewes that they agree in iudgment with vs touching the obseruation of the fiue dayes PP Howsoeuer forreine Diuines in their Epistles and Councels speake sometimes sparingly against Holy dayes when their aduice was sought of Churches newly risen out of Poperie and greatly distressed they neuer aduised a Church to resume them where they were remoued ANS If forreine Diuines had esteemed the obseruation of these fiue dayes a Iudaicall Pedagogie a rudimentary instruction a superstitious wil-worship as ye doe they had spoken no more sparingly thereof then they do of other like things in the Papisticall Church Where yee say that they neuer aduised Churches to resume them who had once remooued the same Caluine in his one and fiftieth Epistle aduises the Monbelgardens not to contend against the Prince for not resuming of all Festiuall dayes but only such as serued not to edification and were seene to be superstitious such as the Conception and Assumption of the blessed Virgin In festis non recipiendis sayes hee cuperem vos esse constantiores sic tamen vt non litigetis de quibuslibet sed de eis tantum quae nec ad aedificationem quicquam factura sunt superstitionem prima ipsa facie prae se ferunt c. And in the end of the Epistle answering one Obiection which is frequently vsed in our Church he saies Quod autem vos terret offendiculorum periculum si quam nouamagendi formam receperitis quae non sit nostris Ecclesiis vsitata id quidem meritò facitis Sed quia non eò ventum est perfectionis quin optemus adhuc progredi hic timor vos impedire non debet ab ijs ritibus admittendis quos alioqui non liceat ponitus improbare What these Ceremonies were whereof he speakes ye will find in the same Epistle to wit the administration of the Communion to the sicke and to persons who are to suffer Baptisme by Mid-wiues which simply condemnes Rites in buriall of the dead and Festiual dayes which they were vrged by the Prince to resume after they had beene remoued from amongst them But this and such other peaceable and modest aduices giuen by Caluine and other Learned Diuines yee ascribe to want of consideration PP They had not leisure to consider narrowly the corruption of euery errour that preuailed in their time the worke of reformation was so painfull to them I wish therefore that the iudicious Reader would ponder their Reasons set down in this Treatise ANS The ancient Diuines Saint Chrysostome Ambrose Ierome Augustine ye haue condemned of folly now Caluine Zanchius Chemnitius and the best Diuines of the reformed Church yee esteeme inconsiderate in this point But if the Reader shall take leisure to peruse the Learned Dispute of Chemnitius against the Councell of Trent touching this head the profound Doctrine of Zanchius vpon the fourth Command he shall find that these Diuines haue considered the Question narrowly enough Yet I must confesse that neyther they nor any other Diuines haue found out the errours set downe by you in this Pamphlet which if hee take paines to ponder as ye wish he shall find such things therein as no sound Diuine in the Christian World did euer dreame of before you PP As for our Neighbour Church standing in the middest betwixt the Romane and reformed Churches as Bucerus once said they are more liberall in their Feasts as in other Ceremonies then the other reformed Churches as Gretserus the Iesuite hath obserued Caluino-papistae Angli vt in alijs qua adritus Ceremonias pertinent longe liberaliores sunt quà m Puritans in Gallia Germania Belgia ita in Festis retinendis longe largiores ANS Hitherto ye haue neither alledged the practice of any reformed Church nor the iudgement of any learned Diuine for your opinion Now ye beginne vnchristianly to inueigh against the renowned Church of England and are not ashamed to bring the impure words of a Puritan Papist wherein as hee vtters his miscontentment on the one side so doe yee on the other both standing for extremities while as hee will haue all and ye will haue none The Church of England keeping the middle course is condemned of both for her moderation but she regardeth little to be iudged of you or of mans day What are yee that iudge another mans Seruant who stands or fals to his owne Master PP They obserue not only the fiue Holy dayes alreadie mentioned but other dayes also dedicated to Christ c. They keepe also a number of Saints dayes so that their dayes in number are more then the Iewes themselues obserued The Reasons alreadie alledged against dayes dedicated to Christ may serue also against dayes dedicated to Saints and Angels ANS If ye haue no stronger reasons to alledge against dayes dedicated to Saints and Angels then ye haue vsed against the fiue dayes dedicated to Christ the Papists who obserue these dayes will not regard