transgression was not a crime of so little importance that it can make any man beleeve that God would have exempted it from all kind of censure in the Gentiles when he checked their other sinnes seeing he blamed it so extreamely in the Iewes and made the reproofes of that sinne to sound so a loud in their eares 13 The instance before urged that God found not fault with the Polygamie of the Gentiles although it was against the institution of God in the beginning and also against the Law of nature as is said but not granted is found to be false For in the eighteenth Chapter of Leviticus where God speaketh to the Iewes forbids all unlawfull and impure cohabitations amongst many others in the 18. Verse he forbids them to take a Wife and her Sister or to her Sister that is to take another Wife with the first to vexe the first by conjunction with the other in the first wives life time For this is the signification of the Hebrew Phrase as wee may see by diverse examples Genesis 26. verse 31. Exodus 25. verse 20. Exodus 26. verse 3. 27. Moreover GOD addeth in the same Chapter of Leviticus ver 24. 27 30. that in this filthy crime as in all others that are there named the nations had defiled themselves for which the land had vomited them out CHAPTER Fourth REASON 4. 1. The Patriarkes from the Creation till the Law knew not the observation of a Seventh day in the weeke 2. The publike service of God began in the time of Enos and was in all likenesse of truth solemnized every day of the weeke 3. From Noah till the Law the families of the Patriarkes served God privately and kept not the Seventh day 4. Confirmation of this truth by Scriptures and by the consent of Ancient and Moderne Divines 5. Answer to the first reply the Patriarkes fasted and their fasts are not written 6. Answer to the second reply The Patriarkes are not reproved for Polygamie no more than for the inobservation of the Sabbath 7. Answer to the third reply taken from a pretended paritie of reason betweene the making of one man and one woman to be one flesh and Gods rest on the Seventh day 8. Answer to the fourth reply that no mention is made of the Sabbath day in the booke of Iudges and some others written after the Law was given in Horeb. 9. Conclusion of the foresaid Reasons taken from the Gentiles and the Patriarkes 1 IF the keeping of one Seventh day of rest had beene a morall Commandement and if GOD had given it to Adam to bee sanctified by him and his posterity at least the Patriarkes and holy Fathers amongst whom remained the exercise of true Religion had knowne that day and hallowed it by the ordinary duties of godlinesse as they knew and observed in the whole course of their life all other morall Commandements Wee finde in their lives written by Moses many proofes and examples of the Religious worship which they yeelded to Iehovah alone as to the only true only perfect only Almighty and all sufficient God walking in sincerity and integrity before his face Genesis 5. ver 22. Genesis 6. ver 9. Genes 17. ver 1. Of their hatred against Idols which were to them things so abominable that they buryed them under the ground as not only unworthy but also ougly to be seene and infectious to be touched Gen. 35. v. 2. 4. Of their religious care to hallow the Name of GOD by calling upon his holy Name Genesis 12. ver 8. by vowing vowes to his Divine Majesty Gen. 28. ver 8. by taking holily and religiously in their mouthes his glorious and fearefull Name in the necessary oathes that they made before him Gen. 21. ver 24. 31. Gen. 31. ver 35. Of the awfull observance and obedience wherewith they honoured Fathers Mothers Masters and all superiors Gen. 9. ver 23. Gen. 27. ver 13 14. Gen. 28. ver 5. Gen. 42. ver 6. Gen. 47. ver 12. Of the abomination and detestation that was in their inward parts against murther Genesis 49. ver 5 6. whoredome adultery incest Gen. 34. ver 31. Gen. 38. ver 24. Gen. 39. ver 10. Gen. 49. ver 4. Theft Gen. 31. ver 32. 37. Gen. 44. ver 8. 9. Leasings and false witnesse Genesis 20. ver 12. Gen. 42. ver 11. and consequently lust which is the fruitfull mother of all those vices Gen. 14. ver 22. 23. Gen. 39. ver 9. 10. But wee find no where that they kept holy a Seventh day for Gods outward service according to the fourth Commandement of the Law given afterwards in Mount Sina This only doe we find that they practised that service builded Altars offered sacrifices to the Lord indifferently in all dayes and at all houres as they had occasion Neither is it any where noted in holy Scripture that they had any set day farre lesse a Seventh day prefixed unto them for their exercises which were never particularly tyed to a Seventh day with preference to other dayes of the weeke Yea considering that the consecration of a certaine day for Gods service whatsoever it be is not properly necessary but when many may troope together and make up a body of a Church to solemnize that service publikely with great assemblies of people it may be justly questioned if when the Patriarkes were alone when they were with their little families might with them serve God every day easily and with great assiduity being as they were disposed to all exercises of godlinesse and not being incombred with the many and great affaires which ensnare those that give themselves too much to worldly businesses whether at all they kept any ordinary day more prrticularly then other dayes if they served not God alike every day without distinction of dayes unknowne at that time and more particularly if they erected not Altars and offered sacrifices on them as God gave them some particular occasions they not having a constant rule given unto them for the time and place of these devotions 2 When it is said in the fourth of Genesis verse 26. that in the time of Enos men began to call upon the Name of the Lord although this passage may suffer diverse interpretations yet it is likely and it is the most current interpretation that it betokeneth that Enos and the remnant of the faithfull associated with him being growen to a competent multitude withdrew themselves from the wicked and worldy brood of Cain and began to institute among themselves a more solemne service then had beene in former times and for the celebration of that service ordained of free choice set times and places For which cause the Scripture saith that they began to call upon the Name of the Lord to wit publikely and in a numerous assemblie which had not beene practised before If this be the true sence of these words yet it shall not follow by any necessary argument or reason that they established
consideration thereof they were commanded to keepe the Sabbath day which is the thing that God pronounceth most expressely in the place lately cited Deut. 5. verse 15. and Ezek. 20. verse 11 12. where upon that hee had said ver 10. that hee caused the Israelites to goe forth out of the land of Aegypt he addeth and I gave them my statutes moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths c. 2 Secondly seeing the Sabbath day was ordained to be a memoriall of a benefit particular to the Israelites to wit of their deliverance out of the land of Aegypt and of their separation from all other nations it followeth that the Sabbath day obligeth not Christians under the New Testament as if it were morall and as if God had â—â—dained it by an expresse commandement to continue till the worlds end For this end of the Sabbath to be a memoriall of their deliverance and separation from all other people dwelling upon the face of the earth with the other end afore mentioned to be a figurative signe of Iesus Christ to come and of the saving benefits which were to be purchased by him made up the whole use of the Sabbath Of which end neither the one nor the other doth belong to the New Testament 3 The faithfull Christians are a people more spirituall then the Iewes were because they are under the Gospell which is an estate more spirituall and heavenly then was the condition of Gods people under the Law for which cause it is called the kingdome of heaven And therefore all dayes under the Gospell should be to all the faithfull that live in that blessed and heavenly estate as many Sabbath dayes more particularly then to the Iewes to rest from their sinnes and to give themselves to prayers calling upon the Name of the Lord to reading and meditation of his holy Word and to other religious exercises of godlinesse according to the words in Isaiah Chapter 66. v. 23. if they be applyed unto the estate of the Church under the Gospell as they may be and indeed are so expounded by many interpreters when it is there said that then there shall be no more New Moones nor Sabbaths distinguished by intervalls and spaces of times but one Sabbath shall succeed immediately to another Sabbath and that all the dayes of the weeke and of the whole yeere shall bee as Sabbaths unto them This is the conclusion of all that hath beene said in this first part which shall be more fully confirmed by the refutation of the arguments that are brought to maintaine the morality of the Sabbath Which refutation shall bee the subject of the second part of this Treatise THE SECOND PART wherein the reasons brought to justifie the morality and perpetuity of a Seventh day of Sabbath are confuted CHAPTER First First Answer to the first Reason 1. The opinion of those that hold the morality of a Seventh day of Sabbath cleerely set downe 2. Their first Reason taken out of Genesis Chapter 2. ver 2 3. Where it is said that God rested on the Seventh day from all his workes and blessed the Seventh day and sanctified it c. 3. First answer to this Reason Moses writing the History of the Creation after the Law was given declareth occasionally the cause that moved God to blesse and sanctifie the Seventh day to the Iewes according to the custome of the Scripture to joyne things done long before with those that were done long after as if they had beene done together and at one time 4. Confirmation of this by places named by anticipation 5. By that which is written Exod. 16. ver 33 34. where it is said that Aaron laid up in a Pot an Omer of Manna before the Testimony which was not done many yeeres after 6. And by the History of Davids combat with Goliah 1 Sam. 17. Where it is written ver 54. that David tooke the head of the Philistine and brought it to Ierusalem but he put his armour in his tent although there was a great intervall of time betweene these two actions 7. This joyning of things farre removed in time is not unsutable to him that speaketh or writeth 8. First instance against this answer taken from the connexion of the third verse with the second from the same tence used in both and from the identitie of the same seventh day spoken of in both c. 9. First answer to this instance shewing that in the holy Scripture things distant in-time are expressed by words of the same tence when the one hath some dependancie upon the other 10. Application of this answer to the blessing and sanctification of the seventh day in Moses his time joyned with Gods rest after the creation because it was the foundation of that blessing 11. Second answer It was not the same particular seventh day after the creation but the same by revolution which God sanctified 12. Third answer the Hebrew article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confirmeth not that the seventh day which God blessed was the same seventh day wherein he rested 13. Second instance as Gods blessing of his creatures after they were made was present so was his blessing of the seventh day immediately after the creation 14. Answer to this instance the reason is not alike 15. Confirmation of the answer made to the words of Moses in Genesis by the conformity of the same words used in the commandement given to the Iewes concerning the Sabbath 16. As also because the Sabbath was not hallowed for Adam who in the estate of innocency had no need of such a day 17. First instance Adam was taught by Gods example that hee stood in need of such a day refuted 18. Second instance as God ordained Sacraments to Adam so he ordained to him a seventh day of rest refuted by a reason shewing the nullity of that consequence 19. And by the excellency of Adams condition to which the ordination of such a day was derogatory 20. Third instance as Gods rest on the Seventh day was the foundation of the commandement given to the Iewes to rest on that day so was it from the beginning refuted 1 THose that hold the second opinion doe say that the keeping of a Seventh day of Sabbath is a morall thing which from the beginning of the world should continue to the end thereof with this difference only that God before and till the comming of Iesus Christ had ordained that the last day of the weeke wherein hee rested from all the workes which hee had made when he created the world should be sanctified by all men in remembrance of the creation and of his rest on that day But since the manifestation of Iesus Christ it was his will that instead of the last day of the weeke the first day wherein Christ rising from among the dead rested from the work of our redemption should be observed in the Christian Church for a memoriall of this worke which being more excellent then the former it was beseeming
and the tree of knowledge of good and evill to speake properly were no more Sacraments to Adam then the other trees of the Garden yea then all other workes of God in all which he might have considered signes and markes of the grace and power of GOD But the one was unto him a meanes of the perpetuall conservation of his bodily life by eating of the fruit therof and the other an occasion to try his obedience by the prohibition made unto him to eate thereof Besides this the consequence is naught For to establish signes and Sacraments signifying to Adam the perpetuall grace of God and his immortality if he persevered in obedience and on the contrary threatning him with the disgrace of God and with death if he became a transgressor was not a thing repugnant to his condition in the state of innocency neither had it any unreasonablenesse joyned with it But to ordaine a particular day of rest to a man to whom all the dayes had beene Sabbaths and who day by day had served God as much as was necessary and as God did require of him was not a thing sutable and convenient to his condition As in the heavenly Paradise there is no particular day of Sabbath but a perpetuall Sabbath because there GOD is glorified without stint or ceasing by the heavenly Host even so in the terrestriall Paradise where man was righteous and holy and in a condition conforme in some sort to that of the kingdome of heaven and a figure thereof he had observed a perpetuall Sabbath to GOD. For although hee could not doe it so perfectly as it is done in heaven because he was obnoxious to the necessities of this naturall life neverthelesse hee might have done it and did it as perfectly as the quality and condition of his being here beneath could suffer so that it was no wise requisite that he should have a particular day of Sabbath 19 Nay I esteeme that to affirme that GOD ordained unto him a seventh day of Sabbath derogateth too much from the excellency of his condition For it is most sure that the determination of a particular time of GODs service made to a man expressely supposeth that he wants the commodity and is not able to serve GOD ordinarily or hath not an inclination and affection to doe it and it therefore must be layd upon him as a Yoake tying him thereunto and withdrawing him from his other occupations as also it is a marke of a servile condition in witnesse whereof the appointment of so many solemne dayes of Gods service under the Law was a part of the Yoke thereof from which God hath freed the state of the Gospell as being more free and more perfect wherein wee should be stirred up with a more free and voluntary affection to his service To one that is both able and willing to serve God continually every day as Adam was in that state of innocency and of perfect righteousnesse it is not needfull to limit a particular day And though a day chosen and picked out from others had beene usefull to Adam to the end that giving over all other things he might give himselfe intirely and only to Gods service doubtlesse God had left that choice to his liberty considering the wisedome and godlinesse wherewith he had endowed him 20 To say that since Gods rest on the seventh day after the labour of sixe dayes in the Creation was the foundation and the reason of the institution made in the Law of a seventh day to bee a Sabbath day the same reason being of the same force and use from the beginning of the world should have caused at that time the same ordinance and the same hallowing of the seventh day to all men it is a forceles consequence For there was not a like necessity of the institution of a particular day of rest in these first beginnings when Adam was in the state of innocency nor afterwards when the Church subsisted in a few families or particular persons as there hath been after the Church was become a great body of people having need of a stinted order and government whereof GOD would take the care upon himselfe and for that end among other points of ecclesiasticall order and rules of his service ordaine to his people of Israel growen to a great number a day of Sabbath and the seventh of the week taking for the foundation and reason of the institution of a seventh day his own resting on the seventh day which became at that time only a reason of this ordinance because God grounded himselfe thereupon to make it but it followeth not that before that time and from the beginning of the world this rest of God which was on the first seventh day should be a reason of the same ordinance That should be right and prove good if it were of its owne nature a reason absolutely necessary and a cause bringing forth unfallibly such an effect which is not Otherwise it should follow that God was bound to hallow the seventh day and could not sanctifie any other It is indeed a reason not of it selfe but only for as much as God thought fit and was pleased to ground upon it the sanctification of the seventh day Whereof this is a manifest proofe that under the New Testament this reason hath no force to make us observe the day of Gods rest Now there is no necessity obliging us to inferre that if God would and thought fit it should bee a reason in the time of the Law he was also willing and thought fit it should be a reason also before the Law and since the beginning of the world Whereas it is manifest by the reasons already alledged that it was very fit it should be so under the Law but was not so from the beginning and before the Law was given CHAPTER Second Three other answers to the first reason 1. Second answer although God had from the beginning sanctified the Seventh day he gave no commandement to man to sanctifie it 2. Third answer although God had sanctified the Seventh day with relation to man he had done it only with intention to command it afterwards to the Israelites under the Law 3. For in Scriptures sanctification is often taken for destination to some use in time to come 4. The Reply that so God should have rested on the Seventh day by destination only to rest afterwards refuted 5. Fourth answer although God had commanded Adam to hallow the Seventh day that proveth not the morality of the Sabbath but only the necessity of a set time for orders sake in Gods service 6. Whence no necessity can bee inferred of the observation of the same time stinted to Adam by all men 7. But rather of moe times to bee kept by them seeing all are sinners 1 BVt Secondly put the case that the mention made in the second Chapter of Genesis ver 3. Of Gods blessing and hallowing the seventh day should be understood as done at that
maxime rejecteth as unlawfull Now what certainty or probability is there that Iesus Christ on the first day of his appearing to his Disciples gave them this ordinance Further although he had given it sith he appeared not unto them till the evening following the day in the morning whereof he rose againe they were at least all that day preceding his first manifestation unto them free from all bond tying them to the observation of any particular seventh day and their obligation to the observation of a certaine day hath begun by the extremity of the day to wit at the same time when CHRIST appearing unto them injoyned them to heepe it which difficulties I see not how those that hold the aforesaid maxime can well resolve 21 They say that when the first change was made the Disciples kept two Sabbaths consecutively to wit the last of the weeke to put an end to the order of the ancient Testament and thereafter the first day of the weeke immediately following to begin the new order which was to remaine for ever under the New Testament and to keepe alwayes one day of seven But this saying is a pure imagination For who hath told them that the Disciples did keepe that course Besides this giveth no satisfaction to the difficulties afore mentioned For Iesus Christ being dead and having by his death abrogated all the ceremonies of the Law the last day of the weeke at the same very instant that he gave up the Ghost ceased to be obligatory And so although Iesus Christ shewing himselfe to his Disciples on the first day of the weeke that he rose in had ordained unto them expressely that day and made them to sanctifie it in quality of a Sabbath day to persist afterwards till the end of the world neverthelesse sith the day before which was the Sabbath had not obliged them to keep it and if they observed it they did it not through any obligation binding them thereunto because it was abolished it followeth manifestly that the obligation to one day of seven was caused in one weeke at least yea in more then one if he ordained not Sunday to be kept as soone as he shewed himselfe unto them after his resurrection Nay is casseered in them all if he gave them no ordinance at all concerning that or any other day which is more probable as we shall see more fully hereafter Howsoever of this ariseth this conclusion that the order of one of seven daies is not morall sith it could suffer once at least an interruption in the obligation or binding power which it had 22 I would againe faine know sith Christs resurrection might without inconvenience cause the changing of the particular day wherein the Sabbath was before observed which was the last day of the weeke into another day which was the first wherein it came to passe why it might not likewise without any inconvenience at all give occasion to change the whole generall order of the observation of one day of seven and deliver the Church from all obligation unto it Sith as we have already shewed there is no greater necessity to observe one day of seven then the last of seven Sith also this resurrection of Christ which was as it were his rest from the worke of our Redemption cannot be said to have happened as Gods rest from the worke of Creation after sixe daies of labour to ratifie thereby the observation of this number but to reckon since the day wherein Christ began to be in agony in the garden which was to speake properly the beginning of the worke of our Redemption till the day that he rose out of the grave which containeth the space of three or foure daies wherein he suffered died was buried came to passe after three or foure daies only of labour and of paine whereby he redemed us why may it not with as good reason be a foundation and powerfull motive to change one day of seven into one of foure sith Christ rose on the fourth day after the beginning of his passion as well as the observation of the last day of the weeke into the first in consequence of his resurrection on that first day For there should be as little evill or danger in the one as in the other 23 But here is the maine point of the matter For as much as the order which God observed of sixe daies for his labour in the Creation and of a seventh day for his rest carrieth not with it any necessary and naturall obligation to imitate it and was not obligatory under the old Testament but because it pleased God to command and establish it by his Law for that time onely under the new Testament there was no obligation to keepe it and therefore the necessity of observing it as of all other legall ceremonies having come to an end and being expired the last day of seven hath wihout sinne yea with good reason been changed into the first that Christ rose in the Church thinking it fit to do so whereunto she was not moved by an opinion that the consideration of Christs rising from the dead on that day was of it selfe obligatory For why should the day of Christs resurrection of its nature oblige us to observe it as a day holy and solemne rather then the day of his nativity or the day of his death whereby he said All was fulfilled Ioh. 19. vers 30. to wit all that was requisite for the expiation of our sinnes and redemption of the world conformably to the ancient prophecies and figures of the Law or the day of his ascension which might as well and better be called the day of Christs rest then the day of his resurrection Sure the Church might have in any of those daies called to minde and celebrated the remembrance of the worke of our Redemption as well as in the day of the Resurrection because all the actions of Christ have respect unto it Nay she might have as well changed the order of one of seven into a day of another number seeing the worke of Redemption was not tyed to the same number of daies was that the worke of Creation But because there was no necessity in this she thought it expedient to keepe this order of one day in the weeke observed by the Iewes amongst whom the weeke had its beginning and to change onely the particular seventh day of the Iewes into another to make a distinction between them and that servile people as also to keepe a memoriall of Christs Resurrection Of all this it appeareth evidently that the reason taken from Gods example as it is alledged out of the fourth Commandement hath no force to prove that which it is produced for and to shelter those that make a buckler of it 24 Finally they rely much upon these last words of the Commandement God hath blessd the Sabbath day and hath sanctified it Now say they if GOD hath ordained this seventh day to be observed and to be a
2 Cor. 6. verse 2. This time and this day is now also in our time and shall be till the worlds end Such was the worke whereof mention is made in the foresaid Psalme a worke which hath ever beene a doing since Christs Ascension into heaven and shall not be performed till he come visibly from heaven to judge the quicke and the dead 5 But granting that the Psalmist speaketh of a particular day which God ordained then for the Resurrection of Iesus Christ and wherein it was afterwards fulfilled it followeth not that he would binde the faithfull under the New Testament to make weekely of that day a day of rest For he exhorteth them only to rejoyce and be glad for it as for a day wherein a great thing and belonging to their salvation should bee performed which they may well doe according to the exhortation of the Psalmist although they make not that day every weeke a day of rest For they may and ought to rejoyce every day privately at home and also publikelie in the congregation as often as they meete together to serve GOD. 6 And if the question be of the stinting of a solemne day for the commemoration of this great worke the exhortation of the Psalmist obligeth them not more particularly to one ordinary day in the weeke then to a yeerely day Esay in the ninth Chapter prophesieth that the faithfull shall rejoyce with a great joy for the day wherein the child was borne and the Sonne was given and the Angels of GOD on that day brought to the Shepheards good tydings of great joy which should be to all people because unto them was borne that day in the City of David a Saviour which is CHRIST the LORD Luke 2. verse 10 11. And yet these words inforce not that the day of CHRISTS birth must necessarily be observed as a day of rest and farre lesse as an ordinary day everie weeke And the Church which hath thought fit to make commemoration thereof on a set day was pleased to appoint for that purpose one day only in the whole yeere Neither can there a greater obligation then this be inferred of the foresaid passage for the day of the Resurrection For we may yea wee ought to rejoyce for the day of the Nativity of Christ of his passion of his Ascension and likewise of his Resurrection but for all that we are not bound to make of them Sabbath dayes And so the foresaid places conclude nothing CHAPTER Third Answer to the second Reason whereby they seeke to prove that Sunday was sanctified by our Lord Iesus Christ for Gods service 1. Second Reason Christ forty dayes before the Ascension spake to his Apostles of things pertaining to the kingdome of God and therefore of the Sabbath 2. Answer by the kingdome of God are to be understood the essentiall points of our Christian Religion 3 Not the circumstances thereof which are left to the liberty of the Church 4. Nullity of the instance urged from the commandement given to Moses concerning the Sabbath 5. The Church had authority to sanctifie Sunday as well as other holy dayes for Gods service 1 THey alleadge out of the New Testament that our Lord Iesus Christ after his Resurrection was forty dayes with his Disciples speaking unto them of the things pertaining to the kingdome of God Act. 1. verse 3. that is to the training and government of the Christian Church which is often called the kingdome of God as Acts 19. verse 8. Acts 28. verse 23. Col. 4. verse 11. c. To which government say they did pertaine the determination of one day wherein the Evangelicall service ought to be publikely celebrated to God For as God when he gave the ancient Covenant by Moses and taught him how hee would have his Church to be trained had a particular care to name unto him a certain day for his service even so our Lord Iesus Christ when he taught the New Covenant to his Apostles and how under it he would have his Church to be governed by them and by their successors hath not omitted to appoint unto them a certaine day for his publike service 2 I answer that this argument is not founded but upon uncertaine conjectures and so concludeth nothing necessarily By the kingdome of God is meant ordinarily in the New Testament the word of the Gospell the Christian Religion the state and condition of the Church and is so taken in the places before alleadged Wherfore when it is said in the first of the Acts verse 3. that Iesus Christ spake to his Apostles of things belonging to the kingdome of God it is likely that the meaning of these words is that Iesus Christ spake unto them of things pertaining to the Gospell to the Religion and to the government of the Church and thence may be inferred that he declared and prescribed unto them all things that are of the substance of the Gospell of the Religion and of the essentiall matter of his service such as is the preaching of the points of faith and of doctrine and the administration of the Sacraments of the New Testament things that God himselfe ordaineth necessarily and will never leave to the liberty of men to dispose of as they think fit but will have all men in these points to depend on his declaration and ordinance As also they are most expresly declared in the New Testament as being established by our Lord Iesus Christ. 3 But as for the circumstance of a particular and ordinary time for the practising of these exercises no man can inferre of the foresaid Text that Iesus Christ prescribed it to his Apostles yea it is most likely that he resigned that care to the wisdome of his faithfull servants because there being no necessity nor essentiall importance of such a determination of one day it is more agreeable to the state of liberty which the Scripture assigneth to the Christian Church under the Gospell that Iesus Christ would have it to depend on her liberty and wisedome rather than prescribe it himselfe 4 Vnder the old testament God ordained by Moses a set day for the Sabbath because it was the time of bondage as also he prescribed for a mark of that bondage an exact cessation from all servile works yea of the least on that day and besides ordained unto them diverse other dayes and times for his service as also a particular place for the publike exercise thereof a Tabernacle a City a Temple c. 5 Now if under the New Testament he hath left altogether to the first liberty and wisedome of the Church the determination of places such as she shall thinke fit as also of diverse other times and dayes which she may ordaine and hath ordained in effect for the celebration of the remembrance of sundry benefits which God hath vouchsafed upon us through our Lord Iesus Christ and for the solemnization of them by the godly exercises of Religion I see no reason why we may not say that
Secondly granting that the night mentioned in the foresaid place was the last part of the first day of the week nothing can be proved from thence but this only that after the resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ the faithfull among the Gentiles celebrating in their congregations the first day of the weeke in remembrance of the said resurrection began it in the morning about the time that Christ rose as perhaps the nations of whom they were began the day by the morning but it followeth not that such was the beginning of the day among the Iewes 18 These things being thus cleered it shall follow that when Iesus Christ did shew himselfe to his Disciples in the time mentioned in the 20. of S. Iohn vers 19. it was not in the first day of the week but after it in the second day The conference of the twenty foure of Saint Luke sheweth that at least it was midnight when Iesus Christ appeared first unto them For it is said in that chapter that the same day of his resurrection he drew neere to the two Disciples that were going to Emmaus went with them came thither with them towards evening the day being far spent and that they supped there That after the Lord had left them vanishing away out of their sight they rose up the same houre returned to Ierusalem distant from Emmaus threescore stades that is a three houres journey entred where the Apostles were told them all the things that had happened unto them in the way and in the Village that after this Iesus stood in the midst of them therefore it was far in the night whence it followeth that seeing among the Iewes the day ended at evening and another day began the first day of the week was then finished many houres before and the second day was well forward The words of the Text say nothing that is not consonant to this These they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the evening or the end of the first day of the weeke being come in the same sense that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in the foresaid place of Matthew Chap. 28. verse 1. the Disciples being assembled and the doores shut for feare of the Iewes came Iesus and stood in the midst of them which words have no other sence but this that at the evening of the first day which was also the end thereof the Disciples being assembled and having shut themselves up in a certaine place Iesus Christ a while after appeared unto them So of that hath beene said it is manifest that the opinion of Christs appearing to his Disciples on the first day of the weeke is not grounded on a sure foundation 20 But although it were generally agreed on that Iesus Christ appeared the first time to his Disciples on the first day of the weeke and the second time eight dayes after I say that his appearing to his Disciples at two diverse times since his Resurrection on the first day of the weeke cannot inforce by any good consequence that his intention was to authorize that day and to sanctifie it to bee a day of rest To prove this with some shew of reason it were necessary that Iesus Christ during the whole time of his abode on earth after his Resurrection should have shewed himselfe unto them regularly and constantly on each first day of the weeke and not in any other day For if he appeared not unto them every first day of the weeke we may inferre quite contrary that it was not his purpose to sanctifie that day unto them more than another And if he appeared unto them on other dayes it may be said with as good reason that he consecrated them to be Sabbaths as that he sanctified the first day of the weeke to be a Sabbath 21 Now we read nothing of his appearing to his Disciples on each first day of the weeke constantly and regularly after his Resurrection till his Ascension Nay it is written in the first Chapter of the Acts verse 3. that after his passion he shewed himselfe alive unto them by many infallible proofes being seene of them forty dayes and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdome of God whereby wee see cleerely that he shewed himselfe on many other dayes then the first of the weeke For Saint Luke had not said that he was seene of them forty dayes by many infallible proofes if hee had not beene seene of them but five or sixe dayes of these forty And there is no appearance that he was forty dayes on earth after his Resurrection to shew himselfe only every first day of the week and to withdraw himselfe remaining solitary and apart all the dayes betweene In the one and twentieth Chapter of Saint Iohn ver 4. wee see that he shewed himselfe to them on a day when they were gone a fishing commanded them to continue their fishing and did then a notable miracle neither is it said that it was the first day of the weeke And if it was they wrought on it and kept it not holy Moreover when it is said in the twentieth Chapter of Saint Iohn verse 26. that eight dayes after the first day of the weeke wherin he first appeared unto them he shewed himselfe again to his Disciples a question may be made if it was on another first day of the weeke For this should be true if in the number of eight be included the first day of the weeke and the eight day following But if they be not included and if we take the words of the Apostle that after eight dayes fulfilled and past Iesus shewed himselfe unto them as the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beare that sence then it was not on another first day of the weeke but one the next day after that he stood in the midst of them And so the argument built upon this sand shall fall to the ground 20 Neither doth the sending of the Holy Ghost upon the Disciples and Apostles assembled on Pentecost day evince a divine institution of the LORDS day granting that it was also on the first day of the weeke For by what consequence shall it follow that by this miracle IESUS CHRIST intended to make that day an ordinary day of rest and of Gods service Seeing by the same reason it will follow that all the dayes wherein Christ did some solemne action have beene established and ordained to be stinted and ordinary Sabbaths in every weeke which is not so CHAPTER Fifth Answer to the Fourth Reason 1. Fourth Reason The first day of the weeke was kept by the Apostle and the Disciples at Troas Acts 20. ver 7. 2. First Answer The words may be taken of a certaine day and not of the first day of the weeke c. 3. Second Answer taking them for the first day of the weeke it followeth not that that day was an ordinary Sabbath but only was kept by occasion of the Apostles departure on the next morrow 4. Third Answer it
disturbance bestowed on Gods service is good and laudable 9. Yet this is not in such sort necessary as if it were a sin against religion and conscience to a Christian after divine service finished in the Church to apply himselfe to outward actions belonging to the lawful and honest commodities and pleasures of this decaying and troublesome life when they doe it with Christian wisedome which must be the guide of all our actions leading us so warily that we transgresse not the wholesome lawes of the state or of the Church wherein we live and that we shun all partialities and cause of schisme which is the bane of the Church dismembring and tearing in factious pieces the mysticall body of our LORD IESUS CHRIST which the true doctrine of faith had preserved from the poyson of mortall herefie 6 Of these two foresaid opinions the last to my judgement is the truest and hath more solid and cleare reasons than the first as shall bee seene by the canvasing and sifting out of the reasons that are broached on both sides Which to doe more distinctly and clearely I will divide this Treatise into foure parts In the first I shall endeavour to prove that the institution and observation of a seventh day of Sabbath is not morall that it began not with the beginning of the world that it had no existence till the people of Israel were brought from Egypt to the wildernesse and was not known in any part of the universall world till then and that the Commandement whereby it was confirmed in Horeb obligeth not under the New Testament In the second I shall answer all the reasons that I have found alleaged for the contrary opinion In the third I shall discourse of the appointing of Sunday for Gods service and shew whence in greatest likenesse of truth it taketh its beginning and establishment in the Christian Church In the last I will declare what was the cessation of workes enjoyned in the Sabbath day under the old Testament and how far we are obliged unto it under the New Testament For these are the principall points that Christians jarre and differ about in this matter of the Sabbath Perlegi hunc Tractatum cui Titulus est A Treatise of the Sabbath and the Lords-day nihil reperio sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribus contrarium quo minus cum utilitate publicâ imprimatur ita tamen ut si non intra septem menses proxime sequentes typis mandetur haec licentia sit omnino irrita Ex Aedibus Lambethanis Ianuar. 5. 1635. GUIL BRAY R. in Christo Patri D. Arch. Cant. Capel Domest THE FIRST PART wherein it is proved that the Ordinance and observation of a seventh-Seventh-Day of Sabbath is not morall hath not its beginning since the beginning of the World and obligeth not under the Nevv Testament CHAPTER First REASON I. 1. First Reason The times and places of Gods service are accidentall circumstances and have no morall equity in them but depend on a particular institution 2. GOD tooke occasion of his resting on the Seventh day to institute that day 3. Confession of some that are of the contrary opinion 1 TO establish the second of these two opinions afore mentioned and to refute the first whereby the observation of one day of rest in the weeke is affirmed to be a morall duty I say First that the nature of the thing called in question is repugnant to this opinio For it is a thing evident of it selfe that as the places even so the times of Gods service are accidentall circumstances which have no foundation in any naturall and essentiall justice and equitie nor any necessity inherent in them but depend absolutely on the ordinance of God or of men What hath in it one day of seven more than one of a greater or lesser number wherefore we should affirme that the observation of that day rather than of another day is a morall duty appertaining yea necessary to whole mankinde that thereby it may attaine unto the end for which man was created therfore it hath an obligatory power over all nations in all ages which may bee demonstrated and shewed perspicuously by naturall reasons as some have too hardily pronounced but without any evidence produced saving their simple word which to men that have eyes in their heads and scorne to be Pythagoras Disciples is no good payment 2 It was the Creation of the world in sixe dayes and Gods rest on the seventh day that was to God the occasion of the appointing of the seventh day for his service Now who can shew in that wonderfull worke of the Creation in sixe dayes and in Gods rest on the seventh day the least appearance of morality As there appeareth no such thing unto us so no other reason of this dispensation is made manifest unto us saving the good pleasure of GOD who would have it so For who can conceive and farre lesse expresse and shew by words any essentiall justice in the observation of this number of dayes that God pitched upon for the framing of his workes and his resting from them 3 Some of them against whom I have undertaken this brotherly disputation have acknowledged and said that we observe not one day of seven under the New Testament as a part of Gods service but only as the time thereof which sheweth that it is not a morall thing For if it were it should bee essentially a part of Gods service as is universally whatsoever is morall Vnder the Old Testament it made a part of Gods service not of the morall but of the ceremoniall and typike service established then in the infancy of the Church and which was not to continue but during that time as we shall see hereafter CHAPTER Second REASON 2. 1. Second Reason Adam knew not the Sabbath by naturall light therefore it was not morall 2. Reply by a distinction of morall things in those that are naturall or positive 3. First answer all morall things are naturally just 4. Second answer all morall things are perpetuall which morall are not 1 SEcondly if the keeping of a seventh day were a morall duty our first Father Adam by that light of nature which GOD put in his minde when he created him would have knowne it as well as he knew all other things which in themselves are good and necessary But he neither had nor should have had any knowledge thereof if God had not injoyned it unto him by a particular commandement as those which maintaine the morality of the Sabbath doe avouch pretending that such a command was given him for that end which we shall ponder and discusse in time and place In the meane while of this it followeth manifestly that the observation of a seventh day is a thing depending meerely of institution and ecclesiasticall regiment and that in the decalogue the fourth Commandement in as farre as it injoyneth a seventh day is not of the same nature with the rest For if it were God
Covenants of promise made with the Iewes saith with an affirmative interrogation Who doth not honour the sacred and holy day that returneth every weeke But besides that it may be hee spoke hyperbolically and led away with a Iewish affection towards the ceremonies of his owne Nation he designes at the most some reverend opinion which the observation of that day solemnized with so great devotion amongst the Iewes had purchased amongst forraine Nations which seeing that Iewish discipline and devotion were in a manner forced to admire it And not that they also kept it commonly as being or holding that they were naturally obliged thereunto It is manifest that wee must give this interpretation to these words of Philo by other places where in the same yea in stronger termes hee saith the like of the fast observed solemnely by the Iewes on a certaine day of the yeere Who saith hee doth not worship with admiration the feast which returneth yeerely in the sacred month And in generall speaking of all the statutes observed by the Iewes and of all the Lawes given by Moses hee saith that men of all other Nations almost had them in some veneration This Moses had foretold in the Booke of Deuteronomy Chap. 4. vers 6. where speaking to the people of the Statutes and Iudgements which hee had taught them even as the LORD his God commanded him hee saith Keepe therefore and doe them for this is your wisedome and your understanding in the sight of all Nations which shall heare all these Statutes and shall say Surely this great Nation alone is awise and understanding people Thus Philo sheweth cleerely enough that the Gentiles knew nothing of the Sabbath day no more then of the other ordinances of Moses but by the relation of the Iewes Hee attributeth nothing to the Sabbath but hee affirmeth the same of all other ordinances of the Law and therefore no man can build upon his words a more universall obligation for the Sabbath then for all the rest of the Iewish ceremonies For who will say that the fast and other ceremonies which he speakes of in the same discourse obliged by a naturall or positive Law other Nations or that they were ordinarily practised among them Likewise when he saith in his Booke of the workemanship of the World that the Sabbath day is a feast not of one people only but of all Nations hee uttereth onely his opinion concerning the dignity and merit of that day and not what was in effect practised amongst other Nations as hee explaineth his owne words adding This day is worthy to be called a feast of all Natitions although no Nation in the world the Iewes excepted hath ever solemnized it with a common and ordinary observation And indeed this learned man writing in his Booke upon the Decalogue that the fourth Commandement ordaineth the seventh day and an holy and pious observation thereof hee appropriates that saying to the Iewes adding that every seventh day is holy to the Iewes and faith onely of other Nations that some of them observed a seventh day every moneth beginning to reckon the daies by the new Moone If perhaps some amongst these people reverenced and observed the seventh day of the weeke in some sort that came not from a naturall instinct inforcing them thereunto nor from any knowledge derived unto them by the Traditions and Instructions of their Fathers but from imitations of the Iewes from whose practice and fashions in their religious devotions and amongst the rest in the observation and celebration of the Sabbath questionlesse many particularities were introduced amongst the Gentiles in the celebration of their feasts and solemnities As some among them taking example from the Iewes circumcised their children 3 This is the meaning of Iosephus in his second Booke against Appion when hee saith that other Nations had zeale and emulation for the piety and religion of the Iewes and forthwith alledgeth the custome of the seventh day as which was come to them all Of which passage those that alledged it cannot take an argument for the moralitie and perpetuitie of the Sabbath day more then for the other ceremonies of the Iewes admitted and allowed of all which the same people and Nations imitated and whereof Iosephus speaketh in the same place For hee mentioneth with the seventh day the fasts lights prohibition of certaine meats which hee saith also to have beene observed by them not for any reason and naturall obligation that they saw in these things or in the Sabbath more than in the rest but through a facility and inclination of mans spirit to imitate the outward fashions of devotion which are practised by others 9 These passages of Philo of Iosephus and others gathered out of other authors Iewes Pagans Christians which make mention of a common knowledge of the seventh day of Sabbath among the Gentiles and also of some kinde of observation thereof amongst some of them are of no use For all these authors have written long yea some thousand yeeres and more after the establishment of the Iewish government and religion At which time the Ordinance that God had given to the Iewes about the Sabbath might have beene knowne of all Nations and imitated of those who thought fit so to doe Were not the ten Tribes transported out of their native soile and dispersed among the Medes Perses and other Nations Had not the Iewes beene captives in Babylon threescore and ten yeeres and sent home by Cyrus afore any man amongst the Gentiles set his hand to a penne to write Histories Were not the Iewes spred over the whole Roman Empire before CHRIST came into the World What wonder then if their rites and ceremonies were knowne every where yea and followed by those of the Gentiles that became Proselytes such as was the Ethiopian Evnuch in his owne Countrey Acts 8. vers 27. The Roman Centurion Cornelius in Cesaria Acts 10. verse 2. Another Centurion in Capernaum Luke 7. verse 4 5. and more during the Empire of the Romans and may be before it also What if whole Nations had imbraced all the Iewish ceremonies or a part of them or the Sabbath onely and a thousand Writers should give testimony thereunto can wee out of that cloud of Heathen Iewish or Christian witnesses make a necessary inference that the observation of a seventh day of Sabbath is a point of the naturall and morall law or that it had sway as soone as the world began Which is the maine point in this question to be thorowly sifted out and cleerely proved As for the passages of a few heathenish Poets Linus Homere Hesiode which speake of the seventh day as of a holy day that all things were made in exceptions may be taken against them because either they are not to be found in those authors upon whom they are fathered and therefore they are justly suspected to be a Cuckoes egges or are mis-taken and wrested into a contrary meaning which is most cleere in the passage of