your enmitie much lesse the Church of England which obserueth no dayes but such as are dedicated to the honour of God only as we said before PP We may look assuredly that the fiue dayes presently vrged will bring in all the rest to make vp our conformitie with out Neighbour Church which to vs is not lawfull They were neuer remoued from amongst them we haue abandoned and abiured them c. ANS This is an inuidous Prophesie contrarie to the experience we haue had of his Maiestie who for conformitie with our Neighbour Church hath neuer pressed vs with any thing vnprofitable for vs to receiue The obseruation of the fiue dayes restored in our Church makes vs no more conforme with the Church of England then with the greatest number of the best reformed Churches in Europe and with the Primitiue Catholike Church whilest she yet flourished in greatest puritie of Doctrine and Discipline in the dayes of Tertullian Ghrysostome Ambrose Augustine Ierome and such other notable Lights And as long as it shall please almighty God to blesse vs with the continuance of his Maiesties most happy Gouernment wee are assured to be preserued from Heresie Superstition Idolatry and such like corruptions I beseech God that our ingratitude murmuring grudging suspitions and misconstructions doe not prouoke God to stop the breath of our nostrils and remooue the Lords Annointed vnder whose shaddow wee haue enioyed peace and
Although a Temple bee not necessary at Caluine sayes in the 185. Epistle yet the Insant should be baptized in coetu aliquo Si enim infans clam baptizetur nullis adhibitis testibus illud neque respondet ordini à Dominoposito neque Apostolorum exemplo Likewise that there may bee a Communion conueniat coetus aliquis ex cognatis familiaribus vicinis saies Caluine These grounds being warranted by Scripture and by the Ancients first wee shall set downe the Acts of the Assembly which yee labour to resute next your Refutation and Answere thereto The Acts concluded at Perth touching priuate Baptisme and Communion THe Minister shall often admonish the people that they deferre not the baptizing of Infants any longer then the nexts Lords Day after the Childe bee borne vnlesse vpon a great and reasonable cause declared to the Minister and by him approued As also they shall warne them that without great cause they procure not their Children to be baptized at home in their houses but when great need shall compell them to baptise in priuate houses in which case the Minister shall not refuse to doe it vpon the knowledge of the great need and being timely required thereto then Baptisme shall be administred after the same forme as it should haue beene in the Congregation And the Minister shall the next Lords Day after any such priuate Baptisme declare in the Church that the Infant was so baptized and therefore ought to bee receiued as one of the true Flocke of Christs Fold Item If any good Christian visited with long sicknesse and knowne to the Pastor by reason of his present infirmity vnable to resort to the Church for receiuing of the holy Communion or being sick stall declare to the Pastor vpon his cōscience that he thinks his sicknes to be deadly and shall earnestly desire to receiue the same in his house The Minister shall not deny to him so great a comfort lawfull warning being giuen to him vpon the night before and that there be three or foure of good Religion and conuersation free of lawfull impediments present with the sicke person to communicate with him who must also prouide a conuenient place in his house all things necessary for the reuerend administration thereof according to the order prescribed in the Church PP In the ninth head of the first Booke of Discipline it was thought expedient that Baptisme should be ministred vpon the ordinary dayes of preaching not that it is vnlawfull to baptise whensoeuer the Word is preached but to remoue a grosse errour wherewith many are deceiued thinking that Children bee damned if they dye without Baptisme c. In the order of Baptisme set downe before the Psalmes in metre it is said that the Sacraments are not ordayned of God to bee vsed in priuate corners as Charmes or Sorceries c. And in the Assembly holden 1581. it was ordayned that the Sacraments should not bee ministred in priuate houses c. This laudable order hitherto obserued was altered c. ANS Cases of necessitie are not subiect to ordinarie rules Therfore the Acts made at Perth concerning necessary and extraordinarie cases alters not the laudable order hitherto obserued As it is an errour to esteeme Baptisme absolutely necessary that is a middest without which there is no saluation so it is as great an errour not to thinke it necessary as an ordinary meane whereby the Grace of God is communicate and without the which if it may be had and be either contemned or neglected there is no certainty that God will conferre his grace Therefore to astrict the ministration of Baptisme to a humane order touching time and place which by the Word of God may be lawfully vsed at other times and in other places is great temeritie importing to the Childe no small danger of the losse of grace and bringing vpon the Parent and Pastor the guilt of his bloud for contemning at lest neglecting the ordinary meane of saluation PP A Sacrament is a publike action to bee performed publikely by publike Ministers Neyther can any necessitie or sufficient cause be alleadged wherefore any sacred and publike action should passe in priuate because Gods Ordinance is to vs a supreme Law and necessitie which we ought to obey rather then foster popular ignorance and infirmitie These are Tilenus words ANS These words are not vttered by Tilenus against the administration of Baptisme at extraordinary times and in extraordinary places but only against the administration of Baptisme by women and priuate persons which is the second Controuersie in Baptisme which hee handles beginning at the twelfth position with these words Altera Controuersia de Ministro Baptismi and ending at the eighteenth These Where there is not so much as a syllable of the time and place when and where Baptisme may be ministred all his positions concerning only the persons by whom So in this yee are like your selfe peruerting and abusing the speeches of learned men against their owne minde And it is to bee obserued heere that yee peruersly interpret his words for where he sayes Nullaque necessitas velidonea causa afferri potest cur actio sacra publica transeat in priuatam yee to make the Reader beleeue that Tilenus speakes of a priuate place whiles he is speaking of a priuate action translate it passe in priuate as if a publike action could not be lawfully performed when it is done by a publike person and in presence of such a number as by the Ordinance of God are sufficient PP The Sacraments are testimonies of our pietie thankfulnesse profession and protestations of our faith therefore they ought to be conspicuous and publike ANS It is most expedient that they bee both conspicuous and publike but in cases of necessity it suffices that they bee publike PP We haue no externall fellowship with the whole Church militant in the publike exercise of Religion but a mediate Communion with a particular Congregation This Communion ought not to be violated ANS This Communion is not violated when in cases of necessitie men cannot resort to the Parish Church If we communicate in these exercises of Religion with two or three conuened in the Name of Christ where a greater Assembly cannot be had our Communion with the Church is not violated for they are a particular Church and a part of the vniuersall aswell as the Parishioners although they be lesse PP The Sacraments should be ministred with consent and in presence of the Church seeing they are workes of publike nature and of publike fruit belonging to all ANS Such workes of publike nature and publike fruit ought ordinarily to be ministred solemnely but in cases of necessitie it suffices that they bee lawfully ministred in caetu aliquo fidelium as Caluine speakes Epist 185. PP The Sacraments ministred in priuate houses make the Sacraments to be contemned and neglected Heretickes take occasion to corrupt the pure administration of them by these priuie practises The imperiall
charitie quam si moderatricem patiemur saith CALVIN salua erunt omnia that is Charity being the moderatrix all shal goe well PP No doubt our Sauiour instructed them how to discerne the Lords body how to eate and drinke before he commanded them to eate and drinke But the Euangelists and Paul writes of the Sacrament as of a thing knowne to the Church by practise presupposing a Table and the Communicants conuened and sitting at the Table ANS Yee appeare in this place to haue forgotten that which you affirmed in the beginning of your dispute to wit That nothing interuened betweene the celebration of the Sacrament and the eating of the Paschall Supper for now you say That our Sauiour no doubt instructed them how to eate and drinke before they were commanded to eate and drinke that is in your minde he taught them to conuene themselues and set them downe at Table but I alledge he taught them to stand or kneele ar the receiuing which wee know certainly to haue bin the practise of the Churches thereafter What warrant haue you more for the one then I haue for the other The Papists will say that hee taught them the doctrine of Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Masse and all the ceremonies vsed at that action which being after knowne