15. And as Malachy gathereth thence a perpetuall rule even so from Gods resting on the seventh day wee ought to gather a perpetuall rule of the sanctification of that day For as it is manifest by that which hath been said there is a great disparity betweene these two cosidering that in the first which is the union of two persons in wedlocke there is a foundation of naturall honesty and righteousnesse whereof the practise and confirmation hath beene alwaies since the beginning of the world both in the old and new Testament But in the second which concerneth Gods rest on the seventh day and his hallowing of that day rather than of any other there is no naturall righteousnesse and therefore no necessity obliging all men from the beginning to the end of the World As also no hallowing no practising of it is to be seene in the old Testament before the Law was given by Moses and farre lesse is any confirmation of it to be found in the new Testament 8 The fourth and last reply is that after the Law given by Moses no mention is made in the Booke of Iudges nor in some other historicall Bookes of the old Testament of the observation of the Sabbath and yet from this no inference can be made that the Sabbath was not observed in those daies in like manner none should inferre that it was not kept in the daies of the Patriarches because forsooth there is no record in their history that they hallowed it This reply is so cleane from the matter that no reckoning is to be made of it Verily the first conlusion were too bad because the institution of the Sabbath was made in a most expresse manner before the daies specified in the foresaid Bookes to continue thorow all the ages of the Common-wealth of Israel And no doubt is to be made but that it was kept in all those daies although there was no occasion offered to relate so much in the foresaid Bookes It sufficeth that it is often mentioned in other Bookes which shew the continuall practice thereof under the Law and the Israelites are in them grievously censured as guilty of a most hainous crime when they observed it not But the second conclusion is most reasonable For if the Sabbath had beene observed about two thousand yeeres by the Patriarches before the Law was given and if it was in all that time a part of Gods service is it not a thing uncoth and farre from all likelihood that no notice is given us neither in the story of those times nor in any other part of Scripture that the Sabbath was then commanded and religiously observed Namely seeing the Church was at that time in a particular estate and was ruled by an oeconomy farre different from the government under the Law of which estate and oeconomy there was a just cause why the whole service should be notified unto us and namely this part thereof which is pretended to be so necessary 9 Now this is worthy to be marked putting the case that assuredly neither the Gentiles nor the Patriarches have observed a seventh day of Sabbath before the Law was given by Moses to the Iewes that the two reasons before alledged are of great force to justifie that the keeping of that day is neither of the Law of nature nor of divine institution by a positive Law given to Adam and to his posterity from the beginning of the World But although it could be shewed that either the Patriarches or the Gentiles observed that day from the beginning no more can be gathered of these premises with a reasonable inference saving that God had instituted and commanded the seventh day before the Law was given by Moses But it should be a most unreasonable conclusion to gather from thence that the keeping holy of the seventh day is a point of the naturall and morall Law which as I have said hath in it a naturall unchangeable and universall justice whereas positive Lawes are of things indifferent which have no justice but in the will of the Law-giver and stand or fall at his pleasure CHAPTER fifth REASON 5. 1 If God had commanded the seventh day from the beginning or if the observation thereof were a morall duty God had enjoyned all Adams posterity to keepe it 2 This was impossible by reason of the divers situation of the earth 3 As also because of the impossibility that is in the most part of men to keepe such a commandement 4 Therefore God gave it to the Iewes onely and hath not bound the Catholike Church to any regular and set day 1 IF the observation of one day in every weeke or of a seventh day were a thing morall and if particularly God had ordained to Adam the observation of the last day of seven which hee rested on and which afterwards hee prescribed to the Isaelites by the Law undoubtedly hee had thereby intended to binde all Adams posterity to the observation of one day of seven yea to the last day of seven which he had prescribed to their first Father at least till he himselfe had changed it into another day of seven as is pretended he did by our Lord Iesus Christ. And indeed the common tenet of those which hold the morality of the Sabbath day is that the keeping not onely of a seventh day but also of the last of seven obliged all men till the comming of Christ. 2 But this was is and ever shall be impossible For Adams posterity after it was multiplied extended it selfe abroad very largely thorow all the quarters of the earth the diverse situation whereof in regard of the course of the Sunne diversifieth the daies extremely the Sunne rising according to the diversity of places with much difference sooner or later It is night in some parts when it is day in others Yea there are some Regions where the Sunne goeth not under the Horizon for the space of a whole month others where it setteth not in the space of two three foure five sixe moneths together which all make but one continuall day And thereafter they have as many moneths of night the Sunne never comming nigh them in all that time Considering this great and well knowne variety I aske how it was possible to all men thus dispersed under so many and divers elevations to keepe this seventh day wherein God rested from all his works And how those to whom many moneths make but one day and as many but one night yea to whom the whole yeere is but one day and one night could keepe distinctly and regularly but one day of seven Was it necessary that these men after the revolution of six of their daies and of as many nights which came to many not onely moneths but also yeeres should observe the seventh following that is whole moneths whole halfe yeeres or a whole yeere for one Sabbath only Or these only have they beene freed from the observation of a fixed day for Gods service and left to their owne
pretence 4 Of this I inferre that seeing in the Gospell there is no expresse command touching the keeping of a seventh day of rest it cannot be a morall point For since all other morall points are so often and so expresly injoined therein what likelihood is there that God would have omitted this without making an evident injunction thereof Nay seeing under the old Testament God was so carefull to recommend the keeping of his Sabbaths as may be seene every where in the Bookes of the Prophets is it credible that if he had intended under the new Testament to tie us to the observation of a seventh day of Sabbath he would have shewne as great care to recommend it unto us as he did theirs to the Iewes seeing it is pretended that on Gods behalfe we are as straitly bound to the observation of the Sabbath as they were CHAPTER seventh REASON 7. 1 Manifest reasons out of the three first Evangelists against the morality of the Sabbath What is meant by the Sabbath second first 2 Exposition of Christs answer to the Pharisees who blamed his Disciples for plucking the cares of corne and rubbing them to eate on the Sabbath day 3 First argument out of this answer The Sabbath is declared to be of the same nature that the Shew bread and Sacrifices were of and mercy is preferred unto it Therefore it is not morall 4 Second argument Christ affirmeth that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath Therefore it is not morall 5 A reply to this argument refuted 6 Third argument Christ addeth that the Sonne of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day Therefore the Sonne of man being taken for Christ as he is Christ and Mediator it is not morall 7 Fourth argument Christ did handie-works without necessity and commanded servile workes to be done on the Sabbath day without necessity Therefore it is not morall 8 Christ as the Sonne of man was not Lord of the morall Law but only of the ceremoniall Therefore the Sabbath is not morall 9 If the Sonne of man who is Lord of the Sabbath be taken in its vulgar signification for every man the Sabbath cannot be morall 10 Hence it followeth that the Sabbath was onely a positive Law given to the Iewes and not to Christians 1 I Adde that not onely there is nothing expresly set downe in the Gospel confirming the morality of a Sabbath day but much otherwise that it furnisheth strong arguments to overthrow it As among others those namely which are to be found in S. Matthew Ghap. 12. vers 1 c. in S. Marke Chap. 2. vers 23. c. in S. Luke Chap. 6. vers 1 c. where is related a thing that came to passe on the Sabbath day which S. Matthew and S. Marke call simply the Sabbath and S. Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sabbath second first or second principall which the interpretors take diversly Some understand it of two holy daies the one following the other immediately and more particularly of the second day after the first of the feast of unleavended bread For that feast was kept seven daies which all were Sabbaths although the first and the last only were solemne Sabbaths of holy convocation Others take it for the seventh and last day of the said feast of unleavened bread which was a very solemne day and equall in holinesse to the first day of the said feast whence it was called Second First that is to say another first or the first called backe againe and renued A third sort expound it of the second solemne feast of the yeere called the feast of weekes or of first fruits and by S. Luke the Sabbath Second First that is second in order after the first and as it were another first in dignity For all the feast daies were Sabbaths It may be also that this Sabbath Second First fell out on an ordinary Sabbath of the weeke Wherein there is a great apparence of truth seeing the Pharisees blamed Christs Disciples for plucking the eares of corne and rubbing them in their hands to eat on that day which they could not have done with any colour saving on an ordinary and weekely day of Sabbath wherein God had forebidden all kinde of worke and namely the making ready of meat For in all other solemne Sabbaths of yeerely feasts he had expresly permitted this particular worke of making ready whatsoever was necessary to every one to eate as may be seene Exod. 12. vers 16. But although this Sabbath Second first be understood of another day then of an ordinary Sabbath it imports not much and no exception can be taken against it to impaire the strength of the arguments which are gathered out of the foresaid places For whatsoever Christ said in defence of that which his Disciples did and the Pharisees blamed in this Sabbath second first is manifestly generall and pertaineth to all Sabbaths kept in times past among the Iewes whether ordinary or extraordinary Thus then the three Evangelists doe record that Iesus went on the Sabbath day thorow the corne fields and his Disciples plucked the eares of corne and did eat rubbing them in their hands Whereof being reproved by the Pharisees as profaners of the Sabbath whereon God forebad to doe any worke Iesus Christ to cleare them and refute the Pharisees alledgeth the example of David and of those that were with him Which when they were an hungry did take and eate the Shew-bread which was not lawfull to eate but to the Priests alone and were not blamed for this because the necessity of hunger was a sufficient excuse unto them Whence his intent was to inferre that his Disciples also in that which they did then were to be excused of breaking of the Sabbath by the same necessity of hunger which they were pinched with and which gave them liberty to doe that which otherwise was not lawfull to doe on the Sabbath day Moreover Iesus Christ addeth If yee had knowne what this meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice yee would not have condemned the guiltlesse Of which argument this is the force that if God preferred the works of mercy and of love to the Sacrifices which in all the outward service of the Law were the most holy and would have the Sacrifices to give place to those workes by identity of reason his meaning was also that the keeping of the Sabbath or abstaining from outward works on that day should give place to that mercy and love which man oweth to himselfe or to his neighbours and would not have allowed that a man should consent to die for want of meat to be hunger-starved or to bring harme to himselfe by some other evill rather then to breake the Sabbath by making meat ready or doing some other necessary worke which was otherwise forbidden on the Sabbath day Hee confirmeth this saying The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath the meaning of which words is
that although God had ordained by the Law of Moses that his people should surcease from all outward and servile workes on the Sabbath day yet he required not that cessation as a thing essentiall to his service or so necessary that it could not upon any occasion be lawfull to man to doe such workes on that day but rather that authority and power was given him according to Gods intention in case hee were forced thereunto by some urgent necessity As for example the saving or sustaining of his life For the keeping of the Sabbath was not the scope and end which man was made for or a thing of so great consideration before God as is the conservation of the necessary interests of man For if that had beene it should not have been lawfull to man to breake it upon any case or necessity whatsoever but nill he will he he must be subject to the most straite observation thereof notwithstanding any danger whatsoever hee may fall into thereby Nay man was rather the scope and end of the Sabbath and of the observation thereof and his interests were of greater importance then they And therefore when mans goods life or reputation are in jeopardy the Sabbath must give place unto them as being a thing wherein consisteth not properly and essentially the glory and service of God and which is to be kept onely as a helpe to his service when stronger and more profitable considerations for the glory and service of God bind not to the contrary as they doe when life honour or such other things of great consequence to man come in question For then it is more expedient for the glory and service of God that a mans life honour goods c. be saved by some worke otherwise forebidden on the Sabbath day then that with a manifest hazard of his life honour or goods he should tie himselfe to a precise keeping of the Sabbath and to a scrupulous cessation which in such a case should become superstitious It is questionlesse that the matter was to be taken so under the old Testament and this is the maine point that Christ intended to maintaine and verifie against the Pharisees which urged a so precise and strict observation of the Sabbath that it turned to the prejudice and damage of man made man slave of the Sabbath subjected not the Sabbath to man and GOD so inthralled man with the keeping of that day that it was a thing unlawfull unto him to prepare and take in his pinching hunger a mouthfull of meate for his sustenance although hee should starve and perish for want of food 3 Vpon this reasoning of Iesus Christ it followeth clearely that the keeping of a seventh day of Sabbath appointed in the fourth Commandement is not morall For first Christ sorts it with the observations commanded in the Law touching the Shew-bread the sacrifices and other ceremoniall services of the Temple Matth. 12. vers 6. as being of the same nature that is belonging simply to the Iudaicall policie order and government And all the strength of his argument is grounded upon this point that the Sabbath is of the same nature with these ceremonies and therefore as they might be dispensed with keeping of them if stronger reasons obliged them to the contrary so they might sometimes be released from the forbearing of all workes on the Sabbath day if they had just and necessary reason to doe some workes that day Else the Pharisees might have most easily replyed that although David in his hunger tooke the liberty to eat the Shew-bread which was not lawfull to eate but to the Priests and albeit it was lawfull to any man to preferre the workes of mercy in his owne or in his neighbours necessity to sacrifice yet it followed not that hunger could give him any licence to breake the Sabbath because these observations concerning the Shew-bread and the Sacrifices were but ceremonies which might be sometimes omitted and dispensed with whereas the Sabbath and the keeping of it was a thing morall and undispensable 4 Secondly Iesus Christ saith that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath Marke 2. verse 27. Now it cannot be said of any thing truely morall and ordained of God by a morall Commandement that it is made for man and not man for it that it is the end of man and not man the end of it that it should yeeld to the interests of man and not man to the interests of it For example dare any man be so bold as to say that the Commandements to have no other GOD but the true GOD to shunne Idolatry to abstaine from blaspheming and profaning in any manner the name of GOD to honour Father and Mother not to be a Murtherer a Whoremunger a Thiefe a false Witnesse not to covet another mans goods not to love GOD and the neighbour are made for man and not man for them and that man may dispense with them for his owe particular interests Verily it is not lawfull to a man to breake these Commandements as it is lawfull to him to breake the Sabbath for his owne conservation in any thing that hath reference unto him Nay hee should tread under foot all his owne interests rather then transgresse in any of those points Which sheweth evidently that the Commandement concerning the Sabbath is not of the same nature that these others are of That these are morall are of the Law of nature have in themselves an essentiall justice and equity and for that cause are undispensable so binding conscience at all times that it cannot be lawfull at any time to doe any thing against them That this of the Sabbath was onely a Commandement of order of ceremoniall policie of a positive Law and for that cause liable to dispensation and abrogation as in effect it was dispensed with in the forenamed occasions and CHRIST by his comming into the world hath abolished under the new Testament the particular Commanment given concerning it 5 The observation which is made by some that Christ saith that man was not made for the Sabbath or for the day of rest but saith not that man was not made to sanctifie the Sabbath is but a vaine subtilty For by the Sabbath Christ understandeth both the rest of the day and the day of rest For in the Scripture the word Sabbath signifieth the one and the other And seeing the observation and sanctification of the day consisted at least in part in a rest and cessation of all externall workes as is evident by the words of the fourth Commandement and of Exodus Chap. 31. v. 14 15. and of Ieremiah Chap. 17. vers 22. 24. yea seeing this sanctification onely was proper unto it and particularly tied unto it and seeing it taketh from it the name of Sabbath wherewith it is honored to say that man is not made for the rest or cessation and is not necessarily tied unto it but may dispense with it not through a fancy and at
be not the same seventh day who will not conceive that it had not well become the Apostle to condemne the observation of Iudaicall daies namely of the particular day of the Iewish Sabbath as being a yoake and a ceremony of the Law considering that in the meane while hee tied the Christians to the odinary and precise observation of a stinted day even of a seventh day of Sabbath which was all one seeing the day onely had been changed and the yoake and the ceremony had been still kept For the yoake and bondage of the Law consisted in the observation of certaine stinted daies and namely of a seventh day of Sabbath by Gods Ordinance and obligation of conscience and not in keeping the last seventh day rather than another seeing otherwise it is not a heavie yoake nor a greater bondage to keepe the last then to keepe the first of the seven daies of the weeke CHAPTER ninth REASON 9. 1 A most forcible argument out of the Epistle to the Colossians Chap. 2. vers 16. where the Apostle teacheth that Christian mens conscience is not tied to the keeping of holy daies and of Sabbaths 2 Answer is made that the naming of Sabbaths in the plurall number sheweth they must be understood of the Sabbaths of holy daies and not of the weekely Sabbath 3 First reply In the name of a holy day the Sabbaths thereof are included 4 Second reply Sabbaths in the plurall number include necessarily the weekely Sabbath which also is most frequently called Sabbaths in holy Scripture 5 Third reply The Apostle by Sabbaths understandeth onely the weekely Sabbath 6 Fourth reply The weekely Sabbath did belong to the Law of Commandements which is abolished and the Apostle speaketh without exception indefinitely of the â—â—â—gation of holy dayes and Sabbaths 7. Thence it followeth that the fourth Commandement in so farre as it stinteth the seventh day for Gods service is not morall 1 OF the same nature is the passage in the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians verse 16. Let no man judge you in meat or in drinke or in distinction of a holy day or of the new Moone or of Sabbaths Where the Apostle teacheth that under the New Testament the conscience of beleevers is not bound to make distinction and observation of any holy day and namely of Sabbaths neither altogether nor in part no more than of meats and of drinkes ranking all those with the ordinances and shadowes which have beene abrogated by Iesus Christ ver 14 17. For like as in matters concerning meat and drinke nature hath necessarily need of them for the entertainment of the body but the conscience is not now bound to that distinction of them which was of old prescribed by the Law of Moses even so it is necessary for the maintenance of the Soule that times bee appointed for Gods publike service in the Church but mens conscience is no more subjected to a seventh day which the Law prescribed to the Iewes 2 To this passage answer is made that the Apostle speaketh of the Iewish holy dayes the Passeover Pentecost c. and of divers Sabbaths which the Iewes observed such as were the first and last day of some annuall feasts which lasted many dayes to wit of the Passeover of the feast of Tabernacles of the feast of Propitiations which was kept on the tenth day of the seventh moneth every seventh yeere which was the Sabbath of rest unto the land because in it they did neither sow their field nor prune their Vineyards every fiftieth yeere which was a jubile All which times are called Sabbaths in the Scripture But it s denyed that he speaketh of the Sabbath day which God had ordained to be kept weekely as well under the New as under the Old Testament For which cause the Apostle speaketh of Sabbaths in the plurall number and not of a Sabbath in the fingular number to signifie that he understood those Sabbaths and not this 3 This answer is not sufficient For the Apostle speaketh generally of an holy day and of Sabbaths saying that we should not be judged or condemned in distinction and separation or part and respect of an Holy day and putting the word signifying an Holy day in the singular number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word denoteth any holy day whatsoever Now if we be bound for conscience sake to the observation of a seventh day of Sabbath if we be tyed by Religion to make a distinction of dayes if we be condemned for the omission of that pretended duty are wee not condemned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in distinction of an Holy day 4 Againe seeing he speaketh of Sabbath in the plurall number with what reason can it be affirmed that his intention was to speak only of the Sabbaths of certaine yeerely feasts and not of the ordinary Sabbath of every weeke although he useth a word befitting it aswell yea more than the rest and including it infallibly in its plurality Namely seeing this word is much more used in the plurall number then in the fingular and is ordinarily taken both in the New and in the Old Testament for the Sabbath whereof wee treat The seventy Greeke translators of the Old Testament are accustomed to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plurall number when in Hebrew mention is made of the ordinary Sabbath of the weeke in the singular number as we may see Exod. 16. ver 23 26 29. Exod. 20. uer 8 10. Exod. 31. ver 16. Exod. 35. v. 2 3. Levit. 23. v. 3. Levit. 24. ver 8. Numb 28. 2 9. Deut. 5. ver 12 14 15. and else where conformably to them This plurall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in the same sence by the writers in the New Testament as Matthew 12. verse 1 5 10 12. Matth. 28. ver 1. Mark 1. ver 21. Mark 2. ver 24 28. Mark 3. ver 2. Luk. 4. ver 16 31. Luk. 13. ver 10. Iohn 20. ver 1 19. Acts 13. ver 14. Acts 16. ver 13. Acts 17. ver 2. I say therefore that to conclude that the Apostle in the foresaid passage speaketh not of the Sabbath day which returned weekely because he useth the word Sabbath in the plurall number is a weake argument seeing in the Scriptures stile and manner of speaking this word in the plurall number hath a single signification Nay it may bee affirmed with good reason that the Apostle when he speaketh of Sabbaths understands only the ordinary Sabbath of the seventh day and under the name going before of an Holy day hath comprehended all other Sabbaths which God had commanded in the Law even as God himselfe in Leviticus Chapter 23. ver 37. by the word Feasts understandeth all other solemne dayes which he had commanded and ver 38. by the word Sabbaths the seventh day in every weeke according to the ordinary signification thereof not only in the Greeke but also in the Hebrew tongue to which purpose there is a most manifest
place Exod. 31. ver 13. where God saith Uerily my Sabbaths yee shall keep for it is a signe betweene me and you throughout your generations that yee may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctifie you And for more ample declaration in the Verses following 14. 15 16 17. he expounds those Sabbaths of the weekely Sabbath only Although this were not so whosoever speaketh of Sabbaths in the number of multitude and maketh no exception understandeth whatsoever is contained in the signification of that word and hath the same denomination Verily when the Apostle saith that no man should condemne us in distinction of an Holy day or of Sabbaths if he had not understood all Sabbaths but had beleeved that God hath expresly ordained under the New Testament as hee did under the old a day to be for his service a day of festivity and of Sabbath he was bound to except it particularly and by name and so to keepe the Church from falling into an error namely seeing we are not taught in any part of his Epistles nor else where in the New Testament that GOD hath made such an ordinance that in any time the observation of a Sabbath hath beene injoyned unto us that any such day hath beene excepted from those dayes and Sabbaths which in the said New Testament we are forbidden to keepe 6 When the Apostle saith that Christ hath abolished the Law of commandements Eph. 2. vers 15. and hath made a change of the Law Heb. 7. vers 12. We see easily that he understandeth the ceremoniall and not the morall Law because in the same places he explicates his meaning calling it The Law of Commandements contained in ordinances the middle wall of partition betweene the Iewes and Gentiles Ephes. 2. vers 14 15. the Law of a carnall Commandement and of the Leviticall Priesthood weake unprofitable and which made nothing perfect Heb. 7. vers 11. 16 18 19. Because also in many other places wee are taught that the Law abolished by Christ is the Ceremoniall only and doe see all morall Commandements confirmed and ratified by him But when the Apostle discourseth of the abolishment of holy daies and of Sabbaths without any limitation or modification there is no cause why the seventh day should be excepted seeing he excepted it not neither is it excepted in any place of the Gospell which speaketh no where unto us of morall daies of Sabbath as also it is absurd to establish any such day 7 It sufficeth not to alledge that the fourth Commandement of the Law injoineth the seventh day of Sabbath and to inferre from thence that of necessity the Apostles minde was to except that Sabbath as being morall For I say rather that the fourth Commandement in as farre as it injoineth the observation of a seventh day of Sabbath is not morall seeing the Apostle without exception saith that under the Gospell our consciences should not be tied to Sabbath daies words which he had never so uttered if the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement had beene morall and obligatory At least in some other places information and instructions had beene given us of this by him and by the rest of the Evangelists and Apostles who have instructed us in the knowledge of all other morall points which is not to be found For there is not to be seene in the whole new Testament any injunction to observe a Sabbath day But of this point we shall speake more fully hereafter CHAPTER Tenth REASON 10. 1 The Christians in S. Pauls time had no time appointed to them for Gods service seeing some of them esteemed one day above another others esteemed every day alike 2 Answer is made to this argument that those which esteemed every day alike were weeke and therefore erred 3 Refutation of this answer First by the analogie of the other point where hee who did eat herbs onely is called weake and he who knew he might eat all things is called strong 4 Second Because to esteeme all daies alike cannot be called weakenesse 5 Third Because if Christ or his Apostles had appointed a set day for Gods service to esteeme all daies alike had not beene weaknesse but profanenesse which neverthelesse it was not 6 Fourth Otherwise the Apostle would not have said that he that doth not regard a day to the Lord doth not regard it but rather against the Lord. 7 Of what day it is said that one regarded it another regarded it not 8 Fifth Seeing to regard a day is weaknesse and not to regard a day is strength of knowledge God hath not obliged the Christian Church to any set day for his service by any morall or positive Law 1 THE same is plainly shewed by these words of the Epistle to the Romans Chap. 14. vers 5 6. One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully perswaded in his owne minde He that regardeth a day regardeth it unto the Lord And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it In this place the Apostle speaketh of religious Christians shewing that they were at variance about two divers heads For some of them beleeved that a Christian man should not sticke nor make a scruple of conscience to eate indifferently all meats Others for conscience sake would eate nothing but herbs Some of them also esteemed every day alike others esteemed one day above another Of those two parties he calleth the one strong the other weak and exhorteth them that were strong to beare the infirmities of the weake namely seeing these things were of small moment and that the weake did such things out of conscience and through a religious respect to God that indeed their conscience was not well informed and directed but at length might be and affiance was to be had that they should be holden up because GOD was able to make them stand verse 4. As concerning eating of all things or eating of herbs onely the Apostle calleth directly weake those which did eate nothing but hearbes And strong those which beleeved that they might eate and indeed did eate all things indifferently But on the other point concerning the disagreement which was among them about dayes whether every day should be esteemed alike or one day should bee esteemed above another he declareth not expresly who were strong who weake Some of those which urge the observation of the Sabbath day as a point of Religion and of conscience commanded by Christ shunning the argument which this place affords against their opinion doe say that those which esteemed every day alike were weake and the others were strong and that this is the Apostle his intention But it is easie to perceive that the contrary opinion is true that say I those which esteemed every day alike were strong and those weake which esteemed one day above another 3 First the analogy of the other point which the Apostle alleadgeth concerning meates sheweth it manifestly For as
and just that this last day of the creation should yeeld the possession of the day of rest unto it 2 To underprop this opinion they have broached diverse reasons amongst which we shall order in the first place the reason taken out of the second Chapter of Genesis ver 3. where Moses after hee had said that God finished all his workes in sixe dayes and rested on the seventh day addeth And God blessed the Seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his workes which hee created and made Of which words they conclude that as soone as ever the Creation was ended and the Seventh day begun to subsist in nature it was blessed and sanctified that is consecrated to Gods service and ordained even then to our first Parents while they were in the state of innocency to be kept by them for this end and therefore the observation of a Seventh day is morall is of the Law of nature and is in no wise ceremoniall seeing it was established before sin came into the world at which time there was no shadowes and figures of Christ because in that state of innocency our first Parents had not stood in neede of him nor of any direction to him by ceremonies If then in that estate wherein no corruption of sin had hindred them to serve God continually and the bodily imployments had been no great disturbance unto them in the practice of that duty God judged necessary to injoine unto them a seventh day to the intent that giving over all other care they should in it addict themselves only to the actions of his service and all religious exercises how much more in the state of sin wherein men have so many hindrances from Gods service both by sin and by the laborious occupations of their worldly callings is it necessary that a set day of rest be ordained unto them to cease wholly in it from the turmoile of their secular affaires and to give themselves only to holy and religious exercises belonging to Gods service This necessity is as great under the new Testament as it was under the old and therefore God hath not omitted to ordaine under both a Sabbath day yea a seventh day of rest which being established before sinne and consequently being morall bindeth all men perpetually 3 There be divers meanes to answer this objection First nothing obligeth us to believe that the words written in the third verse of the second Chapter of Genesis should be thus translated And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it as if Moses had meant to expresse a time past long before his penning of this Booke and to tell that this blessing and sanctifying was made even from the time that the creation was finished and from the first seventh day of the world Whereas they may be translated thus And God hath blessed the seventh day and hath sanctified it understood as being said with a Parenthesis and in regard of the Ordinance which God had lately made in the daies of Moses concerning the seventh day when he gave by his Ministery the Law of the Israelites Which ordinance Moses made mention of in his relation to the history of the creation as of a thing established and knowne of the Israelites when he writ by occasion of that he had said that God after he had created all his works in sixe daies rested on the seventh day So we may give this exposition to Moses words God made all his works in six daies and rested on the seventh day and thence he tooke occasion to blesse and sanctifie now that day giving commandement by his Law to his people of Israel to keepe it in their generations So it shall be a narration made in this place occasionally according to the ordinary custome of holy Writers and specially of Moses when in the historicall relation of things that were come to passe long before they find occasion to speak of things happened since specially of those that were come to passe in their time when they wrote to interlace upon that occasion a short rehearsall of them with the narration of things more ancient and to speake of both in such a manner as if they had happened in the same time whereof I will here set downe some examples 4 First we find divers places named by anticipation As in the 12. Chapter of Genesis verse 8. It is said that Abraham removed unto a mountaine Eastward from Bethel which name of Bethel was not in the daies of Abraham the name of the place betokened by it in the foresaid words For it was not called Bethel till in it Iacob saw a ladder reaching to heaven and the Lord standing above it Then Iacob called it Bethel that is The house of God whereas before that time it was called Luz as may be seene in Genesis Chap. 28. vers 13. 19. But Moses writing the history of Abraham called it Bethel by an historicall anticipation because in his time Bethel was the ordinary name of that place We read in the fourth Chapter of Ioshuah vers 19. that the people came up out of Iordan and pitched in Gilgal which was not so called till Ioshuah in that place circumcised the people Chap. 5. vers 9. Likewise in the second Chapter of Iudges and first verse the Author saith that the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bokim because the place which he calleth Bokim was so called when he wrote that history although it was not yet so called when the Angel came thither but received that name afterward from the teares which the people shed and powred out before God after the Angel had rebuked them For the Text saith that when the Angel of the Lord spake these words to all the children of Israel the people lift up their voice and wept Therefore they called the name of that place BOKIM vers 4 5. 5 Secondly we find the same anticipation in the description of things and actions As in the 16. Chapter of Exodus where Moses reporteth how God began first to give Manna to the Israelites which I pretend also to be the time of the first institution of the Sabbath and how the Israelites carried themselves about the ordering thereof and immediatly he addeth how he by Gods command ordained that an Omer of it should be filled to be kept for the generations of the Israelites vers 32. and gave an injunction to Aaron to take a pot to put in it that Omer full of Manna and to lay it up before the LORD to be kept for their generation vers 33. He reciteth also at once that as the LORD commanded him so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony to be kept vers 34. which things as it is evident were not done at the first when God gave them that bread to eat because then there was as yet neither Tabernacle nor Arke nor Tables of the Law But because when Moses wrote all these things were done and
pleased to subject him unto and to stint unto him that time to wit the seventh day for the particular time of his service even as he appointed unto him the garden of Heden for the place where he would have him to make his residence and there to apply himselfe to admire the workes of his Creator to serve and to worship him And indeed any man may with as good reason conclude that it must needs be a morall thing to serve God in Heden because it was the place where God had setled Adam to be served by him there in the state of his innocency as they doe which seeke to prove that it is a point of morality to keepe a seventh day of Sabbath because God ordained in that state a seventh day to Adam For the determination of a certaine time can no more be a morall point then the determination of a place neither of them being founded in the principles of nature and of naturall justice and equity as should be whatsoever is morall and as indeed is all that is written in the ten Commandements saving the Commandement of the seventh day of Sabbath which is a thing depending entirely on institution and government as shall be seene more fully afterwards Or why may it not be inferred that not only a seventh day but the last of seven is morall because if God ordained a seventh day to Adam it was the last of seven as those against whom we doe dispute doe avouch 6 Now if a seventh day could not be ordained to Adam in quality of a morall thing but onely as a point and rule of order granting that it was prescribed unto him it is inconsequent that it was to continue afterwards by a perpetuall ordinance given to all men For there is no necessity that all men after sinne came into the world ought to be alwaies ruled in Gods service by the same outward order that Adam was ruled by before he sinned seeing things pertaining meerly and simply to order are subject to alteration 7 It is most true that if in the state of innocency God had ordained to Adam a particular day amongst others to serve him it should be as much nay farre more fit and necessary that wee under the state of sinne should alwaies have alike ordinance for us But I say withall seeing it is supposed that Adam had one of seven daies prescribed unto him in that estate although he applyed himselfe every day to Gods service without distraction that we in the estate we are in and wherein we give our selves so seldome and so sparingly to Gods ordinary service by reason of our worldly imployments should have beene tyed to more then one in seven Yet for all that Seeing God hath never prescribed to sinfull men but one seventh day and that as I pretend for the time of the bondage of the Law only Seeing also under the new Testament although we be alwaies sinners he would not stint unto us any day but in that point hath left his Church free I inferre from thence that it is not likely that hee ordained and limitted to Adam a seventh day nay not any other day of Sabbath For by such a limitation he had tyed and inthralled him in that estate of innocency as much and more then his off-spring in the estate of sinne which seemeth to imply that hee was as much and more led daily away from Gods service then are poore sinners which goe farre beyond all reason CHAPTER Third Answer to the second Reason 1. Second reason for the morality of the Sabbath that before the Law was given the people of Israel went not out to gather Manna in the wildernesse on the seventh day of the weeke 2. First answer Of this argument the morality of the Sabbath cannot be inferred no more than of many ceremonies which were religiously observed long before the Law was given 3. Second answer In the wildernesse God commanded the observation of the Sabbath and of sundry other ceremonies before the Law was given and then onely beganne the keeping of the Sabbath 4. Therefore in vaine are urged the words of Exodus Chap. 16. vers 29 30. The Lord hath given you the Sabbath c. which have relation onely to the command newly made 5. Third answer If the institution of the Sabbath had beene more ancient and if it had beene kept by the Patriarches their children had knowne it and practised it in Egypt 6. Nullity of the reply made to this answer that they had forgotten it first because God did never rebuke them for the inobservation of the Sabbath in the land of Egypt 7. Secondly because many godly men which were in Egypt had not forgotten it and yet before the commandement concerning it was given in the wildernesse made never mention of it nay knew it not as is proved by the Text. 8. And by other places of the old Testament 9. Second reply that besides the generall reason which moved God to give the Sabbath to all men he appropriated it to the people of Israel for some other reasons besides 10. First answer to this reply it cannot be proved that GOD gave it to all men nay it is absolutely appropriated to the Iewes 11. Second answer There is not one of the reasons why God gave the Sabbath to the Iewes adapted to other nations although they were capable of many of them 12. Nor also to the Patriarches who had no notice of the Sabbath 13. If in the Scripture any thing be adapted to the Iewes which was common to other men it is knowne to have beene common either by the nature thereof or by the testimony of Scripture But it is not so of the Sabbath 1 THe second argument alledged for the morality of the Sabbath is that before the Law was given by Moses it was observed which is proved by the sixteenth Chapter of Exodus where it is said that on the seventh day the Israelites went not out to gather Manna but rested every man in his place on that day because it was the holy Sabbath unto the Lord which the Lord himselfe had ordained Whence they would conclude that it was already an ancient ordinance knowne of the Israelites to be such that for this cause they went not out on the seventh day to seek Manna that for the same cause God powred it not downe on that day lest it should be an occasion unto them of violating the Sabbath For all this was done before the Law was given the giving whereof is described afterwards in the same Booke of Exodus Chap. 20. 2 To this I answer first that although it could be most cleerely shewed that the Sabbath was observed from the beginning before the Law which notwithstanding cannot be proved that availeth nothing for the morality of the Sabbath We see that from the beginning and in all times before the Law the firstlings of the slocke and the first fruits of the ground were offered to God Genes 4. ver
that they were in the wildernesse ver 13. 7 Secondly supposing that some of the Israelites had put the ordinance of the Sabbath out of minde this fault could not be common to all not forsooth to Moses Aaron Caleb Ioshuah and to other persons eminent in godlinesse and authority If these had it in memory how did they not put the people in minde of it to make them keepe it as soone as they were in the wildernesse in a full liberty to serve GOD without hinderance But so far were they from remembring it that it is noted ver 22. that all the rulers of the congregation who should have had best knowledge of the divine and ancient ordinances when they saw the people gather and prepare on the sixth day Manna for that day and for the seventh following according to the expresse command which Moses had given them were astonished at it as at a strange and extraordinary thing whereby they were moved to come to Moses and acquaint him with it who upon that occasion informed them of Gods ordinance concerning the day of Sabbath not as of an ancient but as of a new thing which was unknowne before unto them and which he had a fresh learned himselfe verse 23. So in the 29. verse he said to the Israelites See that the Lord hath given You the Sabbath speaking of it as of an ordinance particular to them 8 It is also mentioned elsewhere in the same respect as an observation which God had injoyned them particularly and as a prerogative proper unto them whereby GOD had separated them from all other nations and consecrated them to himselfe as he had done by the rest of the ceremonies of the Law of Moses This the Levites made a religious confession of in Nehemiah 9. Chapter verse 13 19. Thou camest downe upon Mount Sinai and spakest with them from heaven and gavest them right judgements true Lawes good statutes and commandements and madest knowne unto them thy Sabbath c. This the Lord said to them by Ezekiel in the twentieth Chapter ver 10 11 12. I caused them to goe forth out of the land of Aegypt and brought them into the wildernesse and I gave them my statutes c. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to bee a signe betweene me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifie them Which sheweth evidently that the Sabbath was never given but for the Iewes who also have acknowledged by those places and taught in their bookes that the Gentiles were not bound to keepe the Sabbath 9 They reply that the Sabbath is thus appropriated to the Israelites in the places which we have cited because besides the generall reason which was the cause of the institution and ordinance therof to all and for all since the beginning of the world to wit to bee a memoriall of the Creation and of the rest of God God renewed it againe to the Iewes for other reasons particular to them as to be a token for remembrance of their deliverance and rest which God had given them from the bondage of Aegypt and of the miracle done in the Manna 10 This reply which they bring cannot bee of any weight seeing it cannot be found that any one man hath kept the Sabbath day nor that GOD hath at any time commanded it to the Israelites for any reason whatsoever nor that the people of Israel had kept and observed it at any time before their abode in the wildernesse Nay it is said that God gave it to them in the wildernesse and the Sabbath is often appropriated to them absolutely even in its substance without mention of any circumstances or particular reasons as we proved in the places before cited out of the ninth Chapter of Nehemiah and the sixteenth Chapter of Exodus verse 29. in the last of which places God establisheth not the Sabbath for a memoriall of the miracle of the Manna but saith that he had ordained to the Iewes the Sabbath to be kept by them and for that cause rained not Manna on that day upon them 11 Moreover seeing there is not any of the reasons that moved GOD to institute the Sabbath found to be adapted to any other but to them it is unreasonable to extend the Sabbath it selfe to others then to them For although to be a memoriall of the creation as also to be a signe of sanctification are reasons capable of themselves to be common to others as well as to them yet God applyeth them never to others but to them only To them only he said Uerily my Sabbaths yee shall keepe for it is a signe betweene me and you throughout your generations that yee may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctifie you Exod. 31. ver 13. And verse 17. It is a signe betweene me and the children of Israel for ever for in sixe dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed which sheweth cleerely that God took not occasion of his rest on the seventh day from all his workes to institute that day for a day of rest but for the Israelites sake only to wit that it might bee a signe of their consecration to God to be his people of their sanctification and of their spirituall and eternall rest which were benefits peculiar unto them and not common to other nations For it is against reason to say that God would ordaine a signe of these benefits to other nations which he had excluded from the covenant of grace and consequently from sanctification and from eternall life 12 It is no more reasonable to say that it was a signe to the Patriarches and faithfull which were before the Law seeing that is not mentioned in the Scripture where it is said expresly that it was a signe belonging to the generations of the Israelites that is to the ages of the continuance of the Law under which the Israelites did live and not to them that had lived before or were to live after And as when God said to Abraham that he established his covenant to wit Circumcision with him and his seed after him in their generations Genes 17. vers 7 8 9 10. wee inferre from thence very well that before the daies of Abraham Circumcision was not used In like manner from the institution of the Sabbath to be kept by the Israelites in their generations we conclude soundly that before that time it was not observed Nay with as good reason may it be thought that circumcision was used before the dayes of Abraham and that GOD did onely revive it after some particular fashion although no mention be made thereof before Abraham as many doe surmise the Sabbath day to have beene kept from the beginning and that God did only renew it to the Iewes although that be not written 13 I acknowledge that in some places of Scripture some things may be found appropriated to the Israelites particularly which appertained and did still pertaine to