to the Churches by practise are omitted by Saint Paul and the Euangelists when they wrote of the Sacrament because as yee say they presupposed these things to bee knowne So farre are yee miscaried with the loue of your darling Table gesture that for establishing and authorising the same yee dare alledge vnwritten verities whereupon the Church of Rome founds all her heresies But to conclude against your false Assertion I forme you this reason Whatsoeuer is of necessary vse in the Sacrament is expressed in the words of the Institution or then is annexed vnto that which is expressed as a necessary circumstance belonging thereto But sitting is neither expressed in the words of the Institution nor is annexed to that which is expressed as a necessary circumstance belonging thereto Therefore sitting is not of necessary vse in the Sacrament PP The second breach of the Institution made by kneeling in the act of receiuing is the taking away the vse of a table Christ and his Apostles sate at Table 1. Cor. 10. Luk. 22. Wherefore serueth the name of a Table if wee keepe not the proper vse and employment of it The Fathers call it the Lords Table the heauenly Table the sacred Table the mysticall Table the spirituall Table the rationall Table Whereto serue all these commendations if in the meane time it be not vsed as a Table but rather as an Altar if it be not vsed as Christ and his Apostles vsed it that is by sitting at it to receiue the dainties set vpon the Table And a little after The people of God had an Altar for the Sacrifice and a Table for a Feast Such like the Ethnickes so Christians haue an Altar for a Sacrifice to wit Christ who is Priest Altar and Sacrifice Heb. 13.10 And a Table for the Feast after this Sacrifice once made to wit the Sacrament of the Supper As the Israelites and the Ethnickes sate at the table of their feasts so doe we at our sacred Feasts to distinguish betweene an Altar and a Table a Sacrifice and a Supper made of the thing sacrificed a dresser or cupboord may serue as well for the disposing of the elements c. ANS I must take paines heere for clearing your minde to draw your arguments together which are set downe tanquam scopa dissoluta as loose or euill knit beesomes yee proue that kneeling taketh away the vse of a table because the proper vse of a table is for sitting This yee qualifie because Christ and his Apostles sate at Table And because the Iewes and the Ethnickes sate at their feasts made of things sacrificed And this is your first argument Your next is because sitting makes a distinction betweene an Altar and a Table betweene a Supper and a Sacrifice For answere to your first argument I say it is a meere caption à fallacia consequentis for albeit that Christ and his Apostles the Iewes and the Ethnicks sate at their feasts it followeth not that the proper vse of a table is sitting The proper vse of a table is to hold and sustaine the meat that is set thereon beds in these dayes were ordained for sitting fourmes chaires and bonkers in our times the taking away of sitting takes away the vse of the beds fourmes and seates whereon they sate but not the vse of the table this still remaines if the elements be placed thereon and consecrate in the celebration of the Sacrament albeit no man sitte thereat As to Christ and the Apostles the Iewes and the Ethnicks they sate at their feasts when they did eate their sacrifices because these feasts were sufficient bodily repasts at which they spent long time in eating drinking and conference For the ease of their bodies sitting lying or such like a gesture was necessary but our Sacrament which is wholly finished by receiuing a morsell of bread and a very little wine requires not a long time nor such an easefull gesture for the body It is vncertaine as I shewed before what kinde of gesture our Sauiour and the Apostles vsed and if they sate it was occasioned by the former Supper and no wise requisite for the Sacrament neither for ease of the body the action being quickly ended neither for conference for there was none vsed thereat neither for receiuing the dainties or the elements from the table by stretching out their hands As to the bread Scaliger saith that the custome was of the Master of the feast to breake the bread in so many peeces as the number of the feasters were and vnto euery one a peece was giuen as great as an Oliue or if yee reiect his authority whom yee formerly cited in the booke of Discipline 1560 which yee make the ground of your order it is said the bread was broken by our Sauiour and deliuered to him who sate next and that they brake and deliuered each to his neighbour Likewise that they diuided the cup amongst them after our Sauiour had giuen the same so they stretched not forth their hands to take the elements from the table and their sitting at table for these ends was needlesse To your second argument I answere the distinction of the Table from the Altar is not made by sitting but by the employments proper to them The Altar was ordained for the sanctifying of the oblations made to God the Table to hold and sustaine such things as are offered and giuen to vs according to Christs Institution The Priest stood at the Altar when he offered and the people when they praied so the Communicants in the Primitiue Church stood at the Table when they receiued the Sacrament on the Lords day and this conformity in gesture tooke not away the difference