others as well as to them and that by reason of some particular forme whereby GOD gave them more excellently unto them then unto others and of certaine circumstances wherewith hee accompanied them to make them more commendable unto them and move them to keepe them more carefully and that ordinances obligatory to all men were given them clothed with certaine ceremonies belonging to them onely But these are things which carry with them their owne evidence or which the Scripture teacheth otherwhere to have beene common to others But as for the seventh day of Sabbath it appeareth not neither by the nature thereof nor by any declaration of Scripture that it did belong to others then to the Iewes And therefore from this that we finde it never appropriated to any people but to them we conclude most rationally that it was never ordained to any people saving unto them CHAPTER Fourth Answer to the third Reason 1. Third Reason for the morality of a seventh day of Sabbath from the knowledge the Patriarkes had of the distinction of weekes and the use they made of it 2. First answer This argument hath no consequence 3. Second answer The faithfull before the Law observed not the distinction of weekes 4. Impertinent allegation of the Dove which Noah sent forth after seven dayes out of the Arke 5. As of the weeke of the feast of IACOBS mariage with Leah 6. Of the insufficiency of the arguments alleadged to prove the distinction of weekes it followeth that there was no such distinction before the Law 7. And yet it followeth not thence that the Patriarkes did not celebrate the remembrance of the creation which they had learned of their fathers and taught their Children by tradition 8. Although it was not necessary that they should have a solemne and stinted day and specially the last day of the weeke for that use 1 TO prove that the Patriarkes and other faithfull which were before the Law kept the seventh day of Sabbath some take an argument from the distinction of weekes which is pretended to have beene usuall in their time To this purpose they alleadge the eight Chapter of Genesis ver 8 9 10 11 12. where it is said that Noah having sent forth a Dove to know if the waters were abated from of the face of the earth and the Pigeon returning unto him into the Arke he stayed yet other seven dayes and sent her forth the second time and again other seven dayes and sent her forth the third time Whence they would faine inferre that Noah observed weekes and in them the seventh day They alleadge likewise out of the 29. Chapter of Genesis ver 27. that Iacob complaining of Laban who had beguiled him giving him Leah instead of Rachel for whom he had served seven yeeres Laban answered fulfill her weeke and we will give thee this also for the service that thou shalt serve with me yet other seven yeeres Moreover they adde this inconvenience that if the Patriarkes before the Law observed not the distinction of weekes and in them the seventh day they observed and solemnized not also the remembrance of the Creation which God performed in sixe dayes and of his rest on the seventh day 2 To that I answer first that although the Fathers before the Law had kept a regular distinction of weekes it should not follow that they observed the seventh day particularly and made of it a day of rest and of exercises of Religion For they might have kept that distinction simply as a distinction of time as they did of moneths and of yeeres without tying unto it any rule for the exercises of Religion no more than to these other 3 But Secondly I say that it appeareth not that before the Law they observed the foresaid distinction We find in the History of their lives that they have observed distinction of dayes of moneths of yeeres of which times expresse mention is there made as also the distinction of these times is grounded upon the two great heavenly lights to wit the Sunne and the Moone which God created purposely to bee for signes and for seasons and for dayes and yeeres as is to be seene in Genesis first Chapter verse 14. whereof the Patriarkes were well informed having a great knowledge of the Will of GOD and of naturall things Whereas the distinction of weekes is not grounded upon any naturall reason nor also upon any ordinance of GOD which may be proved to have beene made from the beginning Neither is there any where mention made of any observation of weekes before the Law The passages alleadged to demonstrate it being too feeble for that purpose 4 To the first of the eight of Genesis I say that the argument which is grounded upon it consists only in a simple and uncertaine conjecture Indeed Noah twice or thrice one seventh day after another did let out the Pigeon or as the Text saith after he had stayed seven dayes but the History telleth us not what reason hee had to observe after that manner an intervall of seven dayes And it were too great rashnesse to determine it Howsoever no man can gather from thence an ordinary and stinted distinction of weekes such as hath beene since the Law was given For to come to that they must suppose without any evidence produced or testimony brought that the first time that Noah sent out the Dove was the seventh day after he had let out the Raven and that the second time he sent forth the Pigeon precisely on the seventh day following after the first seventh day and so likewise the third time For if he let her out after seven dayes fully expired as the words may be taken it shall be on the eight day which should make a distinction of a space not of seven but of eight dayes Secondly in case it was on each seventh day that he sent out the Dove it must be supposed that it was precisely on the last or on the first day of the weeke and that hee observed exactly the one or the other for that purpose For if he sent her forth on some other day then the first or the last and sent her forth againe on the seventh day following that would only make a weeke perverted and irregular and not the seventh day established and ordained by the Law whereof the Sabbath day was the last day which can be farre lesse proved by the passage before cited to have beene observed by Noah For to make that good it must be certaine that he sent forth his Pigeon on the proper day of Sabbath and that of purpose to performe in so doing a work of sanctification belonging to that day Which not only is not certaine but is also against all likelihood For seeing the observation of the seventh day ordained by the Law obligeth man to rest from all servile workes and to cause all other living creatures that are in his possession to rest likewise if Noah had knowne and observed the Sabbath
day such as the Law ordained afterwards hee had kept himselfe quiet and had not applyed so holy a day to let forth the Pigeon that it might flye abroad here and there and to observe what tokens she should bring unto him of the decreasing of the waters which was rather a violation then a sanctification of the Sabbath according to the tenor of the Law And therefore although Noah had let out the Dove on the seventh day of the weeke that should not be attributed to any particular designe tyed to that day rather than to another but taken as done on that day indifferently as it might have beene done on any other day without seeking any other reason thereof 5 To the other passage taken out of the 29. Chapter of Genesis I answer that the weeke there mentioned is not necessarily to bee understood of a weeke of dayes ordinary and regular But it may be taken for a weeke of yeeres or for a number of seven yeeres and the pronoune THIS twice repeated for Rachel the sence of Labans words to Iacob being this As thou hast served seven yeeres and hast received Leah for reward to bee thy Wife fulfill also a weeke that is serve other seven yeeres for THIS that is for Rachel and she also shall be given thee to be thy wife and so is this place explained by many interpreters But if the pronoune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first place is understood of Leah and the weeke of a weeke of dayes and if Labans words to Iacob be taken as if he had desired him to fulfill a weeke of dayes ordained for the celebration of the solemnity of his mariage with Leah promising that after these seven dayes hee should also give him Rachel as others take it that also availes not For from thence is proved only that the custome was to bestow seven daies on the solemnities and pastimes of weddings But that there was then a weeke regular and ordinary whereof the last day was the same that God rested on from all his workes and was also to that people an holy day of rest it is a conclusion which cannot be gathered out of that history and will never be proved 6 Seeing therefore there is no sufficient proofe of a stinted distinction of daies before the Law this may be to me a contrary argument to prove that the Sabbath day was not then kept For seeing out of the observation thereof followeth of necessity the distinction of weekes if it had been observed from the beginning of the world frequent mention had bin then made of weeks and the men of those daies had counted by weeks as well as by daies moneths and yeeres which is not to be found Nay it is most likely that the distinction of weekes beganne first among the Iewes as soone as the Law was given and from the Iewes came to the Gentiles as a distinction of time very commodious and convenient though they corrupted it consecrating the seven daies of the weeke to the seven planets which they made Idols of and imposing unto them their names whereas the Iewes named them according to their order with relation to the Sabbath the first second third c. of the Sabbath 7 Yet although the faithfull before the Law did not keepe a distinction of daies the inconvenience propounded in the beginning of this Chapter followeth not to wit that if so be they did not celebrate the remembrance of the creation which God finished in sixe daies and from which he began to rest on the seventh day or that they had otherwise forgotten that great worke of God For considering the creation absolutely they could not be ignorant that God had created the world seeing the thing speaketh of it selfe and all creatures cry with a loud voice that they have one Author that hath made them seeing also the distinction of daies and months that was knowne unto them by the ordinary course of the heavenly lights led them of necessity to a beginning no lesse then the distinction of weekes which had in it no particular thing capable to teach them so much As for the Gentiles which were ignorant of the creation of the World and weened it to be eternall that was in them a grosse and blockish error against the light and documents of Nature Yet it was not universall For there have beene some in all times who have beleeved and taught that the world hath had a beginning and was made though they have erred in their opinions concerning the framing thereof 8 Adde to this that in the holy generation of these first faithfull the Fathers had alwaies a speciall care to teach it to their children by a continuall tradition which with the manifestation of the creation in generall might also make knowne unto them the particular order observed of God in that wonderfull worke to wit that in sixe daies he made heaven and earth and rested the seventh day For it is likely that Adam learned it of God that hee kept the knowledge thereof and imparted it to his children who called it to memory and at all occasions glorified for it the Lord their God So they might know without any regular observation of weekes on what day God began and on what day hee ended the creation of the world For the foresaid tradition being supposed by the distinction of moneths and yeeres which was alwaies observed it was easie to make that supputation although some even of the chiefe men among the Iewes as Philo in the first Booke of the life of Moses sticke not to say that the natall day of the world wherein it was finished beganne not to be knowne but by the Israelites when God at first rained Manna upon them in the wildernesse and that it was wholly unknowne to the Fathers in which affirmation I see no inconvenience 9 But howsoever it was no manner of way necessary that they should celebrate ordinarily the memory of the creation and of the rest of God on a solemne and stinted day yea on the last of the seven daies wherein GOD rested and marke the revolution thereof from day to day Neither doth it appeare that they did any such thing Nay it is farre more apparent that God gave the first knowledge and commanded the ordinary and common observation of this day when raining Manna upon the Israelites sixe daies consequently he gave then none on the seventh day saying it was the Sabbath day which he would have them to keepe in time to come and which he enjoined expresly unto them in the Decalogue declaring that on that day hee rested from the workes of the Creation CHAPTER fifth Answer to the fourth Reason 1. Fourth reason for the morality of the Sabbath taken out of the fourth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrewes vers 3 4. 2. Whence they gather that the Sabbath day was ordained to all men from the beginning of the world 3. And that by three arguments inforced upon the words
had finished after hee had made them in the sixe daies before which was the cause that hee loved and esteemed particularly that day hath in that respect sanctified one of seven daies indefinitely which by that meanes might have beene one of those wherein hee wrought and not the same seventh wherein he rested If that were true it should follow that the Israelites did not observe the last day of the weeke by obligation of the fourth Commandement tying them thereunto but onely in generall one of the seven daies of the weeke and that by some other particular Law they were taught to observe the last of seven although all the rest of Gods Ordinances which are to be found concerning the Sabbath say no more then doth the fourth Commandement and are relative unto it Whereas it is most sure that the Iewes in all times have professed and doe still make profession that they keepe the last day of the weeke by expresse obligation of the fourth Commandement which according to this saying they did never understand All these are as many palpable absurdities And therefore it is most certaine that the fourth Commandement ordaineth expresly and formally the observation of a particular seventh day to wit of the last of seven and not of another 25 Neverthelesse it may be said in some sort that any day whatsoever which is celebrated to the honour and glory of God hath its foundation on the fourth Commandement and that so we now doe observe our Sunday and other solemne and extraordinary daies by vertue of that Commandement Not that it enjoyneth them properly and directly but onely indirectly and by deduction or consequence taken from the foundation and generall end thereof which is to enjoyne all men to serve God publikely and to consecrate for that purpose some solemne times which in this respect whatsoever they be may be all referred unto it not as being commanded in their particular kinde but onely in their genus which is covertly and fundamentally contained in it and therewith determined expresly to one kinde only to wit to the seventh day and to the last of seven not for ever but during the time of the old Testament only Wherefore to say that the fourth Commandement obligeth onely and in expresse termes to a seventh day unstinted and not to this particular seventh which is here the point in question is a thing altogether unreasonable as is evident by that hath beene said 26 It is also a thing farre removed from all reason to say that verily the observation of a certaine day of seven to wit the last was a thing ceremoniall and positive and that this is the day which the Gospel hath abrogated but to observe alwaies one day of seven is morall and that this is ratified and confirmed by the Gospell For the determination and particular observation of any day whatsoever amongst a certaine number in quality of such a one cannot be a morall thing Now to ordaine one of seven to be kept maketh a determination and particular observation not forsooth so particular as when one of seven as for example the last is by name determined and appointed yet so farre particular that none can devise farre lesse tell reasonably wherefore there should be a morality to ordaine and observe a seventh day regularly rather then to ordaine and observe the last of seven wherefore the Gospell should confirme that more then this abrogate this more then that wherefore finally there is lesser inconvenience to avouch that the fourth Commandement is ceremoniall and positive in as much as it ordaineth a particular seventh day to wit the last whereof some of those against whom I dispute are constrained to acknowledge the establishment in the fourth Commandement but as of a ceremony as to say that it is also ceremoniall and positive in as much as it ordaineth one day of seven which is the point I stand unto 27 Verily there is farre more reason to say that the fourth Commandement ordaineth as a morall thing the publike service of God and consequently that there be for that purpose a stinted day ordinary common and so frequent in its revolution that it may be sufficient for the practise and exercise of that service for the continuall edification of the Church For nature teacheth that it is fit that the publike service of God be frequently practised which hath as great force under the Gospell as under the Law but that the said Commandement obligeth precisely to a seventh day and to that seventh day wherein God rested from all his workes it is an ordinance of ceremony and of order which was for the Iewes only and hath beene disanulled by the Gospell 28 For since the Gospell came it is a thing in its selfe indifferent to observe not forsooth one day of any number how great so ever it be as of thirty sixtie of an hundred or of a yeare which as all the world may see should not be sufficient to serve God publikely by his people and should bewray in such a people a great negligence and want of affection to Gods service but one of foure of five of sixe or in summe of such a number wherein that day may returne frequently and suffice for the intertainement of Religion and godlinesse And it may perhaps be gathered out of the fourth Commandement that one day in seven is very sutable and fitt and that we should not under the Gospell dedicate lesse to God for seeing GOD ordained to the Iewes other wayes burthened with many other ceremonies and holy dayes one of seven it is an argument probable enough that Christians ought to consecrate to him at least as much if not more of their time which neverthelesse God left to the liberty of the Church to ordaine with wisedome and conscience as hath beene already said And so although the ceremoniall order prescribed in the fourth Commandement concerning the day of rest obligeth not precisely and directly the Christian Church she may notwithstanding inferre from thence good instructions whereby she may be directed in things concerning a convenient time for Gods publike service as she maketh a good use for her direction of many other ceremonies of the Law Wherefore if there were any man who would rashly maintaine that it sufficeth under the New Testament to observe one day of twenty or of an hundred he should be sufficiently refuted by the foresaid reason besides the practise of the Christian Church which hath judged it fit to observe one of seven dayes which practise no man shall gainesay but he shall forthwith bewray himselfe to be new-fangled fantasticall and selfe-willed 28 Of all that hath beene said it is evident that the inconveniences alleadged in the argument are not to be feared For I have already shewed that it is no inconvenience to say that of tenne Commandements contained in the Decalogue there are but nine morall which oblige us now and that the Law which is called morall belongeth not unto us in all
that it containeth Yet in some sort all the tenne may be defended to be morall because the fourth Commandement is morall as well as the rest in its foundation and principall end although the thing expressed in it be a particular determination ceremoniall and positive Whence profane fellowes cannot with any colour of reason inferre that the substance of the other Commandements is not morall nor obligatory to Christians For whatsoever is in them saving the promise annexed to the fifth Commandement which belongeth not to the substance thereof sheweth of it selfe that it is morall because it hath its foundation in the Law of nature written in the hearts of all men and is found so frequently that no thing is more frequently ratified and confirmed by the Scripture of the New Testament which is the rule of Christianity and therefore obligeth all Christians untill the worlds end which can not be so said of the fourth Commandement in the expression that it maketh of a seventh day for a day of rest For fitly that is not of the Law of Nature and is not prescribed by the Gospell it cannot oblige Christians as a morall Law 29 By the same meanes is taken from the Roman Church the pretence which some think this doctrin furnisheth unto them that the second Commandement whereof we make so great use against their Idolatry is not morall nor perpetuall but was particular to the Iewes even as according to our confession was the fourth Commandement For all that the second Commandement aimeth at is contained and expressed most clearely in the words thereof which is to forbid to represent and worship God by Images to make Images to bowe downe to them and to serve them religiously and all that is essentially morall and perpetuall grounded on the Law of nature which of it selfe teacheth and sheweth that it is a thing most absurd and unworthy of God who is a Spirit Infinite Almighty Eternall Immortall Inuisible and the only Wise GOD to represent and serve him by mortall Images As also a thing unworthy of man to worship the worke of his owne hands as the Paynims themselve have acknowledged and written 30 Witnesses hereof are the most ancient Romanes who knowing by the Law of Nature that GOD is a Spirit judged by the same light that hee ought not to be figured nor served by Images And therefore they had no Images at all during the space of more then an hundred threescore and ten yeeres And Uarro a Romane and a Pagan saith that if that had continued so the Gods had beene served more purely adding that the first which framed Images to the Gods abolished the feare due unto them and were the cause of many errors as wee reade in S. Augustine in the fourth booke and 35. Chapter of the City of God The Prophets also in many places of the old Testament rebuke the Nations which were strangers from the Covenant of God for their Images and Statues as being guilty of a most hainous sin in making and worshiping them against a Law which pertained to them and which they were bound to know These their reprehensions they confirme by naturall reasons as may be seen Exod. 23. vers 24. Exod. 34. vers 13. Deut. 7. vers 5. 25. Deut. 12. v. 3. Deut. 29. vers 17. Psal. 97. vers 7. Psal. 115. vers 4 5 6. 7 8. Psal. 131. vers 15. 16 17 18 20 21 22 23 24. Esay 44. vers 9. 10. 18. 19. Ierem. 10. vers 3. c Ierem. 8. vers 19. Ier. 51. vers 17 18 19 47. Habac. 2. vers 18 19 20. The Apostles have likewise done the same in the new Testament and namely S. Paul who in the 17. Chapter of the Acts proved and made it knowne to the Athenians And in the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans condemned the Romans for transgressing the Law of Nature darkening the light thereof and smothering the secret and inward sting of their consciences by changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the Image of a corruptible man and of other living creatures S. Iohn in his first Epistle and in the fifth Chapter and last verse thereof exhorteth the faithfull to keepe themselves from Idolls And in the ninth Chapter of the Revelation the crossnesse of false Christians is noted verse 20. by this that notwithstanding so many plagues wherewith GOD had visited them they repented not of the workes of their hands that they should not worship Idols of gold and silver and brasse and stone and of wood which neither can see nor heare nor walke Therefore seeing the whole matter of the second Commandement is morall grounded upon the Law of nature and established not only by the Old but also by the New Testament the Commandement is also morall 32 For whereas some would referre and reduce to the second Commandement the whole externall service of the Iewes as contained in some sort therein to inferre from thence that if the fourth Commandement be in part ceremoniall because unto it are referred all the Sabbaths of the Iewes all their holy dayes and New Moones the second may likewise be called ceremoniall in part for the same reason To that I answer that a reduction and reference of the externall and ceremoniall service of the Iewes may in some respect be made to all the Commandements of the first Table As indeed some ceremoniall ordinances are in certain respects referred to each of them by some interpreters And may be all in this manner referred to the second Commandement which being negative GOD under the prohibition to make any kinde of Images for religious worship compriseth all will-worship And sith in all negative commandements the affirmative opposed unto them are comprehended he commandeth on the contrary that he be served according to his ordinance and Commandement Now sith at that time the manner of his service consisted in the observation of holy dayes and diverse ceremonies prescribed by him in the Law of Moses it may be said that in it he commanded them all But indirectly and a farre of Which cannot make the second Commandement to be ceremoniall because the ceremoniall and outward service appertaineth not Directly and properly to the substance thereof and is not expressed therein But whatsoever is expressed in it is of it selfe morall Whereas in the fourth Commandement the foresaid feasts and ceremonies are directly and neerly comprised For in it God ordaineth a principall holy day and under it comprehendeth all others All that is expressed in it is ceremoniall And the ceremoniall service of the Iewes maketh an essentiall part of the sanctification of the Sabbath injoyned in it So this commandement is not ceremoniall indirectly and in regard only that unto it may be referred and appropriated by a remote and farre fetched reduction the feasts New Moones and Iewish Sabbaths but it is such directly and properly in it selfe even in the neerest substance and matter which it propoundeth So the foresaid exceptions against it should be
absurd and impertinently inferred upon our saying concerning the fourth Commandement because these two Commandements stand not in equall tearmes 33 If any Papists should make such an inference Bellarmine himselfe will lend us his helping hand to refute it For in the seventh Chapter of his second booke of Relikes and Images he acknowledgeth and affirmeth that saving the Commandement of the Sabbath all the rest are explications of the Law of nature and are naturall precepts which all Christians are bound to observe 34 This being so the Roman Church cannot cleanse her selfe of a great crime for cutting off from the Decalogue in all her service bookes the second Commandement and for not propounding it ordinarily to the people for that it fighteth against her idolatry And in my judgement it should be also an hainous fault although not in the same manner and respect to nip away from the Decalogue the fourth Commandement or to make no mention of it in the Church For though it be not morall and obligeth not Christians under the New Testament in the particulars which it expresseth yet sith it is morall in the foundation whereupon it is built and in the generall end that it aimeth at as hath beene said before and sith God would insert it in the abridgement of his Law which he gave of old to the people of Israel it should be foole-hardinesse to pull it away and to remove it out of the roome where God hath placed it Even as although that which is said in the preface of the Law concerning the deliverance of the people out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage and in the fifth Commandement of the prolongation of dayes in the land of Cannaan is not addressed to us directly in that which these termes doe expresse yet it should be ill done to cut these clauses quite off or to make no mention of them when we learne write rehearse or teach the Decalogue We must keepe religiously and mention whatsoever God hath beene pleased to put in it But we must also understand every thing conveniently appropriating to us whatsoever belongeth to us as well as to the Iewes and to the Iewes only that which was proper to them And such was the ordinance of the seventh day 35 Which day if it be not acknowledged to be ceremoniall and therefore Subject to be abrogated by IESUS CHRIST and comprised among the points of the Law which the Gospell declared to be annulled place should be given to an inconvenience that will follow thereupon farre better then the former which is inferred upon the opinion that the fourth Commandement is ceremoniall for so the bridle should be loosed to the immoderate transcendent and irregular authority which Papists challenge to the Church to have power to change and alter the things which God himselfe hath established For it is evident that God by the fourth Commandement hath established the seventh and last day of the week to be a day of rest and it is agreed upon as most true that under the Gospel that seventh day hath been changed into another neither can it be sufficiently and clearely proved that Iesus Christ or his Apostles have made that innovation as shall be seene hereafter whence they doe inferre that the Church having done it of her selfe without commandement she may change the things established and ordained of God in the morall Law Whereunto it is impossible to give a pertinent answer but by saying as it is most true that the prescription of the seventh day of Sabbath although it be among the Commandements of the morall Law is not morall for that but pertaineth to the government of the Iewes and is to be numbred with these things which were but for a time to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 untill the time of reformation as the Apostle speaketh Hebr. 9. vers 10. of these shadowes of things to come whereof the body was in Christ as they are named Col. 2. vers 16 17. where amongst other shadowes the Sabbaths are specified That therefore the Church in not keeping any more the Sabbath prescribed by the fourth Commandement but another hath not usurped any authority upon the things established of God but hath followed the order of God who had not established that day but for a certaine time to wit untill the comming of the Messias by whose death the ceremonies were to be abolished and consequently the Sabbath day was to expire and give up the Ghost CHAPTER Seventh Answer to the particular reasons taken from the words of the fourth Commandement 1. First Objection The Sabbath was long before the Law because God commanded to remember it and remembrance is of things past 2. Three answers to this Objection 3. Second Objection from the first reason of the keeping of the Sabbath sixe daies shalt thou labour c. which is a reason of equity binding Christians as well as Iewes 4. Answer to this Objection shewing what is morall and obligatory in this reason what not 5. Third Objection If the labour of sixe daies be not ceremoniall the rest on the seventh day likewise is not ceremoniall refuted by three answers 6. Fourth Objection from the second reason in the words but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God it is Gods day therefore it is sacriledge to rob him of it 7. Two answers to this Objection 8. Fifth Objection from the third reason in the words In it thou shalt not doe any worke c. where a great regard is had unto servants beasts strangers whereunto Christians are also obliged 9. Answer shewing what in this reason is morall what belonging to order onely 10. Sixth Objection from the words For in sixe daies the Lord made heaven and earth and rested the seventh day shewing that God after his example will have all men to keepe the seventh day till the end of the world 11. First answer denying that God ordained the seventh day for a memoriall of the creation 12. Second answer although things past should be kept in perpetuall remembrance their memorialls ordained in the old Testament are not perpetuall 13. Third answer to the instance taken from Gods example shewing in which attributes God is to be imitated in which not 14. As also in which of his actions in which not we are to follow his example 15. This answer is applyed to the seventh day shewing that it hath not inherent in it any essentiall righteousnesse why God did rest in it but as many other actions hath no other foundation but Gods free-will 16. Whereby hee ordained the observation of that day to the Iewes and not to Christians 17. Who in the observation of their holy day follow not Gods example as they should if it had any morality in it 18. Instance the seventh day was changed into the first day of the weeke in remembrance of our redemption by Christ which is a greater worke then the creation 19. First answer hence it followeth that
Deuteronomie are added to the fourth Commandement Keepe the Sabbath day to sanctifie it as the Lord hath commanded thee As for the Sanctification of the Sabbath day which God ordaineth and of which it is said that it cannot be called a ceremony I answer that indeed to speake universally and absolutely it cannot be so called For the Sabbath day was and ought to be sanctified by morall duties But in as much as it was tyed to the seventh day and was practised by sacrifices offerings and other services of the like kind and by an exact resting from all worldly travels such as GOD ordaineth in the fourth Commandement it is ceremoniall 3 Secondly they stand much upon the words following Sixe dayes shalt thou labour and doe all thy worke but the seventh day c. Where as they say there is a reason of the observation of the seventh day of Sabbath which hath its foundation in equity and justice For if God giveth to men sixe dayes for their owne affaires and for the workes of their worldly calling is it not more than just that they consecrate a seventh day to his service And is it not as just for Christians as for Iewes And therefore say they Christians sith they take sixe dayes for their workes are as much obliged as the Iewes to observe a seventh day of Sabbath to God They adde also that as the labour of sixe dayes which is mentioned in this reason and whence it is taken is not a ceremoniall thing no more should the rest of the seventh day be ceremoniall 4 I answer that in the foresaid reason there is a manifest justice and equity which continueth for ever But that justice is generally in this that if a man hath many dayes for himselfe and for his owne workes it is reasonable hee consecrate one amongst many for Gods service Yea there should be a great deale more justice to imploy if it were possible a greater number of dayes upon Gods service then upon our own businesse Nay to bestow them all Also in consequence of this justice and equity we have said before that under the New Testament in whose time the Christians are farre more beholden to God then the Iewes were sith God hath discharged them of many burdens of outward ceremonies which did lay heavy upon that people and hath called them to bee in some sort a people more franke and more affectionate to his service all the dayes of the weeke as much as possibly can be should be Holy dayes unto the LORD And because they cannot possibly meet together every day to serve in common which neverthelesse he looks for as well as for a particular service they must stint some ordinary day for that end and in this stinting must not shew themselves inferiors to the Iewes appointing lesse than one day among seven to Gods service This is all that can be gathered from the foresaid reason as it is obligatory for ever For to dedicate to God precisely a seventh day after we have bestowed sixe dayes upon our selves it cannot be denyed but that it is most just yet it is not more just nor better proportioned nor more obligatory of it selfe and in its own nature specially to Christians nay not so much as to consecrate to God one of sixe or of five or of foure For the moe we hallow to God the more doe we that which is just equitable and well ordered and the more doe wee performe our duty that wee are naturally bound unto towards him If then God ordained in times past under the Law that the day which he would have his people to dedicate unto him should be particularly one of seven it was not for any naturall justice which was more in that number or for any proportion which in it selfe was more convenient in that behalfe then the appointment of any other number but because it was his good pleasure to direct and rule for that season the time of his service and to impose no more than one day of seven upon a people loaden already with many ceremonies And therefore no particular justice being tied to this number of seven more than to any other this reason contained in the foresaid words of the fourth Commandement cannot be morall nor consequently perpetuall but only positive and for a short continuance in that it commandeth to worke sixe dayes and to rest the seventh day It is morall only in the foundation and substance thereof which is this that if God giveth us liberty to bestow a number of dayes upon our owne affaires it is reasonable that there be one day appointed wherein we ought to serve him We I say that are Christians and that as frequently nay much more than the Iewes did which we accord willingly to be perpetuall But with this restriction that under the New Testament the choice of one day amongst a number of other dayes is not stinted of God and that he bindeth us no more to one of seven then to one of sixe or of five 3 Whereas they adde that as the labour of sixe dayes is not a thing ceremoniall so neither should the rest on the seventh day be placed in that ranke I answer first inferring from thence a contrary argument that as to take paines in the workes of our temporall callings considering the condition of this present life is a thing just and necessary and may be called moral but to work of seven dayes six hath not in it any speciall necessity even so it is necessary just and morall to dedicate some time to Gods publike service but that such a time should be precisely one of seven dayes is by no meanes morall Secondly that which I say to be ceremonial in the 4. Cōmandement is the Commandement it selfe to wit that which God expressely and purposely injoyneth to be kept as belonging to his outward and publike service Now he commandeth not any thing in it precisely saving the observation and sanctification of the day of rest by refraining from all temporall callings And whereas it is said Sixe dayes shalt thou labour as that maketh no part of Gods service no more doth it make a part of the Commandement although God thereby warneth men that they ought not to passe their dayes in idlenesse but should apply themselves every day to the labour of an honest calling but is a permission put only by concession and relatively to the Commandement in this sence Thou art permitted to work six dayes but on the 7th day thou shalt abstaine from all kind of work Therefore it followeth not that if these words put occasionally in the Commandement doe not impart any ceremony the Commandement it selfe is not ceremoniall Thirdly the Scripture in the labour of sixe dayes establisheth not unto us any ceremonie as it doth in the rest of the seventh day which it maketh as expressely as can be a type of the heavenly rest as we have cleerely seene before And yet in relation to the heavenly rest figured by
the rest of the seventh day I may say that the painefull labour of sixe dayes before the Sabbath was a type and figure of these troubles and afflictions wherewith the faithfull are tossed to and fro during the ages of this life before they come to the rest of the kingdome of heaven and that so this labour also was ceremoniall 6 They take their third argument from these words The seventh day is the rest of the LORD thy God that is it is the day which God hath not only created and made as the other dayes but also hath put a part to the end that it be applyed to his service Whence it is often called The day holy to the Lord the rest of God or Gods Sabbath c. Of this they inferre seeing it is not lawfull to steale from God that which pertaineth unto him nor to commit sacriledge by devouring that which is holy Pro. 20. ver 25. we must if we will not incurre this crime consecrate alwayes to God one of seven dayes 7 But I answer first that if this argument be of any value it shall prove that it is the last of seven which all are bound to keepe alwayes as the rest of God For it is this particular seventh day which is understood in the words before alleadged and which also was the Sabbath holy to the Lord. Secondly I say that these words serve not at all to prove the morality and perpetuity of the Seventh day In them it is truly said that the seventh day is the Lords rest to wit because at that time he ordained it to the Iewes to be observed by them in their generations and if the Iewes had not observed but applyed it to their owne affaires undoubtedly they had beene guilty of sacriledge but doth it follow that because it is called the Lords Rest in regard of the ordinance whereby he injoyned the Iewes to keepe it we also are obliged under the New Testament to sanctifie it Doth he not also in the Old Testament when he speaketh of the Leviticall sacrifices and offerings c. call them most frequently His sacrifices His offerings and all the other Sabbaths of the Iewes His Sabbaths as well as the Sabbath of the seventh day In a word doth hee not claime all other things which hee commanded to the Iewes concerning his service as his owne Shall we then conclude by the same reason that seeing it is not lawfull to touch holy things and God did claime all these things as belonging unto him we must yet dedicate and consecrate them unto him under the New Testament Who seeth not the absurdity of this consequence and by the same meanes of the consequence which is inferred of these words The seventh day is Gods Rest For as these things which I have mentioned did belong to God but did oblige the Iewes only to observe them it fareth even so with the Sabbath 8 In the fourth place they urge also these words In it thou shalt not doe any worke thou nor thy Sonne nor thy Daughter thy man-servant nor thy maide-servant nor thine Oxe nor thy Asse nor any of thy Cattell nor thy stranger that is within thy gates Where they observe that God hath respect to the easing of servants and of cattell to the intent that when they have beene kept sixe dayes at worke a seventh of relaxation be given them to rest and as it were to breath a little and specially that the servants as well as their masters may set themselves about Gods service to learne and practise it For which cause in the fifth Chapter of Deuteronomie this particularitie is added at the end of the 4th Commandement That thy man-servant and thy maide-servant may Rest as well as thou The same is likewise to be found Exodus 23. verse 12. All this is of perpetuall justice and equity For God under the New Testament hath not stript and cast away the bowels of compassion and forsaken the care of servants and poore beasts They take also in consideration that the stranger is by name and specially obliged to keepe the Sabbath day by refraining from all kinde of worke from whence they inferre that it was not a Iewish ceremony but a morall point because nothing is universall binding strangers as well as Iewes saving that which is morall whereas the ceremonies were only for the Iewes and as it were a middle wall of separation between them and all strangers Eph. 2. ver 14. And therefore seeing the strangers which were Gentiles were by Gods command bound to keepe the Sabbath day as well as the Iewes and when they were in the Land of Canaan were constrained unto it by the Magistrates as may be seene in the 13. Chapter of Nehem. vers 28. it followeth that the observation of the seventh day of Sabbath is a morall point and not simply ceremoniall 9 I answer that to give refreshment to servants and poore beasts after they have beene wearied with labour and to be carefull that servants learne to serve God and apply them to so holy a duty as well as their Masters is a thing naturally just and equitable and that the words of the fourth Commandement as farre as they have respect to that duty doe denote a perpetuall morality and therefore Christians ought to give a time of relaxation and rest from labour to their servants and beasts instruct their servants in the feare of God and be carefull that they serve him both in their particular devotions at home and publike abroad with the rest of the faithfull in such times and places that are appointed for that service by the order of the Church which if they doe not they sin But to set apart for the rest and easing of servants and their imployment in Gods service one of seven daies rather then one of another number and to rest precisely on the seventh day according to the words of the Commandement The seventh day is the rest In it thou shalt not doe any worke that I say againe and againe is a thing simply belonging to order and Church-governement and bindeth not necessarily for ever As for the instance taken from the words whereby strangers are bound to keeke the Sabbath day it is altogether vaine and frivolous For there mention is made onely of strangers that were within the gates of the Iewes that is dwelling and sojourning among them These strangers were either Proselytes converted to the religion of the Iewes which were in effect obliged by religion to the observation of the Sabbath just as the Iewes themselves because they were of the same religion that the Iewes were of and by their conversion were become Iewes Or they were strangers Pagans and Infidels sojourning in Iudea for divers temporall occasions such as were those of whom mention is made in Nehem. Chap. 13. These indeed were constrained by the Magistrate to keepe or rather not to violate the Sabbath publikely as those were of whom mention is made in the foresaid Chapter
c. All these things might be capable to afford unto us subject and occasion to celebrate a thankfull and religious remembrance of them on solemne daies answerable to these of the Iewes For although there were some particular reasons belonging only to the Iewes and taken from certaine circumstances for which God ordained these feasts and others unto them and though there was in them a figure of the good things to come by Iesus Christ Hebr. 10. vers 1. in which respects they cannot be observed by us which also by the confession of those against whom I dispute is to be found in the Sabbath day that is no let but that the generall reasons which are to be found in them may be unto us a ground of observation and that we may practise and celebrate as a memoriall or signe relative to the time past or present that which they practised as a figure relative to the time to come And what they observed in a respect circumstanced after a fashion which was proper to them that we may observe in another respect somewhat diversified and fitted to our estate Even as although we observe not the Sabbath for some particular reasons in regard whereof it is avouched that it was appropriated to the Iewes yet many doe maintaine eagerly that we ought to keepe it for some other generall reasons Yea sith almost all the Iewish ceremonies had some morall foundation reason or end which considered in it selfe regardeth us as well as them that might be set abroach as a subject and occasion to observe them under the Gospell 30 Yet for all that it followeth not that God obligeth us to such an observation Yea it should be contrary to the liberty and simplicity of the Gospel Likewise whatsoever generall reasons may be considered as capable in themselves to be motives unto us to observe the Sabbath it followeth not that God hath prescribed and determined the observation thereof under the Gospel 31 All these reasons which were motives to ordaine these ceremonies were not naturall essentiall and necessary reasons of their institution but depended simply on the will of God who had the power to make them and give value and authority to the said reasons by the observation of these ceremonies for a certaine time only and at another time without ceremonies or by ceremonies of another kind As he willeth us to give him thankes under the new Testament for the continuation of his favourable providence over us in the ordinary course of daies of moneths of the revenues of the earth for giving us not only the Law but also the Gospell of grace and for preparing for us the heavenly inheritance after the few and evill daies of the pilgrimages of this life all which things concerne us and yet he bindeth us not to celebrate in remembrance of these his blessings the ancient festivall daies nor any other Even so he will have us to celebrate the remembrance of our Creation and after we have bestowed daies upon our owne businesses to appoint also some for his publike service and to assubject unto it our wives our children our servants and all other persons depending of us As likewise to give a sufficient time of rest to our servants and beasts after we have kept them at worke for us which are the reasons of the fourth Commandement that concerne us also And yet of them no inference can be made that God will have us to observe one of seven or the last of the seven dayes of the weeke as in consideration of them he ordained the seventh day to the Iewes For we may doe it as well on another day ordained after another manner 32 He had ordained the Sabbath as all other ceremonies to be signes for that time and not for the time of the New Testament under which the world being as it were renewed all things pertaining to the order and government of the Religion were also to bee made new New Ministers new Sacraments c. were to be established as it is written Esa. 65. verse 17. Agg. 2. verse 6. Heb. 8. ver 13. Heb. 12. verse 26 27. 2 Cor. 5. verse 17. And therefore it was convenient and sutable to this New estate that there should be a new day of Gods service different from the day which the Iewes observed under the Old Testament But it was not necessary that it should be one of seven or that Christ Himselfe should have ordained it which notwithstanding they indeavour to prove by diverse other passages and arguments gathered out of holy Scripture pertaining directly to the New Testament and obliging all Christians living under it to keepe the Sabbath as much as the Iewes were under the Old Testament yea to keepe a certaine and set day of Sabbath not by ecclesiasticall constitution but by divine ordinance as they deeme CHAPTER Eight Answer to the Sixth Reason 1. Ob. Isaiah hath prophesied that under the New Testament strangers and Eunuches that is Christians shall keepe the Sabbath 2. First Answer The words of the Prophet may be understood of the state of the Church of the Iewes after the captivity of Babylon 3. Second Answer In the Old Testament the service of the New Testament is set downe in tearmes taken from the service under the Law 4. Which if they should be literally expounded Christians should be bound to keepe all the ceremonies of the Law 5. Wherefore this and such like passages are to be expounded spiritually of the spirituall service of the Christian Church 6. Another objection of the gate which Ezekiel saith shall be opened on the Sabbath day 7. First Answer the words of Ezekiel must be expounded mystically 8. Second Answer nothing can bee inferred from thence but that the Christian Church shall have solemne dayes for Gods service 9. Third Answer The Sabbath may be said to represent the rest of eternall life in heaven and the sixe worke dayes the turmoiles of this life 1 THey say to this purpose that the 56. Chapter of Isaiah is manifestly referred to the time of the New Testament and that God declaring there how he would not any more put a difference betweene the strangers and the Iewes and how the Eunuchs the barren and those that want Children shall no more be a reproach and shall not be excluded from the privileges of his house as they were under the Old Testament saith in plaine tearmes that those whom he calleth Eunuches and sonnes of the stranger shall keepe his Sabbaths verse 4 6. From whence they make this inference that God would have the Sabbath to be kept by Christians under the New Testament as well as by Iewes under the Old Testament 2 To this I answer that this argument hath little or no strength For it is well knowne that the Iewes doe referre it to the time that followed the captivity of Babylon 3 But not to debate about this question whether this prophesie is to be referred to the old or to the New
Testament and to grant willingly that it is to be understood of the dayes of the New Testament it is a thing notorious that when God in the Old Testament speaketh by his Prophets of the service that should bee yeelded unto him under the New Testament he expresseth himselfe ordinarily in termes taken from the fashions and formes used in his service under the Old Testament so he saith that under the New Testament he should have Altars every where that in every place incense should be offered unto his name that from one new Moone to another all flesh should come to worship before him c. And in this same Chap. 56. ver 7. he saith concerning these Eunuches and the sonnes of the stranger which shall keepe his Sabbaths that hee will bring them to his holy mountaine and make them joyfull in his house of prayer and that their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon his Altar 4 If then of that which is said that they shall keepe his Sabbaths they will inferre that the Sabbath day is obligatory under the New Testament as it was under the Ancient by the same reason any may inferre that the Temple of Ierusalem the Altar and the sacrifices should remaine in use namely seeing God in the fourth verse speaketh of his Sabbaths in the plurall number and it is manifest that besides the seventh ordinary day there was a great deale of other Sabbaths ordained of God to the Iewes it may be as truly gathered that under the New Testament the faithfull ought to keepe all the Sabbaths of the Iewes and the same dayes of Sabbaths that the Iewes did keepe and particularly the same seventh day to wit the last which should be a conclusion most absurd 5 The truth is that the Sabbath according to the stile of the Ancient Testament was taken of old for all the outward service of God and God using the same stile or manner of speech according to his custome in this prophesie concerning the time of the New Testament when hee saith the Eunuches and the sonnes of the stranger shall keepe the Sabbath by the Sabbath denoteth all the outward and solemne service which was to be rendred to him in that time of the New Covenant but joyned with the spirituall service signified in the second verse by these other words And keepeth his hands from doing evill And consequently he signifieth that that outward service should have its times ordained in the Church even as the Sabbath day was of old the time appointed for his service But that it was Gods intention to stint to the Church of the New Testament a seventh day or any other particular day whatsoever for a Sabbath day and that he hath not left the determination thereof to the liberty of the Church that shall never be proved by the aforesaid passage 6 This answer may serve for a sufficient reply to the passage of the 46. Chapter of Ezekiel where God continuing to represent unto the Prophet in a high and magnificent vision and difficult to bee understood of a most glorious and sumptuous Temple the state of the Church under the New Testament saith in the first and third verses that the gate of the inner Court shall be shut the sixe working dayes but on the Sabbath it shall be opened and the people of the land shall worship at the entrance of this gate From whence it is fancied that a necessity of keeping the Sabbath under the New Testament may be inferred 7 But it is evident that in all this vision contained in the nine last Chapters of Ezekiel the state of the Christian Church and of the Evangelicall service is designed in tearmes and phrases taken from the Temple and legall service which must not be understood literally but mystically if we will not under the Gospell bring backe not only the Sabbath but also a great deale of other ceremonies which are mentioned in that vision As for example The New Moones which in the aforesaid verses are joyned with the Sabbath For it is said there verse 1. that the gate shall bee opened on the Sabbath day and in the day of the New Moone it shall be opened and that the people of the Land shall worship at the entrie of this gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and in the New Moones verse 3. Which must be understood spiritually of the truth figured by the Sabbaths and New Moones and not properly of these things themselves which were but figures that is not that the faithfull should celebrate Sabbaths and New Moones but that they should rest from their workes of iniquity to practise the workes of the spirit of Sanctification and of Gods true spirituall service and should be renewed and illuminated for ever by the Lord Iesus their true and only Saviour and by him have alwayes free accesse and entrance to the throne of grace 8 All that can be at the most inferred of the forealleadged passage concerning the externall service of the Christian Church is that the New Testament shall have solemne dayes wherein God shall be publikely served by all his people but in no wise that they should be the same which were stinted under the Old Testament For so we should be bound to observe the dayes of New Moones the last day of the weeke and other holy dayes of the Iewes mentioned in the aforesaid place and betokened in the plurall number by the name of Sabbaths 9 Whereunto I adde that it may be said that the Sabbath day and the day of the New Moone spoken of there representeth the time of eternall life in heaven where the faithful are in a perfect rest and are new Creatures without any blemish of sin or defect of righteousnes As the sixe work dayes are a representation of the time of this present life during which they travel they rove and trot up and downe upon earth where so long as they sojourne the Prophet signifieth that the marvels of the glorious grace of God are alwayes shut unto them but in heaven shal be opened unto them by a full and unconceivable manifestation and perfect fruition of that joy which is in the face of God and of those pleasures that are at his right hand for evermore whereby they shall worship and serve God perfectly for ever and ever Amen This then is in meaning the same that wee read of in the 66. Chapter of Isaiah verse 23. where it is said that in the new heavens and in the new earth which God should make from moneth to moneth and from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh i. all the faithfull should come to worship before him Of which passage I have spoken before Of all that hath beene said it is manifest that all the passages of this kinde which are to bee found in the Prophets are not to any purpose when they are produced to prove that which is debated about the Sabbath day CHAPTER Ninth 1. Answer to the seventh Reason 1. Ob. Iesus
sence of Christs words and that they had relation to the Iewes only 4. Although he spake them to his Disciples 5. Second answer Although he had spoken to his Disciples only he might have had respect not to them but to their brethren among the Iewes that were weake in faith 6. Third answer Although by the Sabbath the Lords day were to be understood the morality of one of seven dayes in the weeâ— cannot be inferred from thence 1 IEsus Christ speaking in the 24. of Saint Matthew and twenty verse to his Disciples of the desolation that was to come upon Iudea and namely upon Ierusalem said unto them Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter nor on the Sabbath day Not in the winter because then the wayes are incommodious and there is neither driving nor marching but with difficulty Not on the Sabbath day by reason of the holinesse of that day which being appointed and set a part for Gods service although it was lawfull unto them to flie in it to save their lives yet they should not be able to doe it but with griefe and sore against their will being constrained to spend on trotting toyling and much hurrying up and down a day particularly consecrated to the publike exercises of Religion and so should have a just occasion to pray to God to keepe them from being brought to such a necessity Some alleadge this passage esteeming it to be pressing and of great weight For say they Iesus Christ speaketh to his Disciples of a thing that was to fall out forty yeeres after his Ascension when all the ceremonies of the Law should be abolished in the Christian Church and yet notwithstanding he speaketh unto them of the Religion of the Sabbath as of a thing that they ought alwayes to take to heart in so high a measure that they should be sorry and throughly grieved to be in that time of desolation constrained to flee on so holy a day instead of applying themselves to Gods service Therefore the Sabbath day was not a ceremony comming within the compasse of those that he was to abrogate but a morall point and of perpetuall necessity Otherwise he had not done well to intangle their mindes with an unnecessary Religion towards the Sabbath day in the time of their flight seeing it being abrogated by him they might with as little grieve in respect to the day get packing as fast as they could trot and toyle on that day as on another day 2 I answer that this argument is a silly one and of no value For Iesus Christ speaketh not in that place of Saint Matthew of the day of rest that Christians were to observe after his Ascension but of the Iewish Sabbath day as this word Sabbath day sheweth clerely which his Disciples were farre from understanding other wayes then for the last day of the weeke observed among the Iewes For it is certaine that it signified nothing else at that time seeing there was not as yet any other day of rest in vigour saving that alone And Iesus Christ had not at all made himselfe to be understood of them nay he had purposely given them occasion to mistake him if by the Sabbath day his intention was to denote another day then the last of the weeke because this alone carryed that name neither shall it bee found in the whole Scripture that any other day is specified by that name 3 The heavenly rest under the Gospell is once called by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes Chapter 4. verse 9. by a name drawne from the Hebrew word Sabbath because it was figured by the Sabbath of the Iewes But our day wherein wee apply our selves to Gods outward service and to that intent doe cease from our ordinary labour is alwayes called in the New Testament The first day of the weeke or The Lords Day and not the Sabbath which name the Apostles and first beleevers had not failed to give unto it if Iesus Christ had so qualified and stiled it Now if they would never tearme it by such a name although it might have been in some sort attributed unto it but only The Lords Day or The first day of the weeke to distinguish it from the day which was so called among the Iewes For the same reason Iesus Christ in the foresaid place if he had minded to speake of the day which Christians were to observe after his death he had intitled it by some other name then of the Sabbath day to make a distinction betweene it and the day of the Iewes Wherefore those which use this argument doe most fondly suppose without proofe or likenesse of truth that by the Sabbath Iesus Christ meaneth the Lords day Now if it be understood of the Sabbath of the Iewes as it must for the foresaid reasons and as all the interpreters whom I have read and perused doe take it this argument being urged according to the ratiotination of those that have set it on foot shall yeeld against their intention this conclusion that after the death and ascension of our Lord Iesus Christ the Sabbath day of the Iewes ought to bee yet kept in the Christian Church and that the faithfull are obliged unto it by Religion and conscience and ought bee hartily sorrowfull when being constrained to flye on it to save their lives in a great desolation they should not be able to consecrate it to Gods service 3 The true sence of this passage is that indeed our Lord Iesus <
on the Sabbath day if not for your owne sake who being well informed and instructed in the faith shall know that yee may flee on that day and make no difficultie for conscience sake yet in regard of others who shall be distressed with the same necessity to flee with you but who being altogether ignorant of the liberty of the Gospell as the Iewes not as yet converted or the weake ones retaining after their conversion and profession of the Gospell a religious respect towards the ceremonies of the Law of Moses as many Christians who for conscience sake towards the Sabbath will be scrupulous to flie on it for whom in respect of their ignorance and weakenesse you ought to pray that your common flight be not on that day For yee are all members of one body 6 I say more that although Iesus Christ by the Sabbath day had signified the first day of the weeke which after his Ascension was to be observed by all Christians and had commanded his Disciples to pray that their flight should not fall out on Sunday least they should be compelled to imploy upon bodily working travelling and hurrying up and downe a day which otherwise they had applyed to GODs service of that no man can conclude neither that a seventh day of rest is a morall point nor also that Christs minde was to injoyne the observation of the first day of the weeke but only that he foresaw that after his Ascension the first day of the week should be kept by Christians of their owne free will through respect to his resurrection which should befall on that day and that it should be loathsome and grievous unto them to weary themselves with fleeing on a day wherein they were wont to rest from all worldly imployments and to addict â—hemselves to serve God in his house Verily although a day be not ordained of God to be stinted for his service yet if by the custome of the Church it be ordinarily imployed for that use a true Christian will be hartily sorry that hee should be forced by necessity to busie himselfe in other exercises then those which are proper to Gods service and he may with good reason make humble suit unto GOD that he be not brought to such a hard strait And therefore CHRIST might advise his Disciples to pray that their flight should not befall on the Saturday without any other inference that can be gathered from thence saving a future use and custome to observe such a day in the Church and not any obligation proceeding from him farre lesse a naturall and morall obligation towards a seventh day of the weeke which is the point in question CHAPTER Eleven Answer to the Ninth Reason 1. Ninth Reason the Apostles kept the Sabbath 2. First answer they entred into the Synagogues of the Iewes on the Sabbath day not for conscience sake but for the commodity of the place and time to convert the Iewes 3. Second answer In this and in the observation of other ceremonies they applyed themselves to the infirmity of the Iewes 4. Passages alleadged to prove that the Apostles absolutely and simply did keepe the Sabbath of the Iewes 5. First Answer Acts 13. ver 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be interpreted indifferently people folke 6. Second answer the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be interpreted of the weeke betweene 7. If wee read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they signifie in a day betweene the Sabbaths this answer is not refuted by the 44. verse 8. Third Answer The 44. Uerse may be truly translated not of the next Sabbath day but of the next weeke 9. Fourth Answer in both verses the Sabbath being taken for the next Sabbath they prove not that which is intended 10. The passage alleadged Acts 16. verse 12 13. cannot be understood but of those that were Iewes in Religion 11. Whether they had a Synagogue or not they met together out of the townes 12. There they had a place appointed for prayer c. called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an Oratory or place of prayer 15. Where Saint Paul and his fellowes joyned with them to seeke to gaine them to Christ. 14. Why the Apostles which taught sufficiently the abrogation of the Sabbath and of Holy dayes did not preach against them as they did against Circumcision and other ceremonies 15. Answer to the last Reason concerning the Sabbaticall River 1 IT is with as little shew nay it is rather against themselves that to prove a necessary and perpetuall obligation to keepe the Sabbath some make use of that which is noted in diverse places of the Acts of the Apostles as in the Chapter 13. verse 14 43 44. and 16. verse 13. and 17. verse 2. and 18. verse 4. and other where that the Apostles after the Ascension of Iesus Christ kept the Sabbath going to the Synagogues of the Iewes and expounding the Scriptures there 2 For this argument if it were good for any thing would prove that under the New Testament the Iewish Sabbath day to wit the last of the week is to be kept because in the foresaid places mention is made of that day only But the going of the Apostles to the Synagogues on that day came not from any obligation of the law tying them to the Sabbath nor from any religious respect to that day as if it had beene still a necessary point of Gods service but because it was the ordinary day of the congregations of the Iewes whom they desired to convert and it was expedient for that end that they should be present at such times and places that the Iewes did meet in to wit on the Sabbath day and in their Synagogues as for the same reason they observed also the annuall feasts and indeavoured to bee at Ierusalem on such dayes as may be seene Acts 20. verse 16. I adde that they applyed themselves in this point as in many other legall ceremonies to the infirmitie of the Iewes Acts. 15. v. 29. Acts 16. verse 3. Acts 21. verse 24 26. and 1 Cor. 9. ver 20. to gaine them more easily to the faith and to preserve them in it after their conversion For it is certaine that the faithfull Christians converted from the Iewish Religion to the faith of Christ kept still a great zeale for the ceremonies as it is said in the Acts Chap. 21. verse 20. and consequently for the Sabbath day 4 There be some who would have the Iewish Sabbath to be still kept in the Christian Church and to prove that the Apostles did particularly and carefully observe the seventh day of the weeke without any occasion of condescent to the Religion and devotion of the Iewes towards the Sabbath doe alleadge the thirteenth Chapter of the Acts verse 42 43 44. where it is said that when Paul and Barnabas were on the Sabbath day gone out of the Synagogue of the Iewes the Gentiles besought them that they would preach the word unto them the next Sabbath
which being granted unto them the next Sabbath day almost the whole City wherein were comprised more Gentiles than Iewes came together to heare the Word of God They alleadge also the sixteenth Chapter of the Acts verse 13. where without any mention of Iewes or of Synagogue it is said that Paul and Silas being in Philippi a Towne of Macedonia where they sojourned certaine dayes on the Sabbath went out of the City by a river side where prayer was wont to be made keeping the Sabbath amongst the Gentiles without any respect to the Iewes 5 To this I may answer without great difficulty And first to the passage in the Acts Chapter 13. verse 42. I might say that this intreaty made to Paul and Barnabas to preach the next Sabbath day is not by all the interpreters ascribed to the Gentiles but to the Iewes who before as may be seene in the fifteenth verse had intreated them to propound some word of exhortation For the word Gentiles in some Greeke editions and in some versions is not to be found Besides this some are of opinion that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be taken not for the Gentiles as they are distinguished from the Iewes but indifferently for the multitude of people that was there present in this sence and the folke or people besought Paul and Barnabas which may be referred to the Iewes as well as to the Gentiles 6 But not to stand upon that I say Secondly that the originall Text doth not shew manifestly that the request made by the Gentiles to Paul and Barnabas was that they would preach unto them the next Sabbath day for it may signifie in the intermedium of the Sabbath that is in any time betweene the Sabbath wherein they had presently preached to the Iewes and the next Sabbath following For seeing the Sabbath was the day which the Iewes reserved for themselves and which the Apostles imployed amongst them for their instruction the Gentiles belike desired to take some other day for them wherein with more commoditie they might heare the word And verily there is no likelihood that Gentiles not as yet instructed neither in the Law nor in the Gospell would aske of their owne head the Sabbath day rather than any other and it is more likely that they did aske any other commodious day betweene the Sabbath of the Iewes such as Paul and Barnabas should be pleased to appoint unto them whiles they were not busied with teaching the Iewes The words in the originall are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which many interpreters doe translate not the next Sabbath day as if the Gentiles had chused that day but in the Sabbath or in the weeke betweene that is in any day betweene till the next Sabbath 7 And there are some which probably esteeme that these words should be red 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should bee taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie cleerely in any day whatsoever betweene the Sabbaths This interpretation is not sufficiently refuted by the allegation of the 44. Verse where it is clearely said that the next Sabbath day came almost the whole City together to heare the Word of God For it is not necessary that this 44. Verse should declare the accomplishment of the request made by the Gentiles in the 42. Verse It is rather likely that the Apostles having already fulfilled it betweene the two Sabbaths when the Sabbath day came wherein the Iewes according to their custome met together and Paul as his manner was preached unto them as we may see Acts 17. verse 2. and Acts 18. verse 4. the whole City being moved with curiosity by the rumour spread abroad of the former sermons made both to Iewes and Gentiles ranne together in a farre greater number than before to heare the word Thirdly seeing the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sabbath is sometimes taken both in the Old and in the New Testament not particularly for the Sabbath day but for the weeke as in Leviticus 23. verse 15. and 25. verse 8. in Saint Matthew 28. verse 1. in St. Luke 18. v. 12. wherefore may we not in the foresaid passages understand that the Gentiles seeing it was the end of that weeke intreated Paul and Barnabas to preach unto them the next weeke verse 42. and that they did so the next weeke conformably to their desire ver 44. without expression of the particular day of that week So the sence shall be this And the next weeke came almost the whole City c. But although we should grant that both in the request of the Gentiles verse 42. and in the accomplishment thereof verse 44. the Sabbath day must be understood it followeth not neither that the Gentiles ought to observe that day nor that the Apostles had any regard unto it for Religion and conscience sake but only that the Gentiles of whom mention is made in the 42. Verse having beene present at the Sermon which Paul and Barnabas made to the Iewes on the Sabbath day and not having a particular day or time appointed to them for the hearing of the word of the Gospell because the Christian Religion was not as yet received nor established in their Towne as the Iewish Religion was having her Sabbaths and Synagogues free which the Apostles resorted unto intreated them that they might heare them againe on another Sabbath day and in the Synagogue of the Iewes because it was a most fit time and place for them by reason of the liberty that the Iewes injoyned for the exercises of their Religion which Paul and Barnabas yeelded unto whereof the speech being spread abroad through the Towne great multitudes trouped together on the next Sabbath through curiosity and ran to the Synagogue of the Iewes to heare them So it was not any devotion neither of the Gentiles nor of the Apostles to the Sabbath but the simple commodity that moved them to make choice of it 10 To the other passage cited out of the sixteenth Chapter of the Acts verse 12 13. I say likewise that Paul and Silas tooke occasion to observe the Sabbath because the Iewes met together for the exercise of their Religion on that day For although it be not said that those which resorted unto the place of prayer were Iewes no more is it said that they were Gentiles But it may be gathered out of the Text that they were Iewes either by birth and of the same nation or by Religion and religious communion because they were persons which ordinarily assembled together to call upon God on the Sabbath day verse 13. and who already served God as amongst others it is said of Lydia verse 14. with whom the Apostles made no bones to joyne themselves Which cannot in any wise be taken of Gentiles Infidels and of their devotions to their Idols as is evident nor also
of the Gentiles converted to the Christian Religion seeing Paul Silas and Timothy were but new arrived in that place where the word of the Gospell had not beene as yet preached as appeareth by the nine and tenne Uerses Therefore of necessity they were Iewes of Religion dwelling in Philippi and worshipping GOD according to the Law wherein they were instructed 11 It imports not much that no mention is made of a Synagogue where these persons came together but only that they went out of the City by a River side where prayer was wont to be made For it may be they had no Synagogue because they were but few or wanted meanes to build a Synagogue or because in that Towne which was a Roman Colony they were not suffered to build one and therefore they assembled together neere the River in some secret place out of the way not daring to meet openly in the Towne Peradventure also they had a Synagogue but if that which is written by some be true that the manner of the Iewes was to meete not only in their Synagogues in Townes for the reading of the Law but also out of Townes in the fields for the exercise of prayer even so these persons mentioned in the place aforesaid went out of the Towne by the River side for that end and that Paul and Silas made good use of that place and time of their holiest devotions as most commodious to goe and to speake to them because since their comming to the Towne which was a few dayes before undoubtedly they had not found the opportunity to speake unto them there nor elsewhere 12 Yea according to the exposition of some learned men the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be taken in the thirteenth and sixteenth verse for an house builded for the exercises of prayer and other religious actions accustomed among the Iewes As also it was an ordinary name whereby were entitled these houses wherein the Iewes did flocke together to read and to pray we may keeping the signification of the word call them Oratories or houses of prayer as the Temple is called Esa. 56. verse 7. 13 So then it is evident that this place of the Acts as the former is most conveniently expounded of the Iewes and therefore that for their sake onely Saint Paul and his fellowes made choice of the Sabbath day to intertaine them with Religious and wholesome speeches of the Gospell Neither shall any place be found where the Apostles are said to have observed the Sabbath but with respect to the Iewes to whom they applyed themselves seeking fit times places occasions to convert them and not having any so fit as the Sabbath which they behoved to keepe to come to their intent For at another time they could not have assembled the Iewes so commodiously as they would to preach unto them the Gospell publikely and loosing the Sabbath day they had lost the most favourable and advantageous commodities for the propagation and setting forward of the Gospell Whereunto they had a speciall regard catching that opportunity above all others namely seeing to observe the seventh day or any other day is in it selfe a thing indifferent under the Gospell which hath onely abolished the type and ancient obligation to that day leaving to the liberty of the Churche to serve God on any day or dayes whatsoever which are or shall be appointed by them 14 Which is to my opinion the reason why they did not preach against the Sabbath day nor also against the other holy dayes of the Iewes so vehemently as they did against other ceremonies namely against circumcision Acts 15. v. 1. Acts 21. v. 21. Gal. 5. ver 2. But condescended to the one farre more easily then to the other Because there cannot bee under the New Testament any lawfull use of the circumcision nor of other ceremonies like unto it but very good use might bee made of the Sabbath day and of other dayes after the manner before specified Yet they have not concealed the abrogation of the Sabbath and of the feasts but have sufficiently spoken of it as is manifest by the prooffes before propounded And therefore of the custome they had to keepe the Sabbath day cannot bee inforced any obligation tying us to observe it no more than other ceremonies to which they conformed themselves for a time because they did it onely to become as Iewes unto the Iewes as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Cor. 9. verse 20. having otherwise both in their discourses and in their writings taught cleerely and fully the abrogation of all these things 15 I scorne to ranke among the foresaid reasons or to honour with the name of a reason that which neverthelesse is by some set on foote and inforced as a good reason when they tell us of a certaine river in Palestina which according to the relation of some writers ranne regularly with swiftnesse enough and waters in a sufficient abundance in the sixe dayes of the weeke and on the Sabbath day vanishing away in his force left his channell empty and drie Or on the contrary as the thing is related by others vanished away or was dryed up all the sixe dayes before the Sabbath and on the Sabbath dayes filled up his channell Iosephus maketh mention of this river in this last fashion in the seventh booke of the warres of the Iewes Chapter 24. and saith that the Emperour Titus passing that way remarked it Plineas also maketh mention of it but in the first fashion in the 31. booke of his naturall History Chapter 2. and some Rabbins likewise whereupon some seeke to build pretty allegories to prove the observation of the Sabbath on a Seventh day of the weeke But they take not heed that in so arguing they imitate the Iewes who upon the marvellous nature of this River called Sabbaticall seeke to inferre the perpetuity of their Sabbath day wherin they are better grounded then Christians who from thence inferre simply the perpetuity of a seventh day For it was particularly on the last of seven dayes and not on any other day of the week that this River rested or flowed and therefore we should be bound to observe the seventh and last day of the weeke if the changings of this River could be a precedent to the matter in hand But if allegorizing were sound Divinity a conclusion might be made flat contrary to the former upon the proprieties of this Sabbaticall River For as Galatinus saith in the 9 Chapter of the eleventh book of the secrets of the Catholike truth the drying up of this River and the want of water in it on the Sabbath day betokened that the Sabbath should be denyed and loose all obligatory vertue under the New Testament If it ranne on the Sabbath day it could not bee a precedent of rest For running is not resting But whether it be true that such a River hath beene or that it hath never beene sith it is not now and is no where found by the
travellers that seeke it the cessation and bringing of it to naught teacheth that the Sabbath hath ceased and is abrogated And so having refuted all reasons that are put abroach for the morality and perpetuity of the Sabbath I end here the second part of this Treatise THE THIRD PART Of the originall and institution of the first day of the weeke for the day of Gods publike service in the Christian. CHURCH CHAPTER First Establishment of the opinion most admittable concerning the originall and institution of the Lords day 1. The first day of the weeke was kept from the beginning of the Christian Church in remembrance of Christs Resurrection not for any necessity in the thing it selfe 2. Not also by obligation of the fourth Commandement 3. The state of the Question whether this day be an institution of IESUS CHRIST or of his Apostles or whether the faithfull of themselves without any Commandement made choice of it 4. The first opinion hath no solid foundation The second hath 5. First argument against the first opinion There is no record in the whole New Testament that Christ or his Apostles ordained that day c. 6. Second argument the first day of the weeke was not equally kept by all Christians till Constantine by an imperiall Law tyed them unto it as also to the sixt day which wee call Friday 7. First observation upon the imperiall Law of Constantine concerning the first day of the weeke 8. Second Observation upon the same Law concerning the sixt day 9. Whence it is cleere that both were of Ecclesiasticall institution 10. Third argument the first Christians especially in the East observed for the space of three hundred yeeres and more the seventh day of the weeke with the first day 11. Confirmation of this truth by the Councell of Laodicea and sundry Fathers c. 12. Which shew evidently that the Christians in those dayes beleeved not that the first day of the weeke was by CHRIST or his Apostles subrogated to the Iewish Sabbath 1 IT is plaine and generally agreed on that the first day of the weeke was kept from the beginning of the Christian Church and that undoubtedly upon the consideration of the Resurrection of CHRIST which came to passe on that day Yet this observation was not grounded upon any necessity of the thing it selfe obliging Christians to keepe that day of the weeke rather than another For as it hath beene shewed before it is impossible to explicate with shew of reason either what morall necessity one day of seven hath in it more than hath another number or wherefore it was necessary that the day of the week that Christ rose in should be kept in the Christian Church rather than the day wherein he was borne or the day wherein he suffered on the Crosse or the day wherin hee ascended into heaven Or if the day of his Resurrection must be observed why these others of his birth death and Ascension ought not to be also kept weekely The resurrection of Christ might did give occasion unto the observation of that day but that it was a cause obliging necessarily and having a fundamentall relation or that CHRIST by his Resurrection on that day intended to sanctifie it particularly to the Christian Church cannot bee proved 2 Neither also hath the fourth Commandement obliged Christians to observe this day For it injoyned the last day of the weeke precisely and not the first and in that respect was ceremoniall which also hath beene shewed And therefore the observation of the first day of the weeke cannot be grounded upon the tearmes thereof For the foundation thereof should be absurd and unreasonable thus God ordained under the Old Testament as a point of ceremony and of order for that time the last day of the weeke wherein hee rested from all his workes Therefore in vertue and through obligation of this Commandement men are bound under the New Testament to observe the first day of the weeke wherein God began to apply himselfe to the production of his works Who seeth not the manifest absurdity of such an illation Therefore this observation of the first day of the weeke must of necessity bee attributed to some other free and voluntary institution made concerning it in the New Testament 3 Here beginneth a new question whether the institution therof be divine or Apostolicall If it was our Lord Iesus Christ that ordained it after his Resurrection to be kept by all Christians during the whole time of the New Testament if the Apostles also injoyned it to all the faithfull till the end of the world so that they are all bound to the observation thereof by the institution of Christ or of his Apostles Or whether the faithfull did not of themselves without any commandement through respect to the Resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ keepe the day wherein it came to passe as also to make a distinction thereby between them and the Iewes and to shew that they were made free from all Iewish observations types and figures amongst which was the Sabbath day and that they observed not a day in quality of type and figure but onely for orders sake and for Ecclesiasticall government to apply themselves together to the exercises of Religion and for that cause had changed the seventh day of the Iewes into another which usage and custome as very fit and convenient being begunne first amongst a few faire and softly prevailed and was established with the Christian Religion amongst all those that imbraced it and since that time hath continued in the Christian Church till this day 4 Although the first of these opinions were true it cannot inforce the morality of a seventh day of rest but only that the first day of the weekes was instituted by IESUS CHRIST or his Apostles as a point of order whereunto in such a case the faithfull should be bound by the necessity of a divine and apostolicall commandement But I see not that this opinion hath any solid ground whereas the second is well founded For there is nothing found in the New Testament concerning the observation of the first day of the weeke importing a commandement of Christ or of his Apostles neither is there any such commandement inferred but by remote and most weake consequences and it is more likely that all the places alleadged to that purpose denote onely a simple usage among some Christians in those dayes which by succession of time hath beene setled and is become universall 5 Indeed if Iesus Christ or his Apostles by expresse commandement from him or by divine inspiration had ordained that day as a point so necessary as it is thought to be I doubt not but their commandement should have beene expressely set downe in the books of the New Testament as are all other ordinances of necessary things and that in them we should finde reprehension against those that had neglected the observation of that day as in them there are reprehensions against all kinde of
sinners But seeing there is no such commandement to bee found in them that it cannot bee gathered from them but by consequences which are of no force that no man is blamed in them for the inobservation of that day whereas under the Old Testament God taxed so often and so sharply those that kept not his Sabbaths this is to mee a most firme and assured proofe that neither IESUS CHRIST nor his Apostles have ordained it 6 I adde that if had beene an ordinance of Iesus Christ or of his Apostles undoubtedly the Apostles and other Ministers of the Gospell when they found and established the Christian Churches had established the observation of this day as a point of the will of Iesus Christ and of his service under the New Testament and it had beene kept equally by all the Churches For why had they not received it as well as the other points of the Christian Religion and doctrine of the Gospell sith the same authority obliged them therunto Now this is most true that the observation thereof was not practised throughout them all and became not universall wel setled but by the commandements and constitution of the Emperours There diverse imperiall constitutions for the observation of the first day of the weeke Eusebius in the fourth booke of the life of Constantine Chapter 16. and after him Sozomene in the first booke of his Ecclesiasticall History and in the 8 Chapter relateth that Constantine the first made a Law and ordained that on Sunday which is the first day of the weeke and on Friday all publike judgments should surcease that all other affaires should be intermitted that on these dayes all should apply themselves to serve GOD by prayers and supplications and that so he reverenced Sunday because on it Iesus Christ rose from the dead and Friday because on it hee was crucified 7 This passage is considerable For it sheweth that Sunday was not observed throughout al the Churches but that it was used as a work-day and that on it common pleas and publike judgements were practised whence we may conclude with a great shew of truth that it was not an institution of Christ nor of his Apostles For if it had beene questionlesse the observation thereof had beene better known and practised and Christians had thought themselves more obliged unto it for the commandement of Christ and of his Apostles then for any imperiall constitution The writers of that story telling also what reason Constantine had to make a constitution concerning the observation of Sunday say simply that he made it because on it Iesus Christ rose from the dead which indeed hath alwayes beene the foundation of this usage but they say not that it was because Iesus Christ and his Apostles had ordained which they ought not to be silent of if that had been true and it had been needlesse to alleadge any other reason 9 This is also worthy to be marked that Sozomen joyneth the Friday with the Sunday and saith that Constantine ordained that day as wel as this day That day because on it Christ was crucified this day because on it Christ rose againe Which sheweth plainely that the day of Christs Resurrection is not of it selfe more obligatory to make christians keep it then is the day of his passion upon the Crosse or of any other of his actions or sufferings That the one may yeeld as just and peremptory a cause thereof as the other that Christ also had not given a commandement more expresse and more necessary for the one then for the other but had left all this to the liberty of the Church For if he had given a particular commandement concerning Sunday it had bin in Constantine a great temerity to ordaine another day in equall ranke with that which Christ had ordained because he ought to thinke that Christ had good reasons for the institution of that day which had not beene valuable for any other day and that by the institution of one day in the weeke particularly and of no moe he would have all Christians to know that no man ought to attempt to institute any other besides that which he had instituted 9 Constantine had beene guilty of farre greater rashnesse and indiscretion by making Friday which was of his institution equall to Sunday which Iesus Christ had ordained yet he did so as is manifest by the words of Sozomen who maketh no ods betweene the ordinance made for Friday and that which was made for Sunday But seeing Constantine in what hee did did nothing amisse it is evident thereby that the observation of Sunday was not of divine institution but of usage and custome only which was not received every where nor well practised where it was received because it was not esteemed necessary Wherefore Constantine by his constitution made it necessary adding another like unto it for Friday all this is flat contrary to the assertion of those which to prove that Sunday is of divine institution yeeld this reason of their opinion that no humane authority can sanctifie a day And lo Constantine sanctified Friday ordaining that it should be imployed in exercises of Religion only wherof we shall speake againe something hereafter God willing 10 Socrates in the fifth booke and 21 Chapter of his Ecclesiasticall story marketh sundry customes in the Churches about the day of their assemblies which some kept in one day of the weeke some in another And saith expressely that Iesus Christ and his Apostles have not ordained any thing concerning holy dayes but have only given precepts of godlinesse and of an holy life And it is most likely that the Christian Churches which in the beginning God assembled among the Iewes kept not for a long while any other day for the exercise of their religion saving the 7th and last day of the week And it is a thing most certain that many Churches of the Gentiles especially in the last more than three hundred yeeres after Christ observed the Sabbath day of the Iewes with the Sunday and made of the one a day of devotion as well as of the other Saint Ignatius Martyr an hundred yeeres after Iesus Christ in his Epistle to the Magnesians exhorteth the Christians to observe the Sabbath not after the manner of the Iewes which there he describeth but after a spirituall and holy manner such as hee setteth downe and addeth that after they had observed the Sabbath they should also observe the first day of the weeke The Councell which met in Laodicea in the fourth age after Christ ordained that Christians must not keepe the Sabbath day and rest in it after the manner of the Iewes which sheweth that till then they observed it Nay according to the translations which we have the Councell did not forbid them absolutely to keepe the Iewish Sabbath but permitted it unto them if they would with this caveat that it were not after the fashion of the Iewes and that they should preferre Sunday before it
the first day of unleavened bread that is said figuratively because of the immediate cōjunction of the time wherein the Lamb was prepared with the time wherin it was eaten with unleavened bread For it was prepared at the end of one day and eaten at the beginning of the next day Or because the same day wherein the Lamb was prepared the Iewes put away leaven and leavened bread out of their houses and prepared unleavened bread for the day following Or also because amongst the Romans of whom the Iewes did at that time depend the naturall day began by the light and the night was the last part therof whereunto it may be the Evangelists had regard But otherwise to speak properly according to the ordinance of the Law it is most certain that the day wherin the Lamb was rosted and prepared was not the first day of unleavened bread For that was the 14. day betweene the two evens this was the 15. day at the entrance thereof On that day leavened bread might be eaten on this day and on the dayes following all leaven was most strictly forbidden That was not a day of rest but of travell and of preparation as it is often called in the Gospel Mat. 27. v. 62. Mar. 15. v. 42. Luk. 23. v. 54. Ioh. 19. v. 14 31. because on it were all things prepared for the feast following as to search and put away all leaven and leavened bread out of their houses to kill to slay to rost the Lamb c. Nay we see that on that day the Iewes caused the Lord Iesus to be crucified and two thieves with him and vexed themselves extreamly all that day to come to their intent This was a great and solemne Sabbath wherein it was not lawfull to doe any manner of worke 10 Let us adde to that hath beene said the practise of the observation of the Sabbath which we read in the thirteenth Chapter of Nehemiah It is said there ver 15 16 17 19 20. that because all manner of ware was brought into the City of Ierusalem and sold on the Sabbath day Nehemiah commanded that as soone as the Sunne should withdraw it selfe from the gates of the City before the Sabbath the gates should be shut and that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath so that the Merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Ierusalem once or twice from whence we gather manifestly the Sabbath began at the going downe of the Sun and that the night made the first part thereof For if the Sabbath had not begun then wherefore did Nehemiah command so carefully to shut the gates as soone as the sun should withdraw his beames from them and it should begin to be darke And if not the night preceding the day but the night following had made a part of the Sabbath surely the Merchants had beene of necessity constrained to remaine two nights out of Ierusalem whereas it is only said that they past the night once or twice without the Towne to wit the night after Nehomiah had given order that the gates shold be shut as soone as the Sun should retire from them and therfore that night with the day following composed the Sabbath which ending on the next even at the setting of the sun Nehemiah commanded that they should be opened again v. 19. a cōmandement being necessary for the opening of them then at that time because the night returning it was the time to keep them barred and locked seeing they were already shut If the Sabbath had ended with the end of the night it had not beene needful that Nehemiah should command to open the gates after the Sabbath For it was usuall to open them after the night was ended and a particular commandement for that was needlesse But although I had omitted these reasons which I have alleadged the words of the original shew plainly and of themselves what we say These they are v. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Causher Tsallou Shahare Ieroushalaim liphne Hasshabbat that is as the gates of Ierusalem were darkned before the face or in the presence of the Sabbath or before the Sabbath For the ordinary signification of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liphne is before the face in the presence And therefore seeing the gates were darkened before the face or in presence of the Sabbath it followeth that when the sun was setting the Sabbath was comming and began at that same instant to shew it selfe if I may speake so 11 Likewise we read in St. Iohn Chap. 19. v. 40 41 42. that Ioseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus having obtained leave of Pilate to take away the body of Iesus as soone as he was dead tooke it wrapt it in a winding sheete with spices as the manner of the Iewes was to bury and laid it in a new Sepulchre which was in a Garden in the same place where he was crucified and laid it there because of the Iewes preparation day for the Sepulchre was nigh at hand that is the night being at hand the beginning of the Sabbath being nigh and comming apace with the night and the day of preparation which preceded the Sabbath drawing nigh the evening and making hast to finish they carryed not farre the body of Iesus but laid it in a Sepulchre hard by after they had wound it in linnen cloathes with aromaticall and fragrant drugs only without any imbalming at that time because they had no leasure to anoint and imbalme him by reason of the neerenesse of the Sabbath which was unto them an high day of Sabbath as it is called in the one and thirtieth verse of the same Chapter for as much as at that time the extraordinary Sabbath of the first day of the feast of unleavened bread occurred with the ordinary Sabbath of the weeke For the same reason the Iewes ver 31. that the bodyes of those that were crucified should not remaine upon the Crosse on the Sabbath day besought Pilate that they might be taken away betimes that is before the end of the day as the Text sheweth plainely Now if the Sabbath had not begun in the evening but only in the morning the Iewes should not have had a cause to urge the taking away of the bodies from the Crosse so quickly nor Ioseph and Nicodemus to bury the body of Iesus so speedily and to interre it in the same place where hee was crucified which the Text sheweth they did on a sudden For the Iewes should have had all the evening and all the night following to procure the taking away of the bodyes Ioseph and Nicodemus should have likewise had time enough to imbalme transport and interre at leasure the body of the LORD where they should thinke fit This is distinctly observed by Saint Luke Chapter 23. verse 53 54. where he saith that the day wherein Ioseph laid the body of Iesus in a Sepulchre was the preparation and the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is drew on was a comming
in their times as it hath had many hundred yeeres sithence in the Christian Church which honoureth the first day of the weeke with the name of the Lords day it followeth not that this consecration did proceed from the institution of Christ or of his Apostles Seeing it might be founded in the onely practice and custome brought in among the faithfull The ancient Fathers speaking of the observation of Sunday give no other reason thereof saving the Lords Resurrection on that day and not any commandement of the Lord which they had not forgotten if there had beene any 3 Certaine Divines without any shew of good reason will hold us in hand that the first day of the weeke is called The Lords day even as the seventh day is called The Lords rest and the holy Supper The Supper or the Table of the Lord to wit not onely in consideration of their end which is to be a memoriall that of Gods rest after the Creation this of Christs death but also of their institution which is from the Lord himselfe 4 It is true indeed that the one and the other are so called in these two respects But this is also most true that wee have in holy Scripture an expresse declaration that God of old gave to the Iewes the seventh day because on it he rested and would have it to be a signe that he was the Lord that sanctified them It is true also that Iesus Christ instituted the holy Supper in the roome of the ancient Passeover to be a memoriall of his death not a simple memoriall but a Sacrament exhibitive and confirmative of the benefits flowing from his death which it could not be but by an expresse institution from himselfe necessary in all Sacraments because otherwise they cannot be Sacraments It is not so of this day which is called The Lords day For we finde not any institution or subrogation thereof in roome of the ancient Sabbath day neither by the Lord himselfe norby his Apostles And it may be the faithfull called it the Lords day in regard of that solemne action of our Lord Iesus Christ when on it he rose from the dead an action whereof they thought fit to make in it an ordinary and weekely commemoration The place where the holy assemblies meet together is called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Dutch and Scots Kirk by abbreviation in English Church as if we should say The Lords place albeit there be no such place of the Lords institution but onely of the Churches who gives that name to the Temples because they are consecrated to the Lords service And wherefore I pray might not likewise the first day of the weeke be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day of the Lord seeing the Church hath appointed it to the honour and service of the Lord which she might doe without any necessity of a divine institution by Iesus Christ our Lord or by his Apostles This was the meaning of many of our most excellent Divines which speake of the observation of the first day of the weeke as of an observation proceeding not from some apostolicall commandement which is not to be found in the Gospel but from a custome introduced and received in the Christian Churches custome which in it selfe is free and without obligation of conscience They acknowledge also that the argument drawne from the appellation of the Lords day is weak Their testimonies I might recite in this place and oppose them to the testimonies taken from others that are of a contrary opinion But my intention is to dispute by reasons and not by authorities of men which in this point are different CHAPTER Eighth Answer to the seventh Reason 1. Seventh Reason The first day of the weeke is to be sanctified in remembrance that Christ on it ended the worke of our Redemption 2. First answer This assertion is false 3. Second answer Christ fulfilled our redemption by his death meritoriously 4. Third answer He hath fulfilled it by actuall execution after his ascension 5. Fourth answer Declaring the use of Christs Resurrection 6. A notable difference betweene the day of Christs Resurrection and the day of Gods rest 7. The day of Christs Resurrection hath no advantage above the day of his Passion c. 8. The true cause of the first observation thereof 9. All that is said of the first day of the weeke being granted it followeth not that it hath any naturall obligation to be kept 1 OF that hath beene said in the former Chapters it is apparent that the passages whereby our Opponents pretend to prove that the Lord either immediately by himselfe or by his Apostles hath instituted the first day of the week for his solemne service doe not prove any such thing But they take another argument from that which is constant by the story of the Gospel which is that the first day of the weeke Iesus Christ rose againe from the dead as if this day for this only cause that Christs Resurrection happened on it had beene sanctified unto us and obligeth us to a religious and solemne observation thereof For say they Christ rising from death to life on the first day of the weeke came victorious out of the great combate which he had sustained and rested from the dolorous and painfull travels which he had suffered in his death and so ended the worke of the redemption of the Church and re-established it into a new estate So the day that he rose in was a new day which he brought as it were from the Sepulchre for her sake And therefore if the day wherein God rested from the Creation of the world was to be sanctified under the Old Testament in remembrance and to the honour of that worke so long as there was not another more excellent then it by the same reason yea farre more the day wherein Christ rising hath accomplished the wonderfull worke of redemption which is a second Creation of a new world farre more excellent than the first was to bee sanctified under the New Testament in remembrance and to the honour of this great worke and the other day to give place unto it 2 I have already said diverse things pertaining to the solution of this argument But I adde over and besides and for better illustration that it is grounded upon an attribution given to the Resurrection of Christ of things which being exactly considered shall be found that they belong not unto it neither particularly nor properly as to have fulfilled the worke of our redemption and second Creation and to have re-established the world or the Church in the world into a new estate 3 Which things if we speake of fulfilling them by merit or of purchasing the right to performe them really have beene fulfilled by the death and passion of Christ which is the price of our redemption whereby both the state of grace here below and of glory in heaven is purchased unto us 4 But if we speake of fulfilling