between the Altar and the Table as no more doth kneeling or any other gesture But to come to the ground whereupon yee build this reason yee say the people of God had an Altar for the Sacrifice and a table for the feast So Christians haue Christ for the Altar and the Sacrifice and a Communion Table for the Sacrament which is their feast This your comparison hath some shew but no solidity There is a correspondence I grant betweene the Iewish Altar and Christ who was the Altar that did sacrifice himselfe to be a Sacrifice for the sinnes of the world for the Iewish Altar was the type and Christ the verity But what correspondence is there betweene the tables whereon the Iewes did eate their sacrifices and the Communion Table The tables whereon they did eate their sacrifices were not holy instruments which appertained to the Tabernacle and Temple but such as they had in their owne priuate houses and therefore were not types which did eyther signifie our Communion Tables or whereunto our Communion Tables doe answere as anti-types for it is to be obserued that in Christian Religion there is nothing which hath any necessary correspondence or relation to the Legall ceremonies but that which is either the verity of some type or the antitype of some type As for example betweene Christ and the Leuitical Priest the Altar and the Sacrifice there is relation as betweene the type and the verity so betweene Circumcision and Baptisme the Passeouer and the Lords Supper there is relation as betweene the type and the antitype for our Sacraments haue succeeded these and are in their stead But as to the Table whereon the Passeouer and other sacrifices were eaten the same not being a sacred instrument or type appointed by God as hath been said there is nothing in Christian Religion answering thereto either as the verity it selfe or as an antitype succeeding thereto As therefore their tables were not necessary for eating of their sacrifices for it is certaine the Iewes were not astricted by any diuine ordinance to sitte at Table when they did eate the Passeouer and their other Sacrifices but were only commodious receptacles deuised by themselues which they might haue altered and interchanged as they thought meet Euen so a materiall artificiall table for celebration of this Sacrament is not an instrument appointed by our Sauiour as the Altars and Tables of Shew-bread but the same is appointed by the Church according to that power which shee hath to determine circumstances for the actions of diuine worship To the disposing of the elements some such receptacle and subiect is necessary as a table and decency requires it when and where the same may be had but it is not of such a necessary vse as the Altar vnder the Law for without an Altar a sacrifice could not be offered but without any such table the Sacrament hath often been ministred Euagrius lib. 6. hist cap. 13. records That Gregorius Pastor of Antiochia did minister the Sacrament to the Souldiers on the grasse before the 600. yeare of our Lord at Bannock-burne in the dayes of King Robert Bruce the like was done to the Scottish army on the fields and so at many other times when a table commodiously could not be had Finally where yee adde That for disposing of the elements a dresser or cupboord may serue these speeches smell of profanity as if to hold and sustaine the elements were such a base employment that the instrument wheron the Church thought meet they should be placed should neither be a table nor named a table And yet all these religious Epithets which yee alledge the Fathers gaue to the Communion as when they called it the Lords Table the heauenly Table the sacred Table c. were giuen to it not because the Communicants did sitte thereat or for any other gesture of body vsed by them but because the Lords body the bread of heauen the sacred mysticall and spirituall food of our soules were presented thereon in the holy Sacrament Causabone Exercit. 