which remaineth over lay up for you to bee kept untill the morning The sense of which words is evident that as God on the day before the Sabbath rained Manna for two dayes so they should prepare it on the same day for two dayes baking that which they would bake seething that they would seeth and frying that they would prepare so and after they had eaten of it sufficiently for that day they should lay up the rest so prepared to be kept untill the next day 5 For if as some doe esteeme God would have suffered them to prepare on the Sabbath day that which remained over and the sense of the foresaid words were onely that on Friday they should prepare and made ready such a portion as they should thinke sufficient for the meat of that day and keepe the overplus to be prepared the next day God had not given them on Friday bread for two dayes and had not forborne to raine down Manna upon them on the Sabbath day For it had been farre lesse paines unto them to gather on the seventh day the measure that was needfull unto them then to make it ready afterwards Neither is it likely that after he had forbidden them and had taken from them the meanes to gather any on the Sabbath hay hee gave them liberty to bake seeth frie and prepare it on that day Therefore when he sent them twice as much Manna the day before the Sabbath he did it manifestly that they might both gather and prepare double portion the same day and refraine from preparing any on the Sabbath day 6 And wherefore had Moses advised them so carefully on Friday rather than on the other dayes to bake that which they had to bake but to tell them that the same day they ought to bake the double measure which they should gather For otherwise this advertisement had beene to no purpose because they were wont every day to bake the portion which they had gathered for the day knowing that without a warner But they could not well know without information that they were bound to prepare on the same day the two portions which they had gathered for two dayes And to shew yet more cleerely that what they layd up for the next day they kept it baken Moses said not unto them bake to day that which yee have laid up but only Eat that to day For to day is the Sabbath unto the Lord verse 25. which reason was as valuable to hinder them from preparing as from gathering it the one being no more necessary then the other For as GOD gave them the meanes to gather double measure on the sixt day so had they on the sixt day the means and leasure to bake and prepare that double measure and were not constrained by any necessity to reserve a part or to prepare and bake it on the Sabbath day It is objected against this that if they had layd by the Manna prepared and baken till the next day after it had not beene a wonder that it did not stinke neither was there any worme therein where neverthelesse is related as a marvell verse 24. seeing baking and seething hinder all stinke and breeding of wormes But this objection hath no weight and is not to be regarded For although the Manna so prepared might naturally remaine sound and wholesome untill the next day yet by Gods Almighty power and righteous judgement it had stunke and bred wormes if it had beene kept otherwise then hee had expressely commanded For undoubtedly the Manna unbaken and unprepared might have beene kept on any other day of the weeke till the next day without corruption or any noysome smell The only cause why it stunke and bred wormes was Gods prohibition to leave of it till the morning ver 19 20. which prohibition proceeding from so powerfull and righteous a Lawgiver was of such force that it had stunke and bred wormes being kept till the next morning of any day whatsoever although the Israelites had done their utmost indeavour by baking seething frying and by all other possible meanes to keepe it from putrefaction And therefore it is well noted to the purpose that being laid up baken and prepared on Friday for Saturday it stunke not because that being done according to Gods commandement he restrained his judgement which he had displayed in another day if they had kept it till the next morning 8 Moreover God gave another prohibition to his people saying Ye shall kindle no fire thorowout your habitations on the Sabbath day Exod. 35. vers 3. although it was an action of little importance soone done and bringing no disturbance to Gods service A man went out and gathered stickes on the Sabbath day for his present necessitie as it is to be presumed For this hee was by Gods expresse command stoned to death as a manifest transgressour of the Commandement concerning the Sabbath Numb 15. vers 32 33 34 35. To say that he was stoned not so much for gathering stickes on the Sabbath as for doing it through a too bold contempt of that day is a supposition uncertaine and it is farre more likely that he did it through negligence and unadvisednesse than through contempt and presumptuous audacitie and that this unwarinesse whereof he made an open declaration or some other apparent excuse wherewith he shielded himselfe and which was thought to be true or also the manifest slightnesse of the action was unto them a cause of doubting if they should put him to death according to the Ordinance of the Law Exod. 31. vers 14 15. And so much the rather that God shewed indulgence to those which through errour sinned against his Commandements as may be seene in the same fifteenth Chapter of Numbers verse 22 23 24. And therefore it was thought necessary in this occasion to consult the mouth of the Lord who ordained that this man should bee stoned to death by the whole multitude This he commanded to conciliate so much more credit and reverence to his Law touching the Sabbath to give to understand that it had particular reasons wherfore it ought to be exactly observed and that the lightest faults against the rest of the seventh day were not pardonable and to make by this example of severity the Israelites so much the more fearefull to violate the Sabbath and carefull to abstaine in it from all servile workes even from the least And indeed God in the denunciation of the punishments against the transgressours of this Law had not said that he onely who should profane and vilipend the Sabbath but more generally that he who should doe any worke therein should be put to death and so cut off from among his people as may bee seene in the foresaid 35. Chapter of Exodus verse 2. Also some of the contrary opinion to this which I defend acknowledge that it is so and thereupon vouch that in this rigour of the Law condemning a man to die for gathering stickes on the Sabbath day
there was some ceremonie added to the moralitie of the Commandement concerning this day and injoyned to the Iewes in that time of infancie and that it obligeth us no more than other ceremonies annexed at that time to moralities Whereof speech shall be againe made hereafter Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of Iames durst not worke on that day to imbalme Christs body but delayes to doe it and to buy the spices necessary thereto till it was past though they might have done it in a short space resting on that day according to the Commandement Mark 16. vers 1. Luk. 23. ver 56. and thinking themselves bound to the precise observation of the said Commandement because they knew not that it was abolished by our Lord Iesus Christ. 9 So it is evident that the observation of the Sabbath was to the Iewes most precise and exact Neither was it lawfull unto them to doe any outward and corporall workes saving those that were necessary for the outward and ceremoniall service which GOD required on that day as to the Levites and Priests to kill and dresse the beasts for the Sacrifices and to burne the fat upon the Altar Numb 28. vers 9. Matth. 12. vers 5. to particular men to circumcise their children Iohn 7. vers 22 23. to walke a certaine space from home to the place of Gods service where there was an holy convocation ordained of God on the Sabbath day Levit. 23. vers 3. which may be gathered out of the second booke of the Kings Chap. 4. vers 23. Where the husband of the Shunamite asked her wherefore she would goe to the Prophets seeing it was neither new Moone nor Sabbath which sheweth that it was lawfull to goe on the Sabbath day to the places where Gods Prophets abode to teach the people Or the Priests to minister to the Lord in things belonging to his service And this distance of way was by tradition limited and stinted to two thousand common steps as may be gathered out of the twelfth verse of the first chapter of the Acts where the distance betweene the mount of Olives and the towne of Ierusalem which was of so many steps is called A Sabbath dayes journey which tradition and ordinance concerning a Sabbath dayes journey which is not formally prescribed in the Law some are of opinion that it had its originall from the injunction given to the Israelites in the second Chapter of Numbers and the second verse to pitch under their standards about the Tabernacle of assignation over against it or a little farre off from it And in the third Chapter of Ioshua verse 3 and 4. which doe explicate this distance to goe after the Arke of the Covenant keeping betweene them and it the space of two thousand cubites by measure which journey by consequent they were of necessity to make every Sabbath day during their abode in the wildernesse to come to the Tabernacle of assignation where the Arke was and to assist there to the holy convocation which by Gods command was solemnized on that day Levit. 23. vers 3. which afterward the Doctors of the Iewes tooke and established for a rule of the journey which a man might make on the Sabbath day for Gods service and for holy and religious ends There be some who say that they extended this licence of two thousand cubits to walke for recreation and pastime But this hath no ground in the Law as I conceive Moreover they were also permitted on the Sabbath day to doe workes of charity mercifulnesse and compassion necessary to themselves or to their neighbours yea and to their beasts also As to flie and to fight to save their lives and to defend themselves in time of warre As Eliah threatned by Iezebel fled for his life and went forty dayes and forty nights unto Horeb wherein there were many Sabbaths 1 Kings 19. v. 3 8. As the Iewes decreed to defend themselves on the Sabbath day if their enemies came to make battell with them on that day 1 Maccab. 2. v. 41. having learned wisdome by the example of their brethren who being assaulted on the Sabbath chused most unadvisedly to dye rather than to make resistance for their lives v. 36 37 38. As according to the opinion of some it was on the Sabbath day that the Israelites fought against Ierico Ios. 6. verse 15 16 20 21. and against the Syrians 1 King 20. verse 29. but this is not evident enough As also to care dresse cure heale sicke folkes which Christ taught the Iewes to be lawfull and did often himselfe as we see in diverse places of the Gospell As to lay hold on a poore beast and lift it out of the pit that it was fallen into on the Sabbath day Mat. 12. ver 11 12. lead it to watering give it foode and doe unto it all other necessary things Luk. 13. ver 15. 11 An important and urgent necessity which could not be foreseene prevented hindred and admitted no delay made lawfull unto them on the Sabbath day actions which otherwise had beene unlawful As although they were forbidden to prepare meat to eat it on the Sabbath day yet if a man could not get meat to prepare or was deprived of all possible meanes to prepare the meat he had nor find meat made ready on the Sabbath day and that he were in danger to starve I esteeme that rather than he should suffer incommodity in his health or danger in his life God was well pleased that hee should prepare some on the Sabbath for his sustentation For upon this ground Iesus Christ maintained against the Pharisees the action of his Disciples who being an hungred in following him plucked eares of corne and did eat rubbing them in their hands Mat. 12. verse 1. Luk. 6. verse 1. likewise although they were forbidden to kindle the fire on the Sabbath day yet if they had beene pinched with some urgent necessity I doubt not but to kindle the fire had beene acceptable to God I esteeme that the like judgement is to be made of all other actions of the like nature although otherwise forbidden on the Sabbath day 21 These reasons taken from Gods service when externall and corporall actions pertained unto it from charity and compassion or from some great and urgent necessity being excepted it was not lawfull to doe any workes of common and ordinary labour nay not the least during either the time of Gods service in his house either afore or after it publikely or privately in the whole space of 4. and twenty houres betweene the two evenings as is evident by the prohibitions so expresse so particular so frequent made concerning that matter Philo in the second booke of the life of Moses saith that it was not lawfull to the Iewes to plucke on the Sabbath day a bough a fruit a leafe of a tree And all the Rabbins of the Iewes which writ of the observation of the Sabbath goe farre beyond whatsoever is exact and precise in the
Law of God forbidding actions farre lighter and of farre lesser moment then all those that are particularized in the Law CHAPTER Second What is the obligation of Christians to the observation of Sunday for the manner of it 1. They are not bound by a Divine prohibition and for conscience sake to abstaine from any servile worke 2. First Reason the fourth Commandement bindeth them not thereunto 3. Second Reason the order of the Church neither doth nor can oblige their conscience to a Iewish abstinence 4. Third Reason Those of the contrary opinion urge not the riged abstinence of the Iewes from all manner of worke 5. Wherefore they should not urge any abstinence at all contrary to Christian liberty 6. For Christian liberty extends it selfe equally to all and is not restrained by the fourth Commandement 1 AS for Christians living under the New Testament they are not obliged to such an observation of their Sunday as the Iewes were to their Sabbath day And I beleeve not any worke externall corporall servile of their ordinary callings lawfull on another day to be unlawfull on that day by a divine prohibition and obligation of conscience to abstaine from it in consequence of such a prohibition 2 This resulteth by necessary consequence from that hath beene said before For if the fourth Commandement in as much as it prescribeth a certaine day of rest to wit a seventh day or the last of seven bindeth them not as hath beene shewed there is no reason why it should rather oblige them in the exact prohibition of all worke on the Sabbath day because this was as well a part of the ceremonies and government of the Iewish Church as was the appointment of a seventh day of Sabbath 3 If they keepe not their Sunday by Gods Commandement but according to the order and use of the Church as I have also proved no more are they bound by Gods Commandement to cease on Sunday from all their ordinary workes but only as farre as the use and order of the Church established for the publike exercise of Gods service on that day doth require it without any further obligation of their conscience Now this order cannot and should not oblige them to an abstinence like unto that of the Iewâ—s under the Oâ—d Testament For it were needfull for this that God himselfe had substituted Sunday to the Sabbath day and posted over to that day the rigorous right of this day commanding the same abstinence in the one and in the other which is not The substitution of one day to the other was done by the Church and the reasons of an abstinence so precise on the Iewish Sabbath which were wholly typicall having no place at all in the New Testament the said abstinence ought not to be any more in vigor neither ought our Sunday to usurpe the same rigour of authority over us to make us refraine from all kind of worke which the Sabbath day possessed over the Iewes by Gods expresse commandement 4 The same is easily proved by good reason grounded upon things which those against whom we dispute are constrained to advow For if Christians were obliged also to an abstinence of outward and servile workes which to the Iewes were unlawfull on the Sabbath day it must be in consideration and by vertue of the prohibitions given to the same Iewes in the fourth Commandement and in other places of the Old Testament to doe such workes on that day seeing otherwise to doe them is not a sinne if we consider the thing absolutely in it selfe This power of the fourth Commandement is extended to all Christians by those that are contrary to the opinion which I maintaine And neverthelesse they avouch almost all of them that under the Gospell we are delivered from the rigour of an exact observation such as was the observation that the Iewes were subjected unto that we have greater liberty that wee may on our Sabbath day kindle the fire make meat ready not only for our ordinary refection but also for feasts and bankets so they be not too sumptuous goe abroad for other ends then for Gods service as to walke and doe other such things and that without the case of urgent necessity which sometimes made them lawfull to the Iewes themselves They call such actions workes of Christian liberty which they acknowledge to be permitted to Christians although they were not permitted to the Iewes as were the workes of godlinesse mercy and urgent necessity whereof there is no difficulty but they may be done on the Sabbath day This only they require that these workes of Christian liberty bee done without scandall without any disturbance of Gods service and without any hinderance to the Sanctification of the Sabbath 5 Now it is most true that we are delivered from the necessity of this so rigid observation But I aske them wherefore we shall bee permitted to doe some workes which were prohibited to the Iewes on the Sabbath day as to kindle the fire prepare and dresse meat walke abroad without necessity and not other workes which were not forbidden more severely than the former as to plough sowe reape carry burthens c. The one and the other were alike unlawfull to the Iewes in vertue of the interdiction given in the fourth Commandement and reiterated so often elsewhere If this interdiction tyeth still our hands under the New Testament and suffereth us not to do these last workes and other such like I would faine know upon what ground they hold that it releaseth and suffereth us to doe these former workes What reason have they to extend our Christian liberty to the one and not to the other seeing there is no relaxation given us for the one more expressely than for the other Seeing also meanes may be found to doe the last as well as the first without scandall and without any let by either to the Sanctification of the Sabbath day 6 Therefore we must of necessity confesse that they are equally permitted or equally forbidden seeing the fourth Commandement maketh no distinction Now they advow that some workes are permitted to us which were by the fourth Commandement forbidden to the Iewes and are workes of Christian liberty Whence I conclude that all other workes are also of the same nature that we have liberty to doe them all on our Sunday and that as the fourth Commandement obligeth not Christians to keepe the seventh day which it prescribeth so precisely no more doth it oblige them to do no manner of worke on that day For these two parts of the Commandement are alike precise and the one is of as great authority as the other CHAPTER Third Answer to a reply made to the argument of the precedent Chapter 1. A generall reply that the workes forbidden particularly had reference onely to the abode of the people in the wildernesse 2. First Answer The Commandement to tary at home on the Sabbath day was perpetuall 3. Second Answer The prohibition to prepare meat was
perpetuall 4 The first reply to this Answer refuted 5. The said reply is not well grounded on the example of a Pharisee who called Christ to eat bread on the Sabbath day 6. Confirmation of the refutation of the said reply by the Scriptures 7. By the testimony of Saint Augustine and of Saint Ignace and by reason 8. The second reply taken from equality yea from oddes of reason refuted 9. A mystery hid in the prohibition to cooke meat on the Sabbath day c. 10. Third Answer the prohibition to kindle fire was perpetuall and not referred to the building of the Tabernacle 11. If it was referred thereto it was onely by application 12. If it was not lawfull to kindle fire for the uses of the Tabernacle farre lesse for other uses 13. Confirmation of this answer by reason and by the testimony of Philo. 14. Fourth Answer The particular prohibitions were explications of the generall prohibition of the fourth Commandement 15. Fifth and last Answer God hath no where made an exception of any worke on the weekely Sabbath as he did on the Sabbath of the Passeover 1 SOme of the contrary opinion have seene the difficulty propounded in the former Chapter to wit that there is no reason to say that some workes which the Iewes were forbidden to do as wel as all other by the fourth Commandement are permitted but the rest are not permitted if it be true that the prohibition of the fourth Commandement obligeth us as they pretend Therefore they say that these workes which as they confesse we are permitted to doe as to kindle the fire and to make meat ready on the Sabbath day were permitted to the Iewes as well as unto us and are not comprised in the prohibition of the fourth Commandement and that the particular prohibitions which are made in Exodus Chapter 16. and 35. were temporall had respect only to the time of the peoples sojourning in the wildernesse and were grounded on reasons particular to that time 2 But this is an affirmation without ground and without all likelihood For to speake of the injunction given them to tarry every man in his place and not to goe out of it on the Sabbath day Exod. 16. vers 29. it is true that it was given them by occasion of the Manna to the intent that they should not goe forth to seeke any yet undoubtedly it was extended also to all other things of the like nature to wit to all bodily and earthly ends God by that one example forbidding them to apply themselves to the seeking of them there being a like reason for all I say bodily and earthly because a spirituall and heavenly end was excepted by the third verse of the three and twenty Chapter of Leviticus and there was no other end but such a one which might be an exception from the said prohibition Will any man say that during their abode in the wildernesse they might freely and without offence goe about other worldly businesses the gathering of Manna excepted This goeth beyond all semblance of truth And therefore if this was not left to their liberty the prohibition of the sixteenth Chapter of Exodus had a farther regard than to the Manna onely Now if they were restrained in the wildernesse and durst not goe forth for earthly imploiments as to gather Manna what reason can be alleaged why in the land of Canaan they were free to come and to goe and trouble themselves with the care and pursuit of the bread that perisheth and of other things of this world 3 The same judgement ought to be made of the prohibition to to cooke and dresse meat in the wildernesse on the Sabbath day which meat was Manna wherefore ought not this prohibition to have place in the land of Canaan for all other meats The Israelites had they not leisure in Canaan to prepare their meat the day before the Sabbath as much nay more than they had for the Manna in the wildernesse Neverthelesse the day before the Sabbath which was the sixth day of the weeke God said to them concerning the Manna Bake that which ye will bake and seethe that which ye will seethe and all that remaineth lay it up to be kept till the morning for you And why To morrow saith he is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord Exod. 16. vers 23. words which shew that the observation of the Sabbath day by him prescribed unto them with respect not onely to their pilgrimage in the wildernesse but also to their abode in Canaan was the cause why hee rained not Manna upon them and suffered them not to prepare any on that day and by his law forbade them universally in their generations to cooke and prepare any meat on the Sabbath day For if it were a thing that he left to their libertâ— by the Law wherefore did hee not raine Manna upon them on the Sabbath day Or if hee gave them not any lest they should goe forth and gather it on that day and if he obliged them to gather twice as much the day before giving them that day bread for two dayes vers 29. which necessity forced them to doe seeing the next day there was not any to bee found in the fields wherefore did he not at least suffer them to deferre till the Sabbath day the cooking of that portion which they had gathered and laid up for that day rather than to injoyne them as he did to make ready twice as much the day before and so take from them all occasion of preparing it on the Sabbath day which they might have done easily although there was none to be found in the fields that day Certes he did betoken that not onely the seeking and gathering but also the cooking and preparing of meat on that day displeased him because it was a day ordained by him to rest in which is a perpetuall reason for all the dayes and times that the Law of Moses was to continue 4 To say that God commanded both to gather and to prepare the Manna the day before and to keepe it till the Sabbath day because he would manifest his miraculous power in preserving from corruption the Manna which else had bred wormes and stunke Exod. 16. vers 20. from one of these dayes to the other is an unsufficient answer For first the same miracle had beene although the Manna had beene kept crude and unbaked to be sodden and prepared the next day Secondly God might have done if it had pleased him the same miracle in respect to another day as well as to the Sabbath day Wherefore then did he it for the Sabbath day but to ordaine to the Israelites the cessation from all workes and amongst others from making meat ready on the Sabbath day in their generations Also wee see no examples of preparing of meat on the Sabbath day among them 5 To prove that they did is unfitly alleaged the first verse of the fourteenth chapter of S. Luke
where it is said that Iesus Christ entred into the house of one of the chiefe Pharisees on the Sabbath day to eat bread that is to take his refection For it is not said that this Pharisee had caused the repast to be made ready on the same Sabbath day which he had never done seeing the Pharisees found sault with the simple action of Christs Disciples who on the Sabbath day going thorow the corne fields plucked some eares of corne and did rub them in their hands to eat them Luke 6. vers 1. 6 Which is againe a most manifest argument that in those dayes the Iewes prepared not any meat on the Sabbath day and also that it was not permitted by the Law For if it had beene permitted the accusation of the Pharisees against Christs Disciples had wanted all ground and colour of reason when they said unto them Why do ye that which is not lawfull to do on the Sabbath dayes Luk. 6. vers 1. And it had not beene needfull that Christ should have alleaged to defend them that the hunger wherewith they were pinched and their present need of sustenance excused their action even as a like cause excused the action of David and of those that were with him when being an hungred they tooke and ate the Shew-bread which was not lawfull to eate but for the Priests onely as also that God will have mercy and not Sacrifice Matth. 12. vers 3 4 5. For he might have answered in one word that the action of his Disciples to prepare meat was not at all forbidden by the Law and that there was no semblance of reason to blame it whereas by his answer he supposeth that indeed it was forbidden ordinarily as well as to eat of the Shew-bread to all others but Priests and he maintaineth not his Disciples to be excusable but by their present necessity which made lawfull that which otherwise had beene unlawfull unto them For if that whereby hee defended them had beene lawfull otherwise than in case of necessity what need had hee to excuse them upon their present necessitie S. Austin in the fourth chapter of the sixth booke against the Manichees saith that the Iewes on their Sabbath gather not any kinde of fruit in the field that they mince and cooke no meat at home 7 Also S. Ignace Martyr in his Epistle to the Magnesians teaching how the Sabbath is to be observed and that by opposition to the fashions of the Iewes amongst other things saith that it ought not to be kept by eating meats prepared and kept the day before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which sheweth that the Iewes prepared not their meat on the Sabbath day but the day before which for this cause they have called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Preparation Mar. 15. 42. because on it they prepared all that was needfull for the Sabbath following As also the same name for the same reason is given to the day that went immediately before the first day of the unleavened bread of the Passeover This abstinence from making ready all kinde of meat on the Sabbath day was undoubtedly the cause that moved some Pagans to beleeve and say that the Iewes fasted on that day as we see in the one and thirtieth Booke of the History of Iustin and in the life of Augustus Caesar written by Suetonius chap. 76. 8 The inference which is made from equality or rather odsof reason that sith the Law permitted the Iews to lead their cattell to the water on the Sabbath day as is cleare by the testimony of S. Luk. 13. 15. it permitted them also to prepare their own meat is of no value For there is not a like necessity of the last as of the first A man must every day water his beast that it may be fed entertained but it is not necessary that a man prepare meat every day for himselfe for he may in the day before prepare meat enough for the day following The inference that can be lawfully and in equall tearmes made of the foresaid permission concerning a mans beast is that farre more should a man be licensed to eat and drinke on the Sabbath day if he be an hungred or a thirst and give meat and drink to another that is very hungry or dry yea to make meat ready too in an urgent and present necessity of hunger and thirst in case there were not any already prepared to be found which I would not deny but the Law did permit But it followeth not hereof that it was permitted to make an ordinary preparation of meat on the Sabbath day as on other dayes and to deferre the preparation thereof which might have beene wisely done the day before till the Sabbath day which is the point in question and which I have clearely shewed before to be expresly forbidden by the Law Exod. 16. 23. Which ordained not for the time onely of the abode of the people in the wildernesse but also for all their generations in time to come that all workes necessary for the Sabbath should be prepared before it came 9 Wherein may be considered a type and a mysterie God giving to understand thereby that during the time of this life we ought to prepare good workes to the end we may injoy the profit and utility issuing of them and eat their fruit as the Scripture speaketh in the eternall Sabbath of the life to come and not to differre from day to day till that great Sabbath come the preparing of our lampes and filling them with abundance of oyle left we knocke and cry in vaine Lord Lord open unto us Matth. 25. 1. c. Mat. 7. vers 22 23. 10 As for the prohibition to kindle fire on the Sabbath day Exod 35. vers 3. it is cleare that it speaketh not onely what the Israelites were to do in the wildernesse but also in Canaan The words are plaine Ye shall kindle no fire thorowout or in any of your habitations upon the Sabbath day which words thorowout or in any of your habitations ought to be referred rather to the land of Canaan than to the wildernesse because it was in Canaan that they were to have their habitations and seats as is implied by the word in the originall whereas in the wildernesse they sojourned onely in tabernacles And it is very unreasonable to imagine that because immediately after mention is made of the building of the Tabernacle of God this prohibition to kindle fire on the Sabbath day had respect onely unto it as if God had forbidden onely to kindle fire for preparing and fitting their tooles and imploying them on that day about that work For although the speech of the building of the Tabernacle followeth immediately after the prohibition to kindle fire yet it followeth not that there is any connexion betweene these things and that they are relative one to another Nay they seeme rather to be dis-joyned and severed in the text it selfe For after
the injunction to kindle no fire these words are added And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel c. which may very well denote a discourse depending on the former made upon another matter and perhaps also in another time 11 But although this last discourse had beene made in dependance upon the other the other relatively unto it that is though Moses had forbidden in the third verse to kindle fire for the use of the Artificers handicrafts men that were to build the Tabernacle wherof he speaketh afterward lest the Israelites should surmise that it was lawfull unto them for to doe it for the hastening and setting forward of that excellent edifice which God had appointed to be his house it should be nothing else but an application of a prohibition in it selfe generall to a particular subject whereunto it extended it selfe as unto others even as the prohibition of the second verse to doe any work on the Sabbath day under the paine of death is undoubtedly in the meaning thereof generall although Moses had in that place referred it particularly to the edifice of the Tabernacle Yea Moses of set purpose had applied the one and the other to the particular subject or the building of the Tabernacle to make better knowne and to inferre from thence the generality and extent of both 12 For if it were forbidden to worke and to kindle fire on the Sabbath day for the edifying of the Tabernacle farre more was it forbidden for all other worke sith scarce could there be any more important than that and which could so well deserve a particular licence to labour and kindle fire to doe it as which had no other regard saving the accelerating and rearing up of the house of God 13 The prohibition to cooke meat on the Sabbath whereof I have spoken before sheweth that this kindling of fire should be referred unto it to wit that it was not lawfull to kindle any to make meat ready which must be also understood of all other ends of the same nature This is confirmed by Philo the Iew who in the Booke of Abrahams Pilgrimage and in the third Booke of the life of Moses among the works which it is not lawfull to doe on the Sabbath day putteth these two to dresse meat and kindle the fire 14 I adde that the fourth Commandement of the Law was to the Israelites the cause of their abstinence and cessation on the Sabbath day when they were in the wildernesse So was it in Canaan also and after the same manner as it was in the wildernesse The particular prohibitions given afterward unto them and which they received were onely explications illustrating the sense and the end of the Commandement Now sith the words of the Commandement are generall In it thou shall not doe any worke with what shew of truth can it be said that the workes to bake and cooke meat to kindle the fire and such like were not forbidden by these words but onely by particular and speciall commandements and that for the time of the abode of the Israelites in the wildernesse seeing there is no place to be found where they are excepted from this generall tearme Any worke expresly set downe in the Commandement and where licence is given to the Israelites to do them in the land of Canaan 15 If God had meant that it was lawfull to the Iewes to kindle fire dresse meat and travell on the Sabbath day questionlesse hee had made an exception particular declaration therupon as he did concerning the two Sabbaths the first and the last of the feast of the Passeover For he forbade also to doe any work on these two daies But he excepted the preparation and dressing of as much meat as every man must eat Exod. 12. vers 16. and he permitted them after they had rosted and eaten the Paschall Lambe in the evening to returne to their home the next morning Deut. 16. vers 7. Vndoubtedly the same is to bee understood of the Sabbaths of other feasts but not of the ordinary Sabbath properly so called wherein God required a rest more exact because this day was ordained to be a particular type of the spirituall and heavenly rest as we have declared before and shall touch it againe hereafter CHAPTER Fourth Confirmation and illustration of the matter set downe in the precedent Chapters 1. All kinde of workes forbidden by the Law of Moses on the Sabbath day are in themselves lawfull to Christians on the Sunday 2. First Reason Cessation from all workes on the Sabbath was a part of the Ceremoniall Law and of Gods service 3. And not a helpe and furtherance onely of the said service 4. Second Reason It was a type and figure of the heavenly rest 5. Which our Sunday is not 6. Third Reason Gods service under the New Testament consists not in observation of dayes but in actions of godlinesse and righteousnesse c. 7. This is proved by application of the Apostles words Rom. 14. vers 17. 8. And most clearely by his warning given to the Collossians Chap. 2. vers 16. 9. Abstinence of workes is necessary in the Christian Church in any day whatsoever as it is a helpe to Gods publike service 10. The publike service being ended on Sunday Christians may use lawfull recreations c. 11. It is proved by reason that they may doe the like betweene the houres of Divine Service 12. Fourth Reason There is no injunction in the new Testament concerning a cessation from such recreations and workes 13. Fifth Reason The two Disciples went to Emmaus on the same day that Christ rose and Christ meeting them gave them no instruction to the contrary 14 Sixth Reason The faithfull of Troas did worke on Sunday till night 15. Seventh Reason The first injunction not to worke c. on Sunday came from Christian Emperours 16. Constantine the first permitted many workes on Sunday 17. Which sheweth that the Christians of those dayes tooke not Sunday to be an institution of Iesus Christ. 1 THerefore seeing those against whom this Treatise is made yeeld unto us that certaine outward and servile workes are under the New Testament permitted on the Sabbath day which as I have clearely shewed were forbidden to the Iewes by the Law I conclude againe that all other workes forbidden by the Law on the Sabbath day are likewise permitted to us after the publike solemne service of God that the prohibition of the Law to doe any worke on the Sabbath day concerneth us not Surely if it pertained to us as containing a point necessary of Gods service as well under the New as under the Old Testament I see no reason why we should not be as exact in this Service under the New Testament as the Iewes were under the Law Nay wee should be farre more affectionate to doe as well or more precisely with an equall or greater care than the Iewes were all things belonging to the true service
Sabbath it followeth that we are even so made free from the necessity of forbearing absolutely all workes because this did belong also to these weake and beggerly rudiments of the world As the Apostle saith that the kingdome of God that is the state of the Gospell is not meat and drinke Rom. 14. vers 17. So may we say that it consists neither in baking nor in not baking meat neither in kindling nor in not kindling the fire neither in carrying nor in not carrying burdens For the Gospell establisheth no holinesse in the abstinence of such actions upon one day more than upon another day and declareth no man guilty for doing them but leaveth in the one and in the other the conscience free 8 When the same Apostle saith in the Epistle to the Colossians Chapter 2. verse 16. that we ought not to be tyed by our conscience to Sabbaths no more than to meat and drinke by Sabbaths he understandeth not only certaine dayes but also a scrupulous abstinence and cessation from outward workes in those dayes which also is properly denoted by the word Sabbath and obligeth us no more than the dayes doe 9 Neither is it required of us immediately by God but as it is a helpe to further us on any day whatsoever in the practice of Gods true service as in hearing of his word when it is read or preached in receiving the Sacraments that he hath instituted in calling upon his Name in meditating on him and on his graces that so we may strengthen our selves in godlinesse And on the contrary in case the busying of our selves about such workes should be unto us a let and disturbance in these our heavenly exercises So that the obligation whereby we are bound under the Gospell to these essentiall points of Gods service and the time wherein they are exercised being excepted all honest workes remaine equally lawfull on all the dayes of the weeke to apply our selves unto them without scruple and trouble of conscience Neither is it a sinne to doe all corporall workes that are lawfull in one day yea on Sunday as well as on another day 10 And as on other dayes of the weeke it is not ill done yea it is rather well done to bestow a part of them to preach and heare the word of God to minister and receive the Sacraments to pray and to sing Psalmes not only privately but also publikely in the eyes of the world according to the order of the Church and as occasions shall be offered also on Sunday to my opinion it is not a sinne to a true Christian after service done to God in his Temple to give himselfe to some honest exercises and wel ruled recreations of this present life Neither can I see any greater inconvenience or that a Christian is more guilty if after he hath heard the Word of God prayed and called upon his Name and practised the other duties of Gods publike service in the holy congregation of his people so if it be according to the order received in the Church whereof he is a member he goe to plough and husband the ground or to doe any other exercise of his lawfull trade then if he kindle the fire or cooke meat for his refection 11 And considering that the spirit of man can hardly be continually bent the space of a whole day to any serious and important action such as are namely the holy actions of Gods service without some intervall of relaxation if betweene the houres that are imparted to this service publikely or privately on the Sabbath day he imploy some other houres to doe the actions of his temporall calling or other workes of the same nature by way of diversion and refreshment I cannot conceive that God should be displeased therewith because Gods service and godlinesse are not hindred nor indammaged thereby For I aske after a man hath heard Gods service read the Word of God called upon his holy Name or ended devoutely any other religious action during a pretty space of time and the vigor of his spirit slacken so that he is not able to persevere in his attention and devotion any longer he diverts himselfe and sitteth quiet for a while without doing any thing to take his breath as it were and returne to his devotion afresh with greater force doth hee sinne by this cessation I thinke not Now if hee sinneth not when hee sitteth idle and doth nothing why shall it bee said that hee sinneth if hee doe some bodily worke seeking thereby some diversion and refreshment rather than by a meere cessation from all kinde of action To doe nothing at all shall it bee more acceptable to GOD then to doe a worke that is honest and lawfull in it selfe This shall it profane the day of holy exercises rather than that I see no apparent reason in such an opinion which moveth me to esteeme that the liberty to doe the foresaid workes on the Sabbath day was intirely taken from the Iewes for some ceremoniall reasons and that it was upon them a servile yoake in the ancient time of servitude as hath beene declared before 12 This is a most inforcing consideration upon this purpose that in the whole Scripture of the New Testament there is no injunction at all concerning such an abstinence and refraining from all outward workes as is urged and layd upon Christians on their Sunday conformably to the cessation that was imposed upon the Iewes on their Sabbath day Verily if Christ had required it under the New Testament as a thing necessary to his service and if his intention had beene to binde us unto it undoubtedly he had given or commanded his Apostles to give an expresse injunction concerning it which because he hath not done I inferre that he had no such intention 13 Nay on the contrary the liberty to worke on Sunday is rather authorized by the example and practise of Christ and of the first faithfull For in Saint Luke Chapter 24. we see that on the same day that Christ rose in which was the first and most illustrious Sunday of all he met with two of his Disciples going from Hierusalem to Emmaus and that questionlesse for the ordinary affaires of this present life seeing it was not an holy day among the Iewes Which voyage was of three leagues or thereabout He went with them he spake unto them of the mysteries of salvation as he would have done in any other day if he had lighted upon them according to his ordinary custome of every day during his conversation here below in the flesh and as all Pastors are bound to do at all occasions that God offers unto them But he advised them not that in time to come they should observe that day as a Sabbath day and abstaine from voyaging or doing on it any other toylesome and painefull worke And indeed after he had left them at Emmaus they returned thence the same day to Hierusalem as the Lord did also going other three
Moreover what if after a man hath wrought upon the Sabbath day and other dayes successively and he for whom he hath wrought procrastinate his pay till all be done and then satisfie him for all those dayes workes together as commonly Chirurgions Apothecaries Physicians are never otherwise paid that is never till the disease of their patient is come to an end either by health or death shall he in such a case separate the labour of the Sabbath day from the labour of other dayes and if in the hire or reward that is given him the salarie of the seventh dayes worke be comprised must he defaulk the Sabbath dayes worke and refuse to take any thing for it I would be glad to know on what ground all these distinctions are founded 17 They alleage that God in his Ordinances concerning the Sabbath hath forbidden us to doe in it our workes and servile workes and that all workes which we doe for our profit and utility are our workes and servile workes even as servants worke for their hire which they say to be signified by the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imployed in the fourth Commandement and translated by this generall word to doe as likewise by this Noune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which wee translate worke although it signifie not all kinde of worke but that onely which is done for gaine and worldly profit By which words God hath intimated that he forbiddeth to doe any thing whatsoever for that end But this is too much subtilizing about words which signifie generally all travell worke function about any thing and done to any end whatsoever Is not Gods worke betokened by this name Melacah Genes 2. vers 2 3. Is not the offering of sacrifices called by this Verbe Habad Esa. 19. vers 21. and the function of the Levites about holy things 2 Chron. 13. vers 10. Besides this I say that indeed God prohibited on the Sabbath day all worke for gaine but even as he forbade all other bodily worke which was not done for gaine to wit to make an ordinary course and custome of it as in other dayes and when there was no necessitie But as in case of necessity he permitted the labour that brought no gaine even so hee prohibited not the worke that might bring gaine to the worker nor the gaine that might come of the worke 18 Thirdly when they speake of servants and others that are under authority they say that their servitude and subjection is not a sufficient warrant unto them to worke on the Sabbath day by the authority of their superiours to whom when they receive any such commandement they ought to answer that they are first the servants of Almighty God who is the King of Kings LORD of Lords maker of heaven and earth whom they ought to obey rather than men and suffer to be railed upon and buffeted rather than to doe any worke on that day 19 But how doth this consent with their decisions concerning messengers and posts For they say that being dispatched and sent away quickly by the Magistrates they may runne and make hast on the Sabbath day without inquirie of the necessity of that laborious voyage which they are put unto because simple subjects ought not to make inquirie of the affaires of their Princes and Lords which often it is not expedient that they should know For why may not by the same reason a domesticall servant doe some worke to obey his Master without searching curiously upon what necessity his Master layeth this worke upon him For the Master may have good reasons and great importance to his family of this command which it is not expedient his servant should be privie unto nor that hee should bee inquisitive and curious to know them afore hee obey For this should draw with it a most dangerous consequence Againe this permission that they give to posts to ride hard and make hast for the affaires of the Countrey how doth it agree with the difference that they have made betweene present and imminent necessity permitting no worke for this but for that onely For the necessities for which posts are hastened and they post so speedily are seldome present and are often but imminent having regard only to something that may happen in time to come 20 Fourthly when they give their advise concerning bankets they distinguish betweene solemne bankets and those that are bankets of friendship and more moderate And forbidding the first they permit the last But they ought to have determined first which bankets are to be called solemne which not how many courses of meat must be prepared how many persons and of what quality must be invited to make a solemne banket Also a man shall be vexed in his minde not knowing if to invite so many persons and to make ready so much meat and so many services will make his banquet solemne or not Besides that in regard of some persons of great riches and quality such as are Kings Princes Lords c. it is not a solemne feast which in respect of some other persons of lesser meanes authoritie and dignitie may carry that name Now if these persons of great note and quality are suffered to make such banquets which in regard of their degree and meanes are not solemne yea are nothing but their ordinarie diet why may not other persons of inferiour condition and meanes make them also although to them they be solemne For there is not greater distraction from Gods service to the persons whom the one put on work for the preparing of their feast which to them is solemne than to those whom the other set about the dressing of their feast which to them is ordinarie and not solemne If a great man may have a great number of servants busied about the dressing of his ordinary refection and if his table be every day well furnished by reason of the eminencie of the noble stocke that he is come of and of his dignity and withall not breake the Sabbath why may not a man of a meaner condition have extraordinarily as many people for a solemne banquet which he hath occasion to make on the Sabbath day And seeing a solemne banquet may be made by a great number of servants in as short time as a banquet that is not solemne may be prepared by a lesser number I see no cause why a man shall commit a greater sinne if hee set on worke twenty servants to dresse a solemne banquet than if he set foure or five onely about the dressing of one that is not solemne For twenty shall not toyle and have more adoe they shall make as speedy an end of their businesse and so shall not be more distraught and withdrawne from Gods service than foure or five and may equally before or after their worke get leisure to apply themselves unto it And as for the persons invited thirty persons in a solemne feast may have done as soone and be as little diverted from
Passionis Resurrectionis Ascensionis in Coelum missionis S. spiritus in Discipulos Domini nostri Iesu Christi The ancient Church changed the Sabbath day lest it should seeme to Iudaize and be addicted to Iewish ceremonies and kept its assemblies and rested on the first day of the weeke which S. Iohn calleth the Lords-day without doubt because of the glorious Resurrection of the Lord. And although it is no where read in the writings of the Apostles that the Lords-day was commanded to be kept holy notwithstanding because in this fourth Commandement of the first table is injoyned the care of religion and a diligent plying of Gods externall worship It were a thing much contrary to piety and Christian charity not to sanctifie the Lords-day especially seeing that externall worship cannot be performed without a set time and without a holy rest Bullinger in Apocalypsin cap. 1. v. 10. Hanc diem ut sacram loco Sabbathi in memoriam resurgentis Domini delegerunt sibi Ecclesiae in quâ sacros celebres coetus agerent Ibid. Sponte verò Ecclesiae receperunt illam diem Non legimus eam ullibi praeceptam Ac Ecclesiae viderunt omnino necessarium esse certum tempus in quo conveniant sancti delegerunt ergo diem Resurrectionis neque de his odiosiùs contenderunt inter se ut postea factum in Ecclesia testantur historiae The Churches of free choice received and set apart this day in stead of the Sabbath in remembrance of the Lords Resurrection that in it they might have their holy and solemne meetings For wee reade not that it is commanded any where but the Churches saw that it was necessary that a certaine time should be stinted for the holy meetings of the Saints of God and therefore they chose the day of the Resurrection Neither did they strive eagerly about this as Histories beare witnesse that they did afterwards Musculus in locis Commun in Mandatum quartum Christiani relicto Iudaico Sabbato sacrum otium eo die servant quo Servator non solos Israelitas sed universum genus mortalium non de domo Aegyptiacae servitutis sed de potestate regno Satanae liberatos eduxit The Christians forsaking the Iewish Sabbath keepe their holy rest on that day on which our Saviour did bring forth not the Israelites onely but all mankinde not out of the house of Aegyptian servitude but from the power and kingdome of Satan P. Martyr in his common places which were collected out of the rest of his workes cap. 7. Quod is dies magis quà m ille eligatur ad Dei externum cultum liberum fuit Ecclesiae per Christum ut id consuleret quod magis ex re judicaret Nec illa pessimè judicavit si memoriam instaurationis perfectae id est Resurrectionis Christi in observatione diei Dominici praetulit huic absolutioni mundanae fabricae The Church had liberty by Christ to make choice of one day rather than of another for Gods externall worship to doe therein what shee thought fittest Nor was her choice ill in preferring by observing the Lords-day the remembrance of our perfect redemption that is of Christs resurrection before the remembrance of the finishing of the world Item Quòd unus dies certus in hebdomada cultui divino mancipetur stabile firmum est an verò hic vel alius constituatur temporarium est ac mutabile That one day of the weeke be consecrated to Gods worship is an ordinance of perpetuall force but whether this or that be appointed is temporarie and may be changed Item Quando facta sit haec mutatio in sacris literis expressum non habemus In Apocalypsi tamen Ioannis Dominici diei expressam mentionem habemus verisimile est aliquamdiu primos Christianos morem Iudaicum retinuisse ut in die Sabbati convenirent postea verò ut videmus res mutata est It is not expressed in holy Writ when this change of the Sabbath into the Lords-day was Notwithstanding in S. Iohns Revelation there is expresse mention of the Lords-day and it is likely that for a while the first Christians retained the Iewish custome in meeting together on the Sabbath day but afterwards as we see the day was changed Ursinus Tract Theol. in quartum praeceptum Cum non minùs alio die meditatio ac celebratio operum Dei possit fieri quà m septimo Sicut initiò propter causam accommodatam primis temporibus defignavit Deus ministerio diem septimum sic deinde propter causam accommodatam Messiae temporibus legem eam abrogavit liberum Ecclesiae reliquit alios dies eligere quae propter causam probabilem delegit diem primum quo facta est Christi resuscitatio Seeing one can meditate on and celebrate the workes of God as well on another day as on the seventh As in the beginning for a reason proper to the first times God appointed for his publike worship a seventh day so afterwards for a reason proper to the times of Christs exhibition he abrogated that Law and left it to the power of the Church to chuse other dayes which for a probable reason made choice of the first day on which Christ rose againe Item Differt observatio Dominici diei à Sabbatho Iudaico primò quod Sabbatum septimi diei tanquam partem cultus divini oeremonialem non licebat Iudaeis omittere aut mutare propter expressum Dei mandatum Ecclesia verò Christiana sive primum sive alium diem tribuit ministerio salvâ suâ libertate etiam aliter agendi si sint probabiles causae hoc est sine ulla opinione necessitatis aut cultus Secundò Sabbatum vetus erat typus five umbra rerum in Novo Testamento per Christum implendarum In Novo autem Testamento illa significatio cessavit ordinis at que decori tantum ratio habetur sine quo ministerium Ecclesiae aut nullum aut saltem non bene constitutum esse potest The observation of the Lords day differeth from the Iewish Sabbath First because it was not lawfull for the Iewes to omit the Sabbath or rest of the seventh day as being a ceremoniall part of divine worship nor to change it because of Gods expresse command for the keeping of it But the Christian Church appointeth for divine service a day whether the first or another reserving still to her selfe the liberty to doe otherwise if by good reasons she be induced thereunto that is to say she allotteth such a day to the service of God without any opinion of necessity or worship Secondly the old Sabbath was a type or shadow of things which under the New Testament were to be fulfilled by Christ But under the New Testament that type ceased and onely regard is had of good order and decencie without which divine service either cannot subsist at all or not well And in his Exposition of the second Commandement speaking of Ecclesiasticall lawes which
for that publike service a particular day returning successively after a certaine number of dayes seeing it is as probable that this calling upon the Name of the Lord which they began in those dayes was indifferently every dayes exercise in each of which they came together to call upon God and to serve him in the time and place that they had appointed their number not being so great nor their necessary imployments about the things of this life so many but that they might set a part some houres every day for this holy businesse Nay granting that they appointed a certaine day out of a greater number to remaine firme and unmoveable what reason can any man produce why it ought to be the Seventh day of the weeke Was it because God rested on that day But how could they guesse that this was a reason obliging them to the sanctification of that day seeing it is not a reason carrying with it any naturall evidence of obligation and is no reason at all but by the free will and appointment of GOD Will they say that from the creation of the world God blessed and hallowed that day to men But this is the point in question Or that Enos and his fellowes asked counsell at the mouth of the Lord to learne of him on what day they should meet to yeeld unto his Majesty the publike service which they had instituted and that God ordained unto them the Seventh day of the weeke This is a conceit taken at randome without any certaine ground They know well enough already what kinde of service they ought to yeeld to God and in what Religious actions it consisted For God from the beginning had acquainted his Church with it and their Fathers had trained them in the knowledge and practise thereof neither was it needfull that they should aske advise of the Lord concerning this duty Therefore it was not necessary nay it was rather unseemely that they should aske him what was the time of the ordinary and publike practise of that service as if they had not beene bound to judge that having no great lets to interrupt their devotion they ought to appoint a fit time every day for so holy and necessary a duty Or at least if they alloted any day of rest the more frequent they should make it so much the better should they performe their duty and be so much the more acceptable to God And in case God had named unto them such a day there is no probablenesse that he ordained one of seven as he did afterwards to the people of Israel For they were but a small number of people and might easily keepe moe dayes in the weeke than one without any hinderance to their worldly affaires But the Israelites being growen to a great and populous common-wealth God assigned unto them the Seventh day of the weeke as a particular point of that ecclesiasticall government whereof hee prescribed unto them all the particularities Therefore the consequence from the one to the other is manifestly of no value But upon that which is said that in Enos his time men began to call upon the Name of the Lord that is to ordaine a publike service and unmoveable times for it I doe inferre with great probability that before that time there was none such and therefore no Seventh day was kept For if it had beene observed how could it be said that in Enos his time men began to call upon the Name of the Lord 3 This good course begun in the dayes of Enos continued undoubtedly afterwards as long as the malice of men could suffer it For their wickednesse was great and the corruption had crept from among the sonnes of men among the Sonnes of God in such manner that it drew upon the face of the earth an universall floud of waters which destroyed all men then living Noah and his families consisting of eight persons only excepted After the floud there is little or no mention made of any exercise of the true Religion saving in the dayes of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and in their families Them God had chosen and picked out from the rest of the world with them God made his covenant they were religious and obsequious servants of Almighty God but their families being small Gods service might with great facility be practised in them every day and there was no necessity of setting a part an ordinary day for the gathering together of their children and servants which ordinarily were never so farre separated but that they might come together once or twice a day to doe homage to the Lord their God Therefore there is no probablenesse that there was among them a particular keeping of such a day At least we read not any such thing till the time that Abrahams posterity being much increased and multiplyed in the land of Aegypt GOD brought them out of that land gathered them together in the wildernesse and afterwards in the land of Canaan made choise of them amongst all the nations of the world to be his people gave them his statutes prescribed unto them all the particularities of his publike service and ordained the observation of the Seventh day of the weeke for the solemne practise thereof This ordinance became then necessary because GODS Church was become a great people 4 Verily it is not likely that if the Patriarkes had kept unmoveably a stinted day and namely the Seventh day of the weeke as a divine Ordinance that the holy History would have beene silent and made no mention of it It relateth unto us carefully things of far lesser moment it hath set downe their lives hath specified the generall points of the service which they yeelded to God by prayer by building of Altars by offering of Sacrifices upon them But it maketh no mention neither generall nor particular of any day hallowed by them for the exercise of these their devotions which undoubtedly they would have appropriated to that day And so there was a fit occasion to speake of the day in speaking of the service if there had beene any such day consecrated by them Wherefore the particular times kept by them ordinarily or extraordinarily in the practise of Gods service depended on their wisdome and will which being carryed with most earnest affection to godlinesse and to the performing of all duties belonging to Gods service there is no question to bee made but that they imployed a good deale of time every day to the practise of all exercises of religion and upon speciall occasions of new and extraordinary blessings increased their devotion and gave unto it proportionally a longer measure of time All the service wherewith they honoured the Lord their God consisted undoubtedly in prayers and in sacrifices whereof mention is made in their lives registred in the Scripture but it is not likely that they honoured a Seventh day of Sabbath because it is no where written 5 Also the Ancient Fathers for the most part some Rabbins of the Iewes
many recent and orthodoxe Divines deny it directly Amongst those that affirme it the most learned and renowned dare not avouch it but as a thing uncertaine and probable only And amongst those that most confidently stand unto it Some are constrained to call in question if the Patriarkes kept it after the manner which was afterwards prescribed to the Iewes to wit with a strict obligation of an exact cessation from all workes as from kindling of fire c. Exod. 35. ver 3. All these thought it a thing unsutable to the condition of the Patriarkes that they should have been loaden with so many scruples and difficulties Neverthelesse it is most probable that if God had charged them with the keeping of the Sabbath day he would also have tyed them to this intermission of workes in consideration whereof it was called the Sabbath it represented and called to remembrance GODs resting from all his workes and was a type of the spirituall eternall and glorious rest of the faithfull in the kingdome of heaven which was the principall end of the institution thereof I might stuffe the paper with the testimonies of all the foresaid Authors if I had not resolved to dispute by arguments taken out of holy Scripture and from reason and not by authorities of men 6 Divers Replies are made against this argument to impaire the strēgth debace the worth therof when I say it is not written that the Patriarchs observed the Sabbath and therefore they kept it not And first they suppose that they celebrated divers fasts whereof no mention is made in the Booke of holy Scripture which is indeed a meere supposition if fasting be taken properly for daies of abstinence from all kind of meat through devotion and for religious ends For where is that written If it be not written as it is not why may I not mistrust gain-say and deny it and pray the authors of this reply to defend their cause not with forcelesse and deniable suppositions but with powerfull and undeniable reasons from Scripture or from Nature Now supposing their supposition to be as true as I suppose it to be false doe they not know that fasting is not a part of Gods service that God hath not beene earnest about it that by the Law of Moses which exacted so many kindes of serviceable devotions he commanded no ordinary and stinted fast saving a yeerely one for a typicall reason on the feast of atonement Levit. 16. verse 29. 30. 31. and Levit. 23. vers 27. 29 that he prescribed not any before the Law and hath not injoyned any to Christians under the Gospell Therefore God having left the indiction and observation of such fasts free as the Patriarchs should thinke fit although now and then they had humbled themselves before God with extraordinary fasting It is no marvell that no mention is made thereof in the History of their religious exercises because it was not one of them but at the most a certaine helpe unto them or an accidentall dependancy on them The same must be said of all other doings of the Patriarches which either did not belong to Gods service or were not of great importance For it was not needfull that the Scripture should tell us all things done by them in their imployments about the affaires of this present life This cannot be said of the observation of the Sabbath day For seeing it is pretended to be morall that God from the beginning of the world ordained it to Adam and to all his progeny that it hath alwaies been necessary for his service undoubtedly it had beene mentioned in the History of the Patriarchs if they had practised it But seeing it is not so much as once named this perpetuall silence theweth in all likelihood that they never practised it that therefore all that is pretended to the contrary is untrue This as I have said the most part of the ancient and many of our modern Divine confirme by their consent 7 Secondly some doe make another reply saying that albeit the Patriarches had not kept the Sabbath day nothing can be thence concluded saving an oblivion and negligence of that day which should not call in question the first institution and observation therof no more then Polygamie which is the having at once of moe wives then one practised in their time not onely by Infidels but by them also can justifie that the holy Law of marriage betweene two persons onely was not established from the beginning To this I answer that there is no even match betweene these two For the Scripture teacheth us cleerely in the History of the creation that in the beginning God formed but one man and one woman which he took from man and established marriage between them two onely that they might be twaine in one flesh and no more and that Adam had a perfect and cleere knowledge of this truth Genes 2. vers 22 23 24. Likewise in other places of the Ancient Testament Malac. 2. vers 15. and of the New Testament Matth. 19. vers 4 5. Mark 10. vers 7 8. Ephes. 5. vers 31. the unseparable union of two persons in wedlocke is confirmed by the institution of marriage in the beginning Moreover this institution is grounded on justice and honesty knowne of Pagans which had no light given them by instruction from the Word of God All the holy Fathers that were before the flood observed it faithfully The first that violated it was Lamech a man of the posterity of wicked Cain of whom it is recorded as a thing extraordinary and new that he tooke unto him two wives Genes 4. vers 19. Wherefore if after the flood some practised polygamie no man can thence make a sound inference that by Gods institution it was so from the beginning seeing the contrary is evident and undeniable And that abuse of marriage by plurality of wives among the Patriarches must be imputed to some other reasons What if among the Israelites many stumbled at the same stone Who will inferre thence that God had not forewarned them to take heed to their waies forebidding them to multiply their wives by an expresse Law which may be seene Levit. 18. vers 18. and Deut. 17. vers 17 But seeing wee can no where finde that before the Law was given by Moses the Patriarches kept the seventh day of rest we have good reason to make a question if that day was instituted from the beginning of the world For the institution thereof appeareth not cleerely in the Historie of the creation it is not in any part of the Bible referred to that first time neither is it grounded on any naturall or morall righteousnesse as shall be seene largely hereafter This is a sufficient answer to a third reply which some would faine take from purity of reason Saying that as in the beginning God made but one man and one woman and matched them together to be one body and to beget a lawfull and holy posterity Mal. 2. vers
libertie to take such order about that matter as they should thinke good Who seeth not in this a manifest absurditie Doth it not remaine alwaies Is not the situation of the earth which is the same that it was from the beginning as great an impediment under the new Testament to the universall keeping of a seventh day in all places and namely of that particular seventh wherein Christ rose from death unto life which is the first of the seven daies of the weeke as it was under the old Testament to an universall observation of a particular seventh in those times to wit of the last of the weeke 4 Whatsoever is morall is universall obligeth equally all men and may be kept of all Likewise all commandements which Gods purpose is to give to all men are such that they may be kept of all How then is a thing called morall the keeping whereof the order of nature hath made impossible to many men such as is the regular keeping of a set day And how is it said that the Commandement enjoyning the keeping of a particular seventh day whether the last or the first of seven was on Gods part an universall commandement obliging all men seeing it is farre more impossible to a great number of men to keepe it because they dwell in more remote climats then we doe 5 Therefore it is more conformable to reason to say that the Commandement which under the Old Testament ordained the keeping of a Seventh day obliged the people of Israel only which was the onely people of GOD was shut up within the narrow bounds of a little corner of the earth and might with great facility keepe that day even as all the rest of the politike and ecclesiasticall regiment established by Moses pertained to them onely And that under the new Testament in whose times the Church hath beene spread abroad thorow all the earth God hath not given any particular Ordinance concerning the keeping of any day whatsoever but hath left to the discretion of the Church to appoint the times of Gods service according to the circumstances of places and of fit occasions CHAPTER Sixth REASON 6. 1. The Observation of the Seventh day of the weeke is no where commanded in the New Testament and therefore it is not morall 2. Iesus Christ prescribing to his Disciples the celebration of the Sacrament of his body and bloud appointed not a particular and set day for that holy exercise 3. Neither did he by himselfe or by his Apostles appoint a particular time for the other exercises of Religion 4. Whence it followeth that the keeping of a Seventh day for Gods service cannot be a morall point 1 THe whole tenor of the Gospell confirmeth our assertion It is most certaine that if it were a morall duty to keepe a Seventh day all Christians should be obliged unto it under the New Testament as the Iewes were under the Old Testament Now if Christians were bound unto it under the New Testament we should finde some expresse Ordinance concerning it in the writings of the Evangelists and of the Apostles For if all the morall points which the Law commandeth are ratified in many places of their bookes and all the faithfull are often commanded to keepe them as the worshipping of one true God the shunning and detestation of Idols and of all services of mans invention the sanctification of the Name of God the honour dew to Fathers to Mothers and to all superiors the refraining from murder from whoredome from adultery from theft from false witnesse from all lusting after evill things and such like Also in them are often commanded and recommended the holy meetings for the hearing of the word of God the administration of the Sacraments the publike prayers and generally the appointing of times for that use because it is a morall thing that GOD bee served publikely whereunto fixed and stinted times are necessary But as for the ruling and stinting of those times God hath left it as he hath done the appointing of places to the Church For hee would not prescribe unto us any particular place nor time for his service as hee did under the Old Testament because he giveth greater liberty to the Church under the New Testament then he did under the Old Testament to whose bondage pertained this restraint of a certaine day and place of Gods service by expresse commandement as also because the greatnesse and dilatation of the Church of the New Testament which is Catholike could not suffer such a particular determination nay made it so impossible that of absolute necessity it dependeth on the discretion and commodities of the Church 2 When IESUS CHRIST made his last Supper with his Disciples and commanded it should be celebrated to the worlds end as hee determined the use and practise thereof with certaine elements of Bread and Wine he might if hee had thought fit allot unto it a certaine time such as was of old the time of Passeover But hee was pleased to say onely this in generall tearmes This doe yee as oft as yee doe it in remembrance of me Likewise Saint Paul As often as you shall eate this bread and drinke this cup you shall shew the LORDS death till hee come both limiting the elements as the necessary matter of this Sacrament But neither of them prescribeth a particular time for the solemnizing thereof which being an accidentall circumstance he left the direction thereof to the Church to the which Church in things concerning times places and other circumstances of like nature God hath given no other commandement saving this generall one Let all things be done decently and in good order 3 Now there is no other ordinance of Christ or of his Apostles concerning particular times for all other duties of the Christian Religion then for the time of the LORDS Supper For seeing they were pleased to say of the Holy Supper As often as you doe this it is an easie matter to conclude thence that they intended not to ordaine any thing over and besides belonging to the other exercises but to say only as often as you shall come together to heare the word to pray publikely c. Leaving the determination of the fittest times for all such things to the Church and therefore there is not to bee found in the whole Gospell any thing injoined to that purpose Also there is the same reason for all other exercises and for the Lords Supper concerning the determination of a set tiâ—â— For if our Lord Iesus Christ had thought expedient to appoint a set time for the hearing of the Word there had beene as good cause to prescribe one also for the Communion of his Body and of his Blood I know that some passages of the new Testament are produced which are pretended by those of the contrary opinion to injoine expresly a set day of the weeke for the exercises of Religion but I shall shew hereafter God willing that they are deceived in their
true beleever hath authority and freedome to exempt himselfe from the keeping of the Sabbath for his owne need and to yeeld to such necessities which are more urgent and of greater importance then was the Sabbath of which sort was the narrow strait whereunto hunger had driven Christs Disciples that is no lesse forcible to fight against the morality of the Sabbath as appeareth by that which hath beene already said 10 Such then being the nature of the Sabbath it is evident that it is not morall that of its selfe it obligeth not the conscience to the keeping of it that if it bindeth conscience it commeth from GODS command by a positive Law such as he gave to the Iewes and that only when more inforcing reasons doe not dispense with the observation of it as there be some such Now the positive Lawes given to the Iewes being wholly abrogated no man can say that the Law of the Sabbath bindeth the conscience of Christians if it be not shewed that Christ will have this Law of the Sabbath to continue under the New Testament and hath commanded the keeping of a Seventh day as he might have done In which case that Law should bee obligatory not for any morality it hath in it but because Christ had ordained it for the order of the Church This I pretend cannot be shewed but rather that the stinting of the time of GODS publike service hath beene left to the free will of the Church and that even now at this time when a Seventh day is set downe we ought to keepe it in obedience to the Church as following herein the order which she hath thought good to institute and not through opinion of any necessity proceeding from GODS immediate command farre lesse of Religion inherent in the thing it selfe CHAPTER Eighth REASON 8. 1. The Apostle condemneth the Galatians for observing dayes and moneths and times and yeeres 2. It is answered that the Apostle condemneth onely the observation of dayes c. prescribed in the ceremoniall Law 3. Refutation of that answer out of the drift of the whole Chapter 4. Besides that it maketh the Apostle to condemne thà t which he approved and so to contradict himselfe if this answer were true 1 I further justifie this by the Apostle in his Epistle to the Galatians Chapter 4. verse 10. where hee blameth them for observing dayes and moneths and times and yeeres for they deemed that in the observing of them there was a point of Religion and of Gods service which they were necessarily obliged unto on Gods behalfe and that for conscience sake either because the thing it selfe deserved as much or through respect to Gods Commandement It is this surmise which the Apostle blameth For if the Galatians had kept some dayes but as a thing indifferent and an ecclesiasticall order for the publike practise of divine service by the exercise of the ministrie the celebration of the Sacraments and other holy duties more and more sanctified with prayers thankesgiving Psalmes Hymnes and spirituall songs knowing and being perswaded by the Lord Iesus that there was no divine obligation no Religion tyed to those dayes in themselves it is as sure as can be that they had not bin worthy to be censured for all that is done and may be done in the Church under the New Testament Hereupon I say that we fall manifestly into the Apostles censure if we keepe a Seventh day of Sabbath beleeving it to be a morall thing which God hath expresly commanded and therefore necessary and as such binding the conscience For this is evidently to observe dayes after the fashion which the Apostle condemneth 2 It is answered to this that the Apostle speaketh in that Chapter of judaicall dayes moneths times and yeeres only as they are ordained to be kept by the ceremoniall Law of Moses as for example to observe in things belonging to the Sabbath the Seventh day of the weeke Which law being abolished he blameth the Galatians that they indeavoured to set up again the observation of dayes after the manner of the Iewes but reproveth them not for keeping a Sabbath day 3 This answer giveth no content at all I acknowledge freely that doubtlesse the dayes kept by the Galatians were the same which the Iewes observed For to esteeme that they were dayes consecrated to Idols which they had beene enured unto when they lived in Paganisme and had observed unto that time even after their conversion is farre from all likelihood and contrary to the Text which speaketh of dayes belonging to these weake and beggarly rudiments which God had ordained in the infancy of the Church which were judaicall dayes and none other and from which Iesus Christ was come into the world to redeeme men And the Apostle blameth the Galatians universally for observing such dayes without exception of any other day which he ought to have excepted if there had beene any other obligatory Nay he blameth them not for keeping them after the fashion of the Iewes by the practice of the ceremoniall service which the Iewes yeelded to God on those dayes whereof he maketh no mention neither is there any likelihood that the Galatians did any such thing but for keeping them for Religions sake And his reprehension is such a one that the right thing he aimed at in it is to condemne the observation of any day whatsoever under the New Testament for Religion and conscience sake in reference to any obligation from the day it selfe The foundation of his reproofe as appeareth manifestly by the whole drift of his discourse is this that to be Religious about dayes and to be tyed unto them by Gods command was a point of bondage belonging to the rudiments of the Law and that the Gospell which is the Law of liberty cannot suffer this bondage Therefore hee speaketh in generall tearmes Yee observe dayes and moneths and times and yeeres and addeth not judaicall or after the Iewish fashion because also to keepe other dayes then those of the Iewes and that for conscience sake and for the same opinion of Religion which the Iewes had of their dayes although otherwise then they hâ—d beene as bad and contrary to the Gospell it is not so when dayes are kept simply for ecclesiasticall order although they were Iudaicall dayes And indeed the Sabbath day of the Iewes to wit the last day of the weeke was kept by the Apostles and by diverse Christians in the Primitive Church many yeeres constantly As likewise the feasts of the Iewish Passeover and Pentecost were observed by the first Christians without any fault or offence on their part because this observation was not practised by them in the same respects that they were by the Iewes that is through opinion of Religious necessity and divine obligation 4 Verily if wee be obliged in our conscience and by a divine commandement under the new Testament to the observation of a seventh day of rest â—eligiously as the Iewes were as is pretended although it
those which did not sticke for conscience sake to eate all kinde of meates because they esteemed them all to bee indifferent were strong and those which were scrupulous for conscience sake to eate any thing but hearbes were weake even so accordingly to that wee must ac-acknowledge those which made no difference of dayes for conscience sake but esteemed all dayes equally to have beene strong and those which esteemed one day above another to have beene weake 4 Secondly I cannot see how any man should imagine that the Apostle in his judgement esteemed those to be weake which esteemed every day alike seeing to esteeme every day equally without distinction of any day for conscience sake putting the case there were a fault in that opinion cannot be called weakenesse and infirmity in the sence wherein this word weakenesse is taken by the Apostle in this place and in other places of the Gospell For weaknes and infirmity is said to be in a man when there is a defect in his beliefe concerning things which are lawfull to him that is to say when hee beleeveth not that to bee lawfull which is lawfull unto him and therefore refraineth for conscience sake from that which he is not bound to forbeare So he who beleeveth that it is not lawfull unto him to eate all kinde of meates although God hath given him the free use of them all is weake and infirme But when there is excesse in his beliefe when I say he beleeveth to have liberty to doe that which is not lawfull unto him to doe and doth it without any respect of conscience unto it that is not in the Scriptures language called weakenes but rather ignorance error mistaking If then those which esteemed every day alike had failed in this point as they had done of necessity if there had beene any fault in them they had never beene esteemed and called weake by the Apostle as they are pretended to have beene but rather ignorant errants nay dissolute loose profane 5 Verily if it were true that Iesus Christ had ordained the observation of a set day of rest that the Apostles had commanded it that the Church had practised it as a divine ordinance and as a morall point belonging to Religion as is pretended these Christians who could not bee ignorant of such things and neverthelesse esteemed every day alike established not religion and a point of conscience in any of them and made no greater account of the Lords day then of any other day were of necessity profane men and no better reckoning was to be made of them Yet the Apostle reputeth them not to bee such For he forbiddeth to judge and condemne them as hee will not have them to judge and condemne those that were of contrary opinion ver 3. 10. 6 Nay he affirmeth that those which regarded not the day to the Lord regarded it not verse 6. the meaning of which words is that in so doing they had regard to the glory and obedience due to God knowing that he had made them free from the distinction of dayes and received them being well pleased with that which they did Now supposing the morality of the Sabbath and the commandement of Christ and of his Apostles which made the observation thereof a necessary point of Religion which these men could not be ignorant of I cannot conceive how not regarding the day for Religion and conscience sake to the Lord they regarded it not seeing they had rather sinned against the Lord by not regarding it For they had manifestly vilipended him by their misbeliefe whereby they esteemed not the observation of a day of rest which they knew to be morall and most straitely commanded of God to bee a necessary point of Religion It is therefore more conformable to reason that those which made distinction of dayes and esteemed one above onother were weak And in this doe all the interpreters agree Neverthelesse the Apostle saith with good reason of these weake ones that what they did they did it to the Lord because they did it through devotion and tendernesse of conscience having some Religious ground which was a colourable excuse to their infirmitie and made it tolerable not only to men but to God also 7 Now it being so that the Apostle did write to the Romans who were Gentiles converted to the Christian faith wee may esteeme with great appearance that this day which some of them through infirmitie had so much regard unto was Sunday which was kept in the Church not by any divine Ordinance not also through necessity of Religion but simply by an ecclesiasticall custome in remembrance that on that day Christ rose from death unto life was esteemed of them a day of necessary observation in and for it selfe which others better instructed esteemed not This being so establisheth throughly the opinion that I defend and evicts the other But although the Apostle had intended to speake of dayes commanded in the Old Testament by the Law of Moses to the religious observation whereof many not as yet well instructed in the knowledge of Evangelicall liberty thought themselves to be bound for conscience sake the argument remaineth as strong as can be 8 For howsoever the Apostle his meaning be taken he speaketh generally and imputeth to infirmity of knowledge and of conscience under the Gospell the esteeming of one day above another and to strength and firmenesse the esteeming of all dayes alike which he neither could nor should have pronounced so in generall tearmes if at the same time there had beene a set day of rest binding the conscience of Christians to observe it for its owne sake as being morall and for Gods sake who had commanded it For by this meanes those had not well done so farre were they from being strong in knowledge and conscience for esteeming every day equally which they should not have done But the others had done well and religiously to esteeme one day above another so far were they from being weak which yet notwithstanding is manifestly against the scope of the Apostle who declareth them to be weak not simply as we have touched heretofore for observing a certaine day but for keeping it with a consciencious regard and opinion of a religious obligation particular unto it more than to any other day which is the only thing worthy to be blamed and might be a just cause of offence CHAPTER Eleventh REASON II. 1. The Sabbath was to the Israelites a signe of their sanctification 2. Not only in the toylesome ages of this mortall life but also in the eternity and rest of the life to come 3. Through IESUS CHRIST who hath perfectly accomplished the benefits which it represented imperfectly 4. And therefore it was to continue till his comming only 5. This truth is confirmed in the Epistle to the Hebrewes by the type of the bodily rest of the people in the land of Canaan 6. As also by the type of Gods rest on the Seventh day 7. Gods rest and
made by him as were all other signes wherewith under the old Testament God had clothed the Covenant of Grace and which also for this cause Christ hath abrogated Neither can it be shewed that GOD will have to continue under the new Testament any thing that he had ordained under the old Testament to be an outward signe signifying any saving grace that Christ at his comming was to purchase by his death to his Church God will have it to continue under the new Testament 9 They alledge to this purpose but most unfitly the Raine-bow in the clouds which God gave of old for a signe to Noah and continueth still in this use of a signe For it was a signe ordained onely to confirme a temporall promise common not onely to all men but also to all living creatures of all flesh that is upon the earth to wit that there shall not any more be an universall floud to destroy the earth and all the creatures that are therein as he had done before Genes 9. vers 10 11 12 13 14 15 16. which was not a benefit of the Covenant of grace founded upon Iesus Christ but a naturall covenant and therefore was in no sense typicall had no relation to the Messias to come and for this cause ought not to be abolished by him but was to continue as in its naturall being even so in its being relative signifying this temporall grace which the earth shall injoy to the worlds end 10 It is true that some things which in the old Covenant have beene used for types and figures and subsist still in their naturall and absolute essence may be freely and indifferently applyed to some good and lawfull uses which they are capable of under the new Covenant But in regard of the end they had to be typicall signes and of that necessary obligation which was in them by Gods ancient Ordinance for any end whatsoever they are all abolished neither is there any one of them that hath vigour and strength vnder the new Testament 11 Which to explaine more clearely I say that typicall things under the old Testament were of divers sorts Some of them were in such sort typicall that their whole essence consisted in that neither can in matters of religion the type figure be severed from their lawfull use nor applyed to the exercise of any religious function allowed in the state of the Gospell Of this condition for example were the Circumcision the immolation of the Paschall Lamb the Sacrifices The whole use of which signes was to figurate Christ to come and his benefits neither is there any respect fitting for the exercises of our Evangelicall religion for which any man may lawfully circumcise his children offer the Paschall Lambe or give sacrifices of beasts to God 12 Others were in such sort typicall that they may in themselves have another use then to be types and be imploied lawfully in the practice of actions of the Christian Religion As for example these that the Apostle speaketh of in the Epistle to the Colossians Chap. 2. vers 16. to wit the abstinence of certaine meats the keeping of new Moones of Holy daies of Sabbaths For we may abstaine from meats nay from a certaine kind of meats to fast to keepe under our body and bring it into subjection We may observe the first daies of every Moneth the Holy daies the Sabbaths to rest from the toile of the world and to apply our selves more carefully and particularly then usually we doe to the hearing of Gods Word to singing of Psalmes to publike Prayers to bestowing almes on the poore all which are Evangelicall duties for which it is not onely lawfull but also fitting that some times be appointed As indeed from all times both fasts and divers feasts have beene observed in the Christian Church But to keepe all those things for Religion and Conscience sake as a necessary point of Gods service or to believe that we are bound to doe so by the Commandements which God gave under the old Testament when he established them for shadowes and figures were a thing altogether unlawfull 13 The Sabbath day is wholly of this kind It is certaine that Christians may observe that day indifferently as any other day and in it give themselves unto all exercises of our Christian Religion And indeed the Christian Church kept it in her first ages many yeeres together as well as the Sunday which we shall shew more expresly hereafter But to keepe it as a type and figure as it was of old or believe that we are bound to keepe it rather than any other day by the Commandement which God gave at that time or to make of it for any other respect a point of conscience it is a thing in no case tollerable under the Gospel in the time wherof Gods Commandements given under the old Testament concer-cerning any typicall thing although capable otherwise to be applyed to som other use then to be a type are not obligatory and bind not the conscience And as putting apart the typicall consideration divers good uses may be found for which a course may be taken to keepe the first day of every Moneth the solemne feasts of the Passeover of Pentecost of Iubiles at the end of fifty yeeres and others yet all these daies are abolished and if any man would lay a necessity of such observations upon Christians in the authority of the ancient Commandements of the Law which the Gospell hath not ratified and establish in them a point of Religion he should withstand the Gospel Even so albeit reasons may be found laying aside the type and figure to make lawfull the observation of the Sabbath day by applying it to Evangelicall uses neverthelesse it should be a sin against the Gospell to make the observation thereof necessary by vertue of the Commandements which God gave of old but the Gospel hath no more ratified then these others or otherwise to establish in it any part of Gods service seeing it was a typicall thing which hath been abolished with all the rest This is the maine point which I stand unto here Not that it is unlawfull to keepe the Sabbath day just as any other day But that there is not on Gods part any obligation to that day more than to another day and that it cannot be of it selfe a service of our Christian Religion because it was a type of the old Testament and all the types of that time have ceased in regard of their obligation notwithstanding any lawfull use of them which otherwise may be thought on under the new Testament 14 And wherefore I pray if all other types be abolished ought the Sabbath onely to continue seeing it was a type of the same nature with the rest figuring to the Israelites their sanctification by the Messias to come Vpon what grounds is it said that it was not typicall and figurative as all the rest Is it because nothing can be seene in it figurative of Iesus
Christ as in all other signes As in the feast of Passeover the Lambe which was killed figured manifestly the person of Iesus Christ put to death for our redemption The sacrifices of beasts were figures of the Sacrifice of Christs body The sprinklings and washings were types of his blood of the shedding of it upon the crosse of the sprinkling thereof upon our consciences by the holy Ghost and of the spirituall washing which we receive thereby 15 To this I answer that the figurative and typicall signes of the old Testament were not all of one sort It is true that all had relation to Christ but some of them represented meerly and directly Christs person the actions of his person and consequently the benefits depending thereon Others represented nothing directly but his spirituall benefits yet as proceeding from him and from his actions which consequently they figured also Of the first kind was the Paschall Lambe and the sacrifices that were offered which properly were figures of Christs person and of his sacrifice and consequently of our redemption and of the expiation of our sins made by him which is the benefit proceeding from his sacrifice 16 Of the second sort was the Sabbath day which properly and directly represented the sanctification of the people and their ceasing from workes of sinne but figured also therewith Iesus Christ Because by him that benefit was to be purchased to the faithfull and they were to receive it by his meanes For it is by the offering of the body of IESUS CHRIST once for all that we are sanctified Heb. 10. ver 10. Of the same sort was the Circumcision wherein no thing can be found that figured properly CHRISTS person and the actions thereof But because it sealed the righteousnesse of faith Romanes 4. verse 11. figured the spirituall circumcision of the heart Rom. 2. ver 28 29. Col. 2. ver 11. and was a signe of the covenant of grace Genesis 17. ver 7 9 10 11. which benefits Christ was to deserve by his death in that respect it was a figure of Christ and a shadow whereof the body was in him who also hath abolished it The like were so many Sabbaths ordained on the first and last day of the feasts of the Passeover and of Tabernacles on the feast of Pentecost on the tenth day of the seventh moneth in every seventh yeere in the fiftieth yeere of Iubile which all confesse to have beene abolished by Iesus Christ as things typicall Yet there was no thing in them that made them more particular to the Iewes more ceremoniall and typike nay not so much as the ordinary Sabbath whereof God had said that which he hath not said of these that it was a signe betweene him and his people c. Neither figured they Iesus Christ otherwise then this ordinary Sabbath did For they were not types of his person nor of his actions but only of the spirituall benefits which are alwayes received of the faithfull and which the true Iewes received then in him and through him Now if all the signes of this second kinde which had of old a great sway in the Synagogue were accounted to be figurative and as such are abrogated wherefore should not the Sabbath be likewise abolished 17 Yea how many things were there under the Old Testament whereof no man can tell what relation they had to Christ either in his person in his actions or in his benefits and which perhaps in effect represented no such thing had no typicall signification but were only ordinances belonging to order and ecclesiasticall government servill exercises childish rudiments elements of the world wherewith it was GODs pleasure to burthen his people in those times which were the times of the infancy and bondage of the Church and therefore were ceremonies as well as those that had some typicall and figurative signification For under the name of Ceremonies may and ought to be comprised not only the types and figures which properly and manifestly were such but universally all the observations of the ecclesiasticall policy and government of the Iewes all the ordinances of the Law of commandements which were a partition wall betweene them and all other nations as the Apostle saith Ephes. 2. verse 14 15. Or were memorials of things past which did belong to the Iewes only and for that cause have beene abrogated by Iesus Christ. So that although the Sabbath had not had any typicall signification nor relation to Iesus Christ as it had it was enough to make it to be done away that it did belong to the ecclesiasticall government of the Iewes and was also given them for memoriall of a benefit particular to them to wit of their deliverance out of the land of Aegypt and of that miserable bondage wherein they had not any one day free neither to rest from their labours nor to serve the Lord their God For in the fifth Chapter of Deuteronomie God repeating by the mouth of Moses the Commandements of his Law addeth to the fourth Commandement this reason of the institution of the Sabbath ver 15. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Aegypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arme Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keepe the Sabbath day shewing by these words that the deliverance which he had given them from that laborious bondage of the land of Aegypt should not onely oblige them to keepe the Sabbath so much the more carefully and religiously but was a cause why he ordained it to wit that it might be unto them a memoriall or a token for remembrance of that glorious and wonderfull deliverance CHAPTER Thirteenth Conclusion of the first part of this Treatise 1. The Sabbath was not ordained nor knowne till after the deliverance of the Israelites out of the land of Aegypt 2. The Sabbath was onely a signe figurative of Christ and a memoriall of a benefit particular to the Iewes 3. All the dayes of the weeke ought to bee Sabbaths to Christians 1 OF all that hath beene said heretofore we conclude First that the Sabbath was not ordained till after the deliverance of the Israelites out of the land of Aegypt and consequently that they kept it not in Aegypt and therefore that they had not learned of the Patriarkes their Fathers to observe it that the Patriarkes did not observe it that Adam received not any commandement of God to keepe it neither had any notice thereof finally that therefore it is not morall For if it were morall and therefore alwayes and in all times necessary if God had commanded it to Adam if the Patriarkes had kept it they had taught their children to keepe it and that being so the Israelites had assuredly kept it in Aegypt If there they had kept it there had been no cause to ordaine it for a memoriall of their deliverance out of Aegypt and to say that after their deliverance and in