16.36 saith That by these appellations the Eucharist it selfe was vnderstood But heere it is manifest that the Epithets interiected in your discourse are not only impertinent but repugnant to the opinion yee hold For when yee aske why is it called a table if men sit not at it they answer you Because vpon that table the heauenly sacred and spirituall mysteries are set In respect thereof it is called a heauenly spirituall sacred and mysticall table In the dayes of Chrysostome and Theodoret by whom these Epithets were most frequently giuen to the Sacrament there was not a table in the Churches at which men did sitte but one onely on which the elements were placed and consecrate but yee neuer fall vpon the name of a Table sooner then yee imagine it was appointed for sitting And what then thinke yee of the Table of Shew-bread at which no man did sit Shall it not be called a Table because it lacked your employment of sitting or table gesture In all Reformed Churches of Europe our Church and very few excepted the Communion Tables haue no employment but only to hold and sustaine the elements This is to be seen in the Churches of France Germany Hungary Pole and England And in the Greeke Church Causabone obserues that there are two Tables one whereupon the elements are set before the Consecration and another wherupon they are Consecrate Thus haue I sufficiently declared that the only or chiefe vse at least of the Communion Table is for the setting and disposing of the elements and the consecration of them with the distribution of the same Now that by kneeling in the act of receiuing the vse of the Communion table is not taken away I proue by this reason Whatsoeuer gesture taketh not away the comely placing and decent consecration of the sacramentall elements on the Communion Table from which they may bee giuen and receiued that taketh not away the vse of the Communion Table But kneeling is a gesture that taketh not away the comely placing and decent consecration of the sacramentall elements on the Communion Table from which they may be giuen and receiued Therefore kneeling taketh not away the vse of the Communion Table PP The third breach of the Institution made by kneeling is the taking away of that mysticall rite representing Christs Passion to wit the breaking of the bread c. ANS If your meaning be that the Pastor breaketh not the bread before he giue it yee bely vs. Wee know that it is the Pastors part in the action to represent Christ the breaking of his body on the Crosse with the sorrowes of death for our sinnes therefore we obserue that rite religiously But if your meaning be that the people breakes not euery one with another in reuerence and sobrietie as is prescribed in the second Chapter of the first Booke of Discipline set foorth 1560 that shall be discussed in the answere to the sixth breach PP The fourth
for some other ciuill employment as for marriages triumphs weapon-shewings and such like this rest is lawfull but it is not Sabbaticall There is a rest kept superstitiously as when men ceasse from their labours for some foolish feares of ill successe by reason of the time this is not called a Sabbath of rest but a superstitious rest There is a rest kept idolatrously for the honour of idols as the Bacchanalia Floralia and the holy dayes proclaymed by the Israelites for honour of their golden Calfe These are damnable rests Finally there is a rest that is kept religiously and this rest is kept either for celebritie and commoditie of the religious action onely or mystically for commoditie and celebritie of the religious seruice a rest is kept in all the solemne times of fasting a rest is kept in the houres of Prayers or Preaching and other diuine Seruice And such is the rest that his Maiestie hath appointed to bee obserued The rest kept mystically was a significant rest of some thing by-past present or to come such was the rest of the Iewish Sabbath and of the Legall Festiuities and such Augustine holds and other many good Diuines our rest on the Lords Day to be from the fourth to the Hebrewes This is called a Sabbath of rest such a rest his Maiestie hath not commanded but a rest for commoditie and celebritie of the diuine Seruice only which in nothing is like to the Iewes Frontlets Phylacteries and such other Legall shadowes PP Pope Alexander the third gaue this reason wherefore the Romane Church kept not a Holy day to the Trinitie Quoniam Ecclesia Romana in vsu non habet c. Because sayes he Glorie to the Father and to the Sonne and to the holy Ghost and other such like things belonging to the praise of the Trinitie are daily vttered The Popes reason is grounded vpon this rule Whatsoeuer is intreated or remembred in the diuine seruice ordinarie ought not to haue a speciall Holy day to celebrate the memorie of the same beside the day alreadie decerned by the Lord. We assume Christs Natiuitie Death Resurrection