had their full performance he taking occasion of the historicall narration which he was writing of the first Manna which God sent to his people relateth also the Ordinance that God gave to put a pot full of it in the Tabernacle before the Arke and the execution of the said Ordinance which neverthelesse must be referred to a long time after 6 So in the first Booke of Samuel and in the 17. chapter after the narration made of Davids combat against Goliah of his victory of that Giant and of the defeat of the Philistins it is added in the Text verse 54. And David tooke the head of the Philistine and brought it to Ierusalem but hee put his armour into his Tent which notwithstanding was not done but after that David being anointed King tooke the whole towne of Ierusalem from the Iebusites with the strong hold of Sion and dwelled in it calling it the City of David 2 Sam. 5. vers 7. 9. And therefore our French translation in the foresaid place 1 Sam. 17. addeth the word depuis that is since saying And David since brought the head of the Philistine to Ierusalem and put his armes in his Tabernacle to shew that David did not this as soone as he had overthrowne the Philistine although it be related in the Text jointly and at once with his combat and victory as if both had happened together because when that history was a writing the transportation of the head and armes of Goliah to Ierusalem and to the fort of Sion was done And therefore it is related by occasion as it were with one breath in consequence of the victory gotten over him Other examples might be found to this purpose if it were needfull 7 To keepe this course in discoursing and writing is no wise unfitting nor misbecomming If any writing under the New Testament the History of the first Creation of the world and relating the forming of light on the first day should adde by occasion And it is also on the first day that the true light of the world hath shined by his resurrection from the dead and for that cause wee observe that day Or if re-hearzing that God brought forth bread out of the earth to strengthen mans heart and Wine to make it glad he should adde joyntly upon this occasion And it is in this bread and in this Wine which nourish the body that Iesus Christ hath instituted the Sacrament of the nourishment of the soule by him who should finde any thing blame-worthy in such discourses Wherfore then Moses might he not most fitly by occasion of that hee had written of the Seventh day and of Gods rest in it in the History of the Creation touch also in the same discourse the edict made about the sanctification of that day seeing that edict had a great sway when he wrote the History of the Creation and Gods rest on the Seventh day was the cause and reason thereof although it was not so ancient as the first Seventh day 8 Against this answer the instance hath no force which they urge from the conjunction and whereby the third verse is joyned with the second that is the blessing and hallowing of the Seventh day with the finishing of the workes of God and of his rest on that day as being done at the same time and expressed in words of the same tence and moode Nor what they say further that in these two verses as most cleerely appeareth the whole discourse is of the same Seventh day and as in the second verse is understood the first Seventh day wherein God after he had finished his workes rested likewise in the third verse it is understood so when it is said that he blessed and sanctified the Seventh day which is also expressed by the demonstrative Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew that it was the same Seventh day that otherwise the reason which is added and taken from the rest of God should be worthlesse because God did not rest from the worke of Creation on that day which he ordained to the Iewes to be their Sabbath day but on that day wherein hee finished first all his workes 9 For I answer to this that the conjunction and may well enough joyne things distant in time and farre removed one from another that also they may be expressed by words of the same tence and moode specially if they have any connexion and dependancy one upon another as in this place The blessing and hallowing of the Seventh day although done long after Gods rest on the Seventh day dependeth upon that rest as upon the cause and reason which was an occasion to God to make it In the Texts before mentioned of Exodus 16. Chapter the 32. and 33. verses and of the 17. Chapter of the first booke of Samuel in the 54. verse which expresse manifestly things done many yeares after these which are rehearsed before but depending on them are joyned to the verses immediately going before by the conjunction and which is diverse time reiterated and the words whereby these diverse things are expressed are set downe in the same tence and moode It imports not that in these examples the thing subsequent joyned straight with the precedent was not a great deale so farre remote in time from it because both hapned within the space of the age of one man as should be in the Text of Genesis before cited the sanctification of the Seventh day from Gods rest on the Seventh day if this being past on the first Seventh day after the Creation that came not to passe till the dayes of Moses which should be an intervall of more than two thousand yeeres For when two things separated and distant in time are to bee coupled together in a discourse if so bee the one hang upon the other those that are remote by many thousand of yeares may be joyned together as well as those of twenty or forty yeeres distance Neither doe I see wherefore it is not as allowable and convenient to rehearse at once a thing come to passe two thousand yeeres and more after another that it relyeth on notwithstanding there be a great intervall of time betweene as to recite one chanced twenty or forty yeares after another whereunto it hath some relation In the one and in the other there is the same reason and the same liberty 10 Wherefore the blessing of the Seventh day made in the dayes of Moses might bee fitly coupled with the Rest of God after the Creation which was the foundation thereof notwithstanding any whatsoever distance of time betweene them As indeed it is so joyned in the fourth Commandement Exodus Chapter 20. verse 11. where GOD speaking to the Israelites saith In sixe dayes the LORD made heaven and earth and rested the Seventh day wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it In which place cannot be understood a blessing and hallowing done at the same time that God rested first on the Seventh day but
that only which was made in behalfe of the Israelites as is cleere by the repetition of the Law in the fifth Chapter of Deuteronomie where that which was absolutely said in Exodus Therfore the Lord blessed the Seventh day is restrained to the Israelites v. 15. Therefore the Lord commanded thee to keepe the Sabbath day And in Exodus 16. v. 29. The Lord hath given you the Sabbath And in the 31. Chap. ver 16 17. The Children of Israel shall keepe the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generation for a perpetuall covenant It is a signe betweene mee and the children of Israel for ever For in sixe dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and on the Seventh day he rested where it cannot be denyed but that with the end of the Creation and Gods rest on the Seventh day is immediately joyned the institution of the Sabbath to the Israelites at least in quality of a signe If then in that place Moses might speake after this manner and say God created in sixe dayes heaven and earth and rested the Seventh day and therefore he hath ordained to the Israelites the Sabbath day for a signe wherefore in the second of Genesis might he not say after the same manner God made heaven and earth in sixe dayes and finished them on the Seventh day and rested from all his workes and this his Rest on the Seventh day hath moved him to blesse ánd sanctifie that day to wit to the Israelites to be a signe unto them according to that hath been said in the places before mentioned which are an evident and cleere explication thereof 11 Neither is it any wise necessary as is pretended that in the second Chapter of Genesis in the second and third verses one and the same singular seventh day should be understood and that God hath precisely sanctified the same seventh day wherein he rested and rested on the same day that he sanctified and therefore because in the second verse the first seventh day after the Creation is understood it must be taken so in the third verse For it sufficeth to understand in the third verse the same seventh day in likenesse and revolution and generally a seventh day correspondent continually in order to that which GOD rested on after his workes of the sixe dayes And this reason that God rested on the first seventh day might have been to God a most reasonable cause to ordaine long after the sanctification of a seventh day answerable in all points to that first seventh day The sequell of Moses his discourse is as fitting in this regard as in the other As if I said our Lord Iesus Christ rose againe and rested from the worke of our redemption on the first day of the weeke wherefore the Church hath dedicated the first day of the weeke that hee rose in to be holy and solemne the sequele is good although it be not the same first singular day that Christ rose on and the Church hath consecrated but the same onely in likenesse and revolution yea although there passed a long time after the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour before the first day of the weeke could be well setled as a day of holy and religious exercises We say on Friday before Easter this day Christ hath suffered on the Ascension day this day Christ is ascended into heaven At Whitsunday On this day the Holy Ghost is come downe although those things came to passe on a certaine singular day which is past long agoe But we name so all the dayes following which correspond to that first day according to the similitude which is betweene them And we call the day of the Passion of the Ascension of the descent of the Holy Ghost those which are not such properly but onely have by revolution correspondancie with the first dayes wherein such things were done Even so when it is said in the third verse of the second Chapter of Genesis And therefore the Lord hath blessed the Seventh day and hath hallowed it because in it he hath rested from all his workes that is to be understood not of the same first day wherein hee rested but of a Seventh day answering unto it in the order and continuall succeson of dayes 12 The Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put in the third verse before the word that signifieth seven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proveth not that it is a peculiar seventh even that seventh day that God rested in verse 2. For although the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be often used to betoken emphatically a thing singular and individuall already knowne and mentioned yet this is not universall For it is used much without any emphasis or expresse demonstration of any thing either singular or certaine yea simply to serve for an ornament and to make the word that it is joyned unto more full which use hath also in the Greeke tongue the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verily in the third ver which we speak of in this place it is cleere that the said Article cannot be restrained to a seventh singular day as it is in the second verse Nay it betokeneth more generally a seventh day comprehending in it many singular dayes which by similitude in regard of the order and succession of times have reference and analogie to the first seventh day mentioned in the said second verse and have followed it from time to time at the end of sixe dayes For it is such a seventh day that God hath sanctified and not a singular seventh And that seventh day may bee called a particular seventh and considered as particularised by the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in effect in as much as it is not indifferently all seventh day or any of the seven dayes of the weeke that God hath sanctified but it is the last of them We seeke only to know when God began to blesse and to hallow it to men to be kept by them And I maintaine that this hallowing began not incontinent after the Creation was finished but more than two thousand yeeres after Neither is the contrary proved by this passage of Genesis 13 No greater weight hath another instance which is much urged that as in the course of the Creation when it is said that God after he had created every living thing blessed them Gen. 1. v. 21 22 27 28. is to be understood a present benediction and not put off to a long time Even so when in the second of Genesis with the perfection of the Creation on the seventh day is joyned the blessing and hallowing of that day a present sanctification is to be understood 14 For the reason is not alike in the one and in the other First the blessing of all living creatures and the blessing of the seventh day are not to be taken in the same sence That is a blessing of actuall and reall communication of goods and graces This is a blessing of destination to be solemnized by men Secondly
all living creatures as soone as GOD had created them stood in necessary need of this communication of his graces without which they could not have subsisted in their being And therefore we ought to understand that at that time God blessed them after that manner but there was no necessity that man should solemnize the seventh day as soone as it was made more than any other day of the weeke and therefore it was not necessary that GOD should then consecrate it to that use Thirdly it is clearely set downe in the Text that God blessed all living creatures as soone as he created them For it is added And God blessed them and God said unto them be fruitfull and multiply c. But it is not said that God blessed the day of rest and at that same time commanded Adam and his posterity to keepe it wherefore a like blessing and hollowing cannot be proved from thence to have beene made from the beginning of the seventh day 15 This first answer to the precedent objection is moreover confirmed by the conformity of the words which Moses maketh use of in this verse of the second of Genesis with those whereby the hallowing of the Sabbath was injoyned in the Law for they are the same which is an helpe to shew that Moses writing since God pronounced the Law spoke of the hallowing of the seventh day in regard only to the Ordinance that God in his time had made thereof seeing he imployeth the same words and the same discourse 16 Againe the same answer is confirmed by this that it is not probable that God from the beginning sanctified the seventh day to ordaine it to Adam for a day of rest because Adam in the estate of innocency should not have had any use of such a day For he was without sin which might have hindred him to serve God continually and therefore needed not a signe which by the similitude of a bodily rest and cessation might teach him to cease and rest from sin as if he had beene already obnoxious unto it and so be for that purpose a good help unto him And though he was capable of sin and had a possibility of falling into it afterward Yet as the holy Angells were and are still capable of sin and might of themselves fall into sin if God confirmed them not in grace and yet a day of Sabbath was not behoofefull unto them because they are in a perpetuall course of serving God Even so to man in that estate of innocency a particular day of rest was neither very necessary nor very sufficient to keep him from falling into sin For to prevent that mis-hap he stood in need of daily helps far more powerfull making him to cleave to God with purpose of heart to call upon him to thinke seriously on him and consider deeply his favours and graces which he might and was bound to doe seeing he had no distraction from Gods service by any temporall and earthly businesse For although it be true that God put him in the garden of Heden and commanded him to dresse it Genes 2. vers 15. yet seeing that place was unto him a place of pleasure delights and innocency the dressing of it could not hinder him to serve God every day with all necessary continuance and assiduity It had rather been unto him a recreation and delightfull diversion to keep him from idlenesse then a necessary occupation seeing the earth had of it selfe brought forth all fruits unto him no painfull imploiment because it had not bin accompanied with toilesome travell and wearinesse and had not required of him an oversight and imployment so long that a particular day would have bin necessary unto him to rest on it from his works and to apply himselfe without distraction to Gods service whereas the occupations of sinfull men are such that they are forced of necessity to win their bread in the sweat of their face Moreover in that estate of innocency Adam and Eve being alone had no outward exercises of Religion such as are those that are practised in a Church assembled and which to attend on them require of necessity a stinted time and a cessation from all bodily works But rather all the service that God required of Adam and which he might have applyed himselfe unto was a particular meditation and consideration of his works and the calling upon his holy name Which service he was able to discharge every day abundantly yea even then when he was busied about the dressing of the garden which was capable rather to stirre up and entertaine his spirit in the mediation of Gods workes then to hinder it 17 Of no weight is the instance that some make saying that although Adam in the estate of innocency had no distraction from Gods service nor trouble and wearinesse by his ordinary labour yet it was behoofefull unto him to keepe a seventh day of rest seeing God himselfe although he was in no regard wearied and distracted by making all his works in sixe daies neverthelesse rested on the seventh day Verily if God after the making of his workes in sixe daies had rested on the seventh day purposely to the intent that by an intermission of his painfull labors and appointment and solemne applying of that seventh day to some particular holinesse for himselfe and his owne use as having need thereof because he could not in the sixe precedent daies be earnest enough about it he might afterwards returne to the making of other works after the former and so continue that reciprocation the foresaid instance by far greater reason should be much worth But that saying that God rested on the seventh day signifieth nothing saving this that God ceased to make more workes and viewed them when they were made because in the former sixe dayes he had finished them all and this cessation was only a resultance and necessary consequence of the intire perfection of all his worke wherefore also it continued not only on that seventh day but ever sithence Because God hath never since made any new creatures Whence it is cleerely apparent that the instance is altogether vaine because there is not the same reason of Gods rest on the seventh day and of the rest the necessity whereof they would faine put upon man in the estate of innocency All that this example of God could oblige Adam unto was only to indeavour after he had done his worke to contemplate Gods workes and admire in them his glory which I say he might have done sufficiently every day Now if this example bindeth us not at this time under the New Testament as shall be proved hereafter how farre lesse obliged it Adam 18 No more force hath that which is also objected that if God ordained to Adam when he was in his integrity outward signes and Sacraments as the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evill he might as conveniently ordaine unto him a day of rest For the tree of life
Although that howbeit he had alleadged them no man can necessarily inferre from thence that he had such an intention whereas his mentioning only of GODS rest on the seventh day and his omitting of the blessing and hallowing thereof which followeth immediately in the Text sheweth he acknowledged that it was not practised from the beginning and that also his minde was to speake directly of GODS Rest only and to shew as a thing most evident that that rest seeing it was past and there was no possibility of entring into it could not be understood in the promise which God so long after made by David to the faithfull of entring into his rest Hebr. 1. ver 1 3. which promise was included in the threat that unbeleevers should not enter into his Rest but another rest to wit a spirituall rest prepared to the faithfull in heaven whereof that Rest of God on the seventh day was as a type and figure 5 Which GOD gave them to understand when he caused Moses to observe in the description of the History of the Creation that on the seventh day hee rested from all his workes conformably whereunto he commanded the Iewes to keepe the seventh day and to rest on it as he had rested that it might be unto them a type and figure of the heavenly rest And in this respect we may grant that the Apostle speaketh also of the rest of the seventh day ordained to men and excludeth it out of the sence of the threat but indirectly and by consequence only for as much as affirming that even the rest of God Himselfe on the seventh day after he had finished his works was not understood in the foresaid threat when GOD denounced it by David we may inferre from thence that likewise the rest ordained to men was not understood in it Not because this was as ancient as that for in such an asseveration there is no consequence but because that was the foundation of the institution of this to the Israelites and this had a great sway when GOD gave that warning with such a threat as well as that albeit not of so long a date 6 To confirme that I say serveth the tenth verse where it is said that he that is entred into Gods Rest hath also rested from his owne workes as God did also from his the meaning of which words is that they which are entred into the heavenly Rest cease from all their labours and businesses of this life even as God on the seventh day rested from all his workes whereby the Apostle signifieth that God in his own rest established a figure of the heavenly Rest which he would conferre upon men whereof he gave them notice afterward whence it followeth that in the third and fourth verses which the tenth verse hath relation unto where it is observed that God from the foundation of the world after his workes were finished rested the seventh day and notified so much by Moses in the second Chap. of Genesis the Apostle designed directly no other rest but Gods owne Rest and meant not rest ordained from the beginning to Adam For if he had meant such a rest he had said in the 10. verse he that entreth into Gods heavenly rest ceaseth from all the workes of this life even as Adam by Gods commandement rested on the seventh day and had not said simply as God rested from all his workes 7 The instances alleadged are weak For what necessity is there that because by the two other rests of God mentioned by the Apostle He. 4. v. 1 8 9. to wit the rest of the land of Canaan and the heavenly rest a rest given to men is understood even so by the rest of the seventh day in the 2. 3. verses a like rest is to be formally understood and in the same respect As if one and the same word were not often found in the Scripture in the same tenor of a discourse taken in different respects and much more different then is here Gods rest which in two places signifieth directly and expresly a Rest of God in as much as given to men and in the third a Rest of God in as much as he himselfe rested But indirectly and by consequence in as much as he ordained afterwards to men to rest according to his example 8 Which is an equivocation if they will have it to be so called of small weight and inferior to many others which in other passages may be found in one and the same word which moreover bringeth no inconveniency with it For what necessity was there that this tearme The Rest of God should be alwayes in this discourse of the Apostle taken in the same sence seeing his only intention was to demonstrate that all other Rest of God which the Scripture calleth so saving the heavenly rest in whatsoever sence it be taken could not be understood in the threat denounced by David For I will here set downe a sence which may bee conveniently fitted to the words of the Apostle God in his threat wherewith he threatned the Israelites by David that if they were rebellious they should not enter into his rest understood either his owne Rest which he rested on the seventh day after his workes were finished from the Creation of the world and which was the foundation and occasion moving him to ordaine long after the rest of the Seventh day to men Or the rest of the land of Canaan or the heavenly Rest seeing there is no mention in the Scripture of any Rest of God but of those three Now of necessity he understood the heavenly Rest. For hee could not understand the rest of the land of Canaan because the Israelites were already entred into that land and enjoyed it Nor also his owne Rest which he rested on the seventh day because it was past and gone from the foundation of the world besides that it was not of such a nature that men could enter into it Whence followed also that likewise God did not understand the Rest of the seventh day ordained to men because indeed it was not ordained unto them but conformably to the example of Gods Rest which was the cause and reason of the institution thereof And therefore if this rest was excluded from Gods intention in his threat that was excluded also although the Apostle expresseth not this unto us and farre lesse at what time God gave to men the ordinance of the seventh day contenting himselfe with the expression of Gods own Rest after he had finished his workes on the first seventh day which Rest being excluded excluded also the other ordained to men in whatsoever time it was ordained unto them whether in the proper time of Gods rest or long after Neither of which can be learned of the Apostles words in this discourse but may be elsewhere 9 According to this it is cleere that by the Apostles reasoning the way was shut up to the foresaid reply which as is pretended may be made
of the maymednesse of his argumentation wherein is left out the rest commanded to men in the fourth Commandement if by the rest of God wee must understand Gods owne rest and not the rest which he ordained to men For I deny not but that this was also understood by the Apostle But as I have said courtly indirectly and by consequence taken from the rest which he expresseth from which this other hath its beginning and dependance although it be not of the same antiquity and that it cannot bee proved that the Apostle meaneth any such thing Moreover albeit we could not find a way to answer such a reply and to refute it there should not bee in that any great inconvenience seeing the thing it selfe affords an easie answer and the Apostle answereth not alwayes formally in all places to all replyes which might be made to his allegations It sufficeth if their vanity bee evident of it selfe or if they may be otherwise refuted as here the reply which is broached against the Apostle his reasoning might have beene easily CHAPTER Sixth Answer to the fifth Reason taken from the fourth Commandement and first to the generall argument taken from the nature of the said Commandement 1. First objection The fourth Commandement is a part of the morall Law and therefore it is morall 2. A generall answer shewing the nullity of this objection 3. A particular answer shewing that the Decalogue is an abridgment of the whole Law of Moses 4. Specially that the fourth Commandement is an abridgment of the ceremoniall Law 5. This is confirmed by the Prophets who by the profanation of the Sabbath understand the transgression of the whole ceremoniall Law 6. Falsity of an objection that the Prophets urged not the transgression of the ceremoniall Law 7. Second Objection The Decalogue had divers prerogatives which the ceremoniall and Iudiciall Law had not 8. Cleere refutation of this Objection 9. Third Objection God distinguisheth betweene his covenant comprehending the moralities only and his statutes and judgements which were ceremoniall lawes 10. Uanity of the said distinction 11. Fourth Objection The Summarie of the Decalogue is morall therefore all the precepts thereof are morall 12. Answer in this summary the ceremoniall Law is comprised 13. Refutation of the fifth Objection taken from the union of the tenne Commandements 14. Answer to the sixth Objection that our opinion mutilates the Decalogue of a Commandement and authoriseth the changing of times 15. Another Answer The fourth Commandement is morall in the principall substance thereof 16. But is ceremoniall in the determination of a particular seventh day for Gods service 17. Seventh Objection that if this were so God would not have named it in the Decalogue more then the place of his service 18. Answer these things are not alike 19. Eight Objection answered to wit that God might have named in the Decalogue the New Moones and other Holy dayes 20. The former answer confirmed 21. A farther answer shewing that under the Sabbath all Holy dayes were comprised as under the word Sanctifie all ceremoniall duties 22. Those of the contrary opinion confessing that there is some thing ceremoniall in the fourth Commandement cast themselves into a great absurdity 23. The falsitie of their doctrine that a seventh day in generall is only commanded shewed by Scriptures 24. And by reason 25. How it may be said that all dayes appointed for Gods service are grounded on the fourth Commandement 26. One of seven dayes cannot be morall and the seventh ceremoniall 27. Wherein consists the morality of the fourth Commandement 28. How the keeping of one of seven dayes may be gathered out of the fourth Commandement 29. Answer to the first inconvenience that of tenne Commandements nine only should be morall 30. Answer to the second inconvenience that Papists may affirme the second Commandement to bee likewise ceremoniall 31. Confirmed by the testimony of Pagans of the Prophets and of the Apostles 32. Answer to the third inconvenience that the second Commandement should also be ceremoniall 33. Confirmed by Bellarmine 34. Answer to the fourth inconvenience that the fourth Commandement might be taken out of the Decalogue 35. The retorsion shewing that the doctrine of the morality of the Sabbath giveth a great advantage to the Roman Church 1 THe principall reason alleadged to prove the morality of the Sabbath is taken from the fourth Commandement Remember the Sabbath day to keepe it holy c. And first they urge in generall the nature of the Commandement which is one of the ten of the morall Law which God Himselfe pronounced with his owne mouth ingraved with his owne hand upon two Tables of stone for a signe and token of perpetuall continuance and caused the said Tables to be put and kept in the Arke and therfore the fourth Commandement must of necessity be morall and perpetuall as the rest are otherwise nine Commandements onely shall be morall But these nine being morall it cannot be said reasonably that this is not morall And if any man should dare to say it profane men may be so licentiously bold as to make the same exception against the rest in all things wherein they cope with their particular vices saying also that they are not morall That they of the Roman Church who to shrinke from the objection which we make against their idolatry by the formall words of the second Commandement of the Law presume to answer that this Commandement is not morall and did belong to the Iewes only shall finde a sufficient colour to this answer if it were true that in the morall Law there is to be found a Commandement which is not morall and that the fourth Commandement is such a one And therefore as they have taken out of the Decalogue the second Commandement although without all reason seeing it is morall and perpetuall others may take out of it the fourth Commandement and comprehend it no more with the rest and that with as good reason seeing it is not morall and concerneth us not 2 To this I answer first that in vaine doe they seeke to shew that the Commandement of the Sabbath obligeth us because it maketh a part of that Law which God uttered with his owne mouth in the mountaine of Sina with so many evidences of his Majesty and wrote it with his finger upon two Tables of stone which he gave to Moses and caused to be put in the Arke as if these considerations did give greater force and efficacy to this Law to binde us as it did binde the Iewes to keepe it in all things that it comprehendeth for they might prove with as good reason that in these time under the Gospell we are bound to have a Tabernacle or Temple like unto that which the Iewes had of old and to observe the same service which they observed in it because God in the same mountaine with much Majesty shewed the patterne thereof to Moses and commanded him to make it after that patterne Whereas much
well as of morall duties Yea he understandeth rather that then this because the observation of morall duties is not tyed more particularly to one day then to another but is a service appertaining equally and alike to all dayes of the weeke whereas the ceremonies of Gods outward service were to be observed more particularly on that day then in all the rest And therfore this Commandement in as much as it injoyneth the sanctification of the seventh day is ceremoniall and if in regard of this sanctification it is abolished what inconvenience is there that it be likewise abolished in regard of the day Neither is it a thing singular to this Commandement to have some particular determination belonging to the Iewes only added to the substance which is morall universall and perpetuall For the preface of the Law which some had rather make a part of the first Commandement concerning the deliverance out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage and the temporall promise of long daies upon the Land of Canaan added to the fifth Commandement are manifestly circumstances which have relation to the Iewes only and have no morality in them nay were ceremoniall and typike Now if a ceremoniall promise hath found a roome in the Decalogue there is no greater inconvenience that a ceremoniall and temporall Commandement be found in it also Neither is it a whit more repugnant to say that the fourth Commandement is both morall and ceremoniall because it is not so in the same but in a diverse sense and respect as I have shewed Among the Lawes given by Moses many are to be found which are ceremoniall and temporall in that which they expresse and morall in their foundation and end As for example the Lawes forbidding to muzzle the Oxe when he treadeth out the corne Deut. 25. verse 4. to seethe a Kid in his mothers milke Exod. 23. vers 19. to take in a birds nest the Dam with the young ones Deut. 22. vers 6 7. to plow with an Oxe and an Asse together Deut. 22. vers 10. and others such like 22 And indeed those against whom I write must acknowledge nill they will they that in the fourth Commandement there is some thing that is not morall that obligeth not for ever and that did pertaine onely to the Iewes and to their ceremonies and Ecclesiasticall governement to wit the ordinance about the observing not onely of one day of seven but the last of seven For wee keepe not any more this last day under the new Testament wherein wee should sinne if it were a morall thing Neither can an instance be made from the fourth Commandement that the observing of a seventh day is a thing naturall and morall but by the same meanes it shall be proved against the intention of those that make use of this argument that to observe a seventh day is also morall because the Commandement ordaineth not without restriction a seventh day but stinteth particularly and by name the last of seven 23 There be some who to avoid the strength of this argument doe say that the fourth Commandement enjoyneth onely a seventh day as the genus and as a morall thing but none of the kindes whether the last of seven observed by the Iewes or the first of seven observed by Christians is particularly enjoyned because in this there is no moralitie Or if in the fourth Commandement besides the seventh day in generall a particular seventh is injoined the generall is injoyned as morall the particular as ceremoniall and so the genus to wit a seventh day as being morall continueth for ever as well under the Gospel as under the Law and the particular seventh to wit the last of the weeke is only abrogated by the Gospel This is a bold reply and maketh me to wonder at it seeing on the contrary it is evident by that hath beene already said that wee may affirme with good reason that the fourth Commandement maketh not at all any generall mention of observing an unlimited day but particularizeth expresly a certaine seventh day to wit the last For God after he had said Sixe daies shalt thou labour and doe all thy worke addeth but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God which expression alone and by it selfe although there were no other thing said sheweth that he meaneth the seventh in order following the other sixe When a man uttereth his minde in this sort the third the fourth the fifth c. his intention is to denote that which is such in order relatively to others going before neither is there any man that will take it otherwise But besides this God unfoldeth forthwith which seventh he meaneth to wit the particular seventh wherein he rested after he had made all his workes in the sixe daies which went before which was the last of seven Moreover it is evident that in the fourth Commandement the seventh day and the day of rest are the same as also wheresoever mention is made of them And the day of Rest is there taken for the day that God rested in as is manifest by these words following And he rested the seventh day wherefore he blessed the Sabbath day and hollowed it the which day wherein he rested is the seventh or the last day after the sixe of the creation as is evident by these words also He made his workes in sixe daies and rested on the seventh day Wherefore it is the last seventh and none other that is designed in the fourth Commandement as the object of the blessing and hallowing of God which is yet more cleare by the second Chapter of Genesis and third verse where after Moses had said that God in sixe daies made the heaven and the earth and all the hosts of them and after he had ended his workes rested the seventh day he addeth And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he had rested from all his workes to wit that seventh which afterwards he blessed 24 For the Pronoune It hath a necessary relation to a particular day specified in the foresaid words as blessed of God and limited forthwith as the day of his rest so it is manifest that the day which God blessed is the same that he rested in the same I say by correspondency in the order and succession of daies as I have shewed before Otherwise what should be the sense of these words God hath blessed and sanctified the seventh day that is as is pretended a seventh day undetermined because in it he rested c. This Pronoune It can it fitly and conveniently denote a day uncertaine and unlimited Where is to be found a seventh day unlimited wherein God did rest Moreover Gods blessing and sanctification can it have an indefinite and uncertaine object so that God in particular sanctified nothing Againe can it be a convenient reason having any likelihood that God having rested on a certaine seventh day and having considered in it all his workes which hee
the observation of one of seven daies is not morall 20. Second answer shewing divers absurdities following the opinion of the morality of one of seven daies and of the substitution of the first of seven to the last by Christ himselfe 21. Their reply that when Christ made the first alteration of the Sabbath the Disciples observed the Sabbath of the last and of the first day of the weeke consecutively is but an imagination 22. Christs resurrection was of as great force to change the generall order of the observation of one of seven daies as of the last day of the weeke nay to ordaine each fourth day of the weeke for Gods service as well as the first 23. The day of Christs resurrection is no more obligatory then the day of his nativity of his death or of his ascention and is a meer institution of the Church 24. Seventh Objection from the last words of the Commandement And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it whence they gather that the keeping of the seventh day is a meanes of all kinde of blessings whereof Christians have as great need at Iewes c. 25. First answer Christians have as great need of Gods blessing as had the Iewes but not by the same meanes 26. Second answer the Sabbath was not a meanes of blessing to the Iewes by any inherent and naturall quality but by reason of the exercises of godlinesse practised in it and so the exercises of our Christian religion bring a blessing upon us whensoever they are practised 27. It is a fond assertion that if God hath not appointed to Christians a particular day for his service as he did to the Iewes our condition shall be worse then theirs 28. All the particularities of the fourth Commandement may be applyed to Christians as well as to Iewes 29. As the reasons of the institution of their holy-daies 30. Which neverthelesse we are not bound to keepe 31. Item the remembrance of the creation c. 32. The necessity of a new day for Gods service inferreth not a divine institution 1 BEsides the generall argument which is taken from the nature of the fourth Commandement and hath beene refuted in the former Chapter others more particular are taken from the termes and words of the said Commandement and first they urge vehemently these first words thereof Remember the Sabbath day from whence as they pretend it may be inferred that seeing the remembring of a thing denoteth that it was knowne before God when he commanded the Israelites to remember the Sabbath day supposeth that it was not a new ordinance which he gave unto them then but an ancient one yet which undoubtedly they had forgotten and whereof it was necessary they should be put in remembrance and the observation urged for the time to come 2 It is said also that the sanctification of the Sabbath day which God enjoyneth saying Remember the Sabbath day to keepe it holy cannot be called a ceremony but this instance is very feeble For first although it should prove that the institution of the Sabbath day which is here debated did preceed the Law from the beginning it cannot for all that inforce the morality thereof Nay much otherwise some doe thinke that God in the beginning and entrance of the Commandement used the word Remember because it not being naturall and morall as the rest are the Iewes might have more easily forgotten it Secondly it doth no manner of way prove the antiquity of this ordinance For when he that commandeth any thing saith to him to whom he giveth instructions Remember what I say and command thee such a speech implyeth not alwaies that an injunction is given him of a thing he knew before which is againe recorded unto him that he may call it to minde Nay most often his intention is only to advise him to consider exactly to meditate carefully and to accomplish faithfully in time to come that which at that time is injoyned him For this terme Remember when commandements are given is not alwaies relative to the time past but sometimes hath regard onely to the time to come which joyning and continuing for some daies or yeeres successively the time wherein they were given is past and so men have need to call them to minde as a thing past So God instituted the Passeover for a memoriall of the deliverance of the first borne of his people from the destroyer when the first borne of the Egyptians were slaine although it happened after the said institution Exod. 12. vers 14. 27. 29. So Moses said unto them Remember this day in which yee came out from Egypt Exod. 13 vers 3. willing them in time to come to call to minde that whereof they had the first knowledge and experience and not before but at that instant So Christ instituted to his Disciples the Sacrament of the Eucharist saying This doe yee in remembrance of me that is of my death 1 Cor. 11. vers 24. 25 26. although hee was at table with them and was not put to death till the next day after So this speech Remember the Sabbath day must be taken relatively to the time to come as if God had said Take heed that afterwards yee keepe in minde the ordinance which I give you at this instant that you may observe it carefully and in the 12. verse of the fifth Chapter of Deuteronomy in liev of Remember it is written Keepe the Sabbath day or Take heed to the Sabbath day to sanctifie it Hee that commandeth another to doe any thing of moment in a time future ordinary and regulate may very well speake unto him in these termes Remember such a thing and the time that thou art to doe it in before it come to the end that when it shall come thou mayest be prepared to doe it and mayest doe it accordingly which is all that God intended to say to the Iewes in his Commandement touching the Sabbath to wit that before that day should fall out they should remember it in the precedent dayes and dispose themselves in time to sanctifie it Thirdly although it should be taken as relative to the time past it is needlesse to extend it to a long time before and namely to the beginning of the world but only to some few dayes foregoing when GOD through the occasion of the Manna spake unto them of the Sabbath day forbidding them to goe out of their place on that day to gather of it because they should find none and commanding them to rest and to abide every man in his place which day when afterwards he gave the Law he commanded them more particularly and expressely to remember because they heard mention made of it a short while before and to beware of profaning it as they had done already Exod. 16. verse 28 29. And questionlesse to that which he said unto them concerning the Sabbath in the sixteenth Chapter of Exodus are to be referred these words which in the fifth Chapter of
signes And I cannot see a cause why under the new Testament we should burthen our selves with a signe which God declareth to have beene ordained by him to the Iewes in their generations as if without it we could not remember the thing signified unto them by it Let us content our selves with the gracions signes and memorialls which Iesus Christ hath instituted and given us of the worke of our Redemption fulfilled by him of our justification of our sanctification c. These are Baptisme and the Lords Supper which being signes of a worke farre more excellent then the Creation have caused the ancient memoriall of that other worke to cease which notwithstanding we may and ought to record having in nature continually many memorialls thereof before our eyes to wit the heavens the earth all the creatures which advertise us of their Author and of the beginning of their existance And in holy Scripture many documents which entertaine and hold us most frequently in the consideration of this worke Yea the Sacraments also signifying unto us our Regeneration and new Creation draw us back consequently to the meditation of our first Creation And we may in all places and times indifferently call to minde and for it glorifie the Lord our God possessour of heauen and earth although we be not tyed by the Law to any particular day For of him and through him and to him are all things To him be glory for ever Rom. 11. 36. 13 The example of God who made in sixe daies heaven and earth and rested on the seventh day is of no force to this purpose For to say without restriction that Gods example is of necessity to be alwaies followed as being of it selfe and of its nature imitable or rather that God in all his works proposeth himselfe as a paterne and president to follow is a proposition too generall God may be considered either in regard of his attributes or in regard of his actions Of his attributes there be some which wee ought to imitate and they are in the Scripture laid downe unto us as examples of imitation Such are his goodnesse his mercy his love his justice as it is written Be yee holy for I am holy Levit. 19. vers 2. 1 Pet. 1. vers 16. Be yee perfect and mercifull as your Father which is in heaven is perfect and mercifull Matth. 6. vers 48. Luk. 6. vers 36. Let us love one another for love is of God for God is love 1 Ioh. 4. verse 7 8. If yee know that he is righteous yee know that every one that doth righteousnesse is borne of him 1 Ioh. 2. vers 29. There be others which to speake properly are not paterns of imitation neither are we in any sort able to imitate them Such are his Eternity the Infinity of his Essence and Knowledge his omnipotency c. which also we are nevâ—â— exhorted to imitate 14 It is consequently even so of his actions and of his fashion in working Of them some flow immediatly from these first attributes of his holinesse bounty mercy love righteousnesse c. and are essentially actions charitable mercifull bountifull righteous c. These of their nature and of themselves are imitable and that alwaies For example God is bountifull and doth good unto all forgiveth all those that have recourse to his mercy giveth a convenient and sutable reward unto vertue and a due punishment to vice protecteth those that are strengthlesse and oppressed upholdeth those that are infirme and weake c. whereof hee hath given triall by divers experiences From thence wee may conclude truely and soundly that by reason of the righteousnesse holinesse goodnesse which are essentially imprinted in these actions men ought to imitate them in all times to their power and abilitie according to the calling wherein they are called and the rules that he hath in his holy Word prescribed unto them There be other actions proceeding from these other attributes or proprieties of God For example from his omnipotency Such as are his miraculous actions God hath created the world of nothing hath framed man of the dust of the earth and doth a thousand more or such great wonders These actions oblige us not to imitate Gods example in them also God propoundeth them not unto us as examples to be followed for we are not able to imitate them Likewise wee are not bound to immitate the actions and proceedings of God which are grounded on his Will pure and simple whereof although God had the reasons in his owne brest yet we cannot on our part alledge any reason taken from an essentiall righteousnesse inherent in them but onely say for all reason he hath done as it pleased him As that he made the walls of Ierico to fall downe by seven blasts of seven trumpets of Rams-hornes in seven severall daies Iosh. 6. vers 3. 4. 20. cured Naaman of his leprosie sending him to Iordan to wash in it seven times 2 King 5. vers 10. 14 c. 15 Like in all things is unto this the course which God did observe in the Creation making all his works in sixe daies and resting on the seventh day For no man can tell why he did so saving onely because he would the thing it selfe not having in it any naturall equity or evident morality And therefore no kinde of obligation to doe the like can be naturally inferred from thence I meane to observe sixe daies of worke and one of rest All these and other semblable proceedings of God are not an example and oblige not any man to imitate them saving in case God be pleased to command them to doe so as hee would not through any necessity which was in the thing and whereby he was bound to make such a Commandement but because such was his good pleasure command the Iewes to worke sixe daies and rest the seventh day who also afterwards observed that precept not through necessity of imitation taken from the thing it selfe nor that naturally it was emplary unto them but because it pleased God to command them so to doe As also in the fourth Commandement this reason that God in sixe dayes made and finished all his workes and rested the seventh day is not alleadged immediately for an example and a cause of obligation to the Iewes to doe the like but as an occasion that GOD tooke according to his free will to bind them by that Commandement to this observation which also in consequence of the said Commandement they practised For it is said in expresse tearmes In sixe dayes God made all his workes and rested the seventh day Therefore he blessed the seventh day and hallowed it to wit to be observed by the Iewes And it was this blessing and hallowing notified by Commandement which obliged the Iewes to the observation of the seventh day and not Gods course of proceeding immediately For undoubtedly this will be advowed that if God had not declared his will by a Commandement the Iewes had not thought
meanes that procureth his blessing corporall and spirituall temporall and eternall upon those that keepe it as these words doe insinuate have we not as great need of these blessings of GOD as the Iewes God will he not grant them to us as well as to them Wherefore then shall we not keepe that which he hath ordained to be a meanes whereby he doth communicate them or if we keepe them not how can we promise to our selves that he will grant them unto us Which is as if wee should promise to our selves the grace of God by the usage of the Sacraments which hee hath instituted as meanes thereof changing the elements which he hath ordained in them They say also that if God had not ordained unto us who are Christians a Sabbath day he had left us in a worse condition then the Iewes 25 I answer that verily we have as great need of Gods blessings as the Iewes had and that God promiseth them unto us as well as unto them But it followeth not that he should impart them unto us by the same outward meanes God bestowed of old his blessings upon the Iewes not onely by the observation of the seventh day of Sabbath but also of their Sabbaths solemne Feasts Sacrifices Offerings Sprinklings and other legall ceremonies and saith often that he hath sanctified them and would blesse them to their use As then it followeth not that we should keepe these things and that they should be unto us meanes of Gods blessing Likewise upon God saying that he had blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day to the Iewes doth it ensue that we are still bound to keepe it Indeed if the Iewes to whom under the old Testament God had expresly ordained the observation of the seventh day to be unto them a meanes of the grant of his blessings had neglected or rejected that day and had of their owne fancie chosen another they had deprived themselves of the blessing of God by rejecting a meanes of the communication thereof ordained by him And if it were constant that to us also God had ordained the seventh day as it is constant that he hath ordained unto us the use of cercaine elements in the Sacraments and that the fourth Commandement obligeth us as it did the Iewes the same danger were to be feared for us in case we observed it not but sith that is not we have no cause to feare 26 To come neerer unto them I say that the seventh day in its nature was not a holy day nor a meanes of blessing more then another day but onely in regard of the duties of religion and of godlinesse whereunto it was particularly destinated and which were practised in it Therefore when we shall practice religiously and according to the will of God under the new Testament the duties of religion and Christian godlinesse which Iesus Christ hath prescribed unto us in the Gospel they shall be unto us meanes of blessing as were unto the Iewes their exercises and whatsoever day the Church shall appoint ordinarily for that use seeing Iesus Christ hath left unto her that liberty and hath not made any particular determination thereupon it shall be unto us by reason of those holy duties a blessed and holy day as well as was unto the Iewes their seventh day which God injoyned them to keepe 27 It is against all reason to esteeme that if God hath not ordained unto us a particular day as he did to the Iewes our condition shall be worse then theirs For that is alike as if they should say that Christians are in a worse condition then the Iewes because God hath not appointed unto them a particular place whereunto he hath allotted the publike exercise of his service as he did to the Iewes It is true that if Christians did not ordinarily meet together in one place and time to serve GOD publikely they should be farre inferiour to the Iewes and should have farre lesse religion and devotion then they had Whereas it is their great advantage above the Iewes that God would not stint unto them any place nor any time of their holy exercises but would have the choice and setling of the one and of the other to depend on their liberty and left that to their zeale and wisedome even as it is their great prerogative that he hath made them free from all other legall ceremonies which testifieth that he hath loved them more and would not use them rigidly as little children or servants but as children of a ripe age and as a willing people 28 So it hath beene shewed that although the fourth Commandement obligeth us alwaies to appoint an ordinary day for Gods service yet no solid thing can be gathered from the nature and words thereof to prove the morality of a seventh day of Sabbath farre lesse of Sunday and a perpetuall obligation in Gods intention to the observation thereof under the new Testament And it is a most impertinent argumentation that because all the particularities of the fourth Commandement may be applyed unto us as well as to the Iewes and that we may now as they of old rest on the seventh and last day of the weeke as in it God rested therefore we should doe it For we may also observe all the holy daies and ceremonies which of old the Iewes observed and find reasons to apply them unto us For example as they observed the new Moones or the first daies of their moneths to give thankes to God for his continuall government and favorable intertainment which his divine providence had shewed to them making after the last moneth a new moneth to come and to pray him to perpetuate the grace towards them as also that it might be unto them a figure of the future renuing of the Church by the Messias Also as they observed the feast of Pentecost for a memoriall as many doe esteeme of the Law given on that day or which is more certaine to give thanks to God for the cornes which by his favour they had reapt and whereof they offered unto him two loaves of new and fine flower Likewise as they observed the feast of Tabernacles for a remembrance that they had beene pilgrims in the wildernesse and had sojourned in Tents during the time of their journey to the Land of Canaan as also for a thanksgiving to God for the gathering in of all the fruits of the Land Even so might we observe all the same feasts by an application of the reasons of their institution unto us For God from moneth to moneth continueth his providence towards us and hath granted us the renuing of the holy Ghost The Law which he gave in Sina to the people of Israel appertaineth to us in all the morality thereof as well as unto them It is his gift that we gather in yeerely the cornes and other productions of the ground for our nourishment as they did We are pilgrims and strangers in this world and we aspire to the heavenly Canaan
Saint Athanasius in the homily of the seed saith of himselfe and of other faithfull Christians that they assembled together on the Sabbath day not through malady of spirit for Iudaisme but to worship the Lord of the Sabbath Gregory of Nisse calleth these two dayes to wit the Sabbath day and the Lords day brethren Sozomene in the seventh booke and 19 Chapter of his History saith that at Constantinople and almost in all other parts of the Easterne Church the ecclesiasticall assemblies met together on the Sabbath day and on the day following Socrates in the sixt booke and eight Chapter of his History calleth the Sabbath day and the Sunday the weekely feasts wherein Christians came together in the Churches and in the foresaid 21 Chap. of the fifth book amongst many diverse customes of the Churches of these times concerning their assemblies and exercises of Religion he alleadgeth a frequent and common observation of the Sabbath 12 Which sheweth that the Churches beleeved not Sunday to be of divine institution and subrogated to the Sabbath by our Lord Iesus Christ. For if they had beleeved any such thing they had not observed another day But knowing they had no particular commandement for any day of devotion they observed both the Sab because it had beene a long while a solemne day of devotion ordained of God to the Iewes and Sunday because it was made honourable by the Resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ. This that we say shall be better seene by the consideration of the reasons which are broached to prove that the institution of the first day of the weeke to be a holy day is of God himselfe of Iesus Christ and of his Apostles CHAPTER Second Answer to the first Reason taken from some Texts of the Old Testament to prove the divine institution of the first day of the weeke 1. Answer to the Reasons taken from the Circumcision administred on the eight day and from the inscription of certaine Psalmes c. 2. Reasons taken out of the 110 Psalme 3. ver and of the 118. Psalme verse 24. 3. Answer In the hundred and tenth Psalme no mention is made of any particular day 4. Nor also in the hundred and eighteenth Psalme 5. And although there were a day of rest in every weeke cannot be inforced from thence 6. No more then the words of Isaiah Chapter 9. and of the Angels Luke 2. verse 10 11. can inforce a weekely observation of a day in remembrance of Christs birth 1 IT were a losse of time to stay here upon the refutation of the reasons taken from the ancient circumcision which was celebrated on the eight day and which some say to have beene a figure of the spirituall circumcision that we were to obtaine by our Lord Iesus Christ one the first day of the weeke which is as the eight day succeeding immediately to the seventh and last day thereof Nor also of these which are overthwartly wrested out of these Psalmes which have in their titles or inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hascheminith that is super octava upon the octave as if in these titles mention were made of the first day after the seventh which is Sunday For although these reasons have beene alleadged by some of the ancients they broached them rather as allusions and allegories then as solid proofes to rely upon Wherefore leaving them I goe forward to the consideration of two others which have greater likenesse of truth 2 They would faine take advantage of the hundred and 10. Psalm and of the 3. ver as also of the hundred and 18. Psalme and of the 24 v. thereof as if in these places there were a prophesie that Sunday or the day of the Resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ should be observed in the Christian Church In the hundred and 10 Psal. verse 3. mention is made of a day wherein Christ should raise an army in a holy pompe and his people should be a willing people In the hundred and 18 Psalme verse 24. the people is exhorted to rejoyce and be glad in the day which the Lord had made day wherein the stone which the builders refused should become the head stone of the corner verse 22. Stone which is Christ. Now Christ in his ignominious death was like a stone rejected by the builders that is by the governours and rulers of the Iewes and it was by his glorious Resurrection that he became the head stone of the corner Act. 4. ver 10 11. 3 To this I answer that no certaine argument can be drawne from the two foresaid allegations For who dare affirme that in them a particular day is denoted and not rather indefinitely the time of the publication of the Gospell and gathering together of the Christian Church which was done by the Apostles after the Resurrection of Christ It is said in the hundred and tenth Psalme ver 2. that the Lord should send out of Sion the Scepter of Christs strength the meaning of which words is that out of Ierusalem he should send forth and spread every where the preaching of the Gospell to wit by the Apostles and other Ministers and that in the day that is in the time wherein he should raise his army that is gather together his Church she should be a free voluntary and forward people Now the first assembling of the Christian Church happened not in one day more than in another but the Apostles applyed themselves to that worke every day preaching the Gospell wherefore we must not understand in that place of the Psalme any particular day but the whole time wherein this worke was done by the Apostles and their Disciples 4 I say the same of the hundred and eighteenth Psalme For Iesus Christ is not become the head stone of the corner simply by his Resurrection but in as much as after his Resurrection he hath by the preaching of the Gospell built up the faithfull upon himselfe as so many lively stones to be a spirituall house as we may see in the first epistle of Saint Peter Chapter 2. verse 4 5 6 7. And therefore this day which the Lord hath made and wherein the Psalmist exhorteth the faithfull to rejoyce is not a particular day but all this time blessed and sanctified by the LORD wherein should begin and goe forward this great worke of the preaching of the Gospell for the edifying in all places of the Church upon Iesus Christ for this is ordinary both in Scripture and in the common language when mention is made of a day wherein a thing is a doing or shall be done to understand not alwayes necessarily a certaine particular day but indefinitely the time of such a thing which may be such that it cannot bee performed in one particular day but requireth a continuation of time So the Apostle applying to the Christians of his time the words of God in Isaiah Chapter 49. 8. saith Behold now is the accepted time behold Now is the day of salvation
he hath likewise left unto her Christian wisedome the determination of the day of his service which is more common and ordinary specially seeing in the whole New Testament there is not at all any expresse mention of a particular day instituted and ordained by him for that end which the Evangelists and Apostles had not as it were with one accord beene silent of if it were true that our Lord Iesus Christ had ordained such a day CHAPTER Fourth Answer to the third reason brought to prove the foresaid opinion 1. Third Reason Iesus appeared to his Disciples the same day of his Resurrection at evening and eight dayes after which was the first day of the weeke as also on that day the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost 2. First Answer Christ appeared to his Disciples in the beginning of the second day of the weeke 3. This is proved by the distinction of the day in a day Naturall Artificiall and Civill 4. It is proved by the creation that the Iewes began the naturall or civill day by the evening 5. Refutation of those which say that by the evening must be understood the time after noone and by the morning the time afore noone 6. The same is proved by an expresse commandement given to the Iewes to begin the naturall day and the celebration of the Sabbath of at on 〈…〉 7. Râ—utation of the reply made against this argument 8. It is proved also by the commandement given them to begin the eating of the Passeover and of unleavened bread at the end of the 14. day of the first moneth 9. Saint Matthew and Saint Marke speake figuratively when they call the day wherein things necessary for the Passeover were prepared the first day of unleavened bread 10. The same likewise is proved by the observation of the Sabbath in the dayes of Nehemiah 11. And by the practice of Ioseph and Nicodemus when they buryed the body of our Saviour 12. First argument brought by some out of the Old Testament to prove that the naturall day among the Iewes and consequently the Sabbath day began in the morning ended with the night 13. Refutation of that argument 14. Second argument taken out of the first Chapter of S. Iohns Gospell ver 39. answered 15. Third Argument out of the 28 Chap. of S. Matthew ver 1. 16. Answer to this Argument 17. Fourth argument out of the 20. Chapter of the Acts ver 7. and 11. answered 18. It followeth of all the foresaid answers and besides is more fully proved that IESUS CHRIST appeared to his Disciples after his Resurrection on the second day of the weeke 19. Second Answer although Iesus after his Resurrection had appeared twice to his Disciples on the first day of the weeke that proveth not the sanctification of that day for Gods service 20. This is proved by diverse arguments and reasons 21. The descending of the Holy Ghost on the first day of the weeke inforceth not the observation of that day THere is no greater force in the observation gathered out of the twentieth Chapter of Saint Iohn verse 19. and 26. where it is said that Iesus the same day of his Resurrection at evening being the first day of the weeke appeared to his Disciples where they were assembled and after eight dayes the doores being shut he came and stood in the midst of them to wit on the 〈…〉 pretend to have beene the day of Pentecost wherein he sent downe from heaven 〈◊〉 Holy Ghost upon the Apostles from which places they inferre that by this practise hee hath sanctified that day for the preaching of his Gospell and the administration of his service 2 To this I answer first that it may be debated if it be said in the foresaid passage of Saint Iohn that our Lord Iesus Christ appeared to his Disciples on the first day of the week and not rather after the first day already ended and the second begun Although the first interpretation was true and that it was the first day of the week wherin Christ shewed himselfe to his Disciples after his Resurrection it carryeth not with it any consequence prejudiciall to my opinion as shal be seene hereafter Yet I wil confirme the second interpretation as only true and take this occasion to speake of the distinction of dayes fetching froÌ„ thence the grounds of my reasoning 3 The day is ordinarily distinguished into a Naturall day and an Artificiall day The naturall day is composed of foure and twenty houres which is the time of the daily circuit of the Sunne arising going downe and returning to the place where he arose in which day is comprehended all the time of light and all the time of darkenesse The day is so taken ordinarily both in Scripture and in all common languages when mention is made simply of dayes As for example when we say a moneth hath thirty dayes such a thing shall bee done or come to passe within so many dayes Abraham Isaac Iacob died being full of dayes we understand all the time of their continuance as well of the night as of the day The Artificiall day continueth as long as the Sunne is upon the horizon of every place and by his light affordeth commodity to men to goe forth to their labour and to worke in their arts professions and trades The naturall day although amongst all people it be composed of foure and twenty houres yet it varieth in the distinction of the beginning and end thereof For some take the beginning thereof at midde day and count the continuance thereof till the next midde day Others from midde-night till the next midde night Some from the rising of the Sunne till his next rising againe and some from the sunne setting till the next setting This diverse supputation amongst diverse people proceeding from a civill constitution addeth to the distinction of the day in artificiall and naturall a third member to wit The civill day which is the same with the naturall day in regard of the continuance of foure and twenty houres but is diversely counted in diverse places in regard of the beginning and of the end thereof 4. Now among the Iewes this naturall or eivill day began by the evening and ended at the next evening Moses distinguisheth it so when he relateth the story of the Creation For he endeth alwayes the workes of each day in these words so was the evening so was the morning which was the first the second the third day c. Where by the evening he understandeth the whole night which beginneth by the evening and by the morning the whole day which beginneth by the morning considering the evening and the morning the night and the day or the light as integrant parts of the naturall day and the evening or the night as the first part which goeth before the other part which is the time of light As indeed this distinction is grounded on that order and course of proceeding which God kept in the Creation
making the darkenesse to goe before the light as may be seene in the first Chapter of Genesis ver 1 and 2. 5 Some doe reply that Moses when he saith so was the evening so was the morning c. by the evening understandeth the whole time after noone and by the morning the whole time of light in the same day from the dawning till midde day or the afore noone This reply is not grounded on reason For if that were true Moses had not fixe times put constantly the evening before the morning there being no convenient order that could move him therunto seeing in all respects whereby one thing is first and goeth before another the aforenoone goeth before the afternoone He might in the 5. v. name conveniently the light before the darknes the day before the night because he had not regard there to any natural dependance and following of the one upon the other but only to the order of dignity whereby the day is first in regard to the night But when he saith without varying in the sixe dayes of the week so was the evening so was the morning it is evident that he hath regard to the order of the Creation wherein darknes was first in time before the light and the night went before the day and that so by the evening he understandeth the night which is formost and by the morning the day that followeth which evening and morning make one naturall day 6 Now as in the creation GOD observed this order to make the night goe before the day and to compare the naturall day of the darknesse and of the light even so he prescribed the same observation to the Iewes commanding them to begin their naturall day by the night and to celebrate their Sabbaths or solemne daies of rest from the beginning of such a night till the beginning of the next night This is manifest by the 23. chapter of Leviticus vers 32. where God commanded them that in the ninth day of the seventh moneth at even from even unto even they should celebrate as a solemne Sabbath the Feast of atonement which was to be on the tenth day of the moneth vers 27. And so the tenth day began by the night and continued till the night following And such was consequently the order of all the dayes of the weeke from night to night 7 There is no force no weight at all in the answer broached against this when it is said that this feast of atonement consisted not in one day alone but in a part of two daies to wit of the ninth and of the tenth because it is said in the 27. vers On the tenth day of the seventh moneth there shall be a day of atonement and in the 32. vers In the ninth day of the moneth at even from even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath whence they would faine inferre that both the ninth and the tenth day entred into this Feast For it is cleare by the 28 29 30. verses that the day of atonement consisted only in one day seeing in these verses mention only is made of one dâ—y Ye shall do no worke in that same day for it is a day of atonement Whatsoever soule shall not be afflicted in that same day whatsoever soule doth any worke in that same day which had not beene so often set downe if two dayes had entred into the composition of this Feast The same is apparent by the sixteenth chapter of the same book vers 29 30 31. where the foresaid feast of atonement being the only matter handled in them no mention is made but of one day to wit of the tenth of the seventh moneth and the ninth day is not so much as mentioned whereas it had not beene omitted if it had pertained to that Feast Besides it is without all likenesse and as I beleeve without example that God would have any Feast to begin at the end of one day and to continue and end in a part of another day and so establish Holy-daies by halves Now the 27. vers teacheth us which was the day of this Feast to wit the tenth day of the seventh moneth and the 32. vers sheweth how long it ought to continue to wit the whole tenth day beginning at the end of the ninth day and continuing as long as the tenth day should last from one even unto the next even So the ninth day is not mentioned as a part of the Feast but as the terme that it was to begin at like as the even following is mentioned as the other terme that it was to end at In the ninth day of the moneth at even that is at the end of the ninth day ye shall begin the Feast and it shall last from even unto even that is during the whole tenth day Like as in the twelfth chapter of Exodus 18. vers God ordaineth that on the fourteenth day of the first moneth at even they should eat unleavened bread untill the one and twentieth day of the moneth at even Where the fourteenth day is not specified as one of the daies of unleavened bread for so there should have beene eight whereas it is expresly said vers 15. and every where that they were but seven But it is named in the end and extremity thereof as the terme that the Feast of unleavened bread began at and the one and twentieth day finishing at even as the terme it ended at 8 This observation of the daies of unleavened bread which made up the Feast of the Passeover is of great validity to confirme our intention For as it is written Exod. 12. v. 6. 8. 14 15. Levit. 23. v. 5 6. Num. 28. v. 16 17. Neere to the end of the fourteenth day of the first moneth that is betweene the declining of the Sunne after midday and the setting thereof the Paschall Lambe was killed and rosted and eaten at even with unleavened bread at the entrance of the night The use of unleavened bread in the eating of the Lambe began precisely with the fifteenth day which was the first solemne day of the Feast and lasted seven whole dayes to wit till the one and twentieth day at even which was also another Feast-day holy and solemne as the fifteenth was For it was not lawfull during those seven dayes to have leavened bread neither in the day nor in the night which also was comprised in the appellation of dayes Whence this infallible conclusion is gathered that the naturall day among the Iewes began at even and ended at the next even seeing the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread which was the fifteenth day began at evening when the Paschall Lambe was eaten and the last day thereof which was the one and twentieth ended at even as it began at even 9 For whereas in S. Matthew Chap. 26. ver 17. and S. Marke Chap. 14. v. 12. and S. Luke Chap. 22. v. 7. the day wherein the Paschall Lamb was prepared and rosted is called
in any day whatsoever according as every one should have the commoditie till the Apostles comming and was to cease after he at his comming had received the whole summe that these contributions should amount unto And so of this passage cannot be gathered the observation of any day and farre lesse of the first day of the weeke for Ecclesiasticall meetings whereof according to this Exposition which hath a great likenesse of truth no mention is made in it 4 But secondly although the Apostle had intended to stint the Corinthians to a particular day wherein they were to put a part every one with himselfe a portion of their goods to goe and distribute it that same day in their Ecclesiasticall assemblies for all that it appeareth not that he meant by that day the first day of the weeke For these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be translated in this other sense On a Sabbath day or on every Sabbath day as excellent interpreters alleage and approve this exposition and hath nothing for the divine institution of our Sunday 5 Thirdly put the case that the Apostle speaketh of the first day of the weeke as of a day appointed for Ecclesiasticall meetings and in them for Gods service and for publike collections no other thing can be proved from thence saving that it was a custome received in the Church of Corinth in the Churches of Galatia and probably in others to meet together on the first day of the weeke but in no wise that the Apostle had given them an injunction concerning that day It is true that in the foresaid words mention is made of an injunction given by the Apostle but of the collections only not of the time wherein they were to be made which time the Apostle supposeth onely as received and observed among them on the first day of the weeke but commandeth it not 6 Fo◠the words are Concerning the collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so doe yee 1 Cor. 16. vers 1. where we see the injunction hath reference to the collections as to the end thereof and by no meanes to the day that they were to be levied in He saith againe in the next verse Upon the first day of the weeke let every man lay aside by himselfe and put in store c. where also the injunction is of the collection and the day is not named by way of commandement but onely as supposed to be ordinary for the ecclesiasticall meetings and consequently for the collections 7 I say therefore that it appeareth not that the Apostles have instituted the first day of the weeke But although they had ordained it it should not follow that they had received of the Lord an expresse commandement so to doe It is true that in matters concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and things essentiall to Gods service they have taught nothing but what they received of the Lord as the Apostle protested 1 Cor. 11. vers 23. and as Christ had given them the commandement Matth. 28. vers 20. But as for things which are wholly of order they had power to dispose and ordaine of them with Christian wisedome as they should thinke fit 8 Of that hath beene said we may see the vanity of the argumentation framed by some Divines upon the words of the Apostle to the Philippians chap 4. vers 9. The things which ye have both learned and received and beard and seene in me do them They saw in him the observation of the first day of the weeke which we call Sunday therefore he willeth them to keepe also that day 9 Whereunto I answer first that by a like ratiocination they may conclude that the Apostle would have the faithfull to observe and celebrate all the dayes of the week but namely the Sabbath of the Iewes for he was heard and seene often preaching all the dayes of the weeke but principally every Sabbath day for his manner was to doe so Acts 17. vers 2. Secondly that the foresaid argumentation may have some value it must presuppose that it was an order established by the Apostle and observed regularly by him to celebrate the first day of the week For to beleeve that whatsoever he was seene to do sometimes accidentally and by occasion the faithfull ought necessarily to doe it alwayes were a too great impertinency For he was seene shave his head according to the ceremony of the Mosaicall Nazareat Num. 6. vers 18. Acts 18. vers 18. Acts 21. vers 24. 26. and circumcise Timothy Acts 16. v. 3. But such a presupposition hath no foundation as hath beene shewed Thirdly the Apostle himselfe betokeneth by the connexion of the 9. vers with the 8. going before what things he would have the Philippians to do by imitation of his example and according to his instructions to wit whatsoever things are true honest just pure loveable of good report if there be any vertue or any praise that is these things properly which are a part of godlinesse towards God and of love towards the neighbour But to observe for Gods service the first day of the weeke rather than an other day is not of that nature as being a thing meerely indifferent and established by custome onely It is also a conjecture without apparance that the Apostle among the things which he designeth in the ninth verse meant to comprise the observation of Sunday CHAPTER seventh Answer to the sixth Reason 1. Sixth Reason Mention is made in the Revelation Chap. 1. vers 10. of the Lords day 2. Answer It may be so called in two other respects rather than that which is pretended 3. Instance It is called the Lords day because he ordained it as for that cause the Sabbath is called the Lords rest the Eucharist the Lords Supper 4. Nullitie of this instance 5. Many excellent Divines of the Protestant Churches speake of the first day of the weeke as of a custome of the Church not as a commandement of Christ. 1 IT is said in the first Chapter of the Revelation and the tenth verse That Iohn was in the Spirit on the Lords day whence also they would faine inferre that the first day of the weeke which hath obtained the name of The Lords day was instituted by the Lord Iesus or by his Apostles to be a day dedicated to the exercices of godlinesse 2 But from hence we cannot conclude a divine or Apostolicall institution of that day for S. Iohn might make mention of that day in respect of the Lords rising on such a day and not to signifie that it ought to be appointed or was already set a part more solemnely than any other day for Gods service and for the commemoration of Christs benefits and especially of his Resurrection Yea although he had qualified it with this title in respect of the consecration thereof which was ordinary at that time and in consideration whereof it had commonly the name of The Lords day amongst Christians
them by actuall execution they have beene performed by the vertue of Christs Divinity after his Ascension into heaven from whence he sent the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles to beget and assemble his Church here beneath in all the parts of the world by their ministry 5 The Resurrection hath no other correspondency to the meritorious fulfilling of those things but of a token and marke evident certaine and necessary that Christ by his death hath merited them unto us having payed a most sufficient price for our redemption which had not appeared to be yea on the contrary had seemed not to be and indeed had not beene at all if Christ had remained in the grave of death and had not risen againe Even as the comming of a debtor out of prison is a demonstration that he hath payed although it bee not the payment it selfe But if he did remaine alwayes in prison that were an evident signe that he hath not satisfied We must take in this sence the Apostles words saying Rom. 4. verse 25. that Christ died for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification that is to demonstrate that justification is purchased unto us by his death and withall to confer and apply it unto us efficaciously To which efficacious collation and application of all that was purchased by the death of Christ and to the actuall accomplishment of the second Creation and of the re-establishment of the Church into a new estate his Resurrection hath no correspondency but as a necessary antecedent thereunto For it was necessary hee should rise as also ascend into heaven that from thence he might operate that great and notable alteration 6 Wherein is seene a manifest difference betweene the day of Christs Resurrection and the seventh day that God rested in from the worke of Creation For this day followed the Creation finished and intirely effected and it was a rest from it already done and accomplished But that day cannot be called the day of rest from the second Creation saving only as it was merited by the death of Christ For it goeth and that many dayes before the actuall execution thereof sith Christ began not properly to frame and establish the Church of the New Testament till many dayes after he rose againe Wherefore there is by no meanes the like reason to keepe the day of Christs Resurrection as there was to keepe the Sabbath Day 7 Yea the day of the Resurrection in it selfe hath no advantage beyond the dayes of Christs Passion or Ascension or of Pentecost wherein came to passe the solemne sending of the Holy Ghost wherby it was more worthy to be observed then they For it was inferiour to the day of Christs passion and death in regard of the merit to purchase and to the day of Pentecost in regard of the efficacy to communicate the spirituall and heavenly gifts The Ascension day is conforme and equall unto it in the same correspondency both to the acquisition and to the execution of the establishment of the Church 8 The preferring of it by the faithfull to all other dayes to bee kept ordinarily as a solemne day came not from any worthier prerogative that it hath in it selfe but because on it began to shine upon the faithfull a new light of joy and comfort The death and buriall of Christ had filled their hearts with sorrow and abated their hope because it seemed to them that his death and the Sepulchre had taken him away and ravished him out of the world for evermore No wonder for they knew not in the beginning the nature nor the consequences of that great humiliation as is apparent by the discourse of the two Disciples going to Emmaus Luke 24. verse 21. After then that he rose againe shewing himselfe to be the Sonne of God with power Romans 1. v. 4. and that their hopes were revived by his Resurrection they thought fit to observe solemnly and weekely the day thereof which began their joy shewing unto them the first beames of the rising of the Sunne of righteousnesse rather than others which afterward increased it much by a greater manifestation of his glorious brightnesse though they were not lesse unworthy to be kept and as frequently And further they did it to change the ancient day of the Law into a new day of the Gospell In which change that there was a convenient reason it cannot be denyed The thing I deny is that there was any necessary reason thereof 10 Yea although all that in the objection is attributed to the day of the Resurrection did belong unto it properly and particularly it should not follow that in vertue thereof and by a naturall consequence the said day ought to be observed rather than any other For if the day that God rested in from the worke of the Creation had no naturall obligation in it tying men to the observation thereof but it was Gods Commandement onely that bound them to that duty no more can the day wherein Christ rested though in another respect which is not so proper from the worke of redemption oblige us of it selfe to observe it To tye our consciences to such an observation it must needs have a divine institution whereby God hath commanded us to observe it which I say is not to be found CHAPTER Ninth Answer to the eighth Reason 1. Eight Reason from the excellency of things done on the first day of the weeke 2. First Answer Besides that this assertion is uncertaine it proveth nothing 3. Second Answer it is grounded upon a superstitious opinion of the perfection and mysticall signification of the number of seven 4. Seeing there is no certainty in the observation of numbers and the Scripture maketh mention of other numbers observed in many things 5. Whence no solid argument can be gathered and are disclamea by many which dispute for the authority and preeminence of the first day of the weeke 6. In what sence the number of seven is called mysterious and that there is no mysterie in it under the New Testament 1 SOme fetch an argument from diverse solemne things recited in holy Scripture which they marke to have beene done on the first day of the weeke as that on it the light was created the pillar of a cloud covered at first the people of Israel Manna rained from heaven upon them Aaron and his children began to exercise the Priest-hood God at first blessed his people solemnely gave the Law on the Mount Sinai CHRIST was borne baptized turned water into Wine fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes shall come from heaven to judge the quicke and the dead 2 But it is most uncertaine that all these things were done on the first day of the weeke For the Scripture saith no such thing Besides this although all these things had beene done on the first day of the weeke it shall never follow by any necessary argument that for such a cause the first day of the weeke ought to be
established for the publike exercises of religion neverthelesse because Sunday hath beene alwayes used in the Christian Church for a day of divine service and all religious exercises he ought not to forbeare to apply himselfe unto them privately on that day with greater assiduity than on other dayes And because where there is an order and discipline established the Rulers of the State and of the Church to prevent all disorders and stirre up greater respect to the exercises of religion which are practised on Sunday have thought fit to forbid on that day the publike and ordinary workes of the other dayes of the weeke he shall doe well to refraine on it from the ordinary workes of his worldly trade and calling to obey these high powers that God hath subjected him unto It is then the order of the Church principally that must be to every Christian the rule of the abstinence and cessation from ordinary workes that he is to observe on Sunday or on another day That is he must not apply himselfe to such workes without great necessity during all the time wherein this order calleth upon him to resort to the house of God to come to the holy assemblies not to sit idle not to busie himselfe about bodily occupations when he ought to be in the congregation hearing the word of God with attention praying and singing with heart and mouth to the Lord in the company of his faithfull brethren If divine service be publikely practised before and after noone in the Church whereof he is a member he must not soothe himselfe with a fond opinion that he hath done his duty when he hath beene present at either of them and forsaken one of the two to bestow it on some other thing That time ordained by the Church being expired and the whole service of that day finished when he is come home and is alone he is free to doe what he will so it be honest and lawfull to worke or to refresh himselfe for in that he sinneth not against God transgresseth not his Commandements If he will passe the rest of the day in actions of religion he shall do well if he will spend it on other ordinarie and common actions of this life he shall not doe ill with this proviso that he be carefull to prepare himselfe by religious meditations for the publike and holy exercises before they begin and take time to call them to minde after they are ended that so he may make them faithfull and profitable to his soule feele in his heart their efficacie and shew it by an holy conversation in the whole sway of his life Otherwise the wicked one shall come and catch away that which was sowne in his heart Matt. 13. v. 19. 6 All that can and should be propounded to teach us how wee ought to sanctifie the Lords day must be grounded upon the necessitie holinesse and utility of the religious exercises of divine service upon the respect due unto them and upon the authority of the Church commanding upon these grounds This is the only reason of the sanctification of that day In this is the strength of all the arguments whereby Gods servants ought to stirre up devotion in the hearts of their hearers And not in the nature of the day wherein God is publikely served not also in any obligation whereby the conscience is tied unto it Those that feare God and have respect unto his Commandements will not omit the observation of this day although they be informed that it obligeth them not neither of it self nor also by a divine commandement more than another day For it is not the day that they regard but the great need they have to be instructed comforted fortified in the knowledge of God in the love of his glorious Majestie in true godlinesse by the exercises which God hath ordained to that end not onely particular at home which they may doe at all times as they shall have occasion but also publike in the Church in any day whatsoever the Church shall appoint 7 On the other side those that have not the love God and of the exercises of religion in their hearts will never be moved to give their minde with more affection and assiduity to Gods service by beleeving that Sunday is a day of Gods owne institution For if they make no account of that which is the principall and the end which God hath injoyned and urgeth so carefully what reckoning can they make of a thing which putting the case it were a divine institution could not injoy that prerogative saving as a helpe and a meanes tending to that end If they should cover their forsaking of Gods service and of the holy exercises on Sunday with this pretext that it is not a divine institution should they not discover a manifest profanenesse for as much as that under a slight frivolous pretence they should disdaine that which they cannot be ignorant of but that God hath ordained it to wit the holy convocations the communion of the faithfull in them his word his Sacraments the publike calling upon his name Such profane ones must be left to the judgement of God who will finde them out in his owne time 8 As for the true faithfull the glory of God and their owne salvation being their principall end they will alwayes keepe religiously and chearefully all things whereby they come to their end First the meanes which essentially and by Gods ordinance belong unto it such as are the exercises of religion particular and publike Next those which being in themselves indifferent and having no obligatorie power over the conscience by a divine commandement are notwithstanding lawfully established by the Church for orders sake and to set forth the former by ordinary practice such as is the institution of Sunday By which behaviour they shall draw upon themselves from the Father of lights the blessing of grace during their abode in these low parts of the earth and of glory in heaven through the precious merits of our onely Saviour and Redeemer Iesus Christ to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honour glory and praise for ever and ever AMEN A CONFIRMATION OF THE THINGS CONTAINED IN THE PRECEDING TREATISE BY humane Authorities THat the world may not thinke that in my tenets and proofes I have onely set down that which in my owne judgement I thought to be warrantable by the word of God and reason which are the chiefest foundations on which we ought to build I thought it not unfit for the further confirmation of the premisses to adde as an Appendix to my former Discourse some Passages of learned Writers both ancient and moderne especially of the reformed Churches who were first both in time and worth and who deservedly have great credit and authority amongst us In quoting the Passages I shall reduce them to the chiefe heads of my Treatise PASSAGES Concerning the nature and beginning of the Sabbath IUSTIN Martyr in Dialogo
to us that which was a figure And afterwards From these words For God in six dayes created the heaven and the earth and rested the seventh day This probable conjecture is inferred that the holinesse of the Sabbath was before the Law Bullinger Sermonum decade 2. Serm. 4. Scimus Sabbatum esse ceremoniale quatenus conjunctum est cum sacrificiis reliquis Iudaicis ceremoniis quatenus alligatum est tempori Caeterùm quatenus Sabbato religio piet as propagatur justus or do retinetur in Ecclesia perpetuum non ceremoniale est Wee know that the Sabbath is ceremoniall so farre as it is joyned with the sacrifices and the rest of the Iewish ceremonies and so farre as it is tied to a certaine time But so farre as by the Sabbath religion and piety is advanced and good order preserved in the Church the observation of it is everlasting and not ceremoniall Musculus in locis Commun in praeceptum 4. Deus diem exprimit quo sanctificandum sit Sabbatum unum videlicet de septem diebus eumque nec primum nec secundum c. sed postremum 1. septimum God doth specifie the day in which the Sabbath is to be sanctified namely that it is one of seven and that neither the first nor the second c. but the last that is the seventh Item Legale Sabbatum non erat naturâ suâ ita comparatum ut esset perpetuum Erat enim non verum sed umbratile non perfectum sed elementarium ac paedagogicum adeóque imperfectum populo elementario accommodatum Quare Novi Testamenti tempore desiit ut spiritus libertati locus esset Christus est corpus cujus adventu rectè cessarunt umbrae The legall Sabbath considered in it selfe was not appointed to be of a perpetuall duration for it was not a true one but onely typicall not perfect but elementary and pedagogicall and by consequent imperfect and appropriated to an elementary and rude people Therefore it was most reasonable that it should have end under the New Testament that the Christian liberty of the spirit might have place Christ is the body at whose comming it behooved all shadowes to vanish away Cal. 2. Item Observantia legalis Sabbati non perinde imposita reliquis nationibus atque Israelitis Etenim non extat praeceptum Dei quod gentes ad hanc septimi diei observationem astringat sicut ad illam Israelitae manifesta lege obstringuntur Quare convinci non potest quòd septimi diei Sabbatum ante hanc legem vel ante diluvium ab Adamo ad Noe usque vel post diluvium à Noe ad Mosem usque vel per Abraham vel posteros ejus servatum fuerit unde quidam Hebraeorum fatentur non esse scriptum de Abrahamo quòd Sabbatum observârit Quin etiamsi de patribus qui ante legem vixerunt certò constaret quòd Sabbati hujus religionem servârint haud tamen quisquam mortalium illorum exemplo ad consimilem alligaretur observantiam nisi dicturi sumus esse nobis pecudes immolandas propterea quòd patres ante post diluvium de pecoribus sacrificâsse leguntur The observation of the legall Sabbath was not so imposed upon other nations as upon the Iewes for there is no divine precept that obligeth the Gentiles to this keeping of a seventh day as the Iewes by an expresse law are tied to doe Wherefore it cannot be proved that a seventh dayes rest was observed before the Law either before the deluge from Adam to Noe or after the deluge from Noe to Moses or by Abraham and his posterity Hence it is that some of the Iewish Writers doe confesse that it is no where written of Abraham that hee observed the Sabbath But grant that there were any certaine proofe that the Fathers who lived before the Law did keepe the Sabbath Notwithstanding it doth not follow that any man by their example should be tied to the same except wee will also conclude that we must now sacrifice beasts because we reade the Fathers before and after the flood did so Item Decalogus hic quatenus pertinet ad legem Israeli per Mosem in Monte Sina divinitus datam pertinet ad solos Israelitas This Decalogue so farre as it hath reference to the Law given to the Iewes from God by Moses in mount Sinai doth onely pertaine to the Iewes Item Qui baptizatus est in Christum servatorem spiritum gratiae accepit profectò non sive grandi Christi gratiae injuria jugo se legis serviliter subjicit si se legalis Sabbati servandi debitorem esse judicat Hee who was baptized in Christs name and hath received the spirit of grace doth not without putting a grosse affront upon the same spirit slavishly subject himselfe to the yoke of the Law if he thinketh himselfe bound to keepe the legall Sabbath Item Ad legem pertinet ut aliquo die vacetur sacris ritibus exercitiis Hactenus non debemus Sabbati id est quietis sanctificationem abjicere quae usque adeò naturali lege traditur ut universae gentes stativas quasdam ferias universo populo communes rebus sacris obeundis consecratas habuerunt Ad legem verò Mosaicam referendum est quòd non primus non secundus non tertius c. sed septimus dies sacro otio expressè legaliter deputatur Ista legalis septimi diei deputatio consecratio neminem mortalium constringit praeter Iudaeos idque non nisi ad tempus usque Novi Testamenti quo Lex Mosis unà cum sacerdotio Christo sacerdoti cessit Quare haud est praeter rationem quòd Apostolus tantopere Legis Sabbati legalis observantiam rejicit c. It is a branch of the law of nature that some day be set apart to the performing of holy rites and sacrifices And thus far we are not to reject the sanctifying of a Sabbath a day of rest which by the law of nature is so clearely taught us that even all nations have had set holy dayes generall thorow the whole people and consecrated to holy exercises But it is by Moses Law that not the first not the second not the third c. but the seventh day is expresly and legally appointed for a holy rest That legall appointing and consecrating of a seventh day doth oblige no people under heaven but the Iewes and that for a certaine time till the time of the New Testament under which Moses Law and Priesthood gave place to Christ our Saviour Wherefore it is not without reason that the Apostle is so zealous for the cancelling of the Law and the legall Sabbath c. Ursin. in Tractat. Theolog. de praecept 4. Praecepti hujus duae sunt partes quarum una est moralis sive perpetua videlicet ut sanctificetur Sabbatum id est aliquod tempus certum tribuatur ministerio Ecclesiae sive publico Dei cultui
determine the circumstances necessary or profitable for the observation of the morall precepts of the first Table and which are no part of Gods service and doe not oblige the conscience but in case of scandall amongst the rest saith he Dies Dominicus ab Ecclesia est substitutus Sabbato in usum ministerii c. The Lords-day was substituted in lieu of the Sabbath for Gods service c. Idem in Explicatione Catechet in praecept 4. Sabbatum ceremoniale est duplex aliud Ueteris aliud Novi Testamenti Vetus erat astrictum ad diem septimum ejus observatio erat necessaria cultus Dei. Novum pendet ex arbitrio Ecclesiae quae elegit diem primum propter certas causas is est observandus ordinis causâ sed fine opinione necessitatis quasi ab Ecclesia oporteat eum observari non alium The ceremoniall Sabbath is two-fold one of the New another of the Old Testament That was restrained to the seventh day and the observation of it was necessarie and a part of Gods worship This dependeth from the will of the Church which made choice of the first day for certaine causes and it is to be observed for good orders sake but without any opinion of necessitie as if it behooved the Church to observe it and no other Item Oportet non minùs nunc in Christiana quà m olim in Iudaica Ecclesia esse aliquem certum diem quo verbum Dei doceatur Sacramenta publicê administrentur Interim non sumus alligati ut diem septimanae 3 4 5. vel quemcunque alium habeamus Apostolicaigitur Ecclesia ut se à Iudaicâ Synagogâ discerneret pro libertate sibi à Christo donata pro septimo die elegit primam propter probabilem causam quia eo die facta est Christi Resurrectio It behooveth as well now in the Christian Church as before in the Iewish that there be some certaine day on which the word of God may bee taught and the Sacraments publikely administred But we are not tied to have Tuesday Wednesday Thursday or any other for this set day The Apostolicall Church therefore to make a distinction betwixt her selfe and the Iewish Synagogue according to the liberty given her by Christ in stead of the seventh day chose the first for a probable reason because on that day Christ rose againe Uiet on the fourth command towards the end The Primitive Christians did not change the day only with regard to a difference to be made betwixt Iewes and Christians for thus the matter were not much mended to have changed onely the day and have retained the superstition which the Iewes fasten to it But they had regard to the Resurrection of our Lord which is the true accomplishment of the spirituall rest which we hope for c. Bucer in Matth. cap. 12. v. 1. loc de feriis Hinc factum non dubito ut communis Christianorum consensu Dominicus dies conventibus Ecclesiae publicis ac requiei publicae dicat us sit ipso statim Apostolorum tempore I doubt not but that by the common consent of Christians the Lords-day hath beene appointed for the publike meetings of the Church and for publike rest even in the Apostles dayes Zanchius in praecep 4. in Tractatu de feriis Praeceptum de die Dominico sanctificando ab Apostolis expressum non habemus Apostolicam tamen traditionem esse minimè dubitamus Wee have no expresse command from the Apostles to sanctifie the Lords-day notwithstanding we doubt not but that it is an Apostolicall tradition And having alleaged some proofes out of Scripture to that purpose he addeth Exsacris literis colligitur non ineptè ab Apostolis profectum esse ut omisso Sabbato dies Dominicus fuerit in illius locum substitutus It is not impertinently gathered from holy writ that the substitution of the Lords-day in place of the Sabbath proceeded from the Apostles Acknowledging as appeareth by his words not impertinently that those proofes were but weak But afterwards in expresse termes he avoucheth that the said day is appointed for Gods service without putting any tie upon the conscience Hoc inquit liquet ex sacris literis Nullibi enim legimus Apostolos hoc cuipiam mandâsse tantùm legimus quid soliti fuerunt facere Apostoli fideles in illo die Liberum igitur reliquerunt Accedit quod Apostolus ad Gal. c. 4. ad Col. 2. non vult servari à fidelibus praecepta Dei de Sabbatis aliisque festis Mosaicis quia nolebat fidelium conscientias illis praeceptis astringi quantò minus igitur voluerunt Apostoli obstringi conscientias sanctificando diei Dominico qui nullum habebat Domini mandatum Liberum est igitur illud etiam tempus hoc est nullius obligans conscientiam sed ita tamen liberum ut omnino iste dies sanctificandus sit nisi charit as aliud postulet This saith he is manifest from Scripture For we reade no where that the Apostles gave this command to any man wee reade onely what the Apostles and the faithfull were wont to doe on that day They therefore left it free Moreover the Apostle Gal. 4. and Col. 2. will not have the faithfull to observe Gods precepts concerning Sabbaths and other Mosaicall Holy dayes because he would not have the consciences of the faithfull obliged to those precepts how much lesse would the Apostles have their consciences obliged to keepe holy the Lords-day or Sunday for which we have no command from God Therefore that time also is free that is to say tieth no mans conscience But notwithstanding it is so free that altogether it behooveth us to sanctifie this day if charity doth not require the contrary Item Quis prohibuit quin Ecclesia ficut diem septimum transtult in diem Dominicum sic etiam illos reliquos dies festos in alios transferre potuerit What hindereth but that the Church as it removed the seventh day to the Lords-day may also change the rest of the feasts of the Iewes into other dayes Item At the very end of the explication of the fourth command In locum Sabbati subrogatus est dies Dominicus quia eo die evanuit Sabbatum quatenus figura erat quo Christus resurrexit ut ergo racondemur evanuisse per Resurrectionem Christi Ecclesia non retinuit Sabbatum sed diem Dominicum The Lords-day was substituted in place of the Sabbath because on that day on which Christ rose againe the Sabbath was abolished so farre as it was a figure That therefore wee may remember that it was abolished by the Resurrection of Christ the Church hath retained not the Sabbath but the Lords day Bourgoin Minister of Geneva in his Histor. Eccles. written in French lib. 2. of feasts It is not written when it was that the Christians difunited themselves from the Iewes and began to keepe holy the Lords-day Item After the Apostles some did celebrate the Sabbath others the Lords-day And