c. are not onely the continuall meditation of a Christian in priuate but also a remembred and intreated in the ordinarie and publique seruice Euery Communion Sonday is a Passion Holy day Euery Sabbath that Christs Natiuitie is preached is a time of remembrance of his Natiuitie But to ordayne an Anniuersarie day or houre of rest for commemoration of his Natiuitie or Passion and specially vpon a weeke day is a Iewish rudiment and a preiudice to Christian libertie ANS I answere to the Proposition first and I grant that whatsoeuer is remembred in the ordinarie diuine seruice ordinarily and particularly such as Glory bee to the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost which was said in the diuine seruice ordinarily and particularly that needes not any particular commemoration vpon some speciall time sayes Pope Alexander but the inestimable benefits and actions of our Sauiour which were not ordinarily and particularly remembred in the daily seruice but onely in the rehearsall of the Creede where all the Articles of Religion are remembred Pope Alexander thought that for commemoration of these a set time was necessary So the Proposition which is your ground being taken according to the Popes minde is against you Next I answere your Assumption is false These benefits are not the continuall meditation of Christians in priuate for I am assured if yee bee a Christian yee did not meditate on these things Christianly when yee did meditate this Pamphlet against the honour of Christ his Passion Resurrection Ascension and against the power of the Church Thirdly where yee say That they are remembred in the ordinarie and publique seruice that falleth out sometimes but not purposely When it happens it is by occasion and generally that they are touched because they occurre in your Text perhaps Otherwise they may lye buried seuen yeares before they be purposely remembred And when yee say That euery Communion Sonday is a Passion Holy day I would demand whether it were lawfull on the Saterday or Friday before that Communion Sonday to make a Sermon on the Passion for preparation of the people to the Communion as I hope you haue practised sometime your selfe Now if this which your selfe and many others haue done bee lawfull is it not lawfull also to doe the like on Friday before Easter which is a Communion Sonday by the acts of our Church And this is all that they ordayned by the Act of the Assembly at Perth touching the remembrance of the Passion Further to that which yee say That euery Sabbath whereon the Natiuitie is preached is a time of remembrance of his Natiuitie I answere That it is but occasionall and so falls out by the Text which the Minister teaches but neither doe the people resort purposely to Church to heare the Natiuitie intreated at that time nor does the Minister intreat of it at large as the same ought Finally yee conclude with that often repeated calumnie that to ordayne a certayne anniuersary day or houre of rest for commemoration of these benefits is a Iewish rudiment and a preiudice to Christian libertie The first is false For the appointing of houres and times weekely monethly or yearely for preaching any part of the Gospell is no Iewish rudiment but a lawfull good and wise Christian policie practised 1500. yeares before yee were borne throughout the whole Christian world and allowed by the best Diuines both in the primitiue and reformed Church So farre is it from being a preiudice to Christian libertie that herein a principall part of our libertie consists that we are not astricted in the worship of God to Times Places or Persons and others such circumstances by the Gospell but haue libertie to choose and appoint such as wee thinke most expedient for the honour of God and edification of his people of the which libertie the purpose of your Pamphlet is to spoile vs in the Sacrament astricting vs to the gesture of sitting onely and for Gods publique worship to the Lords Day onely as if the Church had no power to appoint preaching prayers and diuine seruice to be done at any other time or the Sacrament to bee receiued in any other fashion PP As for the sift day of Nouember it is not an Holy day it is not a day of cessation from worke which is one of the chiefe elements of an Holy day c. Anniuersarie commemoration of a benefit with a cessation from worke suppose for a part of a day is Iewish ANS If an Anniuersarie commemoration of a benefit with cessation from worke suppose for a part of the day bee Iewish then the sift of Nouember yee forget the sift of August must bee Iewish for on it there is an Anniuersarie cōmemoration of an exceeding great benefit and a cessation from worke during the space of the commemoration which is a part of the day Therefore according to